Disclaimer: The "Star Fox" videogame series is owned by Nintendo and Platinum Games. The "Sly Cooper" videogame series is owned by Sony, Sucker-Punch Productions, and Sanzaru Games. There are also many other videogame properties but rest assured, I credit their creators and developers for the wonderful IP's that inspired this story. Said story itself is a fan-based non-profit work of fiction written strictly for entertainment purposes only. Please support the official releases.
Game Over
By MaveriKat & Nanya
Beta Read By Innortal
Chapter 8: Not What We Give But Share
As the '91 Dodge Shadow sports car continued to drive the stretch of Interstate 680, the vixen's nostrils flared now and then. Even with the early-morning Californian air that whipped past their faces, the aroma that was originating from the back floor was still considerable. "I really hope that stuff doesn't permeate into the backseat. It's going to leave me in a mood for Burger Time constantly!" she complained, even as she kept her eyes on the road. When Fox said he wanted to bring home some take-out for his friends, she didn't think he was going to purchase enough to feed more than a dozen people!
"I wouldn't worry about it," the cape fox reassured her. "I promise you; when we get to my place, just leave your top down until morning. It won't take long for the smells to leave." He chuckled slightly as the woman's eyes turned to him with a questioning stare. "Trust me. Speaking from experience here." Fortunately for him, said experience had dealt with Falco's Lamborghini. He was fortunate enough that the smell did leave otherwise the avian was likely going to go through with his threat of making the Papetoonian pay for the new upholstery.
Considering it for a moment, the Latina vixen's eyes slowly turned forward back to the road in full. She needed to be more attentive now. At close to four in the morning, traffic was starting to pick up again. Mostly trucks but there were cars beginning to get interspersed. "You sure it'll be okay to do you that your place?" She queried, just wanting to make certain.
"Of course," Fox replied without missing a beat. "I live in a quiet, suburban neighborhood. A lot of older architecture with nice housing, modern conveniences while still maintaining some old world charm, a lovely balance of first world corporation while maintaining a solid, 'Mom & Pop' presence." He reclined back into his seat as much as it would allow. "A nice place to raise a family, actually..." whispered that last part; the very reason that Krystal and him chose to settle in that area.
Considering his words for a moment as well as where they were currently on the stretch of four-lane traffic, the red fox immediately realized where he was alluding to. "Concord," Carmelita chirruped as she drove her cherry red convertible along the highway, moving to the left-hand lane to get around a delivery vehicle that wasn't even attempting to reach anywhere near the posted speed limit. "You mean to tell me you live in Concord?"
"Yep," Fox replied as he kept his eyes on the continuous barrage of highway signs. Although he was curious as to how she knew about it, he continued to gush, "Largest city in Contra Costa County. I tell you Carm, I remember when I first got my home here, I would visit the Todos Santos Plaza practically every weekend. The farmers market would take up the whole city block and there was this family that made this damn good beef jerky; they called it the, 'Holy Cow'." He chuckled. "Damn, I could really go for some of that right now."
"Well, I don't have any jerky but I'm certain all the burgers you bought will help to satiate your craving for beef," the Latina vixen replied as she slide her vehicle back into the furthest right lane once more as she successfully passed the tractor trailer. "I must admit, I'm surprised you'd settle into a more urban environment. I figured you big name stars would be off in gated communities or elite areas of the big cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco."
Fox shook his head. "I was never one for the overly crowded city. Growing up in Japan with my dad made one appreciate personal space." As an afterthought he added, "Although I admit that a lot of my peers are more into maintaining a private life than a public façade. Mario has a place he keeps in Brooklyn for old time's sake, but his main hub is this nice piece of beachfront property at Long Beach. It's outside of LA so he can make it to work ASAP when Nintendo needs him, either in the city proper or to grab a flight to Japan. Just got a little further south from them is San Diego, where Link and his family have their home."
The Hispanic vixen raised an eyebrow at that. "Wow... and they came all the way up to Concord to see you?" And the club she worked at–and hoped she still had a job with–was even further! No wonder the Game Over staff considered Mario coming over a rare treat. It was really out of the Nintendo Icon's way for him to be there.
He chuckled. "Yeah, I know. Long drives but it gives them an excuse to break out their favorite toys..." he winced as he thought about the state that tonight left Mario's Cadillac in. Shaking his head to free himself from the mental image, the Papetoonian turned his thoughts back to the lovely lady that was chauffeuring him home. "But yeah, I live in Concord. Does it really surprise you that much?"
A small smile splayed across the Hispanic vixen's muzzle. Shaking her head, she answered, "Not really. Just seems like I should be the one living in the, 'General Law City'." She chuckled as she her eyes darted back and forth between keeping an eye on traffic and a lookout for the exit since she now knew where they were heading. It took the woman a moment of thought but eventually she continued, "And it's quite all right, McCloud. You don't need to go into the specifics about the town's wineries and stuff either. I'm pretty familiar with the area to a degree. I went to the police academy there when I was training to be a policewoman."
That caught the male vulpine's attention, idly wondering if she was familiar with the, 'Four Corners' area of the city. Still, it was that last thing she said that made the man more curious. So leaning forward slightly in his seat, the anthro queried of the red fox, "Oh? You were going to be an officer of the law?"
The woman's lovely navy blue tresses have a bounce as she firmly nodded her head. "Sí. It's something of my family's tradition, you understand. The Fox family has been serving the Santa Ana police force in one way or another going all the way back to my great-grandfather." She blushed a little. "I ended up bucking the trend when I was approached by a couple of reps from Sucker-Punch Productions on my graduation day. They wanted someone with not legitimate skills and knowledge but was also, 'photogenic' for a project they were working on for Sony." She smirked. "I was the top of my class and got a bit more time on the monitors the academy set up so family could see us." She shook her head. "I tell you Fox, I am lucky my parents are so loving and supportive of my choices. I could tell that they were upset with me dropping all my plans after all that hard work, but they understood." Her eyes seemed to dim as other thoughts plagued her. "Sometimes I think I made a huge mistake."
Frowning a little, the currently grounded pilot realized he needed to get her off such a track of thinking and pronto. "That's... geeze..." he shook his head, realizing he was beginning to speak before he had anything to talk about. Taking a deep breath, he tried to steer the conversation to her family. "So, Santa Ana, huh? That's right by where Mario and Link are currently living." Then as an afterthought, he asked, "Do you still live there with your family? I mean, it's a mighty long drive just to get to the Game Over from there."
Shaking her head, the vixen replied, "No, I don't. I've bounced around the state as needed. I currently stay at a small apartment by myself in Stockton." She frowned. "Not going to lie though. The area's being going down the toilet ever since it filed for bankruptcy a few years ago... but my place's rent is reasonable and I get by." And by that, she meant it was cheap even for a rundown, one room with closet bathroom and a small kitchenette alcove.
His ears pressing to the back of his head as he processed that, the male vulpine softly queried, "Stockton?" Although he was trying to be neutral about it, the tone of his voice spoke volumes about what he thought of the place. And suddenly, the woman being worried about her car makes a lot more sense, he thought with annoyance before a different realization hit him, setting his mind abuzz as if a bolt of lightning struck. "Wait... Stockton? Well, holy crap!" He laughed. "You don't live far from me at all."
Blushing a little through her facial fur as her passenger made the connection, Carmelita replied, "Apparently not." Really, the furry woman was certain a mere half hour drive would get her from her apartment to Concord's city limits. "It's why I'm thinking of going back and trying to pick up some training. Tonight has been more than enough to make me realize just how badly I let myself go. Back in the day, I would never have been taken by surprise like that."
