Chapter XVI. Passerine & Canary
In the middle of the night, Frollo was alone in the living room. He raised his hand to the air, clutching a zip-lock bag filled with powder crystals that gleamed with a sky-blue hue. When Frollo blocked the ceiling lights, the sky-blue hue of the crystals diminished, yet their translucency remained intact.
Such a beauty. It's a shame how many lives it destroyed in these twenty years, from the young men on the battlefield to the young women pondering in a bar-why are the young always the victims in this story?
Frollo had seen it, combat medics would inject it into some wounded soldiers to ease the pain. It was the newest analgesic back then until reports surfaced, suggesting that its consumption could potentially distort the users' perception of reality. Then it somehow was sold in a local bar in San Francisco, California, for both party-goes and the "preys".
They called it "Blue Passerine" back when he was still in the military since they claimed it granted the ability to hear enchanting and ethereal songs of otherworldly beings.
It had to be it, the victim of Hades' brother claimed to mistake him as her husband. "It was like in ecstasy, until my husband came into the bedroom, confused by me recalling the scene," according to one of the meetings with the lawyer and Hades. The toxicant reports were conducted approximately 16 hours after her going to the bar-when most of the Blue Passerine was metabolized in the circulatory system.
Frollo put down the zip-lock bag, next to his laptop were some pieces of paper. Episode 16 of "Replica But Disastrous" was on the screen, accompanied by the bug system's program icon nestled in the taskbar. It was a great show, Frollo thought to himself. He found it interesting to witness the duo's growth in comedic skills, editing prowess, and on-screen chemistry-It served as a clever front for Frollo's covert bugging program as well.
Mostly, Hades would spend his time swimming alone, indulging in VHS tapes of comedy shows, or blasting music at maximum volume. Lately, his retirement schedule would be disrupted either by his lawyer or his brother, prompting Frollo to turn up the volume on the program.
He knew when the trial would begin, every detail of the charge as long as the lawyer mentioned it...even Hades' testimony, Frollo probably could remember it better than Hades did.
-Did I do it for myself all alone, or did I do it because I truly want to help Jafar and Hades?
Frollo blinked and went on packing the paper and the zip-lock bag into an envelope, which already had the address of the District Attorney written.
It was just like "Replica But Disastrous," wasn't it? Jafar mused as the scarlet sunrise cast its radiant glow upon the golden casings on the wall.
"Here's the list of ingredients. Please cross-check with what we already have in the fridge, so we don't waste any food." Frollo handed Jafar a shopping list, "I strongly suggest you host the party in the kitchen so that I can have a say in the doneness of my own patties. I understand that you've hosted 'Replica But Disastrous' in your studio, and you might want to recreate those memories. However, for safety reasons...don't."
"Don't worry, Hades had sabotaged the fire alarm in the studio long before we filmed episode 1," Jafar turned his stare at Frollo and slyly smiled, "That's why we could host the series without triggering the fire alarm."
"...May I beg your pardon? You...what?" Frollo replied in utter confusion.
"YEAH, MR HADES. YEAH, SCIENCE! HAHAHAHA!" Jafar ignored Frollo's concern and roared. The nostalgia was like a goblet of fine wine, it made him more expressive. Jafar noticed that Frollo had robbed the shopping list from his hand and added a line in the bottom-It read "fire extinguisher x 2".
"Next time I ever have the idea of having any dinner party with you two, just kill me," Frollo returned the shopping list.
And then Frollo drove Jafar to the supermarket for the dinner party tonight. Jafar argued that they didn't need that many vegetables a bit, to which Frollo decided to buy an extra half cabbage as retaliation.
It was around 1:00 pm after the shopping, Jafar grabbed some bacon as his lunch so he could make it to his pre-scheduled stream. Frollo said he had a hard time falling asleep last night, so he would like to catch up on some sleep back in the bedroom, which Jafar simply commented "Watch out for endocrine disorder, old man." and let the man be.
It was a fun PvP stream for Jafar. He was more of a movement mini-game guy, but he still found enjoyment in his tactic as hit and run. He might not be as skilful as real PvPers, but he could still time his attacks and blocks fairly decently.
"It's a blast today! Thank you for the stream, I hope you guys have a great day and a great night. See you!" Once Jafar ended the stream, he woke Frollo up to assist in setting up the dinner party within the studio (Yes, Frollo compromised regarding the place for the party). On the table, a picnic mat held piles of ingredients, including buns, uncooked patties, cheese, and sliced tomato. Frollo also arranged the electric grill and fire extinguishers in case Jafar somehow managed to burn the studio.
