Ten: Gerentology
By the time the weekend after Clancy and his friends returned from Yoglabs came, each of them had become closer. Vern would come by the Lab every day at noon, where Clancy would go with him into Farpoint, the village built just beside the base, and to the ice cream shop, Mary's Swirls (Mary's Swirls was half of the villagers' favorite ice cream shop the other half's favorite was Setstone, which was the ice cream shop directly across the street from Mary's Swirls. The two shops had been competing for customers since the day they were made; no one knew which shop came first). Vern would always get chocolate gelato, while Clancy shifted from flavor to flavor; the only thing he always had was sprinkles, which he was very aggressive about getting every time.
They would also get a strawberry shake and pistachio ice cream, and a coffee, black. The strawberry shake they'd take to Deanna in the Magic Studio, the pistachio to Andy who was usually training in the Hall with Exodus or only herself, and the coffee to Exodus, who was disappointed he hadn't gone on the mission with them to Yoglabs, but still liked hearing about it.
Clancy still knew some of the things in the second year class of Star Academy, but most of it was new, and a challenge. But he sat beside Vern, and often Vern would help him with his experiments although they weren't technically partners. They would study together as well, usually in the arboretum.
Saturday came and Vern was officially fed up when he found Clancy asleep at his lab table again. He dragged him out of the base by his collar as Exodus followed curiously, chewing on a slice of orange.
"So... So, why does he even need new clothes?" Exodus asked as he and Vern sat on a couch outside the changing room of the Wool Den, which was a clothing store in Farpoint.
"Well, first of all, he has four pairs of the same shirt which he just washes every day and wears over again, but we're working our way up to getting him better daytime clothes. Today, we're just getting him pajamas."
"Why's he need pajamas?" Exodus asked. "I don't wear pajamas."
Vern raised an eyebrow. "So what do you wear?"
Exodus cleared his throat awkwardly.
Vern wrinkled his nose and looked away. "How distasteful."
"Well still, why does he need pajamas?" Exodus asked.
Vern sighed in a belabored way. "I'm hoping it'll encourage him to sleep more often. Did you know that when he was in Yoglabs, he would take shots of whiskey to help him sleep?"
"Whisk - Clancy!"
"What?" Came a muffled voice from the changing room.
"How old are you?!"
"Um... Fifteen."
"You're fifteen?!" Exodus said incredulously. "That's illegal!"
There was a sigh, but Clancy didn't answer.
"I know." Vern said. "I mean, if you're going to drink, at least drink something dignified like wine."
Exodus stared at him.
Vern looked back. "What?"
"Dude, you are so stereotypically Italian."
"That's probably because I am Italian, dude." Vern scoffed.
Exodus just snorted before the changing room door opened and Clancy stepped out a bit shyly.
Vern looked up and blinked. "You like those?"
Clancy nodded bashfully, looking down at the pastel pink pajamas he had picked out, which were covered in floral print. "They're soft..."
"You really like pink, don't you?" Exodus asked.
Clancy smiled a little, nodding. "Yeah, I can't help it. I think it's a nice color."
"You look lovely, now change back into your regular clothes so we can go home." Vern said nonchalantly.
Clancy nodded, going back into the changing room.
Exodus and Vern were quiet for a few moments before Exodus broke the silence. "...Why didn't we bring Andy?"
"For the obvious reason."
"Obvious reason? Vern, she's a fashion guru, she knows everything about clothes."
"First of all, Exodus, we would never leave this store because she would keep finding new things for Clancy to try on. Second of all, Andy would likely be insulted we went to a store instead of asking her to sew an outfit for Clancy."
"Actually, why didn't we just ask Andy to sew it in the first place?" Clancy asked.
"Because it would take too long and she would probably stress over it to make it nice because you're a friend." Vern said, crossing his arms
"That's true, one time she made me a tie and it took her a month, like she will go all out to make her friends happy." Exodus said.
"That's kinda sweet." Clancy said as he left the changing room again, now holding a bundle of pink instead of wearing it.
Vern smiled softly at him before they went to the register.
Clancy looked surprised and slightly flustered when Vern paid for him. "Hey - what, you don't have to do that!"
"Clancy, I get paid almost double your salary for being an ambassador, don't worry about it." Vern replied, handing Clancy the paper bag, not containing his clothes. "But you have to carry the bag."
Clancy smiled and nodded, taking the bag.
As they were walking back up towards the base on the sidewalk, Exodus suddenly stopped. "Gôupì!" He said.
Clancy and Vern stopped and looked back at him in confusion.
"Today is April twenty-first, isn't it?!"
Clancy and Vern exchanged glances. "Erm... Yes?" Clancy said.
