Chapter 28: Day 19 Part 1 — Beauty and the Beast
*COCK A DOODLE DO*
*BEEP BEEP BEEP*
*Bark* *Bark*
*Meow*
Hassim was up first with the alarm.
Jerry just turned over. "Turn that off… man…" he mumbled.
Hassim discovered the smoker billowing at full force and Vegeta still in his butcher's clothes at the table dismembering a crocodile.
"You haven't slept, have you?"
"Nope."
"How many did you get?"
"Last one."
Hassim went to correct him, but then realized he was actually capable of killing every crocodile in the river in one night.
Hassim went back into the hive and grabbed his rug.
While Jerry was screaming being chased by chickens, Vegeta was yelling at the cats.
"Seriously? You won't eat the meat? That dog is eating it!"
Jerry slammed the gate behind him and caught his breath.
"Don't wrap yourselves around my legs! Sucking up to me isn't going to work. No, don't meow at me. No, turning over and showing your belly isn't going to work either."
Jerry walked around the unfinished hive into the center of camp looking into the blue bag.
"No, don't get your children involved. Stop teaching them bad manners!"
"Nine eggs, sweet!" Jerry said. "Makes those little psychos worth it."
"Don't get too excited," Vegeta said, looking over at him. "We save some eggs when we get a bunch. I'll go grab the girls."
"Hey! Don't trip me. I will not be psychologically manipulated by you!"
Everyone was eating their part of the six egg morning mix vegetable omelet with moringa tea when the ATVs arrived. Randy came up to the fence as the others unpacked.
"Vegeta!" he held up a scroll over his head. "Conner wants footage of you reading today's treemail to your team some time before 10. Can't say more than that because he wants surprised faces. It will be in the box when you are ready." He walked away.
Everyone looked back at Vegeta.
He had gone pale.
"Can you read English, dude?" Jerry asked.
"I've been told I'm at a fourth grade reading level…"
"That should be enough," Hassim said. "You haven't had trouble so far."
"But I have to read it out loud as I piece it together…"
"Then tell Randy to let you read it beforehand," Jerry said. "No one here wants to make you look bad. Hell, with Casey's meltdown, the whole world knows you're multilingual. And fucking eight too."
"Heh…" Vegeta gave an awkward smile and looked at the ground. He put his plate down. "I'll be back."
He headed to the grove.
Hassim took another bite. "I don't know what else you two picked, but this tastes like actual eggs we'd make at home."
"I just remembered their general location," Jessica said humbly, "I couldn't have done it without Sugar's help."
"Oh Vegeta," Randy said as he put it in the box, "Want to read this first thing?"
"Actually… um… I…" Vegeta looked at the ground and formed his fists.
Randy backed away as he started to shake.
Nathan ran over, "Vegeta, if you want to read it beforehand, you will get the time you want."
Vegeta looked up at them, his jaw still clinched. Then he turned and walked away.
Nathan let out a held breath.
"He… He has trouble reading?" Randy asked nervously.
"Have you seen his handwriting for the bottles? He's not writing in large all caps to annoy the other camps. And he always does his R's backwards."
"You could have said something," Randy sighed.
"You never told us what today's morning briefing was about. We all heard this the same time the players did."
Randy took another calming breath, then turned to the crews. "Hurry up with the cameras!"
While the camera crews were filming another morning routine at camp, Vegeta took the scroll with him as he flew to the mangroves with the fishing gear.
"Ok… Ok… Ferdinand comes tomorrow," he mumbled to himself. "Family today. We need to get everything done before 9:30. We'll be taken to the game beach for family meet up before splitting up for the day. Assuming the need to sneak away and violence… I need to be on the trail by 11:30."
Vegeta landed and placed the open scroll over a branch, causing it to curl up around it. He then stripped down to nothing and jumped in the water with the spears.
Meanwhile, on Berapi…
Everyone jolted awake at the sound of an airhorn.
Michael actually smashed his head on one of the branches, knocking himself out.
Ichiro made it out of the shelter, and saw Jason with two air horns blasting either side of Sam's head. As Sam tries to curl up to protect his head, Jason stamped on his leg. Sam screamed and Jason practically shoved one of the horns down his throat.
"Ichiro!" Becky yelled. "Drag Michael out of here! His groans are getting annoying."
"Can you not hear the horn?!" Ichiro yelled inside.
"Yeah! But that will stop once Jason's done!"
The air horn stopped, but Jason did not push the buttons again.
"See? Now get him out of here."
