Disclaimer - Tals of Symphonia and its characters are property of Namco
Unprofessional Behaviour - Chapter Two
'Tell me, B-Man' Zelos crowed by way of greeting as he sauntered into the well-kept office 'what happens when the Boss is away?' Botta looked up with a grin at his friends' unscheduled arrival.
'He leaves me in command and I keep the base running at normal capacity' the tall man replied, confused 'you know that' Zelos sighed loudly, shaking his head as he strolled across the room
'C'mon, man we talked about this. When the Boss is away the men will play' the red head insisted 'now, where's Yuan's hooch cabinet, I know he's got one somewhere…' he began rooting shamelessly through the office while Botta looked on disapprovingly.
'Zelos, he's been gone less than an hour' the Second-in-Command reprimanded as the Chosen continued his search 'do you really intend to-'
'Booyah!' Zelos exclaimed, having located a large bottle of deep red liquid 'bet you thought the Boss was squeaky clean didn't ya' he added, getting in the larger man's personal space and was subsequently shoved away.
'Zelos, I have a lot of work to do' Botta said sternly, although his lips twitched at his friends antics, belying his all-business demeanour. The red head fished out a pair of glasses from a second cupboard and set them on the polished desk, overriding Botta's half hearted protest.
'Yeah, yeah, I'm sure whatever is you're doing is…' the red head snaked a hand across the desk and returned with one of the documents spread out across the surface before Botta could stop him. His eyes briefly scanned the top of the page.
'Personnel schedules? Really?' Zelos laughed as the large man's pointed ears took on a reddened tint, as they were prone to do when he was flustered or embarrassed.
'I thought you were planning an invasion or something' he sniggered as Botta swiped the timetable back with a glare.
'Fine. You caught me' the burly man admitted, rumbled 'there is literally nothing to do around here; Yuan finished all the paperwork before he left. Not that I'm complaining of course. I hate desk work' his eyes suddenly widened in comprehension 'that's why he always puts me on admin duty when he's off base! He's fucking with me!' As the man ranted, Zelos was trying desperately to school his features. He knew full well why Yuan tortured Botta with paperwork every few months and wasn't sure that the large man could handle the cold hard truth, that Yuan found it hilarious.
'Wow. Yuan the Prankster… who would have ever guessed?' Zelos hedged, reigning in his laughter at his friend's outraged expression. Sensing an opportunity, the red head went in for the kill. 'If only we had something of his we could pay him back in kind for this treachery…' no sooner than the words were out of his mouth, Botta grabbed the previously forgotten bottle of wine off the table and, fuelled by his sudden indignation, swatted the cork off with a meaty hand and took a long drink. Zelos applauded.
'That's the spirit champ, its about time you let your, ah, hair down? The red head smirked, eying Botta's twin peaks of spiky brown hair. The large man cast him a withering look.
'Ha, ha' he deadpanned, tipping the bottle over the two glasses, pouring a small amount in each, enough for two friends to enjoy a casual drink, but not enough to risk thoroughly pissing off his Boss. Botta was…cagey like that. Zelos accepted his glass with a smirk which, after a few seconds, the broad man returned, reaching over to clink the two glasses together in a companionable manner, the soft, civilised sound setting the tone for what was intended to be a laid-back evening for the two men.
Zelos looked up from his hand at Botta, who was studying his own set of cards closely, his lips pursed and brow furrowed in concentration. With a mismatch of colours and suits clenched in his fingers, the red head knew he was screwed. Again. Botta had made up for his complete lack of understanding of the game with an offensively powerful streak of luck. Eying his large friend, the swordsman weighed his options. Raising was definitely out; he had already emptied his pockets of gald in several misguided attempts at recouping his losses. The brown haired man had also shown a near impervious immunity against his bluffs; however… he really, really didn't want to have to fold. Again. His erroneous reasoning that an outright loss was better than folding on his own terms was something he would later put down to the second glass of extremely strong wine he had wheedled from the Second in Command, who was taking measured sips from his own glass with no visible signs of becoming intoxicated. Taking a discreet (he hoped) breath, Zelos began what he hoped would turn into the gambling comeback of the century.
'I've got you by the balls this time, hot shot' he boasted with a confident smirk 'you might as well just-'
'Raise' Botta grunted, his eyes never leaving his cards, tossing another handful of gald into the middle of the desk where it lay as a mockery to the younger man's meagre reserves. The smirk slid quickly from Zelos face.
