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Post By Visionary, with a bit of promised fluff for a slow night. Tue Oct 05, 2004 at 07:59:03 pm EDT |
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Lunch at Kirby Lee's | |
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This follows the events of Dancer’s “Third Thoughts” story. I’d suggest reading it first, or this probably won’t make much sense. “What?” Visionary demanded with exasperation. “Why are you grinning at me like that?” “Is not how I am always grinning at you?” Yo inquired politely. “No” his friend and lunch companion replied irritably as they seated themselves at a window booth. “This one is vaguely disturbing… like that time you surprised me for Easter by filling my car with marshmallow ‘Peeps’… on one of the hottest Easter mornings on record, I might add. I still stick to the seat.” Visionary regarded Yo shrewdly. “This is one of those ‘I know something cute’ grins that I’m not in on.” If Yo tried to alter his smile, the effort failed… apparently he didn’t think he could. “I am thinking you know the cute something better than I am knowing her.” “Um… okay… You’re making less sense that usual today.” Visionary observed moodily, trying to puzzle it out. “You’re going to make me guess, aren’t you?” “Dancer is saying that it is to be a secret and not to be telling anyone.” “Wait… Dancer knows a secret about me?” Visionary noted, surprised. “I barely ever see Dancer… I don’t know if I offender her or what, but I don’t think she likes me very much. Any time I invite her over for a movie with the group, she always sends Sarah with her regrets… I tell you, Yo, as far as relationships inside the LL go, I can’t seem to do anything right recently.” He sighed, rubbing his hands together on the table, before finally deciding to plunge ahead. “I… wasn’t going to tell anyone this, but… a couple of weeks ago…” “Welcome to Kirby Lee’s, Parodiopolis’s Fun-time gathering place!” the waitress interrupted, appearing to hand the two of them menus and place coasters and glasses of water on the table. “I’m Kelly, and I’ll be your server this afternoon. Can I start you out with some drinks, or one of our delicious appetizers? Maybe a couple of Bloody Nitzs from the bar, or a serving of our spicy Falcon Wings?” “Um… beg your pardon?” Visionary asked, trying to catch up. He felt he may have missed a turn somewhere.... “It’s a theme thing” Kelly informed him. “Since we’re right across the bridge from Parody Island, I guess the owner thought that we should go with hero-based menu items. You know… for fun.” “Right… fun” The possibly fake man flipped through his menu. “I guess I don’t mind fun. In a way, it’s kind of flattering.” “Really? How so?” “Well…” Visionary shifted, leaning back and smiling up at her so his trademark shirt was easily visible in the booth. Kelly just looked at him patiently. “So… were you ready to order?” “Um… Right. Lemme see...” “What is the Yo plate?” the thought being asked politely. “That’s our children’s happy meal… it’s a veggie burger, carrot sticks, a small juice and comes with a toy.” “Yes please” Yo said happily, returning his menu. “And for you sir?” “What’s in a TrickShot?” “That’s on our drink menu, sir. It contains Rum, pineapple, more rum, coconut milk, rum…” “Are you not having a class to teach when we get back?” Yo reminded him. “You have to admit, I’d feel a lot less pain from the minor burns…” Visionary began wistfully. “Okay, okay… gimme whatever a Visionary is.” “A what?” Kelly asked blankly. “Visionary. Whatever you have named after m… him. You… ah… you do have something, right? Visionary… The guy who led the Lair Legion after Lisa? That guy?” Kelly chewed her lip in thought. “We do have a dessert item named after Lisa… Or at least we did. We had to discontinue it after getting some complaints about the positioning of the banana…” “Gah! Never mind… Just… gimme a Fin Fang Foom.” “And how would you like your waterbuffalo?” “Oh... um... Medium. And I’ll have a side of the Goldenfries.” “You also have your choice of soup or a side spiffy…” “Does it come with anything other than French dressing?” Visionary asked. “You know what? Forget it.” He handed his menu back to her. “That’ll do, thanks.” He returned the young woman’s departing nod and sighed. “This place will likely blow my lunch budget for the next few weeks. Maybe we should have gone to the Bean & Donut after all." “Why did we not?” Yo asked curiously. Visionary shrugged. “I don’t know… I suppose it’s because Sarah gave me some advice on my personal life, and I’m afraid she’ll ask me how it went.” The grin quickly spread once more across Yo’s face. “This is about you and someone cute, is it not?” Visionary nodded. “She’s all I’ve been thinking about this week… I thought things would settle back to normal… that I was just lonely. But…” “No need to be embarrassed, cute Visi! Everyone is knowing your secret!” “Everyone?” Visionary gulped. “It is being a slow week.” Yo admitted. “We’ve all been noticing the change in behavior.” “What change?” He thought about it for a bit. “I suppose I’ve been slipping out early… but that’s just because of Lisa.” If possible, Yo’s grin grew even wider. “It is all anybody is talking about!” “It is?” Visionary blinked in surprise. “Man… it really is a slow week.” As Lisa had pointedly reminded him every chance she got, the student evaluations for the Juniors were past due, and both those and their standardized test results had to be in to the Dean that oversaw the program for Parodiopolis University, or they would lose their credit as an extension course. He shrugged. “Well, she’s been riding me pretty hard every chance she gets. The woman is relentless. I guess I’ve been in a hurry to clear out after class, knowing I was in for more of the same the moment she finds me.” “She was always having great enthusiasm” Yo