Topic: Third storyline: No Sympathy for the Devil

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Friday, March 24, 2000 - 05:07:
I've been theorizing about a couple story ideas....okay, first Cygni gives Megane a nice chunk of change.

I have a straight comedy idea, a love-potion raygun arrives in Tomobiki and changes hands several times. What if both Benten and Oyuki get hit by the beam and think they're in love with Warren?

More of a drama idea, Benten gambles herself into a hole and needs money fast. She can't go to Lum, Oyuki, or Ran. So she goes to Megane, and he says yes, but wants her to be his girlfriend for a month.

(RP ON)

9:52PM

That evening after Ryouko had been discharged from the hospital, Warren and Megane went to the Tomobiki Police. They got good news; apparently several records had been lost so they just decided to let Megane off with a warning and a 50,000 yen fine.

"My parents are still gonna castrate me, right?" he asked as Hudson and he sat in the backseat of a Kuroko BMW.

"Look," Warren sighed, "if you keep your nose somewhat clean I'll...vouch for you or something if they ask questions."

"Thanks," Megane looked out the window. He looked down, "it means a lot to me."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Hhm?"

"Megane," Hudson gazed out the window at the passing Tomobiki scenery, "from what I know you've been jacking yourself off with this whole 'Lum's Stormtroopers' deal for the past two years!"

For a long time Megane was silent, "what can I say? I love her."

"Yeah," Hudson looked back over to Megane; still looking out the window, "damn near everyone in the world knows that, Megane. But I don't think you should be doing this to yourself."

"Doing what?" Megane glanced to Hudson.

Hudson gestured around him, "it's...it's an effing brick wall, Megane."

"Oh yeah," anger tinged Megane's voice, "like you're one to talk," he poined across the backseat. "You tamed Ryouko Mendou and you're old enough-"

"-To be your grandfather," Warren groaned, "yeah, that's my selling point this year..."

"I mean, I've given Lum EVERTHING, that I am and beyond. And...and it wasn't worth shit to her!"

"Oh come on, Megane!" Hudson said annoyed, "she considers you her friend."

"So what?" Megane clenched his fists, "during all the times Ataru treated her without concern; I didn't. I respected and loved her from Act One Scene Two!"

"That's the thing about love, sometimes it doesn't happen for the one's who earn it," Hudson said quietly.

Megane glanced back at him viciously, "again, what do you know of it?"

Warren looked up at the car's ceiling. "Because I did the Stormtrooper thing myself; but longer."

"W-what...?" Megane blinked.

"When I was younger than you are now, I was in love with a girl named Jessica Daniels," Hudson smiled wistfully. "She was popular, pretty, and seemed quite nice."

Megane looked down, "when was this...?"

"I pursued her from 1938 to 1942."

"Shit..." Megane marveled.

"Yes," Hudson's eyes started to water, "I used to help her everyday with school work. Whenever she needed a pencil, sheet of paper, money," Hudson had begun ticking off the points on his fingers, "test answers, or even completed assignments..."

"By Buddha..." Megane shook his head.

"I had it terrible, I asked her out to a dance. She refused, but said she still liked me. I then thought, 'hey, if I get to know her more, she'll come around.'"

Now it was Warren's turn to clench his fists. "After four years I found out she never even liked me after I had made a complete ass of myself acting like her knight in shining armor."

Megane reached out had put a hand on Warren's shoulder. Hudson continued, "I said I loved her," he laughed sarcastically, "and she had her popular boyfriend and his friends attempt to beat me up."

"Attempt...?"

"Already by this time I was a tough little bastard and a student of eastern thought," Hudson gave a triumphant little smile, "I lead everyone on, I acted like a meek little scholar all the time until that glorious day on April 29th, 1942 when I was jumped near Gary Russel's barn."

"You won?" Megane smiled.

"Three against one," Warren blushed happily. "Pricks never KNEW what hit 'em!"

"What then?" Megane asked.

"The war and the Marines for ten years then...Lucilla." Hudson smiled.

"No one in between?"

"A few grateful British and French prostitutes but..." the American shrugged.

"What about after your wife died, but before Ryouko-sama?"

Hudson shook his head, "Ryouko gave me my heart back, to put it simply. She made my life...fun again."

Megane looked out the window again, "two years ago Lum-san came to Earth," he said reverently, "I didn't have much reason to be happy then. I was just another geek on a University fast-track...but Lum showed me there was something more worth fighting for in life; an intangible *something* peeking around the corners of everyday existance. She simply made everything better and more real for me and everyone on this planet. And yet through it all," Megane removed his glasses as his eyes teared up, "she was always just a woman. All I ever wanted was her."

Hudson nodded silently, and clasped Megane's shoulder, "are you going to be all right?"

"Probably not, but I'll try not to destroy public property or shoot anyone while I'm at it."

And at that they both laughed.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Friday, March 24, 2000 - 11:01:
Those ideas almost sound like something I'd expect to see in an average episode of UY! Look forward to seeing em in the future >)

Nice insight into Hudson's past by the way, you're pretty good at doing that stuff.

(RP ON)
Cygni awoke from a restless night at 5 AM the next morning, and, lacking anything better to do, decided to hop on the computer and surf around a little. Out of pure curiosity on how their new bank account was doing, she pulled up the page, logged in, and nearly fell out of her chair in surprise. She could hear Sergei climbing out of bed from upstairs.

"Sergei?" she yelled. "You wouldn't happen to know why $70,000 has mysteriously vanished from my bank account, would you?"

Apparently barely managing to stay awake, Sergei slowly walked down the stairs while struggling a black shirt on. He walked over and glanced at the screen. Cygni gave him a glare.

"Well?"

"Uh.. mis-calucation I'd imagine?" he replied, shrugging sheepishly.

"Sergei!" She sighed and stood up, laying a delicate hand on his shoulder. He stifled a shudder.

"..Listen. If you're going to go around handing out massive mounds of cash, at least make it easy for me to handle the math with! One hundred thousand would have been a bit easier to calculate than seventy." She grinned.

Sergei gave a sour look. "You enjoy doing that, don't you?"

"Get some coffee, we've got a big day ahead." She turned and sat back down at the computer, still smiling.

In downtown Tomobiki, things were already bustling along. Workmen were attempting to rebuild the destroyed sections of the school under Onsenmark's screaming orders while cleanup crews moved away the debris. Sunlight was already illuminating over the city, despite the fact that it was December, and a cold breeze began sweeping around.

Inside of Ataru's room in the Hospital, where Lum had elected to stay untill he was released, Lum was awake wide and early, making a commotion while searching around through some of her packs. Ataru grumbled and slowly woke up, then inquired as to what was going on.

"We've got to give Cygni a gift for her wedding, but I just don't know what to get! The best thing I can think of is this..." She held up a small pink figure that vaguely resembled Sergei. "All I need is a strand of his hair."

Ataru groaned. "Giving one of those, especially to Cygni, could be chaos! Are you nuts?"

Lum glared. "If you have a better idea, lets hear it!"

Ataru thought a moment. "Well.. uhh.. we could go into town and buy her something.." He cracked a small grin. "Or maybe we could get Cherry to.."

She smacked him across the face with a nearby book. "Don't even mention Cherry, I still remember that so called 'gift' you gave me two years ago!"

They continued arguing, much to the annoyance of the sleeping occupants around the hospital. It took 3 nurses to quiet them down.

(RP OFF)

Still working on where the wedding is gonna take place.. any suggestions? You're probably way more familiar with Tomobiki than I am >)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Saturday, March 25, 2000 - 05:15:
As for my ideas, these would work better as stand-alone fictions than rpg storylines. Also, I need to write Megane and Sakaguchi's drug-addled trip to a ski resort and their "attempts" to stay on the straight and narrow. Basically, my rip-off of Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas as this thread was originally intended.

For the wedding...there's Sakura's shrine! There's also a church or two in Tomobiki-Cho. But the design for the city changes according to whatever a particular episode or movie demands.