Nodding his head in understanding, the vulpine male replied, "I don't blame you." When only silence answered him, he continued, "I don't mean that in any bad way. It's just a good idea to want to defend yourself." He frowned. "To tell the truth, I should keep up with into my own training. Nintendo got me back into shape but it's only going to stay this way as long as I work at it." A mischievous grin came to his muzzle as he turned to look at the woman in the driver's seat. "Although what did you think, Miss Fox? I believe you're the one person besides me who's seen me without a shirt the most."
The woman blushed again at the obvious flirting. Still, the furry woman tried to keep things professionally as she carefully replied, "You look fine, McCloud. I'm just sorry that I had to see it under such circumstances." The Latina vixen wasn't lying either. He had a rather toned build that was very pleasing on the eyes. Hopefully that burn would heal up well enough; it would have been a shame for Fox to end up with a nasty scar on account of trying to protect her.
Nodding his head, the Papetoonian replied, "Couldn't be helped. I'm just thankful you were there for me..." he murmured as his eyes went to the signs that they came upon and passed. His exit was coming up shortly so he decided he might take a moment to have a little more fun while he could. "But tell me something, Carm..." he was grinning mischievously again. "Was I also the one person besides you to see you without a shirt?"
Rolling her eyes, the woman snorted. "I wish it were only you," the anthro vixen replied with annoyance. "If there was any one person though, it was probably Lara herself. She's the one who gave me an interview today so she got a preview before anyone else." Left unsaid was, that when it came to pure ogling, that so-called honor could be laid at the succubus Lilith's feet. Before Fox could query as to what she meant, the vulpine woman was quick to shouted, "And here's your exit!" She then firmly turned the steering wheel to the right, making her car jerk suddenly as she went down the exit off the highway and down into Concord.
"Ooph!" Fox grunted as he slammed up along the interior of the car door. "Hey now! Careful there, Carm. I might not be fragile goods but I'm still a tad tender." He murmured as the woman pulled out into the city streets. The exit took them into the eastern half of downtown, amongst the older residential area. A lot of buildings that were either a solid rectangle or L-shape, shaded in muted colors like white, gray, or beige with driveways made of slabs on concrete slates that fed directly into the asphalt road. Simple small ranch houses that served as quick bases of deployment for military personnel once upon a time...
However, they didn't stop there. The pair kept on driving further into Concord, the woman depending on her passenger to point out the directions that should be going. Admittedly, Carmelita started to feel a little intimidated as they went further northwest in the city. The front yards of the houses became more prominent. Large parcels of lands that could have held two or three of the smaller ranch houses, giving the occupants space and a measure of privacy. The kind of land that could easily add a couple hundred grand more to a person's mortgage or lease atop of needing professional landscapers to take care of.
This wasn't the sort of place for anyone that wasn't making a lot of good coin.
Finally though, the red convertible rolled on up to its destination. "And here we are," McCloud said as he motioned to one of the houses on the expansive–and likely expensive–neighborhood. The woman turned her gaze towards the direction and her eyes went wide. It may have still been dark from the early morning hours, but there were lights on the outside of the building that were on, serving to illuminate the vulpine's home enough that the woman realized that her friend was perhaps a man of considerable means.
Unlike his neighbors, there was no front yard in the traditional sense. Most of the greenery had been plowed over and in its place granite had been laid down. Large diamond-shaped tiles of Texas Pearl granite had been placed next to each other; the portions of expensive tile used to form the apron, the driveway, and the front path to the house. The smoothened pink stone was interspersed with numerous flecks of green and gold, iridescent colors that caught the light from both the street lamp and the light over the garage, causing the material–and the paintjob of the golden motorcycle parked in front of and off to the left of said garage's door–to flicker like fireflies to the naked eye. Two five-foot tall stone pillars stood as sentry from either side of the driveway to mark the borders of the apron more prominently; the strong structure on the right was adorned with a gold-colored metal plaque that was imprinted with both the house number and the name, 'McCloud'.
Off to the right of the driveway was more of the specially purchased granite yet it had been specifically layered in segments. While there was a large portion of courtyard that was leveled and connected to the driveway–and even had a lovely water fountain off to the furthest right–the layers were done so that they were curved in a shape to give the impression of a wave cascade. With two sets of lengthy steps before the courtyard leading down to the sidewalk and then five steps that went up from it, the width of the steps shrinking as they lead to the set of front doors. Really, for something that was lacking in greenery, Fox had what would have amounted to a front yard done beautifully. Very aesthetically pleasing to someone if they gazed upon it.
Pulling up into the driveway, the vixen's inquisitive eyes darted back and forth across the rest of the house as more of it was illuminated from her vehicle's headlights. While it was obvious the yard was all modern construction, the house itself–still lovely in its own right–was of a more dated appearance that went back to when it was first constructed. This wasn't one of the area's older Pre-World War II homes, but something built during the 70's, when that stone-on-stucco and abstract architecture was all the rage. The house was a one-floor ranch style but had so many different surface textures. A partition of flat roof over the garage with a section of building that was designed to look super-imposed over the double-wide garage door and also ended up intersecting right over the tall pillar structure that separated it from the rest of the house's angled roof. Said pillar was seemingly smack dead center in the front of the house, serving as both the marker for the quintet of steps that raised up from the courtyard proper as well as being aligned with the left side of the home's entrance. Said doors aligned with a large set of windows on the opposite side.
Noticing the woman's wandering gaze, Fox began to feel a little self-conscious. "I know, I know! I've been meaning to get the place remodeled but..." the vulpine signed, feeling a blush come to his face. "I can't help it. Even with as chintzy as it looks... I always felt the building's exterior had this irresistible kind of kitschy charm, you know? Like it was a page from history brought to life." Left unsaid was the design was what made Krystal fall in love with the place and choose it when they were buying their first home together. "Or is it the front yard that's throwing you off? Truth be told, I was kind of letting the yard go the wayside for a while and it was Peach who made the suggestion that I redo it in stone so I wouldn't have to do anything and it would help the place retain its value."
The woman considered what he had told her for a moment, the color of the stone used now beginning to make sense. "Ah," Carmelita chirruped as the realization fully occurred to her. "So, you got help from Princess Peach? That explains all the pink tones in the granite." She clucked her tongue a few times before teasingly replying, "And here I thought you were trying to compliment the shades and colors of all the rocks embedded in the house's stucco." Admittedly, the 70's style of groovy pastiche construction did an excellent job of hiding the fact that the formerly white material was starting to take on a more yellowed beige color.
Fox had the decency to blush. It wasn't that she was judging him, but he couldn't help but feel like she was. "Be that as it may," he murmured as he kept his eyes forwards and on his house. "It's my home, sweet home. Three bedrooms, a living room, a rec room, full kitchen, a laundry room, two full bathrooms, a two car garage... all within two-thousand, five-hundred and sixty square feet." He smiled a little sadly. While the house exterior was dated, the interior was modern and had all the room needed to start a family.
A family that never happened.
Now that they were fully in the driveway, the woman put the vehicle into its parking gear before turning the key in the ignition, shutting off the engine. "Well, this is it." She looked over to her passenger and smiled. "I'm not going to lie, this has been the most active evening I've had in a while..." she clucked her tongue for a moment. "Do you need help bringing in all your food? I don't mind giving a hand." Left unsaid was that she would have felt guilty crashing at his place for a little without doing anything. He HAD offered her a chance to stay for a bit. He did say I could leave the top down until morning to get rid of the smell, she mentally justified.
