Disclaimer: I still don't own Slayers or any of its characters. I plan to buy the tapes when I have money, but I still won't own THEM. How sad…
Author's Note: You guys are gonna LOVE this chapter. Kopii gets to go have fun. I took Moro's idea and used it very well. Thanks! I'm being mostly nice to him in this and the next chapter. But I have no idea what I'm doing after that one. Judging by Lina's age, I've got between 6 months and a year left in the timeline. So what else can I do? I really don't know. Hopefully something will come to me. Review! Tell me what I should do next!
Ramblings of the Doomed
Chapter 10: Unknown Meeting
Eris was completely miserable. She was also quite drunk. Exactly one year ago today, she had come to Rezo-sama's house. She had thought that she would be with him forever, or at least for a few years. But he had left her before even a year had passed. She had moped around the house all day and irritated Kopii by returning to the basement over and over to stare at him. He didn't like it because he knew she was only looking for her beloved Rezo-sama in him. After halfheartedly eating a couple of mouthfuls of fried rice for dinner, she had gone out for a while. She returned shortly with two big bottles of sake, and had been drinking ever since. At first she tried to keep the little kopiis away, but after a while she didn't seem to care anymore. So all the kopiis in the kitchen, plus some visiting from other parts of the house, were stumbling around all over each other, giggling and hiccupping.
After a short time, Eris called Kopii up. He came hesitantly, and stood awkwardly by the door. She launched into a mostly one-sided conversation with him, alternately telling him how much she loved him, her Rezo-sama, and screaming that he would never be anywhere near as great as Rezo-sama. This went on for the better part of an hour before she passed out in the middle of telling him how beautiful his eyelids were.
By this time, Kopii was shaking all over. He quickly picked up the remaining sake, poured it down the sink, and threw away the bottles. The few little kopiis that were still awake mumbled in protest. "That's quite enough for you," he told them almost angrily. "You're far too small to be drinking that stuff." Then, leaving Eris asleep at the table, he stormed off down to the lab again.
Kopii was greeted by the basement kopiis, who he ignored for the time being. Vrumugun, whom Eris had put in a huge tank full of clear syrupy stuff with tubes sticking out of him, stared at him. But Kopii ignored him, too. "Lord of Nightmares, I can't stay here another minute. I have to get away," he said to no one in particular. He grabbed a map off of a table and picked a random city. "Hmm… Atlas City. That's pretty far away. It'll do. Sorry Xellos, I know you said not to leave, but I just can't be here tonight."
As he recalled the spell used to teleport form one place to another, a thought struck him. 'Rezo's well-known all over the area inside the mazoku's barrier. I don't want people mistaking me for him.' Kopii looked around for a moment. His eyes fell on a small comb and a thick green rubber band with some cloth wrapped around it. He grabbed these and combed his hair back into a low ponytail. He also took off those horrible shoulder guards and his red robe. Left with only the white dress-like robe, Kopii felt rather incomplete. Then he saw a mound of rather faced black cloth in the corner by Vrumugun's tank. Ah ha! It was the long cloak that had covered Vrumugun completely before Eris had taken it from him. Kopii picked it up and held it up to himself. On Vrumugun it had been a bit too long, but on Kopii it was almost too short! Still, it would fit.
"Gomen, I'm going to borrow this for tonight," Kopii told Vrumugun. "It's a good thing you're tall." Vrumugun blinked, but he didn't look angry, and Kopii took that to mean he had the mage's permission.
So Kopii put on the cloak, pulled the hood up over his head, and said goodbye to Vrumugun and the little kopiis before teleporting to Atlas City.
* * *
Teleportation was a rather powerful spell, so Kopii staggered a little as he appeared on a hilltop right next to Atlas City. But since it was the only spell he'd done all day, he was all right after a minute. Now that he was away form Eris for the first time in his own life, the excitement set in and Kopii took off running down the hill and into town as fast as he could, laughing. Rezo had not run since he was a child, when he had nearly gotten himself killed tripping over and bumping into things. It was such an exhilarating feeling! People stared at the tall, dignified-looking man racing down the hill, but he didn't care. As he got down where the people were milling about in the streets, Kopii slowed to a walk, making sure the hood stayed over his head.
