A sequel. I finally got off my ass and started this. I hope it turns out as good as "Come what may." Slight bashing on a few things, but think of it more as satirical than scathing. More yummy femslashyness between Ori and Mel.
Disclaimer: Ori, Cheke, Aqua, Sky, Mel, Nitro, Absinthe, Vitriol and Lethe all belong to me. So do some of the other characters used in here. You'll know the ones. My character (Gabriel) also belongs to me. However, the species, places and whatnot belong to Neopets.com. I am making no money off of this, so please don't sue. I am making no copyright claims and am using all these things for the purposes of entertainment.
Like this, love this, or just want to say it's interesting? Tell me so at DeMachina@cs.com Flamers: Don't bother. MSTers: I don't think so. Regular R&R: By all means.
By: Gabriel
Part one: Acid burns.
"Daddy! Daddy! You're home!" Aqua bounced happily over to her father, arms wide open and a big smile on her face. She grabbed tightly onto his body and hugged him as tightly as her small frame would allow.
"It's good to see you too, Aqua honey..." Gabriel said, smiling down at his daughter. Gabriel was a tall man, about six feet even or so. He was also an anthropomorphic gray wolf, just one of the many non-human NeoPets owners. He was dressed like he had just come from a Humphrey Bogart dress-alike competition, resembling one of those old timey detectives from the black and white movies. Film Noir stuff. "So, where are your sisters?"
"Ori's in her room talking to Melissa again. Sky left with a video camera and a sweatband but didn't say where she was going. Cheke is in her room reading her latest issue of "The Lupe House". I swear daddy, why do you let her read that thing? It's just a bunch of half-naked Lupe males posing on furniture."
Gabriel laughed softly. "Don't be so hard on Cheke. She's just got her own thing going. Like you." He grinned at Aqua a little, hazel eyes flashing, letting her know he knew something.
"Well... We all have our quirks..." She clenched her fists tighter, hiding a piece of drawing paper... "Did you bring us anything?" Aqua asked, changing the subject.
"As a matter of fact, I did..." Gabriel reached inside his trench coat and dug around in one of the many pockets. From it he drew out a small magazine. "Neopia's unsolved mysteries." "There's a nice article in there about the Shadow Usul."
Aqua blushed deeply and accepted the magazine with a mumbled thanks.
"DADDY!" Ori practically squealed when she saw her father and ran right up to him, grabbing him tight around the waist.
"Ooof! Hello there dear." He reached into his coat again and pulled out a photograph. "This is for you."
"What..?" Ori asked, looking down at the photo. It was a picture of Princess Fernypoo and Capara in a tender embrace. They had both signed it and included notes. Capara's said, "Treat your little desert flower right, hear?" and Ferny's said "Enjoy a life of ease and passion. Believe me, it's easy." Ori looked up at her father in disbelief. "How..?"
"I was playing Cheat most of the day. We got to talking between rounds. They're really very nice once you get to know them."
"Oh daddy, thank you." Ori said, hugging her father lightly.
"It's what I'm here for. Better go give Cheke her present..." Gabriel walked towards Cheke's room and knocked on the door.
"Just a minute!" Cheke called from within. A lot of shuffling and rustling was heard before she opened the door a little. "Hello there Daddy. Good to see you. When did you get in?"
"Don't worry, I'm not coming in. I know you've got your new Lupe House in there, but I thought you might also like this." From inside the large coat he produced a glossy magazine.
""Immodest Fellows", the special Lupe edition! Oooh, this is good stuff... Oops."
"Don't sweat it. As long as you're focused on this I know you're not on something bad." Gabriel smiled and patted his daughter on the head. "Do you have any idea where your sister was off to with a sweatband and a video camera?"
"My guess is she went to go hide it in the men's locker room down at the gym. Again. You really should stop her."
"That is rather worrisome. After all, she might get caught..."
"I'm home! Daddy!" Sky burst into the door and then made a mad dash for her father as soon as she saw him talking to Cheke.
"Sweetie!" Gabriel embraced his last daughter, noting that she still had her sweatband on. "Down at the gym again?"
"No!" Then she noticed the sweatband. "Yes. But I didn't touch anyone! Thing! Anything!"
"Did you put a camera in the men's locker room?"
"No. I just went down to record some Wockys exercising."
