Chapter 3: RSVP, Rigging, Retail!
Koushiro wiped a hand over his brow. God, this was harder work than he had first thought. It seemed anything on the Murphy's Dream that could go wrong, would. He was a genius, but this was getting out of hand. Something caught his eye.
"Takeru! No! What the hell are you doing???" The blond haired boy had been ready to take a hammer to the wall.
"I thought you said you wanted this window enlarged." Takeru said, his face a picture of innocence.
"Urgh. I meant the window of overlapping cameras, so I can get total coverage of the room." Koushiro shook his head. Was the boy a complete idiot?
"Then I think you better tell Miyako--" he cut off as the sound of tinkling glass came from the other room. "Too late."
"No! No! No!" Koushiro grabbed air in front of him in exasperation. "Gods, no. Why me?" A picture flashed before his eyes. Two pictures actually. One was Miyako stabbing a telephone, (He still had a bandage around his arm. Damn that voodoo! Not only was it completely illogical, it also hurt like hell.) the other was that awful smirk on Hikari's face. Then (ok, I lied, three pictures) he saw Hikari in a really tight Kaiser outfit. Scary...but pretty damn nice.
Miyako saw the daydream and hastily found a phone in the ship, poking it in places it is anatomically impossible for a phone to have. After seeing Koushiro satisfactorily curled in a fetal position, she said sweetly "What's next, 'Shiro, honey?"
"urgglle" came Koushiro voice weakly from the ball of flesh on the floor.
"Ah." said Takeru. "I think he wants us to knock a bigger window in this wall." He raised his hammer to strike. Koushiro recovered in phenomenal time.
"Ah, no. Just set this antennae up on the mast, OK? Try and make it look like a fishing pole," he said, straightening up. God, he really need to do some research on that voodoo. Urk.
He turned to his laptop and began to orchestrate all the tiny spy cameras around the room when the door opened behind him. Thinking it was Hikari, he spun and saluted.
"Er. Hi Koushiro," Iori said, wondering why he was saluting. "What's with all the broken glass?"
"We had...a slight accident," Koushiro said, looking about for Miyako. She must have been taking lessons from Sora. Where was a worm-eaten apple when you needed it?
Iori stepped cautiously over the pile of broken glass. "How is Project Vouryism going?"
Koushiro frowned. "Not so well. It seems that whatever can go wrong, is going wrong. Sigh. Did you get the invitations delivered?"
"Sort of." Iori hated to lie, but he wasn't risking his neck, not the way Hikari had been acting. Koushiro was too preoccupied to notice his vagueness anyway.
"Good," said Koushiro, then handed him a small video camera. "Find Jyou and the waiter he hired and tell him to put this on his uniform." He turned back to his laptop and began typing in some obscure numbers.
Iori made his way off the ship to go and find Jyou.
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Ken Ichijouji was just finishing lunch when his mother came in with the mail. She smiled and handed him a fancy envelope.
"Here, Ken, this came for you in the mail. Looks like an invitation," she said, smiling in her almost sickly sweet way.
"Hmm?" Ken said, trying not to talk with his mouth full of the unidentified, probably edible substance he had been eating. Taking the envelope cautiously, he wondered who it was from. There was no return address.
After swallowing (with some effort) he said "I wonder who it could be from?"
"Well, open it, dear, and find out," his mom answered from the living room, trying to suppress knowing giggles.
Ken opened it up rather unceremoniously, almost tearing the card in half (he always had been better with a whip than a letter opener.) The stiff, formal white card had enough gold leaf around the edges to make it sink in a pond of Jello. It read:
To Ichijouji Ken.
You are cordially invited to attend
A ball being held upon the ship
Murphy's Dream tomorrow night
Tie and slack rule
Please RSVP at 555-6879
He read the invitation aloud to his mom, who was, like always, overjoyed that Ken was being social. "That's odd," Ken said, as he finished reading it. "There isn't any name. It doesn't say at all who is hosting the ball. Huh."
