You know, I knew that everyone had a favorite stories list, but what I
didn't know until I took a close look at the profiles recently is that we
can LOOK at other people's lists . . . I was unaware of this, so I spent
about an hour running through the FE section's many author's profiles to see
how many lists I was on.
. . . Wow. I mean, WOW. Thank you, everyone!! (And now, we continue the
scheduled . . . session, between Matthew and Guy. Woot.)
--------------------------------------
I swallowed. "Er . . . Matthew . . . What . . ." I paused as Matthew took a
step towards me. ". . .are you d-doing?"
Matthew paused in his tracks. "That depends," He said slowly, his grin
lightening to mischivious. "What do you think I'm doing?" He took another
step forward.
I thought about it for a minute, struggling to think around my pounding
heart and head. Oh god, why wasn't I moving back? Oh, right. There's a wall
behind me. Figures. What DID I think he was doing? I don't think I want to
know, but it was making my head fuzzy.
Matthew's eyes were glowing. Now I could beging to see what Serra had meant
about his eyes -- sure, I'd had to deal with them alot a year ago, but I'd
never actually LOOKED at them. They seemed to say to me, 'I know exactly
what I you want, and have so much more.'
"Stop," I said hesitantly. Matthew's grin faltered, but he asked genially,
"Why?"
W-Why? Think think think . . . Why did I want him to stop? But, with the
fuzzy state of mind I was in, thinking was really almost too much to ask. I
fell back on what I was best at -- being honest. "You're making it hard to
c-concentrate, t-that's why!" Was that . . . panic, I sensed in my voice?
Matthew's face turned into the picture of innocence, but he couldn't keep an
almost invisible (triumphant?) glitter from his eyes. "But Guy," he spoke
plaintively, "That's entirely the poin --"
"Excuse me, you aren't supposed to be here."
YES!! An interruption! Jesus did love me after all. I swiveled, to see Kent
in the entryway, his casual and slightly mussed clothes at odds with his red
hair and indignant expression. "What are you doing here?" He demanded
curtly, at Matthew. Oops, Kent couldn't see me against the wall.
I collected my wits enough to get out a sentence stutter free. "He's with
me, relax," I said aloud, my tone shockingly steady.
I didn't know Kent as well as I knew Erk and Serra, but we were on a first
name basis and had a somewhat healthy respect for each other. Kent didn't
seem extraordinarily happy at the idea of strangers in his domain, but I
made a helpless sort of gesture to pacify him. "I need to ask you and Sain a
few questions, is all," I explained.
Kent nodded. "Oh." he cleared his throat, visibly relaxing. "Sain'll
probably take awhile to get here . . . I go make him hurry up. You and Mr .
. ." he darted a questioning look at Matthew.
Matthew smiled one of his most winning smiles -- again, everyone but me gets
the smile -- and said lightly, "Matthew Ostia, Private Investagator. Nice to
meet you."
Kent then let his considerable amount of common sense show as he only gave
Matthew a suspicious, cusory once-over. " . . . Right. Guy, you and Mr.
Ostia can wait here for a bit, can't you?"
"Of course," my partner chirped. Matthew was far, far too cheerful. I,
unfortunately, knew Matthew. Cheerful Matthew meant Matthew was severly
annoyed at something, apparently Kent for some reason. (I decided not to
ponder on this.) Even at this affirmation, though, Kent didn't move, and
looked to me.
Kent was snubbing Matthew? Interesting thought, although for some reason it
didn't sit as well with me as it should have. I gave my agreement to Kent,
with a "Yeah, go on," and a nod. Kent nodded back, and left.
I took a deep breath. Okay, think. It's just you and Matthew . . . I heard a
nicker from behind me.
Correction -- it's just you, Matthew, and the horse. There were usually two,
one was missing. Not that I had actually seen them up close . . . I'd
actually never been to Louise's stables before.
I turned around warily, facing the horse. "Well, we're here for this, so . .
." I took a small step towards it.
Horses were rather . . . large, weren't they? I wondered how much damage
those humongous hooves could do. I felt my eye twitch as I took another step
forward, more hesitantly then before as I got closer. Wow, that thing was
really, really --
It moved! Oh crap crap crap, the idea of something being both that big and
alive seriously did NOT make my day! It lunged it's nose at me, and I let
out a sound and jumped back. The horse whuffed far, far louder then
necessary. There was no way that thing was an herbivore --
Matthew shook his head, and approached the creature as well.
I think I lost my ability to blink for awhile. Seriously. I was too busy
staring -- in horror, I swear it! -- while Matthew dared to . . . to
actually be . . . dare I say TENDER towards that brutal monstrosity. As
Matthew patted the beast's neck and crooned softly at it, I made a very,
very justified decision.
