Chapter 3: Preparations

• 𓎬 ☼ 𓋹⋅☾𓂀 ☽⋅𓋹 ☼ 𓎬 •

Ahkmenrah X

2014 - New York City

Present Day of the Hayden Planetarium Grand Opening

Adjusting his collar, Ahkmenrah placed his hands over each other and stood in front of the glass case - using the case containing weapons as a mirror. It was just a few last-minute touch-ups, trying to make sure that every part of his outfit seemed immaculate.

"Are you all set?"

He spun round to his back to find the voice calling out to him. Kai Winterson ambled towards him, a black device in his hand as well as a clipboard. Attached on his ear was a thin curved device, with a dot at the end. They were called microphones apparently, which enabled people to talk through from the other end of the device.

The young man was around his mid-twenties, perhaps a couple of years older than what Ahkmenrah was since his death. Kai's slick black hair and cutting black suit fitted him, matching to the shiny shoes he wore.

It was strange how men dressed in the modern-day for formal occasions. There was no jewellery nor any gold attached to their clothing, apart from the buttons on their sleeves and perhaps studs on the lobe of their ears. Ahkmenrah himself was wearing something similar to the Night Programme assistant.

He had worn something similar before a few years back. But this time it was a black suit, with a white sleeved shirt. He disliked the bowtie despite Larry insisting to put it on for the occasion.

And the shoes.

Socks were such an oddity when he first wore them, and they still made his feet feel weird after taking them off. Ahkmenrah understood well about Image, and it would not do him and the museum well if he turned up and wore his normal attire around the dinner when he wasn't 'performing' for the guests.

His hair was tamed, though glad it wasn't fully slicked back like Kai's. He loved the natural curls his hair made (one thing Rowen mentioned one time when they were initially friends, which then also kickstarted his growing infatuation with the woman).

One thing he did found himself appealed to was the added gold cufflinks and buttons on his jacket, embellished with the symbol of the Ankh and Wadjet symbols. When he fiddled with them on, he would smile at the - remembering who had given it to him.

"Indeed Kai, though it would seem I will just be there as a guest." Ahkmenrah answered, and adding: "Well I assume so, according to Larry."

Kai nodded and replied, "Ah okay. Awesome then. I'll see you down at the planetarium." He stepped backwards, preparing to leave the corridor. Kai asked with slight hesitation, "Oh and...have you seen Calli?"

From the light, he quickly spotted his face turn a bit pink. Ahkmenrah refrained from smirking as he noticed the young man. "Not that I'm aware of. Have you not tried the Greek Exhibit?" He asked him.

Making a noise of agreement, Kai replied. "Yes, and she wasn't there-"

At that moment, a woman in a white chiton glided into the corridor. Her blonde hair was draped in loose long waves, decorated by a violet strand of ribbon woven over the top of her head. The chiton had a peplos over it, pinned with golden brooches. On her feet, she wore leather sandals similar to what Ahkmenrah wore normally, the dark brown contrasting her blonde hair and grey eyes.

Calliope had a solemn expression on her face when she saw Ahkmenrah. Though it only took a few seconds for her to dart her eyes straight towards the Night Programme assistant and appear to be a surprised gazelle. Her lips parted and both seemed to be stuck from saying anything.

There and then: Ahkmenrah wished he wasn't here to see this tension.

'Is this what everyone else felt like when Rowen and I were...' His thoughts trailed off when Ahkmenrah coughed to make Kai respond.

"Oh hi."

The pharaoh wanted to facepalm when Kai said those words.

He thought, 'Ever so eloquent, Kai Winterson.' He internally rolled his eyes.

Luckily, Calliope nervously smiled back. She greeted him, "Hello. I was hoping to bump into you." She then turned to Ahkmenrah and nodded her head. "Good evening Ah-Adonis. You're not wearing your..."

With the way she glanced over his outfit, Ahkmenrah justified himself. "I am tasked to be a guest tonight."

"Ah, alright." Calliope hummed and her eyes flashed quickly, finally reminding herself. "Kai. Teddy wants you down there to help with the lighting."

"Okay, s-sure..." The young man stammered back.