Hell, Takahashi's design for the exterior of the High School is dull as a mud fence compared to Mamoru Oshii's.

If there's going to be a wedding song we could all have the characters break into fits of old Devo tunes...but fairly new in the UY timeline.

Animeigo is releasing UY TV24 this Tuesday...if all goes well we'll have up to episode 106 by year's end!

BTW, who do you think Hudson should look like? Harvey Keitel, Michael Douglas, or Kirk Douglas twenty odd years ago? I still think Keitel has the best all around picture and voice.

(RP ON)

7:26AM November 14th, Wednesday.

Kotatsu-Neko was sitting down with Cherry for breakfast in the latter's vacant lot.

On the Menu for today was two discarded Egg McMuffins cooked in stew. A pretty good breakfast, as usual things go for Cherry when he can't get into the Moroboshi household.

"All right, Kota-chan," Cherry licked his chops, "Just you wait..." Kotatsu put a bib on.

Various hyper-chuckling was heard as Beavis and Butthead walked in front of the lot on the sidewalk. Holding a photo in front of them entranced.

Cherry and the ghost cat watched for a moment, shrugged, and turned back to breakfast.

"It's fate..." Cherry muttered to Kotatsu.

Mendou Mansion...

Ryouko woke slowly to the distant sound of running water in her spacious bathroom. Her legs were still sore, but she could walk as she found out. She groaned as she threw the covers back and slowly got out of bed. Slightly intrigued that the hospital gown she arrived back home in was replaced by one of her pink nightgowns.

Last night was a blur of conciousness, Hudson, dull pain, Warren leaving, sleep, Hudson coming back; requiring help from a Kuroko to get his cloths off, then joining her in bed, kissing her goodnight with a three-day beard growth, wrapping his arms around her gently, then drifting off himself.

Ryouko looked at the large clock on the other end of her bedroom wall facing the bed's occupant. It read 7:30AM.

With deliberate care Ryouko moved across her room towards the bathroom. As she got closer she could faintly hear music on a tape player hooked up to the bathroom intercom, once she arrived at the door she could place the song as "Working In The Coal Mine," by Devo.

She smiled, Hudson had gone to great lengths to introduce her to his eclectic taste in music. Ranging from old American Country and Western, to New Wave and Heavy Metal. With stops in the middle for Southern Rock and special emphasis on Texas rockabilly, punk, and blues.

Not to mention the fact that Hudson was an avid fan of a few select Idol Singers...

"These days you can literally hear eight different types of unique music from one end of Texas to another," he had told her.

Warren could literally go on for hours on the merits of each.

Ryouko found the door unlocked, she grinned slyly, and opened it.

Inside she found Warren sitting on the floor of the six person shower stall seemingly meditating; naked. 'Well, of course,' Ryouko told herself, 'Hudson hasn't been drinking recently.'

He noticed her after a few seconds; smiled warmly.

"Good morning, Ryouko-chan," he stood. "Shouldn't you be sleeping? Not walking? Did I wake you? How do you feel?" Hudson asked rapidly; worried.

"Yes you did wake me. I feel better, thank you," she smiled looking at Hudson; in more ways than one.

"Uh, Ryouko-chan? What time is it?" Warren blushed.

"7:30, why?"

Warren seemed ashamed, "I, uh, came in her at six...I guess I lost track of time."

Ryouko laughed, "that's all right. How long have you been in there?"

"Well," he sat back down on the floor, "I woke up, discovering I really smelled horrible; didn't want to offend you. I came in here with the intention of taking a quick shower, discovered I looked like a North Michigan hobo with a beard bordering on alcoholic trim."

Warren motioned to himself, "and here I am."

Ryouko waved her finger at him as if to admonish him for dodging the question, "but how long have you been sitting on the shower floor meditating?"

"That's a difficult question..." he sighed. "I'll pay this month's water bill for your room," he snickered. Knowing full well that the Mendou Estate had its own water supply with purification plants thus making a water bill a moot point.

Warren noticed Ryouko's unsteady posture. "I really think you should sit down, Ryouko."

She nodded, smiling slyly, pulling her nightgown over her head.

Delicately Ryouko walked into the spacious shower and let Warren help her to the ground beside him; taking special care of her legs.

She snuggled up close to him, sighing happily.

Hudson hid his amusement, saying nonchalantly, "Not exactly what I had in mind, but workable," as if appraising a new luxury car with a bad starter.

"You can catch me up on current events while I wash your back..." Ryouko smiled devilishly as she grabbed a handcloth and soap.

"Cygni and Sergei are busy planning, saying we'll know all the particulars about the wedding when they work them out."

Hudson winced slightly as Ryouko gently scrubbed the place where a German bullet got him over forty years before when he had been a military journalist doing a quick one-hundred words on a group of fifty Marines guarding a well on an insignificant French farm...

Ryouko frowned at the noticeable scars that Hudson had on his back from his childhood and young adulthood. Warren had told her that they had been a lot more prominent and painful before Sorceress Lucilla started a years-long healing process.

"How's Megane-san?" Ryouko asked merrily. She knew Warren had gone with Megane to talk to the police.

"He's off the hook. They just slapped him with a 50,000 yen fine, confiscated the weapon, and gave him a citation. Megane's a bit broken up about the rifle, his Great Uncle gave it to him."

Ryouko nodded, "maybe I can have Big Brother talk to the authorities..."

"Gee, I don't know," Hudson sighed, "I mean, I love guns and all that, but Megane DID break a law with that particular gun and I kind of feel, if only as a symbolic punishment, that the rifle should've been confiscated."

Ryouko stopped, "did you tell Megane that?"

"Yes, and he agreed. Besides, it's not like he probably doesn't have another, or can't get one in this town when he needs it."

"True," Ryouko agreed, Tomobiki was frequently called the firearm capital of Japan.

"I have an idea for what we can go to the wedding as if Sergei and Cygni decide to do a costume party type idea..."

Ryouko stopped scrubbing, "Costume party wedding?"

"Yes," Hudson glanced back at her, "they seem pretty desperate for ideas. I was thinking we could go as Mr. and Mrs. Death," Hudson chuckled.

Ryouko smiled, she had a companion death disguise made for Hudson for the Mendou Halloween bash two weeks ago.

After a minute Warren reached across to Ryouko's free hand; gently brushing against her breasts in the process.

Warren stopped, "my turn," he stood and sat behind Ryouko. He began scrubbing in silence; the doctor had pulled him aside at the hospital telling him to lay off any "extraneous intimate contact" with Ryouko for a few days; saying Hudson would understand.

Truth be told, the difference in their sizes always bothered Hudson. Ryouko stood more than a head shorter than his six feet, there was also the question of weight, Hudson being a muscular 200 pounds to Ryouko's 100 pounds soaking wet.

"I'm...sorry, Warren-kun," Ryouko said quietly.

"No, don't be sorry, we'll just have to be careful for a few days, then I'd like us to take a week off and go stay in my house in Lincoln. I have a stack of Wall Street Journals at the post office with my name on it and I need to have a decent Kansas City steak."

Ryouko giggled, "How different is that part of your country?"

"Hmm, not excessively. But you can see ten miles or more in either direction. Hardly any trees, no hills."

After a while Ryouko said, "I heard Ataru-sama's mother thought I was getting preferencial treatment from the doctors..."

"That woman and her husband bother me," Hudson said, "they make TV movies-of-the-week about parents like that back in the States."

Hudson finished washing Ryouko's back as he noticed that the song on the tape player had changed to Devo's "Through Being Cool."

"Megane-san and I ending up at Kanzaki's eating beef-bowl playing this on the jukebox, over and over, from 10:10 to 11:24PM. Singing along. Megane figured it fit his situation."

Ryouko turned in his arms, "didn't anyone complain?"

