A/N: Some election, huh?
Anywho... we have some JP-Moby-Fighting-Craziness, some Viggo/Mac, which is always good, and some cute fluff with Griff, Oni, and Psymon. I swear, the fluff will become important later! It's not just because I liked the idea! I swear!
Anyways, continue reading, brave soldier.
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JP was grinning ear-to-ear when he returned with Odette. They both looked pleased and relaxed, as well as content. Oni was smiling at them – not smirking as she usually was, but really smiling – as they talked in French to themselves, JP's arm over Odette's shoulders, toying with her hair lightly.
Moby looked far less happy, watching the two from the shadows of the staircase. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned, looking at Zoe in the darkness.
"He knows."
"Moby," Zoe sighed, shaking her head, "He can't know. Don't worry about it. You have changed. Physically and mentally, and not just because of... this," she muttered. "You don't have to worry, either. He'll be gone before it happens again."
"But what if I..." Moby looked back down at the three, then back to Zoe. "What if I lose it again, like I did with Nate? What if I do that and he sees? He'll know. JP's perceptive," the Englishman mumbled, distracted. "Where's Viggo?" he asked softly.
"He said he's going to sleep in Mac's room tonight." She frowned. "He knows you've been having a little trouble and he wanted to keep out of the way so you could find your center."
"Bull."
"Yeah, well, I tried," the Englishman's girlfriend responded, sighing. "Moby, come on. You'll be okay. Let's go back to the room."
He sighed, and moved to follow her, when the door of the lodge opened. The tall man from a few months prior (remember him from chapter 2?) entered, looking at the small group in the lobby quizzically.
"Mr. Arsenault. I didn't expect you to be here..." he smiled, "But I suppose it's a good thing I came today, then."
"What's up?" Moby asked, coming down the stairs with Zoe in tow.
"Mr. Jones, would you mind getting the others down here for me, please? I have some matters to discuss." Moby nodded, and then headed back up the stairs.
Soon, the gang was assembled in a group in the lobby, scattered about casually. "So, what's up, boss?" Viggo asked good-naturedly, putting the leg-rest up on the Laz-e-Boy.
"Well, first I would like to congratulate Mac, Viggo, and Psymon on their excellent run down Snow Jam." He nodded to them. "Secondly, I wanted to inform you that the race for Metro City will be in three weeks, so I suppose you all should start practicing."
"That's great and all," Mac spoke up, looking at the man critically, "But last time, you guys just had Atomika tell us over the messaging system when Snow Jam was up." The man smiled.
"Of course, he didn't have anything else to report. However, the big man up the ladder has decided that since there have been no complaints from the staff or any visitors to the mountain, that you may all re-arrange your roommates."
"Oh, sugar daddy, no more kicking people out!" Oni cried, leaping onto Psymon and knocking the armchair over.
"...If that keeps up, maybe I should just..."
"No, that's okay!" Psymon called from the chair.
"I thought as much," the man chuckled. "So, the only thing you need to remember is that this is a month-by-month basis. If morale or anything sinks, then the roommates will be re-arranged to how they are now. That's it, basically."
"Cool," Viggo said. "So, we can room alone and use up those empty rooms now, right?"
"You can take up half of the unused rooms."
"Neat-o."
"Oh, JP?" the man asked, "Are you going to be here for long?"
"Another week or two... perhaps."
"Alright. Just checking. Well, I have to leave you all to your re-arranging. Have fun."
When the man left, there was chaos for a few minutes, before calm settled in.
"Alright, now all we have to do is choose who's staying with who," Odette spoke up, looking around.
"I want my own room," Griff said quickly. "Can I?"
"Sure," Elise responded. "I do too."
"So do I," Odette agreed, "How about you take the room and I'll take another one?"
"Alright," Elise agreed.
It ended up with Oni and Psymon sharing the room that Kaori and Oni used to use, Kaori going into a new room, Moby and Zoe taking the room that once had Viggo and Moby, and letting Allegra make the room she and Zoe had her own. Elise stayed in her room, and Odette moved across the hall to a new room. Nate stayed in the room he, Psymon, and Griff had shared. Griff moved into a new room.
Then there was a problem.
"There's only three available new rooms," Elise spoke up, looking around. "Someone has to share with someone else if we're all going to fit."
"I'm the only one currently roomless," Viggo said, "And, well, I can use the lobby. Eh, I sleep in my clothes all the time."
"They won't let you sleep in the lobby, Viggo," JP said, "I know, because I tried once."
"Here?"
"These mountain lodges are all the same."
"I'm not sharing my room with him," Nate growled.
"No one wants you to," Elise responded snidely.
"Griff deserves his own room," Psymon said before anyone could open their mouths. "He put up with Nate and staying out of the room for two months."
"Yeah," Griff added in. "I do!"
"He could bunk with me," Kaori said, shrugging. Viggo grinned.
"As much as I would adore bunking with you, Kaori, I think it's best if I don't. I don't think you could handle the whole dude thing very well."
