Rasmus sat in his little corner of David's mind, awake while his other self lay sleeping. It was nice to be alive in some form, and David was a pretty nice guy to talk to, but... He couldn't help but feel as if he didn't belong here. Once more, even though he had his own name, anything he did or said would be assumed to be David's actions and words and so, nothing was worth doing. It was fun, getting to do things he'd never done before, getting to see things he'd never seen before, but these weren't –his- eyes seeing them. These weren't –his- hands holding Sylphiel, whom he had to admit that he loved, and for all the same reasons that David did. That was the only good thing about being in the same body with him, they didn't have to really share her.
But in the end, Rasmus had to admit that he didn't –want- to see Rezo. He didn't want to get anywhere near Eris. Even if these were not the same as the ones from his world.
He shifted restlessly from within David and the body stirred slightly, thumping into Zelgadis, who grumbled and slapped his cousin as David rolled on him. It was shocking to see Zelgadis like this- nothing at all like the Zelgadis, Rasmus had known. The Chimera would have gutted this version of himself for being a wuss, more than likely, all the while envying him for his relationship with Rezo and his lack of rock-skin.
"I need to figure out how to get home... I don't belong here, even though I like David... I like being with him... I'm hiding in him and it feels wrong," he whispered to himself, and looked up at the wash of new-green that was steadily getting wider as the brown healed. The dried blood color hadn't abated in the slightest. "It's not me getting better. It's him."
That realization hurt as well. "I'm totally useless. My teaching David magic is just a hobby for him. He's more interested in the miracles he can do with code and technology than with his own energies." Looking down again, Rasmus picked at the front of his robes. He didn't have to wear clothes in here, what he was wearing was just a projection of what he thought he should be wearing. He could have changed his clothes to whatever he wanted... but what was the point? Only David would ever see them and that hardly mattered. Besides, it seemed more appropriate that he think of himself wearing his own blood. "I'm a murderer. David may not care, Sylphiel may not care- but I don't think she quite believes him about me. She just sees David as a magical creature that can bounce back from death and heal others with a touch of his hand, and if he happened to defeat a demonbeast at some point, she'd be begging to marry him."
Rasmus hung his head and put his hands to his hair, none of which really existed, it was just a mental projection for his convenience. "That's uncharitable. Sylphiel's deeper than that. David's a wonderful person, he hasn't murdered anyone, and he really does want to help people with the stuff he codes. He's making something of himself, independent of Rezo and has never had another's name attached to everything he's ever done. He's an individual and I'm not." The Kopii writhed in his misery, curling in upon himself, suddenly feeling incredibly terrible and in need of Sylphiel to tell him 'I love you Rasmus'.
Again, David shifted, his body beginning to react to a humming in the air that he'd only recently become attuned to. Rasmus frowned slightly and lifted his head, then rose up to take possession of David's body. Opening his eyes, Rasmus sat up and looked down at Zelgadis- who'd curled up on his side, hugging his pillow with his thumb stuck in his mouth. Rasmus smiled at that. If David had ever wanted to blackmail Zel, this would be the best picture to use for it. Then again, the Fangirls would love it and probably put it on tee shirts or something.
Pushing the covers off, Rasmus slid his feet to the floor and looked around the room, then got up and picked his way across the floor, silently taking himself into the room that was supposed to be the bedroom but had been made into David's study, full of computers and the server he ran. Taking a seat on the floor, he closed his eyes and placed his hands on his knees, his feet tucked under him.
A deep breath, and then another, and Rasmus had fallen into a light trance. It was easier to work without David lurking over his "shoulder", or Paul pestering, so he tapped into the energies of the room, then reached out beyond, skipping like lightning from one strand of power to the next, working his way towards one of the ley-lines. He tapped into the power there, which he used to shift the net of little streamlets of power that fed into the ley-line and spread his awareness out across the landscape of Sairaag.
Slowly, he worked around the edges of the city, spiraling inwards, hunting for the source of the disturbance in the astral plain, trying to find the place that felt 'heaviest' in his Other senses. Slowly, he was finding the edges of the indentation in the webbing of natural energy in the city, and he worked even more cautiously from then on. It seemed to be somewhere in the western section of the city- near Flagoon, but how big it was, he couldn't quite figure yet.
His search was passive- it had to be, to avoid tipping off the other meddler of power that there was another sorcerer in town who could feel what was going on. But it required his full concentration.
The light came on.
Rasmus started, his hold on the power lines slipping from his grasp. In irritation, he opened his eyes and scowled back at Zelgadis, who stood in the doorway. Still casually holding his pillow, he yawned into the back of his hand and blinked sleepily. "What're you doing?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I was trying some meditations," Rasmus lied, forcing himself to rearrange his expression. David wouldn't have been that upset at his cousin.
Blinking a few more times, Zelgadis turned off the light again and padded over to take a seat on the floor in front of him, "Hm. Can you teach me?"
Lifting a hand, Rasmus rubbed his face, feeling the stubble of beard beginning to grow, and looked up at the ceiling. "Sure," he replied as he felt the tension of movement on the Astral plain easing and finally disappearing. Whatever was there had moved on. Ras had missed his chance.
Zelgadis shifted and set his pillow aside, taking a pose like Rasmus's. Drawing a breath, Rasmus stretched his shoulders and relaxed them, placed his hands on his knees once more. "Close your eyes." He directed, falling into Rezo's 'teacher mode', which was a quietly commanding voice set in a pitch that would be just monotone enough to put his pupil into a trance. "Take slow deep breaths, as if you're trying to fall asleep, but stay awake. Concentrate on the sound of my voice, and only that. All else doesn't matter right now."
He watched Zelgadis's aura, paying attention and waiting for the moment when he reached the appropriate level of trance, then murmured, "Now open yourself- no- concentrate on my voice. Yes, now, just listen, and feel with more than your physical senses." To draw Zelgadis's attention to it, Rasmus touched off the energy in the room to set it buzzing lightly. "Now, open yourself to that feeling in the air," he murmured and this time, Zelgadis didn't start to shake the trance like he'd done before. It took a long moment, but finally, the young man's natural shields against the energies of the world slid down. "Good," Rasmus murmured, "Now wake up and try that again."
