A/N: Happy New Year everyone! A new year, and a new arc!
I'll be completely honest, back when I first wrote the explosion at Eisensteel I really didn't have much of a reason for it beyond it being a plot device to have Melody come along with the Schmidts for their vacation since I didn't want the reason to simply be "hey wanna come with us?" But with what I have planned for the next arc coming up, I might…reconsider…the significance of that tragedy…
But anyways, that's not important right now. It's time for the family's first vacation outside of the country (and outside of the Western U.S. for that matter XD)
Note that Melody has been included in the "mental link" that the family shares whenever they're in public, so anything she says to the ghosts is externally silent (otherwise it would look really weird if Melody "talks to empty air"). Also, Bonnet will NOT be following the family to Korea since bringing along a pink metal bunny puppet would be kind of hard to justify, especially with her being an airport security nightmare. She's been left at Melody's house and turned off.
BlauOrange: In terms of finances and standard of living, Melody isn't doing THAT badly. You have to remember that she had a job as Chief Robotics Engineer for 2 years and was likely in a higher than normal position beforehand, which would've provided her with a steady, above-average source of income. The explosion at Eisensteel was more of an emotional devastation for Melody – at least one if not more of her friends was brutally killed, a place she loved working at was violently destroyed, and years of hard work on special projects was obliterated in seconds.
JustAesthetic: Liz can't really feel them anymore because she's a ghost. By now she's recovered enough mentally that she's mostly fine with them as long as they're in the "mere annoyance" category. As for how she reacts to them if they're bad enough, well…you saw what happened to Electrobab.
Yamgi: Sorry I didn't see your review until just recently. In terms of characters in the family, Mike is Mike (lol), Gabe's the Freddy ghost, Jeremy's the Bonnie ghost, Susie's the Chica ghost, Fritz is the Foxy ghost, Cassidy is the Golden Freddy ghost, Charlie / Mary is (or should I say WAS the Puppet), Liz is/was Elizabeth Afton.
Chapter 63 – Vacation to Korea Part 1
Mike was a man who prided himself on his planning capabilities. Cunning and caution were mandatory personality traits to survive the twelve years that had made up his pathetic excuse of a childhood, and even after things had finally started going uphill he had always tried to set up as many plans and preparations as necessary for both his former job and important events in his life.
But there were still a few things that no amount of preparation could possibly prepare him for. And one of those was…
"OH MY GOD, THAT FLIGHT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BORING!" Fritz complained loudly, even though only the rest of the family and Melody could hear him thanks to Charlie's silencing spell and their mental link.
…the eleven-hour flight and the sheer amount of tedium that came with it. Even after knocking off a few hours by sleeping at odd times to prepare himself for crossing the International Date Line, that was still easily one of the most mind-numbingly inane things he'd had to do in his entire life. Melody and even the ghosts hadn't fared any better – it turned out that forty years of torment in the same cursed existence didn't immunize you against the more mundane forms of boredom.
"Now I'm wondering if I can extend the vacation a bit just so I can delay having to deal with that bullshit again for as long as possible," Mike half-joked as he followed Melody to customs.
"I'm down for that," Jeremy quipped.
"Har har, let's just get to the next plane so we can finally get to Jeju already," Melody muttered.
The ghosts groaned at the realization that they had to go into yet another plane to finally reach their island, even though it would only be an hour's flight this time. By all accounts, they had been incredibly lucky – most of the flights to Jeju were from a different airport entirely, and they had managed to snag two flights that were (a) both from Incheon airport and (b) close to each other in terms of timing. That didn't stop any of them fidgeting and grumbling as they changed airplanes and finally completed the last leg of their journey.
"Are plane rides normally this dumb?" Cassidy asked as they finally, FINALLY managed to get out of the airport at Jeju. Even the novelty of floating outside of the plane and flying around it to see the sky had run its course after a few minutes.
