"So how's the rooming catastrophe going?" Hubert asked
later at dinner around a mouthful of the butter biscuit that sat on the edge
of his tray of greens and fried chicken.
"It's going," Dr. Death replied disinterestedly,
not bothering to look across the table at the Mynci as he prodded at the bowl
of leek soup he'd selected from the kitchen area with a spoon. He'd eaten before
he'd come up to the lodge that evening and wasn't very hungry. "I get enough
of Rose at work, frankly, and I think by the time this seminar is over, I'm
going to want to tie her tail in seven different kinds of knots."
"You mean they didn't switch one of you out
of that room??" Hubert asked, looking surprised. Dr. Death shook his head. "Wow...that's
rough, man."
"Who'd they stick you with?" the Techo asked,
changing the subject a bit.
"Me? Oh I'm roomin' with Ned. He's the night
manager at the food shop. Green Kiko, doesn't talk much." Dr. Death nodded,
silently envying his friend's luck. "So what're you gonna do?"
"Stick it out, I guess..." He shrugged. "Unless
I go crazy having to share a room with her by tomorrow, and then I think I'll
just give it up and find a park bench to sleep on until this is all over."
"Hi guys!" Rose's voice filtered toward the
table they had been sitting at, making both of them instantly silence their
conversation. The pink Uni approached the table they were sitting at, carefully
balancing a tray on her hooves. Trailing behind her was a shadow-painted male
Uni, favouring Dr. Death and Hubert with a look of mild distaste, waiting until
Rose seated herself beside them before taking a place across from her beside
the silver-haired Techo
"How're you liking the lodge so far?" Hubert
asked.
"It's great! Much better than I had thought
it would be! The staff is so friendly and the--"
"Rose, who's this?" Dr. Death interrupted irately,
jerking a thumb at the shadow Uni
"My name is Zhani," he answered in a voice like
silk, not giving Rose a chance. "I work as somewhat of an overseer for the book
store."
"Yeah, that's great. What are you doing at our
table?" the Techo challenged, already not much liking him.
"Doc, be nice!" Rose snapped. "Zhani and I were
just talking while we were waiting in line to pay for our dinner, that's all.
And I told him he could sit with us. He doesn't have many friends."
"I'm rather new to Neopian employment,"
the Uni explained, flashing a smile that made Dr. Death give a slight shudder
of unease. "I once belonged to somewhat of a scholar...as a result, I've been
reading since I was born and have become quite cultured since," as he spoke,
he delicately took up his spoon and tapped at the top of a shelled hard-boiled
egg on his plate before beginning to peel it. "When I finally saw fit to leave
the restrictions of being someone's pet, I was a shoo-in for work at the book
store," he added proudly.
"What an interesting story," Hubert remarked
in a tone far too strained to have been anything other than a mild attempt at
sarcasm. Much like Dr. Death, something rubbed him the wrong way about this
Uni as well, though it was hard to put a finger on it.
"No one's really spared me a second look, but
much to my appreciation, this lovely creature and I have been having a delightful
conversation over the past few moments." He smiled at Rose as he said so, making
her blush.
"Nngh...can I fall on my steak knife now?" Dr.
Death growled in disgust, turning his attention back to his soup. Zhani's smile
slipped a few notches.
"Why, if I'm bothering you, sir, you may as
well have just said so," the shadow Uni huffed, gathering up his tray indignantly.
"RoseMadder, my dear, thank you for allowing me to meet you but it appears your...friends...don't
precisely approve of my being here. I will see you around sometime, perhaps."
"Zhani, wait, they didn't mean--" Rose called
after him, but the Uni was already stalking away from the table, refusing to
hear another word. "Well, I hope you two are happy now..." Rose sighed angrily,
fixing both Hubert and Dr. Death with a glare. "First friend I make in months
and you ruin it for me!"
"Rose, the guy's an eel." Dr. Death shrugged.
"If his ego inflated much bigger, he'd have had to get up and move anyway. There's
only so much room at these tables." The pink Uni looked from the Mynci to the
Techo before shaking her head, gathering up her tray as well and leaving in
the direction Zhani had gone.
"Must be a Uni thing," Hubert remarked,
not being able to remember the last time he had stormed off in a tizz because
someone had offended him. "But its kind of funny. You'd think she had a crush
on that guy."
"I don't really care what's going through her
head anymore, really. Understanding that woman is like trying to nail Jell-O
to a tree," he grumbled.
"I'm sure you're not the first person to
think so." The Mynci nodded. "Unless you're jealous, of course, and then that's
a whole new ball game," he added as he picked up a piece of fried chicken off
of his tray.
"Why would I be jealous?" he muttered, spooning
up a limp green leek from the depths of his soup and poking it into his mouth.