Walking through the crowd, Kopii was grateful for Rezo's abnormally tall stature. He could easily see over the heads of everyone else. People stared at him for his height and obvious attempts to conceal himself with the cloak, but he figured Vrumugun probably got that all the time. So the next person who stared at him, a young girl with black hair, got a flat, deadpan look that would have made the sorcerer proud. The girl flinched and quickly walked away, and Kopii laughed to himself.
But as fun as it was to frighten people with his appearance and his Vrumugun imitations, Kopii wanted to be around people. Maybe even actually talk to them. So he let the crowd push him along to the town square, where there was some sort of festival going on.
As he got closer, Kopii could see a banner proclaiming, "ATLAS CITY SPRING FESTIVAL." There were lots of big, long tables set up where people were eating, drinking, and talking. There were food and drink stands set up all over the place where people could get anything and everything edible, short of dragon cuisine. There was a band playing right next to the fountain in the middle of the square. The lead singer wasn't too bad, but Kopii thought the instrumentalists needed work.
Kopii went to look at what all the stands were selling before deciding what to buy. He hadn't eaten much for lunch, so he was very hungry. He had taken a pouch of Eris's money with him just to spite her, and he was glad of that now.
Finally, Kopii settled on smoked eel over rice. He had never tried it before, nor had Rezo, but it smelled good and sounded interesting. He also bought a soft, juicy orange fruit called a mango and some fresh lemonade. He looked around and finally sat down next to a young man with long blond hair who was having a heated discussion about swords with a smaller boy.
The eel was very good. It was softer than any meat or fish he had ever eaten, but it tasted kind of like smoked salmon. The mango was deliciously sweet, but he got its juice all over his hands and arms. Luckily he wasn't wearing the glove parts of his white robe. He had to quickly go find a pump and wash the sticky juice off.
When he returned to his seat, he found the blond cheerfully drinking his lemonade. "Hey!" he said, shocked that someone would do such a thing. The young man turned to him, smiling.
"You just left your lemonade here! So I thought you weren't coming back and I drank it. It was great! Thanks! I feel a lot better now. Here, you can have the cup back," the youth said, handing Kopii the cup.
Kopii opened and closed his mouth a few times, but in the end he just muttered, "You're welcome" and walked away.
It was getting dark, so most people were starting to leave. Kopii definitely didn't feel like going home yet, so he vaguely followed a few people into a rather crowded bar. He stood uncertainly in the doorway for a second until he realized he was blocking the way. So he quickly went and sat down at the end of the bar. Next to him was a short boy wearing light beige clothing, complete with a cape, hood, and face mask. He didn't speak much, but he seemed to be there with the two men next to him. One had shaggy bluish-purple hair and a long shaggy mustache, and the other looked pretty old and was mostly bald with white hair and a beard. They would say something to the boy every once in a while, but he didn't seem to want to talk so after a while they gave up. Kopii ordered some red wine that Rezo had liked and watched them out of the corner of his eye.
"To Zolf on his 30th birthday!" the old man toasted the blue-haired one. "May he never meet his betters in battle!" He and the boy raised their glasses. The old man took a deep swig, as did the one with the mustache, but the boy took only a small sip and set his glass down, then looked down at the bar.
"Rodimus you baka!" the one called Zolf said. "My birthday was a week ago!"
"Well, I suppose we could leave…" Rodimus suggested.
"No, no, now that we're here we may as well stay a while, ne?" he elbowed the boy lightly. The boy gave him a look, then shrugged and went back to staring at the bar.
Kopii's drink came. He thanked the bartender and took it. He was pretty thirsty, so he took a good-sized gulp of the wine as the bartender walked away.
"Ggk… arg… bleh!" Kopii choked, gagged, and quickly spat his mouthful of wine back into the glass, spitting repeatedly to try to get the taste out of his mouth. "How can you DRINK this stuff!?" he asked the boy next to him. "Re… uh… my… brother used to like it, but I don't see how!"