There was another break of silence, which Ahkmenrah almost feel like it was suffocating him from awkwardness. 'At least I wasn't this bad!' He moaned to himself before nudging his brow towards Kai.

The young man immediately coughed and began, "Calli, um." Kai stuttered, "You look...nice."

Ahkmenrah almost groaned.

A blush formed over her cheeks as Calliope smiled, "Thank you." She looked at Kai with glimmering eyes. "You look dashing too."

The two clicked when Kai arrived for his first night as Larry's assistant four years ago. When the Greek Muse wanted to do a talk on the Ancient Greek tales and the mythology of their culture. Somehow, their passion for both history and mythology sparked the awkward crush they had and it never seemed to change during this. Ahkmenrah and Calliope's sisters have tried their best to nudge the two together and to finally express their love, but to the whole of the museum's frustration: neither of them had the guts to tell each other.

It was even harder when throughout the four years, Kai was only in the museum at night once a week. He would often aid Larry is directing them around and helping the visitors and was expected to keep the place in order when Larry wasn't there to do so. The two only grew closer as friends when Thalia and Clio nudged her to create a new section of the tours with him.

Ahkmenrah liked Calliope and Kai. But the two were more oblivious than he was with love.

It was why when Kai followed Calliope to go and find Teddy to sort of the lighting, Ahkmenrah found a way to get the two alone for a few seconds.

"I think I forgot something in the Egyptian wing." He told Kai. "I'll meet you down in the planetarium."

There was a subtle moment of panic in the young man's eyes until he nodded and said 'see you later' The two walked together, feet apart between as they turned and disappeared around the corner. A little smirk escaped his mouth as he sauntered the opposite way to his exhibit.

He bowed to the Jackals a good evening, instructing to them that they needed to stay put for the evening. Once they replied with a nod, they stood either side of the entrance in their guard positions. He then went over to his sarcophagus, which held his clothes, shoes and crown and went to hide his things with the lid. He was about to leave until an unspeakable force washed over him.

'Ahkmen...'

He froze when the voice echoed in his head. Turning his head around, all he spotted was utter darkness of the dimly lit exhibit. He adjusted his jacket, taking another breath. 'You're just nervous,' Ahkmenrah told himself.

Then he felt the room spin slightly.

'Ahk, you must go! Find her! Find her...'

Ahkmenrah audibly gasped, trying to wake himself up. When he took a moment to bring himself up, he noticed his hands pressing against the glass casing of his sarcophagus. His hands were shaking, trying to balance his body until he could stand.

Once the weird sick feeling and voice faded, he swallowed the bile down his throat - but suddenly stopped when his eyes laid across where the tablet was in.

On the bottom of the tablet - a green stain began to crawl up its gold surface.

• 𓎬 ☼ 𓋹⋅☾𓂀 ☽⋅𓋹 ☼ 𓎬 •

Larry XXV

2014 - New York City

"Tonight gonna be fun-fun!" The Easter Island head rumbled in excitement. "Here come Dum Dum!"

Entering the main hall of the museum, Larry found Sacagawea standing by the staircase. Her face concentrated on the paper clipped on the board in front of her as she ticked some things off with a pen. When the Native American woman rose her face, she smiled sincerely at her to which he returned with a wave.

The whole museum was bustling with people and exhibits. The big event was tonight: the opening of the Hayden Planetarium which was a part of the newer part of the American Museum of Natural History. It was supposed to be a set of buildings dedicated to the Ancient History and Classical Sciences, something which the Greeks, Sacagawea, Ahkmenrah and Rowena have worked on for over four years.

As for him, it was his job to introduce and promote the place with the Night Programme.

They've been rehearsing for the past two months, making sure they knew their ques and perfecting their performances. For Larry's part, he had been directing and overseeing the whole performance, making sure the exhibits understood what they were doing and if resolve issues. Sacagawea and Ahkmenrah have been aid alongside Kai - checking in on the rest of the exhibits when he wasn't available and providing more ideas. Kai was an excellent coordinator and helped with the actual technology they needed such as the lighting and the music.

If it wasn't for those three and the exhibits cooperating, Larry knew Richard and Rebecca would disapprove the whole formal event.

