Seyruun High Jinx –NEXT!
Chapter 22 Food, Friends and Video Games
"Woo-hoo!" Luke cheered. "It's a finger-twitch battle!"
Zelgadiss stared out the window while washing vegetables at the sink. They were in Atlas City for a few days of recording, hopefully enough time to get all that would be needed from both bands for the musical on one CD. His mind drifted, however to the meeting he had had with Mayor Phil just before leaving Seyruun…
"So, what can I do for you young people this afternoon?" The big man leaned forward in his chair and looked them all in the eye, one at a time. He settled on Zelgadiss and waited, attempting to penetrate the boy's stony exterior by sheer will-power.
Zel didn't melt, not with all the conditioning he'd received under Lina's tutelage over the years, unintended as it had been. His voice was firm with conviction as he began his explanation. "We have reason to believe that your re-election campaign is in danger. Corruption within or slander without, or both for that matter...we aren't sure...yet... how it may be tampered with, but..."
"Danger? That sounds serious, son. Do you have any idea from what organization? Do you have any concrete evidence?"
"Now, Daddy, you are sounding like a lawyer!" Amelia chastised him gently. "Give them a chance to explain in their own way."
Zel shook his head. "It's all right, Amelia. I don't mind answering his questions as we go along." He breathed deeply, and then went on. "The syndicate. And so far everything we have is from stolen inter-office mail and a tenuous e-mail trail through the syndicate's databases. Nothing we can take to the police, I don't think."
"Not without getting yourselves into some trouble," grumbled Phil.
He drew his thick eyebrows together in thought, glasses in hand. From where Lina was sitting it looked like he was peering out from behind a furry, black mask. Hairy eyebrows meeting fuzzy sideburns joining the huge handle-bar moustache encircled his lively eyes. Even his jet-black hair, shot with threads of silver, flared out without restraint in a manner which gave him the overall appearance of a barbarian warrior. A throw-back to Seyruun's savage past. Lina nearly burst out laughing at the vision as she imagined him shouting 'Pacifist's Punch!' and pounding his opponent in the face with a massive fist. However, when the mayor next spoke, his calculating and cold tone stifled her utterances.
"I am wondering how you two came to have access to those databases. Seems like something certain investigative government agencies would like to know about." He turned his attention to Xelloss this round.
"Ah, yes...well, that may be so, but for I'd refer to keep that information...a secret." Xelloss smiled slightly and took a gulp from his glass of water.
Zelgadiss jumped in before Phil could object. "We are tracing several activities, Sir, some personal. Considering its track-record, I don't believe the CIA's fight against the syndicate has been effective at all. We have more success without them, I think. Look, this may just be a smear campaign against you which we can foil with quick thinking and intense internet searching to uncover the plot. But...if not, then it will come from within and we'll ferret the guys out. It's not that big of a deal..."
"He means as a life or death situation," Lina interjected. "So, what we thought was to cover all the angles at once. Xelloss and Zel will track the internet 24/7 for incriminating stuff. Amelia and me will conduct interviews of the staff and have the guys run their records through their 'bad-guy' scanner."
Mayor Philonel nodded in silence. He was considering his options. "We wouldn't want to draw undo attention to an internal problem, certainly. Unless actual criminal activity occurs, I suppose a little quiet investigation wouldn't be too risky."
He leaned back and drummed his fingers on the table.
Amelia hated to see her father look so worried. She put on her thinking cap and came up with something cheering to say. "At least you have your brother here to lean on a bit, right daddy! Uncle Christopher is a wonderful, trustworthy man!"
And the magic happened. Phil straightened his back and laced his fingers neatly together. A grin spread across his face, creating, from Lina's point of view again, a frighteningly garish mug.
"Yes!" he shouted. He freed one hand to thump it upon the table. Xelloss watched the water slosh in his glass and his smile wavered a little. "I'll make dear Christopher my new campaign manager...and his son, Alfred, my secretary! Yes, that'll be perfect! Two competent, dependable men that I can rely on! Wonderful! Thank you my dear, dear, darling daughter for your insightful remarks!"
