9.)
Preparations
"Will
you look at that, not even on the altar yet but she already looks the part."
Hikoro
Kanzaki fastened the last button of several on the back of her daughter's
elegant wedding gown. She rested her proud hand on the bride-to-be's
shoulder, as they both smiled end to end at the gorgeous reflection in the
bedroom mirror.
"It looks prettier
than I expected…" Hitomi could only master those few words, although she
had been babbling on and on at the bridal boutique just a few hours earlier.
She was totally at a loss in her own self. She had never seen herself, or even
imagined herself in a wedding dress before. The whole image was practically
incomprehensible. It packed the whole idea of a wedding right in her face at
that very moment. It summed up the commitment vows, the years of engagement,
and the memories of love. It was also intimidating her, for the moment, the
moment when everything would come to be, the moment of truth. It seemed silly
to think this all from a dress, but an ordinary dress, it was not.
"That's
only because you're in it honey," Hikoro ruffled her hand affectedly
through Hitomi's crisp, long veil. Hikoro was tremendously proud; she
couldn't believe time had crept up on her so quickly. She gave Hitomi a
small hug, and turned her around to the ever-silent Catherine, who had been
anxiously sitting on Hitomi's bed for quite a time, at a giant loss of
words, although she had an ear-to-ear smile plastered across her face.
"Oh
Hitomi!" Instantly Catherine bolted up and embraced her roommate with arms
of happiness. "It is sooo perfect for you! I think the two of you have made
a tremendous decision on this one!"
Hikoro
smiled, "Not that it was easy. Hitomi was torn for hours between this other
one, which I say was way to short for any wedding dress."
"Mom,
they don't always have to tread for another billion miles behind me you
know!" Hitomi argued defensively, although secretly she did prefer the one
she was wearing, the one her mother had chosen for her.
"Whatever
you say, but I' m the one who paid now aren't I?"
Hitomi
grinned, "Yes, I know. And I'm thankful, now shouldn't we put it away
before it gets ruined?"
Hikoro
smirked and gave a sideways glance towards Cathy.
"Oh
okay," she whispered. "I should be getting going anyway. Three more weeks
Hitomi," Hikoro held up her right hand with three fingers extended. "You
and Amano behave 'til then okay?"
Despite
Cathy's giggling in the background, Hitomi rolled her eyes, "Please
mother, enough with the theatrics, we'll behave."
"You
watch her," Hikoro winked as Cathy and her burst out laughing.
Hitomi
flashed a fake smile and guided her mother out the front door, the long tail
of white trailing behind her.
"Don't
forget to call Timothy and Alexandra to see if they got your invitations."
"I
won't, don't worry. See you mom."
Hitomi
securely locked up then leaned against the door and sighed in relief, "Whew,
she is a handful! I can't believe how long she's been going on about this
'behaving' thing."
"Ah,
Hitomi, you knew it would come, besides, it's cute. Who are Tim and Alex?"
"Oh,
those are my cousins over in Poland. They plan to fly over here for the
wedding, isn't that nice of them?" Hitomi smiled at Cathy as they
carefully headed back toward Hitomi's room.
"Wow,
what a long way, that is very kind. What is your background anyway Tomi? You
aren't fully Japanese are you?" Catherine couldn't help but wonder.
Hitomi obviously had a Japanese name, and her mother looked like she was from
Japan. She thought about it a little bit more as she plopped herself
comfortably on Hitomi's bed.
"Well,"
Hitomi mused as she adjusted her crown of flowers by the bedroom mirror trying
to think of all her heritage details. "Um, my mother is Japanese, and I was
born here, just like Amano and Yukari. That's why we all have Japanese
backgrounds somewhere. But my father is Polish, so I have plenty of Polish and
English background as well. Amano does too, he's lived there for a few
years."
"That's
neat," Cathy nodded, picking herself up to stare at Hitomi's reflection.
She started to wonder once again about the whereabouts of Hitomi's dad, but
since Hitomi didn't speak of it often, Cathy decided not to bring it up.
