trans_9 | In Which the Overlord is Flat On His Face

Entry tags:

In Which the Overlord is Flat On His Face

It's going to be one of those days.

In the hallway directly outside the mess hall lay a book. The bright red body and overall size clearly pointed to it being the Overlord, for those familiar with him, but his back cover was the one facing upwards. No sign of any minion around. None of the cursing, struggling, and flopping one would expect from Zetta in such an undignified posture.

Just a tome, lying flat on the ground, as if a crew member had simply discarded it thoughtlessly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh sure it isn't," Kaya said, looking a little amused. "But its not like I can say anything: me and Nokosi were the exact same way, once. It took us awhile to actually be honest with each other."

"Wait. Back up a moment. What?!"

This was the first Zetta had heard of that development.

Edited 2011-12-04 17:57 (UTC)

"What? I just said, you and Lash are probably going to be awhile. Is that so surprising?"

Oh she knew what you were referring to, she was just being difficult.

"Cut the crap, you know what I was asking about!" Zetta said, drawing himself up angrily. "You and -- and purple elf boy?!"

Of course he was going to ask. And it seemed as if Zetta was a little annoyed by it. Not that this surprised her: she figured he would likely only be happy if she was with a demon or something like that.

She had made careful sure to keep her neck covered, though this time she lowered the neckline of her robe a little, and a very, very noticeable bite was there, looking to be still in its early stages.

"You could say that. We became formal about seeing each other the day of the prom. You know, when you and your gang crashed it?"

"We should have crashed it sooner!" Zetta squawked, his voice going up a notch.

He looked firmly at Kaya -- not at her neck, but at her eyes. Whatever he saw must have been satisfactory or at least not worth pushing the issue over, because the book relaxed slightly.

"Sheesh, no wonder you think Lash and I are destined for hearts and romance," he said, disgusted. "Everyone else is hooking up, so of course we are too."

"Do you have some kind of a problem with him? I'll admit, he's a bit curious about things, and people tend to read him as a pretty strange person, but I think that he's sweet and endearing that way."

Kaya rolled her eyes. "No, I think that because its obvious. What's also obvious is that you two are better off alone about it, just like Nokosi and I were too. We didn't happen overnight or anything, and we're not exactly typical of what most people think of in a couple. It'd be nice if you didn't see me like some dumb, lovesick teenager making up relationships because its pretty."

"Sheesh, who gave you the extra helping of Urine-Os this morning?" Zetta said, blinking. "How many times do we have to say we're not like that? Demons don't do that romance crap and neither do Wunderkinds."

"'Urin..' what does that even mean?" Kaya said, looking baffled. "Oh, whatever. In any case, you guys hammer that out yourself anyway. And there is nothing crappy about romance anyway. I don't know why people have to take something that's actually really great and unique and make it sounds like its some infectious disease or something. It's...it's...or nevermind. You yourself said you wouldn't understand it anyway, right?"

"Hey, I understand a little. It's something that makes you happy and fulfilled." Zetta frowned, not angrily, just with vague distaste. "Nothing wrong with that. It's a good thing if it keeps you strong and motivated in this fight. I'm saying demons don't DO it!"

"Happy, yes. I mean, I had had enough, you know, after Matt and everything, and then he came. It was just friends with us at first: he was weird, but he was really interesting. So we just hung out, we hiked, we talked a lot, it was fun. Even when we argued, it was never really serious. What I mean is...well, think about Lash a moment. Is she JUST a human girl you hang out with, and that's it? Nothing more than that?"

"Lash is fun," Zetta said, giving the standard answer that he gave to anyone, including Lash and himself.

"Well even I know that," Kaya said, laughing. "But it wasn't really what I was asking. There are a lot of people on this ship, and they all mean something to somebody. So what I'm curious about is what Lash is to you."

"Well I'm TRYING to sleep with her, but she's got absolutely no understanding of anything like that, so it's not an easy path."

Zetta wasn't deliberately being horrible or dodging the question. He seriously thought this was where it was going.

"Somehow I don't think that's the case. You're as subtle as a falling brick most of the time," Kaya said, making a face. "Granted, I was really talking about what you think about her, but I get the message. I don't think even you are ready to go down that path yet."

At least he wasn't asking about the bite marks. They could concentrate on him.

Uh. The bite marks were pretty self-explanatory, Kaya. Zetta had no intention of asking for the details.

"I've been ready for PLENTY of time now. She's not." The Overlord sounded noncomittal, but it was... an odd level of sensitivity for him to be displaying, wasn't it?

Good. It was bad enough she didn't really have girlfriends to talk about this with, talking about it with the Overlord would have been weird.

Even if there was a small, small part of her that wanted to brag about it, just a little.

"She's still got the mind of a scientist and a military commander then," Kaya said. "You can't blame her for being that way. But who knows? The ship has a funny way of making some things happen when you least expect."

"Considering how we ended up running around together in the first place, you don't have to tell me twice." After all, what were the odds that they'd both be de-aged to a compatible level under any other circumstances than here?

"How did you guys end up running around together anyway?" Kaya asked, curious. After all, Nokosi and her had met usually when she was in one of her funks. Luckily, Nokosi (and even Overlord Zetta) had been patient with her during those times.

Zetta wouldn't describe himself as patient so much as determined to get her out of the damn funks and back to being productive and kicking ass.

"We ran into each other in the art gallery with that stupid transforming statue and just started talking. As for hooking up, she was one of the people I was hitting on during that whole de-age thing."

Oh, she remembered some of those events, particularly when it came to the deaging thing. Zetta even looked impressive back then until he actually started talking. Maybe it was something to do with a random inclination toward bad boys?

But if that was how he met Lash, she chuckled. "Are you telling me she's the one who didn't turn you down?"

"Naw, she foolishly challenged me to a game!" Zetta said, grinning. "If I won, she'd go on a date with me. If she won..." He snickered. "We didn't actually decide what would happen if she won, so I planned to tell her that because she won, she had to take ME on a date. Didn't matter, though, because I won, of course!"

"I really should have thought of doing that," Kaya said thoughtfully, "although you could say I wound up going on a date with you anyway, since we did sit and see that movie. Honestly, I do like that side of you, when I get to see it. But Lash, I bet she likes the side that gets into trouble, that blows things up. It makes you guys pretty interesting that way."

A bit cracked too, but who was talking about that?

"What are you, kidding? If you don't want to go on a date, you say so! You don't set yourself up for having to do it by issuing a challenge. Not that I'm complaining about her mistake." The Overlord laughed, smugly. "But of course Lash likes the explosions side. It's kind of her thing, too, you know?"

Not that the Wunderkind didn't have her sweet side, but she and he both pretended it didn't exist, and they were both happier that way.

"Yes, but its Lash, so of course the thing she would have done would be challenging you!" Kay said, grinning. "I don't know why, but her enthusiasm is infectious. If she had been a villain in my world, I might have actually considered joining that side."

MIGHT.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject