Author's note: Hehe. Oops. I haven't updated his story in a while, and I
apologize. I know it's frustrating. A special thanks to Sakura Greenleaf
for emailing me and giving my proverbial ass a swift kick. But now that
school and exams are out of the way (for the most part), I shall be putting
out chapters more frequently, at least in the span of the summer. I should
probably be done the story by the end of the summer, come to think of it.
Anyway, since I know how frustrating it is to follow a long fanfic, then to have the author not spew any new material for a while, only to make a comeback in which you can't remember ANYTHING that happened prior, I will give everyone a nice little summary:
Ava. Young girl. Sold by her father into Zaibach, enrolled as a dragonslayer, with special fringe benefits (ie, special ops training w/ Folken.) Ava grows up a little, gets pretty darn good at the soldier thing, then is suddenly sent to Earth. A few years pass, and that zany Ava finds herself back on Gaea. Everyone's older, hotter, full o' hormones. Events within the Escaflowne TV series start to come to pass, and most recently, Ava was raped by the horrid fellow DS Ryoun, and accidentally kills him (not that the little bastard didn't deserve it). She gets suspended from the DS, and Miguel dies.
Anyway, be good kids, and enjoy!
-----~---~---~----~----~----~
Chapter 14: S&M Bikes
--~---~----~----~----~----~---
Ava's head reeled. Miguel was dead, and not even at the hands of an enemy. He was killed by one of Zaibach's own. Ava happened to be there when Dilandau found out about Zongi's responsibility. It was one of the oddest sights she'd ever seen; he didn't even slap the paige who had delivered the message. He just sat there in his throne, fuming for the longest time. Then, suddenly, he stood up, and commanded the Dragonslayers to follow.
That struck Ava even harder. She could hang out in the main hall, so long as nobody 'knew' she was there (although, Guimel had made an obscene gesture to her in the shadowed corner she was 'hiding' in), but Ava was still suspended from the Dragonslayers. She couldn't wear the uniform, couldn't participate. She watched them file into the hangar from her spot, curled up on the windowsill with a half-empty Vino bottle.
They had been gone hours, and she still hadn't moved. Snuggling further under the blanket, she stared out the window into the twilight highlands. She found herself thinking of her father, remembering the papery quality of his skin, the talc-smell of his hair, his way of cracking her on the knuckles when she made a mistake in swordsmanship. It was odd, she thought, how her perception of him had evolved. She had been incomparably furious with him long after she was in the dragonslayers, never forgiving him for sending her away, or for getting sick. Then, that all changed. When she was whisked off to the Mystic Moon, these intense feelings of resentment has somehow dissipated; it was not until she was away from Zaibach did she realize how important to her it was. Now, she needed to be back there, and in this, her convictions just didn't hold the same gusto. He had given her a life he couldn't have provided for her.
I wonder where he is right now, she thought.
"What is that?"
Ava jumped. She hadn't heard any one come up, let alone this large, menacing man she saw before her.
"What are you on about?" She asked indolently, and was met with a meaty hand grasping the neck of her hoodie and wrenching her to her feet. She heard the Vino bottle shatter, as she was forced face-to-face with the rhinoceros of a man. His hot breath smelled sour.
"Out for a nightcap? All you had to do was ask, and I would have shared. Now look what you have gone and done." He shook her, hard.
"Watch your mouth, you impertinent cunt! Learn some respect for your superiors. General Adelphos would be interested to hear you drank an entire bottle of Vino while on DUTY!"
Ava sputtered, but was quick to retort. "Do I LOOK like I'm on duty?" She shouted in her half-drunken state, "I can't even get in trouble, I got suspended. Besides. I only drank half of it, you moron." she added indignantly.
She could tell almost instantly that she had gone too far. The hulk of a man's eyes blazed with hot anger, and he whirled around, dragging her by the collar of her hoodie.
"Allow me to illuminate you to the danger of your situation," he said, wrestling her down the corridor. "You killed a fellow soldier. You were caught using controlled substances while on probation for the murder of said soldier. Furthermore, you disrespected a superior!" He snarled.
"Guilty until proven innocent," Ava said grumpily. It was all she could come up with. After dragging her down long corridors, he finally shoved her into a large, dark, metal room. In the center, a tall, stainless steel apparatus, resembling scaffolding stood. Restraints were attached about six feet off the ground, and along the wall were whips of varying lengths. With a sick feeling, Ava realized what she was doing there.