"Can we go tell them now? I mean, ask them? I just know they'll want to help! Winning this race is important to the whole family...the whole of Seyruun! We must demonstrate that admirable values and integrity will persevere. We will overcome injustice and win this election!" Amelia was standing on the table, which was shaking with the combined weight of both her and her father, a noble wind blowing through their short dark hair-- glorious...just glorious.
"Yes! YES! For Seyruun!" Phil bellowed, adding his voice to hers. It was a magic moment.
Xelloss was smiling. He loved the drama.
Zelgadiss sighed. He tolerated it.
Lina yawned. "Yeah, yeah, well I guess our job is done here tonight. I gotta git home and check in with my sis. Zel? You givin' me a lift?"
First, he lent Amelia a hand down to the floor, and then he answered, "Certainly. Xelloss? Grab your gear and we'll go see what kind of mess Val's gotten into now."
"Sure thing, little brother!"
Little brother… Zel sighed as he turned his gaze to the other occupant's of the kitchen. He was neither little nor his brother, but… there was something oddly nice about the sound of those words strung together so artlessly. It was as if they were part of a real family. He dried his hands and looked for the next task. The bird.
Bobby and Zel had been joined by Xelloss and Sylphiel in the kitchen. As it turned out, the four made a good cooking team. Xelloss and Sylphiel accepted directions well and were able to work on their own without much instruction. Bobby and Zel parceled out tasks and divided the chores automatically. For their first night in Atlas City, they took on roasted chicken, stuffing, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, asparagus, and salad—plenty for meat-lovers and vegetarians both. As it turned out not only Filia, but Sarah, Lee and of course Subaru also shied away from animal products.
"All right…there should be a rub for the chicken in that bag over there…" Zel directed Xelloss as he removed the plastic from the tray that held the dead bird.
"Eeyew…" Xelloss winced at it. "It looks icky. All bumpy and soggy and naked…"
"That's why they call it 'dressing'!" Sylphiel giggled at her own terrible joke, punctuating the tinkling laugh with a shake of the box of cornbread stuffing.
The others groaned and Bobby hit her over the head with a bundle of asparagus, albeit gently. That only made her giggle more. Bobby had his bag-pipe sleeves rolled up in great rings around his arms, and had tucked all of his longish, curly hair into his floppy hat to keep things clean. With his rosy cheeks and round face, he looked like a jolly chef out of a period novel.
"But you have to admit that thing looks gross," Xelloss gave the chicken another disgusted look.
A mania possessed Zel. He was washing the chicken at the time, but he hauled it up then and jostled his arms so that it appeared to dance, the drumsticks tapping on the counter, leaving little pink puddles behind.
They shrieked with laughter and repulsion.
As they got control of themselves, Xelloss, affecting the snooty tones of a sophisticate dance critic, pointed out that, "The routine was classic, but the execution was mediocre…"
"And it'll taste petty mediocre without the rub, but if you get it for me, I'll do the rubbing, all right?" Zelgadiss busied himself draining juices into the sink and feeling around for the giblet-bag.
"Hand that to me; I'll fry up the liver and kidneys and heart. I love offal," Bobby grinned, waving a frying pan and grasping a stick of butter in the other hand.
"Butter-fried chicken liver…pretty good," Zel nodded.
"The calories!" Sylphiel sniffed.
In the living room, the others took turns playing games on Lee and Bobby's various game consoles. Currently, the occupation was Mario Party 3.
"Damn you, Luke!" the usually mild-mannered Pearl cried. "You're too good at this!"
The scores displayed made Val, Pearl, and Amelia weep while Luke gloated. "It's my magic finger," he cricked it at them.
"Anything that involves finger-twitching is impossible for you to lose," Pearl complained. "Who wants in on the next round?" she offered up her controller.
The four brightly-colored plastic controllers stretched all over the room, tying up a great deal of space in a web of wires. There were many close calls as they were passed over heads and across the room, pulling the machine they were hooked up to this way and that.
"Fork it over," Lee demanded casually.
"I want to challenge Luke, here," Lina's eyes flashed. "He can't be that good; you guys have gotta just suck."
"Your funeral," yawned Luke, carefully pushing up his glasses without touching the strange make-up he wore around his eyes. "Lee?"
