Adventures in Parodyverse: The Wedding Part 1


    On a stone bench in the greenhouse at the Lair Mansion, Liu Xi Xian sat wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans.  She leaned back against the glass and aluminum wall, head lowered, listening to the torrent of rainfall and the occasional crash of lightning.  A morning thunderstorm was raging outside, the wind whipping the rain into twisted sheets.

    There was a nearly imperceptible squeak from a door, and Chiaki Bushido strolled silently in, her boots making an almost imperceptible crunch in the mulch debris on the concrete floor.  She stopped in front of Liu Xi, and then she sat down beside her.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I don’t want to talk,”  Liu Xi abruptly warned.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Then please listen.”  Chiaki said quietly.  She looked at Liu Xi, who didn’t respond.  But at least she didn’t become angrier, or turn away.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I know you knew.”  Liu Xi angrily said, breaking her promise from a moment ago, her voice breaking as she spoke.

    Chiaki’s eyes turned sad, and she looked away from the younger girl at first.  But then she faced up to it, even as her eyes kept trying to tear.  “I...I did.  But how could I tell you?  How could I have ruined your happiness?”

    Liu Xi sighed.  “I guess.  I suppose that’s the curse to always knowing.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Because I feel horrible about it now, I would like to give you a gift.”

    The Chinese girl looked at Chiaki, whose eyes were now closed, and her head was pointed down.

    Then the Psychic Samurai spoke, carefully and slowly.  “You should not throw away your chance to continue to work with him.  It will cost him his life.”

    The elementalist closed her eyes, and tried not to cry again.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You should stay close to him, as close as you can,”  Chiaki added, “Because if you don’t, it will cost him his soul.  But if you do, you should be very careful; your own life will be in danger.”

    The Samurai’s eyes opened and she looked directly at Liu Xi, and those eyes of Chiaki’s looked like they were on fire.  “Your closeness with him will keep the Demon at bay.”

    That last one made Liu Xi curious.  “What Demon?  What does that mean?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I don’t know.”  Chiaki replied.  “I don’t get clear identities with such pure visions.  I see a demon.  I don’t know what his purpose is, or where it came from.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“His purpose?  So this demon is not in me?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, I suppose not,”  Chiaki replied.  “I have never given someone such pure visions before.  I usually wait until they make more sense to me, because often they don’t mean what they seem to.  So please, be careful.”

    Liu Xi nodded, and leaned back against the glass again.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“One more thing,”  Chiaki said as she stood, “Remember his eyes as he told you.  And as he asked...no, begged you to still be his friend, and to still work with him.  There was fear in that look.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Fear he would lose me.”  Liu Xi recalled sadly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Fear he would lose himself.”  Chiaki gave her a half smile, and then she stepped quietly back toward the Mansion, leaving Liu Xi alone with her thoughts.

    Thanks to Chiaki, now Liu Xi couldn’t get those eyes out of her mind.  They were full of so much fear.  And not just the reason he verbalized - that he had no choice, because his family had bound a blood curse upon his soul to ensure his wedding to Pandemonica on penalty of his death.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Chiaki!”  Liu Xi called out as the Samurai was just opening the door back to the mansion.

    Almost as soon as she snapped out of her forlorn and angry state, the storm outside abated to a heavy rainfall, and the lightning stopped.

    The Psychic Samurai turned around to look just as Liu Xi caught up to her and hugged her.  Chiaki hugged her back.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’m happy you have forgiven me,”  Chiaki whispered.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Of course I did,”  Liu Xi said.  “You’re one of my best friends.  You always look out for me.”

    Chiaki took a step back and smiled.  “You have lots of friends.  Never forget that.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I won’t,”  she said with a sigh.  “I just hope they will forgive some things I did to avoid feeling sad last night.”


---


    Late Last Night


    Hatman came into her lounge, in costume, just after returning from a long mission, hoping he could talk to Liu Xi.  Since Vinnie broke the bad news to her, she kept to herself in that lounge, the whole day, refusing to talk to anyone.  He hoped he could coax her out.  

    She met him a the door when she saw him enter, and he gave her a hug at first, trying to make her feel a little less bitter.  She closed her eyes as he hugged her, savoring the warmth.  But then she stood on her toes and kissed him.  A quick one at first, and then a longer one.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sorry.  Sorry, I shouldn’t have--”  he started to say, as he stopped abruptly and stepped back.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, no.  It was my fault.”  Liu Xi felt bad about what she’d done almost right away.  She lowered her head, shrugged, and sighed.  “I...just...I dunno.  I’m tired and sad and lonely and I’m my mind is racing with emotion, and I’m not thinking clearly.”