Hudson shook his head, "you've never been to Kanzaki's during the graveyard shift. We were *encouraged* by Kanzaki and the two other salary men there to stay longer! And sing a couple Blondie songs with them..."

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Saturday, March 25, 2000 - 11:48:
After checking out a few pics for the various persons described, I'm inclined to agree.. Keitel looks pretty good.

Glad to hear that Animego is starting to crank out more stuff... man, I still gotta score me that DVD player >)

(RP ON)
Later that morning, as classes began, the students of Onsenmark's room began to shuffle in, glancing around slightly in surprise. Instead of the usual wall on the left with windows, there was a massive grey/reddish panelling in place, with some burnt out consoles and whatnot still attached. A few repair men were busily working away at it, from both inside and outside.

As the class took their respective seats, Onsenmark himself finally entered. He took one look at the wall and began yelling at one of the repair men.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?!"

"Uh, well, we couldn't find any remaining parts of the wall left, and since it'll be a few days untill the new parts and materials arrive, we decided to jury-rig something.. of course, if you'd prefer, we could just take it down and leave you in freezing cold.." The burly man shrugged while his comrades laughed.

"Don't get smart with me! If I don't see a REAL wall back soon, I'll-" He was cut off when a snowflake fell from a hole in the ceiling and landed on his head, followed by several others.

Slowly, his fist closed around the pen he was holding, snapping it in half. His pure anger seemed to be far sufficient to melt the snow into a wet mess that dribbled down his head and onto the floor. Quickly, one of the repair men grabbed a roll of duct tape and a ladder, climbed up, and applied the entire roll to the hole, completely sealing it and then some. Noting that Onsenmark was on the verge of exploding, he motioned to his buddies.

"Uh, guys, I think we should be heading out now.."

They nodded and quickly scuttled out of the room, slamming the door behind them.

Onsenmark fumed for a few moments, then turned to Megane, a devilish look on his face.

"Megane.. how wonderful of you to FINALLY join us.. your absence these past few days has caused quite a pile-up of homework..." He pointed to a large stack of papers sitting on his desk. "I'd suggest you devote the next few weeks on getting caught up."

Megane was about to issue a rebuttal, but then recalled what had happened the last time he had. Swallowing his remarks, he wordlessly stood up, grabbed the papers off of the desk, and put them in his pack, then returned to his seat.

Class then began in their normal fasion for that day, at least as normal as could be considered. Morale was slightly lower though, thanks to the absence of Ataru and Lum, the former of who was expected to be released later that day.

Cygni was walking through Tomobiki to clear her head and prepare for the day when she suddenly heard a loud scream behind her. Instinctively she ducked as a figure came flying over her head, landing a few meters in front. She rose to her full height and took a close look at her attacker, only to recognize it as Ryuunosuke's father. She gave a sour look while he chuckled.

"You have good reflexes.."

"Shouldn't you be picking on that tomboy or something? I'm a bit too tired at the moment to put any effort into a fight."

"I'd doubt that, I've seen your skills. Come on, show me what you've got!"

"What the hell's with him all of a sudden?" she asked herself.

("Either he's gone off the deep end or just bored out of his skull. Just remember, him being male, you can take him out with minimal effort.")

"Ahh.. right.." She continued her frown, letting nothing slip. "I told you I'm a bit too tired, so if you'll just get out of my damn way.."

He let out a yell and ran towards her, leaping high into the air. Cygni promptly rolled forward, then brought her leg up behind her, impacting her heel into his groin. He yelled in pain and plowed head first into the ground, holding his crotch with both hands and groaning. Cygni offered no more than a secondary glance, then continued on her way, wondering if the whole world was starting to go to hell again.

Back at her household, Sergei was busy making calls like no tomorrow, arranging for an oversized cake, specially shaped to his specifications, various services, and many other things. His original statement that it was "all set" was a tad of an overstatement, but he had confidence that things would work out. He fumbled around the map, trying to figure out a location and scratching his head.

"Damn, I never was good at this stuff.."

He looked anxiously between the phone, to which he wanted to call someone slightly more experienced in this matter, the fridge, which held the salvation to his complaining stomach, and the bathroom, which he sought to empty his overloaded bladder into. Taking a worried glance at the clock, which read 10 AM, he decided to do all three at once, grabbing the portable phone and a slice of pizza and rushing off to the bathroom, phone book under his shoulder.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Saturday, March 25, 2000 - 20:51:
Yeah, AE is getting back on their feet with the Macross TV set!

Keitel is the man, and looking like pretty good for 60+, exactly what I was aiming at for Hudson. A man who refuses to act his age with style.

I wonder what would happen if Beavis and Butthead were forced to attend Tomobiki High and had to put on those Japanese High School uniforms...

(RP ON)

Sakura sat at her desk in the clinic with Cherry on the table eating a bag of chips.

The phone rang and Sakura picked it up absently.

"Tomobiki High School, Nurse's Office, how can I help you?"

Cherry looked up as Sakura's face contorted into anger.

"YOU TELL HIM THAT HE CAN'T HAVE ICE-CREAM FOR EVERY MEAL!!!"

Sakura slammed the phone down. Cherry burped, "Ataru harassing Yamazaki-san again?"

"Damn him! He told the hospital that I was his practicing physician!"

Cherry muttered about fate and began to pray but received a punch in the nose from Sakura. Greedily Sakura thiefed the bag of chips from Cherry's hands and began morosely munching.

Meanwhile in the Principal's Office...

"And so..." the Principal said softly to his guest, "that is what happened this week."

Tsubame Ozuno shook his head, "Some story, Sensei, some story..."

Kotatsu-Neko puffed his pipe, and began motioning towards the Japanese translated "New York Times" sitting on the Principal's kotatsu.

Sakura's fiance gingerly reached out and picked up the paper; he gasped. "My God...!"

"Exactly what Kota-chan and I thought," the Principal and ghost cat nodded.

Back in Onsen-Mark's room...

English class had begun, Onsen filed down the rows reading, "Mr. Paddington walked into the general store...he ordered six gallons of ice-cream from Mr. Collins..." and so on.

Ryuunosuke leaned back in her chair, spying across the room to Megane, back to Shutaro, then over to Cygni's Stormtroopers.

All in all, missing were Shinobu, Ataru, and Lum.

Lunch arrived and Megane stood up against the wall talking to Sakura.

"How're things?" Megane asked as he sipped a bottle of water.

"Tsubame's back from Alaska..." Sakura smiled, "Ataru will be leaving the hospital this afternoon."

"So Mrs. Moroboshi did twist a few arms," Megane chuckled.

"Mine included," Sakura grimaced. "Shinobu is hunting for her parents with the police. I haven't heard anything from her since she left the hospital last night."

The Nurse gesticulated towards Shutaro, who wasn't even touching his lunch. "Shutaro seems to be more than a little worried about her. He went to the hospital this morning to talk to Lum-chan about contacting Inaba somehow in the Room of Destiny."

Across the room, Chibi, Perm, and Kakugari were giggling and avoiding looking at their former leader.

Sakura lowered her voice more than normal, "and your former cohorts seem to've sold a picture of Lum from the first tag race to Beavis and Butthead..."

Megane groaned, "I suppose the dynamic duo didn't realize that they could've just gone through ANY old newspapers and gotten the same picture?"

Sakura simply shrugged.

"I've already...replaced..." Megane's head hung low, "most of my Lum Otaku equipment."

The School Nurse nodded, "it's a start. You don't need three huge posters of her."

"I'm keeping a couple of the albums, though."

"All right," Sakura acknowledged with a brief inclination of her head.

Megane had replaced the Lum posters with a few he had from a large book of his favorite movie posters. Now adorning his wall where the posters for John Boorman's "Deliverance," Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange," and Ridley Scott's "The Duellists."

Outside on the sidewalk Warren Hudson was having his morning jog. From one end of Tomobiki to the other in a circle, taking him from the Mendou Estate to the Tomobiki River then passing the High School on his way back.