For a second, Zelgadis remained as he was, then opened his eyes, his aura picking up to spin in time with his quickening heartbeat. Taking a breath, Zel closed his eyes again and breathed, matching Rasmus's slow and even draws, his heartbeat slowing. A moment more, and he'd lowered his shields again. "Good," Rasmus murmured, "with practice, you'll get faster. Now, focus on my voice again, and fall deeper into yourself, deeper than that. Yes, there." Again, Rasmus reached out with his power and touched Zelgadis's own personal power, flicking it lightly to make it 'ping' in the young man's Other sense. "If you ever need an extra boost of energy, just reach for that place inside yourself, make a bubble of it and pull in the energies from outside yourself." Zelgadis fumbled, seeming at a loss of how to do this, and Rasmus continued, "Hold out your hands and cup them, draw some of that power from within yourself between your hands."
Once more, Rasmus reached out, and since Zelgadis's shields were down, he could work with the power the young man had exposed and was currently shaping. With more firm "hands", he hardened the sides of the pocket Zel had half created, then showed him how to expand it to suck in energy from outside himself, reaching over with his physical hands to gently pull Zelgadis's hands apart. "Good, you don't need to make it any bigger than this," he said, still using his teaching voice, "You can do a lot with a little bit, so don't ever draw more from yourself than you need to." Keeping his hands over Zelgadis's, Rasmus reached out with his own power to cover Zel's unformed spell, "This is still just raw energy, and as such, is useless. You need to twist the power, like this," he reached into Zel's spell and flicked the power into the correct shape, "This is how it should look if you want to recover some energy. It will take practice to learn how to do it right, but I suggest doing it only in private. Now, turn your hands and pop your pocket onto yourself. You can do this to other people as well, but not in public."
Letting go of Zelgadis's hands, Rasmus watched as the young man cast his recovery spell on himself. "Why not in public?" he asked, then opened his eyes at the flash of light that resulted from the triggering of his spell and looked down as the glow faded from his hands.
Rasmus opened his own eyes as well, but there wasn't much to see in the dim light cast by the running lights of David's server. "Because it makes light, and that might frighten people who aren't expecting it. It's somewhat rare for people to be able to manipulate energies like that. You've heard of Chi, right?" Zelgadis nodded, "Well, that's sort of what you were working with there."
Zelgadis's eyes widened, "Wow, my karate sensei said something about masters of the art being able to manipulate their own spiritual energies and use them as attacks, but he said the art was lost long ago. Where'd you learn it, Dave?"
"One of Rezo's old books," Rasmus lied again. "I didn't mention it before cause I couldn't quite understand it, but when I died, I finally saw the stuff it was talking about personally. So, now you can cast a Recovery spell. Maybe tomorrow night I'll show you something else." He hoisted himself to his feet, "I've got work in the morning."
Turning, he headed back into the living room and crawled back into bed. After a moment more, Zelgadis followed, but remained laying on his back, dropping in and out of trance. Rasmus sighed softly and dropped back down out of control of David's body. Zelgadis had been a quick student in Rasmus's world too, and it wouldn't be long before he didn't have to work so much to call upon his power.
If there really was something dangerous moving around in this world, then having a powerful shaman such as Zelgadis would be useful. But it would take time to train him up to the level that he had been in the other world, and this Zelgadis was starting into it rather late in life, unlike the one Rasmus had known, who'd begun training with Rezo when his affinity towards the elemental magic had first developed at age eight.
The benefit to training him now was that Zelgadis's personal powers had been left alone to develop to their full potential. There was a theory that early training stunted a mage's power, and this Zelgadis seemed to have more natural energy than the other one. Or perhaps that had been due to Rezo's meddling with Zel's composition; part of his energy had gone into maintaining his body rather than being accessible for spells. That would make sense.
Or perhaps the meddling the Rezo of this world had done on this Zelgadis's composition had altered the young man's power levels. Both were equally possible explanations, and neither of them really mattered in the long run. Rasmus settled back down into his corner of David's mind and body and tried to turn off his own mind for a bit of rest from brooding over everything.
He would have to tell David what he'd done in the morning. Rasmus winced at the thought and curled up. Hopefully David wouldn't get mad...
David yawned broadly and woke slowly at dawn, with Rasmus gently prodding him awake. It was a lot better than waking up suddenly to an alarm, which always put David into a bad mood, and Rasmus seemed to always be awake, no matter what state David was in. "Good morning. I didn't bother your sleep last night, did I?" Rasmus asked.
Shifting, David pushed the blankets off and rolled out of bed, stumbling across the room to the kitchen alcove where he started making coffee. "No, why?" he asked.
"I felt that thing again around midnight, so I got up to investigate it. I still couldn't find the source- I got interrupted by Zelgadis waking up. I hope I didn't alert whatever it is that I'm here when I was startled out of trance. It faded away shortly afterwards. Um... I taught Zelgadis a spell last night. Nothing big, just a recovery spell, I thought... with something that big moving around in Sairaag, having a powerful shaman like him trained up would be a good thing."
David didn't answer at first, just measured out the coffee scoops and dropped them into the filter. "It's alright," he said finally.
Rasmus sighed, "I told him you'd learned about energy manipulation from one of Rezo's old books. Zelgadis said something about one of his karate teachers talking about spell casting, or something enough like it that I could finagle the truth and say that you'd read the book a while ago and didn't understand it until you'd died and seen what it was talking about for yourself."
Inadvertently, David gave a nod, "That's fine, Ras; a pretty good explanation, actually, and one that he wouldn't question."
"I emphasized that he had to keep it in private, but that he could cast it on other people, in case there's an emergency..." Rasmus added.
A squeak from the couch-bed, and Zelgadis rolled out, onto the floor, landing in a heavy heap. Lifting his head, hair matted and sticking out in all directions, he stared at David, as if he didn't recognize him, then yawned broadly. "Coffee?" he murmured sleepily, and David laughed.
"Yes, I'm making coffee," he answered and popped the pot back together and turned it on. Turning, he headed off to the bathroom to shave while the coffee brewed. Slowly, Zelgadis untangled himself from the blankets he'd taken to the floor with him. "You know, Zel, since you'll be here all day, you think you could vacuum?" David called.
From the living room, there was a zombie-like moan and something that sounded like "sure", and another squeak of abused springs as Zelgadis fell face first back onto the bed.
Peeking out of the bathroom with his face covered in shaving cream, David eyed him. "You weren't up all night practicing, were you?"
Lifting his head again, Zelgadis looked towards his cousin with a guilty expression. Giving a laugh, David ducked back in to finish shaving. "You know, I could just time reverse that away. Or stunt the growth," Rasmus pointed out.
David ignored the comment and called to Zelgadis instead, "It's alright, you'll have to show me your progress when I get home from work."
Another squeak from the couch as Zelgadis sat up and folded his legs, pulling a pillow over to tuck against his chest and lean on, he yawned again. "Sure. I think I've gotten better at it already. You'll have to show me that book when we get to Gramps's place."