"Really? Then where's the camera?"
"Being repaired. I got all trembly and it fell..." Sky blushed a little.
"Well, here's something to perk you up." Gabriel reached into his coat again and handed Sky a magazine. He's big on reading material for his children.
""Bodybuilder Weekly." With a cover story on Moehogs! Would you look at the deltoids and laterals on THAT guy..." Sky started wandering to her room, seemingly on the verge of drooling.
"So, what's the agenda for today?" Gabriel asked, taking a seat on the couch, very glad for the chance to relax.
"Mel's gonna come over for a bit then we're going shopping for six month anniversary gifts." Ori said, getting a dreamy look on her face.
"Six months... Sis, you're really something. I'm lucky if I get a week." Cheke noted.
"You're lucky if you get dinner." Aqua chuckled, grinning widely at her sister.
"Not funny! That was one time. I didn't ask him to jam his tongue down my throat. He won't do that again." Cheke grinned maliciously. "If he ever thinks of ANYTHING sexual again I'll be very surprised." She made a little kicking motion just to emphasize what she was implying.
"Anything special planned, dear? I'd be happy to foot the bill for anything you might want to do..."
"That's ok, daddy. We're probably just going to go back to her place and have a little party. Nothing big. You can be huge, excessive and overly daddy-like when we hit one year." Ori giggled softly and checked herself in the mirror for the thousandth time.
"I'm going to hold you to that. When you two hit one year I get to throw a huge to-do. No matter what." Gabriel smiled a little, glad to be back with his children again.
"What was the game of choice today?" Cheke asked, slipping onto the couch beside Gabriel.
"Cheat. I did really well today. I even got Ori an autograph from Capara and Fernypoo."
"Ahhh, those two. You must be in utter, squealing ecstasy, sis."
"Well, not yet..." Ori winked at Cheke and giggled a little bit.
Cheke was about to comment further but at that moment the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Aqua, who was closest to the door, scooted over and opened it up.
"Guess who?" Mel smiled and waved into the house. "Hello everyone. Hello sweetheart." She moved to Ori and embraced her tightly. Their lips met is a warm, passionate kiss.
"Some girls have all the luck..." Aqua muttered, looking over the drawing paper she had been hiding. On it was a flattering sketch of the Shadow Usul, in a very approachable, almost tender, pose.
"Hello Mel. Good to see you." Gabriel said with a grin, while Mel and his daughter kissed in the middle of the living room.
"G-good to see you again, sir." Mel commented quietly, blushing deeply. She wasn't usually one to take the initiative like that, but it seemed a nice change of pace.
"Can I get you two anything before you go? Some snacks, water, a motel room?" Gabriel winked after that last comment and caused his daughter and her girlfriend to blush deeply.
"She doesn't need it. Trust me..." Aqua giggled, forgetting what she was feeling to get in a good jab at her sister.
"Aqua! The wall is solid stone!"
"One of you is very loud. I can't tell which one, but you are."
"Errrr..." Mel blushed a deep shade of red, answering the question for everyone.
"W-well... we must be off! Bye everyone! We'll see you later!" Ori practically dragged Mel out of the door. She waved to everyone during the hasty exit, leaving everyone with neutral looks.
"I always figured she was a screamer." Cheke commented flatly, getting a nod from her sister and her father.
"Where shall we go? My father gave me an extra big allowance this week, probably because he knew I'd be shopping for you." Ori and Mel walked through Neopia Central arm-in-arm, looking over the shops that they had wandered past many times before. Somehow, though some lover's intuition they had ended up in the exact same outfit. Not surprising since they shared everything that didn't require special alteration because of differing tail or ear structure. They were both wearing blue jean shorts that were sliced right up to mid-thigh, scandalous to say the least. Both had been decorated with puff-paint and sparkles, which caused them to glitter when they walked. On their feet were white sandals, non-platform, because that would just be silly. They both wore the same t-shirt, a spaghetti-strap belly-exposer that read "Bad-a** chick from the Moulin Rouge." Clearly Gabriel had been bringing over his DVD collection for them.
"Well, I haven't got too much. I could get you some clothing or a gift certificate to your favorite bookstore. Are you sure we should be shopping together? Shouldn't we surprise each other?"