The boy turned to him, slightly annoyed. "I don't know. I think it's disgusting, myself. Why did you come here if you don't like what they serve?"
Kopii was surprised at the boy's scorn. "Well I just wanted to get away from home for a while. I didn't expect an interrogation."
"Oh, gomen," the boy said, blushing slightly. It could be the bad lighting or the smoky air, but his face looked strangely blue. "I'm here to get away from… home, too. It's my teacher's birthday." This man's voice sounded familiar. It was almost like Rezo's, to his horror. But it was much softer, lighter, friendlier, and a bit higher than Rezo's voice.
"Oh?" Kopii asked interestedly. "What does he teach you?" This boy's voice sounded vaguely like Rezo's great grandson Zelgadis's voice. But it was much quieter, and more reluctant about life in general than Zelgadis had been, so it couldn't be.
"He teaches me black magic, and the other one teaches me swordsmanship," the boy said.
"Oh, really? I'm quite good at all kinds of magic myself. And I can hold my own in a fight too, if I have a staff. What's your name?" Kopii asked, thinking Rezo might have heard of this boy.
"Zel –" he started to say. Then he realized that if anyone recognized him and saw what he had become, they would shun him. Not to mention the fact that Rezo might destroy them if they got to know him. "I'm… Zelid," he said, rearranging and removing some letters quickly. "Who are you?"
"K…" Kopii began. Then he realized that 'Kopii' wasn't a name. It was more like a species. "Umm… I'm Kage," he said. It meant 'shadow' and was the first 'K' word that popped into his mind. Zelid nodded, seeming to accept it, although they each knew that these were both false names.
"Do you use shamanistic magic much? That's the kind I'm most interested in," said Zelid. So the two discussed the finer points of shamanistic magic, from the Elemekia Lance to the amazing Ra Tilt to the astral plane in general. Kopii was suggesting ways to better focus the Elemekia Lance when Rodimus and Zolf cut in.
"Sorry to cut your talk short Zel, but it's about time to go. It's midnight already!" Zolf said.
"Oh. Gomen, Kage-san, I have to go," Zelgadis said, wishing he could stay longer. "Thank you for telling me what you did!"
"You're quite welcome. It was a pleasure talking with you! I don't get out much, so I doubt I'll see you again," Kopii said regretfully.
"It's all right, neither do I. Sayonara!" Zelgadis said to the tall cloaked man as he left.
"Ja ne!" Kopii said. He left some coins on the bar and stood up to leave the dark, smoky bar himself. He bumped into someone, and the shorter person grabbed his sleeve, tugging him outside. He grabbed the other person's hood and pulled on it. It came down to reveal Xellos glaring up at him. "Xellos!" he exclaimed.
"Why are you here?" Xellos hissed at him. He looked very angry. "I told you to stay at Rezo's house! With Eris! That was a stupid thing to do and it damn near got me in trouble. I'm supposed to be watching you! I take my eyes off you for a second, and you wander off!"
Kopii took a step back from the fuming mazoku. "Gomen, Xellos-san. I… I just couldn't take being around Eris any more tonight. She always treats me like I'm either her 'Rezo-sama' or scum! I was just about to go back. I never meant to leave permanently."
Xellos took a deep breath and sighed, calming himself. Luckily, no harm had been done. Well, it's all right this time, Kopii. I understand your need to get away. And you were as discreet as anyone could have hoped about your identity. Just don't EVER do it again. Please, for my sake as well as yours."
"Of course, Xellos. I won't," Kopii said quickly. Xellos relaxed and smiled.
"Arigato Kopii-kun. Now let's return, shall we?" Xellos grinned. He sent Kopii back to Rezo's house in Sairaag, and returned to his own home.
Eris was still asleep on the table when Kopii appeared in the kitchen. He left her there and went down to the lab. He took off Vrumugun's cloak and put it back, but he left his hair as it was. He entered his cage, closed the door behind him, and went to sleep happily among the little kopiis.
*More Japanese for Beginners*
Sake – Rice wine. Pronounced "Sah – Kay"
Gomen – Sorry
Ne – huh? Eh? No? Don't you think? Etc.