--~---~----~----
Dilandau cracked his knuckles grumpily. They had found Zongi, and had their just revenge, but another factor he had not anticipated had managed to flounder: The White Dragon.
Of course, before Dilandau made waste of Zongi, he milked him for information. Apparently, Van's little concubine from the Mystic moon was psychic. Which was made apparent very quickly by her prompt arrival with Van.
Dilandau jumped down from his Guymelef with a growl. He hated how Van could just pop up and spoil his entire evening. Flanked by the others, Dilandau skulked through the hangar, loosening his gloves and running his fingers through his silky hair.
How is it that Van could stir up such emotion in him? Dilandau disregarded his frustrations at becoming an emotional prat, yet couldn't deny the complex role Van and Hitomi were starting to play in the grand scheme of things. Van was just the ignorant prince of one of many nations the Dragonslayers had managed to annihilate over the years, yet took on the both irritating and pompous role of global authority on Gaea. Bastard. And that woman, Dilandau thought. foreign, subservient and practically Fanel's slave. She follows him everywhere and can't even protect herself. Dilandau grunted in disapproval. Girls should be able to be more self sufficient, and not always be told what to do. Without thinking about it, Dilandau found his attentions wandering innocently towards Ava.
A peculiar prickling simmered up in his chest, and for the second time that afternoon, Dilandau berated himself for being an emotional fool.
The Dragonslayers had trickled away, one by one, to pursue their own interests for the evening, and Dilandau continued through the empty hall alone. Listening to the distant clapping of his boots on the hard marble floor, it suddenly occurred to him that it wasn't his boots making that noise at all. Noticing a distant light down a secondary corridor, he pursued the noise, lured by some unknown factor to identify the source of such a curious slapping.
He poked his head around the corner, and was all at once horrified. Four people stood in the room, none of them noticing his presence, all surrounding an odd, tall metal structure in the middle. The first two were General Adelphos and his right-hand man. Dilandau couldn't remember his name, but he was sure they were sleeping together. The Third was a hulking man with a slightly dark complexion, and he was brutally whipping the fourth: Ava. With her arms tied high above her head and the back of her shirt ripped clean off, revealing the bloodied proofs of the assailant's abuse. She hung limply, starting and crying out in agony with every passing blow. And it didn't look like he was letting up any time soon. Adelphos and his comrade merely looked on with veiled smugness.
--~--
The man whipping Ava let up for a moment, only to retrieve the tabernacle of vinegar he had stationed near the whip rack. He turned to splash it on the insolent girl's back, only to see a cold, steel blade pointed inches from his eye.
Dilandau Albatou. In his second of hesitation Dilandau wrenched the vinegar from his hand and sliced through the whip in one clear stroke, leaving the fat, blood-soaked leather rope lying on the floor between then. Behind him Ava moaned softly.
"How dare you." Was all he said, low and dangerous. "All of you!" he roared, spinning around to include Adelphos in his address. "Her punishment is not for you three to devide, and this brutal display of injustice and abuse of power will be brought before Lord Dornkirk,"
"And you," he said, eyes narrowing and pressing his index finger threateningly into the large man's chest. "You are dismissed. For good. Clear your belongings out of here before the hour is up, and I'll see that my sword doesn't make it's way to your balls. And next time you feel like taking on the cruel-and-unusual disciplinary responsibilities that far exceed your posts," Dilandau added dangerously, "DON'T."
He spun around to glower at Adelphos. "I'm discusted. You should know better than to make an example of a girl who is already seeing enough punishment for circumstances beyond her control." Adelphos blinked in mild surprise and irritation, although whether or not it was because of Dilandau's odd choice of syntax, he did not say.
Without another word, Dilandau gently undid the chains binding Ava to the scaffolding, careful not to brush the gaping sores on her exposed backside. She fell limply into his arms, and he hoised her up, carrying her through the door without another look at Adelphos and the others.
As they walked down the corridor silently, Ava seemed to come round, until the point she seemed fully lucid. Dilandau watched her rub her bloody wrists, raw from the cuffs. Her hair smelled like Lavender. "I think I can walk now" she said after a time, in a small voice. Dilandau set her down on her feet, and she tested her aching body warily. Once satisfied she was fit to walk, they continued at a less brusque pace down the corridor.
"I talked back to him," Ava offered suddenly, her voice echoing down the hallway. Dilandau looked sideways at her.
"What are you talking about?" He said, watching out of the corner of his eye as she tried to covertly position her shredded shirt so it still covered what she intended. Ava spilled the story, on her impertinence and the man's reaction.