"What are you talking about?" Moby asked, grinning, "You're like an effin' chick, mate. You'd fit right in."
"Oh, shut up. At least I don't sing in the shower."
"He sings in the shower?" JP asked, eyebrows raised.
"He sings Broadway show tunes, for crying out loud."
"He has a good voice!" Zoe exclaimed. Moby groaned and covered his face.
"Not helping, love."
"He can bunk with me." The group looked at Mac. Viggo raised his eyebrows.
"Uh, are you sure, man? I mean, seriously, I can just bunk out in the lobby. They'll let me."
"It's cool. You've got a bed made out of clothes in there already, and you already live out of your suitcase anyways so nothing should be lost, and I honestly don't mind you that much..." He glanced at Moby, "And I don't sing show tunes in the shower."
"No, you sing that song from Mulan," Moby scoffed.
"That was one time, man!" Mac exclaimed.
"Did you hit all the notes?" Kaori asked, eyebrows raised. Mac flushed.
"Will you guys quit it?! I'm martyring my life of solitude so the Swede doesn't have to live like a bum in the hallways! Give me the respect I deserve!"
"You don't have to," Viggo muttered, crossing his arms. "I'm okay with the bum life. It's fun.
"You might as well, Viggo," Oni said finally, raising her eyebrows, "I mean, I sure as hell don't want you outside where you could be sitting in the shadows.... listening...."
"Besides, the hallway will probably be very loud, you know," Odette added, in a suspiciously innocent voice. Viggo winced.
"True. Uh, Mac, if you really don't mind, then I'll take you up on that offer."
"Finally, you see reason," the American boy muttered.
"Well, then, we best get packed," Elise said, standing up. Odette gave JP a look.
"You're going to help me settle into my room, right?" she asked, enunciating the word "settle" and making JP grin.
"Of course."
---
"You really don't have to do this, Mac," Viggo said as he dragged his large suitcase into the room. "I mean, really."
"Yeah, well, I'm okay with it, so stop trying to get out of it." Mac was watching the TV with vague interest, pretending to be nonchalant about Viggo's moving in. "Besides, you've been sleeping in here a lot since Moby had that freaky dream. Might as well make it official, y'know?" The American boy grinned suddenly, "Unless you wanna move in with Nate?"
Viggo didn't respond directly, but instead said, "I just don't... Practically everyone knows I'm bi, and I just don't want certain people thinking certain things about us- you. You."
Mac looked over at the blonde, "What, you mean like Nate? Fuck that asshole, if he wants to start shit because I'm rooming with you, let him, because nobody's on his side. Don't worry, dawg, that guy can't do nothin' to either of us."
"Yeah," Viggo muttered, "I guess you're right." The Swede looked down at his suitcase, and put a hand to his throat lightly.
"Hey, Viggo," Mac murmured, sitting up, "Don't worry. I've got your back, man."
"Yeah... yeah, I know," Viggo responded, shrugging. "Everyone's always got my back." The Swede put the suitcase over beside the pile of clothes, and then grinned half-heartedly at Mac. "Just don't get too close... he's a feisty little devil."
"It's talk like that, that gets you in trouble."
---
"You've been avoiding me, Jones."
Moby didn't move from his place on the log, looking at the sapling that had been victim of Mac's anger a while ago, and simply shrugged his shoulders.
"What would be bothering you, so much that you wouldn't even bicker with me?" JP asked, sitting down next to the Englishman. Another shrug was his answer. "I know you can hear me, and I know you've got more to say than shrugging. How about you quit with that stupid English aloofness that you seem to love and talk?"
"Nothin' to talk about. And it's not aloofness, it's just me, not caring that you're here."
"It's not just you not caring, because you've been like this since the start of the circuit." JP lifted his sunglasses and rested them on top of his blonde-brown hair, and looked sternly at Moby. "I've watched your interviews on TV – you barely even acknowledge the questions. And our friends have also noticed it. Brodi said something about you being 'displaced' spiritually, but it's more than that, isn't it?"
"There's nothing wrong with me," Moby growled, refusing to look at JP, "I'm fine, and you shouldn't be worrying yourself."
"And then there are the other boarders in the circuit. You haven't been fooling them either. They know something's wrong. Even Viggo's told me-"
There was a sudden absence of log beneath JP, who's sentence was cut off by one-hundred and ninety-five pounds of European man – about five of those pounds being used to hold him to the ground by the neck and another five to hold a fist over his face in a threatening manner.
"What's Viggo told you?!" Moby growled, very softly. JP was sure this was Moby's dangerous, English-gangster voice, and was unnerved accordingly.
"He simply stated that you have been having rather vivid nightmares," the Frenchman responded, surprised that he hadn't stammered or whispered the simple statement. "Things about smelling blood and moonlight?"
Something caught in Moby's eyes – nothing more than a slight of the eye – that made them look more golden than chocolate, and JP became painfully aware that the Englishman's nails were rather sharp, and those canine teeth seemed a lot sharper when Moby growled like that, teeth bared.
