Chapter 236: Making Plans
The bus driver gave us a dirty look when we got on board. We were soaking, we were dripping, and one of us smelled like musty rainforest... so really it was a stink eye well justified.
Mental note: Umbrellas exist. Use some of those brain cells next time, yeah? They could really do with the exercise.
Didn’t have trouble finding seats, I could practically count our traveling companions in with us with less than ten fingers. We took our place, and the bus roared onwards, the growing pitter-patter against the window panes our only ambiance.
At least for me, it was just ambiance... clearly, I was alone in thinking that. Everyone else, the three or four that I could see anyway – well, let’s just say they looked as if they had better mornings.
A minute in, and I was starting to notice a pattern. When the rain gets heavier, everybody else gets paler. They kept their gazes strictly staring straight, especially the ones with window privileges – they looked even tenser.
It was a chilly morning, yet one guy in a tank top was sweating enough to lay the foundations for a new irrigation system.
And when it thundered... oh boy, when the boom from above rumbled, everyone made a collective gasp in unison as if the biggest plot twist of the century was just unveiled before their eyes.
.....
Everybody was seriously just one lightning strike away from total mass hysteria, and it’s really no mystery why. Y’know I read some tidbit thing once online, apparently, the number one phobia in humans was a fear of spiders.
Think that tidbit thing is going to need some updating to fit with current times... what’s the fear of rain called anyway?
I turned to my right, and Ash on my side, was only faring slightly better than the rest – wasn’t as tense, and she was clearly playing it cool, but unless she was holding her hands to her ears, there was really no chance in hiding that twitchy mess.
It’s like we never left that building that day, like we’re all still there... all fidgety, uneasy, just waiting for the next clusterfuck to pull the rug from under us. It’s hard to get into the mindset that it was all over now even though It was indeed truly all over now.
It was all over now... right? For now?
Shit, this thing’s infectious.
Alright, enough with the dreariness already... apprehension’s unhealthy for the heart, a dreadful ailment that’s gone on for far too long – thankfully, I know just the remedy for it.
“Tomorrow, Ash,” I began, keeping my tone light. “You, me, Adalia too if she wants to, we’ll be heading to a convention.”
“A convention...” Ash inclined her head, contemplated, probably recalling the definition, before she raised her gaze upwards. “What type of convention?”
“The fun type. The relaxing type. The not-worrying-about-anything type of convention,” I finished, thinking my response sufficient, but since her face seemed to imply otherwise, I elaborated on further. “Amanda invited us, it’s like, uh... it’s like a festive gathering thrown in the honor of video games I guess you can say... so there’s going to be a lot of people dressed in not the way they usually dress...”
Ash chimed in, her eyebrows arched. “Similar to cosplay?”
“Exactly like cosplay,” I nodded encouragingly. “Forgot you know what that is already. So anyway, be forewarned... come tomorrow morning, you won’t be the only Elf here in town.”
“Oh,” She looked taken aback. “So it’s – ”
“Fantasy-themed, yes. Knights, Kings, Queens, Elves, Orcs... you name it, they’re there. I suppose in a way you’ll fit in right at home, so...”
“I... I see,” There’s that look again. “That sounds...”
“Unappealing?” I interjected. Couldn’t help myself, she just sounded so off to me. “I get it. Discomforting? Not your type of thing?”
“Intriguing... Master,” She promptly finished, hiding amusement in a half-smile. “Your world’s rendition of my own... that, I am curious to see. Indeed, it does sound like it’d be a worthwhile visit. Perhaps this time, it’ll be me showing you all the splendor of what my world has to offer instead of the other way around. It sounds like an enticing prospect.”
Oh... for a second there, I thought... y’know what, never mind what I was thinking. This was much better.
“Costume only event, by the way.”
“Well,” She leaned into her seat, her pointed ears wriggling in satisfaction. “It seems I am already good to go.”
“That makes one of us. I haven’t even thought about what fantasy-me could or would even look like.”
Ash shifted her gaze, eyeing me up all over, a frown gradually showing more and more prominent with every passing second. She was hmm-ing a lot too. A typical bad sign, a dark foreboding omen if you would when it came to girls.
I would know, Ria hmm-ed at me enough times picking out clothes that one time for me to develop an innate irrational aversion to hummings, so yeah, I do have genuine first-hand experiences with these telltale signs of the feminine kind.
“That is... a thought, yes...” Ash slowly said, a little squint in her gaze.
I met her eyes, raising my brows. “Got any advice for me, dear knight in shining armor?
And she... veered away.
“I am... unsure if I am the best person to decide your attire for you, all things considered.”
“What do you mean?” I said, a small confused smile on me. “You’re from there. You are literally the best person for this, all things considered.”
She didn’t say anything.