"Most relevant plane rides are only about 2 to 5 hours, and the second one is only if you're going from one end of America to another," Melody explained. "Only reason why this one was so long is because we travelled across the Pacific Ocean and a huge chunk of the world."
"It's weird to think that right now at home it'd be nighttime," Liz commented as she peered at a nearby clock, which read 3 PM.
"Yep, time zones are weird like that," Mike replied blithely as they finally made their way outside. A blast of hot air immediately hit their faces as they took their first steps on Jeju Island.
"Holy crap!" Susie exclaimed, wiping her brow even though she couldn't physically sweat as a ghost. "It's boiling out here! It's even worse than Utah!"
Melody chuckled. "I, uh, I may have forgotten to mention that Korea tends to get hit by bad heat waves during the summer."
Charlie rolled her eyes. "And you're telling us this NOW?" she deadpanned as they walked over to bus station that would deliver them to the car rental they would use during their stay in Jeju. Melody's Korean heritage immediately came in handy, as she was able to fluently converse with the attendant in charge of the rentals and quickly got them a car to use.
"All I heard from that was blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah," Gabe muttered as the two adults got into the car.
"You too?" Jeremy joked.
"Learning another language sounds hard!" Susie commented.
"It can't be any harder than learning English," Mike replied as Melody drove out of the rental area and into the roads of Jeju. "We're supposedly one of the hardest and most complicated languages out there. Heck, I still don't get all the rules."
"Don't get or don't give a shit?" Liz asked dryly. Mike only gave her a smirk in response.
Melody concentrated on the road in front of her, following the directions on the GPS as they guided her out of the city and into the highway. Mike and the ghosts focused their attention on the surrounding atmosphere, taking in the view as it zoomed past them.
"This kind of reminds me of our own trip to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas," Susie remarked.
"Yeah, but that was just a bunch of desert," Fritz replied. "This time there's a whole lot more green!"
"I like it," Charlie commented with a smile. "It seems…more wholesome."
Mike shrugged. "The desert has its own type of beauty, but I do have to agree that this place looks more lively."
"I saw a sign for a Greek Mythology museum a few minutes ago. Can we go there?" Cassidy asked.
"We could," Melody answered, "but there are other places where you can see Greek mythology in museums. You're in a whole new place here, and to get the most out of it you should focus on going to things that you won't be able to see anywhere else. That applies to anywhere you got a vacation, honestly."
"Truer words couldn't have been spoken," Mike agreed, and the two smiled at each other. Neither of them saw the ghosts smirking at them until Fritz let out a snicker.
"What are you laughing at?" Mike asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing!" Fritz replied quickly. A little too quickly in Mike's opinion, but before he could press the topic any further Charlie (intentionally or not) provided a distraction.
"So what's the hotel we're going to?" she asked.
"We're going to a hotel called Jeju Shilla," Melody answered. "It's got a beautiful view of the ocean with equally amazing pool grounds, and it's right next to the beach. There's actually rooms with both beach and mountain views, but we decided to stick with the beach view."
"Why?" Liz wondered.
Melody smirked. "Because we're going to see PLENTY of mountain soon enough," she promised with a wink as she drove down an exit off the main highway and into a slightly smaller, more local road.
"Hey, look over there!" Jeremy pointed at a sign. "Doesn't that lead to the Glass Castle thing that you guys told us about?"
Mike squinted at the sign. "I…think it is…" he agreed, "but that's for later tonight. Right now, we have a hotel to get to."
"And I think we're almost there!" Susie cheered. "I can see palm trees!"
Sure enough, the telltale indicators of any summer hotspot stood proudly as the group completed the last leg of their lengthy travels. The ghosts could see other hotels pass by, as well as a building called "Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum" that looked…frankly bizarre, if they were quite honest.
"That one's only if we still have time," Mike told them as they watched it fall out of sight. "There's a couple of those in America."
"Gotcha," Charlie affirmed as Melody finally pulled into the driveway of the Shilla Jeju. From the outside, it looked like a single-rise, white building with a pink roof that stretched from one side to the other. The ghosts stared at it and the fountain gushing out water out in front.