Sayonara – Goodbye
Ja ne – Goodbye
Arigato – Thank you
Author's Note: You guys are gonna LOVE this chapter. Kopii gets to go have fun. I took Moro's idea and used it very well. Thanks! I'm being mostly nice to him in this and the next chapter. But I have no idea what I'm doing after that one. Judging by Lina's age, I've got between 6 months and a year left in the timeline. So what else can I do? I really don't know. Hopefully something will come to me. Review! Tell me what I should do next!
Ramblings of the Doomed
Chapter 10: Unknown Meeting
Eris was completely miserable. She was also quite drunk. Exactly one year ago today, she had come to Rezo-sama's house. She had thought that she would be with him forever, or at least for a few years. But he had left her before even a year had passed. She had moped around the house all day and irritated Kopii by returning to the basement over and over to stare at him. He didn't like it because he knew she was only looking for her beloved Rezo-sama in him. After halfheartedly eating a couple of mouthfuls of fried rice for dinner, she had gone out for a while. She returned shortly with two big bottles of sake, and had been drinking ever since. At first she tried to keep the little kopiis away, but after a while she didn't seem to care anymore. So all the kopiis in the kitchen, plus some visiting from other parts of the house, were stumbling around all over each other, giggling and hiccupping.
After a short time, Eris called Kopii up. He came hesitantly, and stood awkwardly by the door. She launched into a mostly one-sided conversation with him, alternately telling him how much she loved him, her Rezo-sama, and screaming that he would never be anywhere near as great as Rezo-sama. This went on for the better part of an hour before she passed out in the middle of telling him how beautiful his eyelids were.
By this time, Kopii was shaking all over. He quickly picked up the remaining sake, poured it down the sink, and threw away the bottles. The few little kopiis that were still awake mumbled in protest. "That's quite enough for you," he told them almost angrily. "You're far too small to be drinking that stuff." Then, leaving Eris asleep at the table, he stormed off down to the lab again.
Kopii was greeted by the basement kopiis, who he ignored for the time being. Vrumugun, whom Eris had put in a huge tank full of clear syrupy stuff with tubes sticking out of him, stared at him. But Kopii ignored him, too. "Lord of Nightmares, I can't stay here another minute. I have to get away," he said to no one in particular. He grabbed a map off of a table and picked a random city. "Hmm… Atlas City. That's pretty far away. It'll do. Sorry Xellos, I know you said not to leave, but I just can't be here tonight."
As he recalled the spell used to teleport form one place to another, a thought struck him. 'Rezo's well-known all over the area inside the mazoku's barrier. I don't want people mistaking me for him.' Kopii looked around for a moment. His eyes fell on a small comb and a thick green rubber band with some cloth wrapped around it. He grabbed these and combed his hair back into a low ponytail. He also took off those horrible shoulder guards and his red robe. Left with only the white dress-like robe, Kopii felt rather incomplete. Then he saw a mound of rather faced black cloth in the corner by Vrumugun's tank. Ah ha! It was the long cloak that had covered Vrumugun completely before Eris had taken it from him. Kopii picked it up and held it up to himself. On Vrumugun it had been a bit too long, but on Kopii it was almost too short! Still, it would fit.
"Gomen, I'm going to borrow this for tonight," Kopii told Vrumugun. "It's a good thing you're tall." Vrumugun blinked, but he didn't look angry, and Kopii took that to mean he had the mage's permission.
So Kopii put on the cloak, pulled the hood up over his head, and said goodbye to Vrumugun and the little kopiis before teleporting to Atlas City.
* * *
Teleportation was a rather powerful spell, so Kopii staggered a little as he appeared on a hilltop right next to Atlas City. But since it was the only spell he'd done all day, he was all right after a minute. Now that he was away form Eris for the first time in his own life, the excitement set in and Kopii took off running down the hill and into town as fast as he could, laughing. Rezo had not run since he was a child, when he had nearly gotten himself killed tripping over and bumping into things. It was such an exhilarating feeling! People stared at the tall, dignified-looking man racing down the hill, but he didn't care. As he got down where the people were milling about in the streets, Kopii slowed to a walk, making sure the hood stayed over his head.
