Chapter 4, everybody! In which we meet this story's Joeys and Tristans…yes, in the plural sense. And a very familiar name pops up in this chapter as well—what? It has too nice of a ring to let it slide. ;)
On a side note, the boys violate a certain etiquette rule here—when it's a man and a woman, it's the woman's prerogative to shake hands. A man offering his hand for a woman to shake is considered bad form.
Thanks for the review, guest! Hope I continue to please! :D
Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! You didn't—for shame!...I kid, obviously—I figured you were busy (life happens). Insanely so—this first part is over 200 pages so far, and it isn't done. *~* Fortunately, the chapters are longer than I normally do, so there's more substance per update. :) Just keep plugging away—someday, you'll get to college, and have time to sleep. Unless you take it online—then there is no sleep. *-*
References:
Yu-Gi-Oh! © 1996 Kazuki Takahashi
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo (the stupid beak line is lifted from the Pokémon 2000 movie)
This was turning out to be a very good evening, so far as Yami was concerned.
He was absolutely thrilled to death that the girl from before had come to the Masquerade Ball. She had a fire in her that was very rare in anyone, and he found it very attractive.
Of course, she was possessing of the natural prejudice that most people had for magicians: she thought they were conniving selfish creatures that had no regard for anyone else.
Glancing over at the Administrators, he had to admit she had a point.
So it was going to be his job to show her otherwise.
*/*\*
This evening was shaping up to be very well so far, as far as Yami was concerned.
He had been afraid Anzu wouldn't show, and he hadn't planned on telling anyone until Yuki blurted it out at dinner last night. That meant that his parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents all expected him to bring a date, and hoped that he was perhaps starting to get serious about courting a girl.
He had magicked a huge spider into his brother's bed for that.
But all that was in the past now: Anzu had showed up, so the rest of the night was going to be a cinch.
He helped her to steer through the crowd until they got to someone he actually wanted to talk to.
"Honda! Jo! Howsit?"
Two boys turned to him from the buffet table. One was wearing what looked like a Thunder Dragon mask, while the other wore a mask that Yami recognized as a Red-Eyes beak.
Honda and Jonouchi, respectively, were two of his closest friends. As far as the Administration was concerned, the two of them together were about as magical as a lump of coal. As far as Yami was concerned, these two had a magic all their own. They were unnaturally gifted with all sorts of mechanical devices, and Yami had been bargaining with them to learn something of that art.
Honda extended his hand for Anzu to shake as Jonouchi greeted them.
"Yami!" Jonouchi said, lifting the beak to be more understandable. "Howzit?"
"It's fine," Yami said, waving slightly. "Jonouchi, Honda, this is Anzu. Anzu, these two are Jonouchi and Honda. Jo's the blonde with the beak, Honda's the brunette with the scales. Both are amazing with anything metal."
"Nah, above average," Jonouchi said, shaking her hand. Yami was pleased to see that Anzu was excited to meet them. Things were going great.
"Why did he call you Jo?" Anzu asked Jonouchi.
"Hey, you try fittin' 'Jonouchi' into a conversation fifty times," Jonouchi said with a toss of his head, which unfortunately brought the beak back down. Yami snickered as he heard Jonouchi mutter stupid beak.
"It's nice to meet you, Miss Anzu," Honda said, pulling his mask down to smile at her. Yes sir, things were going well tonight.
"So tell me," Anzu said as Jonouchi pulled the beak back up. "What exactly do you two do?"
"Not much of anything, to tell the truth."
"Scram, Kels," Jonouchi said, scowling as he looked down at another figure. Unfortunately, the action brought his beak back down in front of his face again.
"So you're Kels!" Anzu said, looking at the new arrival. "You're the one who said that Yami here has a big ego!"
"That I did," came from behind a parrot's head. A slender-fingered hand pushed it back to reveal a young woman's face. "And yes he does. I'm Kels, as you've said—now who are you?"
"I'm Anzu," Anzu said as she extended her hand for Kels to shake. Kels did so, but with a slightly suspicious look. This was the big test—if Kels didn't approve, things would quickly get miserable; she was much too opinionated for her own good.