"Gôupì!" Exodus groaned, covering his eyes with his hand. "Ugh... Shit..."
"What's today?" Vern asked. "What's the big deal?"
"It's April twenty-first..." Exodus sighed. "Deanna's birthday..."
Deanna hummed to herself as she stood in the Magic Studio, making the drink Rythian had taught her. She quite liked it, it was calming and sweet.
The song she was humming had been with her since the day she was born. Her mother would sing the song to her as a baby to get her to go to sleep. Apparently, she had been a very loud baby. It was a wonder what happened to make Deanna's personality change so.
As the Witch was lost in thought, waiting for the kettle to boil, she failed to notice approaching footsteps.
Then there was a hand on her shoulder.
Deanna jumped, gasping in surprise.
Beside her, Seto jumped as well, lifting his hand from her shoulder. "Oh, sorry."
Deanna sighed but smiled. "It's alright, Doctor, you just startled me."
Seto smiled a little back. "Well, anyways, today's your birthday, right?"
Deanna blinked. "Yes sir."
Seto nodded and handed her a square box, a foot wide and three inches thick. "Well... So... Here."
Deanna looked down at the box in surprise, then up at Seto. "R... Really...?" Her voice had raised a few octaves.
Seto smiled. "Just open it kid."
Deanna looked down and obediently opened the box, although it wasn't at all like she didn't want to. Her eyes widened slightly as she pulled out the box's contents: a black pointed hat with an emerald green brooch on the front, the same type as the storybook witches would wear.
A grin slowly crept on her face before she squealed and hugged Seto tightly. "Thank you~!" She said, more happy than most had ever seen her.
Seto rolled his eyes slightly and fitted the hat on her head. "There you go, kid... Now go on, get back to work."
Deanna nodded and pulled her kettle off the burner, pouring it into her mug as she was still smiling. Seto watched her a second longer before chuckling to himself and walking to the door, but when he opened it, a pile of boys fell in. It started as Clancy tripped on the doorstep and then Vern tripped over him and then Exodus fell back over the top stair trying not to make the same mistake as the two Cadets.
Deanna gasped in surprise as Exodus yelped, tumbling backwards back down the steps. Andy luckily saw him coming and quickly pressed herself against the side of the stairwell as he fell past. She huffed, rolling her eyes before she continued up the stairs. She stopped as she reached the top and saw Vern and Clancy attempting to untangle themselves and she rolled her eyes again. She stepped elegantly over the two, leaving them to help each other out, and set a longer but thinner box in front of Deanna. "Here, dear, I worked with Seto to make this."
Deanna looked from Clancy and Vern to Andy. "But-"
"They don't need help, trust me." Andy said. "If you try to help them, you'll likely end up falling down the stairs too."
Deanna giggled slightly at the clumsy nerds and opened the box Andy had given her. Her smile widened to a look more of wonder as she lifted a black dress from the box. It was moderately short, likely going a bit past her knees. The collar was round and low, the sleeves long and flowing, almost as long as the skirt. It had a green sash around the waist and matching black gloves. "Andy!" Deanna said in a, 'oh you shouldn't have!' tone, setting the dress down.
Andy chuckled, waving a hand. "Do you love it, or do you love it?"
Deanna simply laughed and hugged her tightly. "Thank you!"
Clancy sighed as he set two strawberry shakes down on Deanna's work table. "I didn't know what to do so Vern and I panicked and bought you two shakes instead of one." He said tiredly, offering a small smile. "Happy birthday."
Deanna just giggled. "Thanks, guys."
Exodus rubbed the back of his head, grumbling as he went up the stairs. "I didn't know what to get you either so I'm with them."
Deanna smiled warmly. "You guys are all so sweet, thank you..."
Seto chuckled and went down the stairs to the Infirmary, leaving the teenagers to themselves.
The five spent most of the day there, talking, laughing, getting to know each other even better than before.
It wasn't that Clancy was a morning person. In fact, he was anything but. However, today was rare, because he woke up at six o' clock the next morning having had more than four hours of sleep the previous night, and he had more energy than he had had in a long time. He made Vern tea as he bounced and babbled about some idea Vern tried to ignore as he attempted to fall asleep again at the table.
Clancy dragged him out of their dorm after he had made several phone calls Vern didn't listen to. But Vern started paying attention when he was pulled into the Lab and saw Exodus, Andy, Deanna, and another boy there waiting.
He blinked in confusion as they stopped.
"Okay, what's the big deal?" Andy asked tiredly.
"So, so, you guys have helped me a lot so far." Clancy said. "I figured you guys are the ones who should hear this."
"Hear what?" Exodus asked, rubbing his eyes with one hand.
"I got an idea to catch Star." Clancy said, grinning.