"If he's still got it," David paused in his shaving to say, then returned to it.
Setting the pillow aside, Zelgadis climbed off the bed and stepped into the kitchen to pour coffee from the still dripping pot. "You still like yours with sugar and cream?"
"Umhmm," David called, working on the trace of mustache on his upper lip.
Yawning again, Zelgadis poured some coffee into each cup, then put the pot back in to collect the rest of the brew that was still being made and sugared one of the cups. "Yours is on the counter," he called and took his own over to the bed again and sat down, sipping the hot black java, eyes closed with pleasure.
Rinsing out his razor, David washed the last of the shaving cream off and followed that with splashing cool water across the rest of his face, then dried off and stepped back out of the bathroom to collect his coffee. "Thanks," he replied as he picked up his mug and took it to the dresser. Sipping it once, he set it down while he pulled out some clean clothes to wear to work and stretched before beginning to dress.
Zelgadis lounged back against the back of the couch, legs extended in front of him on the bed while he sipped his coffee and blinked lazily. "I'll do the dishes too, since you're too lazy to do them yourself."
Looking back over his shoulder, David grinned, "Damn straight," he agreed and chugged the remainder of his coffee and turned on the TV as he passed it on his way back to the kitchen to drop his mug into the sink and make some toast for breakfast. "...sold out, and a great success, raising over a quarter of a million dollars for the Holy Flagoon Children's Hospital."
"Ha, they're still talking about it," Zelgadis snorted and sipped his coffee, preferring to savor the taste rather than do as his cousin had.
Leaning around, David peered at the TV just in time to see a video clip of himself and Zel jamming onstage as the newscaster went on, "Apparently, Zelgadis had a guest star, his own cousin, a programmer for the Cephied corp. here in town."
"Say, didn't he recently get out of the hospital, victim of a car accident?" the other morning anchor said, continuing the filler topic.
His co-anchor, a middle aged blonde with a white lock of hair at her temple nodded, "Indeed, just last week actually, and an amazing recovery it is, too. He spent five weeks there before he was released and went back to work. David Graywords is apparently head programmer of the Seyruun unmanned space lab project, just yesterday, he met with Prince Phillionel, along with the other division heads of the project to hammer out the details. The word is that the budget for the project is going to be in the billions and there's speculation that it will go over as more features are added." A video of the proposed design played on the screen as the anchors talked further about the project.
"Is that so?" the man at the desk said finally, feigning interest. "What do you think, Jack?"
The view switched over to the weatherman, "I think that no matter what the price, the space lab will be a monument to human ingenuity and drive!" Jack bounced a bit on his toes. He was a spry younger man with a smile far too large for this early in the morning and way too much energy. He said something else that David ignored until he got around to the actual weather report, "Today, skies look clear, but watch out, there's a cold front moving in from the west, pushing a lot of moisture towards the region, meaning those fall storms'll be coming early this year! Make sure your umbrellas are in good repair by Friday and be sure to wear your rubber boots, because with the humidity already in the air, as well as what's coming in, it's gonna be a reeeeeal drencher!"
"He's annoying," Zelgadis observed and held his coffee cup out towards David, who'd finished buttering his toast and was munching on it, holding it on a napkin.
"Hey, I'm not your coffee boy," David complained, but went and poured more for his cousin anyway. "I agree though, he is annoying. I want to strangle him most mornings."
Handing the cup back, David made a face at his cousin, then returned to munching his toast. Zelgadis sipped his coffee before answering, "you were standing there, and you did it anyway," he pointed out, "so what's your problem?"
Yawning, David finished off the last of his toast and tossed the napkin he'd had it on at the garbage. "None, just don't feel like going to work today."
Curiously, Zelgadis half turned, hooking his arm over the back of the couch to peer at David, "and here I thought you liked sitting on your ass all day in front of a screen pecking at a keyboard with your nose."
"That was on a whim, and that was before the promotion. God, those dorks down in the department can't even sharpen a pencil without detailed instructions and me standing over them. I could get the project done in a lot less time if I didn't have those monkeys to deal with, but I can't just fire them all cause there's stuff that I hate coding and I can foist it off on them."
Zel grinned and sat back on the couch again and sipped more of his coffee. "Well, it's six thirty now... besides if you don't go, you can do your own vacuuming."
Pulling a face, David answered, "I'm waiting for them to get to the traffic report. Should be next."
"In traffic today..." the woman said, turning to face the camera.
"See?" David grinned and shut up so he could hear. They had a few aerial pictures of various streets. Two minor accidents that would be cleared soon enough, but weren't on David's route to work, and a third major one that was on the other side of town and had a fatality. "Alright, I'm gone. See you at seven, Zel, don't open the door for strangers, okay?" He winked. "Especially not ones who say they're from the FBI, just remember- I don't know nuthin about the paperclip fund."
Laughing, Zelgadis waved, "Sure, I'll take your word for it. Drive careful."
Saluting, David headed towards the door, picked up his keys and wallet from the dish on top of the TV and headed out, locking the door behind him. It was a habit, and a useful one, and so he didn't even notice that he'd done it. Heading down the stairs to get his blood moving, David reached the ground floor fairly quickly. "David," the landlord's wife called, and David paused. "David," the woman shuffled out of the front office, "Here, I made these this morning. You're so thin, you need to eat more, and don't play in the street, okay, dear?"
Smiling, David took the Tupperware of muffins the woman held out to him and nodded, "I promise Mrs. Baker. I learned my lesson. Thanks, I'll bring this back in the evening, okay?" She smiled and waved, watching him bound out the door, car keys in hand, and turned, shuffling back into the office in her pink fuzzy slippers and bathrobe over her everyday clothes.
Reaching his car, David paused and glanced up and down the garage, then unlocked the driver's side door and popped the hood. "I think my car could use another quick time reverse, Ras. Can ya manage it?"
"You are downright lazy, David. Seriously. This thing is probably older than Rezo, and you're playing Necromancer with it. Alright fine." Rasmus heaved a sigh through David's lips and closed his eyes, making an Astral check of the area, then dropped a slightly more powerful time-reverse spell on the engine. "There, that should last a few days, but really. You're getting paid more, buy yourself a new car. Zelgadis is right, this thing is a pile of rust. I'm reviving the engine, but that won't stop the rest of it falling apart."
Laughing softly, David shut the hood and climbed in, "And have to learn how to handle a new car just before a six hour drive out to Grandpa's?" he asked out loud as he buckled his seatbelt and cranked the car. It started with a cough, but that was usual, so long as it continued running afterwards. David looked back and carefully backed out of the space he'd taken, joining the herd of cars already out on the road. "Maybe after my hospital bill is paid off I'll look into getting a new car."