Hearing the red fox's lovely Latin voice managed to drive away the resentment he felt growing at a road in life denied him. Shaking his head for a moment to clear it, the man turned to his fellow vulpine and gave her a smile. It was a strained smile but still a genuine one. "That would helpful, Miss Fox. Thank you," he replied graciously as he reached down and unbuckled his seatbelt. His right hand reaching for the interior handle, he opened his door and slowly slid out. Getting to his feet, the Papetoonian had to reach his arms out to the side and stretch once more. "Good lord, this has been one hell of a night."
"Amen," Carmelita agreed as she got out of the car as well. Closing her door, she walked around to the passenger's side of the vehicle. Reaching down and pulling a lever, she pulled his seat forward all the way, allowing her the room needed so she could comfortably lean into the back to start grabbing brown paper bags adored with the Burger Time Logo that filled with various sorts of junk food. "Oh lord..." she murmured as she saw one of the backs was damp with a thick layer of grease. "I think they put all the orders of Flippity Fries in just the bag, period," she grumbled as she used the empty bag from LTD to scoop it up.
Seeing what the woman was doing–and proud of himself for managing to not stare at her ass that time–the vulpine watched as she managed to get the soggy bags flip into the plastic. The aroma that smelled like a grease trap on a hot day which wafted up from the motion made him nod his head in agreement. "Yep. That would be the fries." Perhaps he shouldn't have ordered eight larges... or rather, he should have made sure they broke them up between two bags. "I'll just break the bag open and dump the contents on a plate when we get inside."
"That would probably be for... the... best...?" the Latina vixen trailed off. The furry woman blinked her eyes as she raised her head. Both ears went upright and turned about, as if listening for something. She was quiet for a moment before turning to look down the street they came up from. "Tell me something, Fox," the anthro beauty murmured before she looked left and right again. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear—wait..." he murmured as he realized that there was more to the night air than traffic in the distance and the chirp of crickets. "I hear it too. Someone's playing music very loud." He blinked his eyes, his own ears perked up as tall as they could go and fidgeting side-to-side as they turned. "Sounds like rock and roll..." he murmured. "Sounds kind of like... I don't know... The Offspring, maybe?"
"I would have guessed, Bad Religion," the vixen murmured, recognizing the music. At the look her fellow vulpine gave her, the woman queried, "What? They were big when my older brothers were in high school. I remember Antonio would always listen to the CDs on his portable Yahama player with his headphones on. Always pissed off Mama something wicked whenever he wore them to the dinner table."
However, before Fox could inquire more into that, the beeping of a horn that caused the pair of foxes turned their heads. Eyes went wide as they saw a Cadillac riding up towards McCloud's home, almost as if it were the ghostly presence of the Mario Mobile returned from the dead to seek vengeance. However, as it got closer, it was anything but. Whereas the plumber had a third generation Cadillac done in red and gold, this was an even older model; a second generation in yellow and black! More than ten years older, it was a '61 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, the grille slanted back towards both the bumper and the hood lip unlike the '72 model's flat egg-crate grill. The expanse of chrome-coated guard was placed long the horizontal plane smack dab between dual headlamps. The vehicle also had forward slanted front pillars to mount a non-wraparound windshield glass to give a straight up pane of glass to keep it secure even as it was held in a tilted back position. Beneath it was a license plate that read, '2HOP2GO'.
From what the two fox furs could see, the man behind the wheel was a smiling, mustached African-American individual wearing a slightly oversized blue t-shirt with a white Wu-Tang Clan logo on the front, a long-sleeved white undershirt beneath it, and his features hidden mostly behind an oversized red Hawaiian print fishing hat and a pair of oversized sunglasses–at night, one might note. He was coming in fast but with how jerkily it slowed down, it was more than obvious that they were his destination.
However, it was the group the vehicle was carrying that was of notice. In the front passenger's seat was the Italian stallion himself, the one and only Dr. Mario Mario was riding shotgun. In the backseat, a pair that looked like they could have been twins at first glance was actually the duo of blondes in black leather Cloud Strife and Link Hyrule. Cloud had some white bandages around his head but was grinning wider than a cat that caught the canary. Even Link seemed better off that he had been earlier, if the slight grin on his face and far more relaxed pose as he laid back in the rear passengers' seat of the Cadillac implied anything.
"All righty people! Here's yo stop: Crystal Ranch Drive!" The driver shouted at the top of his lungs. "Thank you again for choosing to ride with us at the Crazy Taxi chauffer service! Don't be afraid to call again!" he chirruped merrily as he turned off the meter. He leaned in to gaze at the meter before adding, "That'll be one thousand, three hundred and eighty dollars... plus tip!"
Unbuckling his seatbelt, the mustached Italian answered, "Yeah, yeah... give'a me a moment, Joe." Sitting up in his seat, he took out his Giant Wallet as he considered what the ma had said. Finally, the short-stacked male queried, "You take'a de gold coins, right?"
The driver was grinning wider, showing off all his pearly whites... and one gold eye tooth. "Of course I do, my man! It's gold! And you know the golden rule, baby!" As he said that, he opened the center console between the two of them, showing off a stylized C for coinage, letting the plumber-turned-doctor know it served as a depository.
"Whoever has de gold, makes de rules," Mario replied as he tilted his wallet and kept unloading gold coins into it. "There you go. Two-hundred and eighty coins. Keep'a de rest for your tip," he said as his slid the small Hylian rupee sack back into his Bermuda shorts while his free right hand reached over and pulled the handle on the door, opening it so he could exit.
Bringing his right hand up to the brim of his hat, the dark-skilled individual grinned wider as he tilted his headpiece in salute. "Much obliged, Doc! Much obliged!" He waited for a moment to allow the others to exit the vehicle and close the doors before he backed up out of the driveway... and took off like a bat out of hell.
Watching as the Cadillac convertible decked out in taxi colors ripped down the road at top speeds, the short human let off a small sigh. "Oh, my poor Caddy... how I miss'a her so."
"You're not in jail!?" Fox yelped, finally able to find his voice. Seeing the three of them so soon had been quite the surprise to say the least. He was willing to be later morning if not the afternoon. However, upon noticing the look that Link gave him, the male vulpine gave him an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, it's just—"
He didn't have to explain himself, as the vixen who chauffeured him interjected. "Can you blame him? After everything, I'm surprised they let you off the hook so soon," Carmelita supplied, getting a grateful look from the cape fox in turn.
The Hylian nodded his head in understanding. "Well, we do consider ourselves fortunate. We didn't have to suck any guards off." Everyone turned to look at the pointy-eared blonde, who groaned at their expressions. "Oh for the love of... NOT ME!" He snapped irritably. "I'm just saying I've known a few acquaintances in the RPG circuit that had to do such."
Of all of them it was Cloud who was the most accepting of that explanation. He remembered some of the stories Tifa had told him about the time she had gotten arrested in Mexico. He almost wished he could have seen it. Although he had to admit... his attention was being drawn elsewhere as an aroma tickled his nose. "Wait a minute," he murmured as he sniffed at the air. "What's that smell?" It was quite good and it was making him rather hungry.