But now it was coming to reality, as he and Sacagawea discussed the final bits before the show. They strode down through the hall, checking the Civil War soldiers who were polishing their bayonets and guns. The 16th Century Pilgrims ambled towards the direction of the planetarium whilst some of the animals were being rounded up by Lewis and Clark.

"Hey, how we doing, Sac?" He asked her.

Sacagawea tapped the ballpoint pen on the board as she answered. "Rexy is waxed and buffed. Teddy is grooming his moustache. Oh, and I reviewed fire safety procedures with the primordial men." Her head turned to him at the side and asked, "By the way, have you seen them lately? The museum has added a new one."

"What?" He said without thought. His eyebrows then rose when he remembered; "Oh, I think Rebecca mentioned something. Where is she?"

Sacagawea spoke, "Meeting with McPhee and the chairwoman." Her brows furrowed as she asked, "I thought you came in at the same time?"

"We did but argh-" He let out a tired frustrated noise and slapped his mouth shut with his mouth.

A sympathetic expression graced Sacagawea and she softly said, "Hey, it's going to be alright Larry."

He murmured a thank you to her, nodding to her with an assuring smile. When she responded with the same action, she was pulled away after being called by Lewis who needed help rounding the emperor penguins. Sacagawea bid her leave and he nodded in understanding.

And then another memory popped out of his head. Larry called to her, "Oh, and make sure the centurions stretch, all right?" He added, "They really went for it in the dress rehearsal and they're just not used to those kinds of dance moves."

Sacagawea held a thumbs up and left to usher the animals down the corridor.

He flicked his head back round to the rest of the exhibits lingering in the main hall and stepped towards the central reception desk, where he clapped his hands together.

Larry then began, "Okay, everybody. Everybody, listen up! I don't want to make anybody nervous...but the mayor and the chairwoman are both out there." He continued, "And, I'm not a hundred per cent sure, but I think Regis Philbin, too."

"Reeju Philbo?"

The Huns - more specifically Attila - paused and stared at him. With a startled look, Attila seemed affected by the certain name he called out. Larry internally questioned where on earth did the warrior know about the famous man.

"Yeah, Reeju Philbo," Larry answered, still confused.

'Huh, who knew Hun's like to watch talk shows,' He thought.

Attila and his Huns strode past towards the planetarium, happy to follow Larry's orders for once. As they disappeared, Larry felt the ground shake slightly by the force of the dinosaur's feet. Gazing up, he quickly ducked the swooping bone in the air. "Okay, Rexy, do me a favour. Watch the tail, okay?" He told the Tyrannosaurus. "There's gonna be an open flame."

The skeletal dinosaur nodded his skull head and stomped away. Larry took another sigh and headed across to the bench, where a certain Capuchin was putting a ton of talcum powder on his hands.

"Oh, Dexter how you doing, my man? All limbered up? Looking good. I like the tie. Got kind of a Chippendales thing going on. All chalked up, ready to go?" He smiled at the little mammal, who squealed in response before grinning back.

He wore a bowtie, small enough to wrap around his neck. Larry found it amusing that Nick found the accessory which Dexter agreed to wear. Or perhaps his son bribed the capuchin with a bunch of treats and toys.

Either way, it seemed Dexter had to qualm and hurried to pass Larry to follow Attila and his group. There were still some exhibits left, who weren't going to perform but were there to entertain the event after the introduction.

"Good. Okay, everybody relax and have fun, okay? Don't worry. Rebecca, McPhee and Ahk will be there. Just pretend it's a rehearsal." Larry called out, to which the rest looked. Some nodded and some cheered, but at least there wasn't any protest - which he was only relieved on.

That was one thing he should thank, that everyone was putting so much effort in the show. At first, when Rebecca and Richard proposed the idea to the rest of the museum: there were some groans and complaints about the special event. They were already having to do more nights than they expected as the night programme had gotten rather popular for both New York and the country.

But then he suggested some ideas on what the exhibits could do, such as the Greeks performing a song, and the Huns and Civil War soldiers preparing to do a fight sequence (a safe one). The miniatures would help in the background (apart from the Aztecs who haven't much changed the past few years and still were hostile to the rest).

