The Usual Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, Meryl, Milly, Wolfwood, Rem, Knives, or Vash, as much as I wish I owned one particular character. . .Oh well, I can dream, can't I?
Glory
Chapter Seventeen: Moving On
Glory woke slowly in the morning, dreading another day with the Thompsons. They'd been here a week so far, and Glory had been on five dates, asked out nearly thirty times, and knock out Nash a total of fifteen times. Knives snarled a lot, threatened the men of the family more so, and hit five of them at least twice. Vash often had to clamp Meryl to his side to keep men from asking her out, and was brought into near every conversation that fired in the family. Marcus joined right in the family as though they were his long-lost relatives, although most of the black eyes the male Thompsons got were from him, usually for asking Glory out. Milly joined in with laughter, never flinching when one of her family members got hit or knocked out, no matter who did what. Nicholas looked a little lost but followed Milly's example, and as such he was readily accepted as one of them. Meryl was the main problem, constantly yelling and reprimanding the Thompsons for their behavior.
And every night, Glory was recruited to sing. Sometimes with Katrina, Milly's cousin, daughter of Jake and Tammy (her sister). Her voice was much like Glory's, making them a wonderful type of duet to listen to, even though Katrina was barely fifteen. Glory, however, knew many more songs, leaving Katrina left behind most of the time. Sighing, Glory forfeited the attempt to stay asleep and sat up, rubbing her eyes absently. There were two beds in the room, and since Knives was by far the most protective of the three, Glory was the one who was more or less forced into sharing a bed with him, leaving Vash to sleep spread-eagle if he wanted to on his own bed. And because of the height of the Thompsons, these beds were bigger than the three usually got. Definitely bigger than the ones on the sandsteamer, which always left Glory's feet hanging off the edge.
The beds were just about the only up side Glory could find for staying with Milly's family.
Beside her, Knives' spot was empty, proving that he'd already gotten up. That, or he off the bed, which had thus far happened twice since Glory joined the brothers. A glance over the edge disproved the theory and Glory got up, stretching her back and reveling in what it felt like to be able to twist and not be in pain from already-healed wounds.
Sparing a glance at Vash's bed told her that she was the last to get up this morning, which wasn't odd at all. Unless she had a reason to be up, Glory preferred being able to sleep in. Her brothers, however, got up every morning at the same time. Like clockwork. At times she wondered whether or not they rose with the sun.
She rubbed her left shoulder as she made her way to the shower, massaging away the stiffness and pain that told her she slept too long on her left side. She was that there was hot water left. Not just because of the amount of people in the house, but also because of the fact they all rose at nearly the same time, not counting the thirteen women in the house who were pregnant, Milly among them.
She yawned all the way downstairs, finding the kitchen just as buzzing with life as every other room - probably more so. The only time the house was quiet and still was when they all went to bed. Though there was no set time, they laid down as soon as the grandparents in the house did. It was near a miracle that Phillip Sr. Was still alive, being ninety-two. And not only that, he was still incredibly fit. Glory had only few doubts of whether or not he could still put his larger son over his knee and deliver a good paddling if he saw fit to do so.
As usual, several heads turned to see her as she entered the kitchen, and soon she was swarmed by Mily's single cousins and nephews. There weren't many of them, but those that were made it crystal clear. Even some of the younger boys tried a few lines and offered (or begged for) dates. Apparently, age didn't mean much to them, for Glory kept up the story that she was twenty seven, and those younger than her didn't let up. "Excuse me, boys," she said, stepping between them and making her way to sit at the table.
When she first entered the house, her eyes told her that half of the first floor was the family - or living - room. Apparently, the other half was a kitchen, a bathroom, and a door to the basement. It was somewhat oddly made, as well. To get into the kitchen from the living room you had to climb five stout steps, and there was a staircase on the west side of the kitchen, leading to the first floor. It took a left turn, leveled, and then continued into the second stairs, which curved around as the first had done. It left a split down the center of each story, which were bedrooms for the second, forth, fifth and seventh levels. It continued like this for seven stories, and the interior had two exits to every room. The topmost level was an attic, flat-topped, which had a trap door that led to the roof.
