The sun rose and Ivan stretched his thin but long arms as he sat up in bed.
He brushed the flowing blonde hair from his eyes and yawned heavily.
Today was his day to go shopping for Dargon, and he and Sheba had agreed to
go together. Sheba had chosen to remain obscure in the identity of her
target, while Ivan had told her almost right away. Ivan kicked his covers
off and slid out of his bed like liquid. Standing up, he quickly changed
into his purple robes and grabbed his walking stick. He turned to his
roommate, the currently sleeping Triad.
"Wake up, Triad. The sun's coming up."
"Five more minutes." Triad mumbled.
"Come on, Triad. Get up; the day is calling for you!"
"No way." The inventor snapped back. "After how I disgraced myself yesterday, I'm not getting out of this bed until Christmas!"
"That's in two days, Triad. You can't stay in bed that long. Besides, it wasn't that embarrassing."
"Remember: 'I'm SPARTICUS!!!'?!" Triad sat forward, blue sunglasses still donning his face; he never took them off, even when he slept. "How about 'To be or not to be?' Huh?! You remember that?!"
"Yes, and Triad, the 'to be or not to be' thing was really inspired. Someone really should write that speech down."
"I was under the influence! How could anyone think that speech was inspired?!"
"It sounded magnificent. I'm sure whomever would put it down on parchment would certainly become famous. I hope you remember it, Triad."
"I hardly remember what I said, let alone being capable of writing it down." Triad moaned. "Go shopping with Sheba. Besides, I'm exhausted right now. I'm going back to sleep." Triad stated, his head impacting his pillow with a soft thunk. He began snoring almost instantly. Ivan chuckled to himself, leaving the muddled inventor to his sleep. He quickly left his room and descended his stairs down to the main dining room, where Sheba sat, waiting patiently.
"Hello, Ivan." Sheba smiled, seeing the wind seer entering the room. "You slept well, I hope." She stood and walked next to Ivan.
"Yes, very well." Ivan said, receiving a warm embrace from the fellow Jupiter Adept. They had been in love with each other for quite some time now, but the two younger Adepts were more quiet about their relationship than everyone else in the group. "I'm assuming your night was equally as restful?" Sheba laughed lightly.
"Yes. So, shall we go?"
"Let's." Ivan stated, as they walked out of the inn together. "So, who IS your secret Santa, Sheba?"
"If you have to know, it's Isaac, Ivan." Sheba smiled. "I really think I could enjoy buying Isaac a present. It's just a matter of thinking like Mia, right? What would Mia want to buy Isaac?"
"Isaac has an amulet right now, he's never going to get rid of that or his sword, or his scarf, either. I know. He needs a hat."
"A hat, Ivan? Why not gloves or boots, or something practical?"
"Well, his boots have been in the finest condition since I met him, and his gloves the same way. Somehow he manages to treat them so they never wear out. Isaac isn't a man for fancy clothes or jewelry either. The only jewelry I've ever seen him wear is that amulet he never lets out of his sight. There's really not much else he needs. He always keeps everything of his so well maintained while still using it very often."
"I've got an idea of what to get him besides a hat."
"What?"
"Well, he doesn't have a field knife. I've overheard him once about wanting one several weeks back, so why not get him one?" Sheba suggested.
"I still think he needs a hat."
"We can get him one of those too." Sheba smiled. "It's not like we don't have the money for both. What are you planning on getting Dargon?"
"I saw some especially nice padded gloves in a store not far from here."
"You're right, Dargon's under-gloves are getting a tad ratty, aren't they? Well, let's not waste any time. Where to first, the hat, the gloves, or the knife?"
"Let's get the knife last. It'll look funny carrying it around the whole day. Let's go grab Dargon's gloves first." Ivan replied, heading to the shop he had spotted a couple days before. The two young Jupiter Adepts walked there side by side, and entered the store and made the purchase without incident. "Well, at least my shopping was a lot easier than Triad's."
"Poor guy; he never can catch a single break, can he?" Sheba stated.
"Nope. I feel rather sorry for him sometimes. Not only does he inadvertently make a dunce out of himself at every opportunity, his past isn't all sugar and cookies either."
"I'm aware. . . it was his inventions that caused Lalivero's fall to Babi. He never intended any of them to be used in war. The amount of regret he has is amazing. . . especially how he feels of how it affected me."