Larry adjusted his bowtie and pulled back his hair with the help of his phone. As he did so, he saw a familiar figure approach him with the use of the camera. Closing his phone and tucking it away in his pocket, he turned to smile at Ahkmenrah.

However, he paused when Larry saw the expression on his face.

"Larry." The pharaoh looked at him seriously, though his eyes were littered with worry. "You better come see this."

Larry nodded and gestured for Ahkmenrah to guide him to the Egyptian exhibit.

As he caught up to step with him, Larry pried: "What's wrong, Ahk? I thought you'd be out with Rebecca already?"

They turned around the corner, getting closer to the exhibit. Ahkmenrah's face contorted to more nerves, slowly answering him, "I was intending to." He paused. "However, I came across something overly concerning."

Once they arrived at the exhibit, there was an odd sense which lingered over the room.

Maybe it was just Larry feeling the discomfort Ahkmenrah had already, though even in normal circumstances he wouldn't feel this crept out by the atmosphere. There was an irritating hum, making him itch and the hairs on the back of his neck stand.

It only got worse when Larry saw what he meant.

Hanging on the wall, protected by glass and security measures - was the tablet itself.

But the bottom part was different

There was a green stain crawling up the tablet. It seemed to crumble the gold flakes and looked almost like it was eating the material itself.

"What the hell..." Larry muttered and glanced at the pharaoh. "Have you ever seen it like this before?"

Ahkmenrah answered, "Never." He never left his eyes off the artefact. "This corrosion has never happened before. It has always been exactly the same."

He opened his mouth and quickly shut it. He didn't want to jump into conclusions and say a possible culprit. Considering Ahkmenrah was the sole guardian of the tablet at the moment, he didn't want to worry the Egyptian. They had a show to do, and this was not helping at all.

He bit his tongue before he wondered, "Do you think...something infected it or...?"

"I have no idea. It could be something that could easily be resolved." Ahkmenrah admitted, fiddling with the cufflinks of his jacket. "And to be honest...my parents and my brother knew the secrets of the tablet better than I did-"

Suddenly, a screeching sound filled his ears.

'They have found us.'

'Go! We don't have time!'

'I am not leaving her!'

Larry scrunched his eyes in the surprise of the noise, but he was distracted by Ahkmenrah's body stumbling towards his.

Rushing with his arms, Larry caught his friend with slight ease and felt his heart speed up. His eyes. His eyes were glowing a mixture of blue and brown.

'What the crap...' He thought before steadying Ahkmenrah in his feet. Larry then glanced up to the tablet.

The tablet was glowing an odd shade of green, and the colour began to crawl further up the tablet. After a few seconds, the noise quietened down back to silence. He found himself still holding Ahkmenrah.

"Hey. You okay?" He asked him.

Ahkmenrah stood back up, thanking him. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Feeling rather faint."

He patted the Egyptian's shoulder and said, "Just take it easy out there tonight, all right?" Larry suggested, "Maybe stick with Kai or Rebecca. We've got fifteen minutes until showtime."

The pharaoh nodded, his mood slightly deflated but he took a deep breath before agreeing to his decision. When Larry knew he was fine, he gestured him to follow him back out towards the event.

However, the pharaoh didn't budge and pursed his lips. "Larry. Perhaps we should call Rowen."

Larry paused and thought it through. At the mention of their immortal friend, he noticed Ahkmenrah look a bit disappointed.

Rowen called a month before that she couldn't make it to the event, and apologised for a dozen of times to him and the rest of the museum. Though Larry clearly knew the apology was directed to her partner who was excited to spend the evening dressed up with her.

Larry smiled sadly and said. "We will, Ahk. Don't worry too much. We're gonna figure this out tomorrow."

"All right then." Lifting his head up, he appeared every inch of royalty despite the modern outfit he wore. Larry kept forgetting he was still a king.

Well - a dead king more specifically.

He cheered him up and added, "Come on, and let's fix that tie."

• 𓎬 ☼ 𓋹⋅☾𓂀 ☽⋅𓋹 ☼ 𓎬 •

"Give a big Texas "hell yeah" from old Jedediah...because I loved it too! Just send a smiley face. Yeah, but with a wink!"

"A smiley face and a wink!"