"He was right to give you shit," Dilandau said when she had finished, "But he knew the laws of discipline and administration of. What I said to him was true." He said, sauntering onward.
Dilandau motioned to turn down the hospital wing, but Ava touched his elbow, stopping him. She looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Do I really need to see the Madoshi? They aren't that deep, look." She said, turning her bare back to him. Dilandau swallowed.
Ava was half right. None of them were that deep, but they still needed cleaning and treatment. When he said so, she turned back and counterpointed a bit nervously.
"I don't think I can handle seeing them," she said quietly, ringing her hands and looking at her feet. "After being.treated like that, I don't think I can leave myself.vulnerable to them right now."
Ordinarily Dilandau would have reprimanded his soldier and told them to quit whining, but seeing the pained and anxious look on her face somehow made him compliant. He sighed.
"Alright," he said. "But you can't ignore the cuts on your back. You need to get someone to have a look at them"
It was precisely at that moment where they passed the showers.
--~--
"Ouch!" Ava hissed. Dilandau applied the wet cloth to Ava's back once more, despite her complaining.
"Almost done," He said, marveling at the turn of events the evening had. Oddly enough, Dilandau offered to clean her up, so as to maintain her privacy and discretion regarding the evening's affairs, and Ava, looking mildy surprised, agreed. She sat now, before him, modestly covering her chest with a clean fluffy towel, and Dilandau sitting crosswise on the bench behind her.
Ava shuddered underneath his touch, and he worked in silence for a few minutes.
"Did you find Zongi?" Ava asked, looking out the corner of her eye over her shoulder at him.
"Yes. He's dead now." Dilandau said with relish.
"Doesn't Folken give you shit for that kind of stuff?" she asked, curious.
"Nah, he has a weird way about vendettas. Besides, he can't resist my devastating charm," he said cheekily. Ava giggled. Dilandau's gaze wandered to her exposed side, the porcelain skin the near-perfect counterpart to his own. He shook his head, then started wrapping gauze around her torso, passing the roll to Ava when it had to wrap 'round the front.
Finished, Ava groaned and stood up, wrapping the towel around her chest in lieu of a shirt, then turned to Dilandau. She looked up at him, seeing as how he towered over her, and she looked, for one of the first times Dilandau could remember, a bit uncomfortable.
"Listen, I want to just say.thanks. Thank you for looking out for me." She said, regaining a bit of confidence, flickering her gaze up at him, mere inches away. Dilandau swallowed a lump in his throat. He could see that she didn't just mean tonight. He leaned forward slowly.
"It's what I'm here for." he murmured, Ava leaning to meet him. Closer, closer..
"Lord Dilandau?"
Ava and Dilandau rocketed apart like opposing magnets. Chesta appeared at the end of the locker row, saw them, and hurried over, bowing hastily.
"I just received word from Lord Folken. He wants to discuss something with you, something General Adelphos said."
Dilandau grumbled tiredly, muttering a few curses under his breath. "Very well. I'm on my way," he said, propelling himself towards the door. See that you two get some rest. We are going to Godashim tomorrow." Ava knew that she wasn't included in that 'we', but all the same was concerned about what Adelphos had said to Folken. After all, it was Dilandau who had interefered and threatened him, and he wasn't likely to get off without a proverbial slap on the wrist. Nevertheless, Chesta turned to her, looking inquisitively at her bandages.
"Don't ask," she said grumpily, starting back for the dorms. "Wouldn't dream of it." was Chesta's reply, before stepping into pace with her. "So, since we off'ed Zongi and everyone's been down in the dumps since Miguel's..well. you know, and you're in shit with the company, we've decided to host a little shindig in our honor" Chesta went on, pushing open the door to the common room. Inside were all the Dragonslayers, dressed down and ready to party. Piles of food were stationed around the room, a game of poker was being conducted at a big oaken table near the massive windows, and Gatti and Guimel were hauling a heavy looking crate away from the open air duct.
"Fancy doing a liquor run with us, Ava?" Guimel said brazenly, leaning on the crate and grinning ear to ear. Ava looked at his and Gatti's dusty clothes, the open air duct, and put two and two together.
"Adelphos' wine cellar?" she asked, and got two grinning nods in response. "I'm with you."
--------------~----------~-------------
Whew, that chappie was a long time coming. Please R&R of course. Credits: Chapter name comes from a hat I saw some guy wearing at Cowboy's. Doesn't make sense, but it spoke to my heart.
