Adventures in Parodyverse>: Finding the Frontier Part 2 (late tie-in)

Writer's Note: I'm not even sure if this is up to date anymore. I wrote it while bored probably a week ago, and spent the last two days wondering if I should post it or toss it. Obviously I decided to post it. Hopefully it won't screw up too many things.

Adventures in Parodyverse - Finding the Frontier Part 2 (late tie-in)

    Mr. Epitome entered the Lair Mansion Library and looked around. Magweed and Griffin were there. At first, it seemed, unattended. But then the the Psychic Samurai stood and bowed to him politely.

    "May I help you?" Chiaki Bushido asked softly.

    "I'm taking inventory of the Lair Legion every half hour," he explained. "Any idea where Mr. Pepper might be?"

    "He is a guest of Liu Xi at the Manga Shoggoth's Lair, along with Lara Night."

    "Oh." Epitome frowned and turned to leave. He didn't even see Chiaki bow again as he was leaving. But then he stopped and turned around again to ask a question. "What made you think to take over the police station?"

    Chiaki nodded and replied, "It seemed the way to do the greatest good with the meager resources I had. The Baroness abused innocent citizens using the police. I wanted to protect them from it."

    "Were you also thinking about protecting your old friends in Mangatown?" Epitome asked pointedly.

    The chill in Chiaki's gaze could be felt across the room. She didn't reply right away, as if she wanted to drop the temperature in the room with an icy gaze first. "I wished to protect those who could not protect themselves," she replied. "And the police officers from their own shame."

    "Hmm," Epitome acknowledged cryptically.

    Not wanting to answer any more questions, Chiaki busied herself with reading a book, expecting Epitome to leave.

    But unexpectedly, Mr. Epitome clasped his hands together and finally bowed slightly to Chiaki. "Good work," he said quickly.

    Chiaki looked up from her book in time to see Epitome quickly heading for the door. It caught her off guard, how mature his reply was after all she heard about his behavior. She was so surprised by his response she almost missed her chance, before he left, to say, "Thank you."

---

    Liu Xi's eyes were open wide when the door to Hatman's private quarters opened. She was very nervous, unsure of exactly what Jay remembered after he returned from what she'd been told was essentially a private hell - first tortured, and then forced to live in a complete fabrication, lost to the world. He could have no memory, or damaged memories where he only remembers fleeting glimpses or only remembers her bad moments.

    So nervous, in fact, that she didn't visit Hatman immediately upon his return home. First, of course, she had to take care of Premiere, getting him acclimated to the Lair Mansion a bit before sending him after the Parody Master. Then she simply avoided the meeting, telling others that she wanted to let him settle in first.

    Finally, Yuki scolded Liu Xi, telling her that Hatman was putting up a front and would really only open up to friends. That he was torturing himself privately and would continue to do so, his performance gradually degrading, until he felt comfortable. For that he would need to feel loved. That last phrase sounded so strange coming from Yuki, and it went straight to Liu Xi's heart.

    She stood wide-eyed in Jay's doorway, afraid to speak until he greeted her first with a surprised look and then with a tired smile, and invited her in. She stepped inside and waited for him to close the door, and then she smiled warmly.

    "How have you been?" he asked.

    Instead of replying, she leapt at him and hugged him tightly, messing up her hair so she had to let go with one hand and brush some of it aside. "I missed you...we all did. I was so worried about you! I was afraid you would never come back, and I'm tired of losing friends..." She went on a bit more in Chinese, and then laughed nervously when she remembered he couldn't understand without a specific hat on.

    Jay hugged her back gently and secretly savored the warmth. Not because of who he was hugging, but the warmth itself and the delicate scent of her hair brought back distantly happy memories he still faintly held on to from being trapped his own private dream world with Zdenka. The warmth was so enticing that he gently encouraged a kiss from her, and she obliged briefly. She was a pretty good kisser. He then felt guilty and let go of her.

    "Sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean...I'm still a bit--"

    "Don't worry about it," she interrupted, still looking a little surprised. She them shrugged, smiled nervously, and added, "I guess you deserve a small reward for coming back from such a wonderful place."

    "You're one of the reasons I came back," Jay admitted, a little sadness in his eyes. "It would have been wonderful, being there with Zdenka forever. But never seeing you or the others again...it wouldn't have been real. It wouldn't have been right. At least not without telling all of you first."

    "Did the experience bring you and Zdenka closer?" Liu Xi asked.

    It was quite obvious that was the wrong question when Jay's smile disappeared and he looked away from her.

    "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that," she quickly apologized.

    "It's okay," Jay replied. "Let's just call it payback for the kiss," he joked almost sadly.