Walking through the crowd, Kopii was grateful for Rezo's abnormally tall stature. He could easily see over the heads of everyone else. People stared at him for his height and obvious attempts to conceal himself with the cloak, but he figured Vrumugun probably got that all the time. So the next person who stared at him, a young girl with black hair, got a flat, deadpan look that would have made the sorcerer proud. The girl flinched and quickly walked away, and Kopii laughed to himself.
But as fun as it was to frighten people with his appearance and his Vrumugun imitations, Kopii wanted to be around people. Maybe even actually talk to them. So he let the crowd push him along to the town square, where there was some sort of festival going on.
As he got closer, Kopii could see a banner proclaiming, "ATLAS CITY SPRING FESTIVAL." There were lots of big, long tables set up where people were eating, drinking, and talking. There were food and drink stands set up all over the place where people could get anything and everything edible, short of dragon cuisine. There was a band playing right next to the fountain in the middle of the square. The lead singer wasn't too bad, but Kopii thought the instrumentalists needed work.
Kopii went to look at what all the stands were selling before deciding what to buy. He hadn't eaten much for lunch, so he was very hungry. He had taken a pouch of Eris's money with him just to spite her, and he was glad of that now.
Finally, Kopii settled on smoked eel over rice. He had never tried it before, nor had Rezo, but it smelled good and sounded interesting. He also bought a soft, juicy orange fruit called a mango and some fresh lemonade. He looked around and finally sat down next to a young man with long blond hair who was having a heated discussion about swords with a smaller boy.
The eel was very good. It was softer than any meat or fish he had ever eaten, but it tasted kind of like smoked salmon. The mango was deliciously sweet, but he got its juice all over his hands and arms. Luckily he wasn't wearing the glove parts of his white robe. He had to quickly go find a pump and wash the sticky juice off.
When he returned to his seat, he found the blond cheerfully drinking his lemonade. "Hey!" he said, shocked that someone would do such a thing. The young man turned to him, smiling.
"You just left your lemonade here! So I thought you weren't coming back and I drank it. It was great! Thanks! I feel a lot better now. Here, you can have the cup back," the youth said, handing Kopii the cup.
Kopii opened and closed his mouth a few times, but in the end he just muttered, "You're welcome" and walked away.
It was getting dark, so most people were starting to leave. Kopii definitely didn't feel like going home yet, so he vaguely followed a few people into a rather crowded bar. He stood uncertainly in the doorway for a second until he realized he was blocking the way. So he quickly went and sat down at the end of the bar. Next to him was a short boy wearing light beige clothing, complete with a cape, hood, and face mask. He didn't speak much, but he seemed to be there with the two men next to him. One had shaggy bluish-purple hair and a long shaggy mustache, and the other looked pretty old and was mostly bald with white hair and a beard. They would say something to the boy every once in a while, but he didn't seem to want to talk so after a while they gave up. Kopii ordered some red wine that Rezo had liked and watched them out of the corner of his eye.
"To Zolf on his 30th birthday!" the old man toasted the blue-haired one. "May he never meet his betters in battle!" He and the boy raised their glasses. The old man took a deep swig, as did the one with the mustache, but the boy took only a small sip and set his glass down, then looked down at the bar.
"Rodimus you baka!" the one called Zolf said. "My birthday was a week ago!"
"Well, I suppose we could leave…" Rodimus suggested.
"No, no, now that we're here we may as well stay a while, ne?" he elbowed the boy lightly. The boy gave him a look, then shrugged and went back to staring at the bar.
Kopii's drink came. He thanked the bartender and took it. He was pretty thirsty, so he took a good-sized gulp of the wine as the bartender walked away.
"Ggk… arg… bleh!" Kopii choked, gagged, and quickly spat his mouthful of wine back into the glass, spitting repeatedly to try to get the taste out of his mouth. "How can you DRINK this stuff!?" he asked the boy next to him. "Re… uh… my… brother used to like it, but I don't see how!"
The boy turned to him, slightly annoyed. "I don't know. I think it's disgusting, myself. Why did you come here if you don't like what they serve?"
