(Disclaimer: don't own vhd; b...sigh I wish Urban Vision would create more
merchandise...I be bummed.)
Fear the Fans
Thank you reviewers!
Vanimaokatu: Thanks Jen! New chap!
Chaotic Jinx: Glad you liked it so far; I shall continue to torture them
for your enjoyment now.
Andrea & Seifer vanGriever: Thanks! Please, enjoy! I love repeat reviewers!
Little Giry: Yay! Thank you! Tell me what you like about this one! ( Kenshin no Sakura: Thanks Colleen, I tried to organize this chapter a bit
better, hope you like it!
Cassandra Pegasus: Ye gads...I hope D never does encounter your brother, it
would certainly be the end of one of them!
Terra Nova: Thank you! I liked your ideas so much, that I'm using one! Hope
you like it!
Chibi Yin: Thanks for the review, please do so again, and tell me what you
like!
Sailor Venya: Ooh! Thank you for the praise! (Loves applause!) Here's more!
Kitala: Thanks a bunch, Left hand is a horror isn't he?
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Josh turned down the now familiar corridor, on his way to his otherworldly charges. Behind him, he dragged his tiny cousin, she was much happier than normal, skipping and singing in anticipation of being reunited with her unusual friends once more. Following the twosome was the gray haired janitor...the only one of the entirety of his species to exist in the large, elegant building. He was towing a hefty cart, covered by a tan colored cloth, which bumped unevenly on its wheels as it was tugged towards the room.
Turning the bronze key in the old fashioned lock, Josh opened the heavy metal door and shoved Becca inside. The cart was wheeled in by the janitor and, after giving a wave of acknowledgement to Kyle, he tipped his hat politely and exited. Today would be a good day, Josh felt sure of it! He had given his clipboard reports to his boss, who had agreed that the cast members could be allowed a trip to the small private beach out behind the building.
"That should make them all happy!" The tech murmured, looking pleased with himself as Becca gleefully danced over to Mashira, and latched onto her favorite "fuzzy puppy man"...she then bit him hard in the wrist but Josh chose to ignore that, and instead began conversing with the majority of the group about their outing.
"Augh!" Mashira cried, as Becca sank her tiny kid teeth into his skin. He quickly shook her to the floor. "What the hell did y- you...BITE me for??!" He cried, looking more offended than hurt. Becca looked up at him with her sharp, lopsided grin.
"I wantsta be a vamp-pire!" She squealed happily, prancing around the wolfish barboroi's legs before grabbing his tail and wrestling with it. Losing whatever patience he had had to begin with, the werewolf ended the game by slamming his tail, child and all, onto the floor. This did get Josh's attention, seeing as his small cousin's wail was better than an air horn. With a sigh he began heading over in the general vicinity of Mashira's soda machine. Bending down with an audible grunt, he hefted his screaming, kicking cousin from the midst of her tantrum on the floor, spun on his heel, and walked back out of the door. There was a mingled sigh of relief from the cast.
Josh marched down the outside corridor angrily, clutching Becca's fist. Entering the elevator, he punched the button for the eighth floor while Becca protested loudly, wanting to turn back to her newly inducted playmates. Once they reached their destination the tech hauled his squirming charge into the children's daycare center. Getting down on her level, he hissed at her through clenched teeth.
"If these people are injured my job is at stake!" He shook her firmly for emphasis. "Now you will stay in here until I come and get you for the beach trip, is that clear?" Becca nodded, looking put out but obedient...for the time being.
"As I was saying!" Josh shouted, whereupon re-entering the room and trying to gather the cast's attention. "I have a surprise for all of you!" The possibility of a surprise encouraged the idea of listening to Josh, and the cast clustered around him. "I'm going to take you all to the beach!" He exclaimed.
Complete and utter silence.
Bengee cocked his head to one side. "The what?" He asked, looking baffled. Caroline crossed her arms over her chest, looking skeptical. "Is this going to be as much 'fun' as your movie?" She asked scathingly, voice laden with sarcasm.
Josh blushed. "N-no, that was a mistake, this will be great. I assure you." He looked about awkwardly, wondering whether or not to unveil the cart yet, when D stood. "Perhaps," He murmured in his trademark monotone. "You could explain to us what a beach IS?" The rest of the cast muttered agreements, then turned expectantly towards Josh. "Um, well...its a lot of sand, right on the edge of lots of water...Its really relaxing, y'know. You can lie in the sun or there's waves in the water...stuff like that." Everyone stared blankly for a moment before an opinion was voiced.
"Sounds cool," Leila said, standing slowly to ease a cramp in her side. "When do we go?" Everyone else agreed and began chatting amiably about the possibilities of this 'beach' they were to visit.