"Hey!" Jason began walking over, but stopped when he saw Ichiro carefully pulling Michael from the shelter by his legs. "What the hell happened?!"
"He smashed his head on a branch when you blew the horn," he answered as he dropped his legs and began rotating him by his arm.
"We have important scenes to film before you guys are taken to the game beach to meet your families at 10!" He turned to the crews, "Start filming! I need to drop off the mail!"
Jason stormed off and Ichiro finally got Michael positioned so he could lift him by his shoulders and drag him more comfortably.
Impatient with Michael's nursing of his goose egg, Jason ordered the scene with Ichiro retrieving and reading the scroll about 30 minutes after he regained consciousness.
"King Furry will be arriving in the region today and will be coming on set tomorrow to visit the teams. Today, you will be taken by boat to the game beach where you will meet your family visitors. After a quick introduction game, the teams will depart first, then your love ones will join you and spend the day at your camp until 4 pm. Your families will visit again shortly based on the king's schedule and any last-minute changes."
"That's it?" Becky asked uninterested.
"Yes."
"Alright," she went back in the shelter and grabbed the rug.
"I'll be off," she said standing. "You know where to find me." She walked away.
"In hell hopefully," Michael muttered.
Ichiro rolled the scroll back up, "Want anything while I go look for breakfast?"
"An icepack?"
Meanwhile, at Vegeta's camp…
"I'm back!" Vegeta said landing at the lower gate.
All the cats ran to meet him.
Vegeta opened the gate and walked in.
*Meow* *Meow* *Meow*
"You happy now you bastards?" Vegeta said, holding up a ring of three fish.
The cats erupted.
"Stop trying to trip me! *Ouch*" He pulled a kitten from the back of his thigh and held it to his face. "I am not a scratching post," he said before unceremoniously dropping it. Vegeta finally made it over to the counter and placed the fish on the banana leaf he placed there before he left.
Vegeta could hear both the crews and his teammates stifling giggles.
"Ha Ha Ha… Very FUNneeee."
"What's the male equivalent of a crazy cat lady?"
"Jerry…" Vegeta scolded him, clearly losing his patience.
Jerry just grinned.
"What time is it now?" Vegeta asked.
Hassim looked at the watch. "It's 7:23."
"Ok, I want everyone on the new hive. I have a project I need to finish from last night. Call me around 9. I'll do the reading then we can move forward for today's activities."
"What's going to happen today?" Jessica asked.
"Randy said Conner wants to make a show of me reading it. I'll do that at 9. Just remember what we talked about yesterday and work your butts off on the hive."
"We'll get everything ready for Sam," Sugar Petal nodded.
Vegeta looked at her and nodded. Then he shouted, spread his legs, and tried to pull the dangling kitten from his crotch.
Meanwhile, on Samundra…
The crews arrived, and set up waiting for the late rising to poke their heads out.
They were surprised to find Daisuke sleeping in the shade outside the shelter, but the fire was going strong so he was up at some point.
The crews took turns filming while the rest either found whatever app was not disabled on their phones to pass the time, or the various games or packs of cards that had been smuggled in since Jason left.
Tom was currently losing at strip uno when the alarm went off on his phone.
"Alright, 8 am. Time to wake them up," he said, starting to put his clothes back on.
"Boo…" the owner of the deck said as he took back the cards.
"Hey! Put the games away and scratch out the tic-tac-toe," Tom ordered.
Once the illusion of professionalism was restored, Tom lifted the flap on the shelter.
"Hey! Everyone! Get up!" he shouted. "We got important mail and you need to get to the game beach by 10 am! We let you sleep till 8!" he began clapping his hands loudly, "Up! Up! Up! Up! Up!"
"Oh God…" Bob said, rolling over.
Jamal muttered and lifted himself off his stomach and put a shaky knee under him.
"Up! Up! Up! Up!" he continued. "Don't make me come in here again." He leaned out of the shelter and the flap went down. "Ok cameras in position."
Tom then went over to Daisuke. "Daisuke, get up! Up! Up! Up! Up! Up!" he clapped his hands near his head.
Daisuke opened his eyes, but Tom did not stop.
"Up! Up! Up! Up! Up!"
"Ok. Ok…" Daisuke batted at his hands, "I'm up!"
"We have important mail to read and we need to be on the game beach by 10. It's currently 8."
"Two hours…" he sat up. "Got it."
