Chapter three: devil in disguise
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
************
"Man, there is nothing to do here! Howie my man, you can't whip something up can you? Anything that I can blow up?" Duo removed his legs from the desktop in order to swivel around and face his mechanic friend.
"No can do amiga. I'm busy. Why don't you go blow up something small and fluffy?" Howard, used to Duo's fluctuating ideas of fun, just laughed and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose.
"Dude, amigo. A-M-I-G-O. Not amiga, like chica, amigo, like chico. I'm a man."
"Yeah. Sure." Howard scoffed; sensing Duo's annoyance.
"Argh." Duo just growled and snatched his cap off the table. He crossed his arms and faced Howard, who was on a rolling board underneath a car. Duo stuck his nose up in the air and assumed an 'I-am-not-amused' stance. "Well, if you're not gonna be fun, I'm gonna go out."
"Yeah, whatever man." Howard carried on fixing the car. He had to get it done within three days, and Duo wasn't going to help anyway, so he didn't mind if the pilot left.
"Jeez, nice to know I have people who care about me. You just carry on playing with your new friend and just ignore me, ok?"
"Fine then, thank you, I will."
"Dude! If you're being serious, that's cruel." He stuck his nose further up in the air. "But if you're being sarcastic, well, that's even worse." Not wanting to get into a 'I'm-gonna-have-the-last-word' fight with Howard, he dashed out the door. Once he had closed it he jammed his cap low on his head and shoved his hands in his pants pockets.
"Namida wo shitta doukeshi." Duo had heard Trowa mumbling the song once, and, with typical Duo enthusiasm, had adopted the line, whether it was to piss Trowa off, or just because it was a nice song.
Walking slowly along the snow-filled pavement was nice. He hadn't seen snow for ages. Luckily he had boots on, he knew people who had kicked snow around and gotten a shoe-full of it. And freezing cold water in your shoes at sub-zero temperatures was not fun. He shoved his hands deeper in his pockets and walked a bit faster, hunching up his shoulders to keep his neck at least a little warm. He should have grabbed a jacket on his way out, but it was too late to go back now. Plus, he could just stop in on a coffee shop and sit down for a bit, get something warm to drink.
Up ahead, he spotted a group of little kids building a misshapen snowman. It was really sweet, but kind of pathetic.
"Hmph. Any snow-dude I make would be bad-ass." He muttered to himself, watching his frozen breath rise and dissipate. Looking again at the kids, he spotted a bigger kid, hiding behind a tree trunk. He ha a rock in his hand and was aiming it right into the centre of the group of little ones. It was obvious he wanted to destroy the snow-dude.
"Ack." What to do, what to do? Duo wasn't exactly one to complain about un- even odds, but bullying wasn't right. Well, if you were bullying Wufei, it was ok, but little kids didn't deserve to be picked on. Except maybe Marimea.. "Ack, again I say." He decided. Kneeling down, he gathered up a huge amount of snow with his bare hands. He packed and prodded it until the snowball was huge and tight, designed to explode on impact. With force.
Aiming carefully, Duo inched forwards until he was maybe ten yards away from the big kid. He scooped up a loose handful of snow and flung it at the back of the kid's head. The little punk turned around, trying to see who had hit him. Except that he couldn't because Duo had just landed the snowball right in his face. Spluttering and gasping for cold, the kid clawed at his face and scowled.
"Yeah, teach you to pick on little kids, derkus." Duo cackled and ran towards the punk, picked up the rock and walked off, the kid still spluttering away to himself.
He laughed quietly to himself (trying at the same time not to sound totally insane) all the way to his favourite coffee shop. It wasn't Starbucks, but it was always warm and the people there knew him. Outside, a chubby guy in a T-shirt and a white serving apron was sweeping snow away from the front step.
"Jesus Errol, it's freezing. Get inside."
"God, wouldn't I love that. But I gotta sweep the step, Marie keeps stepping in the snow and complaining about it ruining her new shoes. Italian leather, 400 dollars. I ask you?"
"Ha, just tell her to fly over it like all the other witches." Marie was Errol's daughter, 16 and as big a madam as they came. But Errol loved her more than anything, and come to think of it, Duo didn't mind her that much either. placing the rock he was carrying down and taking the broom from the store owner, Duo started sweeping the step. "Tell you what, I'll sweep and you go in and make the coffee." He said it cheerfully, he honestly didn't mind, and Errol looked like he was about to lose all his fingers to frostbite.