But today was different, he was joined by Kintaro and Ten riding Kuma. Mujaki had seemed to disappear or just gone into hiding after leaving the hospital last night.

"Hudson-sama! We're gonna beat you!" Ten declared gleefully.

"Come on," Hudson huffed, "I can't fly!"

As Hudson turned onto Main Street Tomobiki, he saw the school with its new scaffolding surrounding it.

"Hey Ten!" he looked up at the flying bear. "Wanna go see Sakura-onii-chan and Kotatsu-Neko?"

"Sure!" Ten and Kintaro happily shouted and began flying over to the school.

Two Kuroko appeared besides Warren running, "Guys, I tell you every morning," Hudson glanced beside him, "I'm all right."

"Just a procaution, Hudson-sama," one answered.

"Just a procaution, Hudson-sama." the other answered.

"Swell," Hudson huffed, and sped up his pace running into the Tomobiki High school grounds.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Sunday, March 26, 2000 - 11:46:
Beavis and Butthead in Tomobiki high? Now THERE's a scary thought.. >)

(RP ON)
Sergei was still busy back at the household. He was talking feverishly on the phone with a Kuroko commander and nodding every few seconds.

"..Yea, there's this abandonded warehouse on the eastern side of town.. can you have it ready by four-ish? ...Great! That's another I owe you. Alright, I'll be by in a couple of hours, thanks." He hung up and let our a cheer, just as Cygni walked in the door.

"My, you've been busy."

"Just making sure everything is correct."

She laughed. "Throwing everything together at the last second eh? Reminds me of myself.."

Sergei grinned in reply, then dropped into a slightly more serious expression. "I've got an.. interesting question for you."

Cygni shrugged. "Since I'm gonna be spending the rest of my life with you, a few 'interesting' questions are bound to come up here and there. Fire away."

He thought a moment to put together his words. "I'm just curious regarding the wedding dress issue.."

Cygni chuckled and nodded. "For one, it's getting cold out there and the snow isn't helping. For two, I'm not some selfish bitch who only thinks for herself, so I know how you feel regarding this. And for three, I pretty much doubt anybody would be stupid enough to launch an attack during the wedding, so I don't need to worry about it being cumbersome.. for now anyways."

Sergei coughed into his hand. "That was a lot easier than I figured it would be."

"What can I say? Things change."

Sergei returned to his seat near the phone. "So, have a nice walk?"

"Aside from getting blasted by the wind a few times, yea.. although Ryuunosuke's dad seems to have lost a few screws... the guy wanted to 'test my skills' or something.. got him where it hurts!" She winked and laughed. Sergei joined her.

Down at the Moroboshi household, a shady figure was slowly watching the clock drone on, chuckling to himself.

"Soon... soon.." he quietly remarked as the clock hit 12 PM.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Sunday, March 26, 2000 - 23:56:
So who's the sleazy character? Uninvited wedding guest? Or a dude with a grudge?

(RP ON)

12:17 PM

Chilly wind blew snow flurrys everywhere down the Tomobiki streets as people bustled about in front of the hospital.

"Now Darling..." Lum cooed as she pushed the wheelchair with Ataru occupying it out of the hospital front entrance, "...the Doctor says not to walk for the next few days and get plenty of rest."

Ataru's parents followed the two out, his mother bemoaning the fact that Ataru and Lum just told them about a wedding they simply HAD to go to at four o' clock.

"Now I have to use the credit card to buy the gifts..." Mrs. Moroboshi sighed.

"More bills..." Mr. Moroboshi said as he grabbed a newspaper from a newstand. Paying for it with a couple ten yen coins.

Lum heard their bitching, "Don't you worry, Mr. and Mrs. Moroboshi! I'll have my daddy pick up the bill..."

Ataru looked up at Lum as the medical assistants began helping him into a car. "Your father's coming here?"

Lum nodded happily, "And Momma too!"

Tomobiki High...

Sakura, Shutaro, Hudson and Megane were hanging out near the school's baseball field talking about the upcoming wedding while Ten, Kintaro, and Kuma played with their eager fan club of Tomobiki High girls.

Many people attending or working at Tomobiki High had received wedding invitations during lunch by odd means ranging from exploding toy robots to smoke signals.

Shutaro finished up telling the gang how he was informed by his captain of guards and turned to Sakura, "So that's the plan."

"Damn, I wonder how Sergei managed it," Megane looked off across the campus. Kids playing various sports, and Beavis and Butthead were loitering by the school's front gate.

The dillhole duo chuckled while looking from a picture, to a magazine, to the girls of Tomobiki High.

Shutaro gave a little smile, "it seems that the major preparations are being set up by my little sister."

Hudson, the only one sitting on the ground, glanced up at Shutaro. "Ryouko-chan running things from her room..." he laughed as he gulped down more water from a bottle. Then began stretching his legs with the agility of a gymnist.

"Ryouko should be resting, correct?" Sakura sounded critical.

Both Shutaro and Hudson shared a unique moment of mutual insight. They both chuckled and shared a knowing glance.

"Sakura-sensei," Shutaro smiled, "Ryouko and the Kuroko do not rest."

Sakura looked down at Hudson, "but you essentially live with her, you should tell her she's recovering from surgery and should not, I repeat, should not be helping plan a wedding."

"Well..." Hudson finished his stretching, "she's still obeying Doctor's orders, I think."

Sakura gave Hudson a light kick in the rear, "and I trust you're doing the same?"

Warren gave a mock salute, "Yes ma'am!"

Sakura wagged her finger at him sternly, "Thanks to people like you coming to town I have to dispense sexual advice daily!"

Megane and Shutaro seemed briefly shocked before bowling over in laughter.

Warren seemed nonplussed from his perspective on the ground. "It's called being a teenager and being in love," he winked.

Before Sakura could respond Kotatsu-Neko walked up, carrying Cherry in his right paw.

"Uncle..." Sakura knelt down to get a better look at Cherry.

The monk had a wedding invitation stuffed in his mouth, addressed to Kotatsu-Neko.

Hudson reached out and snatched the invitation from Cherry's jaws, "How'd you get this?" Warren grinned.

"Kota-chan and I were taking our afternoon nap, I woke with this," he motioned to the invitation, "in my mouth."

Kotatsu smiled, nodded, and pointed to himself.

"I received mine in a toy police car placed outside my front door this morning," Megane mused.

"I, too, received mine early this morning," Cherry yawned. "It was at the center of an Egg McMuffin. Ah yes," the old monk salivated, "it was good..."

Shutaro looked down at Hudson and Sakura, "I received mine when I was on my way to school, a large truck pulled up alongside my limo. What about you two?"

"Tsubame had ours in his cape," Sakura chuckled. "Those two Kuroko boys gave it to me while I was running," Warren stood up, "I'd love to stay and chat but it is time for me to depart."

Before he turned, Warren's expression grew solemn, "I wonder if Shinobu or Zard will be invited."

"Or Mujaki for that matter," Shutaro muttered.

"Probably not," Sakura and Megane snorted in unison.

As Warren passed the Fujinami's he shouted back, "I'll see you all at the wedding!" and began running off the school grounds.

Ryuunosuke and her father approached the rest, "we found these at the center of a watermelon during a fight," Ryuu held up two invitations.

Megane kicked the ground, "Man now I have to find something decent to wear..."

Shutaro's expression brightened, "I wonder if Asuka-chan or Ton-chan may attend?"

Sakura walked off grumbling about how she needs a dress.

Megane felt a tap at his shoulder and turned to see Ran, gleefully she held up an invitation.

"Rei burped it up, right?" Megane was almost afraid to ask.

Ran giggled, nodded in the affirmative and trotted off.

'Hmmm,' Megane thought, 'I wonder if Perm, Kakugari, or Chibi will be invited?'

As Hudson left the school, he waved to Beavis and Butthead. They seemed busy, Hudson thought, looking at the school's rooftop being repaired.