There was no need to be such a nosy roommate. "So, you guys have all lived
in Aimsa since birth?"
"Yep,"
Hitomi sighed, shifting endlessly from the uncomfortable under wire. "I
lived in a house not too far from here growing up, my mother still lives
there. Amano and I have been thinking about going abroad though, you know,
once we're settled and everything, and we're done with school and stuff.
America sounds nice… or Canada, and then there's Australia too. What about
you Cathy? Where did you move here from?"
"Mexico,"
Cathy replied, brushing more hair back as she thought happily of her old home.
She had only moved recently, yet she already missed Chihuahua very much. She
could already imagine John-John, her little ten-year-old brother, endlessly
chasing the goats and cattle on their grandparents' ranch amidst the
northern deserts. Then there was funny cousin Hertu, about her age, always out
washing his car shirtless, in tight jeans and an oversized sombrero, picking
up 'imaginary women', as Cathy liked to say.
"Oh,
that's right. I could kind of tell you had some Latin features," Hitomi
zapped her back to present time.
"Thanks,
I really loved it there. Though my whole family are Mesitzos, or in
other words of both Spanish and Native American descent. I would've gladly
lived my whole life in Chihuahua if I could, but Japan was too tempting,
Warden University being so advanced in Aerial and Aeronautic technology and
all. Besides, Aimsa's great, it's very multicultural."
Hitomi
continued to dust out and re-fluff her skirt, and then looked to Cathy with an
impressed smile. "Wow, that must be great! Yukari's always tells me of all
the top graduates that come from Warden. Many of them get drafted by either
NASA or InGenten flight academies all across Japan, you know. Is that what
you're interested in?"
"Exactly
it," Cathy looked over at Hitomi, who was holding onto a bouquet of plastic
flowers from her bedroom vase and treading in front of her full-length
reflection. "There's an InGenten Academy in both Sapporo and Tokyo I'll
be checking them out some time. What about you? Aren't you taking night
classes at Warden?"
"Yep,
but that's only a few times here and there in accounting. I'm not too sure
what I'm ever going to pursue, I know I should look up something soon."
Catherine
grinned, "It must be nice to know Amano can take care of ya."
Hitomi
sat herself down smiling, "Yep, that's incredibly convenient, but I'll
take classes probably after we're already settled. I wish I had the patience
to pursue something exciting though, like you and Yukari, she's always had
that fascination with flying planes and looks like you're the same. Oh I
almost forgot; there's a reason my mom had left so early."
"Why
is that?" Cathy looked up curiously, jostled by the subject change, and
forever noticing the mirror Hitomi had been looking at. Those hair-spray
specks sure did need a good Windex wipe-off.
"You
stay right here," Hitomi brought herself out of the train of business
thoughts, then excitedly flurried out of the room, nothing but a blur of
white. Catherine would love her surprise, it had nothing to do with what they
were talking about, it was a last minute thing, but she was sure Cathy
wouldn't turn it down. Besides, it was really urgent. Hitomi didn't know
whom else she could turn to in such short notice.
Trudging
to the living room, Hitomi frowned as she spotted the immense wall unit
sitting where it was, scolding herself for not changing out of the dress first
before mentioning the surprise. Did she ever bring up how hard it was to hide
something from Cathy? Well, it was hard, extremely hard. Hitomi didn't hide
anything much from Catherine, so Cathy was permitted to clean anywhere she
liked. So sometimes, that made it hard to keep some things under wraps.
Thankfully, Cathy never seemed to have noticed the closet tucked
inconveniently behind the wall unit. Hitomi absolutely detested that thing.
When she had moved in, it just sat there, embedded in the middle of the living
room wall. Frustrated with what to do with it, Hitomi finally gave in to her
mother's advice and blocked off the useless closet with the massive wooden
wall entertainment system. For a year now it had just been sitting there
entirely empty and beyond view collecting nothing but cobwebs. Then one day,
not too long ago, Amano had come over when Catherine was out, to help her move
the monstrous unit-thing and hide the surprise where it could not be found.