"If Zelgadis doesn't beat you to it," Rasmus pointed out. "He might get tired of complaining about this old bucket after your trip and buy you a new one out of self preservation."
David burst out laughing even harder, "You might be right," he agreed, winding his way through the multitude of one-way streets and stoplights, heading towards his office building on the west side of town.
"Hm." Rasmus murmured, but said nothing further.
Cocking his head, David prodded mentally, "Hm what?"
He had to wait a moment longer before Rasmus replied, after his other self did something that involved magic and shifted David's vision partially into that of the astral plane, "Hey, don't do that while I'm driving, Ras. Or warn me first."
"Sorry. I just noticed that this was the general area I'd tracked that astral movement to. I was just double checking."
Giving a blink and shake of his head, David answered, "I thought you couldn't find it..."
"I couldn't find its exact location or size," Rasmus corrected, "It was leaving a pretty deep indentation in the astral energies of this region, though."
A frown pulled at his lips, "Should we be worried?"
Rasmus gave an indication of a shrug, "Already doing all I can, Dave. If I had undisturbed time to track it down next time it moves, then I might be able to figure out what it is, in the meantime, I'll train Zelgadis up to demon-blasting level. At least the spiritual shamanistic spells aren't damaging to the landscape."
"That's a relief. Wouldn't want Zel flinging around spells carelessly, thinking they were safe to play with."
"Like Lina. No, he understood the concept of using spiritual energy as a weapon, I think he'd be careful with it. It wasn't till he started associating with Lina that he started picking up bad habits."
Pursing his lips, David cringed, "Right. I think I'll keep him away from Lina." Flipping on his blinker, David turned at a light, then made an immediate right, pulling into the parking garage that was next to his office. Finding a parking space, he pulled in and turned off the car, got out and locked it.
At least this parking garage was attached to the building by a set of covered stairs as well as an elevator that served as emergency exits for the building in case of a fire. David took the stairs, since his new office was only one floor up from where he'd parked. Opening the door to the building, he stepped into a long narrow hall that went past the janitorial closet and various supply rooms, as well as offices for the necessary evils such as HR and Kevin Markus who was in charge of making sure the copy machines didn't jam up and that the computers were all wired and networked right. This hall had no windows on it, which made the rooms here rather like closets, but David couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for Markus. The man was just abrasive by nature and needed to be confined.
Striding down the hall, David stepped into the larger room beyond the hall, filled with a rat maze of cubicles. Unless you worked here, you wouldn't know how to navigate the place, or the personal relationships within it, but David had toiled in this room for years, from a cube somewhere near the center, and so knew the layout. Taking a breath, he started through the gauntlet.
"David! I got that grab code done!" called the first man who saw him. "Should I start working on the enactor?"
"Duh," Rasmus muttered.
David smiled, "Yes Rick, and after that give it to Mellirune," he repeated, having gone over this with them several times before. Really, his promotion had just been a recognition that he'd been running the floor for years already.
Continuing onwards, he was hailed by two more people, and repeated their instructions as well, controlling the chaos with a tight fist and whip if he had to. "Melli," he paused at her cubical, arriving just in time to hear the last two lines of a song. He brushed a tendril from a plant out of his face, one that had not only taken over Melli's cubicle but was working its way down the row towards the windows on the other side of the room. "...is there anyone out there cuz it's getting harder and harder to breathe." Wincing, David rubbed his forehead, "Damn it, now it's stuck!"
Mellirune was a cute blonde with large thick glasses. She looked more like a librarian, but was about David's equal when it came to coding abilities. She liked her cubical though and was more than glad when David got the promotion instead of her, as she was under the impression that she wouldn't make a good leader because she couldn't see over the cubical wall even when wearing four inch platform shoes. On the other hand, when she needed to be heard everyone could hear her. She spun her chair around, her large brown eyes magnified by her lenses, "Wow!" she breathed, "I didn't know you could sing, David! Or play! The concert last night was so fantastic!"
Sighing, David shook his head, "They're already playing that on the radio too?" he muttered, "Anyway, you got the first segment compiled yet?"
"Yes sir!" she saluted and giggled. Turning, she shuffled through her piles of disks, all of which were unlabeled and looked exactly the same. David didn't even pretend to know how she always knew exactly which one had the file she needed. "Wow! Hey, there any way I could talk you into getting me Zelgadis's autograph?" she asked as she turned around again, holding out a disk.
Again, David sighed, "Alright, but only because you're such a dear," he lowered his voice, "And do what I tell you the first time I tell you." he rolled his eyes and she laughed.
"Only cause I know what you're going to tell me before you tell me," Melli replied and lounged back in her swivel chair. Lifting a hand, she tapped her cute button nose and winked. "Soon as Rick and Madison get me their parts I'll have the second segment done."
David nodded, "I'll have this part back to you with mine attached by lunch." He ducked as a Nerf ball sailed over his head, followed by a sticky dart from the other direction.
"Right-o!" Melli agreed and spun around again, turning up her radio once more and opening her game of solitaire. David wasn't worried about her game playing. She'd done her work and didn't have anything to do until she got Rick and Madison's pieces of the project. So, he turned as well and wound his way through the rest of the maze, finally getting to the other side where he opened his office, opening the door and leaving it that way. He couldn't work without the noise of the cubical war as background, since he'd lived with it for so long, its absence was distracting.
Flopping into his chair, he turned on his computer and sat back, waiting for it to boot up, that damn song still running through his head. Softly, he started singing it, hoping that by doing so, he'd be able to clear it out. Mark poked his head in about mid-song, as David's computer finished booting up, "Hey-" the man said. David looked up, Rasmus recoiled, as he had every time they'd encountered Mark. Saying that he resembled a squirrel was an understatement, for it almost seemed as if that creature resembled Mark more than the other way around. "Hey," Mark repeated nervously twitching, "Hey, uh, you think that song's gonna be on a CD?"
For a long moment, David just stared at him. Mr. "Classical is the only thing I listen to" twitched again. Clearing his throat, David pulled his lips into a smile, "Probably on a recording of the concert," he replied evenly, "Zel's pretty anal about that song. It's got sentimental value to us and he's not going to play it with anyone other than me."
Mark twitched again, "Oh, oh... okay. Um, thanks." His door cleared abruptly as the squirrel-like man vacated it so fast that David missed the actual movement when he'd blinked.
"He makes me nervous..." Rasmus complained.