NEXT CHAPTER: Things start to get ugly, Escaflowne style. (not that they weren't already ugly..things get UGLIER!)
Mailing list: if you would like to be notified upon the updating of this here fic, please INDICATE so, and leave your email addy. Merci.
Anyway, since I know how frustrating it is to follow a long fanfic, then to have the author not spew any new material for a while, only to make a comeback in which you can't remember ANYTHING that happened prior, I will give everyone a nice little summary:
Ava. Young girl. Sold by her father into Zaibach, enrolled as a dragonslayer, with special fringe benefits (ie, special ops training w/ Folken.) Ava grows up a little, gets pretty darn good at the soldier thing, then is suddenly sent to Earth. A few years pass, and that zany Ava finds herself back on Gaea. Everyone's older, hotter, full o' hormones. Events within the Escaflowne TV series start to come to pass, and most recently, Ava was raped by the horrid fellow DS Ryoun, and accidentally kills him (not that the little bastard didn't deserve it). She gets suspended from the DS, and Miguel dies.
Anyway, be good kids, and enjoy!
-----~---~---~----~----~----~
Chapter 14: S&M Bikes
--~---~----~----~----~----~---
Ava's head reeled. Miguel was dead, and not even at the hands of an enemy. He was killed by one of Zaibach's own. Ava happened to be there when Dilandau found out about Zongi's responsibility. It was one of the oddest sights she'd ever seen; he didn't even slap the paige who had delivered the message. He just sat there in his throne, fuming for the longest time. Then, suddenly, he stood up, and commanded the Dragonslayers to follow.
That struck Ava even harder. She could hang out in the main hall, so long as nobody 'knew' she was there (although, Guimel had made an obscene gesture to her in the shadowed corner she was 'hiding' in), but Ava was still suspended from the Dragonslayers. She couldn't wear the uniform, couldn't participate. She watched them file into the hangar from her spot, curled up on the windowsill with a half-empty Vino bottle.
They had been gone hours, and she still hadn't moved. Snuggling further under the blanket, she stared out the window into the twilight highlands. She found herself thinking of her father, remembering the papery quality of his skin, the talc-smell of his hair, his way of cracking her on the knuckles when she made a mistake in swordsmanship. It was odd, she thought, how her perception of him had evolved. She had been incomparably furious with him long after she was in the dragonslayers, never forgiving him for sending her away, or for getting sick. Then, that all changed. When she was whisked off to the Mystic Moon, these intense feelings of resentment has somehow dissipated; it was not until she was away from Zaibach did she realize how important to her it was. Now, she needed to be back there, and in this, her convictions just didn't hold the same gusto. He had given her a life he couldn't have provided for her.
I wonder where he is right now, she thought.
"What is that?"
Ava jumped. She hadn't heard any one come up, let alone this large, menacing man she saw before her.
"What are you on about?" She asked indolently, and was met with a meaty hand grasping the neck of her hoodie and wrenching her to her feet. She heard the Vino bottle shatter, as she was forced face-to-face with the rhinoceros of a man. His hot breath smelled sour.
"Out for a nightcap? All you had to do was ask, and I would have shared. Now look what you have gone and done." He shook her, hard.
"Watch your mouth, you impertinent cunt! Learn some respect for your superiors. General Adelphos would be interested to hear you drank an entire bottle of Vino while on DUTY!"
Ava sputtered, but was quick to retort. "Do I LOOK like I'm on duty?" She shouted in her half-drunken state, "I can't even get in trouble, I got suspended. Besides. I only drank half of it, you moron." she added indignantly.
She could tell almost instantly that she had gone too far. The hulk of a man's eyes blazed with hot anger, and he whirled around, dragging her by the collar of her hoodie.
"Allow me to illuminate you to the danger of your situation," he said, wrestling her down the corridor. "You killed a fellow soldier. You were caught using controlled substances while on probation for the murder of said soldier. Furthermore, you disrespected a superior!" He snarled.
"Guilty until proven innocent," Ava said grumpily. It was all she could come up with. After dragging her down long corridors, he finally shoved her into a large, dark, metal room. In the center, a tall, stainless steel apparatus, resembling scaffolding stood. Restraints were attached about six feet off the ground, and along the wall were whips of varying lengths. With a sick feeling, Ava realized what she was doing there.
--~---~----~----
Dilandau cracked his knuckles grumpily. They had found Zongi, and had their just revenge, but another factor he had not anticipated had managed to flounder: The White Dragon.