And now here Hitomi stood, in her precious wedding gown, absolutely helpless.
"Hey
Tomi, why did you decide to pick up your gown so early anyway?" Catherine
poked her head out the bedroom doorway, ignoring Hitomi's command to stay
put.
Hitomi
glanced back with a look of despair, "I just wanted to make sure it was safe
here at home rather than at the boutique where someone else could buy it, who
knows, but um…"
She
gave a fleeting look back at the sturdy unit, then a shimmering thought came
to mind, "I should probably get out of this thing though before I ruin it.
Hey Cathy, I think I saw that scrunchie hair-thing you were looking for behind
the television, you can go give it a look."
Hitomi
tiptoed her way back to the bedroom, careful not to fall back on her own white
tail of fluff. She couldn't help but grin; she knew this was the best way to
get Cathy to discover the surprise for herself. In search for that scrunchie,
Catherine would peek behind the unit, discover the mess, and the closet, then
beg for Hitomi's help to move the unit out of the way; by then Hitomi would
be changed and ready to aid her.
"What
about that reason you wanted to tell me?" Catherine looked back on at the
departed Hitomi obviously not catching the drift. "And uh, about that
scrunchie, I've already found it, I'm wearing it right now!"
Hitomi's
face turned a funny reddish tint even underneath the screen of her veil. Looks
like her short-lived master plan had died out sooner than expected. 'Well,
good going, what now Hitomi?'
"Oh
Catherine Corain, just go check it out! I promise you won't be
disappointed."
Cathy
smiled amused, "Oh I get it now, the treasure's hidden behind the wall
unit, and I'm dying of anticipation, right?"
Hitomi
gave a roll of the eye, and then shut her bedroom door as she carefully
removed her delicate gown and dressed back into her usual Warden University
sweatshirt and jogging pants. Hitomi was busily tucking the gown back into its
protective plastic covering when she heard a shrill scream piercing from the
living room.
"HIIITTOOOOMMIII!!!!"
Cathy let out a scream of disbelief as she squeezed the newly discovered,
plastic protected, bridesmaid's gown in her arms. The pastel pink trim
peeked out from the edge of the black plastic seal. "YOU MUST BE KIDDING!!
THIS IS THE BEST SURPRISE EVER!!!"
Cathy
couldn't quite believe it! Was it real? Was Hitomi joking? Cathy knew for a
fact this was definitely one of Hitomi's bridesmaid's gowns, she
had even looked it over in the catalogue with her. It was! It was! It was!
Hikoro had left so Hitomi could show Cathy the surprise! Oh it was wonderful!
They had been living together for about a month and a half, which wasn't all
that long, even more reason to be surprised about her surprise.
As for Hitomi, she simply stood by her open doorway, entirely frozen,
and jaw dragging on the floor. She couldn't quite believe her eyes as well.
Right before her was the gigantic wall unit, moved a whole foot and a few
inches over, to create a large enough leeway to the hidden closet. That was a
HUGE wall unit. Hitomi's startled eyes moved themselves over to spot
Catherine looking back at her with an expression of pure exhilaration,
apparently still gushing over her present. But Cathy was so small!! Hitomi was
barely listening to whatever the girl was saying as she tried to even grasp
the energy and strength Catherine obviously had.
"Hito!! I can't believe it! Are you sure? Me?"
Catherine snapped Hitomi back to the situation. Hitomi's face lit up
gleefully, as she rushed over and helped Cathy remove the protective casing of
the dress.
"Of course I'm sure Cathy!" she proudly held the dress against
Cathy's shoulders; perfect fit. "Oh, you'll look stunning in this Cath,
I can't wait!"
"But what happened?" Cathy was still in the state of disbelief. She
thought it would've been fun to be a bridesmaid at Hitomi's wedding since
she never did get the opportunity growing up with brothers, but it still
didn't seem likely. She was pretty certain many of the wedding details like
bridesmaids had been planned out long before Cathy even met Hitomi. And to top
that, Cathy was pretty sure she could recall Hitomi telling her who the
bridesmaids were already once before.