"That's it?" Fritz finally spoke what was one everyone's mind after several seconds of silence. "I kinda imagined it to be, you know, a little…"
"…bigger." Liz finished for him.
Melody grinned. "You do realize that the major part of the hotel is in the back, right?"
"…I knew that," Fritz replied as his cheeks darkened with embarrassment. Charlie gave him a pat on the head as Mike and Melody got out of the parking lot, taking their bags with them as they made their way into the hotel. They quickly checked in and received their hotel keys before walking deeper inside.
Everyone's eyes widened as they finally got their first good look at the inside of the hotel proper.The inside of the Shilla Jeju was ornately decorated with lights and trees, and the entirety of the massive lobby seemed to glow with a golden hue. A luxurious staircase led down to the floor below, covered with a beautiful red rug. Windows that stretched from floor to ceiling covered the other wall, and while the family (and friend) couldn't get a clear view just yet they could already catch the glimpses of an outdoor paradise.
Mike's stomach grumbled, prompting an amused look from Melody and giggles from the ghosts. "Man, I am so hungry!" he declared. "I don't think I've had anything to eat so far outside of airplane food for hours!"
"Well then, allow me to introduce you to the feature of Korean society that is the bakeries," Melody grinned as she guided Mike and the kids over to the hotel's café on the right. "There are bakeries literally EVERYWHERE in Korea, and all of them serve so many different kinds of breads and baked goods that you just can't wrap your head around it all. And you're not gonna find them in America unless you stumble across an H Mart somewhere."
"So many options…" Fritz stared at the food hungrily.
Melody stared at him. "Are you salivating?" she asked incredulously. "But you're a ghost! How do you even eat?"
Mike grinned. "We found out a couple of months ago that the ghosts can taste what I'm eating if they're partially possessing me while I'm eating something. When we went to Las Vegas they took turns entering my body while I ate what they wanted for a buffet."
Melody whistled, clearly impressed. "And you don't even blink at letting them into your personal space like that? That is some dedicated ghost parenting right there." The ghosts in question grinned and gave their father quick hugs as Melody picked up two each of a loaf of Maple Bread, a bun covered in upper crust called a Soboro, and a circular smooth bun with small black sesame seeds sprinkled on top. "The last two are my favorites, and I just really like the look of the first one," she explained as she paid for them. A waiter guided them over to the parlor overlooking the lower floor, and the two friends sat down at a table as Melody ordered something in Korean.
"What did you just ask him?" Mike wondered as the waiter left.
"I ordered a classic Korean desert," Melody smiled. "It's called Patbingsu, and it's a bowl of shaved ice with a lot of different possible toppings thrown in. The usual choice is red bean, but the Jeju Shilla has a rather more…unique…twist to it. Instead of red bean, they add in fresh apple mangos with a side of mango ice cream thrown in."
"Stop making me feel hungry! I feel like I'm dying again!" Fritz complained, earning a bout of laughter from the others.
"I ordered two Apple Mango Patbingsus, one for each of us," Melody continued. "From what I've heard this is the Jeju Shilla's specialty."
"Thanks for making this so much easier," Mike said gratefully as the waiters delivered two bowls of said dessert to their table. The ghosts looked hungrily at the Patbingsu and the pile of baked goods. "You know the drill, guys."
Melody watched with amusement as the ghosts took turns semi-possessing Mike while he started eating at the popular Korean dessert. From the glowing looks on their faces and the way Mike started eating more rapidly, she could tell that all of them were delighted with the dessert she had ordered.
"This is soooooo goooooooooooooood…" Liz happily moaned as Mike devoured a heaping spoonful of mixed mango, mango ice cream, and ice flake.
"Man, I thought this was going to be some crappier version of ice cream when I heard it was made of ice flakes," Gabe agreed. "Damn, was I wrong!"
"It's the way they mix it all together," Charlie suggested. "The synergy is what really makes it amazing."