"He told you? He apologized for what happened?"
"He didn't have to. There was never anything to be sorry for. Besides, after our meeting with Babi, I read his mind. . . that's how I know. He's never been able to figure out how to apologize to me."
"Not that he needs to." Ivan said.
"Not that I WANT him to." Sheba sighed. "Oh well, let's go get Isaac's gifts." She paced off for a store she knew sold almost every clothing item in the country. Sheba had scouted many of the stores in the area for the past few days now, and so she had a pretty good idea of where she was going. She and Ivan entered the store together and immediately made for the hat section.
"Wow, quite a selection. I didn't even know this many types of hats existed." Ivan stated, breathless. "Well, what suits Isaac here?" Ivan asked, picking up a hat. The hat was a black derby hat.
"No. Definitely not. How about this?" Sheba asked, pulling out a flatter hat the covered the top of the skull.
"Not at all. . . it would rest on Isaac's spiky hair, not his head." Ivan laughed, pulling out a rather large sombrero. He put it on his head, the hat's radius extending twice the width of Ivan's frame. The young Jupiter Adept looked stupidly ridiculous in the large and floppy hat. "How about this?"
"That's funny looking on you, Ivan. Besides, Isaac would hate it."
"Yeah, you're right." He said. They continued to sift through various hats until Sheba uncovered a brown snap-brimmed cap; it looked like something an adventurer would wear.
"Wow, this one's nice."
"Let me see." Ivan said, putting the hat on his own head. "Well, how do I look?"
Sheba smiled. "It looks terrible on you, but it will look great on Isaac."
"Wait, how can it look so terrible on me and look really good on him?"
"Well, the shape of your heads are different, you wear different clothes, and your eyes are different color; violet and brown doesn't mix. Blue and brown work quite well, if you ask me."
"Well, you're the one buying for him. If you say he'll like it, he most likely will. I say we take it." Ivan smiled. Sheba always did have an eye for people's tastes, and though Isaac mostly kept his personal preferences to himself, Sheba could still read him like an open book. The female Jupiter Adept didn't even need to use Mind Read to look inside peoples thoughts to find the answers to their tastes. Sheba removed the brown hat from Ivan's head and smiled. She walked toward the shopkeeper's counter and set the hat on the counter as Ivan's voice rang out.
"Sheba! How about this for Isaac?"
"Please Ivan, not another hat. . ." Sheba muttered without turning around.
"No, look what I found." Ivan smiled as he walked closer to Sheba. The female turned around and giggled at what she saw. Ivan was holding a pink bottle with a label stamped on it. Apparently, it was some kind of 'love potion'. The label said it was guaranteed to spice up a relationship. "Well, Isaac is a little lovebird, after all."
"I don't think him and Mia need the help, Ivan." She said, giggling. "But, it'd be funny to see his face when he opens it. Put it on the counter. I'd like to see what he has to say about it." She gave the money to the shopkeeper and left for the supply shop, Ivan close on her heels. "A love potion. . . If Isaac doesn't think it's funny, Mia sure as heck will."
"But its like you said. . . it's not like they need it to be all lovey- dovey." Ivan laughed. "They're together so much it makes me want to throw up sometimes!"
"If I hadn't known you were being sarcastic with a tinge of jealousy, I'd believe you." Sheba smiled. "So, you're jealous that Mia and Isaac spend so much time together and we don't?"
"No, that's not what. . . I mean. . ."
"Don't bother, Ivan, I know how you feel. We're just different than they are, that's all."
"You're right, as usual, Sheba." Ivan sighed. "So, what kind of utility knife should we get him?" He said, as they walked into the warm store. The wall is filled with every type of knife imaginable; everything from a small kitchen knife to well sharpened machete blade. All were different sizes and makes, but they all looked practical in some form or another.
"Maybe we should get him a heavy duty medium sized knife. . ." Sheba said, reaching for a brown handled hunter's knife. "This looks sturdy enough. Do you like it, Ivan?"
"Yes."
"I'll go pay for it. Wait for me here, okay, Ivan?" Sheba stated, walking off to the counter on the other side of the store. Ivan sighed as he tapped his foot idly. He heard the giggling of children on one side of the store and looked to see. Several children were putting up a large Christmas tree, and they seemed to be having some trouble decorating it. They each fumbled with several strands of tinsel, attempting to get it on the tree. Ivan smiled, and he walked over to help.