Kopii was surprised at the boy's scorn. "Well I just wanted to get away from home for a while. I didn't expect an interrogation."
"Oh, gomen," the boy said, blushing slightly. It could be the bad lighting or the smoky air, but his face looked strangely blue. "I'm here to get away from… home, too. It's my teacher's birthday." This man's voice sounded familiar. It was almost like Rezo's, to his horror. But it was much softer, lighter, friendlier, and a bit higher than Rezo's voice.
"Oh?" Kopii asked interestedly. "What does he teach you?" This boy's voice sounded vaguely like Rezo's great grandson Zelgadis's voice. But it was much quieter, and more reluctant about life in general than Zelgadis had been, so it couldn't be.
"He teaches me black magic, and the other one teaches me swordsmanship," the boy said.
"Oh, really? I'm quite good at all kinds of magic myself. And I can hold my own in a fight too, if I have a staff. What's your name?" Kopii asked, thinking Rezo might have heard of this boy.
"Zel –" he started to say. Then he realized that if anyone recognized him and saw what he had become, they would shun him. Not to mention the fact that Rezo might destroy them if they got to know him. "I'm… Zelid," he said, rearranging and removing some letters quickly. "Who are you?"
"K…" Kopii began. Then he realized that 'Kopii' wasn't a name. It was more like a species. "Umm… I'm Kage," he said. It meant 'shadow' and was the first 'K' word that popped into his mind. Zelid nodded, seeming to accept it, although they each knew that these were both false names.
"Do you use shamanistic magic much? That's the kind I'm most interested in," said Zelid. So the two discussed the finer points of shamanistic magic, from the Elemekia Lance to the amazing Ra Tilt to the astral plane in general. Kopii was suggesting ways to better focus the Elemekia Lance when Rodimus and Zolf cut in.
"Sorry to cut your talk short Zel, but it's about time to go. It's midnight already!" Zolf said.
"Oh. Gomen, Kage-san, I have to go," Zelgadis said, wishing he could stay longer. "Thank you for telling me what you did!"
"You're quite welcome. It was a pleasure talking with you! I don't get out much, so I doubt I'll see you again," Kopii said regretfully.
"It's all right, neither do I. Sayonara!" Zelgadis said to the tall cloaked man as he left.
"Ja ne!" Kopii said. He left some coins on the bar and stood up to leave the dark, smoky bar himself. He bumped into someone, and the shorter person grabbed his sleeve, tugging him outside. He grabbed the other person's hood and pulled on it. It came down to reveal Xellos glaring up at him. "Xellos!" he exclaimed.
"Why are you here?" Xellos hissed at him. He looked very angry. "I told you to stay at Rezo's house! With Eris! That was a stupid thing to do and it damn near got me in trouble. I'm supposed to be watching you! I take my eyes off you for a second, and you wander off!"
Kopii took a step back from the fuming mazoku. "Gomen, Xellos-san. I… I just couldn't take being around Eris any more tonight. She always treats me like I'm either her 'Rezo-sama' or scum! I was just about to go back. I never meant to leave permanently."
Xellos took a deep breath and sighed, calming himself. Luckily, no harm had been done. Well, it's all right this time, Kopii. I understand your need to get away. And you were as discreet as anyone could have hoped about your identity. Just don't EVER do it again. Please, for my sake as well as yours."
"Of course, Xellos. I won't," Kopii said quickly. Xellos relaxed and smiled.
"Arigato Kopii-kun. Now let's return, shall we?" Xellos grinned. He sent Kopii back to Rezo's house in Sairaag, and returned to his own home.
Eris was still asleep on the table when Kopii appeared in the kitchen. He left her there and went down to the lab. He took off Vrumugun's cloak and put it back, but he left his hair as it was. He entered his cage, closed the door behind him, and went to sleep happily among the little kopiis.
*More Japanese for Beginners*
Sake – Rice wine. Pronounced "Sah – Kay"
Gomen – Sorry
Ne – huh? Eh? No? Don't you think? Etc.
Sayonara – Goodbye
Ja ne – Goodbye
Arigato – Thank you