JP was perceptive, alright. He was perceptive enough to see that Moby was losing something, and losing it fast. That slight of the eye wasn't really a slight, but more like a change in pigment, and those nails were more like claws than before, and those canine teeth were a lot sharper.
"I suggest," Moby threatened quietly, "That you mind your own business, mate. Don't dig this grave deeper," he warned, before letting go of JP, who stared up at the Englishman in a muted, terrified awe. The setting sun was hitting just right, so that Moby looked infinitely more sinister, like a shadow of death, and JP could do nothing but nod slightly in fear.
Moby stalked out of the clearing into the dense foliage around them, and JP stayed in his position on the ground for a while, simply staring at the sky, which was darkening as pregnant clouds drifted over the pinks and oranges of the sunset.
"Il ressemble à la pluie." JP muttered to himself, before thinking about the deeper meaning to his casual comment. It looks like rain on two horizons.
---
Griff wasn't scared.
No, he wasn't.
Thunder rolled, and the redheaded boy 'eeped' and dug his nose further into the comic he was reading.
Okay, he really wasn't supposed to be up this late, but the latest issue of Master Zombie Hunter was too good to put down, and hey, he was almost finished. The Master Zombie Hunter was just about to lay the smack down on a new baddie from issue #216, the Zombie Werewolf, and he couldn't just stop right before the big fight scene!
Unfortunately, Griff's tired mind had other ideas. He had already been yawning for a while, but now his eyes were starting to close spontaneously, and the tired twelve year old boy had to call it quits. He sighed, and put the brand new comic under his pillow, deciding that he'd finish it in the morning. After all, maybe it was better to stop before the fight, instead of during it.
His eyes finally drifted shut as he huddled under the warmth of the blanket, and his mind practically shut down for the night.
Then, a howl pierced the sounds of the storm, and made the poor boy jump up, eyes wide.
Crap. Okay, Griff, get a hold of yourself. It's just a wolf, no biggie.
There was another howl, this time much closer. As if it were right outside the lodge.
Trying in vain to keep from shaking, Griff climbed out of the large bed and over to the window, looking out over the icy, snowy landscape.
There was something very big and very wolfish stalking across the snow. Griff 'eeped' again, and dashed across the room, opening the door and practically throwing himself at the door across the hall.
There was a muffled noise, and Griff knocked a few short, panicky times on the door. The wooden barricade opened a crack, and then opened a little wider, Oni looking sleepily down at the boy.
"What's going on?" she asked groggily, "Do you know what time it is?"
"Th-There's this big thing outside and I think it's a wolf but it's a lot bigger and it must be the zombie werewolf here for our brains!" Griff squeaked, eyes wide. The girl raised her eyebrows.
"...Master Zombie Hunter?" she intoned. Griff blushed a little and nodded, sheepish. "Okay, okay. Let's go take a look." Oni put a hand on the boy's shoulder and, leaving her door ajar slightly, steered the boy into his room. She then went to the window, and peered out.
"Well?" Griff asked, anxious.
"Well, I don't see any zombie werewolves. I think it's just your imagination playing tricks on you... trite as that might be." Griff ignored the weird word that he didn't really understand.
"But it was there! I swear, I saw it!"
"Well, it was probably just a regular wolf. Don't worry, I believe you." Griff sighed, and looked out the window himself, but saw nothing.
"Okay..."
Oni looked at the boy, then smirked slightly. "Still worried about your brainmeats?"
"It was a big wolf," the boy muttered defensively. Oni nodded.
"...Do you want to sleep in our room tonight?"
"I'm twelve years old! I'm too old for stuff like that." Oni rolled her eyes.
"Okay, fine... But if the zombie werewolf comes back...." She left it at that and shrugged, before heading to her room.
Another howl pierced the air, and Griff quickly jogged after her. She turned, and nodded. "Besides," she added, before he gave her any of that age stuff, "I would sleep with my parents until... well, until I was fifteen."
"Really?"
"Really. Have you read some of those comic books they put out there?" Oni closed the door after them, and then the two crept over to the bed, Griff climbing in before Oni.
Just as the girl pulled the blanket over them, Psymon made a vague noise of disgruntlement, and rolled over. "What's up?" he grumbled sleepily, taking Griff's presence in a stride.
"Master Zombie Hunter," Oni responded quietly.
"Issue 219?" Griff nodded slightly, and Psymon shook his head. "Shit gave me nightmares for weeks."
With that grumbled bit of input, the half-asleep Canadian put his arm over the other two, and went back to sleep.
"Six bucks says he won't remember that in the morning," Oni chuckled quietly to Griff, but the boy was already asleep.
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Awwwww. How CUTE. I swear it has meaning. Moby's gone CRAZY!!! And yeah, I totally set up the roommates just right.
Now that you've read, you can continue to step TWO: REVIEW!! Yaaay!!!