Seeing a chance to change the subject from doing the deed in jail in ways that brought up thoughts of movie Shawshank Redemption, the Hispanic vulpine chirruped, "AH! Well since you're all here, you can bring in your food. McCloud was a good boy even after everything he had been through tonight so I thought I'd get him a little treat. And being the generous person he is, he wanted to share the wealth." So saying, she held up one of the bags she was holding for emphasis. A brown paper bag imprinted with a familiar clock logo most people hadn't seen for more than a decade.
"Oh holy shit!" Mario chirruped. He stepped forward to get a better look at the bag the female vulpine was holding. "Is dat what I think it is?" The mustached Italian asked of the two, the tone of his voice one of awe and genuine surprise.
Nodding her head, the vixen with lovely navy blue tresses helpfully supplied and answer via a twist on the old slogan, "They Fryin' and We Buyin'."
McCloud chuckled at how light-hearted the woman was with that little quip. It was amazing how the little things in life did him a world of good. "Since I figured we would see you much later today, I had them make a few dozen of the Blammy Burgers breakfast style: with sausage and egg." He said with a grin as he motioned to the back of the female vulpine's Dodge. "Now come on; get it while your food is still warm!"
"And greasy..." Carmelita added as she held up the LTD bag that now had a very slimy sheen to it thanks to the haze of grease the streaming fries seemed to give off.
Cloud looked at Mario and Link, both of whom seemed to be gazing eagerly towards the food. "Um... is there something I should know?" He asked curiously. "You two are looking at those bags like they're some of the girls at the Game Over."
"Burger Time food," Mario said as if that explained it all. He couldn't help but lick his lips in anticipation. "It's rather good, made in dat traditional Italian-style of stomping on it with'a your feet... sadly most of de stores closed down in the late 90's before de company went bankrupt completely in the early 2000's..."
"Catering used to bring that stuff in all the time when we were working of, The Legend of Zelda 2: Link's Adventure... never forgot it," the blond Hylian replied in all seriousness as he walked over to the two furs. "I just hope it's still as good as I remember it," Link murmured as he accepted one of the bags from Carmelita. He looked down at Fox for confirmation, who in turn nodded. "Sweet!"
The spiky haired blond merely shrugged his shoulders in acceptance. He wasn't against trying new things. He was certain more than a few partners enjoyed that attitude.
"Well, let's get inside and hope it doesn't rain then," Mario said as they all worked together to haul the food in.
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Chewing vigorously for a moment, the ex-soldier took a moment to swallow. "Well, when you're right, you're right," the human murmured when his mouth wasn't full. As he looked over the uneaten half of his Blammy Burger, Cloud had to admit, "This is some real good shit."
"That it is. And the portions are amazing," the man's fellow blond sighed as he sat at another one of the chairs set around the kitchen table. "Oh yeah, now THIS is what I needed..." he cooed happily as he took another bite of his burger, chewing thoroughly as he mulled the beef around inside his mouth. Swallowing, he was quick to add, "I definitely need to take Robyn there... where did you say it was?"
"It's up in Fairfield," the Latina vulpine replied as she idly munched on a burger herself. She was feeling more comfortable being around them, now that she was decked out in her black halter top and skinny blue jeans. She felt like a person again rather than just a piece of meat to be ogled. "And thank you for bringing my clothes back. How were you ever able to get them?"
Dropping another handful of fries atop his burger wrapper, it was Cloud who answered, "You can thank Lara for that. As we were all being questioned at the scene by the police, she asked Mario if he would bring you your things."
That explanation made the anthro fox blink her eyes in genuine surprise. "She gave my stuff to Mario?" The tone of her voice conveyed just how unsure she felt about that.
Hearing his name, the Italian removed the bottle of Corona from his lips and nodded his head. "She realized dat outta everyone, I was de most likely to get de hell outta de slammer." He chuckled. "And since she also knew I would'a go see Foxy boy to check up on him... she figured you'd still be hanging with him too. It was all simple deduction on de part of everyone's favorite Tomb Raider."
Lowering his burger, the spiky-haired blond in black leathers turned his head to look at the brunet plumber, offering him a smirk. "So you're saying she's got you all figured out, huh?" Cloud chuckled between bites. "Not surprising considering how you get around."
Link rolled his eyes at what the Square-Enix employee said. Doctor Mario was anything but easy to figure out. "Speaking of which," he said aloud as to get his friend's attention. When the shorter human turned his gaze towards him, the Hylian queried, "Even if Sonic's a jerk, I'm willing to bet you're going to go see him in the hospital, right?"
To that, Mario merely nodded his head in affirmation. He just hoped that everything would have cooled off by then. As much as he found Sonic incredibly annoying, the anthro hedgehog really didn't deserve being on the receiving end of pure, unadulterated Brooklyn Rage.
Well maybe he did for what he did to de vixen, the plumber realized as an afterthought. Still, at the very least, he should have stopped himself after the second or third blow. As it stood, the hospital had the hedgehog hooked up to a 24/7 intravenous drip of distilled Maxim Tomato extract until further notice.
Swallowing a mouthful of fries, the Papetoonian vulpine looked over at his mustached paisano. "So what are you going to tell him?" Fox queried carefully as he lowered his burger back onto the wrapper he was using. "I mean... besides the fact I'm sure Nintendo is hiding the truth that you had nearly killed him for being a sexist prick and attempted kidnapper."
Taking a deep breath, the Italian closed his eyes. He was considering his words carefully before speaking. "Honestly? Nintendo's gonna want me to talk to him about how we're gonna finish up and promote, Sonic and Mario at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games..." he snorted in disgust. "And dat he's going to be receiving a generous bonus in his bank account as'a hush money for his inconvenience... but me personally..." he opened his eyes. He brought up his bottle of Cornoa to eye level, tilting it about in his hand and making the contents swirl. "He and I need to have a talk... one dat's been a long time coming."
The Hylian nodded his head. "A talk about how he's been nothing but a selfish, egotistical dick that needed the ass-whooping you handed him to set him straight?" As much as the aftermath was a terrible sight, he really had trouble garnering any sympathy for the hedgehog. He had his own problems to deal with.
"Hey! Listen!"
In fact, he was STILL dealing with. "Quiet you..." Link whispered irritably to the hallucination that had yet to recede back into his subconscious.
"Yes, there is dat..." the Italian admitted carefully. "But also about how he was'a right about some of de things he said about me."
That caused everyone to stop eating. Even Carmelita. While the men knew Mario personally and found this just plain out of character for him, the vixen was curious as to why he would say the man who nearly killed her was in the right.
Realizing all eyes were on him, the short Italian's attention went to the bottle in his hand, unable to meet their gazes. Still swirling the half-empty bottle of beer's contents, the Icon of Nintendo spoke in a surprisingly soft tone. It was calm, cool, and collected voice; a complete one-eighty from the man who had been partying hearty and physically violent all night. "When it comes down to it... I just don't know who I am anymore."
Everyone just stared at Mario for a moment, none of them sure what to say to that. Link, whom amongst the group had the longest running relationship with the man, tried to speak... only for the words to die in his throat. It was the look in those eyes... those blue orbs normally so full of life. They were dimmed and tired; showing all of Mario's actual fifty-three years of age.
Finally, the man spoke again. "It's as Sonic said. Every morning when I wake'a myself up... I know de score. I've had an amazing career, got a wonderful girl in Pauline... heck, even a girl or two on de side..." he chuckled sadly. "I even have all'a de money I could ever want or need. And yet even with all of dat? It's just so... meaningless!"