"You might be right," Melody agreed as she and Mike finished their desserts and got to work on the pastries. This time there wasn't enough for all the ghosts, so they decided to just let Mike eat the small buns by himself and buy more later. Mike was delighted to discover that the crust on the Soboro bread was partially made of peanut butter and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the "red bean paste" in the other bread was a lot tastier than it first sounded. Everyone got to enjoy a bite out of the maple bread loaf, though.
"It's like eating toast covered in maple syrup," Susie said happily as they finished. "Only with much less of a mess."
"I can't be eating too much now," Mike reminded them. "There's still dinner to worry about."
"Let's go check out our room!" Charlie suggested, to which everyone happily agreed. They quickly rode the elevator the appropriate floor and located their room. It might have been a lot smaller and not as luxurious as the suite Mike had rented back when they had been in Vegas, but the delighted squeal that Melody let out when she saw the room made it clear that, as far as regular-sized hotel rooms went, it didn't get much better than this.
"Oh my God," she crowed happily, "I can just lie down on this bed, relax, and enjoy the beautiful ocean view outside!" She dropped her suitcase and bag onto the ground. "But as much as I want to take a nap, there are bigger and better things to do than just waste the day in a room."
Mike smirked. "Outside?"
Melody grinned. "Outside." She went into the bathroom to change into swim clothes while Mike did the same in the main room, the ghosts respectfully looking away to give them both some privacy. When they were done, Melody was in a black swimsuit that matched her hair while Mike was wearing a Hawaiian style shirt and bathing suit that blended perfectly together.
"I've been waiting that entire plane ride to hit the jacuzzi," Mike commented with anticipation as they rode the elevator down to the first floor.
"What's a jacuzzi?" Charlie wondered. At this, Melody gave Mike an incredulous look.
"You've been to a hotel fancier than this and you didn't let the kids enjoy a jacuzzi?" she asked in disbelief.
"Well, they're ghosts! It's not like they can swim in water!" Mike tried to defend himself.
"They could semi-possess you like they do whenever you eat something!" Melody shot down his argument. Everyone stared at Mike, who face-palmed as he realized how he had completely missed a solution that simple.
"In Dad's defense, we weren't really focusing on pools in Las Vegas," Liz decided to help her dad out. "We were more interested in gambling and seeing the sights. And watching Dad kick a giant bear demon's ass in poker," though she obviously didn't project that last thought.
Mike grinned. "Well, now's the perfect time to catch up on what we missed," he declared as the elevator stopped at the lowest floor of the hotel. The group followed a family of four out through the double doors and outside…and it was here that the kids finally realized exactly why the Jeju Shilla was one of the highest rated hotels out there.
"Oh…my…God…" Susie's jaw dropped, and everyone's reactions were very similar to hers. The grounds they had entered looked like nothing less than a miniature natural wonderland. Trees of all kinds sprouted up around them, decorated with an equally diverse array of beautiful flowers. Part of the pathway leading out of the hotel and to the rest of the grounds was a bridge covering a stream, and Cassidy was delighted to see a small pool to the side with large goldfish swimming carefreely in the summer sun. They maneuvered around the trees, walking in a semicircle until they found a fork in the road. One direction continued to move farther away from the hotel, closer to the ocean. And the other circled back around towards the hotel and the main grounds. They decided to follow that direction first, and as they passed the last set of trees they found two more paths. One of them leading straight to the hotel, where the family could see a large swimming pool with kids happily frolicking about in the water. The pool was so large that it continued into the depths of the hotel, the connection between outdoor and indoor marked by a stone bridge at the edge of the building.
"I wish we could swim there," Cassidy said wistfully.
"Unfortunately, this section is more for kids," Mike explained. "It'd be fine if you guys were alive, but it'd be a bit weird if two grown adults suddenly just decided to wade in there."
"What's weird about it?" Liz asked curiously.
"It's complicated," Mike answered in an unusually terse voice that told the kids not to ask any more questions.