"King Furry will be arriving in the region today and will be coming on set tomorrow to visit the teams. Today, you will be taken by boat to the game beach where you will meet your family visitors. After a quick introduction game, the teams will depart first, then your loved ones will join you and spend the day at your camp until 4 pm. Your families will visit again shortly based on the king's schedule and any last-minute changes," Bob read as Jamal put the last of their plantains over the fire.
"Are those leftovers from yesterday?" Bob asked as Daisuke came over to the fire with a bunch of dried plants.
"It's some of what Jessica gave us when we left," he corrected.
"Put those back, or better yet throw them in the ocean. I'd rather starve."
"Daisuke, put those away before Bob does something stupid," Jamal said.
"I'm not going to do anything 'stupid'". Bob said sarcastically as he walked back towards the well and mailbox in the trees.
Jamal sighed, then looked at Daisuke. "Hide those and we'll worry about it later, now's not the time."
Meanwhile, on Berapi…
Michael, Ichiro, and Becky were around the fire.
"So, how are we going to deal with our visitors?" Michael asked.
"What do you mean?" Becky asked, leaning back. "Once Mom sees my hair, she'll spend the rest of her life trying to destroy the Briefs."
"I dated Bulma Brief," Michael said, "And I saw firsthand how well connected they are. I don't care how wealthy you think your family is, but the Briefs are untouchable. Even the current king calls them Uncle Britches and Aunt Panchy."
"And don't forget Vegeta," Ichiro added.
Michael glared at him frustrated.
"Every politician has a price, and it doesn't have to be money or gifts."
"ANYWAY… What I am worried about is Sam," Michael said. "And what he is going to say."
"I say just trust Jason on this," Becky said, "I mean he even left a camera here pinned on him overnight so we couldn't get to him. Trust me, the staff will have him swinging one way or another soon just like Nick."
Becky looked at one of the crews filming them, "Don't flinch, you hypocrite."
"Yeah, well you're forgetting one important thing," Michael said. "Faith. Sam is deeply religious and his visitor is a pastor. And don't forget the taser broke right after he screamed to God for help. Even if it was a complete coincidence, he'd see that as divine protection even if his head wasn't scrambled eggs."
"Then the pastor will die too," Becky said, waving dismissively. "You worry too much. The people in charge are going to wrap this up in a neat little bow."
"You are disgusting, Becky," Michael said. "No one is going to get murdered here."
"Yeah, whatever, I'm going back to my rug," she said standing.
"You mean Hassim's rug…" Michael grumbled in his head. "God… If I knew who she was going in, I would have isolated her first… Lisa could never control this cunt."
He thought about the moment Lisa broke her hand. "God damn the both of them!"
Michael closed his eyes and put a smile back on his face "So…" he looked at the crews, "Now that the trash is gone, any hints on how close it is to 10?"
One of the techs in the rear glanced at Jason, who had his back to him. He flashed 9, 0, and 8 with his fingers.
"Alright, don't tell us then," Michael said looking annoyed at the man before turning back to the fire.
Meanwhile, on Samundra…
"Gotta be close to 10 by now…" Jamal said.
"Yeah…" Bob said. "God…" he put his face in his hands and shook his head, "How are we ever going to explain all of this to our families when they ask us what's been happening? Without saying Casey was right, we all look like asses. I don't have the strength to lie to my son…"
"We can just not mention the crocodile," Jamal said. "And say Vegeta set up Casey to get expelled over a grudge."
"Then how do I explain this?" Bob held up his hands.
They were trembling.
"The main story is a meteor strike, right? I'd say that's some PTSD right there. Our families might not be doing well either with the mail from yesterday saying there's damage at the hotel."
After a short pause, Jamal lowered his eyebrows. "But that does bring up a good point…"
He turned and looked over his shoulder. "Hey Daisuke!" Jamal called out, "Come over here a sec!"
Daisuke looked at them from his spot farther down the beach in the shade.
"Come here!" Jamal waved him over.
Daisuke sighed and stood.
"What do you want?" he said arriving.
"We were just talking about what to tell our families when they come."
"Getting our stories straight?" Daisuke said, crossing his arms.
Bob sighed. "Basically," he said, unable to look him in the eye.
"Bob thinks we can't tell people everything that's happened and not make Vegeta look like a hero without telling them Vegeta's an alien."
"Because we'll sound like nutjobs."
"Right, so I think we should not mention the crocodile and say Vegeta set her up to be expelled, which is basically the truth. He made her think he was an alien, that he is one doesn't matter, and then provoked her into breaking the rules."
"And by not mentioning him saving our lives, he's a manipulative jerk with no redeeming qualities."
"Exactly."
"I won't go against it," he said. "But I would make a contingency plan in case it does get out."