"Oh, it's a long story," Hitomi waved it off with a flick of her
wrist. "You already know that Kari's still up for bridesmaid, and my
cousin, San, in Osaka can still fly in—"
"Which leaves your second cousin from Poland right?" Cathy quipped,
feeling she was pretty certain of it.
"Yep," Hitomi smiled smugly at Cathy's superb memory. "That's
Lisa, she's Polish, but she lives in Australia actually, somewhere near
Sydney, but anyway there's been a family emergency on her husband's side.
She had to cut out at a pretty nasty time for Amano and me, so… you're
free aren't ya?"
"My gosh, Hitomi," Catherine rolled her eyes, carefully rewrapping
the dress. "You know even if I wasn't a bridesmaid I'd still be sitting
in second row. This is so great! It's my first time too!"
Cathy gave Hitomi an appreciative hug. "I owe you lots! Hold on,
I'm just going to go call my aunt okay? She's always wanted me to be a
bridesmaid (well more like a bride, but this is the best so far); I don't
think she's ever seen me dressed up! And she only lives a block from here, I
guess she could stop by some time, she'll be thrilled!"
Hitomi smiled contented as she watched Catherine disappear behind the
kitchen walls. She walked back to her room listening to Cathy's excited
Spanish yelps as she explained the details to her aunt. Hitomi yawned
exhausted, finally feeling the tire of a day's of wedding work. What else
was there to worry about? Cathy was covered, which meant all the bridesmaids
were good for the go. San would be flying in in about a week, then she would
bunker over at Hitomi's mothers' home until the wedding. Yukari was just
as available as Cathy, and the groom's side was Amano's worry. The best
man was his 28 year-old brother Terry, who was only a half-hour drive or so
away. The ring bearer was little seven-year-old Joey, son of Melinda Mayo, and
his six-year-old sister, Grace, was to be their flower girl. Hitomi also was
pretty sure her mother already had her specially- made Kimono ready from the
boutique, seeing as she was the Maid of Honor.
Shutting her eyes, Hitomi plopped herself on her bed, realizing things
were going by her so quickly. Three weeks… Three weeks! It seemed to her an
eternity and a second at the same time. Being engaged for so long didn't
even prepare her for all this. Mentally, it was strangely a lot to handle,
even if she did know Amano for so many years. There were so many details to
worry about, every little element had to be precise. She didn't know what to
make of it if one flaw were to just arise out of nowhere. So far it looked
like all the invitations had made it to their desired locations, and her and
Amano combined had already gotten about 80 or so positive responses. She was
prepared for a clutter of guests.
Hitomi
turned her head in the direction of her dresser, where picture frames of
friends and family stood. Hitomi was pretty sure she could count all of the
guests she herself had invited. There was of course, automatically her mother
and the bridesmaids; all of her local aunts, uncles and cousins, then there
was Eric Knight, Sophie Glenn, Fuy Aritaka, Katie Dolan and her fiancé, Tanti
Leyon, and Gary Tait from her office, Jenna Mark, Hinsan Kisoma, Jamie
Peloutte, Jean DiLeon, and Pr. Derek Yarens from night school; then of course
there was Peter and Lina from driving school, Dr. Friedrich and her dentist,
Dr. Lindsay Bowlan, her new and old neighbors, the Mayo family and many
others, and then Alexandra and Tim who were flying in two days before the
wedding, not to mention that their immediate families were invited as well.
Hitomi had a hard time keeping track of them all without her official guest
list at hand, but of course Hitomi's list was minuscule compared to
Amano's. Other than the ones Hitomi had figured, she still had maybe five or
six other guests from high school and other things also coming. Amano on the
other hand, had more than quadruple the amount of people than Hitomi.