Ken's mother, of course, had been given the scoop by Iori (She was so overjoyed at the news she didn't quite catch the fact that Daisuke was a guy. That or she didn't care.) and was bursting to tell him, but just barely managed to keep a straight face. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find out, honey."
"Hm. And it is odd that it says tomorrow night. What if it was supposed to come yesterday?" Ken said, frowning in thought. He was a genius no longer, but this seemed fishy to his still higher-than-average-intellect.
"And is it just me, or is that Miyako's phone number in the RSVP?" he wondered, more puzzled and now a bit chagrined. "Don't tell me this is another plot to get me and her together. Argh."
"No...I think not, Ken, dear. Why don't you just RSVP and we'll see what clothes we have for you?"
Ken sighed. There was no defeating his mother. She was just too nice. "Fine." He called up the number on the card and got an answering machine.
"We're sorry we cannot answer the phone right now. If you are RSVPing for the party aboard the Murphy's Dream, please leave your name and number. "
Ken complied to the machine, then wondered, Is it my imagination, or did that sound like Hikari?
Whatever.
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Daisuke was tossing a soccer ball up and down as he lay on his bed, with the headphones on loud. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jun enter the room. Losing whatever concentration he had, he forgot to catch the ball and it landed on his head, knocking the headphones off.
"Oww," he grumbled to Jun. "I told you never to come in without knocking, Jun!" He was annoyed. He had almost beat his record, catching the ball a record 2,378 times.
"I did knock, dork. You were just blasting the music too loud to hear me." Jun huffed, then shoved something into his hand. It was a fancy envelope, not something she would have expected to be addressed to Daisuke. "This came in the mail. Well, actually, it was in the flower-pot, but I assume that it got there by accident."
Daisuke snatched the envelope away and ripped it open. "Hey," he said, "Looks like I've been invited to a fancy party." His invitation was identical to Ken's, except, it was of course, addressed to him.
Jun snorted. "You? At a fancy party? Ha! Don't make me laugh. You'll make a complete fool of yourself. Plus it says you have to dress up. You don't even have any decent clothes."
Daisuke snorted as Chibimon promptly pulled the rug out from under Jun. Ha. And he did too have nice clothes. Somewhere. He hoped.
"This is gonna be a blast!" said Daisuke, and went to RSVP. He hoped Hikari would be there.
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Jyou was experiencing some slight problems in obtaining his "cap't's" fee. "No, sir, I'm telling you the truth, it isn't for me!!!"
The guy at the counter gave him a steely glare from behind his glasses, which wasn't very effective, since he was blind and giving a steely glare to somewhere above and to the left of Jyou's shoulder. It was anyone's guess as to how he knew Jyou was underage.
God. This had to have been the worst day I have ever had, Jyou thought as he left the liquor shop empty handed. "I've been to every liquor store in Tokyo...and I still have a lack of rum," he muttered beneath his breath. Hikari is going to kill me. Or worse. Jyou started to get some bad mental pictures at that point, so barely heard the psssttttt that came from the alley.
"Psssstttt! Pssstt!" A voice hissed from the alley. Jyou almost fell over, he was under so much stress. Then he thought, What is with the dingy, dark alley thing today? The mental pictures flashed again, and he popped into the alleyway.
"What? Who's there?" Jyou said, nervous that there might be more human-sized rats around. When the figure emerged from the shadows, his first thought was, Phew. It doesn't look like a rat. His second was A rat would have been a hell of a lot better. The figure actually resembled a deranged penguin.
"Hey, I think I can help you with yer rum problem, kid," the deranged penguin said, coming into focus. Jyou could now see that he had a case of rum on a small cart he was dragging along. Jyou wasn't about to ask where he got the alcohol, but he was about to ask
"How much?"
"30 dollars, the whole case. A real steal, eh?"
Jyou sighed. "I only need two bottles."
"Take it or leave it, kid," the deranged penguin muttered, beginning to waddle away.
Gods! Jyou thought "Fine, OK, I'll buy the case." He shelled out $30, then grabbed the case, trying not to come in contact with the penguin man. As he headed down the street to the boathouse, he couldn't help wondering what company was doing all those cross-breeding experiments, and what had gone terribly wrong.
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Koushiro wiped a hand over his brow. God, this was harder work than he had first thought. It seemed anything on the Murphy's Dream that could go wrong, would. He was a genius, but this was getting out of hand. Something caught his eye.
"Takeru! No! What the hell are you doing???" The blond haired boy had been ready to take a hammer to the wall.
"I thought you said you wanted this window enlarged." Takeru said, his face a picture of innocence.
"Urgh. I meant the window of overlapping cameras, so I can get total coverage of the room." Koushiro shook his head. Was the boy a complete idiot?
"Then I think you better tell Miyako--" he cut off as the sound of tinkling glass came from the other room. "Too late."
"No! No! No!" Koushiro grabbed air in front of him in exasperation. "Gods, no. Why me?" A picture flashed before his eyes. Two pictures actually. One was Miyako stabbing a telephone, (He still had a bandage around his arm. Damn that voodoo! Not only was it completely illogical, it also hurt like hell.) the other was that awful smirk on Hikari's face. Then (ok, I lied, three pictures) he saw Hikari in a really tight Kaiser outfit. Scary...but pretty damn nice.
Miyako saw the daydream and hastily found a phone in the ship, poking it in places it is anatomically impossible for a phone to have. After seeing Koushiro satisfactorily curled in a fetal position, she said sweetly "What's next, 'Shiro, honey?"
"urgglle" came Koushiro voice weakly from the ball of flesh on the floor.
"Ah." said Takeru. "I think he wants us to knock a bigger window in this wall." He raised his hammer to strike. Koushiro recovered in phenomenal time.
"Ah, no. Just set this antennae up on the mast, OK? Try and make it look like a fishing pole," he said, straightening up. God, he really need to do some research on that voodoo. Urk.
He turned to his laptop and began to orchestrate all the tiny spy cameras around the room when the door opened behind him. Thinking it was Hikari, he spun and saluted.
"Er. Hi Koushiro," Iori said, wondering why he was saluting. "What's with all the broken glass?"
"We had...a slight accident," Koushiro said, looking about for Miyako. She must have been taking lessons from Sora. Where was a worm-eaten apple when you needed it?
Iori stepped cautiously over the pile of broken glass. "How is Project Vouryism going?"
Koushiro frowned. "Not so well. It seems that whatever can go wrong, is going wrong. Sigh. Did you get the invitations delivered?"
"Sort of." Iori hated to lie, but he wasn't risking his neck, not the way Hikari had been acting. Koushiro was too preoccupied to notice his vagueness anyway.
"Good," said Koushiro, then handed him a small video camera. "Find Jyou and the waiter he hired and tell him to put this on his uniform." He turned back to his laptop and began typing in some obscure numbers.
Iori made his way off the ship to go and find Jyou.
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Ken Ichijouji was just finishing lunch when his mother came in with the mail. She smiled and handed him a fancy envelope.
"Here, Ken, this came for you in the mail. Looks like an invitation," she said, smiling in her almost sickly sweet way.
"Hmm?" Ken said, trying not to talk with his mouth full of the unidentified, probably edible substance he had been eating. Taking the envelope cautiously, he wondered who it was from. There was no return address.
After swallowing (with some effort) he said "I wonder who it could be from?"
"Well, open it, dear, and find out," his mom answered from the living room, trying to suppress knowing giggles.
Ken opened it up rather unceremoniously, almost tearing the card in half (he always had been better with a whip than a letter opener.) The stiff, formal white card had enough gold leaf around the edges to make it sink in a pond of Jello. It read:
To Ichijouji Ken.
You are cordially invited to attend
A ball being held upon the ship
Murphy's Dream tomorrow night
Tie and slack rule
Please RSVP at 555-6879
He read the invitation aloud to his mom, who was, like always, overjoyed that Ken was being social. "That's odd," Ken said, as he finished reading it. "There isn't any name. It doesn't say at all who is hosting the ball. Huh."
Ken's mother, of course, had been given the scoop by Iori (She was so overjoyed at the news she didn't quite catch the fact that Daisuke was a guy. That or she didn't care.) and was bursting to tell him, but just barely managed to keep a straight face. "Oh, I'm sure you'll find out, honey."