Melody decided to rescue Mike. "Fortunately, there's a separate pool for people 18 and above like us. Let me show you guys." She guided them up a flight of stairs, and the kids gasped as they recognized the setting from the pictures they had seen of the Shilla. The pool they saw now was smaller than the one they had seen below, but there were several beds surrounded by curtains and chairs set up around the perimeter of the pool and even inside the pool itself. Melody and Mike looked at each other and grinned. "Awwww yeah…" they both said at the same time. Mike had already rented a pool bed for himself and Melody, so there was nothing stopping them from claiming that bed for themselves and lying down on the covers. The exhaustion of the plane ride finally caught up to them, and they were both asleep within seconds.
The ghost kids took up perimeter around the bed that Mike and Melody were currently resting in, making sure that nobody could steal the few belongings they had brought with them. It hadn't occurred to them just how tired the two adults might have been from their travels, and all of them agreed that they deserved some rest. "They look so cute together," Susie was the first to say something after several minutes as she watched the two adults snoozing contentedly in the warm summer atmosphere.
"Cute? They're flat out adorable!" Cassidy cooed.
"They should be a couple!" Liz added with a silly grin on her face.
"Why…AREN'T they?" Jeremy suddenly asked. All eyes turned to him. "I mean, they've known each other for years, they have the same interests, Mike trusts her enough that she knows all about us and his past, and putting all that aside it's easy to see they're really close friends. So why aren't they a couple?"
"Didn't Oskar hint that he wanted the two of them to get together?" Fritz pointed out.
"But what if they aren't one for a reason?" Gabe decided to play Devil's Advocate. "What if they simply like being friends, or if they've dated each other in the past and it didn't work out?"
"We have no idea," Liz added. "Though I will say that you don't invite someone to a vacation in another country if they're simply 'just a friend.'"
The ghosts pondered her words for another moment. "I'm gonna be honest with you guys," Susie finally broke the silence. "I've been wanting Mike and Melody to get together for a while now, but only because…I want a mom in my life," she confessed.
"Wait, WHAT?" Fritz exclaimed. "Are you saying Dad isn't good enough?" Next to him, Liz bristled slightly.
"Not at ALL!" Susie quickly clarified, looking insulted at the suggestion. "Dad is perfect! But…there are some things that only moms do and only dads do, if you get what I'm saying. And…I kind of want to have a mom in my life just as much as we have dad. I know it's selfish, but…"
"I kind of agree with you, actually," Cassidy gently assured her. "And if Melody did become our mom, it would make things easier for dad too."
"I get where you two are coming from, I really do," Charlie put a hand on both their shoulders, "but Mike and Melody should be the ones to decide how their relationship goes, not us. And besides," she smiled, "Melody doesn't need to marry Mike or anything to be a mom for us."
"Let's not ask her about this now," Jeremy suggested as Melody started to stir from her nap. "She's got enough on her plate as it is."
Melody blinked and yawned, only just now realizing that the ghosts were still there. "Were you guys here the entire time?" she asked.
"Yep! We've been guarding the bed to make sure nobody tried to steal your stuff!" Fritz cheerfully replied.
"Oh shit, I am so sorry!" she quickly nudged Mike away. "Mike, the kids are going to get bored if we don't give them something to enjoy soon!"
Mike's eyes shot open. "Crap, you're right." He got up off the bed. "Why don't we hit the jacuzzi now?" he asked. Melody happily agreed to his suggestion and the two walked over to the jacuzzi at the edge of the adult pool.
"Imagine a hot bath," Melody explained to the kids. "Except the bathtub is the size of a small pool, and there's extra water and pressure pushing into the pool from all size. It's hard to explain it, but it's easily one of the most relaxing things you can possibly enjoy."
The kids looked down at the jacuzzi, its depths glowing with faint light and with bubbles frothing all over its surface. Mike and Melody entered the pool, and identical expressions of delight and comfort entered their faces as the water hit their bodies. "Ahhhh…" Mike sighed contentedly. "I've had a few little aches here and there as I hit my late 40s and now those are all gone." He looked over at the ghosts. "So who wants to try first?"
