Disclaimer: Namco owns all of these characters. Me? I just write about them because I have nothing better to do...
"Life sucks. You know, first, my best bud---no, scratch that, my brother, dies at the hands of this axe wielding behemoth while I was in India. And so, I decide to avenge his death by traveling West with this pubescent---okay, he's not pubescent but he's a.... cherry. Yeah. A cherry. That pretty much sums it up.
"Anyway, we were with this Chinese girl who makes it her duty in life to nag my ear off. So we're in beautiful lovely...Sicily. Or was it The Vatican? Doesn't matter. The kids were somethin' else. The girl and the cherry argued---you know, I think she liked him. And that's why they argued an---Hey. You listenin'?" The olive-skinned young man nudged the presumably comatose and red-nosed one beside him with his face resting against the bar countertop. A mug of half-consumed alcohol and a myriad empty ones were scattered around his sprawled arm.
The man gave no response at first and only after a few more nudges did he even stir. "Mm. What?" the old man said, his breath laced with so much alcohol, the younger one was forced to lean his head back with a scowl.
"Hey, that's not right, mein freund! I buy you a drink so you can listen to my story. And you fall asleep on me?"
"But your stories are," the older man paused, trying to find the right words to say, "lengthy. hearing your sea stories seem to take forever. And alcohol makes me sleepy!"
"Just because you've never seen a kraken and lived to tell about it..."
"Marky--"
"It's Maxi," the younger one interrupted, firmly and proudly.
"...Maxi," the German said with a roll of his eyes. "If you really want something to speak of that won't make me sleep, speak of her." He pointed to the entrance of the tavern, where a petite young woman with the face of a fairy tale's princess came in.
Maxi, though with slightly impaired senses was never handicapped when it came to scrutinizing beautiful women, no matter how much alcohol he drank; and this one was of no exception. He eyed her as she traipsed carefully through the place, as innocent and beautiful as a rose.
He also spotted the gargantuan weapon, a zanbatou, held in her hands.
With many thorns, he thought with a grin.
"Have you ever seen anyone like her? Not me---well, too many times anyway," the man seated beside Maxi said. "She's a foreigner. You can tell. Look at the almond shape of her eyes." There was no doubt in anyone in that tavern's mind that this young beauty was from the Far East.
In a way, she reminded Maxi of Xianghua, the bubble and innocent Chinese girl he had affectionately called a nag, just to make her angry, which he considered both cute and amusing. This girl was probably older than Xianghua by a couple of years; she was indeed taller and of a more slender build, if his memory served him correctly. And that hair! The stranger had beautiful copper colored locks twisted into a braid with tips that brushed against the small of her back.
"She's real pretty, huh?" the drunk one commented.
As the girl sat at a vacant table, Maxi faintly nodded to him in reply. Where have I seen her before? I know I've seen LOTS of women but this one really stands out...!
Then he saw them. Emerald earrings appeared after she tucked strands of hair behind the brim of her ear. There was no mistaking her identity now.
The situation was so surreal, Maxi couldn't help but chuckle. The girl eyed him suspiciously as he approached her table, his steps lacking any wobbles one would expect from someone who had nearly drank his weight in alcohol. She didn't shy away from those rubies he gazed at her with, nor did she succumb to the charms of his handsome and crooked smile. "Can I help you?"
Just when Maxi thought his smile couldn't widen any further, it did. Tenfold. "Heh. You're that girl Xiang' fought with at Rhodes, aren't you?"
"Excuse me?"
Maxi grabbed a creaky wooden chair and spinned it with his palm so that it was reversed as he dropped into a seat on it, resting his sinewy and tanned forearms on the backrest. "You attacked Xianghua months ago at Rhodes because you thought she stole some earrings from you."
"I don't know what you're speaking of."
"Oh no? Then how do you explain," Maxi leaned forward and flicked the girl's dangling earrings with his index, "these?" His grin almost grew wicked.
The girl gave him a disgusted look then turned her head with a toss. "You're just drunk."
"DE-Nile isn't just a river in Egypt, you know."
The girl abruptly stood and grabbed her weapon. Calmly, Maxi watched her stomp the life out of her galoshes on the way out. Only when she was nearing the egress did he make any attempt to halt her. He curled his lower lip inward further than he did the upper and let out a shrill whistle, to catch her attention. She ignored him, which only made him call out to her. "You're very stubborn, Mi Na Seung!"
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A/N: YEOW! Two chapters typed out and uploaded in the same day! x_X That has gotta be a first for me... Two comments and then you can do as you please. ^^;; One, I really love this chapter 'cause it features Maxi, one of my fave characters---hm. I might write about him someday. And two, I tried to make this as easy to visualize as possible. I hope I did a good job!
Please write a review or send me an e-mail at: kaldea@tekken.cc