Shaking his head, David turned back to work, "He makes everyone nervous," he soothed, the song still stuck in his head even as he popped Melli's disk in and started going over the code line by line, adjusting things when they didn't fit from one programmer's work to the next. "...harder and harder to breathe..." he murmured.
"You're singing out loud again," Rasmus pointed out, boredom dripping from his voice.
Blinking, David pulled himself out of his super-focus and glanced at the time. "Uh, sorry," he replied. "It's lunch time, but I'm not quite finished with this." Rasmus sighed and settled back down again. "Sorry my life is so boring, Ras."
For a moment, there was no answer, but finally, Rasmus stirred again, "this code is almost like the more formula based magic," he observed, "With all the diagrams and stuff to make sure that all possibilities are covered and will be taken care of by the pattern so the magic won't do something strange or dangerous."
Silently, David nodded to Rasmus's words. "Sounds about right," he agreed, and when Rasmus said nothing else, he turned his attention back to what he'd been doing, moving his hand from the pad of paper he'd been drawing on absently to scroll down in his screen. Blinking, David looked over to find a picture of an angry Lina beating Gourry over the head and laughed. "Nice, Ras..."
Rasmus shrugged in his mind and David let him have control of that hand once again, since it wasn't distracting him from his work and Rasmus didn't need to see what he was drawing to amuse himself. Finishing at last, David lifted both hands over his head and stretched with a yawn, then looked down at the pad again to find a detailed and partially shaded picture of Sylphiel. He smiled slightly, "Very nice," he told Rasmus, who preened. "Ready for lunch?" David continued, setting the pencil down, he popped Melli's disk out once he'd saved the file. Taking the drawings, David folded the picture carefully and stuck it in his pocket for showing Sylphiel later.
"Sure," Rasmus answered somewhat blandly, "But only if it's not ...whatever that was you ate yesterday."
Getting to his feet, David stretched again and stepped out of his office to start walking the maze again. "What? It tasted fine, didn't it?"
"Yes, but it wasn't very identifiable and I think it was trying to crawl out of the wrapper when you weren't looking."
David stifled his snigger and draped himself against the door of Melli's cubical, push aside a leafy branch that flopped into his face. "Here you go," he told her as she turned around, snatching the disk from his fingers and handing him another in return.
Beaming a smile up at him, Mellirune folded her arms, "So, whatcha doin for lunch today?"
"Hm, thinking of heading over to the sub shop," David replied.
She got to her feet, "Okay," was her cheerful reply, and she grabbed up her purse from beneath a pile of vines flowing off her desk and into the floor.
Laughing softly, David lifted his hand to brush his hair back and eyed the graphite smear down the side of his hand and fingers. "I assume that means you're coming with me?" he asked and pushed off the wall, using his other hand to brush through his hair instead.
"Yep. I don't trust the food over at that chicken joint you ate at yesterday. Never know if it clucked or mewed before getting deep fried," Melli replied and David rolled his eyes, patting his pockets to make sure he had his keys and wallet still. Both were present and he walked with her out of the maze. Most of the others had already gone off for their lunch breaks, a few had stuck around but were too engrossed in their work, or play, to notice that it was lunch time. David sighed, eyeing the game of World of War that was taking place on one man's screen.
Abruptly, the man stood and shouted "Gotcha!" triumphantly across the cubical wall. Another of the nearby programmers groaned in answer.
Melli patted his arm lightly, "Don't worry so much about it, he got his part in."
Pulling a grimace, David nodded, "I know, but running this place is a lot like herding cats."
Grinning broadly at him, the short blond laughed, "I never herd my cats," she stated, "Takes too much effort. I just lead them with treats."
"Unfortunately that doesn't work quite so well with people," David mourned. "If I start handing out goodies, they'll start expecting it and get even less done. What do you think of Dane, though?"
By this time, they'd reached the end of the maze and had gotten into the hall. Melli touched a finger to her lips and looked up at the ceiling briefly while David opened the door for her. "I think he's a mite mediocre and more than a little redundant with Jimmy and Cas."
David nodded, "I was thinking the same thing... I'll keep him on till the end of the project though, unless he gets really lazy and I need a good example for the others." He rubbed his eye with a knuckle.
"So what were you drawing?"
Laughing softly, David reached into his pocket and pulled the papers out, "My new girlfriend," he admitted, "Isn't she cute?"
"That's... the mayor's daughter," Melli observed, "I passed your office on the way to the watering hole, you didn't even look at what you were doing," she also noted, stepping into the stairwell. She got motion sick on elevators and so avoided them when it was possible.
Blushing slightly, David shrugged, following her down the stairs; he didn't mind walking. "Blind people can read by feel, my grandfather can even write."
Handing the paper back, Melli hmmed softly, "So you learned how to do that from your grandfather?" she replied, watching him as he folded the paper again and put it back in his pocket.
"Something like that," David said a bit evasively.
"You've gotten a bit weird since the accident," Melli stated bluntly. "And your left eye changes color. It's blue now, but when I walked past your office it was yellow."
David's lips twitched slightly, "I really don't know why it does that," he lied, opening the door at the bottom of the stairs for his companion yet again and following her out into the sunlight. Stepping outside was like walking into a wall of heat and David had to pause briefly to lean against the wall and breathe while he unbuttoned his cuffs. "God," he muttered, hand coming up to rub his chest, "Storm's coming in faster than the fruitcake with the weather report said it would," he explained to Melli, who was looking up at him, her expression worried. His skin crawled, and he closed his eyes.
"That's not just ache from weather change," Rasmus murmured. "Whatever it is has come back, and it's really close. But once again, you're in public, and I can't do a damn thing with that woman standing over us." The pressure in the air increased and David felt as if the air itself were crushing him.
He opened his eyes to find Melli desperately trying to keep him from falling on his face, and he took a shaking breath. "Sorry," he gasped and slid down to take a seat on the ground, still clutching his heart. No one else was reacting to the energy in the immediate area, and David felt as if he were drawing a lot of unwanted attention by his reaction, but he couldn't stand, even if he wanted to.
Lifting his eyes, David licked his lips, and abruptly, Rasmus slid into the pilot seat of his body, focusing his gaze across the street. A man wearing a pinstriped suit lounged against a light post with his hands in his pockets, expensive wristwatch gleaming in the light, but that hadn't been what had caught Rasmus's attention at all. The man had dark purple hair cut straight at shoulder length, bangs in a hard even line across his brow, just above a pair of amethyst shard eyes that were in turn, focused on David.
"Mazoku..." Rasmus whispered with contempt.
Pulling his hand from his pocket, the man lifted a single finger and smiled coyly, winking. Abruptly, the pressure eased, and the man pushed off the post and strolled off down the street.