"Heh, you're a good kid Duo. Just tell that daughter of mine when she comes in that I want her to fix the stereo." Errol waved and stepped into the shop, and Duo was momentarily bathed in warm light and air. But the door closed and he blew out hard, trying anything to warm up his already- starting-to-freeze face. He jabbed at the snow hard, but noted that this only succeeded in driving it deeper into the pavement.
He was scowling good-naturedly and wondering how a Gundam pilot wasn't able to figure out the best way to sweep snow when the spot of snow he was studying was invaded by a pair of dark blue leather shoes.
"Marie, we meet again." Duo leapt up and pretended to jab the girl with the broom.
"Aah, Duo, I always knew you'd find your perfect job. One that fitted your intellect and physical abilities." She remarked dryly. She laughed and started undoing her long black coat. Duo spotted a dark purple polo neck sweater and short denim skirt.
"Hmm, I was born into a sweeper group. But you didn't know that, did you?" he bent down and propped his chin on his hands, which were frozen to the end of the broom.
"No, I didn't." she frowned, and Duo worried that she thought he was lying or joking. But then her face cleared and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Come on. The step is fine. Just push the rest of the snow off the edge of the step and come inside. Dad's criminal, making you work in this weather."
"And you're criminal for spending $400 on a pair of shoes!" her father, working the coffee machine inside, remarked as they came in.
"Ah, but they're nice shoes. Just prop the broom behind the counter. I'll go get the cookies. I know you like the big gooey ones." She lifted up the service flap and took the broom into a room behind the kitchen while Duo sat on a high chair by the counter. She came out a minute later dressed in a clean white serving apron with a tray of huge chocolate chip cookies, fresh from the oven. She slid them onto a plate and them the plate onto a heated display case. She picked up the tongs and pointed at him, and then the cookies. "Point." She ordered.
"Ahhhh, hmmm. It's a tough one." Duo jokingly mused. In reality he knew exactly which one he wanted. The biggest, with the most chocolate chips. He had his eye on it and his finger was gearing up for the point.
"Grrr. Point, or no cookie for Mister Maxwell." Then she followed his eyes and smiled when she spotted what he was after.
"That on-" too late. Her hand had snaked out and grabbed the cookie, and she was happily munching on it, while Duo let out wails of mock despair. "But I wanted that one!" he sobbed into his arm.
"Well.. You can still have it." she opened her mouth to reveal chewed up cookie crumbs. She giggled and turned away, waking into the back room again.
"Alas fair cookie, I knew you well." Duo mourned into his arm.
"Duo, what is the matter?" Errol ambled over to duo and regarded him with concerned eyes.
"Your evil daughter hath played upon my good intentions, twisted them and brought about evil deeds." Duo answered the question in the mans eyes in a more concise way. "She ate the biggest cookie."
"Again?" Errol just shook his head sadly and made sympathetic clucking noises. "When are you gonna learn man? Don't look at the cookie you want! Don't do it!" Errol laughed and strode away, as Marie came through the door with another tray of cookies.
"Fine. I'll let you have the biggest one this time." Marie smiled victoriously and pointed to a cookie roughly ten inches in diameter.
"Score!" Duo pushed his hand into the air and brought it down sharply, then pretended to do his little victory dance. "I get da biggest cookie! I get da biggest cookie!"
"Here's your cookie, heres your coffee." Marie plonked down a plate with the cookie on it and a cup of steaming coffee next to it. "So, tell me whats new in your life? What you doing?" she leaned on the counter and propped her chin in her hand, listening as he told her about his week.
"Not much, fixing cars 'n junk. Not so much fun as some of the stuff I used to do." He added thoughtfully "Fewer risks though. And a lot less pain." He closed his eyes and drank his coffee, picking apart the cookie with a spare hand.
"Hey! Are you gonna eat that, or are you gonna take it apart?" Marie cried out indignantly, quickly forgetting his sad words at the prospect of losing such a masterpiece to his nervous gestures.
"Nah, you have it. I've lost my appetite." He stood up, tossed some bills on the counter and said goodbye to Marie and her father. "I'm gonna be going on a little ... trip. Maybe I'll be back soon, maybe not. It all depends on all the symbols in the equation.
As he walked out, Marie nibbled on the forgotten cookie and turned to her father.
"Wow. He's really strange, don't ya think? A devil in disguise, a dark horse."
Errol gazed at Duo, stopping by the entrance to pick something up, then walking through the near blizzard with no coat, gloves or scarf.
"No. Not really. He's just. one of a kind."