Practically everyone in Amano's family was coming from nearby or England or
everywhere, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles and all, which could be half
the congregation in itself, then of course dozens of Amano's med-school and
previous high school classmates, and then the numerous amounts of people
around Aimsa that Amano strangely 'just knew' for some reason or other.
Hitomi was counting on meeting many new faces that day. She did a mental
calculation in her head, reasoning it to be just a little over three weeks,
about 25 more days to go until her wedding. Sunday May the fifth, it was a day
going down in Hitomi's history.
She
turned uneasily, frightened yet excited by the idea. Yawning, she started to
feel a heavy, drooping weight against her eyes, also the strain of keeping
them open, and the bother of thinking of too many details. She rested herself
more snugly in the caress of her bed, listening to Catherine's soft chatting
drifting from the dining room now, slowly easing into a blur of words. The
back of Hitomi's mind was still on going with thoughts of decorations,
church schedules, restaurant reservations and so on… but gradually those
worries were fading as well. Somewhere drifting in her dozing mind were more
thoughts on things she had forgotten about over time, and had slowly start to
recall. Yukari and Amano's strange behavior crossed her mind a few times,
though she had willingly put away all the details. Every now and then she
would also remember that person she met near the beginning of March, that
longing infatuation that edged at her mind every so often. And what about
those visions? She was beginning to succeed in ignoring them, and all those
eerie premonitions from before. She never had a day vision again, but her
dreams during the night were now beginning to disturb her. She dreamt of many
things so far, some strange (usually with background music oddly enough) with
scenes of her wrapped in a blinding light, and moving upwards at a very rapid
speed. There was also one that came intensely, much more often than any
others, and the one she usually remembered once she awoke. It was kind of
weird, it felt as if Hitomi was falling, off some cliff, or into a crevasse in
the ground, and above her was this strange figure, always getting closer and
closer, with a shadowed image. All Hitomi could ever see were wings, large
wings that stretched out into the blinding light. She could also make out the
gloved hand, outstretched towards her, looking for her grasp. Hitomi never did
finish the dream; it would always end as soon as morning came, but nonetheless
she found it intriguing.
Barely
finding the energy to yawn once more, Hitomi turned over the last time as she
finally felt Naria settle comfortably by her side, appearing out of nowhere
once again, as Hitomi's arm found it's way to lazily droop over the furry
body of white. Mesmerized by the rumbles of purr floating from her friend,
Hitomi drifted off into another world, another dream she couldn't
understand… just yet.
*
* *
"'All You Need to Know About Physics'…"
Van carefully juggled the massive hardcover book in his hands, as he slowly
flipped through it. "My gosh, I would hope this is ALL you'd need to know
on physics, it's already enough!"
Shied cupped his hand over his eyes to block out
the bright sky light and smile back at Van. "You should have a good look-see
through those King Van, I'm sure you'll find them fascinating as well.
Science and mathematics can be expanded so thoroughly, Dryden will love it."
"There's no doubt about that," Van heaved
the large book and three others into one of Shied's many boxes. Boxes that
Shied was planning to bring along to Gaea at Dryden's request, full of
usually books, devices, magazines, music, and many interesting things that
Shied had managed to scrounge up at garage sales, thrift stores, and
used-bookmobiles. Shied was also blessed to have Angela who would constantly
supply him with interesting artifacts she purchased from Liquidation World,
and clothing for his visiting friends.
"Are Earthlings really that much smarter?"
Van couldn't help but inquire, as he studied a book labeled "Trigonometry
and Calculus" with a forlorn expression written upon his face. "There
seems to be a lot of thinking that goes behind everything they do."
"Yes, it does seem that way. But no matter how
you think it, they're just as human as you or I. I feel the only reason they
are so advanced is because they've been evolving in technology for much
longer than we have. It is proven here that humans appeared on Earth around 2
millions Earth years ago, they've been around for a while. The earliest
record of human or even Draconian life in Gaea is, oh I'm not sure, maybe
only around eight hundred thousand years, Gaea years."