The ghosts did a quick mini-tournament of Rock-Paper-Scissors and Liz won. Once she entered Mike's body, she immediately felt the warm pressures of the jacuzzi waters nearly overwhelm her senses, making her feel alive, peaceful, and comfortable in a way she had never felt before. "Oh my God…" she purred, "it's soooooo relaxing. I could sit in here all day, it feels so nice!"
"There's six other people here, you know," Jeremy said dryly. Liz had the grace to look embarrassed, but Mike gave her permission to stay in for another minute until she left to make room for someone else. The ghosts entered Mike's body one-at-a-time, and all of them enjoyed the waters of the jacuzzi just as much as Liz had.
"Can we get a hot tub when we get back home, dad?" Cassidy begged as Charlie left Mike's body, having opted to go last. "Please?"
"That's gonna be a bitch to maintain, especially since I already have a pool even though I barely use it," Mike replied as he and Melody spent a few more minutes in the jacuzzi. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to put a veto on that one."
"Awww…" the former Golden Freddy inhabitant moaned as Mike got out of the jacuzzi. "Can we go to the beach next?"
"We've never seen one before," Jeremy added.
"Sure!" Melody said as she got out of the pool. "But getting there isn't as easy as you might think. Well, it is for you guys, but not for us."
"What are you guys talking about?" Fritz asked.
"You'll see," Melody promised. She guided them out of the pool area and back towards the first fork in the road they had seen earlier. A winding road led down both sides, leading to areas unseen that were likely past the boundaries of the hotel grounds. Melody led them over to a wooden structure hidden in the depths of the trees at the edge of the cliff face. She focused her eyes on a flight of wooden stairs that led downward.
It soon became painfully clear to Mike (and not so painfully clear to the ghost kids) exactly what Melody meant, as the only path that led to the beach was a flight of stairs that led straight down the cliff face. Going down wasn't a huge issue, but Mike dreaded to imagine how painful going back UP would be. Once again, the ghost kids found themselves incredibly grateful that they were already dead, as they didn't have to deal with any of the work that Mike and Melody did to get down to the beach.
And it turned out that this was the first of their problems with the beach.
"AGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mike howled as he stepped onto the sand. "MY FEET ARE BURNING! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!"
The sun had scorched the sands of the beach to an unbearable level, and the only that both Mike and Melody had in the form of footwear protection were open sandals that were almost completely useless. "Okay, we seriously didn't prepare properly for this," Melody muttered as she and Mike retreated to safety on the wooden structure leading back to the stairs.
"Why don't you guys explore the beach on your own while we stay here so we don't end up giving our feet third-degree burns?" Mike suggested. The kids agreed to the suggestion and flew out to get a better view at the beach. At first, they were awed by the beautiful view of the waves rising up to hit the shores, the feel of the seaside wind on their bodies, and the sight of sailboats in the distance. But once the euphoria wore off, they quickly realized that what they could actually do was incredibly limited, and it wasn't long before they returned to Mike and Melody ready to go back up.
"I think the pool and the jacuzzi are good enough for us," Charlie summarized what they were all feeling as they started heading back up the hotel.
"Huff…puff…okay…the beach…was…a…bust…" Mike groaned as he painstakingly and arduously climbed back up to where they had been before. The ghosts were silently thankful that they didn't have to deal with any of the bullcrap that came with getting back up to the top of the cliff face and the hotel. "I can feel all those aches and pains coming back already. Is there a place where I can get a massage or something?"
Melody perked up at the word "massage." "There is, actually…" she realized. "I think I saw directions for one on the way out. Wanna give it a try?"
"Hopefully it'll help me forget the pain in the ass that was climbing up those stairs," Mike deadpanned as they navigated through the grounds and back inside the hotel towards the indoor spa. "At least the kids got something out of it."