Of course, before Dilandau made waste of Zongi, he milked him for information. Apparently, Van's little concubine from the Mystic moon was psychic. Which was made apparent very quickly by her prompt arrival with Van.
Dilandau jumped down from his Guymelef with a growl. He hated how Van could just pop up and spoil his entire evening. Flanked by the others, Dilandau skulked through the hangar, loosening his gloves and running his fingers through his silky hair.
How is it that Van could stir up such emotion in him? Dilandau disregarded his frustrations at becoming an emotional prat, yet couldn't deny the complex role Van and Hitomi were starting to play in the grand scheme of things. Van was just the ignorant prince of one of many nations the Dragonslayers had managed to annihilate over the years, yet took on the both irritating and pompous role of global authority on Gaea. Bastard. And that woman, Dilandau thought. foreign, subservient and practically Fanel's slave. She follows him everywhere and can't even protect herself. Dilandau grunted in disapproval. Girls should be able to be more self sufficient, and not always be told what to do. Without thinking about it, Dilandau found his attentions wandering innocently towards Ava.
A peculiar prickling simmered up in his chest, and for the second time that afternoon, Dilandau berated himself for being an emotional fool.
The Dragonslayers had trickled away, one by one, to pursue their own interests for the evening, and Dilandau continued through the empty hall alone. Listening to the distant clapping of his boots on the hard marble floor, it suddenly occurred to him that it wasn't his boots making that noise at all. Noticing a distant light down a secondary corridor, he pursued the noise, lured by some unknown factor to identify the source of such a curious slapping.
He poked his head around the corner, and was all at once horrified. Four people stood in the room, none of them noticing his presence, all surrounding an odd, tall metal structure in the middle. The first two were General Adelphos and his right-hand man. Dilandau couldn't remember his name, but he was sure they were sleeping together. The Third was a hulking man with a slightly dark complexion, and he was brutally whipping the fourth: Ava. With her arms tied high above her head and the back of her shirt ripped clean off, revealing the bloodied proofs of the assailant's abuse. She hung limply, starting and crying out in agony with every passing blow. And it didn't look like he was letting up any time soon. Adelphos and his comrade merely looked on with veiled smugness.
--~--
The man whipping Ava let up for a moment, only to retrieve the tabernacle of vinegar he had stationed near the whip rack. He turned to splash it on the insolent girl's back, only to see a cold, steel blade pointed inches from his eye.
Dilandau Albatou. In his second of hesitation Dilandau wrenched the vinegar from his hand and sliced through the whip in one clear stroke, leaving the fat, blood-soaked leather rope lying on the floor between then. Behind him Ava moaned softly.
"How dare you." Was all he said, low and dangerous. "All of you!" he roared, spinning around to include Adelphos in his address. "Her punishment is not for you three to devide, and this brutal display of injustice and abuse of power will be brought before Lord Dornkirk,"
"And you," he said, eyes narrowing and pressing his index finger threateningly into the large man's chest. "You are dismissed. For good. Clear your belongings out of here before the hour is up, and I'll see that my sword doesn't make it's way to your balls. And next time you feel like taking on the cruel-and-unusual disciplinary responsibilities that far exceed your posts," Dilandau added dangerously, "DON'T."
He spun around to glower at Adelphos. "I'm discusted. You should know better than to make an example of a girl who is already seeing enough punishment for circumstances beyond her control." Adelphos blinked in mild surprise and irritation, although whether or not it was because of Dilandau's odd choice of syntax, he did not say.
Without another word, Dilandau gently undid the chains binding Ava to the scaffolding, careful not to brush the gaping sores on her exposed backside. She fell limply into his arms, and he hoised her up, carrying her through the door without another look at Adelphos and the others.
As they walked down the corridor silently, Ava seemed to come round, until the point she seemed fully lucid. Dilandau watched her rub her bloody wrists, raw from the cuffs. Her hair smelled like Lavender. "I think I can walk now" she said after a time, in a small voice. Dilandau set her down on her feet, and she tested her aching body warily. Once satisfied she was fit to walk, they continued at a less brusque pace down the corridor.
"I talked back to him," Ava offered suddenly, her voice echoing down the hallway. Dilandau looked sideways at her.
"What are you talking about?" He said, watching out of the corner of his eye as she tried to covertly position her shredded shirt so it still covered what she intended. Ava spilled the story, on her impertinence and the man's reaction.
"He was right to give you shit," Dilandau said when she had finished, "But he knew the laws of discipline and administration of. What I said to him was true." He said, sauntering onward.
