"Oh, Isaac..."
"Oh, Mia..."
"Oh, Isaac..."
"Oh, Mia..."
Isaac and Mia were currently engaging in the very boring activity of saying each other's name over and over because they had nothing better to do. And then they would kiss passionately, and repeat the whole process over and over again. They had no respect for people who might be sickened by their actions whatsoever.
However, they soon found their happy passionate moment disrupted by a particularly rude Lemurian, coming over from the direction of Kraden's cottage. Goodness knows why Picard went there, he must have been in a lapse of insanity. Nevertheless, he was not inclined to vomit at Isaac and Mia's actions.
"Isaac, Mia," Picard said urgently, breaking up the very passionate and repetitive moment and getting scathing glares as a response which he promptly ignored. "I just went over to Kraden's cottage-"
"Are you insane?" Isaac screeched, going pale at the thought of Picard being stupid enough to do such a thing. Perhaps he might actually have blown Kraden's roof off too, if Alex had finished it yet. That was a horrifying thought. "What did you do such a stupid thing for?"
"I wondered why he was singing very loudly," Picard shuddered, cowed by the memory of Kraden dancing and singing in front of his cottage. "Kraden singing is very scary indeed. Anyway, he was celebrating because Alex finished fixing the roof and has supposedly now left the village to do other tasks which hopefully won't be done very quickly at all."
"Yes!" Mia exclaimed, looking delighted to hear the incredible news. She could not have looked happier had she heard that a house had fallen on top of Alex... or maybe she could. "The wicked witch is gone! Now I don't have to worry about that whiny wretch popping up and declaring his undying devotion towards me which I really don't need to know about!"
"That's funny," Picard blinked, giving Mia a strange look. "Kraden was singing 'Ding Dong, the wicked witch is dead' and then you go and say nearly the same thing."
"Picard, please don't compare me to Kraden," Mia managed a strained smile, resisting the urge to hit him for doing such a thing. "I really don't like to be compared to such a crazy old man. Nobody does. Kraden is in a league of his own and nobody wants to be in such a place, that would make us outcasts. The only thing worse than Kraden is probably Alex..."
"Anyway," Picard continued, not really bothered to apologise for such a minor thing, since Mia could get worked up over the littlest things at times. "Kraden thinks we should have an all day long party tomorrow to celebrate Alex's leaving. What do you think about that?"
"I'm all for it!" Mia jumped to her feet and punched the air triumphantly. "A party to celebrate Alex leaving sounds very good! Isaac, what about you?"
"Fantastic," Isaac flashed a thumbs up, scrambling to his feet. "Let's spread the news!"
And then Isaac, Mia and Picard went off to do so.
"Party to celebrate Alex's leaving?" Jenna leaned on the windowsill, her window wide open. "That sounds excellent! But I'll have to make sure Garet's off the tree by then if he isn't already, he won't want to miss such a great occasion." She closed the window and walked out of her room, leaving the house. She might as well help spread the news.
"Hmm..." Ivan rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking at his victim, who was now sitting on the ground and giving him a frightened look. Perhaps it was the way Ivan kept looking at him, almost like a lion that had trapped a rabbit and was about to pounce. "I know, do a handstand."
"I can't do handstands," Garet protested. "I'm sick of being your slave already! All you're doing is making me look stupid! I've been duped, you've tricked me! You're not going to get away with this!"
"Didn't you say that about Alex?" Ivan asked dryly, letting out a derisive chuckle.
"Yeah, well, so what?" Garet growled. "I'm not doing your stupid tricks anymore, you aren't going to get away with it... I mean it! The stuff you did before, big deal, but this is a new low... AAAH!"
"What?" Ivan frowned as Garet crawled backwards away from him, looking terrified. "I'm not that scary, am I?" A tap on his shoulder alerted him to someone besides him and he turned around, yelping and taking a step back. "Oh, hi, Felix!"
"I need to talk to him please," Felix said as politely as he possibly could. "Step aside, midget."
"Who do you think you're calling midget?" Ivan tried to look very threatening, although it didn't really work. "I'm his bodyguard, so there."
"You make a lousy bodyguard," Felix cast Quake and Ivan stumbled, falling onto his backside.
"Argh!" Ivan crawled away and glared at Felix. "You could have warned me!" He stood up and just stayed there, watching the proceedings with interest.
"Hi, Garet," Felix looked down at the Mars Adept, clearly amused at the way that he was acting. "You should know better than to take orders from a Jupiter Adept."
"Er... yeah... heh heh heh..." Garet sweatdropped. "Yeah..."
"So, I hear you're planning to propose to Jenna?" Felix asked.
"Y-yeah..." Garet cringed. "I guess Kay did tell you... at this rate, she'll probably tell Jenna too and it's going to be ruined! How can I propose to her if she already knows?"
"I doubt she knows yet," Felix blinked. "Well... I'm shocked that you're taking it so far so soon but I suppose you just don't like waiting, and neither does she really. But if you do anything out of order after marrying, then I swear I'll break every bone in your body."