"David!" Melli shouted, and hurriedly, Rasmus retreated, leaving David to take a slow deep breath.
"I'm okay, Melli, I just got dizzy a moment there." Reaching back, he put his hand on the wall and hauled himself to his feet to cast a strained smile at his fellow programmer. "I'm alright, really." Mentally, he chased Rasmus, "What the HELL was that!"
Emerging from his soft mutterings, Rasmus spat a curse that was quite descriptive and one that turned David's ears pink. "Mazoku," Rasmus snarled. "And a fucking powerful one at that. He did that on purpose. He's from my world and no, I don't know how he got here. He's been teasing me by showing up every so often and he did that on purpose!"
"Is he dangerous?" David asked, completely clueless.
If covering his ears would have helped, David would have done so, for Rasmus exploded. "Dangerous? Are you that dumb! It's a MAZOKU! A servant of one of the Dark Lord Ruby Eye's underlings. I don't know which one, though, but only one of that class could be that powerful. TEASING me! The bloody bastard!"
Melli was still staring up at him, unsure, her hands out and ready to catch him if he even looked like he was going to fall over again. "Maybe you should go back to the office?" she suggested, "I'll bring you something. You don't look good at all- and your eye's started changing colors again."
Shaking his head and ignoring Rasmus's continuing curses and rants, David patted Melli's shoulder lightly, "I'm alright now," he repeated and started off slowly, then paused to dust his pants. Mellirune hurried to catch up and walked beside him as he continued onwards towards the sub shop, frowning slightly. "It was just a dizzy spell, I get those from time to time when I haven't eaten in a while. They go away fairly quickly and Sylphiel said it would go away completely in time."
"And what does the Mayor's daughter know?" Melli groused.
"She's also a nurse," David pointed out, "I met her in the hospital."
This gained David a few moments of silence between himself and his co-worker. Rasmus, on the other hand, was still seething with impotent fury. "If only I could blast him! Then I'd make him talk! No Mazoku is going to make a fool out of me!"
"Okay, just hold a second, Ras. How the heck was that little incident-"
"LITTLE!" Rasmus interrupted, and if he had control of their shared body, he likely would have been foaming at the mouth.
In return, David interrupted his other self before he could go on another enraged rant. "Just hold up a second! Explain to me- CALMLY- why this is such a big thing?"
For a second, complete silence fell in his mind, then Rasmus returned, voice steady, but that was a placid surface over the boiling maelstrom below. "Mazoku- what you'd probably call a demon," he explained, "Don't just go walking around in a human form and advertise themselves to all mages that happen to be in the area. Not unless they've got good reason for it. That one wanted me to find him, to know exactly what he looked like, and that so long as I'm in public, there's absolutely nothing I can do about him. Mazoku are BAD business, they never have good intentions and certainly aren't helpful. IF they decide to help you, it's because they're getting something out of it that means trouble later."
David mulled that over for a long time, "I see. So, his being here means trouble, and you can't do anything about it while pretending to be an ineffectual civilian."
"Yes." Rasmus subsided completely then, disappearing into the back of David's mind, and though he sent a querulous thought after his other self, he didn't get an answer and was forced to look down at Mellirune, who was staring up at him with that worried look again.
Clearing the semi-disgruntled expression from his face, David smiled sheepishly at her, "Sorry, I was brooding, wasn't I?" He shook his head slightly.
"A little... I think." Mellirune replied, sounding rather unsure about the description of his expression.
Wiping a hand across his brow, David replied, "It runs in the family. Zel makes a spectacle of it, but I try not to do it in public. I'm just... irritated about ...about seeming so weak in front of you."
At this, she shook her head, sending her curled bangs flapping, "David, you haven't seen the pictures the media got of you just before the ambulance came, have you?" He stared down at her. "That redhead practically ran her bike through you, David. You shouldn't have lived through that, and the fact that you're wandering around only a few weeks afterwards..." she took a slow deep breath and let it out. "We were all worried that we'd never see you again, David. It was really hard to keep working on that project, even for me. I ...kept looking at that code and bursting into tears, and I wasn't the only one. Netts was ineffectual, but our slacking on that project wasn't his fault entirely." She looked down at her feet, shoulders slumping.
Reaching over, David touched her cheek lightly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Melli looked up into his smile, "Thanks," he said, "It's... nice to know that I would be missed if I did die."
"I didn't visit you," Mellirune said softly.
Shaking his head, David replied, "That's alright, I don't mind. I know you and blood... and honestly, I don't think I looked all that pretty, so maybe its better you hadn't come? Besides. I'd rather my friends remembered me like I was when I was healthy rather than like that." He patted her shoulder as they came to the corner. The light was red and the lunch traffic heavy as usual. Mellirune managed a smile at him, but her expression was still haunted and doubtful. "Besides," he added with a smirk, "Sylphiel wouldn't have spent so much time with me if people had been in and out all the time."
Mellirune lifted her eyes again and reached up to thwap his arm playfully. "You... you..." she tried desperately to find the right word and he grinned at her, "Flirt," she settled on finally. The light changed finally and she started forward.
David paused, giving the motorcycle that had stopped at the line a doubtful look as the rider revved the engine absently, then turned to look at him, and reached up to pull the helmet off. "Hey! Still walking, huh?" Lina called. "Where you heading?"
Sighing, David shook his head. "To get lunch, and hopefully without getting run over by you."
Laughing nervously, Lina glanced over at Mellirune, who had returned to the sidewalk. "Oh, lunch! I'll join you!" Lina said cheerfully and abruptly made a right turn, barely missing an oncoming car as she pulled into a parking space nearby. David twitched.
"Who's she?" Mellirune asked.
"The woman who parked her bike in my chest," David said absently and continued when Lina jogged up to them, her hands unzipping her black biking jacket and pulling it off to tie around her waist. "That's a new bike," he pointed out, "Or did I not cause much damage to it?"
Scratching the back of her neck, Lina laughed nervously, "Well, uh, it's new," she admitted, "I'd been wanting it for quite a while, so uh, wrecking the old one was a good excuse to get that one. Beautiful, isn't it? It's got dual exhaust and two-hundred horse power."
"All the better for mowing down pedestrians," David replied urbanely. Lina went pale, then huffed. Turning, David eyed the traffic and the light and stepped out into the street, hurrying across. Mellirune and Lina jogging to keep up behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief on the other side and rubbed his aching chest, heart pounding heavily. Shaking, he stumbled over to the wall and leaned there for a long moment, letting the rush of terror wash away.
Lina leaned over to Mellirune and whispered a bit loudly, "He alright?"