"Fine…" Lee gave his controller back to Luke with little fight. It wasn't really his kind of game, anyway. Perhaps he would go see what was up in the kitchen; check and see if Bobby had set anything on fire yet, how big the puddles and flour-heaps and egg-spots were…if he could summon up the energy to move…
A thin stream of lightening seemed to connect Lina's red eyes with Luke's dark ones. The heat was on.
Filia sighed and wrestled the controller out of Val's hands; she normally thought things like this beneath her, but any chance to one-up him was attractive to her, and his terrible score would be easy to top.
At her feet, Subaru blinked as he found the last of the four dumped in his lap.
"Come on, dude, choose!" Luke said, pointing to the screen.
He blinked again. Yes, he'd watched them do this for the past hour or three, but still he'd never so much as touched a video game cartridge before. Hokuto had liked to play arcade games, but they'd never owned anything like this…
"Just pick a character so we can play!" Luke pressed, eager to get on with it.
Recognition ignited in Lee. Maybe he didn't have to get up! There was something to do right here. "Here, you move that little stick—that's the 'joystick'—and see! The icon on the screen that corresponds to it moves, too!"
"Ah…" Subaru flipped it around for a while. The others gave each other long looks.
"Now, that grid is full of pictures…each is a character that you can choose to play as for the game."
"And…who are they?" Subaru squinted and tried to discern personality from the somewhat polygonal graphics that were a bit too bright for him to completely comprehend.
"Well… That's Mario in red, his brother Luigi in the green—"
"I chose Luigi!" Luke pointed out.
"I'm Mario," Lina reminded them.
"Yes, and they all have weaknesses and strengths. The brown blob is Donkey Kong; he's strong but slow. Likewise, that evil-looking dude, Wario, is also slower but strong. Peach is quick and nimble, and is chosen by Filia, but Yoshi, the green dinosaur-thing, is free…why don't you select him? Press the big blue button—that's 'A,' the action button. Green is 'B,' or 'back.' Yeah! There you go…"
"Okay, fill the pan with water, and when it boils—no, don't put the butter back, Bobby, I'll need it in a second," Zel ordered.
"Here ya go!" Bobby tossed him the stick, which he caught and passed to Xelloss who was puzzling over the recipe for macaroni and cheese.
"You'll need that. You'll need to boil some water, too," Zel sighed, and pointed him to the range.
"Right…Sylphiel, how ya doing with those potatoes?"
"Almost done, Bobby. Should I cut them next or…?"
"No; I'll do it with the asparagus. I'm good with a knife," he tested a cleaver with a tap of his finger. "Ow!"
Zel wondered if it was such a good idea to have Bobby there. He knew what to do, and was doubtless a very successful chef since everything looked tasty, but he did not seem terribly concerned with the mess he made. A haphazard, mellow fellow, he looked more and more a maniac as he spilled water down his front and wiped sauces across his cheek. It was sort of like having a disaster walking among them.
"Oh, dear! It's steaming!"
Sort of like Xelloss…
"Oh, Bobby, you're so funny!" Sylphiel laughed as Bobby furiously hacked at a head of lettuce for the salad, sending little shreds flying like cruciferous confetti.
"I'll do the carrots…" Zel decided.
"What's happening?" Subaru asked Lee.
"You're doing a four-person mini-game. That means you're all competing against each other. Okay, you got 'Cheep Cheep Chase.'"
"Woo-hoo!" Luke cheered. "It's a finger-twitch battle!"
"You're on!" Lina howled.
"Ignore them," Lee advised shortly. "That is a Cheep Cheep. In this, you just have to press the 'A' button repeatedly, as quickly as you can, and press this to dive…only two buttons to keep track of. Right, those two." He noted that the ingenuous youth had to look down at his fingers to make sure they were in the right place, rather than keeping his eyes on the game. A major handicap. He would have to drill him on this later on…
"But I don't understand why we have to compete all of the time. Aren't they all friends? The big turtle is the villain, right?" Subaru tried to understand.
Lee shrugged. "It's a game; they're just skill-tests. Think of it like that. It's not violence, just rewards for special skills."
"Finger-twitch!" Luke gurgled.
"Oh…" Subaru processed that information.
"Okay, let's start!" Lina's thumb pounded down on the button.
Whips of asparagus splashed down into hot, hot water, while a rain of macaroni fell into the taller pot beside it. Large blocks of pale potato were already heating in the biggest pot in the back of the range. Steam and the hair of the cooks clouded the air.