The second floor had two bedrooms, for the grandparents, each with their own bathroom. The third level was constructed to hold six bathrooms, a necessity with the size of the family - one bathroom was the "vanity room" which only had mirrors and sinks. The forth level had two bedrooms, one for Milly's parents, and the other for Erica, one of Milly's elder sisters. The fifth level had four bedrooms, one for Milly and Nicholas, one for Glory, Vash and Knives, one for Meryl and one for Marcus. The sixth level had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, one bedroom for Milly's Aunt Carrie and Uncle Steve, the other for her Aunt Rain and Uncle Anthony. The seventh level was four more bedrooms, one for Aunt Zoe and Uncle Orion, one that acted as a nursery for when their many children fell asleep on their visits, one that was a type of storage room, and the last for Larry, Milly's older brother. And not only that, but as it turns out, the Thompsons were all so closely bonded that beyond their backyard, there was a family cemetery. Milly explained about it being there he entire life. Her grandfather's grandfather thought of it, and by now there were at least three hundred graves. Beyond that, well. . .the tombstones reached beyond the horizon. Beyond Glory's vision, that is. But considering her dislike for cemeteries, she wasn't about to go and count them.
Sitting down, Glory reached forward and picked up a cinnamon roll and bit into it. The chairs around and beside her soon took up occupants, but less because they were hungry and more because they wanted to talk to her. Either that or to goggle. Ken (Milly's cousin and the renowned heartbreaker) seemed especially motivated in catching her eye. And she hated to admit it, but his date with her had gone the smoothest. Damon (Milly's nephew) had hit on her constantly. Larry (Milly's brother) ended up spilling his drink and knocking his plate on the ground. Jareth (Milly's cousin) managed to slobber all over her ear when he tried to give her a goodnight kiss and didn't warn her first. Gene (Milly's cousin) simply grew so obsessed with glancing shyly at her that he walked directly into a sign.
"You've been staring at that cinnamon roll for a while now."
Glory jerked and looked sharply at the speaker. "Nicholas," she sighed. "Where's Milly?" With her attention focused elsewhere her admirers began leaving. Nicholas pointed at the living room, where Milly sat alone on the loveseat, using wild hand gestures as she retold a take that involved a glass slipper to her nieces and nephews and second cousins and so on. Fourteen of them sat, the youngest being Jeffrey at three (Tamara and Matt's child) and the eldest Sonny at thirteen (Sammy and Clara's child).
"D'you think she's keeping it straight?" Glory asked, smirking when Milly mimicked the popping of the Fairy Godmother and the children all jumped, even those that had heard the tale before.
Nicholas shrugged and smiled. "Probably, but I wouldn't put bets either way. She can keep things straight pretty well when she's heard it."
Glory laughed. "I suppose you'd have to with a family so big. If you can't remember the face and name, you're screwed." Nicholas in turn laughed and shook his head. "Then my goose is cooked."
"Hey!" Juniper (Milly's cousin) put in, sitting across from Nicholas. "You'd better learn to watch it, mister. We're not all as sweet as Milly is." Glory chuckled. "I've noticed." She was watching Sara (Milly's mother) at sixty seven, come in through the back door, dragging Larry along with her by his ear, berating him for something or another.
Sammy, Larry's elder brother, laughed at him as he was dragged upstairs, Sara still snarling. He was sitting to Glory's left, his wife on his left, who was four months pregnant but looked more so. They'd already come to the conclusion that she had at least two babies in her womb, and as all the men were, Sammy was going an extra mile to make sure she had absolutely everything, even if it meant bankruptcy and thievery. Marcus fought his way to the table through five wrestling men and promptly did an overdramatic fall onto the table. While most of the table's occupants laughed, Clara - along with eight-month pregnant Maria - yelled at him to get out of the way of the food, and their husbands laughed harder. Standing up, Glory wolfed down the rest of her cinnamon roll and dragged Marcus away from the table. Immediately Jean took her seat (Gene's twin sister and three months pregnant) and fought Clara for a glass of juice. Glory and Marcus started outside and promptly Meryl slammed into her, and around the corner, Vash was half laughing, half screaming, trailed by Tom, Steven and Tyler, all of whom had heavy-duty squirt guns. Meryl scrambled at Glory's side until she could squeeze through into the house and slammed the door. Vash sped by, with a, "Hi, Glory, bye Glory," quick to follow. Tyler paused, aimed his quirt gun at Glory, then clearly thought better of it and moved on.
Marcus was laughing. "So we can't stay inside because of the pregnant women, but we can't stay outside due to the water fights, and we can't go into the living room because the children would glare."
"We're not going back inside," Glory told him and stepped under the sole tree in the backyard.