Melody laughed. "Think they'll enjoy possessing you during the massage a lot more," she joked as they paid for twenty minutes' each. As Mike and Melody each relaxed on the two beds prepared for them and the masseurs got to work, the ghosts possessed Mike in the reverse order that they had during their experimentation with the jacuzzi. And all of them enjoyed the sensations of Mike's massage just as they had in the warm hot bath.
"The massage is so much better than the jacuzzi! Every part of my body feels comfortable in ways I can't describe, and I don't even have a body anymore!" Susie argued as Liz got out of Mike's body.
"Screw you, the jacuzzi is way cooler! The way the water hit dad's body and my soul can't be beat!" Fritz argued.
Gabe facepalmed. "I can't believe the two of you are actually arguing about this," he muttered as the masseurs finished their jobs.
"Oh, like you don't have an opinion," Fritz retorted.
"Well, I personally enjoyed the massage more," Mike ended the argument, "but that makes sense when you consider that I had to pay money for the massage while the jacuzzi is free and I can go there literally any time I want."
"That's a fair point," Charlie acknowledged as the massage time ran out. Both Mike and Melody looked perfectly relaxed again, and with dinner time coming up the timing couldn't have been more ideal.
"So where do you want to eat?" Melody asked as they reviewed the possible restaurant options. "The buffet restaurant is all the craze here."
The kids' eyes lit up at the word "buffet," but to their surprise Mike shook his head. "I kind of want to save that for tomorrow, actually. With what we have planned over the next few days I think I'm going to need the bigger energy boost then. Anything a little smaller?"
"There's a Japanese restaurant called Hinode," Melody suggested.
Mike gave her a thumbs-up. "Perfect." With that confirmation, the group returned to the hotel room to change into fancier clothes. Melody had to smirk at the fact that even though nobody could see them, the ghosts had changed their attire into dresses and fancy shirts to match what would be expected by a restaurant in a fancy hotel.
"Really going all-in with this," she chuckled as she guided them over to the restaurant and asked the waiter to get them two seats. Both Mike and Melody ordered a tray of sushi and Teppanyaki, a selection of dishes cooked with an iron plate that included steak, shrimp, and various other seafoods that had been advertised as one of the best meals by the restaurant. The two adults were content to enjoy their meal in relative silence, with Mike letting the ghosts possess him to taste anything that especially caught their eye.
After a couple of minutes, Mike decided to break the ice. "So how are you doing, Mel?" he asked, his voice more serious than it normally was.
Melody caught what Mike was getting at. "Much better than I have any right to be, all things considered," she replied after a few seconds of silence. "I'll have to come up with different projects to get started on, but I can at the very least be grateful that I wasn't in the building when it exploded. But speaking of projects…I wanted to ask you a question, Mike."
"Go right ahead!" he invited as he took a bite out of some shrimp.
"Have YOU been working on any projects ever since you retired?" she wondered. "You told me you occasionally tinkered with something here and there, but I can't imagine you working all that much after you suddenly became the proud father of seven kids." She noticed how the ghosts suddenly became more attentive than they were seconds earlier…apparently, they didn't know much more about Mike's hobby than he did, for some reason.
Mike shook his head. "Not anything major, no. But I did come across two things that've caught my attention. They're both for the kids, so I'm trying to keep them a secret."
"Awwww!" Fritz gave a disappointed whine.
"Get wrecked," Mike projected with a smirk. "But anyway, one of them's small enough that I can work on it by myself, but the other one I think will be too much for me to handle. I was planning on commissioning it at Eisensteel, though with what's happened I doubt that's within the realms of possibility at the moment. I was wondering if you'd like to help me out on it once everything gets settled?"
Melody thought for a moment. "What is it you're working on?" she asked. "I definitely have the free time now, and it sounds like it could be a good project for me to work on until I find something that's worth researching again. But I need more details."
Mike shook his head. "I can't tell you now. I want to show you the blueprints when we get back to America. Mind you, I had to make some…significant edits…let's just say that the original had some features that were definitely too unsafe for me to keep in there." Liz could have sworn that Mike's gaze had turned to her for the briefest of moments, but before she could register it properly Mike was already talking with Melody again.