I decided I didn't like horses. At all.
Matthew, noticing my aversion, rolled his eyes. "Please, Guy, it's an
animal." He -- I swallowed --patted the horse demonstratively. "No worse
then your cat."
My cat? Well, Wo Dao wasn't the size of a . . . Hey, wait a sec. . . I
jerked up to look at him. "How do YOU know I have a cat?" I accused him
warily, unconciously stepping forward for a confrontation.
Which brought me closer to the stall -- and it's occupant. I noticed this a
moment too late, and with an 'eep' I practically slammed myself back against
the wall.
He grinned -- predictably enough. "I have my ways," he said slowly. "Now get
over here."
Over . .. there? As in . . . next to both him, AND the horse? I really,
really preferred to keep myself in one piece, and going over there was
definitely going to decrease my chances of that. "Er . . . no?" I tested
delicately.
His eyes took on their previous, strange, glow, and he leaned towards me,
his grin softening to a voracious half-smile. "Guy," He warned, in a tone
that might -- if I didn't know him so well -- be mistaken for genial, "This
is part of our case. If it comes to it, I will force you."
The way he emphasized those last four words -- a sort of growling purr --
scared me a bit. I mean, I had to be scared, why else would my flush
reappear and my heart start to pound within my chest? My mouth went pretty
dry too, and I sealed it shut to prevent myself from saying something
stupid. It wasn't generally good advice to directly defy Matthew -- I knew,
I'd worked for him -- but this was too much.
I shook my head rapidly, my braid swinging as wildly as it could in it's
close proximity to the wall. "N-No way," my mouth stuttered on it's own.
The half-smile was absolutely predatorial. "Gu-uy," Matthew sang, once more
being to advance towards me. This was familiar. Why, why was this so
familiar?
I slid to the right, keeping my eyes on Matthew's. Their amused squinting of
silent laughter wasn't helping my confidence, although my confidence was
already pretty close to nil anyway, since Matthew always won our
skirmishes.
Not to mention, there was a wall right behind me. Matthew really liked
pinning me to the wall to render me helpless, it was his favorite way of . .
. well . . . rendering me helpless. Combined with the closed space, this
WASN'T the spot I wanted to have a tussle with my former boss.
Matthew's eyes were glowing again. This didn't bode well for me . . . I
barely saw his subtle shift in weight in time -- Matthew pounced. Leaping
back in time, I stumbled to catch my footing.
Matthew grabbed my shoulder and used my unbalance to pivot me, forcing my
back to face him as he grabbed my wrists from behind. Disabled, already.
Great, and Matthew wins . . . again. That's 137 wins for Matthew to . . .
to. . . . I racked my brain for a time I'd won . . .
Well, at least I put up a fight, even if it didn't amount to much of one.
I kept struggling, but didn't bother to put any weight behind it, and
Matthew knew it. I couldn't see his face, but I could literally sense the
smirk he was no doubt wearing. Damn him! Damn him and his damn smirk! "You .
. . y-you fiend!" I gasped.
"Guy, you don't really mean that, do you?"
Matthew, using his hold on my wrists, guided my hand forward. He didn't
actually expect me to . . . to touch that thing, did he? I mean, it's not
very clean looking and the place smells bad, so touching that thing couldn't
be sanitary --
He gave me a gentle shove, forcing me to stumble forward to keep my balance,
keeping my hand reaching towards the horse. Apparently, Matthew DID expect
me to touch it.
Er . . .?
I then realized the exact postion we were in. Matthew was standing very
close beside me, his front pressed almost fully against my back, one arm
wrapped around me to keep a firm hold on my left wrist while his other hand
was outstretched along with my right.
My first reaction to this was undeniably NOT negative. I immediately leaned
into Matthew's invading warmth, closing my eyes and pressing backwards
against him gently. Involuntarily, my throat made a low noise I didn't
recognize. His response was to press against me with an equal strength, body
heat seeping through my clothes. I felt his head bowing down, his breath hot
against my ear. . . did he mean to do that, or was he . . . was he . . .
The horse . . . nickered.
That thing was EVILLL!!
I jumped back with a yelp. Or at least, tried to, since Matthew was directly
behind me. With a not-so-sickening thud -- smashing Matthew to the ground
gave me a perverse satisfaction -- I heard Matthew land before landed as
well. Luckily, Matthew was there to break my fall.
. . . .Let's reassess that sentence, taking into consideration the fact that I am
now sitting ontop of Matthew.
UNluckily, Matthew was there to break my fall. I let out an unmanly squawk
as I flailed to my feet. I caught a minor glimpse of my partner's dastardly
grin before something more urgent caught my eye.
