Through the Oaf's Eyes
By: pnaixrose
Disclaimer: I don't own WA3 or any of the characters. So please be nice and don't sue.
Chapter 4: Failure
Ergh. I really do sound like a fool don't I? After all, here I am begging the nerd to help me out hooking up Virginia and Jet. That's not something that the usual great Gallows would do. No wonder Clive's smirking like that.
I wish he would stop.
"I told you," he said sitting up on the bed he had been lying in. Adjusting his glasses he added, "See? Didn't I tell you?"
I sighed. Great. Now he was rubbing it in! Grr...why does he have to know everything?! "Okay, okay," I said. "You win." I might as well have stamped the word "Loser" on my forehead. I wasn't feeling really proud especially with Clive and his big, fat smirk on his face. "Shut up."
But he of course just continued grinning. "I didn't say anything."
Sighing again in frustration, I ignored him and began pacing around the room. "Oh just get up and let's think of something! Fast!"
"What's the hurry? They've got all their years ahead of them."
I stopped in my tracks, one of my feet in midair. They've got all their years ahead of them? That was true. But then again...
A sudden image of me with gray hair and wrinkles appeared. Then two other figures popped out, one a girl with long honey brown graying hair, and one a man with very light hair almost looking completely white. The two were talking and blushing and smiling at each other. But then I started whacking them with the cane that suddenly appeared in elderly me's hands.
For some odd reason, the cane looked oddly familiar. Oh no...I'm a male version of Gran when I grow up!
Shaking my head to get the thought out, I started pacing again. "If they have all their years ahead of them and they still don't confess..." I stopped and looked at Clive. "We'd have to suffer all those years too! All those years of blushing and those sickening, sappy smiles!"
I started yelling in desperation...loudly. Haha. I must look so stupid.
Clive stood, his serious expression on his face. "Whoa Gallows, calm down. It's not that big of a deal. I mean, I'd get frustrated too, but you're overreacting!"
Maybe I was. Maybe I was even going insane. But I didn't want to just leave Virginia and Jet alone like this. Who knows how long I'd hold out? "We should just help them, Clive. I mean, they like each other and yet they don't confess? Aside from being so irritated with them, won't they be suffering too?" I sighed at Clive's baffled face. Gosh...I wasn't very good at explaining myself. "I don't know how to put it. Won't they...be sad or something that they didn't tell each other?" I groaned. I definitely wasn't making any sense.
But Clive nodded his head slightly and patted my shoulder. But his eyes were cast off elsewhere. I knew that look. He was thinking...as always. "You're right, Gallows. If this continues, they will regret not telling each other. They have to get over their fear of rejection." He was the one who sighed this time. "But honestly...I don't think they'll get over it any time soon. Virginia's a strong girl, but some times she thinks too much about her friends. She wants them happy and would do anything to give them that happiness. But since Jet doesn't...well...express his emotions and always covers it up with his blunt ways, Virginia won't ever know what Jet wants to be happy and–"
I groaned. "You're thinking too much again! Just to put it simply: Jet and Virginia are gonna be sad if this continues...and so will we!"
"I guess you're right...for once," he said with his finger to his chin. He looked at me with another smirk of his. "I thought you didn't care about Jet."
I almost hesitated for a second. He was right. I didn't usually care about Jet. But making up an excuse fast, I rolled my eyes. "I don't care about the punk! All I care about is that our leader's happy and we don't get annoyed no more."
"Well, in order to do that we must do something," Clive said.
"Duh! So what are we gonna do?!" I was getting just a bit edgy. I wasn't sure why. Maybe the thought of enduring this just whole...lovey dovey thing if we didn't succeed in our plan made me anxious.
It was silent for a couple of moments as we stood there trying to think up a solution. Surprisingly, I couldn't think of a damn thing! It was like my mind suddenly went blank! If only there was some way...if only the idea would just pop into my head just like that. That would be much easier if that happened. I hoped Clive was storming up a plan in that big head of his. I definitely didn't want to be the one to think of–
"What the hell are you two doing?"