"Well, I mean, not to insinuate anything but
you and Rose HAVE been working together for a long time and--"
"I think you've been watching too many movies,"
the Techo muttered as he chewed the leek. "Rose, to me, is what nails on a chalkboard
is to the rest of the world. She annoys the living snot out of me." Hubert looked
as though he'd been about to argue when the loud tinking of a spoon against
a water glass caught his, and everyone else's, attention as a light faerie rose
from her table near the front of the dining area.
"Quiet! Quiet please!" she called as the drone
of conversation slowly died away. "I'd like to thank everybody, first of all,
for coming on such short notice...I know this retreat probably flushed a few
plans down the sewer." There was a general murmur of agreement. "BUT...but..."
she continued, holding her hands up for quiet. "I'm afraid it was either we
did it now, or we took time out of everyone's Christmas vacation to do it later."
"Now...we're going to begin things tomorrow,
as your schedules say, with a workshop on interacting with customers. At some
point in time, the employment agency has received complaints about each and
every one of you for something or other. We need to try and keep that to a minimum
as Neopia is starting to grow and its very important we keep the public happy.
Everybody is to be on time, lateness will not be tolerated and breakfast will
be served shortly after the first workshop, so if you're the type that needs
to eat something as soon as they wake up to concentrate, you're urged to bring
something with you back to your room from the dining hall tonight."
"Curfew is at nine tonight, once you're done
eating you're free to do whatever you like until then...the lodge has a library,
a swimming pool, a game room, and lounge. See you all tomorrow, everybody."
The faerie smiled, concluding her lecture as she seated herself again. Conversation
tentatively began again and was soon droning at the volume that it was before.
Dr. Death regarded his soup a moment more before
shoving it aside, no longer hungry. "I'm going back to the room," he informed
Hubert. "Maybe there's something on TV."
"Probably not...we could split the cost of a
pay-per-view movie though, if you want. That movie adaptation of Carnival Of
Terror they're running was supposed to be a decent horror flick," the Mynci
offered. The Techo thought about it a moment before shaking his head.
"No offence, I don't feel much like company."
The Techo shrugged, getting up from the table. "See you around." Hubert watched
the Techo leave, his shoulders hunched and hands stuffed into the pockets of
the black jeans he was wearing. Maybe it was his imagination, but Dr. Death
seemed almost more dismal than usual. Whether it was due to the nine o'clock
curfew or Zhani, however, he couldn't say...and in this particular case, felt
it might be best not to say anything at all.
***
"I'm really sorry again that Dr. D and Hubert were so obnoxious..." Rose apologised
for what felt like the twentieth time since dinner.
"I assure you, my dear, its quite all right."
Zhani smiled warmly as they walked down the hallway leading to Rose's room.
"And I had a wonderful time with you tonight, despite your friends' rudeness."
"Well...they're not really friends..."
Rose said thoughtfully. "I work with one, and the other's just sort of a passing
acquaintance."
"Then I suppose they'd have no trouble about
you and I palling up for this retreat, would they?" the shadow Uni stallion
pressed. "I mean, I don't wish to impose on you, fair Rose..." he smiled. "I
just DO much appreciate having someone to talk to."
"I--I dunno..." Rose faltered, feeling a pang
of self-loathing as she saw the crestfallen look that had come into his eyes.
"I guess its okay..." she relented, relieved as he brightened up almost instantly
as they stopped outside of 206.
"Wonderful. Shall I meet you at the workshop
in the morning?" he smiled, taking her hoof in his and kissing the back of her
wrist gently. Rose nodded, feeling as though she'd been knocked for a loop.
She barely knew the guy...yet she wasn't sure if she entirely minded his forwardness.
It had been a long time since she'd been on a date, after all. "Goodnight then."
He grinned, turning and trotting briskly away.
Rose watched after him a moment before opening
the door to the room. The lights were off and the heaters were still going and
made her instantly uncomfortable as she sighed, reaching blindly for the thermostat
and turning the knob to off. She wondered if Dr. Death was still elsewhere in
the lodge as she found the light switch next, clicking it on.
The Techo was sprawled out on his bed, on his
back, one arm flung across his eyes, and sound asleep. He was no longer wearing
the black shirt and jeans but had changed into a pair of blue shorts and a gray
T-shirt...something completely unbecoming to his character. Rose grinned at
how absolutely ridiculous he looked as she strode across the room to her own
respective bed, heaving her suitcase off of it and folding the covers back.
As she moved to the window, fumbling with the latch and shoving it open, she
jolted as a voice spoke.
"Where've you been?" the doctor's voice, tinged
with sleepiness, asked.
"I don't really think it's any of your business,"
she replied. "I got here before curfew, didn't I?"
"Out with Mr. Education?" Dr. Death asked, rolling
onto his side away from her and gathering the covers up over himself since the
heaters were no longer on.