The bottle in his hand broke, startling those gathered. As his hand was full of broken bits of glass and soaked in beer, the man's eyes were drawn to that fist. "My life? It doesn't matter anymore. Anything I could do for myself from this point on would have no meaning. It would amount to absolutely nothing." A small, bitter laugh reverberated in the Italian's throat. "All because it's who I am now. As dat blue prick pointed out, I'm just de face of a console. A face slapped on a game box, or a t-shirt, or a poster! I'm more of an idea than a person now, de face of all video-gaming."
The mustached man trembled slightly as he opened his hand and looked at his palm, seeing the shards of broken glass in it that–thankfully–hadn't punctured the skin. "And yet even knowing dat... I feel so... so powerless. So insignificant under the weight of the legacy I've created, dat will outlast me long after I'm gone. In the face of all dat, I just don't know what I'm-a doing anymore..." he looked up at them. "Scratch dat. I have no fucking idea what I'm doing at all."
Silence reigned over the group for a long while. Finally, it was the member of the Final Fantasy alumni that spoke up. "If I might..." Cloud started, taking a moment to think about what he needed to say carefully. "I've known a couple people who went through similar issues. Maybe after things calm down a little in your schedule, you take time to find out who you are before you end up like ol' S.J."
Thinking about the former head of Apple for a moment, the mustached Icon of Nintendo sighed and shook his head. "My schedule's never that open. I'm always somewhere, doing something..." he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I have no idea what to do anymore."
Cloud frowned and looked around the table. Finding none of them had any idea what to do. Finally, grasping at straws, the blond male suggested, "You ever thought about having a family with Pauline?"
And that was when Link cringed, having known the story behind all too well.
Mario went pale. Not from rage, terror, or any complex emotion. The blood just left his face from just... giving up. It was from facing that bit of reality that haunted a person. "We can't..." he said slowly. "Pauline, she had... complications earlier on in her youth." He managed a small grin. "Granted, it's allowed us to have an active sex life, don't be getting me wrong. An amazing one... but it's never gonna amount to anything for us outside'a good time."
Cloud tilted his head. "Complications...?" he queried slowly, his tone neutral.
The man raised his head, his stare meeting the spiky-haired blond man's. "Strife? I'm-a only telling you this because I remember you back'a when you were de no-name, snot-nosed brat forced into a rental ninja outfit and being used to help Terra and Locke test out the Nintendo 64 motion capture software for Squaresoft..." his eyes darted to Carmelita. "And you get to hear because after everything we went through tonight over you, I think you're part of this clique whether you like it or not. Can you accept that?"
Realizing how serious the icon of video-gaming was, the vixen nodded her head slowly. "Sí," she said quietly. "I can keep quiet if you need me to." Left unsaid was until tonight, she hadn't had any real friends outside of family and a few acquaintances with co-workers at Sony that she could talk about stuff with. "I can keep a secret."
Nodding his head at that response, the mustached paisano answered, "Pauline had ovarian cancer and cystic cancer in de lining of her uterus. It is impossible for her to conceive let alone carry a child to term..." he clenched his teeth, grinding them back and forth. "Funny. I'm de most recognizable face on terra firma, beloved by practically all children everywhere... yet..." he sighed heavily. "I'll never have'a one of my own."
With the exception of the plumber, the eyes of those gathered darted back and forth, looking at each other. That was some pretty heavy information to deal with to be certain. Link may have known the truth already, but the two Sony alumni and McCloud had no idea at all.
For Carmelita in particular, it was an eye-opener. She had been a tad fearful of Mario after she witnessed the pure, unadulterated rage he unleashed on Sonic... but sitting with him, talking, breaking bread–even if it was burgers instead–she was coming to realize that the man who was the master of the simplest, inviting games that anyone could play...
He was possibly the most complex person she had ever met.
Silence reigned over the table for a long time after that... however, it was Link who got the ball rolling again, needing to break the silence. Since Cloud was the one to open that can of worms, he would be the one to get them out. "So, Mario..." the pointy-earned blond chirruped. "What's this I'm hearing about Cloud in a rental ninja outfit?"
The Italian's nostril's flared as he snorted a laugh. "You should'a seen him. He was just a friggin' High Schooler... probably was his first summer job. Square's third man Clyde... or, 'Shadow' as they called him in-game... he wasn't able to show up and so they needed a third person to be on'a set. So what did they do? Grab their goffer, put something together from pieces off the costume rack and throw him up there to fight angry plants with two professionals."
Remember that event all too well, Cloud groaned and shook his head, almost as if he wanted to be in denial. "Good lord... please don't remind me." That hadn't been very fun. Sure, it was neat to be nothing more than a promoted goffer-turned-superstar, but still...
"Please," the Hylian snorted. "That's still better than being called Peter Pan for the first game I worked on," Link grumbled irritably. Just what was Miyamoto on when he called him that anyway?
To that, Mario chuckled. "Ah, I remember that. You could'a been stuck with'a dat for your game persona. You were so damn lucky dat, 'Peter Pan' had an active copyright in England..." he shook his head. "And here I thought you were more upset when people started calling you, 'Zelda' afterwards instead."
"Ugh..." the pointy-eared blond grunted as he brought his right hand up to rub his eyes. "It took a sequel before people started getting it through their heads that I was Link!" The blond growled in aggravation. "And even to this day, some people still call me by my wife's name!"
"Hey! At least you were meant to be a star of your own game," Cloud chirruped. "I was just an intern thrown into something bigger than him. I think it took Mario giving me some pointers on set to get Director Yoshinori Kitase to realize that I had potential." He shook his head. "I have to admit though... because of that, Terra, Locke, and most of the other alumni from the sixth installment of Final Fantasy wouldn't talk to me for years! Seven was supposed to be a TRUE sequel and give them another go. Instead I was, 'the new hotness'."
A smirk spread beneath the short human's mustache. "Yes, even though they would'a always complain you were too slow with bringing them coffee and it was, 'too cold'." The plumber let off a small laugh. "Believe me, dat was karma at work." The man tilted his head, using his dry left hand to stroke his chin for a moment. "Well, dat... and de fact that not even two months later, Squaresoft jumped ship for another, 'new hotness'... de Playstation."
Fox laughed at that. "Now, now!" he piped up. "You can't be mad at Cloud for that. I blame our bosses for that one. Could you imagine if Sony and Nintendo had worked together?"
There was a groan followed by thud that shook the table. Fox turned to his left and down at Carmelita, who was twitching horribly as she had her face planted on the tabletop. "...What?"
Mario shook his head at the woman's antics and McCloud's ignorance. "Oh, Foxy boy... it's a well-known piece of history, dat Sony and Nintendo used to work together."
"Those CD-i games wouldn't have happened otherwise," Link lamented, remembering all the shoddy, low-budget work those jerks had him do because they legally had him by the balls. Although he did admit, the ones he was in had some interesting ideas at least. Namely Zelda using a rapier to fight... something which took Nintendo about fifteen or so years before they did that with his wife!
Lifting her head from the table, the vixen blinked her eyes. "Seriously?" Carmelita queried as she looked about at the group of men.
"Oh yes... de Sony Playstation? It was originally meant to be nothing more than a glorified CD add-on for de Super Nintendo," the Italian explained in all honesty while he looked around, his eyes settling on some paper napkins atop the table. Grabbing a handful, he began to towel down his right hand as he continued, "Apparently there was a bit of jealously on'a Nintendo's part when de Sega CD came about and we began preparing to strike back. Sony was our go-to for compact disc tech and they started working on demos... unfortunately, because Sega had–unsurprisingly–fucked it up so badly, it caused de bosses at Nintendo to cancel de contracts."