"Do you need a hand?" He asked the two young boys and three young girls.
"Thanks mister, but I think you may be a little too short to help us decorate the entire tree."
"Short?!" Ivan replied. "I may not be tall, but I can decorate a tree with the best of them." He reached for the golden strand of tinsel and began to wrap it around the tree. The children giggled quietly behind Ivan, as he finished wrapping the strand, completing most of the difficult work. "There. You see, it's really not that. . ." He said, turning around. The children began laughing harder as they charged around the tree, each holding their own strand of tinsel. Ivan stopped speaking as he realized the children had pulled the tinsel taut around his body, effectively tying him into the pine tree. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Ivan shouted, trying to struggle free. The children did nothing but laugh more as they made a second tinsel run. Ivan found himself bound even tighter to the tree. After the kids had finished their second run, the largest child, a cute twelve year old girl, took the star meant to cover the top of the tree, and placed it on top of Ivan's head.
"Talk about adding insult to injury!" Ivan whined, as the kids walked away laughing to no end. "Agh!" The young Jupiter Adept struggled strongly, only to be poked and prodded by the branches of the pine tree.
***********************
Sheba dropped the fifty coins for the knife on the counter and the shopkeeper smiled as he took the money.
"Thank you, ma'am. Have a very merry Christmas." The shopkeeper stated.
"Thank you, good sir. May you yourself have the same as you wish unto others." Sheba smiled with a reply. She walked back over to the knife section, but Ivan was found nowhere. She glanced left and right, until she heard the grunts of Ivan. She turned, and walked toward the sounds. She immediately burst out in a deep and hearty laugh as she saw Ivan. Her true love was tied to the tree in ten strands of golden tinsel, and he couldn't seem to dislodge himself from the decorations. The coup de grace was the star that adorned his skull, and how ridiculous he looked.
"Sheba, stop laughing and get me loose!" Ivan shouted.
"No way, Ivan." Sheba said, face red with laughter and tears welling in her eyes. "I have to get this down on paper!" She laughed, producing a piece of paper and a stick of charcoal. She pulled up a chair and sat down and began sketching the picture of poor Ivan on the paper.
"Sheba! Get me down! Curse your incredible artistic skills! Sheba!"
"Wake up, Triad. The sun's coming up."
"Five more minutes." Triad mumbled.
"Come on, Triad. Get up; the day is calling for you!"
"No way." The inventor snapped back. "After how I disgraced myself yesterday, I'm not getting out of this bed until Christmas!"
"That's in two days, Triad. You can't stay in bed that long. Besides, it wasn't that embarrassing."
"Remember: 'I'm SPARTICUS!!!'?!" Triad sat forward, blue sunglasses still donning his face; he never took them off, even when he slept. "How about 'To be or not to be?' Huh?! You remember that?!"
"Yes, and Triad, the 'to be or not to be' thing was really inspired. Someone really should write that speech down."
"I was under the influence! How could anyone think that speech was inspired?!"
"It sounded magnificent. I'm sure whomever would put it down on parchment would certainly become famous. I hope you remember it, Triad."
"I hardly remember what I said, let alone being capable of writing it down." Triad moaned. "Go shopping with Sheba. Besides, I'm exhausted right now. I'm going back to sleep." Triad stated, his head impacting his pillow with a soft thunk. He began snoring almost instantly. Ivan chuckled to himself, leaving the muddled inventor to his sleep. He quickly left his room and descended his stairs down to the main dining room, where Sheba sat, waiting patiently.
"Hello, Ivan." Sheba smiled, seeing the wind seer entering the room. "You slept well, I hope." She stood and walked next to Ivan.
"Yes, very well." Ivan said, receiving a warm embrace from the fellow Jupiter Adept. They had been in love with each other for quite some time now, but the two younger Adepts were more quiet about their relationship than everyone else in the group. "I'm assuming your night was equally as restful?" Sheba laughed lightly.
"Yes. So, shall we go?"
"Let's." Ivan stated, as they walked out of the inn together. "So, who IS your secret Santa, Sheba?"