He found the two lovebirds watching YouTube, and rather too intimately. They were perched on the reception desk, cuddling with the makeshift cushion made of a former pin cushion. When he walked toward them, he placed his hands on his hips.

"Guys, what are you doing?"

Jedediah and Octavius glanced behind them and quickly pulled away.

There: Larry raised an eyebrow.

"We're just watching kittens." The Roman was the first to speak, which followed a hum of support from his cowboy partner.

Larry answered, "You're on in five minutes." He checked his phone and waved his hands to them to move. "You got to focus, here."

From his position, he saw Jedediah swat the general's hand and hissed, "I told you we don't have time for this!"

"You gave it a Texas "hell yeah!"" Octavius paused. "Right sorry."

Larry rubbed his finger over his temple and internally sighed. 'Sometimes I don't know what I'm doing...' While they closed the computer down, he told them that he was going to hurry along but expected them to get their group ready at the planetarium.

"Honestly, I don't know why I put up with you, Roman."

"Something on the lines of love..."

Larry stopped in his tracks.

"Guys!" He called to them.

There was a clank of metal and some shuffling before the two shouted back.

"Sorry!"

Rolling his eyes, he hurried down to the planetarium until he stumbled across the former president polishing his sword and rifle.

"Hey, Teddy, ready to roll?" He greeted him, glancing down to the sword.

Sheathing his sword into his holster, Teddy grinned and replied, "Indeed, Lawrence. Battle of San Juan Hill cool as a cucumber." He raggedly breathed. "Right now, butterflies like you wouldn't believe."

Smiling, he reassured the older man. "You're gonna be great."

"Lawrence?"

"Yeah."

Teddy questioned, "Have you seen the Neanderthals lately?"

"No." He answered back and then irritably responded. "Why does everybody keep talking about this?"

A roar of laughter escaped Teddy's lips. Before he mounted Texas, he said to him: "You may want to give it a look!"

He wished he didn't look, as the next few minutes spent him talking to a wax neanderthal that looked eerily like him. What made it even more worse was that La (yes, his name was La) kept calling him 'Dada'.

Larry huffed, 'I am going to have a word with McPhee about this.'

• 𓎬 ☼ 𓋹⋅☾𓂀 ☽⋅𓋹 ☼ 𓎬 •

The Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Centre for Earth and Space was the most expensive projects the AMNH had done. It would also have to be the riskiest area for the exhibits by the glass structure and the amount of technology surrounding them.

But for tonight, the place was decorated for a formal dinner, with round tables and chairs covered in white cloth and floral vases. There was a platter of food on the side, with an ice-carved dolphin statue. On the elevated area was a bar, with people already getting alcoholic drinks and several mingling near the tables.

As he entered the large voluminous room, he was dwarfed by the large dark dome above him. The lights provided were the chandeliers LED lights about.

In the crowd of tables and people, he spotted her greeting some people walking through the front doors. Larry prepared himself and walked over once she was free and felt himself hit again by his heart skipping a beat.

She looked stunning, with a silver sequined dress that hugged her body. Sleeveless, it covered up to her neck in a halter style. Her hair was tied back, revealing a pair of silver earrings.

Larry couldn't deny that he almost tripped meeting up to her.

All he could say was this;

"Becca."

That caught her attention, as she turned and her eyes lit up in a mix of happiness...and relief?

"Oh hi, finally you're here!" His fiance exclaimed, "I've been having to stall Richard for half an hour talking to one of the sponsors."

Chuckling, he leaned across and kissed her cheek gently and pulled her into a side hug. "I thought you'd enjoy talking to all these people?" He said in an amused tone.

"You know I'm done with talking, Larry." She sighed heavily, squeezing her hand on his. "I just want to snuggle up and watch a documentary."

"Another night, I promise you, sweetheart." He muttered next to her ear.

Raising her brow, she pointed. "You could have asked Nick to come here."

"Well, you know him. Teenagers and whatnot. He wanted to stay in. Said he was gonna bore himself to death with a fancy dinner." Larry paused when he saw the familiar curly-haired Egyptian from his sight. "Hey, Adonis."

He thanked God that he remembered to call Ahkmenrah by his alternate name. The number of times he's slipped almost got him annoyed at himself, especially when Kai was in the room and they were talking about work plans. The worse thing he's heard (to which Larry discovered just a year ago) was that the exhibits began a wager about him.