I don't know what set that thing off, maybe all my shouting and quick moving
-- but the horse was going crazy!! It heaved itself up to it's hind legs,
letting out a piercing whinny.
I was going to die, wasn't I? That thing was going to kill me!
I scrambled to my feet, trying to avoid the horses hooves -- they'd looked
dangerous when standing still; when they were moving . . . in my general
direction . . . oh, god. I was going to die. I fell over -- again -- in my
attempt to get away.
I scrambled up precariously, and stumbled back again on something squishy
that sounded alot like Kent when I sat down hard on it and it went "Ooof." A
new figure appeared in the doorway.
At this point, I was sitting on Kent, Sain was gaping at the scene in the
doorway, the demon horse was trying to assault me on it's rear legs, and
Matthew was trying desperately to yank down on the horses reins.
Matthew was . . . what? I was roughly shoved off Kent, since he seemed to
recognize my shock and inability to do so myself -- but still I gaped as
Matthew continued to yank on the reins, his face looking intense in
concentration as he struggled to calm the beast's fury.
The horse succumbed, albeit slowly, to Matthew, until it's muscles trembled
beneath his steady hands, My partners grin ghosted back to life as he blew
gently in the horse's nostrils, cooing gently a soft variety of equine
praise, involving "shiny coats" and "swift hooves."
I scowled at the sight. I really, really hated horses. I clambored to my
feet, this time with more success then I'd been having lately at that.
Kent managed to look dignified despite the fact that I'd been sitting on him
a few moments ago. Sain seemed more uncomfortable about that then Kent did,
actually. I was almost too embarrassed and terrified to worry too much about
that, but I stepped away from Kent awkwardly, not caring for the moment that
doing so brought me closer to Matthew.
"What happened?" demanded Kent. As if it wasn't obvious.
"T-That thing ATTACKED me! THAT'S what happened!" I gasped out.
I backed against the wall again -- which I know isn't a good idea while
Matthew's in the room, but my common sense had disappeared somewhere along
the line -- away from the evil beast. "Er . . . so . . . Kent? C-Can we
maybe talk . . . outside? A-As in, n-not in here?" I didn't worry too much
about my stutter, either, as I was too busy worrying about those very, very
large teeth the horse was sporting.
Sain pouted. "She wasn't attacking you, she was trying to be friendly," he
almost whined, taking personal offense at my dislike of the . . . the . . .
THING in the stall. Kent nodded agreement. "Then you probably did something
which in turn frightened her. You're lucky your friend is so good with
horses."
"He's not my friend," I blurted out automatically. "He's just my partner."
". . . partner? In what?" Sain wondered outloud, looking confused. Kent
sighed. "They're detectives, Sain," he explained with a weary automation.
Apparently, Kent had to explain alot of things to Sain.
Puzzled, Sain looked at me questioningly. "I know that! But I heard you
mention before that you hated working with partners?" He turned his
statement into a question by lilting is voice up at the end.
I felt my hands unconsciously curl into fists. "I still do," I ground out as
politely as possible, not for Matthew's sake as much as Kent's.
"Oh, ok." Sain paused, then shrugged. "So, what do you guys want to know? Me
an' Kent know alot, if I do say so myself. I mean, sure I've got a biased
opinion, but you can live with that, right?" The goodnatured horseman
flashed a wide smile at us, which Matthew returned wholeheartedly and I
acknowledged tensly with a wry twisting of lips.
"We're investigating a horse theft," Matthew explained.
This was more my area. Adjusting myself to the familiarity of working on a
case, I could relax enough that I didn't look as rigid as a pole. "We
haven't visited the scene of the crime yet," I elaborated, "but we'd kind of
like to know if there's anything we should look for."
"You're coming to us for help with detective work?" Sain looked half
incredulous and half estatic. "But why?
I nodded my head rapidly, feeling my braid bob up and down on my back.
"Well, y'know, horses and that kind of thing aren't my area of expertise. .
." I felt a flush crawl up my neck as Matthew added teasingly, "As you could
see."
Kent just nodded, sparing my dignity another bruise. "Alright then. . .You
might check to see if there's any equipment missing."
I tilted my head to the side with a small frown. That made sense. A horse
required alot of room and, if the various bits of leather and silver tacked
to the wall had any significance, they also needed alot of inventory. If
equipment wasn't missing, that would mean that the thief was used to
accomodating horses and would narrow down our suspects to the richer half of
the city.
"Mainly," Kent continued, "The bit and bridle."
I blinked. The what? My cluelessness must have shown on my face, because
Sain held up an odd assortment of leather straps and painful looking piece
of silver. "That's this thing, right here." He poined. "It goes in the
mouth, and you use it to steer."