Meier looked appalled.
Swiftly, he slid over to the techs side and grabbed his shoulder, causing the younger man to jump about a foot. Meier tightened his grip until Josh let out a strangled squeak.
"This beach? Did you say it was outside?" The vampire hissed as he shook the smaller man by the shirtfront. "Y-yes!" Josh wheezed. Meier looked enraged. "So what am I going to do?!?" The normally calm vampire bellowed, swinging Josh about like a straw filled puppet. "Stand out there and BURN?! You call that FUN?!" Meier whirled about to face the rest of the cast, all of whom had rushed immediately to a far corner so as not to be caught in this newly erupted line of fire. All who remained was D, still seated in the center of the room, looking uninterested.
Meier panted for a moment before straightening, smoothing his hair, and overall regaining composure. He gently lowered Josh to the floor with a soft apology, before swishing off to Charlotte, with whom he immediately began discussing a possible solution to the problem. Meanwhile, Bengee had sidled over to the covered cart. Natural curiosity was getting the better of him and so he yanked off the tarp. "What...is all this?" He asked, wrinkling his nose with distaste as he pulled out a Speedo. The shadow demon tugged at the elastic swimsuit for a few moments before sliding the waistband over his thumb, pulling back to his shoulder, taking aim, and firing. People scrambled out of the path of the wayward swimsuit, until with a loud THWAP it struck home.
Caroline slowly pulled the object out of her hair, allowing none of her anger to show, while Josh waved his arms in the background in a frantic attempt to stop what would happen next...sadly...he couldn't.
Within point three seconds Bengee was dangling high off the floor, a long strand of green hair wrapped securely around his throat. He clawed madly at the makeshift rope before his head was slammed into the ceiling; Caroline then seemed to lose interest. Letting her teammate go she turned and walked towards the cart full of swim gear, ignoring the thump behind her, and the sympathetic winces crossing the other's features.
"So..." She drawled, lifting out a pair of neon green trunks, which easily started to blend in with her arm. "Josh? Explanation?" Josh hurriedly walked to the cart in order to avoid more injuries, and began. "These," He said gesturing to the trunks Caroline held. "Are swim trunks...men wear them when on the beach- Yes?"
D had raised his hand. The Dunpeal stood and stared down at the tech before commenting. "Where are the tops?" Josh looked at the quantity of clothing that most of the cast was wearing...and began to develop a sinking feeling. "Uh...the men normally just go shirtless..."
"Really!?!" Caroline and Charlotte squealed, and then began giggling; Meier's face burned crimson and he turned away from the pair. "Well, yes..." Josh murmured, losing confidence fast.
"I'm good with this!" Kyle called from his position on the buffet table, pointing to his costume..., which practically left him shirtless anyway. Leila made a disgusted face. "You mean we have to see even more of Kyle?.....Is that legal?" Josh glared at her, his nerves fraying quickly. "Yes, of course its legal, no there are no tops for the men. Now," He rummaged through the pile and came up with a VERY tiny blue bikini. "This is an example of women's swim wear it-."
"Booyah!" Kyle exclaimed happily, before Leila whipped around and fixed him with a glare that could have melted steel. "I-I mean, uh...that's awful..." He muttered, subdued. Josh massaged his temples, needing more aspirin. Turning towards the cart, the tech began rooting through the swimsuits, twelve seconds later he came up with what he had been searching for, looking triumphant, he held it high.
"This is a women's single piece swim suit...we only have one though." The tech's voice trailed off miserably as he glanced nervously over at the girls. Charlotte was gazing at him with a pleading look that could have tamed a rabid bear, while Leila and Caroline seemed more likely to charge and maul him. Thinking fast, he tossed it high into the air, it landed square in the middle of the girls.
A beat.
The war lasted for about three seconds. Grinning smugly, Caroline headed off to the bathrooms carrying her trophy; turning at the door she made a very rude hand gesture to Leila, and was gone. Leila seethed in anger for a few moments before disentangling herself from the hammock that had served as D's bed. The huntress nursed her bruises and moodily grabbed a bikini from the pile on the cart, then also moved off towards the ladies room.
This seemed to be a cue to the others, who began to pick and choose swimwear. Meier was naturally looking for the longest set of trunks he could get his hands on, while Charlotte searched for the largest bikini available. The vampire finally turned up a respectable pair of royal blue swim wear along with a yellow orange bikini for Charlotte that was slightly less revealing than the others. Borgoff had found a pair of forest green trunks and decided they would do; all the while trying to ignore Kyle, who was continuously trying to convince other people to wear Speedos so that he could laugh at them. Kyle and Mashira had both chosen identical swimsuits, bright red with flames emblazoned on either side. Mashira looked proud of his choice and contemplated ripping Kyle's apart before deciding that the aforementioned choice would be a bad decision. Seeing Kyle in a swimsuit was bad enough, he did not wish to see Kyle without a swimsuit.
