The Magicians' Realm Chapter 28: Longevity, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Chapter 28, everybody! In which thieves climb down chimneys and longevity is discussed….They reference the Aesop "The Fox and the Grapes" in the parlor, by the by.

Angiembabe, thanks for the review! Really? Glad I got it accurate then—I think the closest we ever got to a tour was an audio option on the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor (which obviously wasn't a very memorable audio if it was ^^;). There may have been a reason we never go on tours, come to think of it….Too true, too true….Good question…and yes, that was—the offices from Spy Kids 2 might be a good comparison for what Administrator offices look like. ^^

Fromtheashtrees, thanks for the review! Ah, good to know. :D I know…and wow—maybe you have super spider-deflecting powers. *-* Yes it does—I was just listening to a Craig Ferguson video in which Craig was complaining about how his bag somehow got from New York to Cyprus on a flight to Scotland. It is nice…wait, chickenpox? That's kind of like my Dad, actually (the sleeping, not the chickenpox). Oog, yeah, much longer than ours—plus we spent a week in the southern California area, so there wasn't as much jet lag. Ah, a pity….

References:

Original characters + setting © Kineil D. Wicks (myself, not the girl in the story)

Yami headed for the front door, starting to panic slightly now. He was seriously running out of options here—boredom was breathing down his neck, and right behind it…blech, chores.

He wasn't so out of it, however, that he failed to notice a noise coming from the parlor.

Yami grimaced slightly, opened the door, and crossed the room briskly, sticking his head up the chimney once he did.

"Bakura!" he hollered up. "Get back down here and put back whatever you snitched!"

"Do you have to insult me?" Bakura asked, sliding back down the chimney, soot noticeable on his pale skin and white hair but not on his dark clothes. "I do have a respectable job as a chimney sweep, I'll have you know!"

Yami simply glared at him.

Bakura relented, reaching into a pocket and producing a pocket watch. "It's not to my taste, anyway."

"And neither are sour grapes just out of reach," Yami said, examining the watch; it was his father's, and would explain why he was still looking for it this morning.

"Ah, cheers. By the by, I hear you have some sour grapes of your own."

"Fine, rub it in."

Bakura was grinning now, currently the only clean part on him. "Certainly! How much entertainment do you think it gives me to know that I, a lowly thief and chimney sweep, have the exact same status as the son of the Head Mage!"

"Since when did you ever term yourself as a lowly thief?" Yami asked, ignoring the jibe for now—his mom wouldn't like him getting soot or blood on the carpet. "I thought you always bragged about having royal blood."

"I can trace my lineage back to the Thief King himself."

"That's not exactly royalty."

"It's not like you have room to be critical, oh un-promoted one."

Yami decided it might be worth having to clean the parlor. It must have reflected on his face, because Bakura backtracked quickly. "Such a pity," the thief posed. "That you don't know a thief who might sneak into the Administration Building and steal something for you."

Yami felt an eye twitch. What? "Please, you couldn't get within a thousand miles of their Restricted Section."

"You underestimate me—you know I can be quite slippery when I want to be."

It would explain how a teen a head taller than Yami could still eke up and down a chimney. "I'm thinking more along the lines of the spells put in place there that vaporize any unauthorized personnel."

Bakura blinked. "That…would be a problem."

"See? Give it up, Bakura."

"I will when you do. Where are you going, exactly?"

"Taking this," Yami said, holding the watch up. "To Dad. Thank you, Bakura—you've given me the perfect excuse to get in there."

*\*/*

Teana's departure from her morning job was quickly intercepted by Yami Skellington swooping out of nowhere (not literally, thank goodness) and turning her from her intended destination by an arm draped around her shoulder.

"Miss Gardenier so nice to see you I was hoping you'd acquiesce to a luncheon—"

"What are you doing?" Teana asked—Yami's statement sounded like it had all been in one breath.