"How is it going to get out?" Jamal said. "It's not like he's going to be showing up at the beach wearing its corpse as a hat."
Meanwhile, at Vegeta's camp…
"You sure he's out this way?" Jerry asked.
"This is where Vegeta stretched the goat hides," Hassim said. "He's nowhere to be found near the camp and there's enough meat in the smoker for several animals. He's doing something with the skins…" he then sighed disgusted, "Maybe planning to mount more skulls..."
"Oh, I see red that way," Jerry said pointing.
"Vegeta! It's a little past 9!" Hassim called out as he approached the group from behind.
"Be right there! Let me tie this and I'll grab the jewelry I made for everyone last night!"
"You made us jewelry?!" Jerry said as he ran the last several steps. "Excuse me," he asked and Nathan's and Nyheen's two crews parted.
"Oh my God!" Jerry jumped, "Did you turn one of their heads into a helmet!"
Hassim sighed disgusted but no longer surprised.
At least that's what he thought, until he finished walking up.
"That's not a helmet! It's an entire bloody suit of armor!" Hassim shouted.
Vegeta laughed as he finished the last banana cord tassel, tips stained red with clay.
He took a step back to look at his glory on the bamboo scarecrow he stuck in the ground.
The main piece was one hide from snout to tip of the tail. The brain cavity had been hollowed out to turn the upper jaw into a baseball cap rim. The front legs draped over his shoulders with bone beads, teeth and spare claws dangling from the hide's own claws. The main body was the shirt. The belly cut in two with actual toggle buttons poking through the holes punched in the other half. It had circles cut into the sides like a vest with sleeves sticking out made from the tails of other animals. The edges were tied together with yellow banana thread tassels with their tips dyed red with clay. The tail of the main hide was stiff, having some kind of internal support.
"You did all of this in one night?!" Hassim held his arms forward in disbelief.
"As long as it's not to the material benefit of the team, I can do whatever I want to the best of my abilities," Vegeta grinned with a bit of insanity in his eyes.
"Where's our stuff?" Jerry said with stars in his eyes.
"Banana leaf," Vegeta pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.
Jerry spotted it and skipped over like a merry school girl.
"But these hides aren't even properly treated or even dried," Hassim protested.
"Yep," was all Vegeta said.
"They're probably already rotting!"
"It only has to last a day or two. Besides, you're not the one wearing it."
"But—"
"War clubs!"
Everyone looked at Jerry.
He was swinging around a stick with half of a jaw embedded and tied tight, turning the teeth into a wall of spikes.
Vegeta turned around and crossed his arms, "There's four. One for each of you. If I had an extra day, I could have made armor for anyone that wanted it, not as elaborate as mine of course, I am royalty after all."
Jerry turned around with puppy eyes, "But there's nothing stopping you afterwards, right?"
Vegeta suddenly laughed, making everyone look at him like he grew a second head. "This is just a display of power. Unless you're thinking of actually using those clubs? They are useless for hunting and fishing, you know."
"Nah, I just want an epic souvenir," he said as he returned to play slashing with the club.
"We still need to head to camp, you know," Hassim said.
Vegeta turned to Hassim, "Oh, yeah, we need to dress Sugar Petal for her glorious debut." He turned back to Jerry, "Grab everything on that leaf and let's get a move on!"
Vegeta entered camp with Hassim on his heels. Jerry was lagging a little behind.
"Are those actual weapons?!" Randy shouted.
"You should see the armor!" Jerry said excitedly.
"Oh, don't get pissy," Vegeta growled. "They're not for use. Just a little fun. Now let's get this scroll read so we can dress Sugar then me."
"Ejike, Jackie!" Randy pointed towards the grove. "Go film him walk into the grove, take the mail out. Unroll it to read. Then him bringing it back. We'll set up here."
The two groups left with Vegeta following them.
"Ok everyone else, hang around and look casual. Jerry! Hide that stuff from view!"
"Yes sir! Captain Underpants."
"Not you too!" Randy shouted.
Jerry stuck out his tongue and went to hide the stuff in his arms.
Randy groaned. Then grabbed Nathan's arm. "Show me this 'armor'," he demanded.
While the crews got their establishing shots, Nathan took Randy to the slaughter grounds.
Randy looked around and quickly ran out of fingers to count the crocodile hides strung up on frames.
"Over here," Nathan waved him over behind a large tree.
Randy stopped in his tracks and gawked.
And it was only the back.
Randy slowly made his way around and stared at the front.