"I hope there's enough for everyone…" Zel murmured, carefully slicing red onions into pretty rings to adorn the salad.
"There are enough potatoes in there to snow in the school," Bobby pointed out.
"What a marvelous idea! Mashed-potato snow! I wonder why no one ever thought of that as an element of a winter diorama before!" Xelloss exclaimed comically.
"Probably because we are generally encouraged NOT to play with our food," Zel sighed.
"I'll bet I could make a mashed-potato snowman at dinner! Zelly, can I have that carrot-tip for the nose?"
"Absolutely not!" Zel chucked it into the garbage as quickly as his elven reflexes allowed.
Unfortunately, being a bit of a fairy didn't seem to help Subaru's reflexes any (Ouch. Sorry, there, rat slipping.)
It was the end of another round, and the contestants were about to take part in another 4-player minigame. Lina was a star behind Luke, but had more coins; Filia was rich rich rich, and poor Sub was penniless and itemless and had not one game-winning star to his name, despite Lee's excellent coaching. The greatest music school in the world cannot teach a tone-deaf person to sing…
Last time, he had failed miserably at a strange game in which one pressed a button to slap a picture of a flower with a giant fly-swatter when the appropriate flower icon came up. It took him a long time to process images, and he just couldn't quite remember which button to push, despite Lee's repetition of the mantra, 'there are only two buttons, and they don't move!'
This time, he was told that he could press 'A' repeatedly to build a snowball. 'A' was the green button. He knew where that was. All he had to do was press that a lot…
The little sprites on the screen fervidly patted at the white background, a ball miraculously forming in front of them to the sound of plastic buttons being tapped. Subaru was beginning to grow pleased with his creation (at least he could see the direct product of his actions) when, out of the blue, his character was blasted off the screen.
Of course, the instructions did not really end with 'make a big ball of snow.' Then you had to press 'A' again to kick it at someone. Of course, they would be kicking snowballs at him, as well.
They were always kicking things at each other, or bouncing on each other, or shooting torpedoes, or something! And they had to be so fast to notice things, so fast to react! It was a bit too much for him to comprehend… And he always lost before he knew what was happening.
He always…
…lost before…
…he knew…
…
Bobby checked on Xelloss' cheese grating operations. "Almost done. Good. My cream sauce is ready when you are."
"'kay…"
"You seem unusually quiet all of a sudden. Something wrong?" Bobby was attuned to other people's moods and open to discussion concerning them.
"Ah, yeah. I was just thinking about… See, I just met this girl…" Xelloss looked askance at Sylphiel and said no more.
"Oh, the old love mess, eh?" Bobby nodded appreciatively. "Go on…"
"Yes, well…she's not too pleased that I have to be away so long…over the holiday and all. She had been counting on me joining her family for dinner, I believe."
"Oh, ho ho!" Bobby smiled. "So she's your girlfriend, then?" He had been trying to figure out who went with whom for some time—to avoid making any imprudent remarks or associations. Some people are very sensitive about these things.
"I guess so…"
Zel shot him a look that said 'You'd better acknowledge that!', then aloud said, "Of course she is, Xelloss."
"We haven't much time to see one another. I see her in math, then leave, then there's band at least four times a week, not counting gigs, the shrine—which I've been trying to get back to on a regular basis."
"You've seen her more in the last few days," Zel reminded him.
"Yeah, because I knew I wouldn't get the chance for another week, almost. I would like to take her some places, like a movie or dancing, but…there just isn't time in my life for a real relationship." Xelloss shook his head.
Sylphiel had been listening silently. She found the conversation gripping. "But weren't you just offering to take Lina to the beach Wednesday and blow off that Candy girl?"
Xelloss' expression hardened. "Leave Lina out of this. This has nothing to do with her, understand?"
Sylphiel jumped at his harsh tone. "Well, I…ah…"
Xelloss slammed down the grater saying, "It's done." Then he stomped out of the kitchen.
Bobby looked traded looks of consternation with Zelgadiss. "Should...someone go talk to him? Or is he always like this?"