I almost jumped and I even saw Clive look mildly surprised. I guess we were so drowned in our thoughts that we didn't notice anyone slip in. And there by the stairs was none other than the infamous punk looking slightly amused and confused.
Wait...did he hear anything we said?!
"Uhh nothing, Jet. Just thinking," Clive said, sitting back on his bed. He sounded as though he was telling the truth! If that was me talking, I'd probably start stuttering or something. "What are you doing here?"
Although Jet didn't seem like he entirely believed Clive, he seemed to drop the subject. "Virginia sent me. We heard someone screaming a while ago and then some loud voices. And then it suddenly got all quiet. She was worried that something happened especially since the oaf came up here without eating dinner, which is by the way very unusual."
I frowned but didn't go ballistic like usual. It was probably because I was still trying to figure out a plan for the lovey dovies. I didn't even say anything rude to him. I guess he noticed because he looked at me like I was odd.
"Are you sick?" he asked suspiciously.
I shook my head almost calmly.
"Anyway Jet," Clive interrupted before Jet could say anything else. I have to thank him for that later. "Why'd Virginia send you up here? Couldn't she have come here by herself?"
Jet rolled his eyes and seemed to completely forget about my odd behavior as he looked at the floor almost angrily. "I don't know why the hell she sent me. She's probably just lazy or tired or something. Damn. I told her carrying all that wood today was gonna tire her out. She never listens..." he mumbled.
At the exact moment, Clive and I looked at each other, a knowing look on our faces. Jet seemed a little bit more concerned than usual for our leader today. And we knew why.
I knew why.
Haha. I think that's the first time I ever thought that. After all, this is one of the few times I'm in on a secret.
Jet must've seen us look at each other because he spoke again. "What?"
Gee, he's really observant isn't he?
I shook my head. "N-Nothing." Great...I stuttered. Told you I wasn't good at this.
Fortunately, Clive helped me out. "You just seemed a bit more worried about her these days," he said casually. Another silent 'thank you' was sent to him with my mind.
Jet snorted. Not a very polite thing to do but hey, it was Jet. "Whatever," he said as he turned around. "I'm gonna keep eating. Come down if you want anything." As he started down the steps, he stopped and turned to me. "Feel better later, okay oaf? It's weird not seeing you gobble something down."
Oh how I hate that guy...
-
We still didn't think up a brilliant plan like I wanted to even the next day. I had been thinking about it so hard, I slept really late and almost missed breakfast!! Luckily, I didn't. And luckily it was Gran's special breakfast. Bacon and eggs. Well, I know that may not be that special but with Baskar Colony being pretty far from any towns to support a lot of food, I doubt we'd get anything grander even though it's day one of the Baskar Festival. It's okay though. I'd eat bacon and eggs over anything else if I had to. Wait...never mind. I just got a craving for those pies again.
I looked at the counter almost longingly. They still sat there. Six beautiful pies just waiting there! It was almost dissing them by just letting them sit there! Luckily, they weren't too cold. Gran had heated it up a bit during the night. But she'd let me have a teeny tiny piece right? She won't be that cruel–
BOINK!
Rubbing my head I glared at the old geezer at the head of the table. You know, I should really take that cane away from her. She could hurt anyone with that thing. I'd be doing Filgaia a favor!
"Eat your breakfast and don't be staring at my pies!" Gran scolded. "You know how much I paid for that food in your plate?!" She started muttering something stupid about kids being really disrespectful as everyone at the table continued to eat.
Feh. I'm not a kid anymore! I'm an adult! I can be as rude as I want!
A comfortable silence continued as everyone ate and ate. Only the clinking of forks was heard as everyone chewed. I guess even though lots of things were going on outside, we were still a little sleepy. Either that or they simply didn't care about the festival. But I doubt that. After all, Virginia was in the group. Actually, it's a surprise she's not smiling even though it's morning.
