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Series One Episode Fifty-Eight Tori Nyugyu, alias Sailor Kau, wasn't sure what she wanted to do for a living. She liked working with kaus. She liked fostering pets. (Her current charge was a frisky little usul named Kiersten.) And she liked designing Neohomes. That last one had a possible career in it. Tori had sold a few Neohome designs, and was able to cater to any income level. It paid well, if she got jobs. Had Tori been a professional, she would have given her friends discounts. Melony, Naomi, and Ko-Kira (Sailors Moehog, Wocky, and Scorchio), along with their pets, had recently lost their house in a fire, and they wanted the new one to be a completely new design. Tori wasn't a professional, so she did it for free. Kiersten, as well as Tori's lifelong pet Amanogawa, helped her lead the three users and their pets blindfolded up to the new house. They'd been staying with assorted other Sailor Neopets while Tori worked on it, and had yet to see the inside; Tori had wanted it to be a surprise. The starry kau Amanogawa held open the door while Tori guided the line of new residents in. "All right," she said at last. "You can pull off the blindfolds now." Handkerchiefs, scarfs, and other makeshift blindfolds were pulled from eyes, and people gasped. Glancing from one awed and delighted face to the next, Tori wondered, Could I do this for a living? Would I be able to love this for the rest of my life? Yes, she decided, as her friends started turning to her enthusiastically (with Kiersten jumping out of sympathetic joy in the background). Yes . . . this could be love. On Terror Mountain - or even in Happy Valley - it is always cold. On mystery Island, it is always hot. Neopia Central, with its temperate climate, varies by the seasons. Adam Walker, who lived and worked in Happy Valley and was a foreigner to warmer climes, usually remembered to dress appropriately when he went to Neopia Central during the summer. However, in the winter, he didn't even think about it. So when Adam and his large red skeith, Zephyr_Stratus, made the journey to Mystery Island one day, it was a very hot and sweaty boy who turned up at Ji Kouryunno's door in long sleeves and sweatpants. "What were you thinking?" demanded Ji with her characteristic bluntness as she invited the two in. "He forgot to pack for island weather," said Stratus, who had on a large backpack with Adam's sweater and thick padded coat inside. "Thank goodness you have AC - ooh, it feels like an icehouse in here," he added as he squeezed in. The skeith's huge bulk was barely fitting through the doors, especially given his large wings. Most skeiths had relatively small and useless wings . . . not this one. Adam, of course, fit through easily. When Ji brought a few Neocolas from the kitchen, the dehydrated visitors were completely preoccupied for a good five minutes. Adam was on his third can, and Stratus his seventh, when Ji left and returned again, this time with a T-shirt and pair of shorts that belonged to her brother James. She thrust them at Adam. "Here. Bathroom's three doors down that hall. Go change." The redhead obediently responded, as Stratus stacked the used cans in a pyramid. Ji finally took a seat herself; she'd steered the visitors from the nice sitting room into the casual one that she preferred, and relaxed comfortably in one of the used armchairs. It fit better with her scruffy jean shorts and T-shirt, which had a stylized surfboard on it. Finishing his stacking, Stratus looked up at the brunette. "Mercy me . . . I haven't introduced myself. I'm Stratus. And you must be Ji." "Yep." "Adam complains a lot about you." His voice was gravelly but gentle. "Does he now." Ji folded her arms and met Stratus' narrow skeith-gaze. He chuckled. "Don't worry about it. If he didn't actually like you, he'd just come home scowling any day you went for a smoothie. Instead, he gripes to all of us about how bossy you are. So he likes you fine. He's kind of an enigma that way." Ji relaxed but still didn't unfold her arms. "I'm still not sure I'm going to help you guys, you know. If you deserve a muse, fine, I'll help out, but expect no mercy." "I understand," replied Stratus. "But that one song you wrote was great. I've heard it a few times . . . you have the knack for it. You should seriously think about writing more. Even if we don't work out, we could be crash test dummies for your future career." Ji didn't answer. By the time Adam got back, in shorts that were just a bit too short, Ji was examining Stratus' keyboard, which he'd gotten out of his bag. She didn't know how to play; she was simply pressing notes and listening to them, with a look of fierce concentration on her face. "No cheap Music-Store-knockoff, there," Adam remarked, nodding to the keyboard. "That's the real McCoy." "The who?" asked Ji, looking up. ". . . never mind." He took a seat on the floor next to Ji, who leaned back and looked from him to Stratus. "So. You guys want to start a band." They nodded - red skeith, redheaded user - in unison. "Is it just you two, or . . .?" "I put an ad in the slushie shop," Adam cut in. "One guy's responded so far. College student - new to the area - name's Souru. He didn't come with us, because he's still settling in, but he's probably going to join." "Anyone else?" Adam looked sheepish, but Stratus replied softly, "Not yet." Ji gave the two such a withering look that Adam physically backed away from her. Stratus just smiled. "Well, well, well," he quipped. "This could be love." Ko-Kira was streched out on the bed in her new room - part of a set of glorious dark wood furniture, including a fireplace, though it didn't have a fire in it yet - when, downstairs, the doorbell rang. She hopped out of bed and dashed downstairs, pushing past Moehog374, who was also going down to get the door. "Hey!" he called after her, but she was gone. The backyard had been decked out for a party. Bowls