"If you have to know, it's Isaac, Ivan." Sheba smiled. "I really think I could enjoy buying Isaac a present. It's just a matter of thinking like Mia, right? What would Mia want to buy Isaac?"
"Isaac has an amulet right now, he's never going to get rid of that or his sword, or his scarf, either. I know. He needs a hat."
"A hat, Ivan? Why not gloves or boots, or something practical?"
"Well, his boots have been in the finest condition since I met him, and his gloves the same way. Somehow he manages to treat them so they never wear out. Isaac isn't a man for fancy clothes or jewelry either. The only jewelry I've ever seen him wear is that amulet he never lets out of his sight. There's really not much else he needs. He always keeps everything of his so well maintained while still using it very often."
"I've got an idea of what to get him besides a hat."
"What?"
"Well, he doesn't have a field knife. I've overheard him once about wanting one several weeks back, so why not get him one?" Sheba suggested.
"I still think he needs a hat."
"We can get him one of those too." Sheba smiled. "It's not like we don't have the money for both. What are you planning on getting Dargon?"
"I saw some especially nice padded gloves in a store not far from here."
"You're right, Dargon's under-gloves are getting a tad ratty, aren't they? Well, let's not waste any time. Where to first, the hat, the gloves, or the knife?"
"Let's get the knife last. It'll look funny carrying it around the whole day. Let's go grab Dargon's gloves first." Ivan replied, heading to the shop he had spotted a couple days before. The two young Jupiter Adepts walked there side by side, and entered the store and made the purchase without incident. "Well, at least my shopping was a lot easier than Triad's."
"Poor guy; he never can catch a single break, can he?" Sheba stated.
"Nope. I feel rather sorry for him sometimes. Not only does he inadvertently make a dunce out of himself at every opportunity, his past isn't all sugar and cookies either."
"I'm aware. . . it was his inventions that caused Lalivero's fall to Babi. He never intended any of them to be used in war. The amount of regret he has is amazing. . . especially how he feels of how it affected me."
"He told you? He apologized for what happened?"
"He didn't have to. There was never anything to be sorry for. Besides, after our meeting with Babi, I read his mind. . . that's how I know. He's never been able to figure out how to apologize to me."
"Not that he needs to." Ivan said.
"Not that I WANT him to." Sheba sighed. "Oh well, let's go get Isaac's gifts." She paced off for a store she knew sold almost every clothing item in the country. Sheba had scouted many of the stores in the area for the past few days now, and so she had a pretty good idea of where she was going. She and Ivan entered the store together and immediately made for the hat section.
"Wow, quite a selection. I didn't even know this many types of hats existed." Ivan stated, breathless. "Well, what suits Isaac here?" Ivan asked, picking up a hat. The hat was a black derby hat.
"No. Definitely not. How about this?" Sheba asked, pulling out a flatter hat the covered the top of the skull.
"Not at all. . . it would rest on Isaac's spiky hair, not his head." Ivan laughed, pulling out a rather large sombrero. He put it on his head, the hat's radius extending twice the width of Ivan's frame. The young Jupiter Adept looked stupidly ridiculous in the large and floppy hat. "How about this?"
"That's funny looking on you, Ivan. Besides, Isaac would hate it."
"Yeah, you're right." He said. They continued to sift through various hats until Sheba uncovered a brown snap-brimmed cap; it looked like something an adventurer would wear.
"Wow, this one's nice."
"Let me see." Ivan said, putting the hat on his own head. "Well, how do I look?"
Sheba smiled. "It looks terrible on you, but it will look great on Isaac."
"Wait, how can it look so terrible on me and look really good on him?"
"Well, the shape of your heads are different, you wear different clothes, and your eyes are different color; violet and brown doesn't mix. Blue and brown work quite well, if you ask me."
"Well, you're the one buying for him. If you say he'll like it, he most likely will. I say we take it." Ivan smiled. Sheba always did have an eye for people's tastes, and though Isaac mostly kept his personal preferences to himself, Sheba could still read him like an open book. The female Jupiter Adept didn't even need to use Mind Read to look inside peoples thoughts to find the answers to their tastes. Sheba removed the brown hat from Ivan's head and smiled. She walked toward the shopkeeper's counter and set the hat on the counter as Ivan's voice rang out.
"Sheba! How about this for Isaac?"