Van nodded slowly, feeling slightly intimidated
to be around such an educated eleven-year-old. He also couldn't help but
smile when he heard of Shied speak of Draconians, it made him feel so alive in
his own, secretive way. Just at the thought of the word he instantly recalled
Vari, his beautiful mother, and her wings, oh she wore them well. Never did he
ever lay his eye on a creature any more beautiful than she had been, with her
long, angelic figure, forest green hair draping elegantly by her side. He also
loved to enkindle on the thought that his parents had not been afraid of the
pressures of society; even as two entirely different types of people coming
from different worlds, they had believed their love was everything that could
matter. Their love had remained strong until the end of their lives, and
because of their love, two descendants had grown in their name.
A small pang of sadness hit him as well, as he
thought of Faulcon, and how their endings as brothers had unfortunately gone
so bitterly. As he matured Van never thought of him any longer as his dark
adversary from Zaibach, but instead, as that older brotherly figure, who
taught him about slaying dragons, and conquering fears. The brother he wished
he could have only known better, as he did his parents.
Merle, who had been quietly immersed in a large
book of her own written entirely on the feline species, gave up a knowing
glance towards Van. She watched him slowly pack away more of the large texts,
than her eye peeled on one that caught both their interest.
"Aha! There it is! I've been meaning to show
you guys this," Shied proudly mentioned it first, and handed the hardback
towards them. "I believe it has a great link to how Gaea started. It
possibly explains how we came to be on Gaea all along, it'll be a great read
for Dryden, and the rest of you."
Van got a hold of the book first, studying
intently the front cover, as Merle peeked over his shoulder.
"Wow," was all Merle could say as she ran
her hands over the rough, gold lettering on the aged book.
"'Atlantis'," she read aloud.
Van immediately turned through page after page,
quickly skimming over what looked like the unknown history on a disappeared
time and age on Earth, a time of the advanced and mythical people of a place
called Atlantis. The story was so familiar to him, it got Van plopping himself
on the soggy, dead, grass, and giving it a longer look over.
"So they had an Atlantis too…" Merle
finally broke the fascinated silence, joining Van's side. She dusted off all
the burrs, which immediately stuck to her over-sized jeans Shied had managed
to find her. Shied had done an incredible job in disguising the cat girl. She
had on those jeans for one thing, completely hiding those long, furry legs.
Her paw feet were enclosed in a pair of size eight discount sneakers Angela
had lying around. She wore one of Shied's navy sweaters, and an extra wool
winter coat his Mum thankfully had, and lastly a snug, red Aimsa Sharks
baseball cap, with her pinkish-red hair tied up in a fluffy ponytail through
the adjusting strap hole at the rear of the cap. It amazed him on just how
human she was beginning to look.
"Amazing isn't it? We're not so different
from them after all," Shied gave a huge heave of breath as he lifted volumes
of encyclopedias into a partly filled cardboard box. He tapped them proudly,
as he rested his arm upon it. "These things are pretty expensive, glad I got
them discount. A few pages missing and a bit of scribbles here and there are
about the only problems."
"Oh, and I think you should take a read of
this book King Van," Shied buried through one of his partly filled boxes and
handed Van another thick paperback.
Van smiled, taking the book, then taking a short
second to zip up his polyester spring windbreaker Shied had picked up for him.
The April chill was starting to grow crisp, Van was used to the usual warm
Gaea weather at this time.
"'Economies and Governmental Systems of
the World'," Van read aloud, running his fingers through the yellowing
pages. "Is it about politics and such?"
"Um hum," Shied nodded his confident, little
head and pointed a few things out to Van throughout the book. "Gaea could
use some of these laws and systems, good for a king to have on hand."
"I agree," Van nodded and added the book to
his amazingly growing pile in his box. He had already picked out basically all
of the books he figured he'd be interested in reading. Van didn't honestly
know how they planned to carry all of these things back to Dryden once they
reached Gaea, but he was figuring to simply play it by ear. He was also quite
astonished to see just how many things Shied was planning on carrying along.