It was pretty early so I don't blame her. It was about six in the morning for goodness sake's! I'm still a bit groggy actually. I'm lucky the punk woke me up right before breakfast started. We had to have an early breakfast because the festival opening ceremony starts in an hour. I don't remember it starting this early before. I guess everyone's a bit anxious for it to start. Well then again, it could be the fact that when you're a kid waiting for something really exciting, you don't care what time you wake up. Guess I really did grow up.
"Finished. May I be excused?" Shane said. Indeed, his plate was completely empty. I guess he's one person who's pretty excited about the festival. Well, actually he's always been a pretty fast eater. "I'll wash dishes later."
Gran nodded her approval. Gee...he actually volunteered to wash dishes. Uhh...just pretend yesterday's incident with the dishes didn't happen okay?
Shane stood and pushed in his seat. He gave us all a quick grin. "Well, I'm going to help them set up for the starting ceremony a bit. I'll see you all later," he said. Then he exited through the door waving a bit before he left.
Only a few silent moments later, everyone else finished with their breakfast, including myself. That was about the time when we realized the growing murmuring outside. People must already be waiting for the opening ceremony outside. I guess we all started to feel a bit excited now. Virginia for instance had awoken from her sleepiness and her eyes were practically glowing.
"I can't wait until it starts," she said happily. "I wonder if they put up more decorations since yesterday."
"All you gotta do is take a peek outside, you know," Jet suggested as Gran got up to collect all the plates from the table.
But the girl shook her head in reply and stuck out her tongue. "Dummy, I wanna be surprised!"
Gran smiled while Jet rolled his eyes. "You know, Jet," Gran said setting the dirty dishes on a pile on the counter, "Girls love getting surprises."
It was subtle, but I definitely saw Gran flash a wink at both me and Clive. We glanced at each other and smirked. She was helping out too, I guess.
I noticed Jet grow slightly red in the face. Aww...too bad he wasn't blushing that hard. I love it when he looks like a tomato head! It's so damn funny! "R-Really?"
Granny started laughing when Virginia nodded with a smile on her face. "Girls love that! Oh and romantic moments too!" She sighed dreamily and got a dazed look in her eyes. I must admit, I was pretty freaked out. She never usually acted like that. But I figured because she was always with us three guys so she didn't really show her 'girly feelings.' Ha. I guess even Virginia must be kinda girly. After all, she is in love with someone. A very annoying and rude someone but never the less, she still liked him...
...only if one of them would confess.
I watched in amusement when Jet grew silent, trying to think about what she said. Maybe he'd actually do something about it! Maybe he thought that since girls love surprises and romantic moments, he'd confess his undying love to her one night under the moon and stars looking deeply into her eyes!
...man...was I getting girly all of a sudden?
Jet leaned back in his chair, causing it to stand only on the two back legs. He didn't put his feet on the table like he'd usually do though. Once Gran saw him do that and got ballistic. And Jet never really got in trouble with Granny before so it was pretty weird.
He seemed to notice that Clive, Gran, and I were looking at him. We all pretty much had the same thought in our heads I figured. Jet snorted and closed his eyes as if annoyed. "Girls are so weird..."
Ha. I had to admit. He was right. Girls are weird. "Ha. I actually agree with you on that," I said with a grin.
Clive chuckled and nodded slightly in agreement. "They're so hard to please sometimes."
Immediately, we saw Gran and our leader frown. Uh-oh. Maybe we made a mistake there. "No we're not!" Virginia said. "We're not hard to please at all! Sometimes even the littlest thing you guys do for us really matter!"
The nerd beside me thought for awhile. "Actually, you're half wrong and half right. I remember when we were younger while I was courting my Catherine, it was pretty hard for me to get her presents and such. Sometimes I would give her a single flower and she'd be so incredibly happy. But when I got her this really nice vase, she got angry. Said I shouldn't have bought it." He started rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "She threw it at me and it me on the head."
