Shara nodded, but she didn't say anything more. Just as Slade was going to start asking questions, Cassie and Rachel walked into the barn. His attention successfully and completely diverted, Slade turned to look down at the two other girls. They were talking about going to some place called planet Hollywood. Shara looked mildly interested, at least, so Slade decided to see if they could join them.
(Hey down there,) Slade called. (What's this planet Hollywood you're talking about? Do you think Shara and I could come?)
He heard the two of them fall silent, then laugh. Slade wondered why that was, since all he had done was ask to come with them to this 'planet Hollywood' place. Shara was giving him a sidelong smile, telling him without words or telepathy that she appreciated what he was doing for her, so that made Slade feel better about it. Cassie and Rachel came up into the hayloft then, both of them smiling.
"We're only going to get to go to the opening of Planet Hollywood if Jake says it's okay," Rachel said.
Slade nodded. It made perfect sense to him, since Jake was their leader and what he said was law. Slade also knew that Jake might not approve of this.
"Why's that?" Shara asked.
Slade turned quickly to look at his sister, ready to rebuke her. She might have been given more autonomy than he was, which was only natural given her position and function, but there were still limits. That was when Rachel spoke up again.
"Well, it has a lot to do with the fact that Marco and I couldn't get tickets to the big event. So, well... what we were thinking is-"
"They were thinking that they'd use their morphing power," Cassie said, laughing for a moment. "They're probably going to try to get Jake to say they can use their bird morphs."
Shara looked interested at this prospect, though Slade personally disapproved. Slade doubted that Jake would feel much differently than he did, so he decided not to say anything.
"That would be kind of fun," Shara said. "I've never been to the opening of a restaurant before."
"Neither have I," Cassie said, smiling.
Slade hoped that they wouldn't be too disappointed; there was very little chance that Jake would be willing to give them leave to use their powers for something so trivial.
XXXX
Jake rolled his eyes as Marco started talking again; not seeming to realize just how much of an effort Jake was making to ignore him. Or maybe he did and he just didn't care; that was more than likely, given Marco's personality. It was funny, and kind of annoying, either way.
He was babbling, there was no other way to describe it; Marco-babble was one of the most enduring forms of babble that had ever been babbled, at least to hear Shara tell it. Marco seemed to be working up to asking him something, something big if he was reading the signs in the babble right.
Whether or not it was something he'd be willing to go along with remained to be seen, but it was definitely something big.
(Who is this Schwarzenegger?) Ax demanded, cutting into the babble. (I have heard Marco use his name before.)
"Ah-nuld?" Marco returned, with a passable imitation of the man's Austrian accent. "Who iss Ah-nuld? Ah-nuld is der man, zat's who Ah-nuld iss."
(What man?) Ax asked, Marco's explanation having been no help.
"He's done work in film and television, and he used to be a body-builder," Shara said, before Marco could say anything else. "He's not really a very good actor, though."
"Heresy!" Marco shouted, his right pointer finger aimed at Shara's face; Jake barely stifled a laugh.
"What? He's not," she reiterated with a shrug. "His best role was playing an emotionless, killer cyborg; and that's not saying much."
"I refuse to listen to this heresy," Marco said, sticking both fingers in his ears; Jake's stomach was starting to cramp with the effort not to laugh.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger is a bad, over rated, muscle-bound goon of an actor, with the emotional range of a wheel of cheese," Shara said, right into Marco's ear, holding his right wrist far enough away from that ear that there wasn't much chance of him not hearing her.
"Shun! Shun the heretic!" Marco said, once it was clear that Shara had finished with him.
Clearing his throat loudly enough to draw the attention of the two of them, Jake raised an eyebrow. "Is there any chance of us actually getting to know just what you wanted to do when you called us all out here, Marco?"
"Well, before I had to deal with a certain person's heresy," he said, giving Shara a mocking dirty look, she returned it with a flatly amused stare. "I was saying that it's pathetic how totally ignorant Ax is, when it comes to important human cultural stuff? Good grief! It makes you want to cry! He knows nothing! Nothing! He's been on Earth for months already, and yet has he experienced any really important human culture? No. And it's a travesty. A crime. A pity. A shame. It's a-"
"Oh, shut up already," Jake cut in, knowing that Marco would go on for as long as he wasn't stopped. "Let me get this straight: there's a new Planet Hollywood opening in town. You and Rachel have decided that you want to go, but you can't get tickets. So you want to fly there in morph. You want us all to use our powers for a completely selfish purpose. Is that it, basically?"
"No, absolutely not," Rachel said, with a shake of her head that set her blonde hair tumbling. "We want to do this all for Ax. He needs to be exposed to culture. Me, I don't really care," she concluded, a grin beginning to break out on her face as she lied.
"It's an entertainment event!" Marco exclaimed, with what Jake personally thought was a bit too much enthusiasm. "A major, major event. Stars! Famous people! Millionaires! Babes! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Ax-man to see Bruce and Demi."
"Bruce Willis is going to be there?" Shara asked, as Cassie burst into a short peel of giggles, and then tried to look serious.
"Ah, that got your attention," Marco said, giving Shara a sidelong smirk.
"Actually, I'm not really a fan of his," she said, as Cassie burst out giggling and then swiftly tried to compose herself. "He just kind of reminds me of Ed Harris."
Before Marco could think of any way to respond to that, even before he seemed to fully process it, Jake spoke up again. "And, you somehow figure that the 'human culture' Ax needs to be exposed to is Bruce Willis playing a harmonica?" he asked, with a completely, utterly unimpressed look at Marco. Then he turned his attention to Rachel. "Come on; I know you don't usually go in for these kinds of things. So spill it. Why are you so into this now?"
"The whole cultural thing," she stopped when Jake gave her a Look. "Okay, look; as part of the deal, they're having a fashion show. Ralph Lauren. You know how I feel about Ralph Lauren."
"Oh, man," Jake groaned, while Shara tried to stifle laughter.
"Plus..." Marco said, an excited lilt at the end of that single word.
"Plus what?" Jake prodded, his gaze fixed on Marco again.
Rachel sighed, briefly rolling her eyes. "Okay, Lucy Lawless is going to be there, too. But that's not why I want to go."
"Okay, that actually sounds interesting," Shara said, looking a great deal more into the conversation than she had been.
"Well, of course you'd think so," Marco said, shooting her an amused look. "Xena is both yours and Rachel's role model, after all."
Jake made a face, and Shara rolled her eyes.
"And oh, by the way," Marco said, his tone silky and borderline insinuating. "Not that you'd really care, Jake, but a Mr. O'Neal is going to be there. A Mr. Shaquille O'Neal."
"Shaq?" he echoed; okay, so this was basically a completely frivolous, completely unnecessary use of their powers, but they'd been running nothing but missions for the last few weeks.
And the last one had been one of the worst he could remember; maybe they could use some time for themselves.
"Shaq," Marco confirmed, grinning widely.
So, personal time; using their powers in a way that didn't involve hunting down the Yeerks and either trying to hurt them or trying to spy on them. Just something fun, something that wouldn't end in blood and horror. He could use some more things like that; the others probably could, too.
"We, then we're there," he said at last, offering Marco a small grin of his own.