Andy and Deanna exchanged glances and the boy Vern didn't know shifted, suddenly interested.
"Okay, first, who's this?" Vern asked, gesturing to the boy.
"Oh!" Clancy said. "This is Moon Moon, he works at the library. He's cool."
The others stared at him. "...Moo-?" Deanna started to say, but Moon Moon cut her off with a dramatic sigh.
"Yes, yes." He said. "It's a very funny name."
"Anyways." Clancy said. "I got an idea."
"Well what is it?" Exodus asked as Deanna started to fall asleep on his shoulder.
"Andy and I got word from a witness that Star headed towards Base Alpha."
"...Base Alpha?" Exodus said. "As in... Squid Base Alpha?"
"Yeah, she probably sought protection from the squids." Andy said.
"So... What do we do about it?" Moon Moon asked.
"Well they either accepted her request or didn't. So she's either in a dorm or in a cell. I suggest we go there and try to find her!" Clancy said excitedly.
"Well how are me gonna get them to let us in?" Vern asked. "Undercover? There's no way we could pull that off. They'd see right through it."
"Who said we were gonna ask these guys politely?" Clancy said. "We're gonna sneak in and grab her."
"What, gag her?"
"Nah, we're gonna sedate her and carry her or something. We can split up into two groups when we arrive." Clancy said. "And we can get two radios to communicate."
"That sounds crazy." Deanna said tiredly.
"That's why you're all here." Clancy said. "You're the craziest people I know. I wanna find out who of you is willing to help me try and find Star. You can refuse, it won't hurt my feelings. But I could really use all the help I can get."
There was hardly any hesitation.
"I want you to move out of my room as soon as possible, I'll help you get this over with." Vern said.
Andy shrugged. "I'm in, why not?"
Deanna nodded. "I should practice my magic somehow... I'll join you."
Exodus sighed. "Yeah, sounds fun."
Clancy looked at Moon Moon. Moon Moon was looking back with shining, light blue eyes. He pushed his glasses up onto his nose and smiled slightly. "I like it. I'll help out how I can."
Clancy grinned. "Yes! Alright, I'll talk to the Commander, you guys pack, I'll meet you at the stables in an hour."
"I'll come along." Vern said quickly, following Clancy out of the Lab.
"No."
"But-!"
"Barlow, there is no way in hell I'm sending a bunch of nerds on a dangerous mission into the heart of the Teuthidan Military Base." Sky said.
"Sir..." Vern started.
"Don't." Sky said. "You can't talk your way into this one. There is no way all of you will come back alive from this. I mean come on, guys, honestly. An amputee inventor, an ambassador, a librarian, a fashion designer who changes her hair color every day and practices wearing heels in training, a Witch who only just figured out she has any power at all, and the one guy who can actually fight and isn't even in charge. There are times when you take a big risk to try and save lives, but this isn't one of them. You're doomed to fail, don't try. Don't try. I don't need more dead recruits right now." Sky fell into his chair behind his desk agitatedly.
Clancy opened him mouth to retort angrily, but Vern held out a hand to silence him. He bowed his head respectfully. "Yes, sir. We understand."
Sky nodded. "Dismissed..." He said, looking back down at his paperwork.
Vern turned and left without a sound. Clancy let out a frustrated noise as he ran after them. The two fell into the pace of a fast walk along the corridor, the Commander's office door closing behind them. "What they hell was that about?!"
"He's not always like this." Vern said. "About two weeks ago, the Commander's apprentice was killed in a mission like this. I thought I could talk him into letting us go, but the man's stubborn."
Clancy groaned. "So what, I just don't do what I'm here to do?"
"No, we're going." Vern said. "We just won't tell him."
Clancy laughed. Vern raised an eyebrow. Clancy's laugh slowly faltered and he looked at Vern incredulously. "...You're serious?"
"Yes."
"Wow, I... I didn't expect you to... Want to do that."
"Oh?"
"Well I just... I figured you would be the goody-two-shoes type, y'know?"
Vern rolled his eyes. "Let's just get packed. But... He is right, Barlow."
Clancy sighed. "We'll be fine."
"Clancy."
Vern stopped and Clancy stopped as well, looking back at him in confusion. Vern was staring at him. "There's a big chance not all of us are going to come back."
Clancy was quiet for several moments, turning this idea over in his mind. Then he held out a hand. "Someday I won't be clever enough to get us out of situations like this anymore. But today, I feel very, very clever. I can think us out of anything, and you can talk us out of anything. We'll be just fine." He smiled.
Vern stared at him, before he nodded and nonchalantly took Clancy's hand, pulling him down the corridor again. "Whatever you say, Clancy..."
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro