Less than an hour later, the black convertible screeched into the Wal-Mart parking lot, jumped a curb and landed perfectly between the two yellow lines of a parking space. As Lashana went about uncurling the wires, Kadrith staggered out of the car and dropped to his knees, close to kissing the unmoving ground in relief. "Thank Gaia, I'm still alive."
"Lovely," Telca snorted as she got out of the car. "My Guardian's a wuss."
"I am not!"
"Then get off the ground you git."
While Tvashtar chuckled and got out using the opposite rear door, Nightcrawler merely bamfed his way out, reappearing next to Lashana in a cloud of brimstone and grinning at her sheepishly when she coughed. "Sorry."
"S'okay," she muttered, closing the driver's door and turning to take a look at the store. "How's about we meet back at the car in an hour? Sound good?"
"Ja! I'm gone!" And thus Nightcrawler was, in another burst of brimstone that made Lashana start coughing again.
Chuckling, Tvashtar threw an arm around his kelestra's shoulders and led her towards the store, grinning over at Telca and Kadrith as they walked. "So, I'll take my brother shopping while you two ladies get the decorations. I don't think we'll need an hour, so we might end up finding you earlier."
"That's fine with me," Lashana smiled, grinning when Telca grabbed a cart from were it had been abandoned in the parking lot and was now riding it across the lot. "I think this might just be interesting."
Kadrith smirked as Telca let out a whoop of laughter and shook his head. "I always said that my Avatar was nuts."
"And I've always told you, 'duh'," Tvashtar chuckled, ducking a playful smack from Lashana afterwards. "What? It's true!"
"Well you don't have to spread it around!" she grinned, nudging him in his side with an elbow before running after Telca. "I'll catch you later! Telca! Wait for me!" The burgundy haired sorceress had already vanished into the store, and she cursed softly as she darted around a Klingon couple and dodged a smack from them, inwardly glad that they had been forced to leave their bat'leth's at the door.
Having caught a glimpse of Telca heading into the woman's clothing section, she immediately headed there, weaving through the racks of clothing until she stood in the middle of the section, looking around for her friend curiously. "Telca?"
A giggle answered her, and she spun to look at her friend that had just exited the changing rooms, her eyes squinting in pain when the lights of the store reflected off all the sequined clothing Telca had put on. There were so many colours and bedazzled patterns that it actually hurt to look at her. "You wacko," she laughed. "What are you doing?"
Grinning, Telca struck a dramatic pose, one arm pointing high in the air. "As God as my witness....as God as my witness they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this and when it's all over I'll never be unsequined again! No! Nor any of my folks. Even if I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill. As God as my witness, I'll never go unsequined again!"
Clutching at her sides from laughing so hard, Lashana met her best-friend's dancing gaze and laughed. "You should see yourself!" she chuckled, grinning when Telca glanced down at herself and snickered. "You look positively blinding!"
Telca swept and arm in front of herself and took a bow. "Thank you, dahling! Oop! Employee! Be right back!" Trying hard not to snicker, she ducked back into the changing room and put her other clothes back on, doing her best to keep a straight face as she walked out and bumped into the employee. "These outfits are positively, horrid! Not enough sequins at all! I thought this was a high-quality store! Hmpft!" Head held high in a snooty manner, she dumped the clothes into the employee's arms and stalked off, rejoining Lashana and sharing a chuckle with her before they headed for the Christmas decorations.
They staggered into the correct isle minutes later, still snickering about her little impromptu performance, and she put a great amount of willpower into getting herself under control as she walked over to the decorations and eyed the choices critiquely. "Well, good thing they're stocked up. I'll get these, you get the lights."
"Aye!" Leaving the cart with Telca, Lashana headed off to the indoor and outdoor lights, looking over the various brands for a split second before stealing a cart from someone and starting to fill it with both kinds of lights, planning for every kind of idea the Harem would have for decorating as she made her choices, only returning to Telca's side when her cart was full, a grin spreading over her lips when she saw that her friend had filled her cart to the brim with decorations. "I have a bit of room left over if you want to get another few boxes."
"Good idea. What do you think? The red or the blue?"
"Personally? Red. It's more festive. And I think that garland would look nice too."
"Another good idea. You're certainly on a roll today," Telca teased as she set the box into the elf's cart then went to grab five lengths of the garland, dumping them onto her cart. "Okay, I think we're good to go. Anything else you think we'll need?"
Lashana thought about that for a moment, then smirked. "Tylenol."
"Right! To the pharmacy!"
~*~
Back at the Palace, Kang was wondering how Duncan had managed to live this long. It was obvious that the Immortal's fighting skills were the only reason he had survived, for he didn't think that his culinary tastes would have lengthened his lifetime. They had just finished plucking the turkey, leaving the feathers in a garbage bag near the steps of the deck, and he was hoping that Lashana or Telca was going to give him another task to do in order to separate them.
Sneezing for the fifth time in as many minutes, Duncan sniffled and rubbed at his watery eyes. "I tinb I neeb an andihidtamid."
