The Magicians' Realm Chapter 63: Dancing Around, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 63, everybody, and back to our regularly scheduled program. Let's not do that again….

Apologies to single fathers or those who equally balance out child-rearing responsibilities—what is written here comes from experience with having a mom stay at home and a father go to work, and therefore may not be wholly accurate to parenthood as a whole. Although to be fair to my parents, my Dad has said on more than one occasion that if he were the one who stayed home with us kids, we would have been long dead. D: Saying that, it's a tad unfair that fathers are generally portrayed as less capable than mothers—in Greg's case here, it's because his job is eating up most of his attention right now, not from some deep-seated parental failing.

"Tennessee Waltz Surprise" and "Irish Stew" are real line dances, by the way, which I learned from my mom. :)

Movie this week is Homeward Bound—never fails to make me cry, even though I've got that movie memorized. Happy tears, though…and excellent music. Bruce Broughton made my childhood's soundtrack. :D

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Ah, thank you—sorry for that little delay. And yes, but first, we have to wrap this up—next week we'll be getting there. Yeah…for a two-week delay, there needed to be a better chapter. :\ There's a point to it though, honest. Ah…I'll have to look that one up.

References:

Original characters, + setting © Kineil D. Wicks (myself, not the girl in the story)

"Teana, honey! You made it! Apparently Rocky was the right pick for this after all!"

"Rocky is…persistent," Teana decided to say, figuring it for the most diplomatic term.

"That's one way to put it," Mitzi May agreed. "Thank you Rocky, you did wonderfully."

"I did good?" Rocky asked, beaming.

"Yes, you did passably," Mitzi said quickly, waving him off. "Now go warm up."

"I have to be careful with complimenting him," Mitzi told Teana as Rocky dashed off. "If I give him too much of a compliment, he beams so much it runs the risk of destroying the place."

"Surely you exaggerate," Teana said.

"I wish I were. And by the way, Mordecai, this is how you bring a person when their presence is requested."

"No," Mordecai said, not breaking stride as he passed them. "This is how you want a person to be when you request them."

"I should really talk to Atlas about that," Mitzi said, assuming a pensive stance before ushering Teana along. "But moving on; the job offer, as I said before, is basically to warm up the floor. In effect, I want you to be the first one dancing to encourage others to do so as well. If customers dance, they work up an appetite for food and drink, both of which we provide for a small fee. You understand how this works."

"I work them so you can work their wallets," Teana summarized.

"An indelicate way to put it, but that's the general scope of it. You get a flat fee per dance done, a small percentage of the final nightly tally, and free food and drink. Just don't make it exclusively champagne and caviar—we do want to stay in the black."

"And why is this worth money to you?"

"Strange thing about the human psychology," Mitzi said, a hand up to her mouth as though she were telling Teana a secret. "No one ever wants to be the first one on the floor. I don't know, so don't ask me why, but that's how we are. You, being the fiery persona I believe you to be, wouldn't be so, and would therefore break the ice for the customers."

"Ah, except I don't like dancing in front of people."

"Don't worry, we have a cure for that."

"But would my liver survive the cure?"

"I hear livers are overrated anyway."

"You haven't been talking to Marik, have you?"

"Oh, so you've made the pleasure of his acquaintance."

"Not the phrase I'd use."

"Granted, if Marik was involved, it was probably through a haze of booze," Mitzi agreed, looking out over the dance floor. It was a nice number, warm honey-toned woods polished to within an inch of its life before being waxed to within an inch of its life. "So, do we have an accord?"

Teana tested her foot on the floor—enough give that she could slide and not worry about pitching or turning without twisting her foot, but enough grab that she wouldn't go falling right on her back from trying to walk.

"I really don't know," Teana said finally.

"If it makes you feel any better, I could fire you at the end of the month," Mitzi offered.

"I'm not sure that sweetens the deal," Teana said, considering. It was a nice floor and she'd have free food and dancing. Aside from the company, she wasn't sure what else she could complain about—and she doubted the company would be changing anytime soon.

"All right—you can quit at the end of the month," Mitzi said.

Teana surprised herself by nodding. "All right, I guess I'll give it a whirl."

"Splendid! You start tonight."

"Wait, what?" Teana fairly squawked, turning to look at Mitzi, already sashaying off. "But—I'm not dressed up for this!"

"That's the beauty of it, dear," Mitzi tossed over her shoulder. "When the peacocks who dressed up for show see you dancing, they won't be able to resist getting on the floor. And you should go get something to eat before you start."

Teana made a face before walking in the direction Mitzi indicated, feeling a mite used without being all too certain how.

*\*/*

"I take it today wasn't a good one."

"Not even remotely," Greg said, depositing his briefcase and looking at the clock—nearly ten at night. "It took all day to convince the Administrators that cancelling all the holidays this month was a bad thing—"

"Wait, what?" Jenna interrupted. She had been taking a plate out of the oven for him, but stopped at that declaration.

"I've been informed," Greg said, sitting down at the kitchen table. "That 'five holidays in one month is excessive'—so the Administrators have been trying to parse down the number of holidays."

"There are not that many holidays in October!" Jenna protested, all but throwing down his dinner in her haste to throw her hands up in disgust. "It's just Punkie Night and the harvest festival and Balefire Night and Halloween—"

"Don't forget Mischief Night—that makes five."

"Please tell me you put a stop to this."

"I put a temporary stop to this," Greg assured her, taking a moment of silence over his food before continuing. "They agreed to some less excessive celebrating, and Ravel's going to go do some surveys to see how everyone reacts to that—but Punkie Night is cancelled; I wasn't fast enough to stop that one."