Ha! That's a pretty amusing story! But still...ouch.
"That's just how girls are. They like presents, but not the big presents," I added. "Maybe it's their moods. Sometimes they just suddenly switch their moods."
Woops.
Gran hit me on the head again as Virginia just glared. AGH! Granny seemed to always have the same mood!
"As a matter of fact," Virginia said sharply, frowning at me, "Girls like simple things. You don't have to waste your money on us." She paused and looked thoughtfully in the air. A large grin appeared on her face. "Well...not all the time."
She and Gran glanced at each other and started laughing for god knows why. Err...watch them somehow manipulate us to spend all our Gil buying them presents.
Them two girls make a scary team.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'm still agreeing with the punk. Girls are weird." I looked at both Gran and Virginia. "...Both young and old..." I whispered to Clive with a snicker.
"HEY! I HEARD THAT!"
-
We all went to the opening ceremony finally and after a lot of singing and after person after person after person after person had spoken, they finally started the thing. About time too! It lasted almost and hour! I swear, my legs got all jello-like by standing for so long!
But I must say, they did a pretty good job putting up last minute decorations and such. It looked even brighter and more cheerful than yesterday's!
It was just me, Clive, the punk and Virginia now. Gran and Shane were off somewhere...probably working at our stand.
Our pie stand.
Remind me later to go visit them okay? Them, and every other pie stand around here.
"So what should we all do now?" Clive asked as we watched the other people swarm around us. The younger ones were already going towards the games, while the adults were going towards the other stands. We really should get going too before we get smooshed like pancakes by the crowd.
After a silent minute of us just standing there trying to think of what to do, we heard a groan from Jet.
"I'm not really into festivals," he mumbled. "So I'll just go and–"
"Oh no you don't!" Virginia interrupted, grabbing his arm before he could take a step away. "A festival should be spent together!"
He groaned. "But–"
"C'mon! Let's go to Mrs. Igan's stand! Maybe we can see the kids too!" she exclaimed as she dragged him away, Jet mumbling something under his breath.
Boy. Already they're acting like a married couple, eh?
Clive and I stood there, watching the girl literally pull the boy behind her. We glanced at each other and shrugged. I guess this time may be a good moment to be talking about our top secret plan.
If only we had one.
"So you got any ideas yet, Clive?" I asked.
He shook his head slowly. "Can't think of one. Did you?"
I shook my head. Great. We had no idea at all what we should do next. This was hard! If only it didn't require this much thinking! Groaning, I threw my arms up in the air. "AH! It's so hard to think of something! We're Drifters! Not matchmakers! It's just like in Gran's romance books." I made a disgusted face. "I read one once. It was all mushy and stuff. I just don't get how–"
Suddenly I saw Clive grin slyly. I looked at him in confusion but then I just realized what I was rambling about. I groaned.
"No! I'm not going to look for Gran's romance books!"
Clive frowned. "Do you want to get this whole Jet and Virginia thing over with or not?" he said.
I thought about it and groaned. "Okay, okay," I gave in. Then I realized something. That meant...we had to wait for pies?! "B-But that means we can't see stuff in the festival!"
The nerd merely shrugged and grinned. "Oh well. You're the one who started talking about those books."
Argh...Me and my big mouth...
-
"I'm not going in there!"
"Aw, c'mon, Gallows!!"
"No!"
I heard him groan and turn towards the door in front of us. We were in my cozy little home again. But as long as I knew, there was one room that wasn't cozy at all. Granny's room.
Sure, Shane and I used to go in there all the time when we were smaller. We used to get scared of the dark and couldn't sleep and stuff so we ran to her room for comfort. But when we got older, Granny totally sealed off her room from both of us. I respect her privacy and all that so I don't want to go looking through her stuff for the books.
I didn't want to get beaten to death either.