    "No, it was fine," she tried to cheer him up. "Besides, Trickshot and Dream give nice hugs too. Be happy you didn't kiss one of them instead."

    Jay finally dropped his veil of sadness and laughed. And then he laughed some more when the picture finally came to mind. "You have perfect timing with sick jokes, you know that? It reminds me of Dream."

    "That's who I learned it from," she beamed. She then suddenly changed demeanor, suddenly rushing over to the table in Jay's room. She waved, and a covered silver platter, some utensils, and paper plates appeared from nowhere. "Your other reward," she said. "I thought you might become hungry sulking in here."

    "I'm not sulking." Jay protested as he lifted the silver top and looked at the platter. The thinly sliced fish and sauce smelled tasty. "Okay, maybe I'm sulking a little," he admitted, as he figured out that Liu Xi was trying to tease him into talking about his feelings. He knew she meant well - she was simply hoping he wanted to talk to someone.

    "So...what are you feeling?" Liu Xi asked, sitting across from Jay at the table as he sat down to taste the foor.

    "You want some too?" Jay offered her some of the food.

    Liu Xi took a small amount and put it on her paper plate, but kept staring at Jay, waiting.

    "I...want to be...you know...happy someday, Liu Xi. To fall in love, marry someone, and have kids. Just like anyone else." Jay sighed deeply and looked down at his plate sadly. "I feel like that can never happen."

    "Why?" Liu Xi asked sympathetically.

    He shrugged slightly. "You know what happened with Whitney, and then with Zdenka."

    "Nothing really happened with Zdenka," Liu Xi scolded him suddenly. "It was a shared dream, Jay. Your future together is unwritten and still possible."

    "That's just it," he continued sadly. "It was just a dream. In reality she's married to someone else and is linked to her homeland. Without it she'll die and so will it."

    "I can help with the second problem, Jay," Liu Xi pointed out with a slight smile. "I'm a master of being in two places at once. For the other problem? You just need a good lawyer. Love is like a river, Jay, it can't be stopped because of inconvenience."

    "I'm not like that, Liu Xi. I can't scheme my way to being with the person I want. If it's not right I have to accept that. Even Zdenka does."

    Liu Xi sighed. "Jay, for once think with your 'other brain', as Dream calls it. Just once, because this time it will make you happy. Sometimes thinking about what's right makes everyone miserable. You, Zdenka, and all your friends who have to see you so sad."

    "What would you do?" Jay asked, almost certain what her reply would be, but he couldn't resist asking anyway.

    "If I were Zdenka..." Liu Xi looked up and tapped her chin. "I would want you to take me to bed, make love to me every way you know. Give me an excuse to leave my life behind and follow my heart." She kept staring skyward and her smile disappeared. "Or maybe...I don't know. It's tough, because she probably has friends at home she doesn't want to leave behind or see hurt."

    Jay's eyes met Liu Xi's as she looked at him again, and he could see that she completely understood. Neither of them spoke a word as the the weight of the situation was shared by them both.

    "I suppose," Liu Xi finally spoke softly, "this is the old saying, if you truly love someone set them free."

    "Yeah." Jay nodded sadly, acknowledging her. He cleared his throat and tried to change the subject to something less painful for him. "I hear you had some problems with Exu. And Dream said something about ManMan?"

    "Yes." Liu Xi gave him a fleeting shy smile. "Exu wanted me to marry him and run away. ManMan...he is nice, but I think he loves Marie."

    "Marie? And Exu wanted you to...?" Jay smiled slightly and sighed. "You and I, Liu Xi...we're both complete disasters with romance aren't we?"

    "Yes," Liu Xi smiled. She then shoved the paper plates and utensils into the now empty silver serving tray and waved it away. "You know, if we were smart we would just marry each other. As two disasters."

    "But we're not in love," Jay pointed out.

    Liu Xi shrugged and leaned her elbow on the table, her chin balanced against her palm. "I know," she said, sounding almost bored. "But at least we like each other. The first man I was to be married to I didn't even know. And Exu...he made me...uneasy. At least I feel comfortable around you." She sighed deeply. "Of course we would have to accept it as an act of desperation."

    "Yeah, we probably should wait till we're both older before considering an act of desperation," Jay noted humorously.

    "Yes, probably." Liu Xi smiled and watched as Jay stood. She felt happy that he seemed reinvigorated by the meal and the conversation.

    "I guess I should at least check in on my office and see if the Lair Legion is falling apart yet." Jay said as he straightened himself.

    "Okay." Liu Xi stood too. "You know where I will be if you want to talk some more."


TO BE CONTINUED?

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2007 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
-- Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
-- Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin

Post By Anime Jason Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 11:29:47 am EDT	Subject Adventures in Parodyverse>: Finding the Frontier Part 2 (late tie-in)

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