of candy and nuts, Neocola, Cheesy Neos, chips, and plastic dishes galore were piled on folding tables; Naomi and Luplee had a grill going; Melony's jukebox was blasting something energetic; and balloons were tied to every available hook, handle, and bar. Meanwhile at the front door, Ko-Kira paused, took a breath, straightened her hair, and opened it to welcome her first guest in. "Oh, hi Paul!" "Hello," said the shy Scorman, blushing. More guests arrived - Tori, several other Sailor Neopets, a dozen scormans, and plenty of others that Ko-Kira had met through her Scorman Rights campaign. Her cause achieved, Ko-Kira no longer needed to talk with them, but many still wanted to stay in touch. So she accepted their thanks, and enjoyed listening to their success stories. And then she always returned to the table where Paul was sitting, and enjoyed his quiet company. The scormans tended to cluster around the grill, so Melony had a hard time getting in for another burger. As Naomi flipped it onto her plate, the elder sister nodded towards the pair at the far table, sitting in calm silence. "This could be love." Stratus dozed under a grove of palm trees while Adam and Ji studied a bike path, sloping down one of the foothills of Techo Mountain. "This is nothing like a wave," Ji said flatly. "Well, not exactly, but the effect . . . and it works with snowboarding, too . . ." "Get to the point. How is this in any way a replacement for the surfing at the pier that most people aren't allowed near?" "Just watch." Adam went over to the backpack that Stratus had been using as a pillow, and tugged out a lightning-streaked snowboard. Flipping over a few panels in the bottom, he pulled out and locked into place a set of wheels. Then, as Ji watched, he sped down the hill -- went flying up the next one -- jumped into the air -- flipped the board with his feet -- landed on it -- and came zooming back to the crest of the hill where the brunette stood. Another flip of the feet, and the board flew into the air to be caught neatly in his hand. "The mechanics are pretty much the same as surfing, but the waves never disappear," he explained. "You want to try?" Half an hour later Ji had picked up the basics and was soaring over the hills as quickly as Adam had been. She slid up to the top of the original hill -- imitated the redhead's foot-flip -- and sent the board whirling into the air, to land smack on Stratus' head. The big skeith stirred but didn't wake up; his skull was too thick for that. "So what do you think?" asked Adam nervously, picking up the skateboard. Ji grinned. "This could be love." "You're certainly walking on air," crooned Mrs. Kouryunno to her second youngest son one night at dinner. They were having leftover soggy macaroni and ummagine casserole, which the other two kids had flatly refused to eat, but James was digging in without so much as a sour face. "What's the occasion?" continued Mr. Kouryunno. The two parents could hold one side of a conversation seamlessly for ten or twenty minutes; their only daughter, Ji, found it annoying. But usually she just ignored it, which was her tactic now. "I'm going to make a sandwich," she announced, standing up and pushing away her plate of assorted orange-and-purple glop. "Can I have one too?" piped up little Mike, a cute boy with sandy blonde hair. "Make your own," snapped Ji. Mike's lip trembled, and the brunette sighed. "Come on. I'll show you how." As the two retreated to the kitchen, James - whose eyes were as brilliant green as his sister's, though behind square glasses - swallowed his mouthful of ummagine without even gagging, and smiled. "Oh, I dunno. Life is good, I suppose." "James, dear, we know you're brilliant," began his mother. "But that doesn't mean your folks are stupid," chided his father. "We've been around the block a few times," added his mother. "So," finished his father, "what's her name?" James sat back in his chair and smiled more widely. "Well . . . Zelda." When Ji came back in the room (with a cheese and onion sandwich on korbat-head-shaped bread), accompanied by Mike (with a sloppy mess composed of two slices of bread and about half a jar of peanut butter, which only by the loosest of definitions could be termed a "sandwich"), her father was saying to James, "She sounds lovely." Ji looked between the two, then at her brother. "James has a girlfriend?" She must've sounded a bit distressed, because her mother replied, "Don't worry, dear -- I'm sure you'll find a nice boy eventually." Ji just sat down, scowling, and took a vicious bite of her sandwich. "I'm never going to have a girlfriend," announced Mike as he sat down. "That's exactly what James used to say," his father remarked. To the older boy, his mother added, "You'll have to bring her over some time. It sounds like . . ." Her husband finished: ". . . this could be love." It was one in the morning when the last guest left and Naomi collapsed on her own bed. She was just about to fall asleep when her sister and Ko-Kira came walking down the hall together. Ever-alert for news that she could tease Melony about later, the elder sister quietly rose and went to her door, where she listened through the crack. "Good time tonight, huh?" asked Melony. Her voice sounded forced somehow. Naomi strained her ears. "Super," Ko-Kira agreed. "Really tiring, though." "Yeah. Yeah." There was a pause. "You were having fun, it looked like. You two." "Oh, me and Paul? Yes . . . we were." The scorman was an intensely private person; Naomi expected her to leave it at that. But after another awkward silence, she kept talking. "I feel like I'm bonding with Paul. We're just so . . . comfortable together. It feels natural, sitting with him . . . Melony . . . I think I'm going to ask him out." Melony was silent. "I don't know much about this sort of thing," admitted Ko-Kira, "but . . . I think this could be love." "Great," replied Melony in the same odd, forced voice. "I'm happy for you." |