Every time Larry slipped and mentioned something about the tablet or their real names, the person who better the closest to the number times would get the first pick for movie night. And apparently: Octavius was winning.

He grumbled, 'I guess it's Gladiator again next week.'

The secret pharaoh grinned at them, swerving an incoming waiter with a tray of drinks. Once he stood in front of them, he greeted: "Larry. I've been trying to find you. Teddy asked if we're all ready."

Tapping the device connected to the side of his head, he replied. "Yeah, don't worry. I've got an earpiece ready." Larry's eyes widened when he called out, "Kai."

The Asian man greeted them with a wave and quickly spoke, "Hey Larry. Me and Wea's got everything sorted." He then pointed his finger over to the other side of the planetarium. "I'm gonna be down in the corridor to make sure the rest are ready."

Kai went off to do his job, leaving the trio looking at each other with a secretive language in their eyes. He, Rebecca and Ahkmenrah knew why the young man wanted to head in that direction. A certain Greek woman was preparing her speech with her sisters there...

'Talk about subtlety.' He raised his eyebrows.

"It would seem your assistant is working hard," Rebecca commented and inhaled. "Now, I'm going to start drinking when the nerves start."

"It's as if nothing has changed." The pharaoh cheekily inputted.

Rebecca huffed and said, "Go and mingle before I step on your foot with my heel, your majesty."

A toothy grin rested upon Ahkmenrah's face; he winked at Larry - sending him hiding his laugher with a cough. He stopped when he felt his fiance's eyes glared holes at him.

'Okay. Should stop and be professional now.' Larry thought.

"Ever so cheery, Rebecca." He then paused. "On second thought I'm going to follow your request and find some wine."

Ahkmenrah darted off, which Larry felt a bit worried for his Egyptian friend. He seemed less pale and more 'alive' than a few moments before the programme. He only hoped the wine would ease the nerves. As much as he was also worried for him, Larry couldn't help but chuckle at his burst of character.

Even Rebecca seemed amused, quirking a look at him. They both knew why Ahkmenrah seemed a bit upset for tonight. And it all came down to a certain British curator not being able to come to New York for this special night.

"Rebecca."

Coming from the other direction, a tall dark woman walked over to them - a glass of champagne in one hand. He only hoped his staring wasn't obvious, but he couldn't help but admire the woman's beauty. She looked as if she could have been carved by marble, with dark hair braided back in a bun which showed her silver jewellery. She wore a yellow mid-length dress with transparent heels.

As much as her appearance challenged Larry's thoughts, he immediately was drawn by her eyes. Dark and deep, he could feel the room grow quiet and the noise dulled around him.

His heart sped when he heard the sound of a woman's voice ring in his mind.

'Guardian...'

Suddenly, Larry was snapped back into reality when Rebecca reached forward and shook the woman's hand.

Rebecca greeted her, "Micarah, so glad to see you."

Dr Micarah Campbell held a small smile, her face somehow glowing under the blue lights of the chandelier. "To you as well." Her eyes then turned to his. "And it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr Daley."

There was a second in which he panicked. Whilst the inside of his head was running a hundred miles an hour, his body was composed as he nervously shook her hand as well. "Larry is fine." He paused and then wondered, "So you must be Dr Campbell. Rowen spoke of you quite highly."

He quickly regretted what he said.

'Way to go, Daley.' He mentally kicked himself.

But then Dr Campbell's eyes warmed when the mention of her name. "Yes. Rowen is a dear friend of mine alongside Antonio Paladino." She grinned and complimented, "But it is an honour to meet the director of the Night Programme. I have heard such high praise for your work with the museum."

His cheeks grew hot after she said. From the corner of his eye, Rebecca was reciprocating the same feelings - grinning and looking proud of him.

"T-Thanks. You shouldn't really." Larry stammered out, recollecting his words. "It's the actors and actresses here you should thank. They really care about their work and they're really passionate about the programme, so you should be thanking them not me."

Dr Campbell said, "I will let them know after the performance."

His heart felt a bit lifted. At least the chairwoman of the museum was excited for the event, one of the most important people here which they needed their approval in.