Did they really need all of these things? Van was no scientist, but he
figured Dryden and the rest of his elites were pretty clever men, could they
not figure these things out on their own? It seemed strange to him that Gaeans
would have to be so reliable on the intelligence of other humans in order to
advance. Earthlings had to learn using trial and error did they not? If they
could do it, he knew Gaeans could as well, as long as they were patient and
persistent enough to try. Why didn't Shied just do something more
productive? Such as maybe looking to see if he could bring along any
medicines, or something of the sort, to help out all the research against all
the ailments over in Gaea. There was a good possibility that Earth may
experience the same viruses and diseases. But then again, Van was in no
position to complain. He wasn't the one who had spent countless years
working and building a space ship, he wasn't the one who had to leave home
and spend a year of his life in another world, so he wasn't the one to go
and try to run the show. Besides, he had good faith that Dryden himself would
be paying Earth a visit for four months, or eight and a half Gaea months, next
year, there wasn't a doubt in his mind.
Merle
perched herself carefully as she repositioned on the large oak branch of the
large, tall tree she sat upon. She gave a bored glance down below, in the
direction of Shied and Van continuing to pack the last few items into the many
large cardboard boxes. Sighing, she turned her attention back to the newest
book she had added to her own collection. It interested her much more than
whatever them two could have possibly been discussing. That is probably
because Merle could probably guess just what they were talking about, more
information on this and that about what they would do with everything once
they returned home.
Funny as it was, Merle did not share their
anticipation on returning to Fanelia. That odd feeling seemed very strange to
her, as she figured she would be the one who'd be most unhappy on the Mystic
Moon, seeing as she was only here for Van. At least for the first few weeks,
that had proven true. Despite her coat of fur, she still disliked the cold,
and having to remain cooped up inside the hotel. Finally, the cold was
starting to become bearable, but then there was nothing but consistent rain
almost on a daily basis. The world was in a murky, chilly state, and she hated
being hidden under the layers of clothes that felt way too unnatural. She was
only lucky she had managed to convince Shied to allow her to let her tail out
just above the seam of her jeans. It wasn't comfortable, but she didn't
fancy the idea of having her tail flattened within her pant leg either.
Then again, Merle wasn't all complaints. There
were a few things she had begun to get dangerously attached too. One fine
example would be without a doubt, Casey, Shied's adorable kitten. She often
treated him as if she were a human, constantly picking him up, embracing him,
and baby talking to his furry, aloof face. But though she did those human-like
things, she had a deeper sense to Casey than that which could be understood by
Van, Shied, or anything that wasn't as feline as the two. Merle felt a sense
of belonging with Casey, one that wasn't exactly straightforward, but
connected in an out-of-sort way. Similar, Merle felt, to the relations between
a baby Siamese kitten to that of maybe a baby lion cub. The two were obviously
very different in size, nature, and appearance, but deep down within them was
still an indefinable connection that rooted back long before the two became
different. Merle didn't honestly understand her species, and they didn't
have any sort of information so detailed on creatures as on Earth, but Merle
knew there were definitely two impulses within her. She was part human, she
was part cat, and of course, she would miss Casey on both of those levels.
She
would also miss many other things, not so much the technology of the
television, but it's intelligence, or at least the intelligence it
portrayed. In one day of sitting by her hotel appliance, she could laugh, cry,
learn and fear in all one sitting. It could mesmerize her, bore her, entertain
her, or insult her. It was like a whole other personality in itself.
She would also come to miss the food. It was a
funny thing to be upset about leaving the food behind, but they had to face
facts, the Mystic Moon made good grub. Merle could eat anything, just about
anything that Van would order from room service, or take out. Every meal was
something new, something that she wasn't familiar with, and something she
couldn't have enough of. She knew Van loved it too; they just didn't serve
'hamburgers', 'pizza', 'spaghetti', 'teriyaki' or any other of
their classical favorites in Gaea. Merle wouldn't be surprised to open one
of Shied's many boxes and find some take-out and cocktail nuts hidden within
those books. Especially salted barbecue peanuts and cashews, Van was a horrid
addict. Angela, Shied's Mum, was also a marvelous cook. She had an
incredible talent in preparing any fine Japanese, Italian and Chinese dish.