Silently, the blonde scowled at Lina, but David answered before she could speak, "I'm okay... that was... just the first time I've crossed a street since..." he didn't finish and firmly avoided looking at Lina, instead, he took a breath and pushed off the wall and straightened his shoulders, "I'll get over it," he stated, looking at Mellirune as he said so.
"So where're we going for lunch?" Lina asked, changing the subject.
David silently pointed at the sign of the shop they stood next to, and dusted himself off before heading over to the door and opening it for the two ladies. Stepping in afterwards, David followed them to the counter, hand moving to rub his chest again. It still hurt. Frowning slightly, he looked at his right hand, "Eh, I'll be back in a second," he told Melli, "need to wash my hands." His palms were sweaty too.
Turning, he headed towards the restroom as Lina glanced towards him. Stepping into the men's room, he rolled his sleeves up and washed his hands. "I don't think it would have been so bad if Lina hadn't been there. She terrifies me too," Rasmus said, sounding a lot calmer than before. "But that reaction's only natural. It's an aversion thing, you got hurt in that situation once already and you're loathe to repeat the experience."
Leaning down, David splashed some water on his face too and loosened his tie. "I have to get over it," he told Rasmus, a twinge of pain making him wince. "If I can't walk across a bloody street, I won't be able to function properly in everyday life. At least for you, it's swords and not nearly everything that moves on the road."
Eyes lifting, David watched his left eye turn yellow as Rasmus slid up and into control of David's right hand. In his palm, a ball of light flickered into being, and he touched it to his chest. "We're not fully healed yet," Rasmus pointed out. "Your heart is still a bit weak and working that hard wasn't very good for it. Mellirune's right to worry about your health, any more surprises today could do some serious damage. How long can we stay here? Would anyone be upset if you took a little longer at lunch?"
Reluctantly, David agreed, "Alright. I don't think I could force myself to go back across quite yet." Slowly, the pain in his chest eased and Rasmus retreated again, leaving David to watch in fascination as his eyes returned to their normal color. "That's really weird. But at least it'll give the people who know you're there a way to tell the difference between who's talking."
Rasmus remained silent for a moment, then sighed, "If anyone believes I'm here at all and that you're not just crazy. Seriously, considering your initial reaction to me... I'm not expecting anything spectacular."
"Ras, don't be like that..."
"I'm just a passenger for the most part, David, I'm not really alive now any more than I was in my world. It doesn't matter though, I'm getting used to it." Again, Rasmus retreated and David's call for him went unanswered. Sighing, David dried his hands and face and straightened his tie before stepping out of the bathroom. Mellirune and Lina had already ordered.
"David- I got your usual," Melli called from a table and he took a seat beside her and watched in morbid... disgusted... fascination as Lina gorged on one of shop's special three foot-long subs. Mellirune looked a little green, but David's arrival gave her something else to focus her attention on. "You alright?"
Giving a smile, David nodded and picked up his sandwich, taking a nibble of it, "I'm fine..." he glanced out the window briefly, "Though... you think anyone would mind if I was a little late?" Mellirune immediately shook her head. "Good, cause I don't feel like going back across just yet." Even the thought of it sent his heart rate up. Averting his eyes from the traffic, David took a few slow breaths and firmly turned his attention to lunch and ignoring Lina.
Very little in the way of conversation happened while they ate, poor Mellirune and her delicate stomach nibbling at her sandwich, getting at least half of it down before she couldn't stand any more, then Lina devoured the rest. David managed to ignore Lina enough to finish his sandwich, but he gave his chips to Lina, who ate them too. "Not very filling," she said and cracked her knuckles. "What kind of deserts do they have here?"
David chose to ignore the comment and refrained from pointing out that she was a pig. He didn't feel like getting a concussion today. "So where's Gourry?" he asked instead.
Flipping her hand lightly, the redhead replied, "Out practicing for the game on Saturday, so I don't have anything to do till tonight."
Mellirune frowned, "Wait... Gourry Gabriev?"
Lina cocked her head, and smiled, twirling some hair around her finger, "Yep. I'm his publicity manager."
"Hm," David murmured, "So that's how you can afford bikes like that."
Glancing aside, Lina chewed on her lower lip, "Look, I really am sorry about that... please don't sick your lawyer friend on me!" She looked back towards David, eyes pleading as she clasped her hands together. "I can't afford to have my reputation damaged like that! If you want money, I'll..." she winced, "Just...name your price. Okay?" she reached into the pocket of her jacked and pulled out her checkbook and started hunting for a pen.
David frowned slightly, "If I wanted money, I could bum it off Zelgadis, or Grandpa Rezo, or even Paul would take pity on me if I asked sweetly enough and threw in a few more free concert tickets. I told you I don't want the trouble of going to court over an accident. I only ask that you drive more carefully?" He winced slightly and glanced around as he realized he spoken quite loudly, catching the people behind the counter staring at him, as well as the other two customers who'd chosen to dine in. "Besides," he shrugged, taking an argument that Lina would understand better than his not caring about money. "Prince Phillionel thinks rather highly of me, since I told him I wasn't going to sue."
Lina snorted, "Going for the self sacrificial image, huh? Alright, fine." She put her checkbook away, having been unable to come up with a pen.
"If that's what you want to think," David agreed neutrally. Mellirune shook her head slightly.
"How about this," Melli leaned forward, "Give him a couple autographed pictures of Gourry and call the thing settled?"
Again, Lina snorted, this time with amusement, "Alright, deal." She held her hand out, and in confusion, David took it, sealing the deal. "Wait! Gourry's that ...baseball guy who just hit sixty home runs and hasn't even finished the season. Oh yeah! Hm. Zelgadis likes baseball."
"Uh... what?" Rasmus asked, having not been paying attention.
Lina grinned, "Hey, I'll get you a pass into the press conference tonight and you can get them then."
Chewing his lower lip, David thought on that, "Uh... mind if I bring Zelgadis?"
Slapping her hands together, Lina grinned even more broadly with a demonic gleam in her eyes. "Yeah! That'd be great!"
David relaxed back in his seat, gazing at the far wall blankly, hands in his lap, trying to clear his mind and not think about the trip back to the office, but he wasn't succeeding very well and finally, when Rasmus reemerged, he stepped back from the controls and let his other self keep his heart from getting too stressed out while David fretted. A hand touched his and Rasmus blinked, glancing down at Melli who gave a reassuring smile. Playing the part of David, Rasmus returned it and looked towards Lina, who was frowning at him. "Your eye changed color," she observed.
"It does that from time to time," he answered, "Dunno why," he lied, "I can still see out of it, so no reason to mess with it."