Butthead chuckled, "Hey Beavis, somebody's going to that chick Cygni's wedding."

"Yeah, heh-heh, and they have the same names as us," Beavis squinted his eyes at the large block letters in English on the roof.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Monday, March 27, 2000 - 12:11:
Mm.. not exactly uninvited, nor holding much of a grudge, just a whacky person with an unmatched desire to get the truth out >)

(RP ON)
Cygni downed her third cup of coffee, watching Sergei with some concern as he dialed numbers with the speed of an insane lunatic, talking a moment on the portable phone, then placed it down and thumbed through the phone book, repeating the process after a few moments. Cygni watched the pattern intently, then got an idea.

She stealthily made her way behind him, then when he put the phone on the small table nearby, she picked it up and replaced it with her half-filled white coffee mug. She stiffled a giggle as he picked up the mug and began to attempt to dial into it, only to stop and stare in confusion. He turned in his chair and finally noticed Cygni, who winked.

"I'm surprised your damn fingers haven't fallen off already.. take a break!"

Sergei tried to grab the phone, but she backed out of his reach. He frowned slightly.

"It's already 1 o-clock, and the wedding starts at 4!" He snapped his fingers and a small nano droid swooped in behind Cygni, then quickly dove in front, grabbed the phone, and dropped it into Sergei's waiting hands. She made a playful sour look.

"Cheater. Anyways, who'd you send invitations to?"

"Pretty much everyone we know.." he threw over his shoulder absently while thumbing through the phonebook. "I had a friend of mine who specializes in this stuff.. he pretty much sent invitations all over the place, using any means possible."

"And who is this guy?"

"One of my older friends, Pentheus.. he can pretty much be classified as 'intergalactic delivery boy'".

"Mmmmkay.." She put her now empty mug into the sink, staring out the window as the snow poured down. "Geez, really coming down out there.. what's the word on the dress?"

The sound of the doorbell ringing was her answer. She walked over and opened the door, and welcomed a young teenage male who was struggling to hold up a large cardboard box.

("Most of the weight is probably just that foamy stuff..") remarked the voice. Cygni took the box off of the person's hands and placed it inside, then thanked him. The teenager coughed and held out his hand.

"Picky aren't we?" she said, digging into her pockets and pulling out 20 American dollars. The teenager considered a moment, then accepted it and wandered back to the waiting vehicle in the driveway. She sighed and closed the door.

"Answer your question?" came Sergei's voice wafting in from the kitchen admist his constant chatting on the phone.

"Yea, I'd think so.." she called back in reply, throwing the box over her shoulder and heading towards the bedroom. "I'm gonna go check this out.. hopefully I'll be able to preserve some method of breathing while wearing it.."

A few minutes later, Sergei was interrupted from his 500th call by Cygni's yelling from upstairs. "How the hell do you put this damn thing on?!" He slowly grinned and stood up, finally deciding that the wedding was about as prepared as it was going to be, and spending Cygni's entire multi-million dollar fortune on it probably wouldn't help too much.

(RP OFF)

Another shorter post tonight, primarily due to the fact that I'm suffering from LOS syndrome (Lack of sleep *grin*), and the fact that Messiah, Star Trek Armada, and Soldier of Fortune are now gold.. 3 very good games that I'm going to devote my pitiful life to getting. Joy!

*mumbles about how his life gets 30x more complicated each day and shuffles off to bed*

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Tuesday, March 28, 2000 - 04:09:
I need to keep things short myself!

(RP ON)

American Embassy Tokyo...

Hudson walked into the building stridently.

"Ambassador?" one of his chief assistants, Becket, called out as he walked through the door.

"Bill, I just came to get my uniform. After that I'm out the door."

Hudson walked into the elevator with Becket following. A female with a Brooklyn accent had quickly joined them.

"Ambassador! We've been dealin' with the press on one hand and various Senate and House committees on the other. All wantin' you to testify in Washington."

The elevator stopped on one floor to admit, Captain Gargan USMC. The man in charge of security at the Embassy.

"Ambassador!" Gargan saluted.

Hudson returned the salute, "Captain."

Gargan leaned close in the cramped elevator, "The Secretary of Defense would like a word with you as soon as it is conveinant."

"All right, the wedding should be concluded by...nine o' clock."

Everyone fainted.

The elevator stopped to admit Representative James Craknell (R-MI).

"Shut up, Jim. I'm busy." Hudson waved at him as he stepped out of the elevator with Becket the only one following.

Warren happily waved at his staff as the elevator door shut.

Becket smiled, "You did it again."

"Oh yeah," Hudson grinned wide. "It never fails, Craknell ALWAYS tries to harass me on the elevator from the eighth floor. Because he always sees if I'm in my office, right?"

Becket loved the anecdote, so Hudson always told it at least once a month since 1981.

"Craknell sees I'm not in, calls around and waits until I arrive and goes to the elevator."

Becket finished, "and if everyone is in there with you thinking you're going up to the conference room, you wait until Craknell steps in, jump out at the last moment, and you lose them."

"It's the only way to live," Hudson laughed as he and Becket arrived at the former's office.

"Is it ready? Dry cleaned and everything?"

"Yes, delivered half an hour ago," Becket smiled.

Hudson delicately picked up the uniform of a United States Marine Corps. Colonel with several medals in a case beside it; shined. "Hard to believe this is the third one I've had..."

Becket coughed, "three Kuroko and Lady Ryouko are waiting up in the conference room."

"Oh?" Hudson thought for a moment. "Let's see...its only three of them so..." he snapped his fingers. "Her Kuroko horse!"

"Gargan had kittens when her helicopter first landed on the roof," Becket motioned up with his head.

Hudson and Becket laughed before the latter remembered something else. "A guy named Megane called from Tomobiki. Saying he needs you to stop by his house."

"Hmm, probably needs something to wear."

(RP OFF)

Parias, you DO know how Ryouko usually travels around, right?

And I'm setting up a useless scene with Warren and Megane looking at the latter's movie posters.

Hehe, I can just imagine Megane actually being a huge fan of Boorman's "Deliverance" as well as "Excalibur".

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Tuesday, March 28, 2000 - 12:59:
It was a tad difficult to figure out from my limited sources of knowledge available (like, three sites *cough*) but after browsing through that online UY manga collection I think I know what you're talking about with the "horse" thing >)

(RP ON)
As the day hit three-o-clock, the students were released from school, where they immediately headed home to prep for the wedding. Ryunnosuke was seen arguing with her father over what she was going to wear to the wedding, and after a few moments the argument came to blows. A few students trickled off from the flow leaving the school to watch and cheer on.

The stormtroopers had already long prepared their items for the wedding, and immediately veered off towards Cygni's house to provide "personal escort". Beavis and Butthead were left admist the confusion, chuckling as usual. Beavis bit his lip.

"Um, hey Butthead, heh, aren't we like, supposed to start going to that wedding, or something?"

His reply was a smack in the face. "Damnit Beavis, it's not untill four, so we've got like forty ten minutes, uhhh or something. Huh huh."

"Heh, oh yea." He shivered a moment. "Damnit Butthead it's getting cold. Lets like, go inside."

They wandered inside of the school just as the last person left. A janitor wandered up to them and scratched his head.

"Huh? Oh hey, you must be them there volunteer workers.. whelp, heres ya go, and thanks!" With that, he handed Beavis a mop and Butthead a bucket, then walked out of the school, leaving them dazed and confused.

"Uhh.. what a dumbass." remarked Butthead, overturning his bucket and draining it all over the floor. Beavis had the sudden urge to through his mop through a nearby window, and he did, with a loud shatter and a groan. Onsenmark poked his head up from the other side, holding his bruised forhead. Butthead's eyes shot up in surprise.

"Woa, that was cool! Let me try!" Butthead tossed his bucket towards the smashed window, braining Onsenmark in the face and rendering him unconscious. The pair stood in the small puddle of water, laughing.