noted with a mischievous twinkle. “Yes, well… apparently she actually wants more kids.” A look of shock registered on Yo. “I know” Visionary said, taking a sip of water. “I can hardly believe it myself.” In truth, Lisa had slyly accused him of deliberately dragging his feet on completing the evaluations so the Juniors program could end with the current class. While there may have been some shred of truth to this, his procrastination was mostly just due to the extensive number of hours he’d need to page through a thesaurus. It was no small feat to find words that honestly described his students while at the same time did not give the Dean cause to shut down the program (or, more likely, call in the National Guard with back-up support by a team of exorcists.) “Still, and don’t you dare tell anyone this… I don’t know that I entirely disagree.” The grin crept back on the pure thought being’s face, looking more fixed than ever. “Visi? Could this be?” “Don’t get me wrong… the new position I had to assume to do this was more than a little intimidating at first. It took a lot of coaxing from Lisa to get me up for it...” “Are they not making pills for that now?” Visionary snorted. “There’s probably something out there that help… Hell, I bet that rum drink would do the trick. But it’s probably not the best idea… Lisa takes advantage of me enough as it is. I suppose I have to give her credit… she definitely knows how to manipulate me.” He smiled wryly. “Now that I’m doing it regularly, though… now that I’m involved… I find I can’t really deny it. A small part of me really enjoys it.” “Yes” Yo agree with a sly wink. “And I can be guessing which part.” Visionary gave him a puzzled look, then shrugged. “I guess I’ve just felt so… pointless recently. Depressed. Everything in my life became reduced to one level, unending line… no peaks, no drops. I was just plodding along. This opportunity… it’s helped, more than I can say. Given me something else to focus on, someway that I can make a difference… at least with the next generation.” He looked his best friend in the eyes. “I still feel I’m way out of my league, mind you… and that I don’t really know what I’m doing. I constantly worry about being a disappointment. But every now and then, I just… I don’t know, I get it right. That connection is made, and the look I get in return.... Well, it just feels really really good to have that kind of climax again, even if another drop may be just around the corner. I suppose I may eventually be ready for a new batch of kids myself.” Before the delighted deputy Lair leader could respond, Waitress Kelly suddenly popped up at tableside carrying a large tray. “Careful, the plate’s really hot” she warned, setting a steaming slab of buffalo in front of Vizh. Yo happily accepted the colorful box containing his own meal, adorned with pictures of happily frolicking bunnies. “Enjoy your meals… Can I get you anything else?” she inquired politely. “This will keep me busy for a while” Visionary said with a thankful nod. He turned his attention back to Yo as she wandered off, and regarded the gaudy package with curious glance. “So what’s the toy?” The pure thought being opened the box and peered inside. “Oooh” he exclaimed in happy recognition as he retrieved a severely misshapen hunk of plastic and held it out triumphantly. “Oh lord…” Visionary groaned. “Tell me that’s not…” “Math is hard!” Sea-strike Visionary declared cheerfully as Yo pressed the button on the action figure’s back. “Dammit… They were suppose to recall all of those!” the real possibly-fake man complained with a scowl. “I knew it was bad news when Avis bought that company...” Yo put the doll aside and turned his attention back to his friend. “So what is the status on you and cute Lisa being now?” Visionary shrugged. “I managed to do my part just this morning. I guess we’ll see. But if all goes well, eventually we’ll introduce someone who may just grow up to be a future Legionnaire… Maybe two. I don’t know if my nerves could handle more than three.” Yo leapt from his seat and raced around the table, pulling Visionary up into a big bear hug that lifted him off the ground completely, despite the differences in their sizes. “Oh Visi! I am being so happy for you!” “Urk!” Visionary answered, the breath being crushed from his body. “O…okay… okay Yo! I’m happy too!” he gasped as he was finally let back down to his feet, though not yet released. “Um… Yo? Kinda making a scene here…” With one last squeeze, the grinning Legionnaire released him and returned to his seat on the opposite side of the booth. “This” Yo declared, “Is something to be celebrating!” “Er… yeah…” Visionary replied, looking at his friend warily. “Um… you haven’t been taking any pills lately yourself, have you?” He shook his head and picked up a fry. “In any event, I’d appreciate if you kept this quiet for now… I mean, there’s no guarantee that this will ever happen… and what with spiffy leaving, the team is kind of sensitive right now. We want to wait until we’re sure about what we’re going to do before rocking the boat with any announcements.” Yo shrugged happily. “I am not seeing the spiffy connection… but of course! I am just being happy you shared this with me.” “Yeah, I noticed.” Vizh answered, digging into his steak. “Had I known you’d get this big a kick out of it, I’d have let you in on all of the details sooner.” “I am not quite sure I am ready for that level of guy talk just yet…” Yo observed, happily munching on a carrot stick. “But there is no one I would rather lunch with.” “Me either. But then I guess everybody can’t have the level of mutual understanding we share after all this time.” He shoveled another bite of steak into his mouth and chewed, regarding his lunch companion thoughtfully. “So, seriously… Why are you grinning at me like that?” |
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