"Hades will come, right?" Jafar asked, placing a bottle of Coke on the table, "Dinner party IS originally his idea, after all."
"He said he just spotted the Honda logo at the car dealership, so..."
Not until Frollo finished the sentence did the doorbell ring. Jafar dashed toward the doorstep and opened the door, greeted by a grinning Hades wearing sunglasses and an Aloha shirt.
"...Oh come on, do my dorm look like a beach to you?" said Jafar as he rolled his eyes upon seeing Hades' outfit, to which Hades just replied by adjusting his sunglasses.
"No, but you do-I'm just kidding, hey," Hades shrugged and stepped into the dorm, Jafar leading him to the studio where Frollo was awaiting.
"Frollo, what did you say to persuade Jafar against ordering Subway for today's party?" asked Hades as his fingers traced the plastic edge of the electric grill, "I am quite impressed... If only you had been one of us during the filming of that series, perhaps we wouldn't have had 'Disastrous' as an adjective in its title."
"Jafar was against ordering Subway, to be frank with you," Frollo replied, "He even said, 'No Subway. Not in my party in MY DORM.' Cough, yeah, I am not sure why he emphasized 'my dorm,' but that's that."
"Yeah, watch me build the most impressive burger you have ever seen, Hades," Jafar taunted as he wore the apron, "It's a death match, and you are outmatched."
"Bring it, you just threw the most original rhythm I've ever seen-'match' rhyme with 'outmatched', it's so creative," Hades raised his horned hand and shook his body, "Thank you, Tupac. You can't even match the part of speech in your diss track."
"Could you two just back down?" Frollo frowned as he just put his scarlet beef brisket on the grill, the golden and white cheese on the brisket just started melting.
"See? 'Back Down.' The man just threw a 50 Cent reference! 50 points to MC Frollo!" Hades pointed his finger at Frollo with one hand and pretended he was holding a mic with the other, "Or which stage name do you prefer? 50 Nerf Guns?"
"...Make your own burger, or I'll let the police ask your corpse 'Who shot you.'" Frollo focused on his grilled beef brisket and casually threw the threat.
After the dinner, the trio cleaned up the mess. There were only three paper cups of Coke on the table. Hades was scrolling his phone while Jafar traced his nails along the table, Frollo at the main seat between two men silently observing the scene unfold-In fact, Frollo drank the Coke like he was trying to drown himself in the sparkling beverage, just that the two were oblivious to Frollo's behaviour.
"Hey, if your precious table does not annoy you, how about stop messing with it?" Hades didn't even raise his head, he just kept scrolling and said, "And a friendly reminder, I bought this stupid table for filming your silly cooking show."
"Oh, it has been eight years. What a sturdy boy, considering he withstood your rather 'ruthless' cooking attempts on it," Jafar kept his nails on the edge of the table.
"Yeah, yeah, people who live in the glass houses shouldn't throw stones, Master Chef," Hades put down his phone and made a face, while Frollo next to him kept drinking Coke and listening to the argument.
"...You are the Master Chef, not me."
"Pardon?" Hades was not sure if he misheard Jafar, he realized Jafar placed his hand on the edge of his paper cup instead.
"I mean, you are the one developing better cooking skills after these years," Jafar stared at the ground since he was not used to praising others-it didn't come as naturally for him, "The only things I could confidently make now are instant noodles and fried chicken."
"I suppose there should be at least one of us remaining disastrous in terms of cooking to keep faithful to our series' title," but Hades didn't get the praise, he went on teasing Jafar, "It's fine though, you still have a dormmate who has at least some common sense."
"Well, did you have any common sense back then?" Jafar retaliated with a comeback, lowering his head to conceal any traces of emotions in his eyes. Those emotions which even he was uncertain of.
As he slowly came eye to eye with Hades, they burst out of laughter at the same time, even though there seemed to be tears in Jafar's eyes.
-Why did you leave back then? Are you still too cowardly to confess everything to me?
But Jafar swallowed those words. At least Hades was here with him, it was all he ever wanted.
He raised his paper cup and reached toward Hades, and Frollo finally stopped his sudden weird, reckless consumption of Coke.
"Cheer?" Jafar gestured. In response, Hades raised his paper cup with his pinky finger up and said, "Cheer."