Back in the soon-to-be Grana household, Cygni was, with Sergei's assistance, trying on the wedding gown. She had spent the past hour fiddling with it, making sure everything was "just perfect". It was a simple sleeveless dress coloured in silk satan with various bows around. She surprisingly found that it barely choked at all.

("Just goes to show that you can't believe EVERYTHING you read..")

Sergei finally finished, and she stepped back a second so he could get a good view.

"So, how do I look?"

"Stunning" he commented with a smile.

"It's not a half bad dress.. although it's not exactly Japanese.. might raise a few questions."

He shook his head. "Naw, should be fine. I doubt anybody will have a problem."

"Lets hope not. How the hell do you know so much anyways? I'd practically expect this to be 'just another planet' to you.."

"I've come here quite a few times in the past."

"Lemme guess, tourism?" she asked with a grin. Lum and Ataru had filled her in on how most of the other aliens had stumbled across the planet earlier.

"Yup, pretty much, looked like an interesting place.. definately one of the better places I've been. What about you? From the gist of it, I get the impression that you aren't exactly naitive of this planet either."

Cygni sighed. "Actually, I am.. how I came to be what I am now is one hell of a long story, and I might share it with you sometime.."

("Keeping out a few important details of course.")

"I'd be most interested to hear." He glanced over at the clock. "Three fifteen.. got about 45 minutes to ourselves. What do you want to do?"

She thought a moment, then heard the doorbell ring.

Sergei grumbled. "I'll get it."

The stormtroopers were eagerly waiting for someone to answer the door outside. Perm pressed the button again, just to make sure.

"Hee hee, I hope Cygni answers!" said Chibi, jumping in excitement.

"Yea!" cheered the rest. Their expressions dropped when Sergei answered the door, slightly annoyed.

"Is.. uh.. Cygni here?" asked Perm slowly.

"She's a bit busy right now.."

"Can we see her?" blurted out Chibi, holding out the box of chocolates he had behind his back. Sergei grinned.

"Sorry, you'll see her enough at the wedding, but I'll make sure these get to her.."

"Really? Thanks!"

Sergei nodded and closed the door, then opened up the box and took out a round candy, placing it in his mouth and chewing slowly.

"Mmm.. caramel.."

"Hey!" came a surprised yell from Cygni, who had gotten bored of waiting on him. Sergei shrugged.

"I was... uhh.. making sure they weren't poisioned or anything."

"Share!" she simply demanded, scurrying over and grabbing a few.

"From your die-hard fans.." he murmured through a full mouth. Cygni grinned.

"I'd doubt you have to worry about competition, I don't just flash off people at random.. not unless they're shooting at me anyways."

("See? Being a female isn't so bad!")

"It does have it's moments...." she thought back, savoring the deep chocolate and slipping into relaxation.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Wednesday, March 29, 2000 - 06:26:
I've gotta hand it to you, Parias. You're really staying on the ball with your posts.

I'd like to add to the mythos that Hudson has authored quite a few screenplays since the 1950's...several had been produced and he has worked on a lot more that weren't produced or co-writing things.

Maybe an odd Academy Award Nomination along the way...

I think it's a logical extension; I mentioned that Hudson was a journalist before being elected to the Senate. Hell, I'll probably even have Hudson the author of five or six books on topics ranging from his experiences in WW2, his politics, to "The Tomobiki Experience."

And you do know that Megane is Tomobiki's resident movie buff as well as Lum Nazi, right?

To anyone else reading this wonderful UY fanfiction, just remember that it's exactly that, a fiction. Eventhough it contains some nonfictional details such as names of famous people, political situations and figures, and period details only as to lend to a sense of realism (or is that unrealism?)

(RP ON)

Hudson stood in his office' private bathroom. He turned around looking in the mirror appreciatively. His medals gleaming nicely.

"...But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash..." Warren sang softly.

He still looked good in a Marine dress uniform after all of these years, frankly it amazed him.

Hudson opened the bathroom door to find himself face to face with a Kabuki theater prop-horse.

"I had Mr. Becket bring me down here," Ryouko smiled on top of the horse with two Kuroko providing the legs. Another in front provided the horse noises with two cocanut (sp?) shells.

Hudson looked upon Ryouko's dress with admiration. It was blue with a matching bow through her brown hair.

"You look like a Goddess," Warren breathed.

Ryouko smiled, blushed and accepted this silently. "You look quite nice...Colonel Hudson," she giggled.

"Megane needs help getting ready," Hudson coughed.

"Oh..." she snapped her fingers, "I've already anticipated this problem. I had Big Brother send him a tailor and wardrobe crew."

"Thanks," Hudson reached out and took her outstretched hand; gently kissing it. "But I think I should go over there anyway."

Ryouko nodded and with the horse trotting sounds the pair made their way up to the roof and the Kuroko helicopter.

The Megane household...

3:26PM

The suit was nice, Megane admitted, and he was happy to see Cygni and Sergei getting hitched but he had been dealing with his own personal troubles lately.

"No matter how you slice it," Megane turned to Hudson sitting in his living room, "I'm still going to have a shitty time."

Hudson sighed loudly, "You're still screwing yourself up subconciously. Come on! Be a man, nurse a glass of scotch while you're there and you'll be fine."

"You know," he turned to Hudson, "you're really not helping."

"Oh well, excuse me," Warren stuck his tongue out.

Megane walked into his room with Hudson following behind him. "I still don't know what shoes to where and what flower to put in my lapel..." Megane snorted.

"Well why did Shutaro's guys leave you five of each...?" Hudson stopped as soon as he was in Megane's room.

"Damn," Hudson beamed, he walked over to the movie posters on the wall above Megane's bed.

"Yeah," Megane confirmed proudly.

"Where...did you get this?" Warren pointed to the poster for "The Duellists."

"Uh..." Megane thought for a moment, "a catalogue that's dead now."

Hudson stared long and hard at the "Deliverance" poster. "You know what I was thinking the first time I saw that?"

"Poor Ned Beatty," Megane nodded.

"I..." Hudson searched for the right words, "almost worked or DID work with everyone there," he motioned to the three posters.

Megane nodded, "Kubrick?"

"We talked around '57 about me doing a draft for...something I can't remember," Warren chuckled.

"Ridley Scott?" Megane said next, "I heard a rumor from Sakaguchi-san that you were considered as a replacement writer on Dune around '80."

Warren nodded, "I was too busy here," he frowned, "I seriously doubt I could've done Herbert justice at anything less than 300 pages anyway."

"Boorman?" Megane knew all these pieces of International Film lore, but it still was something else to actually hear a participant talk about it.

"A persistant rumor Megane, nothing more." Hudson turned away from the "Deliverance" poster, "we talked on the phone after I lost an award for 'Reach Out.' He didn't mention anything about 'Lord of the Rings.'"

Megane glanced over at the clock on his bookshelf; it read 3:42 PM. "We better get going," Megane blindly picked up a pair of shoes and a rose. He ran out of his room before running back in to bodily push Warren out and slamming the door behind him.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Wednesday, March 29, 2000 - 12:14:
Thanks for the compliments, I really appreciate it. You're not too shabby yourself >) Pretty frikken good actually..

Man, I've REALLY gotta get more episodes, so much I've missed.. but then again, I've only seen 8 out of.. what, 200+ episodes? Just a small gap there >)

(RP ON)
In Cygni/Sergei's household, almost the very second it hit 4 PM, an alarm went off as well as the phone, both at the exact same time. Cygni switched off the alarm while Sergei answered. After speaking for a moment, he hung up and nodded.

"Effecient little bastards.."

"Everything's ready?" Cygni asked.

"Yup, right on schedule!"

Outside, they could see a few vehicles driving past as a long black limo pulled up to the driveway and honked it's horn.

Sergei took his arm in Cygni's. "Shall we?"

She smiled. "Lets."

They headed out the door to the three Kuroko who were waiting to take them to the designated location.

Inside the Moroboshi household, Ataru, who was feeling strong enough to walk now, grumbled as he read over the address again while putting on a coat.

"I swear, this place is some kind of abandoned warehouse! What kind of person would have a wedding there?"

"I'm sure they've got a plan." said Lum re-assuringly.

"Probably has something to do with all those Kuroko we saw going past earlier.." muttered Mr. Moroboshi. They finished preparing and headed out towards the east side of town.

Cygni eyed around the limo as they sped towards their destination. It was roomy inside, with it's own TV, food stores, even a small hot tub in the middle section seperating the front from the back of the vehicle.

"Isn't this a tad on overkill? We could have just walked" remarked Cygni, giving Sergei an annoyed look.

"Okay so maybe it is a little much, but I've always wanted to ride in one of these things, and why not take the opportunity to make a grand entrance?"

"You got a point.." She hit a button next to her, and a small table emerged from the floor, a bottle of champagne and two white glasses placed in the middle.

"I'd assume that this won't be our only trip in this vehicle?" Cygni asked with a smile.

"What, you think I blew $2000 just for some class? We need SOMETHING for our honeymoon.." Sergei replied with a nudge.

"Point. I hope this place is big enough.. it looks like the whole damn town is coming!" She could see various people running along or travelling in their own vehicles up ahead.

"Don't worry, I picked the largest place around."

"The Mendou mansion? I'd love to see how you pulled THAT one off.."

"Hah, no, not exactly that, but close enough. You'll see."

"So who's our designated flower girl?"

Sergei stopped a moment, thinking. "Uh.. I'm not entirely sure.."

"Forgot? Ah.. don't worry about it, I'm sure it'll work out."

"Lets hope so."

They continued on, Cygni going deep in thought as to what was coming up.

(RP OFF)

Man I'm happy, finally got an old classic of mine, Terra Nova, running on my new system.. I loved the error it kept spitting out at me.. "Cannot Allocate 0 bytes". To me, that was like the ever-lovable error, "Keyboard not found, press F1 to continue", you know? Hehehehe >)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Thursday, March 30, 2000 - 02:39:
Thanks for the compliment! I wished I could spend as much time as you playing games...

I've only seen up past episode 87 of the TV series, that's the beginning of season three of five. TV24 will have episode 91 to 95.

But I have seen all the movies and OVAs.

(RP ON)

A Kuroko was standing at a chain-link fence' gate. "Please park in F-9, thank you."

Other Kuroko were actively coordinating parking details and the several busses. Plus the flow of human traffic pouring in.

The main core of Cygni and Sergei's friends assembled where the Mendou limo had parked near the entrance to the warehouse.

Hudson and Megane were the last to arrive. After greeting everyone, taking special care to thank Ataru and Lum, the two split up with Megane going over to talk to Cygni's Stormtroopers and Hudson going over the wedding checklist with Ryouko.

"I'm taking special care of the cake with the Cygni and Sergei robots in them," Ryouko said with glee, "it is so much more fun with these robots instead of plastic figurines."

"I agree," Warren smiled. "I suppose the band is here and set up?"

"Oh yes," Ryouko smiled, taking his hand.

Master Mendou also took his wife's hand, "Dear, this is almost like our wedding, isn't it?"

Madame Mendou giggled politely behind her fan.

Grandfather Mendou slapped Warren on the back, "You remember that, don't you?"

"How can I forget?" Hudson looked up at the sky. "1965, I was sent here as part of the official US good will trade welcome wagon. Two weeks of panel discussions and the Mendou wedding."

The old man dragged Hudson down to his level, "And I intend to see at least TWO more Mendou family weddings before I die, got that?"

Warren smiled, "Yes, old man, I've got it."

A glitter was seen in the old Mendou's eye, "we were both young men when you first came here, remember? I still can't figure out how you stay so young!"

Hudson took a look around the vast parking lot and the warehouse, then remembered.

"This used to be part of Oshii's farm..."

Old Man Mendou grinned brokenly, "things have certrainly changed around here..."

"Yes they have..."

Shutaro coughed, "Pardon, but I believe it is time we make our way inside."

Ryouko smiled, "where are we seated Big Brother?"

Shutaro glanced down at the ticket handed to him by the Parking Kuroko, "H-7 through H-15."

(RP OFF)

I figured I should leave the details of the wedding and Cygni's Stormtroopers up to you...

And is Shinobu going to be there?

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Thursday, March 30, 2000 - 12:31:
Hmm.. I believe she shall..

(RP ON)
As the stretch-limo Sergei and Cygni were in approached the warehouse, Cygni could begin making out the details of the area. There were what looked to be hundreds of people milling about outside as Kuroko directed them around, and there was a massive banner hanging atop the front of the building that read "Wedding" in big bold red letters. The entire building was painted in white, and thanks to the massive decorations scattered all around, it barely looked like a warehouse at all.

"Geesus.." said Cygni, drawing in a breath. "You must've really pulled some strings."

"I've got a few friends here and there. Ah, here we go. Ready to make our grand entrance?" Sergei glanced out the window as a Kuroko approached to guide them in.

"That depends. What exactly is planned for our 'grand entrance'? Nothing I'd mistake as incoming weapon fire I hope."

Sergei laughed. "Hah hah, no, just the red carpet deal all the way inside, then we'll just party a bit untill the actual wedding begins.. should be about 15 to 20 minutes from now."

Cygni nodded and touched his arm affectionately. "Thanks, I really appreciate this, even if I'm probably going to be confused to hell the second I step out."

"No problem my lady, just stick with me and everything will be fine!"

Nearby, the ever-lovable Stormtroopers were chatting with Megane when they heard a call for attention. They directed their eyes towards the long white limo that had pulled up as a pair of Kuroko slowly unrolled a long red carpet from the end of the car to the small side door into the building.

"Here she comes!" said Perm in glee.

"I can't wait!" said Kakugari excitedly.

"I hope she liked our chocolates!" said Chibi. Megane tripped.

"You gave her.. chocolates?!" he yelled in astonishment.

"Well, yea!"

"Are you idiotic? She's about to get married, trying to steal her away will only get your faces pounded in!"

"Who cares?" cried Perm.

"As long as she's happy!" chimed in Kakugari. Megane was about to continue ranting when the door to the limo finally opened, and Sergei stepped out, straightening the bow on his suit and helping Cygni get out. Everyone let out a cheer in almost perfect syncronization, with Cygni's Stormtroopers practically breaking their own hole in the sound barrier. Megane simply muttered, untill he noticed Cygni winking at him. He couldn't help but sheepishly wave back, then go back to muttering again as the Stormtroopers, who were nearby, thought she had winked at them and reacted by promptly passing out.

The duo quickly made their way inside, out of the cold, and the remaining guests slowly began trickling in.

Inside the building, Cygni's astonishment continued as she looked around, finishing up with a glare at Sergei.

"Are you SURE this is a warehouse?"

Sergei shrugged. "Either that or I got my directions wrong.."

The inside was huge and extremely spacious, with tables scattered all around and comfortable chairs put around them. At the far end was a stage with multiple rows of seats lined up in front, all prepared as if a massive performance was going to take place. And considering what Sergei was going through, Cygni thought, one probably was. Or many.

She didn't have much time to consider as she was instantly surrounded by various residents and friends, all congratulating her. She simply nodded in kind and thanked them best she could, but they seemed to keep coming. Sergei noted what was going on and stepped in.

"I'm sure you'll have all the time to congratulate her later.. for now, lets just celebrate." Sergei grabbed her arm and led her over to a table, where a servant was filling 2 glasses with wine from an unmarked purple bottle while another placed dinnerware around and prepared the food. She noticed Ran somewhere at the far end, barking out orders to the chefs and preparing food of her own. Rei was there as well, sampling anything he could find.

They sat down. Cygni took a close look at the clear bubbling liquid inside of the glass, picking it up and giving it a once-over. Sergei chuckled.