Bengee had chosen a flashy yellow set of jams; it clashed horribly and caused seconds of blindness when observed too closely...naturally the shadow demon loved it. Nolt had gone with the biggest set available, and therefore wasn't granted much with color choice. Pink and yellow weren't really his thing, but so long as he had something to wear he wasn't going to complain.
Grove was having a rough time. Though he was much healthier than before he was still very thin...none of the swimsuits seemed to fit. Feeling frustrated he slouched over to Josh.
"What's wrong with you?" The tech asked, seeing that the youngest Markus looked miserable. "You ok?"
"I can't go..." Grove muttered, glaring over at everyone else jealously. Josh stared at Grove feeling confused; the young hunter lowered his head in embarrassment. "None of it fits." Grove finally declared sadly, pointing towards the cart of beach clothes. "'S all too big..."
Sighing heavily, Josh pulled out his cell phone. Ten minutes later the lone janitor appeared again, he was holding a Nordstrom's bag. "Thanks." Josh murmured, the janitor nodded and left. Turing, the tech handed the bag to Grove. "Here you go." He said happily. "See if that fits." Seeing as it was a child's size Josh hoped it would...otherwise he was going to have to get the poor guy a belt or something.
D was highly disappointed. He had gone through all of the swimwear twice, and none of it was black. All of the men's swimsuits came in horrendously lurid color schemes, which made the Dunpeal cringe simply to behold them. There was NO way he was going to wear any of that! Looking up, the tech discerned the dark hunter coming toward him. He began to back away but decided that it was hopeless so he simply waited to hear what the Dunpeal would say. D towered over Josh, and glared down at him. Josh gulped.
"Uh...need something?" The tech asked nervously. D reached out suddenly, grabbed the cell phone, flipped open the top, and placed it in Josh's hand. The tech stared incomprehensively.
"I'd like to make an order." D murmured, gesturing over at Grove who looked much happier now, decked out in fire engine red trunks that, thankfully, stayed on. (He was the only one to emerge changed besides Bengee and Kyle thus far.) Josh looked taken aback by the Dunpeal's abrupt statement. What did he look like? A fast food take out guy? Before he could retort, D held up the pair of neon green trunks that Caroline had picked up earlier. "I would like these. In black." The Dunpeal stated curtly. Resignedly, Josh dialed the number for Nordstrom's information desk.
"Hello, Nordstrom's clothing department, how may I help you?" Came the somewhat harassed voice from the other end of the line.
"Um, yes. I'd like to see if you have any size 7 men's swimsuits in black?" Josh asked hesitantly, anticipating the answer.
"Sorry sir. Black's just not a popular color for summer, how about blue?" Cringing Josh hung up the cell. D stared at him expectantly. "They, um...don't make black swim suits D." Josh whimpered. D automatically reached over his shoulder for his sword, only to find the empty casing strapped to his back. Now doubly irritated D quickly tugged at the sheath, loosened it, whipped it out like a sword, and held it over Josh's head.
"Augh!" Josh cried, huddling up into a ball on the floor. "Don't hit me with that!!"
"Hit him!" Mashira cried from across the room, before Borgoff smacked him in the back of the skull. No one really paid much attention as the pair began tearing at each other, it was just too commonplace. Meier took it upon himself to intervene, in the less hazardous of the two skirmishes. He gracefully slid in between tech and Dunpeal, and turned to the dark hunter.
"D, why don't you just wear these?" He asked, holding up a pair of dark blue trunks, they were closer to being black than any of the other choices, though they couldn't stand up to the regality of Meier's peacock blue attire. "I'm sure it will be just as good, and won't damage your reputation any," The aristocratic vampire continued. "Just get a black towel and-" Here he paused for a few moments while the sounds of epic battle from Mashira's soda machine rose to an all encumbering crescendo, before dying away slowly to a muted background of vehement cursing and unhappy whimpers.
Meier cleared his throat. "Get a black towel and you should be perfectly fine." He finished quickly, handing D the trunks and moving off to help Charlotte, who was attempting to see to Borgoff's injuries. D stared down at the dark blue swimsuit and allowed a small smile to cross his lips for a brief moment, then headed towards the rest rooms.
"Just hold still! That's a nasty batch of cuts you have, you should let me help you." Charlotte commented firmly, as Borgoff tried, once more, to wriggle away. It was much easier for Charlotte now that he was staying in one place. She smiled up at Meier, who returned the smile affectionately...and continued to wrench the oldest Markus brother's arms behind his back to render him immobile.