Personally, I thought you'd have to be crazy to actually want to get near
enough to that thing to have to steer it, but I quelched that thought. I
settled for a nuetral "oh" in response.
"And they eat hay, which isn't in short supply," offered Matthew, "So we
wouldn't have to check for stolen food."
"Nope," perked Sain.
Kent paused, and looked down at me -- why was everyone taller then me? --
with a serious expression. "What kind of horse was it?"
"A roan mare," Matthew supplied brightly, overriding anything that might
have come out of my mouth. I jerked to face him, scowling. Hey, I was
questioning the guy, what've you got to do with it?! Grrr . . .
Sain snorted before I could act on my annoyance. "Not for long." He
anticipated my querying look with a grin. "They'd probably have dyed her,
since it's almost impossible to hide a horse any other way. I mean," he
gestured to the stall, "They stick out in a crowd."
Rolling his eyes, Kent nodded reluctantly. "That's a definite possibilty,
but it'd ruin her coat," he agreed reluctantly. Wait, 'her?' What's with
this 'her' buisiness? I'll keep to refering to these things as 'it,' thank
you very much.
Voices sounded outside. I jerked my head over tensely, and Matthew didn't
seem to react, but I could tell by the slight cock of his head that he was
try to discern the words.
Kent noticed my tense stance, and shook his head. "That's just Lowen,
bringing out other charge back from the vet."
I froze stiffly. Other. . . horse?
Sain began to jauntily walk out to the green-haired man -- I assumed Lowen
-- to pick up the reins, calling behind him, "Kent, can you let him check
Huey's hooves while he's here?"
H-HUEY?! I tried my best not to look revolted, I really did, so you can't
blame me . "Y-You NAME those things?" Actually, I'd known that already . . .
but seeing the name in use was really too much!
Sain reappeared with the monstrosity in tow, and nodded blithely, oblivious
to my horror. "Yup! The one we've been with," he gestured to the horse in
the stall, "is Huey. This one here," he patted the horse gently, with me
flinching from each pat, "is --"
Matthew coughed loudly, interrupting Sain. I like to think that it's because
he knew that if I heard the other beast's name, I'd blow chunks. It can't
have been too hard to tell, I wasn't concealing my emotions at the time.
Kent finished leading the second monstrosity into the stable. Now there were
TWO of them. In the same room. As me. I gulped, managing to squish myself
even further against the wall.
I heard a muffled cough from Matthew. I jerked my eyes towards him warily.
He stepped between me and the horses, which was more of a comfort then it
should have been.
"As much as I think we should question you further . . ." Matthew gave a
pointed glance -- for some reason -- at me, " . . . I think it'd be best if
we leave. Guy?"
YES! I bolted at the door. Yes yes yes, Matthew was my salvation! We got to
leave we got to leave we got to leave -- I swear, I could have kissed him.
I froze, my braid swinging over my shoulder at my sudden halt, eyes slightly
wide, that last thought having slammed into me like a sledgehammer.
Kiss . . . Matthew?
. . . Ok, maybe not KISS him. . . although it might be worth it just to see
what happened to that grin if I did . . . but Kent and Sain were right
there, so it wouldn't probably go over well with them . . . and WHY was I
seriously considering this, anyway?!
I shuddered -- or shivered, I couldn't decide which -- at the thought. Noo
no no no, Couldn't think about things like that, not on a case. Especially
not about Matthew of all people, the irritating, grinning fiend . . .
As we made our way out, Kent stopped Matthew to give him a rare compliment.
"That really was good job with Huey, by the way," He said almost grudgingly.
Kent was always willing to give credit where it was due, but he seemed to
still have doubts about Matthew. Good man, Kent.
That was understandable, but . . .
I paused. Matthew had never handled a horse in his life before. He'd told me
so himself. He'd told Louise, too. How had he known what to do? How had he
known EXACTLY how to calm the horse down? I frowned in concentration at him, as
if the answer was written somewhere in Matthew's grin.
Mathew noticed my stare as we walked to the taxi, and flashed a grin.
"Something on my face, or am I just that wonderful to look at?" he purred.
I inwardly seethed as I swung myself into the car.
-------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, yeah, I had to . . . uh . . 'research' horses. ---- Ick. And I know
that horses don't scare that easy, but we'll just say that this horse is
skittish.
Ugh, that took longer then expected. I absolutely hated this one, mostly
because I was so eager to be writing the next one instead. (It's got
Legault!) Plus, Kent kept giving me issues. He kept being . . . quirky. And
he twitched alot. So yeah, blame Kent for the delay, it's all HIS fault.
Anyhoo . .. if you reaallly like me, you'll review. And in return, my next
chapter will be coming out MUCH sooner -- I promise. Considering it's pretty
much written already.