"Please Ivan, not another hat. . ." Sheba muttered without turning around.
"No, look what I found." Ivan smiled as he walked closer to Sheba. The female turned around and giggled at what she saw. Ivan was holding a pink bottle with a label stamped on it. Apparently, it was some kind of 'love potion'. The label said it was guaranteed to spice up a relationship. "Well, Isaac is a little lovebird, after all."
"I don't think him and Mia need the help, Ivan." She said, giggling. "But, it'd be funny to see his face when he opens it. Put it on the counter. I'd like to see what he has to say about it." She gave the money to the shopkeeper and left for the supply shop, Ivan close on her heels. "A love potion. . . If Isaac doesn't think it's funny, Mia sure as heck will."
"But its like you said. . . it's not like they need it to be all lovey- dovey." Ivan laughed. "They're together so much it makes me want to throw up sometimes!"
"If I hadn't known you were being sarcastic with a tinge of jealousy, I'd believe you." Sheba smiled. "So, you're jealous that Mia and Isaac spend so much time together and we don't?"
"No, that's not what. . . I mean. . ."
"Don't bother, Ivan, I know how you feel. We're just different than they are, that's all."
"You're right, as usual, Sheba." Ivan sighed. "So, what kind of utility knife should we get him?" He said, as they walked into the warm store. The wall is filled with every type of knife imaginable; everything from a small kitchen knife to well sharpened machete blade. All were different sizes and makes, but they all looked practical in some form or another.
"Maybe we should get him a heavy duty medium sized knife. . ." Sheba said, reaching for a brown handled hunter's knife. "This looks sturdy enough. Do you like it, Ivan?"
"Yes."
"I'll go pay for it. Wait for me here, okay, Ivan?" Sheba stated, walking off to the counter on the other side of the store. Ivan sighed as he tapped his foot idly. He heard the giggling of children on one side of the store and looked to see. Several children were putting up a large Christmas tree, and they seemed to be having some trouble decorating it. They each fumbled with several strands of tinsel, attempting to get it on the tree. Ivan smiled, and he walked over to help.
"Do you need a hand?" He asked the two young boys and three young girls.
"Thanks mister, but I think you may be a little too short to help us decorate the entire tree."
"Short?!" Ivan replied. "I may not be tall, but I can decorate a tree with the best of them." He reached for the golden strand of tinsel and began to wrap it around the tree. The children giggled quietly behind Ivan, as he finished wrapping the strand, completing most of the difficult work. "There. You see, it's really not that. . ." He said, turning around. The children began laughing harder as they charged around the tree, each holding their own strand of tinsel. Ivan stopped speaking as he realized the children had pulled the tinsel taut around his body, effectively tying him into the pine tree. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Ivan shouted, trying to struggle free. The children did nothing but laugh more as they made a second tinsel run. Ivan found himself bound even tighter to the tree. After the kids had finished their second run, the largest child, a cute twelve year old girl, took the star meant to cover the top of the tree, and placed it on top of Ivan's head.
"Talk about adding insult to injury!" Ivan whined, as the kids walked away laughing to no end. "Agh!" The young Jupiter Adept struggled strongly, only to be poked and prodded by the branches of the pine tree.
***********************
Sheba dropped the fifty coins for the knife on the counter and the shopkeeper smiled as he took the money.
"Thank you, ma'am. Have a very merry Christmas." The shopkeeper stated.
"Thank you, good sir. May you yourself have the same as you wish unto others." Sheba smiled with a reply. She walked back over to the knife section, but Ivan was found nowhere. She glanced left and right, until she heard the grunts of Ivan. She turned, and walked toward the sounds. She immediately burst out in a deep and hearty laugh as she saw Ivan. Her true love was tied to the tree in ten strands of golden tinsel, and he couldn't seem to dislodge himself from the decorations. The coup de grace was the star that adorned his skull, and how ridiculous he looked.
"Sheba, stop laughing and get me loose!" Ivan shouted.
"No way, Ivan." Sheba said, face red with laughter and tears welling in her eyes. "I have to get this down on paper!" She laughed, producing a piece of paper and a stick of charcoal. She pulled up a chair and sat down and began sketching the picture of poor Ivan on the paper.
"Sheba! Get me down! Curse your incredible artistic skills! Sheba!"