Lina shivered, "It's really creepy."
Shrugging, Rasmus smiled slightly, "Sorry." Softly, David laughed in the background. "Yes, I do enjoy freaking Lina out. For you, it was an accident, but she killed me on purpose."
"Now who's the one teasing?" David prodded jokingly.
Rasmus snorted at him, "Not I... not really, cause she doesn't get it." At that, he grumbled, but turned his attention back towards what was going on outside of them. "It's time we got back to work, Lina," Rasmus said and got to his feet, and at David's prodding, picked up the garbage and stacked the trays and headed over to the trashcan. Mellirune grabbed her purse and followed, meeting him at the door. Lina tossed her hair over her shoulder and got up as well.
Pausing, Rasmus stepped back once more and let David take over, though the other did so rather reluctantly. "Making me cross the street again..."
"It would be strange if you walked across casually without the least sign of fear," Rasmus pointed out and David grumbled, eyeing the street dubiously, lunch turning into a hard lump in his stomach. Once more, he opened the door for the ladies and walked with them to the corner. He shivered, breaking into a sweat that wasn't quite so cold this time. It was just as hot outside as it had been before and the hard light in the burnt blue sky gave the buildings a surreal look in his terror-glazed vision.
Mellirune touched his arm, "You alright?"
"Yeah," David squeaked and cleared his throat, glanced towards the line of cars that pulled to a stop as the light changed, then took his courage in hand and dashed across. "Okay, it was worse that time," he admitted and took a moment to lean on the wall again, hand clutching his chest as the pain returned. Lina shook her head slightly and looked away, Mellirune looked worried, and he forced a smile, "I'll have to get over it," he told her, "It's...natural aversion to painful occurrences. You get bitten by a dog and you don't want to pet dogs anymore, right?" he was babbling, "It just takes... time to...get over something like this and I'll be alright, really, Melli. Really. Not planning on dying again anytime in the near future. The first time really sucked."
"Which reminds me; why DID you ask me about the future?" Lina asked.
David looked away, "I was having some serious delusions at the time, I don't know why I asked you that, but it seemed important at the time," he lied. He'd been doing that a lot lately. His heart hurt. "Why'd you ask if I was alright?" he returned, "Pretty stupid question, considering the situation."
Lina blushed, but replied, "Thinking back though, that was a kinda funny answer you gave me. 'No, I'm fucking dying!'."
Shocked, David started laughing, and once he'd started, couldn't stop, slowly doubling over with nearly hysterical giggles. "I don't remember that!" he gasped and wiped his eyes, finally managing to straighten. His chest still hurt, but she'd distracted him from the terror that he'd been pinned to the wall with. "Did I really say that?" Lina nodded, smiling slightly, and Rasmus blinked at her, then retreated again. Taking a deep breath, David let it out, "Thanks for distracting me," he said and turned a smile on Melli, then included Lina in that. "I guess I'll see you tonight- uh, when is it, and where?"
"Over at the civic center, at nine. Just follow the signs!" Lina replied and abruptly held her hand out towards him.
Without reservations, David took her hand, returning the firm grip and watched as she pulled her jacket back on and took her helmet out of the saddlebag of her bike. "So what was that little moment of shock about, Rasmus?"
"That was the smile she gives her friends," Rasmus murmured softly. "I was... just surprised to see it... it made me realize... what I screwed up by being her enemy. Cephied..."
"Hey, you were being controlled by Eris," David pointed out. "You didn't have much choice."
Softly, Rasmus sighed, "If I could do it over..." but he didn't bother finishing that thought and retreated again.
Mellirune shook her head and fell into step beside David as he started off down the sidewalk. "You're really forgiving, you know that. It's amazing. I don't think I'd be able to just..." she vaguely waved her hand.
"Pick up and move on? I'd be a bad example if I didn't," David replied, "Zel would make it an excuse to wallow in angst even more than he does already. A little's fine for the show, but ...too much is bad for your health. Besides a little inconvenience now and then, I got a lot out of the experience." He smiled slightly, "I got an awesome new girlfriend who actually has a job, a promotion with a really important contract to work on, I got to meet Prince Phillionel, and Princess Amelia, went to my cousin's concert for free, and even made a couple new friends that I probably would never have met otherwise. Eventually, I'll be known as 'David Graywords, The Greatest Programmer in the World' rather than 'that guy who's related to Rezo and Zelgadis and lately got ran over by Gourry Gabriev's publicity manager'."
Once more, Melli was shaking her head, and this time, she added a deep sigh to it. "It's disgusting. Quit making jokes like that!" but David could see the laughter in her eyes.
Thankfully, there were no more issues on the way back to the office and David opened the backstairs door for Melli with relief, following her up to their floor once more. "You know," Melli added, "Everyone's been working really hard since you came back. They've been on rather good behavior too. We might even get this project done ahead of schedule."
"Or at least the first prototype code. Nothing like this has ever been tried before," David replied as they walked down the hall, his chest was still hurting, but he doubted anyone would begrudge him a moment or two with his office door closed while he cast that healing spell again. Besides, it gave them a moment to gossip. Winding their way through the cubical maze, David found that his programmers had all returned and were working hard in a controlled chaos, disks occasionally getting tossed over cubical walls and heads popping up to ask a question of a neighbor.
"Yo!" one man shouted, "David's back!"
Laughing lightly, David pried his hand from his chest, which he belatedly realized he was still clutching, "What? You thought I got lost?" he replied cheerfully, leaving Melli at her cubical and continuing on to his office. His comment was met with a bit of laughter and David smiled, stepping into his little room with a window, he closed the door lightly and leaned against it heavily, Rasmus coming to the fore to cast the spell again.
Trish kneeled on her desk and draped herself over her cubicle's back wall, peering down at Melli, "He was pretty pale," she observed, and the others hushed to overhear the conversation, heads popping up like a village of prairie dogs. "Something happen?"
Melli took a seat, "He keeps saying he's fine, but ... I think he's still not in the best shape," she admitted, "We crossed the street and I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so terrified before." Melli shook her head, "I met the woman that ran him over. He still doesn't want to take her to court, which I don't understand. He even agreed to show up in public with her." Firmly, she folded her arms on her chest and grumbled, "I just don't understand him sometimes."
It was then that David's office door opened again and he left it like that, returning to his seat at the computer on the other side of the room. Everyone ducked back down into their cubical and the ruckus started up once again as if they hadn't been eerily silent just seconds ago. David glanced up from his screen with a slight smirk on his lips, obviously aware that he'd been the topic of discussion and not really caring, his left eye was yellow again.