"He… made this in one night?"
"He said he hasn't slept a wink," Nathan answered.
Randy got on his radio, "Everyone. Sorry to hold you up, but we are going to be a little late."
*fuzz* What?! Why?! *fuzz* Reynolds yelled. *fuzz* We can't bring the other teams until Vegeta's group gets here! *fuzz*
*fuzz* Can't you control that monster on your team?! *fuzz*
While Jason cussed Randy out, Nathan took a picture on his phone and posted it to a work group chat.
It took time for the people in the chat to finally show it to the producers.
*fuzz* Where did THAT come from?! *fuzz* Reynolds shouted, interrupting Jason's curse-laden tirade.
"Vegeta made it last night," Nathan said into his radio. "Hasn't slept yet at all. He even said he ran out of time for what he really wanted."
*fuzz* Be as late as you want! *fuzz* Conner shouted happily. *fuzz*Hey! We need to change where we are going to hide them so no one can see them until introductions! *fuzz*
"King Furry will be arriving in the region today," Vegeta said, noticeably slower than normal, "and will be coming on set tomorrow to visit the teams. Today, you will be taken by boat to the game beach where you will meet your family visitors. After a quick introduction game, the teams will depart first, then your loved ones will join you and spend the day at your camp until 4 pm. Your families will visit again shortly based on the king's schedule and any last-minute changes."
Then Vegeta pulled off a large sticky note and smiled for the camera. "Don't read out loud. Your families will be dropped off at the red beach. They will spend at most, underlined, 20 minutes there for some quick footage, then they will be driven to your camp. Their safety is assured."
Hassim sighed, "At least they are taking care of that…"
"Even I can tell you look disappointed, Vegeta," Jessica said.
"I was really hoping Bulma would get the chance to slap Michael across the face," Vegeta said. "Maybe even kick him in the balls." He rolled up the scroll and looked at the new hive. "You got a lot done; I'll get a crude roof done for him tonight."
"You haven't slept," Jerry said. "Let us take care of Sam."
"When is he coming?" Sugar asked.
"As soon as he can convince his visitor to carry him and they have a chance to escape," Vegeta said. "So with this new game and the time on the beach plus just avoiding violence, I'm going to hit the trail after 11:30. The sooner they run into me the better."
"So, you're going to spend all day in the woods?" Jerry said.
"I'll be bringing a chair for Bulma," Vegeta said.
"Jerry, you know Mr. Vegeta needs to do this!"
Jerry put his hands up to calm a furious Sugar Petal, "I know! I know! I'm just getting a timeline. We had lots of plans today, remember? Food, games, general silliness?"
"Ok, we're wasting time," Vegeta said, slapping the scroll in his hand. "We need to get Sugar dressed."
Vegeta and Sugar went into the Hive. She took off all her clothes except her underwear. Vegeta ignored the fact her ribs still stuck out farther than her nonexistent breasts and carefully got out the shirt they had been saving.
It was white with a monotone light turquoise flower print.
She slipped her arm through one sleeve and wrapped it around her as she always did. Vegeta then took a strip cut from a full colored flower print shirt that had a similar shade of blue for the background and wrapped it as a belt before tying the back in the giant bow. He then took small slivers of bamboo and began pinning it together.
Vegeta grabbed all the jewelry from the basket.
Besides the necklace she always wore, Vegeta wrapped her neck with multiple rows of shark teeth and bone beading.
Then came the hair.
Vegeta used pins slipped into the braids to attach the dozens of beads and carved figures until the side drape rattled. He also added a few to the back of the central braid.
Then Vegeta pulled out the tiara. It was three strings of bone and crude glass beads, crab eating shark teeth, and some clearly last-minute crocodile teeth at the temples and a center spike above the nose. He slipped the end pins into her hair.
"I have one last surprise," Vegeta smiled. He pulled an extra cut of cloth from the bottom of the basket and pulled out a three quarters pinwheel of feathers around a circular medallion. It was a piece of white bone with a design carved in it backed by bamboo that had been stained red.
"What's this? Looks like a mu."
"I don't know what a mu is, but this is my dynasty's royal crest." Vegeta took it back and held it in front of her.
"Will you swear loyalty to me and join my royal court? You will not be a slave or concubine, but a valued advisor."
Jerry was testing the new knitted joints of his woven shirt.
"You and Sugar did great," he smiled. "Nice and comfy. I might start wearing it all the time even though we're in eternal shade now."
"You sure you don't just want to wear stuff made from the clothes we found?" Hassim asked. "Even Jessica is wearing a skirt we cut from a pants leg."