Kang blinked. "What the hell did you just say?"
Sniffling again, Duncan gave it another shot. "I sab I tinb I meeb an andihistabmid!"
"Riiiiight." Shaking his head, he headed up the stairs and opened the patio doors, pausing for a moment when he saw a familiar person puttering around the kitchen. "Diane!"
Smiling, the woman turned away from looking for the coffee sweetener and grinned at the draconian. "Kang. It's nice to see you again." She eyed the decapitated turkey he was holding in his left hand with an arched eyebrow and held back a smirk. "Turning native?"
"Wha? Oh, this. No, no. This is Duncan's bird." When she gave him a questioning look, he walked over and dumped the bird onto an expanse of wax paper, explaining to her as he washed his hands. "See, Telca has Remy cooking one turkey, and she made us go, uh, fetch one for Duncan, because he wanted to cook one too. Actually maybe you can help me, he's babbling about something and I can't understand him."
Insulted, the Immortal trudged into the kitchen and slammed his sword down onto the small table near the patio doors. "I'm nod buublin! I sduffed ub!"
Kang tilted his head towards Diane and sighed. "See my problem?"
She shrugged. "He said that he's stuffed up," she translated, drawing a shocked look from Kang and a grateful one from Duncan. "I raised Lashana, remember? I'm used to deciphering bizarre babbling."
He paused for a moment, then chuckled. "Good point." Opening a cabinet, he grabbed a pack of decongestants and threw them at the Immortal before returning his attention to Diane, noting that Kalamadea was curled around her shoulders. "You're early, aren't you? Did Lashana just leave you here to wander around aimlessly?"
"She and Telca went to Wal-Mart for decorations," she told him as she located the sweetener and poured some into her coffee. "Pete's in the livingroom watching hockey, but I'm afraid I lost track of Logan."
"That's your dog right? He'll turn up. There's nothing in the Palace that'll hurt him.... uh.... unless Xellos gets him."
Her gaze darkened threateningly. "He wouldn't dare."
"Right. At any rate, he's toned down a little since Lashana became the Chaos Knight. Has to obey her orders, y'know. Wonderful thing that."
Diane chuckled and sipped at her coffee. "So I heard. Mind filling me in on what else my daughter has been up to?"
~*~
Nightcrawler sighed softly as he paid the total of his purchases, hating how easily his little earnings came and went. He was glad he had gotten what he had been looking for however, and that made the ache of his empty wallet a lot easier, granted, with Lashana and Telca as his friends, he wouldn't be low on money for long, they always had a habit of spoiling him because he was the youngest of the group. Not that he was complaining.
Grabbing his bag, he got out of the way of a scowling Gungan and looked around, waving to Tvashtar when he spotted the draconid waiting in another line. Knowing better than to teleport around the store, he ran over to the Guardian and grinned at him, eyeing what he was buying curiously. "Why are you buying a brick of silver plated titanium fire opals and sapphires?" Never let it be said that the Universal Wal-Mart's didn't have everything and anything you could be looking for.
"That is a surprise for everyone," he grinned at the youth, reaching out to ruffle his hair playfully. In truth, all the Harem except for Lashana and Blackwargreymon were behind the most expensive parts of what he was purchasing, it was all a very quietly kept secret. "What'd you get?"
"Just some cds for Lashana and Telca and a sword polishing kit for Duncan. They were the last three I had to buy for."
He nodded in understanding. "I just bought Telca's gift yesterday. Never let it be said that women are easy to shop for."
"We resent that," Lashana protested as she and Telca came up behind him, causing him to yelp in surprise as he spun to look at them. "Y'uh huh. You're up a certain creek without a paddle now, aren't you?"
"Uhh.... Hi?"
"Nice try," Telca smirked.
He sighed in defeat and slumped his shoulders. "Sorry."
"You should be," Lashana teased, winking at him to let him know that she was just joking with him. "So! Whaddya get me?"
"Not telling you," he smirked, snapping his tail against the back of her knees as he grabbed his bag and hid it behind his back, shoving his wallet into the back pocket of his blue jeans as he did so. "Did you happen to see my brother?"
"Nope," Telca answered as the cashier started totalling their purchases, snickering a little at the shocked look the woman held as she stared at the huge amount of lights and decorations that were piled on her conveyor belt. "He can't be far, the store's not that huge."
Tvashtar sighed and handed his bag to Nightcrawler. "Hold this, and don't let her see it. I'll go find Kadrith and we'll meet you at the car."
"Funsucker!" Lashana called after him, glancing at Kurt to see if she could wheedle him into letting her see what was in the bag and sighing when his expression told her that it would be a lost cause to try. Nuts. Grumbling under her breath, she started transferring bagged items back into her empty cart, watching the total of their purchases as it rose higher and higher. "Glad we have those cards, this looks like it'll cost a mint."
"It's Christmas," Telca shrugged. "Losing
money is part of the holiday."
TBC