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
************
"Man, there is nothing to do here! Howie my man, you can't whip something up can you? Anything that I can blow up?" Duo removed his legs from the desktop in order to swivel around and face his mechanic friend.
"No can do amiga. I'm busy. Why don't you go blow up something small and fluffy?" Howard, used to Duo's fluctuating ideas of fun, just laughed and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose.
"Dude, amigo. A-M-I-G-O. Not amiga, like chica, amigo, like chico. I'm a man."
"Yeah. Sure." Howard scoffed; sensing Duo's annoyance.
"Argh." Duo just growled and snatched his cap off the table. He crossed his arms and faced Howard, who was on a rolling board underneath a car. Duo stuck his nose up in the air and assumed an 'I-am-not-amused' stance. "Well, if you're not gonna be fun, I'm gonna go out."
"Yeah, whatever man." Howard carried on fixing the car. He had to get it done within three days, and Duo wasn't going to help anyway, so he didn't mind if the pilot left.
"Jeez, nice to know I have people who care about me. You just carry on playing with your new friend and just ignore me, ok?"
"Fine then, thank you, I will."
"Dude! If you're being serious, that's cruel." He stuck his nose further up in the air. "But if you're being sarcastic, well, that's even worse." Not wanting to get into a 'I'm-gonna-have-the-last-word' fight with Howard, he dashed out the door. Once he had closed it he jammed his cap low on his head and shoved his hands in his pants pockets.
"Namida wo shitta doukeshi." Duo had heard Trowa mumbling the song once, and, with typical Duo enthusiasm, had adopted the line, whether it was to piss Trowa off, or just because it was a nice song.
Walking slowly along the snow-filled pavement was nice. He hadn't seen snow for ages. Luckily he had boots on, he knew people who had kicked snow around and gotten a shoe-full of it. And freezing cold water in your shoes at sub-zero temperatures was not fun. He shoved his hands deeper in his pockets and walked a bit faster, hunching up his shoulders to keep his neck at least a little warm. He should have grabbed a jacket on his way out, but it was too late to go back now. Plus, he could just stop in on a coffee shop and sit down for a bit, get something warm to drink.
Up ahead, he spotted a group of little kids building a misshapen snowman. It was really sweet, but kind of pathetic.
"Hmph. Any snow-dude I make would be bad-ass." He muttered to himself, watching his frozen breath rise and dissipate. Looking again at the kids, he spotted a bigger kid, hiding behind a tree trunk. He ha a rock in his hand and was aiming it right into the centre of the group of little ones. It was obvious he wanted to destroy the snow-dude.
"Ack." What to do, what to do? Duo wasn't exactly one to complain about un- even odds, but bullying wasn't right. Well, if you were bullying Wufei, it was ok, but little kids didn't deserve to be picked on. Except maybe Marimea.. "Ack, again I say." He decided. Kneeling down, he gathered up a huge amount of snow with his bare hands. He packed and prodded it until the snowball was huge and tight, designed to explode on impact. With force.
Aiming carefully, Duo inched forwards until he was maybe ten yards away from the big kid. He scooped up a loose handful of snow and flung it at the back of the kid's head. The little punk turned around, trying to see who had hit him. Except that he couldn't because Duo had just landed the snowball right in his face. Spluttering and gasping for cold, the kid clawed at his face and scowled.
"Yeah, teach you to pick on little kids, derkus." Duo cackled and ran towards the punk, picked up the rock and walked off, the kid still spluttering away to himself.
He laughed quietly to himself (trying at the same time not to sound totally insane) all the way to his favourite coffee shop. It wasn't Starbucks, but it was always warm and the people there knew him. Outside, a chubby guy in a T-shirt and a white serving apron was sweeping snow away from the front step.
"Jesus Errol, it's freezing. Get inside."
"God, wouldn't I love that. But I gotta sweep the step, Marie keeps stepping in the snow and complaining about it ruining her new shoes. Italian leather, 400 dollars. I ask you?"
"Ha, just tell her to fly over it like all the other witches." Marie was Errol's daughter, 16 and as big a madam as they came. But Errol loved her more than anything, and come to think of it, Duo didn't mind her that much either. placing the rock he was carrying down and taking the broom from the store owner, Duo started sweeping the step. "Tell you what, I'll sweep and you go in and make the coffee." He said it cheerfully, he honestly didn't mind, and Errol looked like he was about to lose all his fingers to frostbite.
