The Magicians' Realm Chapter 78: Work Discussions, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 78, everybody! And I have news. It may be good, it may be bad, but here it is:

I FINALLY HAVE MY DRIVER'S LICENSE.

I passed the road test this morning (7/17/17). :D

So! Now that I'm street legal—I will never drive again (at least unless I need to). And this takes one of the major time-soaks off the table, so things should start getting back on track. I hope.

No movie this week, as I spent the past two weeks learning how to parallel park. Took me three times to get it on the test even with the practicing (good thing my Bug has a tight turn radius).

The comment Kineil and Maxwell make to Yami comes from my Dad's old friends, who made the comment to him when he crashed skiing (stopped to say it and then skied off, leaving him to get himself out of the contortion he got himself into—he did, obviously). Dad also had a work buddy who—after ignoring the GPS for a while and prompting several 'recalculating's—Dad said the 'I'm detecting a little tension there' line to. :D Schmuck is a Yiddish word and should actually not be used in polite company, so apologies to any Jewish-speaking readers. ^^;

King David did dance for joy in the Bible, when the Ark of the Covenant was returned to the Israelites. That's in 2 Samuel 6:14, and in the following verses a woman who scolded David for doing so was made barren for the rest of her life. There are also examples of dancing that was frowned upon in the Bible (instances of good and bad dancing can be found in the Book of Exodus), so it's best to do the research yourself and read the whole selection to get the context; searching 'dancing in the Bible' online gives you some good starting points as far as specific passages to look at. :)

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! I know! And good question—Yami was asked that earlier, and he didn't answer, but I think clothes are a free action when it comes to magical transformations (although he wouldn't be too indecent at the moment, considering he's a skeleton from the neck down D: ).

FluffyIdiotIsI, thanks for the review! I try not to, but when the juice comes, I have to take advantage of it (finally finished up the writing for one of my other active stories and got a lot more chapters for this one and another active one done, so that's good :D). Oh yes, definitely—summertime is more for outdoor work, pool, and scriptwriting (at least for me it is). They are—it surprised me too. Haha, my first thoughts when watching anything is putting Yami and company in the setting and seeing how they'd react (I recommend BlackRoseDragonCK's works for some Yu-Gi-Oh! movie rewrites, although they haven't been active for a couple of years now). I'm not as familiar with the Justice League, but now I can't unsee Yami M. with Captain America's shield (it helps that he's going to be doing some assembling soon). Oh yes. :D We'll be exploring this later, but where he was held had less magic than his home-dimension, so I guess we could say it's like dumping a dehydrated man into a pool? He could, but we could argue that someone would notice someone who isn't familiar (tourism and travelling for this dimension is kind of along the 1930's standard, so most people live their lives out within fifty miles of home). We could also argue that that would be too plebian for Yami S.' tastes, which is probably the more likely. Most likely. And most likely. And…maybe. YES! My goodness, no wonder he's dead now! Possibly. I…need to have her say that….Yes, mostly because no one would ever think to look for him in Yami's office (even then he was ducking work). Hmm….And yes, you would think. She would, but she just wasted her bottle. Oops. Ah, thank you! I shall strive to continue to please! :D

References:

Malice © 2009 Chris Wooding

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

Teana was looking at the books on the living room shelves, checking the clock to see if she had some time to start one before she left when she heard the door open. Within a few moments, Yami Skellington was in the room and draped over the back of the nearest recliner, face buried in the seat cushion.

"I think you're the first person I've ever seen who failed sitting down," she said. "Anyone ever tell you that's not how that works?"

"I want you to know," Yami managed, struggling to crawl out of the contortion he had put himself in. "That this is your fault. Work isn't exhausting if you just do it instead of taking all day about it. I had everything done before noon and just spent the rest of the day going through stuff and arguing with the Administrators. I have a gray hair now—I can feel it. I know it exists."

"Are you done?"

"No I'm not done. I think working from nine to five is for the birds—no wait, that's insulting to birds. I'm never doing that again. Ever. Take a picture, because this is the very last time."

"Not everyone is allergic to work, I'll have you know."

"I'm not everyone," Yami retorted, finally righting himself—by somersaulting into the coffee table.

"Are you done hurting yourself?"

"Boy I hope so."

She kneeled down next to him. "Well, it's nice that you made an effort. And it was nice and quiet as you made said effort—you should do that more often."

"I think you're just trying to get rid of me," Yami accused, trying to get out from his new odd contortion between the coffee table and the recliner.

"Only in the temporary sense," she said, trying to ignore the bad feeling she got when she thought of it in the permanent sense. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?"

"And familiarity breeds contempt."

"Especially with you," she retorted, looking up at the new voice to see Maxwell ambling in. "Which reminds me, I have to go to work. Don't come."

"Aw, I'm hurt," Maxwell said sarcastically, looking at Yami. "Boy you can get your body into some funny shapes."

"Yeah," Yami said. "You know, a friend would help me out."

"I'm not your friend, pal."

"I can see that."

"I'm back!" Kineil called, coming in. "Please tell me that you lovebirds aren't going to be lovebirding—" she came to a screeching halt upon seeing Yami. "Boy you can get your body into some funny shapes."

"That's what he said," Yami said, pointing at Maxwell.

"Strange minds think alike. Don't move—I have to get a camera."

"Something tells me now would be the perfect time to move," Yami said.