“How about a king?” I suggested. “Maybe I could wear a crown... robes, what do you think?”
She still didn’t say anything.
“Or... I could play a good knight?
She smiled.
“Peasant’s always a safe choice?”
Nothing, jeez, what the hell – what am I, the anti-fantasy man? Someone just tell me how to cosplay good, please!
For what it’s worth though, she did give a little grunt this time... does that mean anything in girl-speak?
Someone more fluent in it please inform me quick.
“How about...” Oh, too late. Here comes our stop here. I sighed, and stood. “Another time.”
Saved by the bus, Ash gratefully stood up after me.
Leaving, the ambiance was still the same, everyone was still really pale, and I’m starting to get the impression that this particular bus driver just gives the stink eye to practically anybody that waltzes in.
“Saturday, hmm,” Ash said, blinking out the raindrops from her eyes. “I’ll have to inform Sera... I won’t be able to visit tomorrow.”
I blew a breath. “Oh, she’s really going to love me after hearing that, alright.”
“Is that so?” Ash sharply turned her gaze. “Has she been causing you any trouble as of late, Master?”
Trouble? Yeah, that’s one way to put nearly killing me two nights in a row, I guess.
“No more than the usual kind,” I said, casually waving the memory away. “I can handle it.”
“Speaking of, Master,” Her gaze stayed on me. “I sincerely believe you’d have less of it tomorrow if you aren’t so rife with questions... after all, if the convention is as appealing as it sounds, it’d be a waste to spend most of it silently in your thoughts.”
This again, huh. She must really think that it’s for the best... I’m not one to disagree either.
“I’ll call Irene, don’t worry...” I assured her, picking up the pace as we reached our driveway. “It’s like, what – seven in the morning? Who in the hell gives someone a call at seven in the morn – ”
Something heavy in my drenched jeans gave a buzz. Something through the darkened fabric flickered bright, and stayed a glow of white.
I pulled out my phone, water-resilient, as I only just then found out, still buzzing as frenetically as a bee in its glory days.
The ever-vigilant Elf noticed my silence, noticed the buzzing and the flashing, and also noticed through the buzzing and the flashing, a name written in bold on the display.
Detective Lady Woman.
Yes, I named her that in my contacts. Didn’t bother changing it since the first time I called her. Fight me.
Ash peered once, then smiling faint, tilted her head. “I do believe the expression is ‘Speak of the devil,’ or something along those lines...”
That smile wasn’t as faint anymore.
“Am I right, Master?”
“Oh, ha, ha...”
She broke into a slight chuckle and after having settled, went and carried on ahead.
“I shall go and prepare your bath and clothes,” She proclaimed from the now open doorway with a gracious, departing bow before shutting it close. “Please, take your time.”
Welp, no better time like the present. I dried off what little I could of myself by the porch, and after spitting out the last remaining bits of rainwater from my mouth, finally raised the rain-stained to my rain-flooded ear.
“Hello?”
There was a crackle of static, and then –
“You’re awake!”
I snorted. “Wow, you must be a detective or – ”
“We need to meet,” She interrupted without hesitation. “We need to talk.”
I snorted even louder. “I think I already tried that yesterday, talking. Uhh, is this the part where you hang up on me?”
There was an audible intake of breath on the other end.
“Listen, I’m not in a joking mood,” She said, her voice growing stern. “This is quite serious.”
“Yeah, I bet... you got your police voice on and everything.”
“You noticed I’ve been avoiding you?”
I snort any louder, I’d be funneling out my brains through my nostrils.
“It’s for a good reason,” She continued, taking my nose-noise as my yes. “Trust me.”
.....
“Messages too...” I grumbled. “Y’know I got something important to talk to you about too, did you notice that?”
“Save it. This is more important.”
“No,” I shook my head, an impulse action. “You don’t get it.”
“No, it’s you that doesn’t – ”
“It’s about Ria!”
“It’s about us!”
There was a pause. A short pause, yet one that seems to stretch to infinity on end.
Then, inevitably, when confusion has finished its work, that infinity came and went.
“What about Ria?”
“What about us?”
A pause again, significantly shorter this time.
“You first,” I said.
“No, you first,” She said.
“Irene...”
“Wait – did something happen to Ria?”
Great. Phone-talk isn’t going to cut it. We’re bickering like a couple now.
Guess she was right... looks like we do need to meet, do this the old fashion way, face to face.
About us, huh? Really didn’t like the urgency I heard there just then.
Seriously, a part of me wishes I could just chalk it up to flooded speakers.
But as mentioned before... water-resilient... yeah...
That urgency was as real as it was gonna get.
I took a deep breath in.
“Alright, you win,” I said, watching as the rain, in a timely fashion, slowly dwindled down. “When and where?”
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