Dilandau motioned to turn down the hospital wing, but Ava touched his elbow, stopping him. She looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Do I really need to see the Madoshi? They aren't that deep, look." She said, turning her bare back to him. Dilandau swallowed.
Ava was half right. None of them were that deep, but they still needed cleaning and treatment. When he said so, she turned back and counterpointed a bit nervously.
"I don't think I can handle seeing them," she said quietly, ringing her hands and looking at her feet. "After being.treated like that, I don't think I can leave myself.vulnerable to them right now."
Ordinarily Dilandau would have reprimanded his soldier and told them to quit whining, but seeing the pained and anxious look on her face somehow made him compliant. He sighed.
"Alright," he said. "But you can't ignore the cuts on your back. You need to get someone to have a look at them"
It was precisely at that moment where they passed the showers.
--~--
"Ouch!" Ava hissed. Dilandau applied the wet cloth to Ava's back once more, despite her complaining.
"Almost done," He said, marveling at the turn of events the evening had. Oddly enough, Dilandau offered to clean her up, so as to maintain her privacy and discretion regarding the evening's affairs, and Ava, looking mildy surprised, agreed. She sat now, before him, modestly covering her chest with a clean fluffy towel, and Dilandau sitting crosswise on the bench behind her.
Ava shuddered underneath his touch, and he worked in silence for a few minutes.
"Did you find Zongi?" Ava asked, looking out the corner of her eye over her shoulder at him.
"Yes. He's dead now." Dilandau said with relish.
"Doesn't Folken give you shit for that kind of stuff?" she asked, curious.
"Nah, he has a weird way about vendettas. Besides, he can't resist my devastating charm," he said cheekily. Ava giggled. Dilandau's gaze wandered to her exposed side, the porcelain skin the near-perfect counterpart to his own. He shook his head, then started wrapping gauze around her torso, passing the roll to Ava when it had to wrap 'round the front.
Finished, Ava groaned and stood up, wrapping the towel around her chest in lieu of a shirt, then turned to Dilandau. She looked up at him, seeing as how he towered over her, and she looked, for one of the first times Dilandau could remember, a bit uncomfortable.
"Listen, I want to just say.thanks. Thank you for looking out for me." She said, regaining a bit of confidence, flickering her gaze up at him, mere inches away. Dilandau swallowed a lump in his throat. He could see that she didn't just mean tonight. He leaned forward slowly.
"It's what I'm here for." he murmured, Ava leaning to meet him. Closer, closer..
"Lord Dilandau?"
Ava and Dilandau rocketed apart like opposing magnets. Chesta appeared at the end of the locker row, saw them, and hurried over, bowing hastily.
"I just received word from Lord Folken. He wants to discuss something with you, something General Adelphos said."
Dilandau grumbled tiredly, muttering a few curses under his breath. "Very well. I'm on my way," he said, propelling himself towards the door. See that you two get some rest. We are going to Godashim tomorrow." Ava knew that she wasn't included in that 'we', but all the same was concerned about what Adelphos had said to Folken. After all, it was Dilandau who had interefered and threatened him, and he wasn't likely to get off without a proverbial slap on the wrist. Nevertheless, Chesta turned to her, looking inquisitively at her bandages.
"Don't ask," she said grumpily, starting back for the dorms. "Wouldn't dream of it." was Chesta's reply, before stepping into pace with her. "So, since we off'ed Zongi and everyone's been down in the dumps since Miguel's..well. you know, and you're in shit with the company, we've decided to host a little shindig in our honor" Chesta went on, pushing open the door to the common room. Inside were all the Dragonslayers, dressed down and ready to party. Piles of food were stationed around the room, a game of poker was being conducted at a big oaken table near the massive windows, and Gatti and Guimel were hauling a heavy looking crate away from the open air duct.
"Fancy doing a liquor run with us, Ava?" Guimel said brazenly, leaning on the crate and grinning ear to ear. Ava looked at his and Gatti's dusty clothes, the open air duct, and put two and two together.
"Adelphos' wine cellar?" she asked, and got two grinning nods in response. "I'm with you."
--------------~----------~-------------
Whew, that chappie was a long time coming. Please R&R of course. Credits: Chapter name comes from a hat I saw some guy wearing at Cowboy's. Doesn't make sense, but it spoke to my heart.
NEXT CHAPTER: Things start to get ugly, Escaflowne style. (not that they weren't already ugly..things get UGLIER!)
Mailing list: if you would like to be notified upon the updating of this here fic, please INDICATE so, and leave your email addy. Merci.