'Raise?' Zelos asked, deflating rapidly
'Raise' Botta repeated, looking up with an amused expression. Zelos looked back at him, his eyes narrowing with suspicion, his slightly hazy mind putting two and two together and realising, at last, that he had been had.
'Never played before, huh?' he hissed, tossing his cards onto the desk in full admission of defeat, but his expression clearly said that he wasn't going down gracefully 'I bet you thought that was real funny, huh? Show me again what makes a winning hand, Zelos, I don't quite follow' he growled in a fair mimicry of Botta's deep, gravely voice. The only response from the con man himself was a booming laugh.
'I play a few rounds every fortnight with the other officers. It's not a bad way to make a tidy profit' Botta informed his dismayed colleague with an air of nonchalance 'by the way, I'm awesome' he added with a cocky grin of his own. Zelos drained his glass in displeasure.
'I don't want to play anymore' he growled petulantly, glaring helplessly as Botta made a show of gleefully counting his winnings
'This is more like it' Zelos grinned, and with a lazy flick of his wrist, sent another playing card spinning across the length of the room where it landed perfectly inside the visor of an upturned standard-issue helmet alongside the previous twenty or so cards that came before it. His brief elation was cut short when a card smacked into his cheek. Glancing at the source he immediately saw that dexterity was not one of Botta's strong suits. The landing places of the larger man's thrown cards had been distributed between the desk surface, the floor, the bookcase to their immediate right and, somehow, jammed in his hair.
'Damn it' Botta growled as another card went fluttering to the office floor 'damn it' Zelos ducked as the next card went rouge. His final attempt curved in a near perfect arc and impossibly smacked into his forehead 'Damn it!' he roared in frustration.
'Having trouble, chief?' Zelos smirked, infinitely more comfortable now he wasn't losing money, throwing up his hands to block the remaining handful of cards Botta threw at him in aggravation. Trying to stifle his laughter, he moved around the room picking up the scattered cards while his friend stalked back behind the desk and top up the two glasses with the potent alcohol. Settling back in their seats the two men relaxed into a companionable silence. Zelos stacked the playing cards at the edge of the desk and began to build a pyramid, two cards at a time, while Botta watched. While the younger man worked at his task with surprising concentration, the Second in Command was reminded of the young prodigy Yuan had brought back with him all those years ago from his annual meeting with Yggdrassil. The young red head had sat at this very desk with a book of math problems, working diligently while Yuan and himself had stood a ways off discussing the sudden murder of the boy's mother and subsequent protection program. He smiled softly at the memory. Zelos had always had a fascination with numbers, something that had remained with him as he grew into adulthood. He shook his head, clearing his head of his brief lapse into memory and looked across the desk at Zelos, who was looking rather proud of his finished card pyramid. Catching the swordsman's eye, Botta gave him an wicked grin and gripped the edge of the desk with his large hands. Guessing his intent, Zelos frowned.
'Don't even think-' was all he got out before a light shake of the wood brought his masterpiece crumbling down to ground level. 'You are such a dick' the red head muttered, folding his arms like a child that had been denied a treat. Botta's booming laughter bounced off the walls of the office and he reached over the large desk to ruffle Zelos' hair with a large hand, something he used to do when the Chosen was much younger.
'You'll get over it, kid' he said gruffly, smirking when his friend brought up his own gloved hands to repair the damage done to his formerly flawless hair.
'You haven't called me that in a few years, old man' Zelos replied, sipping the last of his wine and debating with himself whether he could be bothered with making another card castle.
'Yeah, well, you're always going to be one to me' Botta resolved, tossing back his own glass, sighing in contentment 'another?' he asked, reaching for the bottle where there was still half of the red liquid remaining.
'Why, not' Zelos shrugged, eying the alcohol as the spiky haired man poured it into his waiting glass 'this stuff isn't that strong anyway, its no wonder Yuan never drank it, huh?' Botta hummed in agreement and the two men clinked their glasses together once more. Hindsight and the world's two largest hangovers would later kindly inform both men just how misinformed they were.
Thank you for reading (and reviewing, to those that did so last time)
The next chapter will be up soon. I'm undecided if it will be the last one for this story, or whether I should extend it as I have plenty more plot ideas involving these Yuan, Botta and Zelos. Suggestions are welcome. Thanks again.