"An old favorite of mine from Cygnus 7.. this one doesn't leave a trail of fire down your throat, rather something that goes down a tad smooth, and leaves a nice feeling.. I figured you might like it. I've always had some stashed away in the UNO."

"Looks almost like an active volcano.. oh well, bottoms up!" They clinked their glasses together and downed them in unision. Sergei was right, instead of a hot wake as it coursed down her throat, it was more of a cool trail of water with a small minty taste that left a nice sensation in her mouth.

"We'll have to score more of this stuff." she said, grinning.

"I figured you'd say that, so I plunked my remaining stash in the trunk of the limo. There's enough to last us for weeks. Uh, don't have too much though, it has some uncanny side-effects.."

"So long as it doesn't make my head explode."

They laughed together.

Over in another crowded section of the make-shift wedding house, Lum and Ataru were looking around in awe at the massive action around them.

"I've never seen so many people gathered in one place before.." muttered Ataru.

"Look darling, we can dance together!" Lum pointed to the stage, where a few bands were preparing.

Ataru was about to consider this when he thought he heard his name being called. He stopped a moment and squinted, trying to figure out where it was coming from. It slowly began getting louder.

"Ataru!"

"Wait a sec.. I know that voice.." he said, looking around the crowd. After a moment, a familiar hand rested on his arm. He turned and grinned.

"Shinobu!"

"Oh Ataru, I'm so glad you're okay, I saw what happened.."

Lum simply stared, wondering what this was going to turn into, when she was distracted by Ten and Kintaro, who seemed to be doing something to the bowl of punch a short distance away. She turned and began walking over to investigate.

"Did you find your parents?" asked Ataru.

"Yes, they're waiting at a table a ways away. You protected me though.. I never knew you cared so much to risk your life like that!"

"Hah! I'll gladly give my life to protect ANY girl! Right Lum?" he prounounced proudly, turning to the empty space where Lum was standing.

"Uh, Lum? Uh oh.."

Shinobu nodded. "I understand.. we can work this out later. Go find her."

Ataru blinked in confusion. "I never really would have expected to hear that coming from you.."

"It's such a happy moment right now, lets just try and keep it, OK?" Shinobu looked into his eyes.

"Alright. But I'll be back!"

She nodded and wandered off into the crowd. Ataru headed off into the opposite direction to search for Lum.

The female in question was currently at the bar, talking with Ten and Kintaro.

"What are you doing Ten?"

He giggled a moment. "Kintaro said he learned about something called 'spiking the punch', it's supposed to make everybody panic!"

Lum put her hands on her hips in a scolding manner. "Ten, you wouldn't.."

"Aww cmon, lemme have some fun!"

"It's too late anyways." said Kintaro with an evil grin as he tossed a small flask over his shoulder.

"Oh.. well lets hope nobody finds out then." said Lum, turning to the source of massive screaming nearby. "Come on, lets go see how Ran's doing!"

They wandered off. Kintaro got lost in the crowd, however, and lacking anything better to do, he pulled out his axe and promptly swung it menacingly at a tall man.

"Give me your money!" he demanded. He cringed shortly after as a loud crunch was heard when the man cracked his knuckles. Shortly after he was found somewhere on the other side of the wedding house on top of a pile of boxes, bruised.

(RP OFF)
I might need a bit of a hand when it comes to the bands. Truth to be told, I barely know the difference between Metalicca and Nine-Inch-Nails, never mind listening to them.. my pitiful life as a hardcore gamer doesn't leave room for too much else >) Although thanks to Napster (wonderful program), I'm able to download a given song at a moments notice and listen to it, so I remember it for future reference.. think you can help out a tad though? I appreciate it >)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Friday, March 31, 2000 - 04:08:
Well...I wonder just how popular Cygni and Sergei are? And plus this wedding is only on a days notice so it should probably just a few Tokyo wedding bands.

My experience slightly skewed towards alternative music of the UY era. So I'll have someone request a Talking Heads tune or something like that. Maybe some early U2. The major aim was to have everyone singing "Whip it" by Devo.

(RP ON)

The Principal of Tomobiki High and Onsen-Mark had taken charge of Beavis and Butthead as all four sat down at a table being tended to by Ran.

Beavis chuckled, "Hey baby, how about a little...uh, whipped cream, you know?"

Ran giggled, and gave Butthead a whole can.

"Hehe, you struck out, dillhole." Beavis chuckled.

Butthead was about to respond in his usual way when Rei came up behind them in tiger bull form.

Rei simply roared and squealed out, "RAN-CHAN!!!"

Ran happily motioned to an oversized empty seat as Onsen-Mark turned to his boss, "Principal, I believe we should move."

"Oh yes," Tomobiki High's elder Principal said, "I believe we should introduce Tomobiki High School's newest additions to Kota-chan."

With that Onsen-Mark pushed Beavis and Butthead out into the aisle.

"Ow!" Beavis shouted, chuckled, "hey Butthead, what are er, additions...?" Beavis seemed to like the new word.

"Uh...I dunno." Butthead said, almost amused.

Kotatsu-Neko, Jariten, Hudson and Ryouko were sitting on two large leather couches in the exact center of the warehouse.

Jariten and Kotatsu were eagerly devouring pretzels and soda-pop. Hudson and Ryouko had had some champagne and while not drunk, were a little tipsy and whimsical.

"Kota-chan, I'm interested in what your opinions of the mortal plane are in the 1980s...?" Warren led the conversation.

Kotatsu-Neko stopped feasting, looked to Ten, then back to Hudson as his eyes appeared to grow larger.

Jariten translated, "Kotatsu doesn't acknowledge calendars anymore."

"Oh..." Hudson nodded, dragging the moment out.

"Oh..." Ryouko did the same.

The giant ghost cat continued to look at Hudson intently. As if contemplating.

Hudson simply not caring, soldiered on, "I know your story, Kotatsu. But I'm curious if you've only been hanging around in the present and when you were alive in the past?"

Ten translated for his friend again, "Kota-chan doesn't know what you're talking about."

Ryouko took over enthusiasticly, "The question Warren-kun has been asking is thus: Has Kotatsu always been hanging around on the mortal plane since his death?"

Kotatsu-Neko simply shook his head slowly.

"That was rather anti-climatic," Hudson marveled.

Across the way Ryouko spied The Principal and Onsen-Mark dragging Beavis and Butthead along behind them.

Ryouko was on her feet and pulling Hudson along behind her in a second.

"See you two later!" Hudson waved at the Sumo Kitty and alien toddler.

Moments later Ryouko and Hudson were standing by the excessively large stage.

Hudson spied at the bands setting up, one a standard rock quartet, one a synth-pop group, and the last a larger orchestra with conductor.

Warren noticed that the leader of the rock band was American. In English Hudson shouted, "Hey you up there!"

The American turned in Hudson's direction, "Yes, you sir!" Warren nodded, "come over here a moment."

"What are you doing, Warren-kun?" Ryouko said in Japanese; her English comprehension wasn't that great.

The man in question walked over to the end of the stage and looked down at a middle-aged US Marine Colonel with a very pretty oriental girl hanging on his arm.

"Colonel...Hudson?" the American read the nameplate on Warren's right breast.

"No, Ambassador now," Warren laughed. 'Actually somebody who doesn't know me from TV,' he thought happily.

"I was wondering," Hudson ventured, "if you would play...'Viva Las Vegas,' at that Ryouko giggled.

"Well my Elvis impersonation skills aren't great, so it'll probably come out sounding like the Dead Kennedy's rendition-" the American trailed off.

"That's fine, that's fine," Hudson smiled. "By the way, what's your name stranger?"

"Lewis, Colonel. Frank Lewis," the guy on the stage smiled and turned back to his band; who were mostly Japanese.

(RP OFF)

You do know "Viva Las Vegas," right? I figured it fits considering the first portion of this story.