Gran always used to get so angry whenever either Shane or I went in there. She always exploded and got so angry. I didn't want to get on her bad side especially when I had those pies waiting for me.
"Why don't you go in, Clive?" I asked. "Gran won't get mad at you."
Clive shook his head. "That would be pretty rude of me to barge in on a woman's bedroom."
"Then what about me?! How come you want me to barge in?!" I shouted.
He grinned. "Because you're her grandson!"
I frowned. "No! Absolutely no! I'm still not going in!"
"How did you see the book in the first place if you're not allowed in there?" he asked.
"She left it on the table. I just picked it up there and read some." I cringed at the memory. "When she found out, she got so angry." I remember what exactly happened. I got so scared of her, I hid in my room for two days. I groaned again as I heard laughter and talking from outside. "Can we just go to the festival? I don't wanna go in there!"
Clive faked a sigh and took a step towards the door leading outside. "Okay. If you say so. I mean, Jet and Virginia's relationship may be depending on this, but whatever. If you really want to abandon you're friends' emotions like that, we can."
Damn. I hate him.
"Okay, okay! I'll go!" I said in frustration, putting my hand on the doorknob. I saw a satisfied smile on his face.
Jet and Virginia better thank me because if I get caught...
...I'll be dead meat.
"Great!" Clive said cheerfully. "I'll warn you if anyone comes."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this over with," I grumbled as I turned the knob.
I tiptoed in the room and immediately the aroma of...Granny hit my nostrils. You know. That old people smell? Glancing around the room, I realized that Gran was a pretty neat person. Well, I guess she'd have to be, eh? After all, she had to take care of a slob like me and...well...a very neat Shane.
Making up my mind, I decided to check out her shelves first. There were bunches of books there I remember. But when I went towards it, the books were all gone! All that was there were little trinkets and little statues and stuff. Granny must have done a little redecorating.
"You find anything, yet?" I heard Clive say from the doorway.
"Nah. I think she moved everything around. I haven't been in here for a long time after all."
"Well, keep looking!"
Sighing, I did what he said. But the only other things I saw were a dresser with a mirror and her bed. And I definitely wasn't going to go through her dresser. I would be dead before I even reached for the handle.
"I can't find it!" I said with a groan.
"Keep looking!!"
Reminding myself that this was for Virginia, I scanned the place again, this time very carefully. This time, I spotted a trunk hidden in the corner behind the dresser. I hadn't noticed it before. I went to it and noticed that it was pretty old looking. I guessed it would look pretty nice if it were brand new though. Boy, Gran must've had this for a long time.
"Oh HI HALLE" I heard Clive say loudly.
Shit. Gran was here.
And sure enough I heard her voice. Good thing the door wasn't open. "Hi, Clive. I just came inside to get a package for my friend who came by the stand. I always forget to give it to him. Umm...what are you doing in front of my bedroom door?"
I started panicking but I spotted the package she was talking about sitting on her neat bed. Clive better not let her through here!
The voice outside the door began again. "Uh...nothing. I-I...uh..."
"Well, Clive, can you please move a bit? I need to get to my room."
I looked around frantically for a place to hide or a way to escape. I couldn't fit under the bed anymore so that was out. The only other way was out through the window. But it was too small for me. When I went over to it, it couldn't even fit my shoulders through it.
Basically, I was trapped.
And probably dead too.
To make what happened next simple, Gran spotted me and started yelling so hard that I thought she was going to have a heart attack. Through the whole thing, I was just standing there wincing every once in awhile. You know what really sucked?
She said I couldn't have any of her pies!!
-
I glared at the guy next to me as deadly as I can. I hate him! He cost me those delicious pies! Oh, I knew this was a bad idea! How come no one ever listens to me?! DAMMIT! But I guess I seemed pretty scary because he started chuckling quite uneasily.
The green haired guy fiddled with his glasses nervously. "Uh...woops?"
