"Oh, Xelloss-sama!" cried Filia in distress, leaping up from her chair. Seeing the innkeeper passing by, the blonde girl jumped up, grabbing a dishcloth from him and quickly returning to the terrified Mazoku's side. "Let me help you wipe that up..."
She began dabbing at Xelloss's pants with the cloth, trying to get the coffee stains out.
Lina glared jealously at Filia. "I'll help him!"
The crimson-haired sorceress snatched the cloth from Filia, and proceeded to take over the task of mopping up the spilled coffee on Xelloss's person.
Filia, of course, was having none of that. "I got that first!" she protested, yanking the cloth from Lina's grip.
"Hey!"
"Mine!"
"Give that back!"
"Let go!"
Most red-blooded males would have been more than happy to have two pretty girls fighting over who got to mop spilled coffee up from their laps, but not Xelloss. Not when the two girls in question were Filia Ul Copt and Lina Inverse, two of the most dangerous females he knew, and probably capable of destroying a small city on their own. Heck, Lina could destroy a small city on her own; and who knew about Filia, with that enormous mace?
Besides, the coffee in his lap was hot.
One more tug, one of the girls' hands - he didn't know which - sliding into his lap by accident, and Xelloss could take it no more. With a decidedly undignified and un-Xelloss-like squeak, the purple-haired Trickster Priest shoved his chair back from the table, and fled.
"Look what you did!" Lina exclaimed crossly, glaring at the blonde girl opposite her. "You scared him away!"
Filia glared right back. "It was your fault!"
The rest of the party, who had watched the scene with morbid curiosity and a high level of disbelief, simply gaped at the squabbling girls.
"Uh, Lina-san, Filia-san, are you feeling alright?" ventured Amelia weakly.
"Perfectly fine, Amelia," Lina reassured the dark-haired girl. Then, realising that Filia had made no reply, she turned, only to discover that the blonde girl had sprinted off after Xelloss.
"HEY!" the crimson-haired girl dashed off in hot pursuit. "Xelloss-sama is mine!"
Amelia's mouth fell open. //This is one *weird* dream!//
Martina, face still buried in her hands, groaned in despair. //Can this get *any* worse?//
What with all the excitement and decidedly weird occurences that morning, Zelgadis hadn't even gotten his daily fix of coffee yet. And the lack of caffeine was making him grumpy - well, more grumpy than usual, anyway.
He looked around the table for the coffee pot, only to find that, while everyone else had been gaping at Lina and Filia fighting over Xelloss //Ugh, why *Xelloss*?!?// - Syphiel had snagged the coffee pot for herself and was currently monopolising the coffee and making polite conversation with Gourry at the same time.
Grumbling to himself, Zelgadis got up to get a fresh pot of coffee from the innkeeper.
[to be continued...]