"Naw. We brought this here; I'm going to keep wearing it."
Everyone suddenly looked at the hive when they suddenly heard Sugar Petal scream excitedly.
"YES! YES! YES! YES!"
Jerry chuckled, "You think he just proposed in there?"
Vegeta escorted Sugar Petal out and into the center courtyard of camp.
"Well don't you look like a proud father escorting a bride," Jerry said. "Sugar, you look gorgeous."
"Thank you," she blushed.
"Ok, I don't want you getting dirty, so stay here while I get dressed." Vegeta let go of her arm and pointed at Jerry and Hassim. "You and you, with me."
Vegeta led them to the suit.
"So what do you need help with?" Hassim asked. "I'm not touching that… thing."
"Mostly the back of the sleeves," Vegeta said, ignoring his proclamation.
Vegeta took out his buff and wrapped his hair so it was flat and completely hidden. "Let's hurry."
Vegeta picked up a small basket made from strips of banana leaf pressed between two frames from the ground next to the suit and put it on his head. Next, he unbuttoned the front, removed the crosspiece, and removed the sleeves.
The sleeves were in two separate pieces joined together loosely by string threaded like a corset.
Vegeta flexed his shoulders and extended his arms forward. "Ok, take the slack out but don't tighten it too much."
Jerry and Hassim looked at each other before Jerry walked forward. He carefully pulled the banana twine through the eyes punched in the hide and tied it like shoelaces.
"There you go," he said, stepping back.
"Thanks," Vegeta said, turning around.
He walked back to the frame and took the head off. Inside was a bamboo frame with twine hanging from it. Vegeta lifted the skin flaps from the monster's cheeks and pulled two bamboo needles about six inches long. He put the head on and pinned the frame to the basket before tying the chin strap. Then he carefully put his arms through the vest holes, draped the legs over his shoulders, and buttoned the front.
Vegeta held his arms wide, "What do you think?"
"You look sick!" Jerry said.
"For once I agree," Hassim said, "Completely sick."
Vegeta smirked at Hassim, "Sick, huh? Don't worry, I have one more part that will make me look truly villainous."
They returned to camp. Sugar Petal and Jessica were talking.
"We're back!"
"Mr. Vegeta! Wow!"
Jessica turned around, then shouted and jumped.
Hassim ran over and the two supported her as she caught her breath. "Oh, my goodness…"
"You know it's dead, right?" Vegeta asked, genuinely confused, pointing at his head.
Hassim went to shout.
"Stop," Jessica pressed her hands hard into Hassim's chest. "I'm ok." She stood straight, "I'm ok."
She turned to Vegeta, "You look really scary. You startled me."
"I was going more for triumphant and intimidating," Vegeta said, almost sounding remorseful.
"May I get closer to you to get a clear look?"
"In a moment," Vegeta said heading to the ladder, "I got one more piece to add."
He very carefully climbed up, and when he came back down there was a mass of feathers hanging from his neck.
"Ta da," he said walking over.
The necklace pendant hung down to his diaphragm. It was made from the cleaned skull of the goat kid surrounded by feathers. It hung from the cleaned jaw, broken into mirrored segments holding three or four teeth each pointed outward.
"Very. Very creepy," Hassim said. "Congratulations."
"Definitely a little much," Jerry said rubbing his neck, "I mean the croc is awesome, but that looks a little satanic. I mean the gates are one thing… but… well…"
Vegeta held the skull in his hand, "I thought it was more Halloween. Young enough to look like a generic animal skull."
"Yeah, true…" Jerry said, "If I didn't know it was a goat, I probably couldn't tell."
Vegeta sighed, "FINE… I won't wear it." He pulled the back around revealing he had even gone as far as to make bone clasps. He held it in his hand again, the two strings of teeth hanging down. "Took three nights to make this."
Sugar Petal gasped. "Mr. Vegeta! A walking stick!"
"What?" he asked.
"Put it on top of a walking stick and carry it with you!"
"Stop encouraging him!" Hassim shouted.
Vegeta looked back at the skull. Then he smiled.
"Good idea. Here," he said, handing it to her. "Careful, the bone is very thin."
Vegeta took a pole from the spare bamboo pile, chopped it to length in one hit, then quickly carved two prongs in the top. Then he gently slipped the prongs through the temple rings.
"There, just need to be careful with it," he smiled looking over his work. "How's this? A good compromise?"
"Works for me," Jerry said.
"We're running very late now," Randy interrupted. "We got to go!"