"Not usually." Zel answered, listening to Xelloss footsteps trailing off…a slamming door…
"Go on then, check on him. Dinner's nearly done until the chicken needs to come out. This lovely lass and I can finish up," Bobby said encouragingly.
Zel nodded and set down his dishtowel. "All right."
Slam!
Amelia winced. "There goes Mr. Xelloss. I hope he and Mr. Zelgadiss aren't fighting again."
"I didn't think he ever stopped smiling," Luke observed.
"It doesn't happen very often... Oh, no...I lose another turn. Mr. Lee? Here you go. Maybe you can get past that Bowser guy this time."
"All riiiiight!" he purred. Lee moved his player to the next square and gathered his winnings. "See, Sub, it's just like a board game; you have to plan ahead a few moves and keep track of where everyone is…" he was getting into coaching as much as playing—a talent he reserved primarily for video games.
Amelia smiled when she noticed Zelgadiss storming into the room, eyes searching. Gourry caught Zel in his blue gaze and pointed to the front door. Zel gave him a clipped nod and turned. Amelia looked up expectantly. He shook his head and signaled for her to sit down. This he'd do alone. He shrugged his shoulders and resolutely left in pursuit of Xelloss.
"Ah...he didn't look too happy either," Luke noted.
Lina had lost the 'finger-twitch' battle to Luke. That combined with the gnawing hunger in her stomach was making her a bit testy. While wandering around restlessly, she had seen the entire silent Zel-charade and snapped back, "Zel's rarely happy. He needs an excuse to be outraged and mope, and Xelloss provides him with plenty of ammunition. They'll be okay." She frowned at the kitchen door. "I'm more worried about my dinner getting done right now."
He found Xelloss leaning against a tree halfway down the block. "If I'd gone on any further I would have gotten myself lost," Xelloss confided.
"Glad you had the presence of mind to save me the trouble of having to hunt for you."
Xelloss grunted in reply.
"So, let me tell you what the problem is," Zel sighed.
Xelloss shook his head and pounded on the tree trunk.
"You have to let go of Lina, Xelloss. No matter how you think you…"
"I love Lina, Zelgadiss. I can't just…let that go. It doesn't just go."
"Then what about Candy, then? You just going to keep her around for fun? That girl's crazy about you! She'd do just about anything for you, and has."
Xelloss turned away.
"You can't just fool around with her. She's a human being, a worthwhile one at that. She has a heart. You should use yours. Xelloss, listen, Lina's…a distant, improbable shooting star. She's out there. Candy is down-to-earth real, the here-and-now. What more do you want, huh?" Zel watched his friend intently for a reaction.
"The stars…I shoot for the stars…" Xelloss whispered huskily.
"You are nuts! And you are showing a cruel side I don't like, too. It's too late to break it off with Candy and not hurt her deeply, but you had better."
"I love her too," Xelloss sighed. "I like being with her. The closeness. I feel an attachment growing…"
"Well, I'm pleased to hear that," Zel said sarcastically.
"No, I mean it!" Xelloss said loudly. "It's confusing. If we could spend more time together I think…maybe…" His voice dwindled off into uncertainty. "And I…got another photo."
"What?"
"Black and white, candid shot in glasses. Again taken from a distance."
Zel's heart quickened. "Message?"
"Yes…it said…'Come out, come out, wherever you are.' That's it."
Zel bowed his head. He was getting real tired of all this. "We have to get on a computer and scan for news concerning the mayor," Zel reminded Xelloss. "Then plan to get together for another meeting."
"As soon as we get back? Whom shall we invite? Amelia, certainly, and Lina naturally. Anyone else?" Xelloss asked.
"No. Phil will advise us as he sees fit, but in the end, the fewer people involved, the better and particularly the less dangerous. That message to you though…I wonder if there's a connection. Not that there should be… Who knows who's behind that harassment?" Zel sighed and continued rambling to his friend. "That note, the one I took from Grauscherra…that one may have described a real plot or a trap for us. We don't know and can't tell, though I wish we could intercept additional communiqués from other sources to confirm our guess one way or another."
"That's what the laptop's for!" Xelloss said feeling chipper again. He pushed off from the tree.
"Laptop? What laptop? You…you didn't buy…? You didn't bring…?" Zel sputtered. He was practically salivating with excitement. Technology! Something beyond the game consoles that the other band seemed to be attached to at the hip…
"Yes, in my bag back in my room, I bought and I brought!" Xelloss giggled and danced around his friend. "I'll go get it."