"I figured if I asked fast enough, you wouldn't have the chance to turn me down."

"That's not endearing."

"It was worth a shot."

"Ask me properly."

"All right." He stepped in front of her and bowed deeply, prompting her to look around in embarrassment. A few people noticed, but none seemed concerned—it worried her that this might be a normal thing for Yami. Or at least, as close to normal as he got. "Miss Gardenier, would you please do me the honor of gracing me with your presence over a luncheon? And maybe for a few hours after that?"

"I have work," she told him. "Why don't you luncheon with your normal little troupe?"

Yami straightened up and looked around, confused. "I have one of those?"

"Yes—Hephaestus, Vulcan, Kineil—those three."

"Oh," Yami said, looking back to her. "They're busy with some new contraption of the boys'."

"What is it?"

"Something with gears in it."

She waited for elaboration before realizing it wasn't forthcoming. "You don't know what they're working on, do you?"

"Not really….No wait, yes I do—they're working on a car."

"It took you that long to remember?" she asked, then flapped her hands at him. "No wait—never mind. I feel better not knowing how incompetent our politicians are."

"Ouch," Yami noised.

She turned to walk down the street and away from him—

And bumped into a lady.

"Oh, hi Teana!" the lady chirped.

"Hi?" Teana noised.

"Idgy, remember?"

"Oh…right….Now I do—sorry."

"It's all right—it might be the hat; they can be distracting. I just bought this one—what do you think?"

"It's nice," Teana noised. "Very…bird-ish."

"Thanks! So what are you up to?"

"I was hoping to take Miss Gardenier to lunch," Yami announced, as though she had been asking him. "But it seems I've gone and irritated her again."

"To be fair, you have a real talent for it," Teana told him.

"Glad to know I'm good for something. Would you like to join us, Idgy? Or, join me—I get the feeling Miss Gardenier is preparing to make a break for it."

"Go with that feeling."

"I'd love to, but Skul is coming and picking me up," Idgy said. Then, to Teana: "Oh hey—have you seen his car yet?"

Teana blinked. "He has a car?" Cars were pretty expensive—very few people in Delvaire even owned one.

"Yep—just make a passing comment about it. He'll talk your ear off describing it in loving detail."

She wouldn't mind that—she didn't know anybody who owned a car—

Wait….

She turned to Yami once more. "What you said earlier—those three are working on a car?"

"They're building it from scratch," Yami said. "Kineil designed the general look, but the boys are the ones building it."

"Do you have any idea how expensive those are? Where are they getting the money?"

"They put it on my tab."

"Do I dare ask where you get the money?"

"Hey, you live long enough, your money gathers interest."

"And how long is that?"

"Why do I feel like I'm getting the third degree?"

Teana glanced at Idgy, who shrugged.

"I hear Magicians live for millennia," Teana persisted.

"That's an exaggeration! Which one is 'millennia' again?" he asked Idgy.

"That's the thousand-year one," Idgy told him.

"Oh. Okay, so it's not that big an exaggeration…."

Teana stared. "Okay, I think it's about time you share how you people live so long."

"Diet and exercise?"

"I don't think so."

"Clean healthy living?"

"Yami," Idgy chided.

"Fine—magic," Yami admitted. "Regular use of magic keeps a person young, and a person with strong enough magic can stay the same age indefinitely, even without the use of magic."

"And when were you planning on sharing this information?" Teana asked.

"Why would I?"

"Ooh, this isn't going to end well," Idgy hissed, holding her hat in front of her face.

"I don't have magic," Teana declared. "Think about that for a minute—let it sink in."

Yami glanced at Idgy, who was shuffling away. "I hate to say it, but I think I'm missing something…."

"Let me be blunt then—I'll be dead and in the ground and you'll still be looking the same as you do now."

His expression told her that this hadn't even remotely occurred to him.

She nodded to Idgy as she left. "It was nice seeing you again."

And then she walked off as briskly as she could manage.