"Heh, you're a good kid Duo. Just tell that daughter of mine when she comes in that I want her to fix the stereo." Errol waved and stepped into the shop, and Duo was momentarily bathed in warm light and air. But the door closed and he blew out hard, trying anything to warm up his already- starting-to-freeze face. He jabbed at the snow hard, but noted that this only succeeded in driving it deeper into the pavement.
He was scowling good-naturedly and wondering how a Gundam pilot wasn't able to figure out the best way to sweep snow when the spot of snow he was studying was invaded by a pair of dark blue leather shoes.
"Marie, we meet again." Duo leapt up and pretended to jab the girl with the broom.
"Aah, Duo, I always knew you'd find your perfect job. One that fitted your intellect and physical abilities." She remarked dryly. She laughed and started undoing her long black coat. Duo spotted a dark purple polo neck sweater and short denim skirt.
"Hmm, I was born into a sweeper group. But you didn't know that, did you?" he bent down and propped his chin on his hands, which were frozen to the end of the broom.
"No, I didn't." she frowned, and Duo worried that she thought he was lying or joking. But then her face cleared and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Come on. The step is fine. Just push the rest of the snow off the edge of the step and come inside. Dad's criminal, making you work in this weather."
"And you're criminal for spending $400 on a pair of shoes!" her father, working the coffee machine inside, remarked as they came in.
"Ah, but they're nice shoes. Just prop the broom behind the counter. I'll go get the cookies. I know you like the big gooey ones." She lifted up the service flap and took the broom into a room behind the kitchen while Duo sat on a high chair by the counter. She came out a minute later dressed in a clean white serving apron with a tray of huge chocolate chip cookies, fresh from the oven. She slid them onto a plate and them the plate onto a heated display case. She picked up the tongs and pointed at him, and then the cookies. "Point." She ordered.
"Ahhhh, hmmm. It's a tough one." Duo jokingly mused. In reality he knew exactly which one he wanted. The biggest, with the most chocolate chips. He had his eye on it and his finger was gearing up for the point.
"Grrr. Point, or no cookie for Mister Maxwell." Then she followed his eyes and smiled when she spotted what he was after.
"That on-" too late. Her hand had snaked out and grabbed the cookie, and she was happily munching on it, while Duo let out wails of mock despair. "But I wanted that one!" he sobbed into his arm.
"Well.. You can still have it." she opened her mouth to reveal chewed up cookie crumbs. She giggled and turned away, waking into the back room again.
"Alas fair cookie, I knew you well." Duo mourned into his arm.
"Duo, what is the matter?" Errol ambled over to duo and regarded him with concerned eyes.
"Your evil daughter hath played upon my good intentions, twisted them and brought about evil deeds." Duo answered the question in the mans eyes in a more concise way. "She ate the biggest cookie."
"Again?" Errol just shook his head sadly and made sympathetic clucking noises. "When are you gonna learn man? Don't look at the cookie you want! Don't do it!" Errol laughed and strode away, as Marie came through the door with another tray of cookies.
"Fine. I'll let you have the biggest one this time." Marie smiled victoriously and pointed to a cookie roughly ten inches in diameter.
"Score!" Duo pushed his hand into the air and brought it down sharply, then pretended to do his little victory dance. "I get da biggest cookie! I get da biggest cookie!"
"Here's your cookie, heres your coffee." Marie plonked down a plate with the cookie on it and a cup of steaming coffee next to it. "So, tell me whats new in your life? What you doing?" she leaned on the counter and propped her chin in her hand, listening as he told her about his week.
"Not much, fixing cars 'n junk. Not so much fun as some of the stuff I used to do." He added thoughtfully "Fewer risks though. And a lot less pain." He closed his eyes and drank his coffee, picking apart the cookie with a spare hand.
"Hey! Are you gonna eat that, or are you gonna take it apart?" Marie cried out indignantly, quickly forgetting his sad words at the prospect of losing such a masterpiece to his nervous gestures.
"Nah, you have it. I've lost my appetite." He stood up, tossed some bills on the counter and said goodbye to Marie and her father. "I'm gonna be going on a little ... trip. Maybe I'll be back soon, maybe not. It all depends on all the symbols in the equation.
As he walked out, Marie nibbled on the forgotten cookie and turned to her father.
"Wow. He's really strange, don't ya think? A devil in disguise, a dark horse."
Errol gazed at Duo, stopping by the entrance to pick something up, then walking through the near blizzard with no coat, gloves or scarf.
"No. Not really. He's just. one of a kind."