Link sighed. "Or to be precise, cancel Sony's... and yet not the people who they were buying their tech and parts to build the system add-on from. Hence that whole shit-fest with being contractually obligated to do games for Philips..."
Nodding his head, Fox couldn't help but add, "I can't tell you how glad Sony I am that didn't think to have interest in me at the time."
"Damn right," Mario agreed most vehemently, remembering all the horrible puns and jokes they had him make in terrible settings. Honestly? Hotels? He went from Lands, to Worlds to... HOTELS!? "But it is a shame that Sega screwed the pooch. If Sony had stayed with us, Carmelita here might have been on the Nintendo payroll with us."
Needless to say, THAT caught the Hispanic red fox off-guard. Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly for a few moment before she finally found her voice again. "I could have been..." the vixen trailed off before giggling like a school girl. "Sorry, sorry. I can't help but suddenly imagine Kratos on a Nintendo console and being in Smash."
The mental image of that brought a smile to the spiky-haired blond's face. "Good lord. The amount of work to keep his mouth under control would be epic." Cloud couldn't help but let out a good laugh.
Even Mario chuckled. "If he was doing it, I might actually not have to..." he sighed wistfully. "I think'a part of de problem with my whole need to rebel comes from de fact dat they force ME to be politically correct as often as possible that I just have to be as rude and crude as I can when I'm off'a de clock..." he smirked. "At least Cloud here is going to have a taste of what it's like to work for the Big N."
That statement made the vulpine woman blink her eyes in shock. "Excuse me?" she squeaked out in surprise. Sitting up in her seat, Carmelita turned her attention towards her fellow Sony employee. "You're going to be working for Nintendo?"
"Yeah..." Cloud spoke up carefully. "To hide the fact as to what really happened... well..." he brought his right hand up, scratching the side of his head over the bandage the paramedics had wrapped around it. "Would you believe that they tried to pass it off as a Smash Bros. Publicity Stunt gone horribly, horribly wrong?"
Blinking her eyes once, twice, all the poor confused furry woman could question was, "Que?"
Nodding his head again, the spiky-haired blond continued, "And as I happened to be caught on A LOT of cameras and other video mediums..." he took a deep breath. "Well, using the barest thread of believability... in this case, the small cameo I made in a Kingdom Hearts spin-off game for the Nintendo Gameboy Advance..." he chuckled. "Guess who's getting added?"
That made the vixen blink her brown eyes once, twice, thrice. "What? Really, Cloud? Just you? They didn't go for Raiden as well?" Not that she felt the asshole cyborg deserved it, but it didn't make sense to try and jam Cloud into the game on such a flimsy excuse and not the person he was fighting with.
"That... would have been interesting," Cloud admitted. It could be a lot of fun to fight him again... particularly when he wasn't out for murder. "If we can't at least we could do what SNK does and get everyone in those fighting games put together in one big cluster fuck tournament."
"Nah," Link shook his head. "That would make it neither be profitable nor memorable. Too many characters would be hard for younger players to keep up with." He frowned as he thought about how the lawyers were all over them when he police were on the scene outside of the Game Over. "And the last thing we need is to entice the Big N's public relations department to throw even more characters into Smash."
The short human nodded his head in agreement with what his sylvan buddy said. "There is dat," Mario spoke up. "But there's de fact dat after Kojima left, Konami and Nintendo have been on thin ice with one another. Personally, I'd love to get Dave back into the game again as he was GREAT in Brawl... wonderful guy to hang out and have a beer with after-hours too."
The leather-clad soldier blinked his blue eyes. "Dave?" he queried. "Who's Dave?"
Smirking, the mustached Italian settled for picking up another Blammy Burger. He began wagging it at the younger man as he replied, "You might recognize him better by the name, 'Solid Snake'..." at the understanding that dawned on the blond's face, the man began unwrapping his burger before taking a large bite.
Needless to say, that bit of information left the Final Fantasy star with wide eyes. He couldn't believe that one of the biggest badasses of Sony had such a generic real name. "His name is Dave?" Cloud shook his head in amazement. "Un-friggin'-believable..."
"Yep," Link agreed. Yet as he was nodding his head, a yawn escaped past his lips. Shaking his head, the Hylian grumbled, "Man, I don't know if it's from being up all night, the caffeine crash, or all the greasy food... but I'm starting to feel beat."
Turning his head towards his long-time pal, the mustached Italian smirked. "Now you know me, Link. Normally I would'a say you were just getting old..." he took a deep breath. "But for once, I gotta agree with you." Mario nodded, the past twenty-four hours having worn and weighed heavily upon him. He then turned his head to look at the other blond at the table. "And you?"
Considering the Italian icon's words for a moment, the spiky-haired male just shrugged his shoulders. "Nah, don't worry about me. I'm good, but even I'll admit a bit of rest wouldn't hurt." Cloud sat forward in his seat, arms raised to stretch a bit. "Hopefully Tifa's awake. I'm going to need her to give me a ride back."
Fox chuckled at that. "Well if worse comes to worse, I don't mind letting you guys can crash here for the time. I've got a guest room and the couch rolls out into a—"
*Ding~Dong*!
Everyone blinked their eyes as the vulpine had been cut off. "Huh? Who could that be this early?" Fox murmured curiously before his emerald eyes darted about the table. "Did any of you call for a ride or something?"
Nodding his head, the plumber replied, "I did. With de Mario Mobile..." he winced as the event was still too fresh for him to talk about, the pain to real. "Well, with what happened I sent Pauline a text from my cell. Hopefully she's here to pick'a me up. I'll take her out to a proper breakfast in thanks."
Blinking her own eyes in surprise, the vixen sitting next to McCloud couldn't help but query, "But... we're you just eating all this time?" She wasn't trying to make any fat jokes but the man had eaten more than half of what the Papetoonian had brought home with them.
The mustached brunet motioned to the spread across the table. "What, this?" The hefty Italian chuckled. "This is just a snack for someone like'a me. I need to get some real food... a nice load'a carbs, like pancakes..." he murmured as he pushed his chair back and made his way for the front door. Walking out of the kitchen and through Fox's home, the short-stack human made his way to the front entrance. Upon opening it, he found not his lovely buxom brunette girlfriend but a rather tall and angry pointy-eared blonde dressed in purple blazer jacket and matching skirt, with sheer pantyhose and standing even taller in her violet spaghetti-strap high-heels.
Her arms crossed over her chest, the woman stare down at the short male with a steely blue gaze that conveyed her irritation. "Where," the blonde Hylian stated in a firm voice. "Is Link?"
Blinking his blue eyes once, twice, thrice, it took a moment for Mario to reply. "...I'm-a sorry, but your husband is in another castle!"
"Really?" Zelda gave him a flat stare. "You're going to pull that bull-crap on me?"
Bringing his hands up in a placating gesture, the man met her gaze with a small. "Easy, easy Princess... Senator... or whatever title you prefer. It was just an attempt to calm you down," Mario assured her. "I meant'a no disrespect."
Before she could retort, she saw her husband walking up to the door from further in the house. Her sky blue eyes going hard, the woman shouted at him, "There you are, Link!" Seeing the man pause in place for a moment, she continued to shout, "What the hell happened!? From so many sources, I've heard about you getting into a fight, got arrested, that Sonic's in the hospital, and atop of it all..." she took a deep breath. "You were at a STRIP CLUB!?"