"Micarah."

Larry's eyes turned across and found the voice to come from the man behind her.

It was the mayor of New York City: Ian Winterson. The man appeared to be around his early forties, though by how his son was in his twenties - he might be in his fifties. Larry learnt the hard way not to judge people by their looks, considering Rowen was not exactly an eighteen-year-old woman and Ahkmenrah wasn't a twenty-four-year-old man.

On the other hand, the chairwoman didn't move; but he noticed her eyes flash warily. It sent a cold shiver down his spine as the change of her demeanour. Sipping her drink, she didn't give any space for the man as he subtly pushed beside her with a glass held for himself.

Glancing to Rebecca, he was glad he wasn't the only one noticing the quick tension.

"Ian." It was a stagnant tone, neither warm nor cold as she continued to look at Larry and Rebecca. Dr Campbell eyed the man with a plain look, before smiling kindly to them.

'Care for what you say, guardian...'

Larry blinked and hid his surprise as the voice trailed off.

Taking her leave, the chairwoman nodded. "Of course. Now if you'll excuse me: I'm being ushered to talk to some of the sponsors." She spoke directly to Larry. "Do contact me if you are in need. I believe you have my number."

"Mr Winterson." Rebecca politely spoke, though the tone of her voice dwindled a bit in enthusiasm.

Thankfully, the mayor didn't notice the change in tone and continued, "Ms Hutman, Mr Daley. I just wanted to say congratulations on your work with the museum. Also, to thank you for the opportunity you gave for my son." He said. "You must understand that I'm quite a proud father to him to be rather...happy for his job."

Shaking his head, Larry replied honestly. "Oh no, you don't have to. Kai's a great kid. You know. He and the exhi- actors and actresses get along very well."

He knew he slipped when he saw Rebecca twitch her hand from her clutch.

Though just as Larry was about to add another thing, he heard the young Winterson's voice from his earpiece. Simultaneously, the lights began to dim - indicating for the show to begin.

"Oh, I believe we are starting. I'm going to sit down." Mr Winterson bowed his head to them and spoke, "Good luck to you both."

Larry answered, "Thank you. It's good to meet you, Mr Winterson. Ow." He hissed when he felt her clutch slap his upper arm. Wincing, he rubbed where Rebecca hit her and said, "What?"

Exasperating, she rolled her eyes. "Honestly I wonder how you do it."

"Well, it's worked for over sixty years." He joked, trying to lighten the mood. He then coughed his laughter up when he saw another familiar figure find them. "Hey, Dr McPhee."

The Director was wearing a suit and tie as well, though he seemed more comfortable with wearing it than Larry himself (who still kept adjusting with his sleeve). "Larry. I hope everything is prepared." He drawled.

Reassuring McPhee, he answered. "Yep. All set. Kai's just making sure everyone's behaving at the back."

"Good. Now, I've got to find Dr Campbell." He took a deep breath and quickly rushed towards the direction of the dining area.

Finally, the two were on their own. Though not for long as he heard Sacagawea calling from his earpiece that they were ready. He gave Rebecca an apologetic gaze, which she wished him good luck with a soft kiss.

"I'm going to sit with Ahk." She grinned and said, "Good luck."

Larry placed another kiss on her cheek and murmured into her ear. "Thanks."

____

A/N: Welcome back to Mors Vincit Omnia and we've started the Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb with some lovely changes to just add some flavour. To be honest, I was kind of disappointed that they removed a lot of scenes which might have made it more emotional and better. Just like the night event scenes. Like where was Ahk during the whole shit?

Hence why I decided to put him in a suit. Because who wouldn't want Rami Malek in a suit. He is fine af.

Futhermore, we meet two new characters which have been mentioned in Audere est Facere Dr Micarah Campbell and Ian Winterson. Both already have a questionable history which will be explained further in the story.

As well as this, we have Kai and Calliope being in the awkward stage of their crush. Which is really cute and funny with Ahk's commentary.

Ahk's banter with Rebecca and Larry is still something I love writing. It's a shame Rowena isn't here to join them.

Next chapter: the show begins...and ends quite quickly afterwards.

____

Written: 26/08/2020

Edited: 26/08/2020