"As a matter of fact, I was...and he has a name,"
she replied haughtily, crossing the room again to click off the lights and then
stumble through the darkness back to her bed. As she climbed under the covers
and flopped onto her side, getting comfortable, he spoke again.
"I hope you're not actually thinking of getting
serious about him," the Techo muttered, irritated.
"So what if I am?" Rose grumbled, nestling her
head against her pillow. "What are you? The dog in the manger?" There was a
long silence and then a frustrated sigh and a muffled thump as Dr. Death grabbed
his pillow and slammed it over his own head. Rose bit back her initial urge
to ask him if he was all right and simply closed her eyes. If he wanted to act
like a baby just because she had taken an interest in someone and he was still
single, that was his problem.
Still fuming, she drifted off to sleep a few
moments later, though Dr. Death laid awake for a long time, the pillow over
his head masking his look of deep thought. Somewhere along the line, between
wondering what it was about Zhani that bothered him so much and wondering how
he could go about keeping Rose away from him, the Techo fell asleep.
***
"So, you got another live one?" a scruffy spotted Pteri smirked as Zhani strode
into his own hotel room and closed the door firmly behind himself.
"It took me less time than I thought, really,"
the shadow Uni replied. "You'd think it would be harder to get yourself lumped
into a group like this...especially when its hosted by Fyora herself."
"Their fault for not keeping a tighter leash
on their guest list. So what's this pigeon like?" the bird Neopet chirped.
"This one's a nice, trusting pink Uni mare....trusting
being the most important part," Zhani explained. "Unfortunately, this one's
got its snags too. She has a couple of friends that already don't trust me much."
"Toldja you should've gone for the starry or
rainbow look. Its those shadows that set people's alarms off about you."
"Quiet, Magus," Zhani snorted. "She's already
agreed to spend tomorrow with me, I'll see if I can get her to follow me back
here between the workshops. You just be ready. You almost blew our cover in
Faerieland when you let that Meerca get away."
"Yeah, yeah...wait by the door with the vial.
I got it, okay?" Magus grumbled.
Zhani and Magus, unbeknownst to anyone except
those that needed to know, were refugees-turned-spy in Dr. Frank Sloth's service.
They, and scattered others, had been captured from their owners or seized as
infants from the Neopian Pet Stockhouse years ago to take part as test subjects,
whether they wanted to or not, in one of Sloth's programs to develop new transmogrification
potions.
The ones that had buckled quickly under the
research had been left anonymously on the doorstep of the Neopian Hospital under
the guise of neglected and sick pets. The ones that had held up well, but had
exhausted their list of things to offer the twisted scientist were given a choice.
What it came down to was Sloth needed new test subjects and lacked the means
of getting them in the volume he desired. The remaining pets were given the
option of having their memories erased and being deposited in the Neopian Pound
for a second chance at life, or they were to join Sloth in his search for fresh
subjects and be released once the demand had been met.
Most of the pets had opted for the memory-wipe
and had been taken in a clueless drove to the pound the following morning. The
ones that hadn't, Zhani and Magus included, had been given their instructions
and for the past few months had circulated around Neopia's more remote locations
and duping whomever they could into being dragged back to Sloth's laboratory.
Zhani had relied mostly on his charms to lure
unsuspecting young ladies away...Magus had used promises of money and adventure
on his various victims. Between the two of them, they'd managed to send about
thirty Neopets off to Sloth's labs. Ten more, and they were free to go. If all
went well, Rose would make that nine.
"Haul your tailfeathers into bed," Zhani ordered.
"I've got to be awake in a few hours."
"Yeah? Well I don't," the Pteri challenged,
picking up the TV remote and beginning to flip through the channels idly.
"Magus..." the Uni growled, grabbing the remote
control away from his cohort and tossing it across the room. "I think you'll
find things get done a lot easier, when we cooperate."
"By cooperate, of course, you mean when you
get your own way at my expense," the Pteri scoffed, glaring at Zhani as
he grumpily pulled back the bedcovers and got beneath them while the shadow
Uni turned off the television.
"Just put up with it for tonight," the
shadow Uni sneered. "By tomorrow, we'll have our pigeon and be out of here and
you can watch as much trashy TV as you want back at the laboratory. Now goodnight."
"Goodnight, your highness..." Magus growled
sarcastically, flicking off the lamp purposely before Zhani had crossed the
room so he would have to stumble through the darkness to find his own bed. The
Uni cursed quietly as he struck his ankle on the TV stand as he passed it and
somehow managed to find the bed and climb into it. Oh well...before too much
longer he'd be away from not only his annoying partner but from Sloth himself.
It had been so long, he'd almost forgotten what being free was like...and if
a few morons had to take his place that was, frankly, all right by him. Zhani
soon fell asleep, as always, with a clear conscience and no dreams.
To be continued... | 