Although he kept on a very good poker face, Link winced internally. Naryu damn it! How could he explain this one without incriminating himself terribly in his wife's eyes?
"Relax!" Mario piped up, raising his hand in between them. As the married couple looked down at him, the vertically-challenge Italian explained, "Link was on his best behavior! We were just at the club to celebrate with Fox, since he finally got back into the game."
Zelda blinked her eyes for a moment before finally nodding slowly. She heard about Fox's new upcoming game and considering his life, a celebration as in order. "Okay, that explains you and McCloud being there but not—"
The mustached man interrupted her before she could finish that line of questioning. "He was supposed to be our designated driver." The man then rolled his blue eyes. "Unfortunately, things got a bit out of hand with some other patrons... and here we are!" He shrugged his shoulders. "All'a things considered, de night turned out pretty well."
Link sighed and stepped around the short man, thankful that Mario had diffused some of Zelda's anger. "He's right, honey. I wasn't going to go–in fact I even suggested we make it a living room night. It's just that they really wanted to head out and I didn't feel right letting Fox and Mario go and have to take a cab or risk driving drunk."
Bringing her hand up to the side of her head, Zelda sighed in exasperation as she idly rubbed her right temple. "Just... come here." When Link stepped towards her, the woman brought both arms forward she grabbed him into the strongest hug she could muster. "Do you have any idea what you put me through? I finally come home and hear that you're in a fight, someone's in the hospital and you aren't home! What was I supposed to think!?"
Wincing as he could see the princess' point of view, the male Hylian sighed a she hugged his wife. "I understand..." he said slowly. "Really, it's been a heck of a night for me... some of which I'm not all that proud of." He pushed her back a bit, keeping her at arms-length so the man could look into his wife's eyes. "Things just got way out of hand tonight. I promise you though, everything is going to be all right. We even got a new co-worker out of the ordeal."
To emphasize the point, the employee of Square-Enix made his presence known. "Hello, Senator Hyrule," Cloud politely called out from further inside the house. He then waved to her in gentlemanly fashion to greet her.
Looking towards the spiky blond in black leather for a moment, the elven beauty then turned her gaze towards her pointy-eared blond in black leather. "You and I are going to have a long talk about this while we're driving home, mister... but..." she caught him tightly in an embrace once more. "I just can't tell you how relieved I am to know you're okay."
Closing his eyes, Link buried his face into his wife's hair and kissed her scalp affectionately as he returned the tightness of the hug, trying to physically give her the comfort that words would not be able to convey.
Watching the loving interactions between the sylvan spouses for a moment, the good doctor felt it was time to remind them that others were present. "So... I take it you two will be fine then?" Mario asked pleasantly. Getting a nod from the two of them in response, the man smiled. "Dat's good. Now I just hope dat my ride shows up soon." He could really go for some pancakes.
The married couple looked at each other before breaking the embrace, taking a step back from one another as they did. Taking a moment to pat himself down and smoothen out his shirt, the leather-clad blond Hylian looked down to his friend and offered, "You know, Mario... if you want, Zelda and I could give you a ride home."
The blonde syvlan woman then interjected. "While I'm normally all for helping out our friends..." she smirked at her husband. "You, my dear, are not getting out of that talk."
"...But what about my motorcycle?" Link queried honestly. He wasn't about to leave his pet project behind! Sure, he could expect Fox to take care of it in the meantime but that was his baby!
However, the answer can from his other baby. "I can get it!" a cheerful female voice shouted from the backseat of Zelda's 2014 Toyota Prius. The blonde girl was smirking deviously as she lowered the window so she could be heard better. "I know how to drive motorcycles! I could take dad's Harley back no problem!"
Link gently palmed his face at hearing that. His little–albeit a legal adult–girl had eyes for his ride since he finished up all the work required. "Robyn, if you crash, scuff it, or get hurt... you'll be grounded for a month, young lady." Lowering his left hand, the man then looked at his daughter with a firm, parental stare. "And did you bring a helmet?"
Needless to say, his little girl smirked at him. "Why do you ask, daddy? I can borrow yours! I mean, didn't you wear your helmet on the way up here?"
The pointy-eared blond opened his mouth... only to clamp it shut. Realizing that he'd been caught red-handed, the man fell on the old fatherly standby of, "Young lady! You do as I say, not as I do!" It was rather comical, considering how old she was... but no matter her age, she was still his kid.
The older female elf's eyes went wide at the implications, even as her pupils dilated. She stared at her husband, feeling her ire begin to grow again. "You mean to tell me that drove all the way here without a helmet!?" Zelda snapped at her husband.
Link cringed as he realized he was going to get an earful about this now too. Still, he tried to ease her worries and began to explain, "But honey, unlike Robyn I've been driving for decades! I know what I'm—"
"Don't you, 'honey' me, buster!" the blonde woman snapped, not excepting any excuses from her husband. "How many times do I have to tell you!?" the Princess of Hyrule turned Congresswoman cried out in exasperation. "You're supposed to wear a helmet when you drive any of your bikes! It's the law!"
Again, the sylvan male sighed, albeit this time in defeat. Really, he couldn't argue with his wife on that. "Fine," he murmured in understanding. "I'll make sure to wear one from now on, I promise." He then turned towards his daughter's head was leaning out one of the back windows of Zelda's hybrid car. "And Robyn..."
Looking up at her father, the girl's blue eyes were practically shimmering with life and excitement. "Yes, daddy?" She replied with a happy tone.
"Did you bring a leather jacket?" the man queried of his daughter. Like hell he was letting her take his jacket atop of his bike.
To that, the young woman rolled her eyes and got out of the car, decked out in a leather jacket and a pair of goggles hanging around her neck. "Of course!"
Again, Link couldn't help but sigh. Reluctantly, he reached his left hand into his jacket and retrieved the keys from his pocket. Taking careful aim, with an underhand toss, he threw the keys to her. "Be careful, okay?"
Robyn's smile went from ear-to-ear as she lifted her hand. She caught the keys and looked over to him as she pocketed them. "No problem!" She then turned about to the open door and pulled a helmet out of the car. "Unlike you, dad... I make sure to follow the law!"
Twitching slightly in irritation, Link could only murmur, "She had that planned from the start, didn't she?"
"She's a smart cookie," the Hylian politician replied softly. "She got her mother's brains and her father's ingenuity"
"Wisdom and courage," the pointy-eared sylvan replied. He released his arm from around Zelda's shoulders and made his way back to the front door. Looking down at the smaller male vulpine, he reached his left hand out. "Well, looks like that's it for me. You take care of yourself, all right buddy?"
Looking back up at the pointy-eared blond, Fox returned the smile. He reached out initially with his right hand... only to lower it and raise his left. His hand firmly clasping with his friend's, he told his pal, "Don't worry man. You take care of yourself. I think I'll be doing much better." He looked over his shoulder at the vixen standing nearby and smiled. "Yeah... I'll be doing better from now on."
Smiling knowingly, the Hero of Hyrule nodded his head. "Yeah, back at you. We really need to do this again..." he chuckled. "Although next time, maybe with considerably less violence."
"And pills," the Papetoonian added.
A shiver going up his spine, the sylvan male nodded in agreement. "A whole lot less pills."
At the curious expression that went over the female politician's face, Mario rolled his eyes. Raising his hand and beckoning her towards him, he whispered to the blond princess that, "I just tried to help Link relax and it ended with a psychotic episode dat was my fault, not Link's."