"And something tells me she'd probably shove you back down just to take the picture," Teana said, glancing the way Kineil had gone.

"This is true—get up, I want to watch this," Maxwell ordered.

"Help," Yami said to Teana.

"I'm curious to know what you did before I came along," she asked him.

"Mostly just went along with it—I'm hoping you'd rescue me from my dire straits."

Again, that niggling feeling at the base of her skull. "Tempting, but Mitzi will be wondering where I'm at."

"Just tell her I've gone and gotten myself into a fix—she'll understand."

"And Atlas will take bets," Maxwell pointed out.

"This is true."

"I have the camera!" Kineil cheered, coming in. "Now say cheese."

"Cheese," Yami said, smiling as she took the picture. "Now help me up."

"Why? I didn't get you in there."

Teana finally took pity on him and helped him up.

"There," she declared. "Now I have to go to work."

"Why were you like that to begin with?" Kineil asked.

"Teana made me overwork," Yami said, pointing.

"Oh, so that was your fault," Maxwell said, looking at her as he sat on the back of a recliner, feet on the seat cushion.

"That's not how you use one of those," Teana pointed out. "And not using one properly is how he got into that mess to begin with."

"Shame on you," Kineil said, sitting crosslegged on the couch.

"In the interest of not ending up like the schmuck here," Maxwell said, sitting in the chair proper. "So how was your day? That goon made me work."

"Technically, Teana did," Yami said, pointing.

"Oh sure, blame me," Teana said.

"So you admit it," Maxwell said.

"I helped Jake feed a dragon," Kineil said.

There was a beat of silence.

"Run that one again," Maxwell said, pointing an unlit cigar at her. "Do you mean you fed Jake to a dragon? Because that'd be some awful indigestion."

"Who?" Teana asked Yami.

"'Tall' Jake Hemlock—which is a misnomer, because he's not as tall as I am," Yami said.

"I want you to measure your tallness sometime," Kineil said. "Jake is the resident artist—designs all the little things used in day-to-day Magician things. Like the tickets for the Masquerade Ball."

Teana remembered that ticket. "That's…impressive," she decided to say.

"It pays the bills. Tall Jake's goal in life is to design and do a window in the Hall—not that he'd ever get the chance with those stuffy Administrators. No offense, Max."

"None taken," Maxwell said airily.

"He could do my window," Yami said. "I haven't gotten anyone for that yet."

"You're also not old," Kineil pointed out.

"Well, speaking of paying the bills," Teana said, heading for the door. "See you later. Except you," she added, pointing at Maxwell. "You I want to see never."

"I'm detecting a little tension there," Kineil said as Yami hastened to follow Teana.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to walk you to work. Isn't that a thing people do?" Yami asked.

"Yes, and it's sweet, but you have company to entertain."

"They can entertain themselves."

"You'll come home to a destroyed house."

"That's an exaggeration."

"Really? What about those incidents you keep mentioning?"

"Oh yeah. No destroying the house while I'm gone!"

"He's leaving?" she heard Maxwell ask. "Quick—where's the liquor cabinet?"

"You need less inebriated friends," Teana felt obliged to inform him.

"I do," Yami agreed, lacing an arm through hers and opening the door. "Oh, look at that—you're sober."

"Besides me."

"But I find your company stimulating."

And she couldn't shake that annoying feeling of unease. "Tell me about work," she said. "Chatting about work is a thing people do."

"But work is boring."

"We can pretend it isn't."

"I suppose I did a lot of that today," Yami sighed, glancing away as they went down the hill. "Well, the Administrators wanted to ban a lot of books and shows and things 'for the good of the public'—I think their delicate sensibilities just got offended. And then they wanted dancing banned, of all things."

"Do I need a new job?"

"No. I used logic on them."

"How did you use logic on them?"

"By pointing out that dancing is in the Bible and it was mentioned as a good thing—you know, David dancing? And then told them to look it up. For a bunch of supposedly morally upright guys, they didn't seem enthused about that."

Unease was still there. "Maybe they didn't appreciate being schooled?"

"Maybe. And then spending the rest of the day going through all that red tape they had and pretty much destroying it all. Honestly, whoever said less is more was thinking about government."

"Hmm."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"See, that's why I don't want to talk about work," Yami said, looking triumphant. "Why don't we talk about something else?"

"Do you trust Maxwell?" she blurted.

Yami seemed temporarily taken aback. "Okay, let's talk about someone else. Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I trust him as far as I can throw him—or at least, that's what Max says people should."

"Would you trust him with your life?"

"I think I could trust him in a pinch. What brought this on?"

What indeed? "Female intuition?"

"Oh dear—my sisters have that in droves. I'll tell Max he has to sleep in his office then."

"Not his apartment?"

"As it turns out, he moved into his office lock, shock, and barrel because it was bigger than his apartment. And rent free."

"Lock, stock and barrel."

"What?"

"The saying is lock, stock and barrel—not lock, shock and barrel."

"It isn't? Oh. Maybe that's just Heph and Vul."

"Is this related to the incidents?"

"Maybe. But oh look, we're here—didn't that make the trip go fast?"

She didn't know, considering she still felt queasy for some reason. She nodded at Horatio and followed Yami in, where they were greeted by Mitzi.

"Oh dear, don't you look peaked," she observed, looking Teana up and down. "Well, sit down you two—pick a table—and we'll get you all sorted."

Teana certainly hoped so.