"I don't want any friggin' help!" Borgoff growled, trying to get back at Mashira, who was a mere five feet away calmly licking his wounded arm. "Just let me kill that stupid Barboroi!" Meier tightened his grip on the other man's arms. "You'll do as Charlotte says, human!" He muttered threateningly. "And you may not kill Mashira, he apologized, after all." Borgoff continued to grumble unhappily, but sat still, as Charlotte applied band-aids and salve to the long scratches on his face and chest.
About half an hour later, the cast was mostly ready. D and Meier had matching black towels draped across their shoulders, the lack of clothing on their upper bodies making them feel self-conscious. D refused point blank to take off his hat, after hearing from Josh that the sun could cause slight burns he had become somewhat paranoid, and insisted on keeping it for protection. Meier was also carrying a large, blue and green beach umbrella, which would (hopefully) keep him from becoming a living fireball. Bengee, Kyle, and Mashira had dismissed towels as being utterly useless in the present situation and had declined the offer to partake of any, naturally forcing Josh to add three to the beach bag in case they suddenly changed their minds. Caroline had chosen a green tie dye style, she loved patterns she could blend with and this seemed an excellent specimen, while Nolt, reluctantly chose (again) the largest size available...leaving him stuck with the "dancing banana" towel. Grove was wrapped up tightly in his beach blanket, which featured various jungle cats on the front, and Borgoff and Charlotte chose identical blue towels with suns and clouds printed on them. (The oldest Markus was complaining about the stupidity of the pictures on the towels, until Bengee offered him a "hello kitty" print, then he shut up.) It was then that Josh noticed someone was missing.
"Um, guys?" He asked, looking around to confirm his suspicions. "Where's Leila?" Everyone glanced about, noticing quite suddenly the lack of bickering and complaining in the room. Caroline snorted.
"Oh her? Honey, she's still upset about losing this." She said smugly, gesturing to the single piece suit she was wearing. "She said she wasn't coming out." The earthen demon finished with a small laugh. Charlotte shook her head, walking over to the cart she picked up a nice mango colored towel, and walked into the bathroom. Leila was sitting moodily on a bench by the door, looking highly annoyed and resolute. "Are you going to come with us?" Charlotte asked kindly, taking a seat next to the huntress.
Leila glared at her. "I'm not going out in front of all of those stupid men in this!" She spat angrily. "I can't believe that YOU did." She finished rudely. Charlotte just smiled in response.
"They won't mock you." The noble woman continued kindly. "No one will say anything, trust me." Leila still looked undecided, so Charlotte stood and showed her how to wear the towel as a wrap. A few moments later, both girls exited.
"Oh, good!" Josh said, feeling relived. "Now all you need to do is put on some suntan lotion and we can head on out!" So saying he began handing out bottles of spray on sun block, and face cream. Remembering the little "sunburn" sermon they had received earlier, the cast began applying the sunscreen.
"I'm all sticky." Grove whimpered forlornly, as he finished putting on the greasy substance. He tried his hardest to keep his bangs away from his face, but they refused to obey, preferring to plaster themselves all over his visage. "Isn't it great!" Kyle called from his younger brother's left. "I love it! Sticky-ness! W00t!" Nolt rolled his eyes in annoyance and snatched Kyle's sun tan bottle, holding it high over his head so that his sibling was unable to reach it.
D grimaced as he smoothed on an extremely thin coat of the disgusting mixture, hating the smell and texture, the only benefit being that he could put the lotion onto his left hand in order to spread it on. "Agh! D, stop!" Left hand cried as the Dunpeal poured more cream into his hand. "It tastes terrible! I SAID stop!"
Bengee turned to see where all the noise was coming from just in time to see D's left hand devour the entire lotion bottle. Both shadow demon and Dunpeal stared at the hand incredulously. Bengee looked slightly ill and moved quickly away from D. The hand grinned in an irritating "superior" fashion, while its master glared down at the offending body part. D re- applied his glove.
Meier spread coat after coat on himself and Charlotte, desperate to stop either of their bodies from burning. Caroline was already slicked down waiting by the door, laughing softly as Leila continuously dropped her greasy lotion bottle onto the floor. Mashira took two bottles and emptied their contents onto the linoleum; he then proceeded to roll in the coconut- scented mix until he was thoroughly coated.
After many attempts Borgoff flung the sunscreen bottle away, angrily. The stupid stuff was just too damn hard to apply to himself; it couldn't possibly be worth the effort of trying to work it around all of his hair. Standing he moved toward the giant metal door with the rest of the group, signifying that he was ready.
"Ok!" Josh said, turning the key in the lock. "Let's go!"