"I guess you're right. But I hate leaving your side." Ori turned her head and planted a kiss on Mel's cheek, causing the Aisha to blush deeply.
"At least try to be a little secretive..."
"Alright I won't tell you all about the huge party dad has planned for our one year. He's promised to go all out, no holds barred."
"I'm not surprised. You were his first."
"I know. Cheke may be older but I was the first one there. He's also spoiling me because of you."
"Me?"
"Yea! You're my first girlfriend. My heart's desire, the light of my life. So he's trying to keep you here. Over-protective father stuff."
"That makes sense. I guess it's just... Aaaa!" Mel tried to say more but she abruptly tripped and landed on the ground, lying on her side for a moment.
"Mel!" Ori went down to check on her, even while Mel was getting back up.
"Awww, what happened? Did the little elitist conformity drone fall? Don't worry, there will be others to take your place." The sneering, unconcerned commentary was somehow chilling in it's lack of concern. The reason for that was that there was a foot in the way of Mel's travel, which would explain the drip. That foot was covered by a brown Doc Marten, a matching one on the other foot. The owner of the feet and boots turned out to be a female Wocky, dressed up in dark olive greens and blacks, a green tee bearing the words "F*** the system" covered by a black and green cammo patterned jacket. Same pattern on the pants. She wore fingerless leather gloves, studded leather bracelets, two leather belts and a spiked leather choker. "Well?"
"Wh-who are you? And why did you do that?" Ori helped Mel back onto her feet and dusted her off.
"Who am I? Who am I? I am my own person, that's who I am. Isn't that right?" The Wocky gestured to three others standing near her.
"That's right! No one tells us who we are!" The first one to respond was a Grarl, a huge red one who seemed to favor basic black clothing ripped nearly to the point of destruction, with chains draped over him.
"It seems such a futile endeavor to tell them anything at all. It's hopeless, you know." The second was an emaciated male skunk kyrii, who did basic black to the extreme. A black suit, black dress shirt, black bow tie, black top hat.
"You are who you wish to be. And nothing can change that." The last was an anomaly to say the least. A female blue Acara who wore a pastel blue sun dress, and carried around a brown briefcase.
"But, for the freedom impaired, I do have a name. Diatribe. Vitriolic Diatribe. Call me Vitriol. And these are my associates, Nitro, Absinthe and Lethe." She pointed to each of her tag-alongs in turn. "As for why, well, it's fun to mess with the drones. You got a problem with that?"
"Yes. You can't just do that to people. It's not nice." Ori hugged Mel protectively.
"Nice? Nice? What do I care about nice? It's not in my "Things to do today" list. Or is it. Lethe?"
Lethe opened up her briefcase and extracted a daily planner. "You are correct, Vitriol. No mention of it."
"There, see? No need to be nice. Now, just run along. I'm getting bored."
"But you can't, it's just not..."
"Vitriol said to leave, I suggest you do it." Nitro lifted one huge fist. Like most Grarls he had tiny hands for his size. But given his size, he made a substantial threat with that gesture.
"At least apologize!"
"Apologize? Me? Never. The system never apologized to me or anyone else. Why should I say sorry to a couple of cogs in the machine? Get out of my face you worthless drones."
"Yes, take your bourgeois, capitalist selves and vacate. This is a place only for the free of mind and spirit, not for the ordered columns of the uneducated masses." Absinthe looked both determined and blase at the same time while he spoke, which said a lot about his overall attitude.
"Just go please, you're upsetting Vitriol." Lethe spoke neither loudly nor insultingly, but rather, politely and even-temperedly. Curiouser and curiouser.
"Ori... Let's just go back to your place. The day is ruined." Mel tugged at Ori's arm and looked pleadingly at her.
Ori snarled at Vitriol, though failed to look very threatening thanks to all of her makeup. "Alright. But I'll see you again."
"Oooh, I'm shaking. Little clueless mall-brat. Slink back to your consumer palace."
Ori and Mel made their way out of the area, Ori trying to pull back and Mel just keeping her on the path home.
"A little enlightenment to their minds and some darkness to their hearts. The day is now complete." Absinthe said, his expression remaining chillingly blase.
"Get a life you frozen-faced freak. You're giving me the creeps. As usual." Lethe whispered to Absinthe, just out of earshot of Vitriol.