She had taught them what the names of many of the meals were, and Merle was
pretty sure she had given them a few cookbooks to take along, she was only
hoping they had the right ingredients back on Gaea.
"Hey there kitty, what's up?" Merle
glanced upwards in surprise as she spotted Van clumsily weaseling his way
through the branches, often losing grip with his penny loafers and smacking
his forehead against a budded branch.
"Picked up the Mystic Moon jargon already,
have you?" Merle laughed in amusement as she used both her arms to pull Van
up along to the secure section above the oak trunk He had a cluster of dead
grass and twigs coating him all over, but Merle simply smiled and pretended
not to notice.
"Yeah, I guess so. Shied is starting to speak
with better grammar than me, or I," Van gave that kiddish smile he
rarely used, and leaned back cautiously on one of the largest branches
extending diagonally behind him. His footing wasn't all that great, but he
had balanced on the brink of Escaflowne's narrow metallic parts enough times
to know how to keep a straight figure.
Merle was still smiling, and brushed some of the
decayed twigs from Van's volumized hair. He was obviously having a lot of
fun using that hot tub with all the shampoos and conditioners in their large
hotel bathroom. Merle couldn't help but wonder where on earth Shied had
squandered up the money to keep them in the Ramada for so long.
"Look what I found, Shied was telling me about
it," Van finally found himself a comfortable resting position sitting upon
the diagonal branch, allowing his right leg to dangle and balancing the left
on another thinner limb below him.
"Oh, really, is that a newspaper?" Merle
squatted between two large branches, legs supporting her weight in what Van
perceived as a nearly impossible position (and definitely a painful one— at
least in his case). She carefully took the newspaper from him, wary of the
breeze.
"Is that Shied??" she looked up in surprise,
as she studied the faded image in the gritty bundle of papers she held. A
definite picture of Shied stood in about the seventh page in, with a giant
headline saying 'Young Einstein Conquers World Fair'.
"Who else?" Van nodded pointing to the
article. "It's really impressive, I'm surprised it's not framed and
lemonated, or is it laminated? Anyway, can you believe this kid? Wait until
Allen finds out that his son has outsmarted him."
Merle smiled at Van's relaxed attitude, happy
to see he was feeling better ever since they had told him of the Hitomi
situation a few days before. Even Merle was equally surprised to hear of
Hitomi's engagement, but she was more surprised to see just how quickly Van
had recovered. It was almost like Hitomi wasn't any of his concern.
Shutting the thoughts out, Merle focused more on
the article she had in her hand:
Merle didn't answer back this time, but instead
hid her eyes again beneath the shadow of her duckbill visor. Van closed his eyes
and sighed, wishing there was a way he could tell Merle what he was thinking.
But Van was Van, and his secretive, closed way was the way he lived. Merle knew
that, he figured she was frustrated by it, and had had enough. Feeling a little
sorry for himself, and for his friend, he tucked her in closer, despite their
arguments.
Angela Ferentini gave a kind glance in her
rearview mirror. She spotted the two, the tall man named Van, and his cat-like
friend asleep in the cramped, backseat. Van's head awkwardly bobbed against
the car window, but he didn't seem to be noticing. The cat girl, Merle, was
comfortably draped on his chest, tired after a long day of packing and
preparations. Angela noticed that Van's seatbelt was on, she figured Merle had
finally convinced him to wear it, they had been arguing about car safety on the
way over. She smiled as she recollected on Merle ducking her head out the
window, exhilarated for her first time to ride in a gas-powered car. She had
been going on and on about the speed, the comfortable seating, the windows and
whatever other little detail that fascinated her. Angela found it entertaining
to be able to entertain those who could find the simplest things wonderful.