Blinking her eyes a couple of times, the woman stared at the Italian incredulously for a moment. "Please don't do that again," Zelda said flatly. Although that was annoying to hear happened to her husband, she was a lot less angry than she was when she showed up. Knowing that Link was safe took a lot of the edge off but she promised herself that they were going to have a little... chat... about things.
Smirking, the mustached Italian saluted the two as they left and closed the door. Turning to the pair of vulpines and Square-Enix's moneymaker, the man took a deep breath. "Now then..." he said as he looked about the nearby living room, his gaze settling on a nice leather recliner. "If it's all'a de same to you guys, I think I'm gonna just relax on dat reclining chair until'a my ride shows up."
"You'll fall asleep." Cloud commented, getting a wave from Mario, the Italian dismissing his concerns.
The Icon of Nintendo snorted. "Please. I'm a big boy. I can handle myself.
However, the doorbell rang once more just as Mario reached the chair. As he was closer, the leather-clad blond opened the door and blinked. A pair of ladies was standing before him, one being a curvy brunette and the other lovely lady sporting reddish-brown tresses both of whom were decked out in leotards that showed off their curves quite nicely. "Uh... can I help you ladies?" he queried quietly, wondering if they had the wrong address or if someone called a pair of escorts–knowing the plumber, it was a possibility.
The lady with crimson-tinted brow locks and decked out in a yellow bodysuit with orange tank-top was the first to speak up. "Is Mario here?"
With that soft, dulcet voice ringing into the air, the shot mustached man's eyes went wide. "Daisy?" The man blinked as he saw her and his girlfriend standing at the door. "Well now... this is a surprise." He walked over to the pair, smiling like the cat that caught the canary. "What's de occasion? It's-a not my birthday."
"I was hanging out with Daisy at the gym when I got your text," Pauline smiled at him. "Come on, Trouble... let's get you home. We'll figure out something we can do about your car over breakfast." She smirked knowingly. "You in the mood for homemade pancakes?"
With the offer from his girl to make some delicious pancakes from scratch, Mario smiled. "That would'a be nice. And don't you worry about'a me; I can handle myself. As for the car, I'll do something about it... everything about it. No matter what the cost is, de Mario Mobile's gonna live!" After all, just because his life may have been inconsequential didn't mean he couldn't enrich it or that of others along the way. "Now come along, ladies... I've got some plans."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Waving farewell at the leather-clad blond as he got into a pickup truck with Tifa, the Papetoonian stood there in the doorway as the pair drove off. He watched them go until the vehicle was out of sight and turned about. He saw the woman standing there while checking her purse, making sure she had everything. "So... you're heading out too, huh?" He queried of the vixen. He smiled for her but it was a strained one. He really, really didn't want to see her leave.
"I probably should," the foxybeauty said slowly. "First thing's first, I need a shower and to get some sleep. And then at some point, I need to call Lara and make sure things are okay between us." The Hispanic woman shook her head, making the length of her navy blue ponytail that was tied off at her shoulders go swaying while the rest of her hair bounced. "Truth be told, if Richard wanted to fire my ass over this, I wouldn't blame him."
Crossing his arms over his chest, the male vulpine leaned against the doorframe. "I would," he said in all seriousness. At the hurt look on the woman's face, he was quick to explain, "That is, I would blame him if he fired you." Seeing the red fox relax a little, the Papetoonian went on to explain, "What the hedgehog did was completely unforgivable! And besides that... he was the one who blew up Duke's car! I doubt the your boss' anger is focused on you so much as it's geared towards Sonic right now... and maybe the bouncers."
Carmelita chuckled lightly. It was true that some of the blame laid at security's feet, as Volt and Mac didn't do much to break up the fight. She sincerely hoped he was right; it would be nice not to be the target of someone's ire when things went bad for once. "Still..." she began, that little nagging voice in the back of her head trying to drudge up some guilt.
"Still nothing!" McCloud declared, not even giving her a chance to think about such things. "Besides, are you sure you're still up for driving?" He asked her in a calmer voice. "If you want, you can take a quick nap here, relax and feel a lot better before getting behind the wheel!" He offered quickly... only to wince as he realized how pathetic he sounded just then. "That... didn't seem too desperate, did it?" He asked hopefully.
The woman chuckled. She couldn't help but find it adorable whenever he got a bit flustered. "A little..." she admitted as she reached her right hand out, gently rubbing his left shoulder. "But I'll say this. After getting to be the proverbial, 'fly on the wall' with you big names for a bit, I've come to realize something."
The man looked up at her. "That being?" Fox asked curiously.
Meeting his emerald gaze with her own chocolate orbs, the Hispanic beauty told him firmly, "As my father would say, you're all regiamente jodido en la cabeza!"
The cape fox blinked his eyes once, twice, thrice. "Forgive me, Carmelita. Spanish was never my forte... but I'm going to guess that was something to do with us being crazy."
"It means, 'royally fucked up in the head'..." she said teasingly. Seeing the man pout slightly, she softly cooed, "But when it comes to you? I think you're the best off out of all of them. You may be a bit more emotional but you've got a good heart and your head is screwed on tighter than most. In this industry? That's already having a lot going for you."
Fox laughed and brought his right hand up, idly rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sometimes I think all the craziness is just a way we cope with the stress of our jobs and lives." He heard some of the people that used to be stars ended up doing some crazy things after they realized their series were never getting a continuation. Like Bubsy... or rather, Bubsella. Last he knew, the transexual bobcat was working as a prostitute with Conker as her sugar daddy. And that wasn't anywhere near as bad as Samus becoming Pikachu's live-in girlfriend... oh the stories that came out of Game Freak... emphasis on the, Freak...
Although in all honesty, McCloud did have a hard time blaming Samus, seeing as she was part bird, part jellyfish, and part human all at once after all.
Finally, the anthro fox looked up, meeting her eyes once more. "Call me crazy but..." he smiled nervously. "Would... would you like to stay?" He asked her softly, feeling ever nerve in his spine ablaze with a tingle of trepidation. He realized what he was asking but he was bracing himself. After all they went through last night he felt a real connection. "You said you have an apartment in Stockton but... maybe I could help?" He blushed slightly as he saw her looking at him curiously. "Sure, the outside of this place looks like it's still 1970 but—mrrphle?" he tried to speak as the woman held up a finger to his lips to silence him.
Although she wasn't frowning at the man, she certainly wasn't smiling. It was a serious gaze, looking at him questioningly. "I have a feeling I know what you want to ask, McCloud... but... are you certain?" she said slowly. "Don't answer right now, but think. I heard some of the things Mario said while I was out of the room getting dressed... God knows he was loud enough," she rolled her eyes. "But if what he said is true, that if you had interest in me that you would need to keep it secret because of Nintendo." Now she frowned. "And that you should be worried about hooking up with a stripper."
She lowered her hand from his muzzle. "I admit, my situation isn't the best right now... and I wouldn't want to drag you down with me," the Latina vulpine said in all seriousness as she looked deep into the other fur's eyes. "So you need to ask yourself this first. Do you really want me in your life? I admit, I do want to get to know you better but..." she blushed slightly. "Like you, I'm a bit off when it comes to my dating game. I can be awkward at times. Are you willing to put up with my own eccentricities atop of everything your company wants out of you? Wants to put you through?"
The answer Fox gave Carmelita was to embrace the woman and to kiss her firmly on the lips.