    He smiled so she wouldn’t feel so bad.  “Well...if it cheered you up a little, I guess it was worth it.  Let’s just call it no harm done, okay?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Okay.”  Liu Xi nodded, but she was still blushing and a little ashamed.  Then she looked back into the lounge, at the television, and said, “I...don’t think I’ll be able to sleep much tonight.”

    He brushed her now messy long hair back behind her right ear, like she usually did herself.  “I’d stay up with you, just hanging out, if you want.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I thought you were afraid to do that, of how it looked.”  she asked.

    He shrugged.  “I think Lara either corrupted me, or taught me a lot about not caring about how things look.”

    Liu Xi thought for a moment, and then shook her head.  “No, I don’t want to keep you awake.  You’re already so tired that you didn’t stop me from kissing you.  Who knows what we’ll be doing in a few more hours.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Curling,”  he suggested.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What is curling?”  Liu Xi asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s a Canadian thing.  I’ll show you.  We’d have to go to the Lair Mansion indoor ice skating rink though, it’s played on the ice.  The cold will keep us awake and our heads straight.”

    She thought again for a moment.  Then she finally said, “Okay, maybe I’ll try it for a little while.  I didn’t know the Lair Mansion had an ice skating rink.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hardly anyone does,”  he sighed.  “Or even looks for it.”

    Then Liu Xi pointed out, “You know, me and Vinnie tried to make love on ice once.”

    He turned around abruptly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Don’t worry, I don’t want to do it again.  It kind of hurt, it wasn’t much fun.  We had to stop.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh, good,”  he said.  “No kissing in there either, I don’t want you to melt all the ice.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What are you implying?”  she asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Nothing,”  he quickly replied.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Are you saying that you liked it?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No comment.”  He walked ahead of her out of the lounge, leaving it at that.


---


    Liu Xi watched as a hatless Hatman tried to teach her the rules of curling in the Lair Mansion ice skating rink.  She wasn’t really paying attention; she was shivering because it was so cold in the large room, and it was difficult to concentrate on things like rules.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What were you thinking about when you kissed me, anyway?”  he asked, trying to get her attention back.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hmm?”  Liu Xi suddenly snapped back to reality when she realized he was asking a question.  “Oh...I guess I wasn’t.  Thinking, that is.  I didn’t want to think, I just wanted to feel.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’ve been there myself,”  he admitted.  “Now come here, I’ll show you how to hold the broom stick.”  He slapped his own palm against his face before Liu Xi even started giggling.  “Come on, make this easy for me, would you?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Okay.”  Liu Xi slid off the bench she was curled up on to keep warm, and she straightened out her jacket.  Then she took the stick and stood in front of him.  “What do I do with this?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sweep in front of me.  Wait, wait, don’t push down, you’re scoring the ice.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What?”  she asked, uncertain what he meant.  “Oh, I see,”  she finally said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You have to sweep faster,”  he said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I can’t, my hands are frozen,”  she whined.

    He quickly took both of her small hands, and sandwiched them between his own, and started rubbing them to warm them up.  “Wow, you really are cold.  Maybe we should get out of here.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I want to help you clean up first,”  she insisted.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, just leave it.  Everything here is frozen, it won’t go anywhere.”  He took her arm gently and led her into the hallway, where it was far warmer.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Are you sad sometimes?”  Liu Xi asked.

    He paused, unsure of how to answer that at first.  “Should I be?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I mean...because you were so happy hanging out with me, even though I wasn’t very good company.  Like it was still better than being by yourself.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It was, really.”  Hatman assured her with a slight smile.  “Though I guess it was the same for you, too, eh?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yes.”  Liu Xi agreed with a sigh.  “Next time I try to kiss you, just punch me, would you?”

    Hatman laughed.  “I couldn’t do that.  Besides, there are far worse things than being kissed by you, and it’s a long list.”

    Liu Xi smiled and chuckled tiredly.  “I’m tired and cold now.  I think I’ll go try to sleep.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah, me too,”  he echoed.  “I mean, go to sleep in my room, not in--”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You can join me if you want, there’s a lot of room in the lounge.”  she said, “But I’m very tired so I won’t be much fun.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I actually would trust you on that,”  he replied.  “But I’m kind of a fitful sleeper lately and an early riser, I wouldn’t want to disturb you.”

    Liu Xi nodded.  “That’s a good reason.  I’ll see you later.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Good night.”  He watched her head back upstairs, feeling pretty good that he managed to keep her distracted most of the night.


TO BE CONTINUED...


Story written and copyrighted (C) 2011 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