"So what now, then?" Marcus asked, leaning against the trunk on Glory's right. Glory was eyeing the tree. "I really don't know. Have any ideas?"
"Well naturally," Marcus replied, smiling devilishly. "But you'd say no to them all."
"Hi Glory, bye Glory," Vash's voice came as he ran by again, still trailed by the three boys. "How in the world did you become such a pervert?" Glory snapped.
He shrugged. "It had something to do with having a crush on my baby-sitter, my father's squandering, my mother's choice in careers, and where I went after I moved out."
"Glad to see you're still in one piece," she said sarcastically. She glanced out over the cemetery and shuddered. That damn cemetery. She was actually glad her mother had been incinerated in space, because she would have never gone to a cemetery and lay flowers on her grave. That was the problem: the graves. The ones that included statues for tombstones, of angels, of cherubs, of crosses and plaques. She just couldn't stand it. Marcus had followed her gaze. "Creepy, isn't it?" he commented. "Their own cemetery for the Thompsons. I think whoever started that tradition was mad."
Glory shivered. "You're telling me. I can't stand cemeteries."
"Big, strong, brave Glory the Immortal can't stand being around graves?" he asked, surprised.
"Hi Glory, bye Glory."
"No, actually, I can't," Glory replied, eyeing the kids carefully as they continued to run after Vash. Only now they were panting and clutching their sides. "Now they aren't very smart, are they?"
Marcus laughed. "What do you mean?"
"Milly told them what we are. They know they can't catch Vash, hard as they might try. He's too fast, has too much stamina, and we've got a kind of sense that helps us know what's coming."
"Like premonition?"
"Kind of. But it only helps us dodge stuff a few split seconds in advance."
"Oh, okay. I get it."
Glory smirked. "Liar."
"Okay then, let's find out how well you can fight me."
"You don't have a prayer," she retorted, but she was already moving into a defensive pose. Marcus had taken up his own.
"Prove it."
"That's my phrase."
He smirked. "Prove it."
She laughed and bowed. "Ladies first."
She heard laughter and found that a crowd was gathering. Someone stuck their head inside the house and said, "Glory's fighting Marcus!" and the crowd grew.
Marcus noticed them too. "Shouldn't we be charging admission for this?"
"We'll start scheduling them."
"Cool."
Upon finishing the word, Glory charged at him and thus began their fight. Marcus was good, very good, but she knew his best strengths were in knowing his opponent, and they'd only fought once before. She was careful with her hits, not trying to hurt him, but trying to prove her point.
After a few minutes she wasn't proving it so well. Marcus obviously wasn't holding back for her sake, and she began feeling that she shouldn't hold back, either. She was aware that both Vash and Knives had joined the crowd and were watching her, and realized that this was the first time they'd seen her fight before. She made sure to make it especially spectacular for that.
Oh, if only she had brought down her boomerang. . . She almost went upstairs to get it. To these humans, it would only seem like she was gone a few seconds - less if she leapt out her window instead of came back down the stairs.
Flips and twists, silent landings and smooth dodges, perfect jabs and kicks; she focused on all her fighting skills and gave Marcus one bruise after another, while he barely skimmed her. The fight was practically over before it began and everything in the middle was a build to that.
With a final uppercut Marcus fell back and surrendered. Glory grinned at him and helped him up as people began handing money back and forth, collecting on bets. She and Marcus bowed to the crowd.
"Thank you, thank you," Marcus said.
"We'll be here till Thursday," Glory added. "Try the donuts."
Everyone except Vash laughed at that, while Vash himself salivated and Meryl rolled her eyes at him. Glory laughed at his expression and shook her head. Maybe staying here for another few days wouldn't be so bad.
-
Date: Jan. 15. 11:06 pm.
What to say, what to say. . .
First, I'm really sorry I didn't get this up earlier, but things, well. . .got hectic. Lots of moving and such, and lo and behold, I'm across the country without my computer. VV; What I have NOW is a CD with my computer things on them. This means that I cannot put up any new artwork because, ha-ha, no frigging scanner!
:Goes nuts:
Oh yeah, a few little notes: Fanfic, unfortunately, took my squiggles, stars and arrows. Hence the new little exit sign. (Heh, exit sign.)
I just recently got THIS computer from my uncle. Don't like him very much, but hell, I don't like most men. Hope I don't rub off on Glory or she really might not get a male soul mate. See ya next chapter! (When I get it up, anyway.)
-DL-