"It's nice to meet you," Anzu continued, smiling slightly. Kels narrowed her eyes.
"Before I return the gesture, what are your intentions towards my friend?"
Anzu didn't miss a beat. "To try to keep his ego at the level it is now."
"Good answer," Kels said, smiling now. "Now, it's nice to meet you."
*\*/*
What am I doing? Teana thought as she let herself be led through the crowd. People were deep in their conversations, but they would move aside when they saw them coming. She wondered if this nutty magician was warding them off somehow.
His beaked head was turning back and forth like a weathervane at the moment, as though he were dowsing for something. She wondered if he could tell which way the wind blew if she put him outside.
"Ah," he noised, sounding like he recognized someone. He steered her over to a group of suits and made a greeting noise to attract their attention.
"I'd like you to meet Hephaestus Wheeler, Vulcan Taylor, and Kineil Wicks," he told her, tilting his beak towards her and then pointing it towards each respective suit.
Teana blinked, and not just at the odd names. They were two men and a woman, wearing dragon and owl masks, respectively. But they were the most intricate masks she had ever seen, strips of metal woven and bolted together to form a black dragon mask, a gold dragon mask, and a shining owl mask, respectively. The eyes were polished and burnished glass, hiding their real eyes, although their mouths were uncovered, showing their smiles.
Without the eyes to translate, Teana wasn't sure what to make of those smiles.
"Hi there!" the one called Hephaestus said, extending a hand; she accepted carefully. "It's nice to meet you, miss…?"
"I'm not in the habit of giving my name," Teana said primly; she guessed this had been a ploy by the magician named Yami to get her name.
"Miss Imnotinthehabitofgivingmyname," Hephaestus repeated, giving her a toothy grin beneath the black mask and impenetrable red eyes. "That's very interesting. Do you have a nickname?"
The girl in the owl mask—Kineil—put her hand to her face carefully, as if she wanted to slap her hand to her head but was afraid of damaging her mask.
"You are, the densest, man, I have ever met," she told him slowly. She turned to Teana. "You don't really believe that old wives' tale, do you?"
"You can't be too careful," Teana told her.
"If it were true, these two wouldn't be standing here," Kineil said, gesturing towards her comrades. "I've told them on more than one occasion to drop dead, and they haven't done it yet."
Yami's smooth voice cut through the responding remarks. "The basis for that tale comes from putting power into your words—kind of like your mom telling you to come here. Adding the name just directs it better; it doesn't matter if it's your real name or a nickname."
"That reminds me," Kineil said, pointing. "I still want you to teach me how to do that."
"Your glare does enough."
Teana saw the strips of metal around the glass eyes rotate—it took her a moment to realize that Kineil had rolled her eyes, and that the mask had shown that motion somehow. "No, my glare makes grown men writhe in pain. It doesn't make them do what I tell them to."
"What about that guy from last week?" Vulcan asked; twin sheathes of metal flitted across the glass eyes, simulating blinking.
"He doesn't count."
"Excuse me," Teana interrupted. "I hate to stop what I'm sure is a very powerful argument, but I have to ask: where did you get those masks?"
Hephaestus and Vulcan grinned.
"They made them themselves," Yami told her. "Hephaestus and Vulcan are known far and wide as the famed Mechanical Magicians—if it has gears or bolts or metal in it, they can work with it."
"I do the artsy part," Kineil interjected. "It gives it flair."
"How do they work?" Teana asked, genuinely intrigued.
"Well, Miss Imnotinthehabitofgivingmyname, I don't tell secrets to just anyone," Hephaestus said, grinning as he crossed his arms. "I have to be on a first-name basis with a person, at least."
Teana hesitated, and looked at Yami, still suspicious.
"Nothing's going to happen, I promise," he told her.
She narrowed her eyes.
"Cross my heart, hope to die, hope Kineil here hits me right in the eye," he added.
"With a frying pan," Kineil agreed, grinning.
Teana considered it. The lack of eye contact was unnerving, but there was something very open about these weird people….
She extended her hand to Hephaestus, who accepted.
"Teana," she told him.