"But I like Punkie Night," Jenna protested, sitting down.

"You wouldn't like it as much if you were on the organizing end of it."

"Did it ever occur to you to hire me on for that?"

"I'd have been accused of nepotism—and trust me, the Administration Building is the last place you want to be."

"On that topic, did you ever talk to Yami about that?"

Oi. Greg kneaded his head. "No. I haven't had the time. I'll get to it, honest."

"When, precisely? Yami's been entertaining himself with something, but he won't say what—and don't think for a minute I trust him with idle hands."

"What is he doing?"

"I don't really know—he's out of the house most days with Yuki in tow."

"Probably nothing to worry about."

"Please—I'm a mother: worrying is in the job description, right under make sure child survives to adulthood."

"You got a job description? How come I never got one?"

"Because women naturally accept that the fathers are probably going to be an extra kid anyway," Jenna said, pouring some warm tea into a mug and taking a sip.

"Now see, that's not fair; husbands contribute to the raising of children too."

"Then be more involved and talk to him."

"Right. I'll get right on it. Where is he?"

"In bed, genius."

"Oh. I'll talk to him tomorrow then, after work," Greg decided.

"I'll hold you to that," Jenna said, pouring him a mug and handing it to him.

"May nothing go wrong between now and then," he said, toasting her.

"May Murphy's Law not come into effect," she returned, clinking her mug against his.

"Pessimist."

"It's part of the job description."

"I want to see a copy of this job description."

"You can't," she said, taking another sip of her tea. "It's passed down from mother to daughter verbally; writing it down runs the risk of it falling into the wrong hands."

"Like whose?"

"Men's."

"And that's a bad thing because?"

"Because then they might think they can actually raise children on their own."

"And they can't?"

"Do you want me to make a list?"

"Yes, the jury requires evidence."

A few hours later, he unfortunately had to concede her point—but only because he had honestly lost track of Yami for a few hours once.

But, as he protested, he was getting better.

Now to just get around to figuring out how to tell Yami what needed to be told.

*/*\*

"I'm having second thoughts about this."

"That's to be expected," Mitzi said, waving her off. "Second thoughts always happen about this time. You just need to go forward and do it anyway."

"Are you ready?" Rocky asked, bounding over to the edge of the stage. "I've been working on my new piece—maybe we'll get a solo act together."

"That makes no sense," Teana pointed out.

"Neither does hesitating," Mitzi pointed out. "Don't worry about it; you did fine when you danced a little as the band was warming up. Just go with it."

"There are more people here now."

"I don't suppose telling you to pretend they're all in their underwear will work."

"That might actually make it worse."

"You know what Max told me?" Rocky interposed.

"I don't care what Max told you," Teana said, feeling an inkling of irritation at the thought of the cigar-smoking Magician.

"We don't either," one of the other band players, Zib, called.

"Max said that all the world's a stage," Rocky said, undeterred. "And the world ends at the stage lights. Now in your case, it'd be the dance floor, so all the world's a dance floor, and your world ends at the dance floor's edge. Does that make sense?"

"Strangely enough, it does," Mitzi said, turning back to Teana. "It's a Zen thing; if it's not on the floor, don't worry about it."

"I think I might throw up," Teana said.

"So long as it's not on the dance floor, we're fine," Mitzi said, steering her to the floor's edge. "Start playing, Zib."

The music started, and Teana could see some people glance up but not get up. The idea of going out there became more repulsive by the second.

Mitzi patted her shoulder. "It's like jumping into the river after spring thaw," Mitzi said. "The first jump is a shock, but it gets easier as time goes on."

"Funnily enough, casting myself into the river sounds like a good idea at this point," Teana said.

"Dance first, then you can," Mitzi said, giving her a gentle shove. Teana stepped out, stayed in the corner, looked at Mitzi—Mitzi was making encouraging motions with her hands.

"Loosen up a little!" Mitzi called, just loud enough for Teana to hear. Teana did so, surprised to find that she managed to survive the first number.

"Okay!" Rocky called when the band finished. "Who's up for some Irish Stew?"

Teana wondered if that was the dinner special before Rocky jumped off the stage to land in front of her.

"Follow my lead," he said, before starting a boisterous number on the violin—which the band quickly followed.

And then Teana was treated to the fact that Rocky was singing, dancing, and playing a violin all at the same time—Teana figured it was the least she could do to try to follow the dancing act.

When they finished, Teana was surprised to find that other people were on the floor now. Oh good, job done. Time to go.

"Rocky, get back on the stage!" Zib called, ushering the young man back up onto the stage. "Okay, now that we've got you worked up, how about a little something to catch your breath with?"

'Tennessee Waltz Surprise' was played next, and Teana briefly flirted with staying long enough to dance it, because she liked it—

"Hi!"

"Hi," she said reflexively, before realizing that there was a tall someone standing before her—crane her neck; Yami Skellington.

"May I have this dance?" he asked, indicating the floor.

"Did you set this up?"

"I…don't follow."

"Yes you do, dear," Mitzi said, passing them. "I've seen you dance."

"Mitzi offered me a job," Teana said, pointing. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

"Mitzi offered you a job?" Yami echoed. "That's great!"

"Did you answer the question?"

"No," Yami said, bowing. "But seeing as how everything's my fault anyway, I just see fit to go with it. Now that you've blamed me for this, can I have this dance?"

Teana sighed, giving that some thought. "I suppose so."

And so they danced, and in short order Teana was surprised to find that the night was over.

Even more that she actually liked the whole event.

It was a scary thought, she reflected as she lightly bopped the daffodils before going to bed, but she may have finally found a job she liked.