"You mean you won't now?" Garet's jaw dropped.
"Er... no?" Felix raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, Garet, lay off the paranoia, it's making you look stupid... as if doing everything a midget said wasn't bad enough..."
"Yay!" Garet jumped to his feet. "Hiring Ivan as my bodyguard was a waste of time then! I knew it!"
"I despair at the prospect of having a moron like you for my brother-in-law..." Felix moaned, turning away. "This is a nightmare. But I can't do anything."
"Huh..." Ivan scowled. "I liked having Garet as a slave."
"I imagine it was fun," Sheba said from behind him, a mischevious grin on her face.
"AAAAH!" Ivan almost jumped out of his skin and he whipped around to face Sheba. He sighed in relief and placed a hand over his heart. "Sheba, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"You're too young for heart attacks," Sheba giggled. "The look on your face... it was priceless!"
"Garet! You're off the tree!" Jenna exclaimed, approaching the group and looking extremely shocked. "I don't believe it! Who rescued you?"
"I got myself off," Garet looked wounded. "I burnt the rope."
"So, are you going to tell me?" Jenna asked hopefully. "You've learnt your lesson now, haven't you?"
"Um... geez..." Garet gulped. "Er... tonight! I'll tell you tonight!"
"Tonight?" Felix looked stunned.
"Yes, tonight!" Garet said obstinately.
"Do you know what it is, Felix?" Jenna turned her evil gaze towards him.
"No, I don't," Felix quickly lied, stepping away from her and cringing under the evil gaze. "Just... um, be patient, please?"
"Fine..." Jenna said sulkily. "Tonight, Garet, or you are dead."
"Heh..." Garet chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Sure."
"Good news!" Isaac hollered at the top of his voice, rushing towards everybody. "Excellent, amazing, great, wonderful, surprising, incredible, out-of-this-world, joyful news!"
"Spill," Ivan said immediately, curious to know what was so great.
"ALEX IS OUT OF VALE!" Mia squealed equally as loudly, almost inducing everybody to clap their hands over their ears before they got deafened by her exuberant shouting. "Alex finished fixing Kraden's roof and now he's left the village! We're free of the whinging drip!"
"And Kraden wants us to have an all day long party tomororw to celebrate," Picard spoke up. "Since this is such a joyful occasion, it's only right to celebrate."
"We should remember this day and make it a calendar day too!" Jenna exclaimed. "We could call it... Alex's Departure Day, and on this day we burn Alex dolls on a bonfire and eat marshmallows and sing songs to celebrate! And it will be illegal not to celebrate it, anybody who doesn't will be hung, drawn, quartered, tarred and feathered!"
Everybody glanced at Jenna, sweatdropped and looked away, trying hard not to laugh from the incredulity of such an idea. Jenna fumed and then started shouting about how rude everybody was being, that they were not going to get away with being so rude like that. Garet quickly shut her up with the usual method of sweeping her off her feet and kissing her, which fortunately worked.
Night fell and Ivan and Sheba went to their rooms. Sheba was perplexed to find the bedroom Jenna-free but she thought nothing of it, crossing the room to her bed. She was surprised to find a note and hurriedly picked it up, unfolding it and smoothing the creases, reading the neat script that was scribed onto the paper.
"Meet me on the southern bridge by the waterfall in front of the house where you're sleeping... Ivan..." Sheba studied it intently. It could be a hoax, but it could also be genuine so she might as well go. It wasn't that far to the bridge, so she wasn't going to complain or anything. Sheba slipped the note in her pocket and left the house, heading to the bridge.
Ivan was surprised to find a note on his bed as well. He was half expecting it to be another 'You smell of poo' note from Garet, but surprisingly enough it wasn't. It was actually written in very nice handwriting too, unlike Garet's messy, intelligible scrawls.
"Meet me on the southern bridge in front of Felix and Jenna's house... Sheba..." Ivan folded the note up and put it in his pocket, sitting on his bed and wondering what to do. "Well... it might be from Sheba, so I might as well go and see." He left his bedroom and exited the house, surprised to see Garet outside ahead of him. 'Probably off to stop Jenna from murdering him or something...' Ivan shrugged and set off towards the bridge.
Jenna was already in the plaza, waiting for Garet. He had told her to meet him in the plaza tonight and she was feeling so impatient that she felt like running to his house and berating him, saying that he was late and she was going to wait no longer. The plaza was so boring at this time of night, there were only shops down here and hardly anybody about. There weren't even any scurrying mice for her to chase and burn to a crisp. She was unaware that she was not the only one down there, Felix and Picard were also hiding in the shadows, watching. Felix felt he needed to know the outcome of such an event and Picard just tagged along.
Isaac and Mia were also dabbling in the art of spying, but in a different area. They were currently stationed in some bushes near the bridge, waiting for Ivan and Sheba to be there, hoping that something good would come of the prospective event. Oh, and they were occasionally kissing passionately as well of course much like a happy couple does.