"Nonsense. We'll both go."
Shortly thereafter, they were alone in the den; Xelloss was plugging in cables for power and the Internet. "Okay, let's try the Dynast account for activity first."
"All quiet on the northern front, it appears." Zel sighed and reached for the computer. "Let me play a minute. What about that crazy aunt of yours, the dolphin lady? How do we check that operation's account?"
"Ah, just go to syndicate partner links over there, yeah . . . then scan for codes with embedded 'deep sea dolphin' references." Xelloss pointed at the screen while Zel scrolled down, down, down. "There!"
"Got it! Now you say it's normally dead, right?"
"As the proverbial doorknob. Not much action in her neck of the woods."
Zel looked askance at his friend. "Where do you come up with those passé sayings?"
Xelloss smiled, "TV?"
"You don't watch television." Zel smiled back.
"Ah, well, I'll blame it on TV anyway. That's what everyone else does. Wait! Hold yer horses thar boy! What have we got? It says...'Mayor shmayer, look for the Beastmaster's general and priest...'"
"Beastmaster? What kind of idiocy wrote this?" Zel spat.
"Amentia," he quipped. "Now, Beastmaster, that was Zelas' title. I was her general and I am a priest. This is a memo telling someone to locate me...I don't know who the encoded name is for here... but it's a reply to another message. Let's see if we can trace that one, okay?"
"'Mayor...shmayer?' These are syndicate operatives writing this?" Zel shook his head while Xelloss continued to search for missing links.
"Rather elite-class ones at that!" Xelloss murmured in reply. "Ah...no luck, wait there's more here... 'Sending photos. Verify identity. Most recent 2 months.' Zelgadiss, those pictures the one of me with the hair drier and the one I got the other day might be those."
"Hmmm and the 'mayor' reference may relate to that other matter."
"The one that may be a trap for us? Could be. I'd really like to know more before we get back to Seyruun." Xelloss continued to scan, click, and read. "My eyes hurt. I'm going to take out my contacts. Wanna see what you can come up with?"
Zel nodded, "I don't have those syndicate pass-codes memorized though. Eh, don't worry. I'll make do."
He was intent on locating the identification for the sender or receiver or more of the chain of communication. The mayor was running for re-election, usually a done-deal for Phil since no one was seriously challenging him. A fast, straight, race. But if that memo Zelgadiss had stolen from Grauscherra's office was correct, Phil's campaign would be in for a bumpy ride. Someone was planning to put up some roadblocks. And why? Well, if they spoiled the contest in such a way as to alter the outcome in favor of some syndicate character, then the Great City-State of Seyruun was headed for dark times indeed…
At the sound of footfalls at his back, Zel remarked, "Take a look at this and tell me if you think the syndicate is capable of...?" Zel's keen hearing alerted him; the person entering the room was not Xelloss. He twisted around and focused on the interloper.
"I'm…sorry if I am intruding. I was just putting away this coat. My...suitcase is over there, by the couch."
"Subaru," Zelgadiss sighed. "It's all right. This is your room as much as mine. I was just looking up some...things."
They were thankfully interrupted by Lina's delicate holler, "D I N N E R ! Come and git it while there's somethin' left! Oh, and after that…Macross Studios!"
Groans.
"Yeah, tonight. We're payin' for the studio whether we use it or not. So we use it!" she snapped back.
"Bit of a driver, that one?" Bobby said with a tilt of his head to Val grumbling at his side. "We need people like her."
"Just don't let her get behind the wheel of a car with you," Val said. "She drives like she looks right now."
Bobby's eyes took in the wild determined Lina who had launched herself at the dining room table, plunging in with fevered determination.
"Oh, well…yes, I get your point," Bobby gasped, shivering with fright at the scene…and the prospect of Lina driven and drivin'.
From the Authors:
Seyruun High Jinx has a home. Please go to the author profile for Kaeru Shisho and choose the link. You will find the contest results as well as pictures under Seyruun High Jinx NEXT. Pictures for each of the other stories are associated with their links.
KS
End Seyruun High Jinx –NEXT! Chapter Twenty-two.