"Well, as long as you've removed those unsafe features you've talked about, I can take a look," Melody offered. Mike nodded once and put his utensils down on his now-empty plate.
"I'm still tired from that plane ride," he groaned. "Do you want to just spend the rest of the night out at the pool? We can get started with all the real tourist-y stuff tomorrow."
"That's probably a good idea," Mike agreed. "From what I've heard, we're going to need all the rest we can get for some of these sites." He sneaked a jealous glance at the ghosts. "You guys have it easy, you can just fly in the air and don't have to deal with any of the hard work."
"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I am really happy I'm a ghost right now," Susie replied with a cheeky grin.
"We finally get to enjoy the perks," Gabe added in a deadpan tone. "Forty years too late, but meh. Better late than never, I guess."
"Why don't you guys explore the hotel a bit, and then come meet with us back at the pool bed we were at earlier to relax for the rest of the night?" Mike suggested. "There's still quite a few places here that we haven't visited yet, and I think I saw a video game room on the way out on the first floor. If you're lucky and nobody's around, you might be able to sneak in a few video games without people thinking his resort is haunted. Just remember our hotel room number if you can't find us."
"Sweet deal!" Fritz agreed eagerly, and the ghosts quickly began making plans to split up and explore the hotel.
"We have ways of meeting back together and making sure nobody gets lost. They did this at the Grand Canyon and at Vegas, they'll be fine," Mike quickly explained to Melody, knowing full well that letting kids wander off without supervision would look like poor parenting without proper context. As the ghosts separated and flew out of sight, Melody and Mike changed into their swimming clothes again and walked back out into the grounds. Night had fallen and more people were out and about in the pool areas. They made their way back up the adult swimming pool and each one of them ordered a non-alcoholic beverage before claiming a lawn chair that had been set up in the pool itself.
"Thank you again for inviting me on this vacation," Melody thanked him with an affectionate smile on her lips. "I don't know what I'd be doing right now if you hadn't brought me along."
"That's why I brought you along," Mike answered gently. He raised his glass and Melody did the same. "To an awesome vacation and a close friendship!"
"To an awesome vacation and a close friendship!" Melody repeated. The two clinked their glasses and started drinking, silly grins on their faces. Even though they had only spent one day in a hotel so far, both Mike and Melody knew that one of the best moments of their lives was on the horizon.
And they both looked forward to sharing every second of it with seven ghostly children denied happiness for far too long.
/
A/N: I wrote a surprisingly large amount considering that this entire chapter is basically one day in a hotel :P
I tried to incorporate some of my own personal experiences in this vacation, since it is one that I took during the summer of 2018 and I still remember the details from it. Yes, the 11 hour flight really WAS that much of a pain in the ass, and the sand at the Jeju beach was indeed so hot that I nearly burned my feet from it. And yes, Korean bread and Patbingsu is freaking amazing and I will send Nightmare after anyone who disagrees with me.
One thing I wanted to address was Mike and Melody's relationship, the nature of which I am deliberately keeping ambiguous. They are definitely very close friends, possibly even closer than Ryan and Mike, that cannot be denied. But whether they are simply friends or there's the potential for romance? That I'm leaving up in the air for now so I can decide one way or the other without affecting the flow of the story. You can tell not just with the way they interact with each other (there's no romantic overtures between the two whatsoever even though they're comfortable with each other's presence to the point they can share the same pool bed without a second thought), but with the ghost kids' divided perspectives as well. Susie and Cassidy clearly hope that the two will get together, but Gabe and Charlie don't quite agree with them. Either way, this chapter was a good way for me to establish some chemistry between the two characters, which I noticed was somewhat lacking before now.
As for Mike's projects: one of them I've left enough hints for you guys to figure out, but the other one I'll be surprised if anyone does.
And that's all for now, hope you guys enjoyed!