"Hm. And it is odd that it says tomorrow night. What if it was supposed to come yesterday?" Ken said, frowning in thought. He was a genius no longer, but this seemed fishy to his still higher-than-average-intellect.
"And is it just me, or is that Miyako's phone number in the RSVP?" he wondered, more puzzled and now a bit chagrined. "Don't tell me this is another plot to get me and her together. Argh."
"No...I think not, Ken, dear. Why don't you just RSVP and we'll see what clothes we have for you?"
Ken sighed. There was no defeating his mother. She was just too nice. "Fine." He called up the number on the card and got an answering machine.
"We're sorry we cannot answer the phone right now. If you are RSVPing for the party aboard the Murphy's Dream, please leave your name and number. "
Ken complied to the machine, then wondered, Is it my imagination, or did that sound like Hikari?
Whatever.
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Daisuke was tossing a soccer ball up and down as he lay on his bed, with the headphones on loud. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jun enter the room. Losing whatever concentration he had, he forgot to catch the ball and it landed on his head, knocking the headphones off.
"Oww," he grumbled to Jun. "I told you never to come in without knocking, Jun!" He was annoyed. He had almost beat his record, catching the ball a record 2,378 times.
"I did knock, dork. You were just blasting the music too loud to hear me." Jun huffed, then shoved something into his hand. It was a fancy envelope, not something she would have expected to be addressed to Daisuke. "This came in the mail. Well, actually, it was in the flower-pot, but I assume that it got there by accident."
Daisuke snatched the envelope away and ripped it open. "Hey," he said, "Looks like I've been invited to a fancy party." His invitation was identical to Ken's, except, it was of course, addressed to him.
Jun snorted. "You? At a fancy party? Ha! Don't make me laugh. You'll make a complete fool of yourself. Plus it says you have to dress up. You don't even have any decent clothes."
Daisuke snorted as Chibimon promptly pulled the rug out from under Jun. Ha. And he did too have nice clothes. Somewhere. He hoped.
"This is gonna be a blast!" said Daisuke, and went to RSVP. He hoped Hikari would be there.
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Jyou was experiencing some slight problems in obtaining his "cap't's" fee. "No, sir, I'm telling you the truth, it isn't for me!!!"
The guy at the counter gave him a steely glare from behind his glasses, which wasn't very effective, since he was blind and giving a steely glare to somewhere above and to the left of Jyou's shoulder. It was anyone's guess as to how he knew Jyou was underage.
God. This had to have been the worst day I have ever had, Jyou thought as he left the liquor shop empty handed. "I've been to every liquor store in Tokyo...and I still have a lack of rum," he muttered beneath his breath. Hikari is going to kill me. Or worse. Jyou started to get some bad mental pictures at that point, so barely heard the psssttttt that came from the alley.
"Psssstttt! Pssstt!" A voice hissed from the alley. Jyou almost fell over, he was under so much stress. Then he thought, What is with the dingy, dark alley thing today? The mental pictures flashed again, and he popped into the alleyway.
"What? Who's there?" Jyou said, nervous that there might be more human-sized rats around. When the figure emerged from the shadows, his first thought was, Phew. It doesn't look like a rat. His second was A rat would have been a hell of a lot better. The figure actually resembled a deranged penguin.
"Hey, I think I can help you with yer rum problem, kid," the deranged penguin said, coming into focus. Jyou could now see that he had a case of rum on a small cart he was dragging along. Jyou wasn't about to ask where he got the alcohol, but he was about to ask
"How much?"
"30 dollars, the whole case. A real steal, eh?"
Jyou sighed. "I only need two bottles."
"Take it or leave it, kid," the deranged penguin muttered, beginning to waddle away.
Gods! Jyou thought "Fine, OK, I'll buy the case." He shelled out $30, then grabbed the case, trying not to come in contact with the penguin man. As he headed down the street to the boathouse, he couldn't help wondering what company was doing all those cross-breeding experiments, and what had gone terribly wrong.
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