Diddy couldn’t help but smirk as the koopaling folded his arms in a sulk, but he quickly beat it down. After all, it was his fault they were here.
“It was my idea to come here, Mr. Stripetail,” Diddy Kong said sheepishly, rubbing the rim of the sunvisor on his baseball cap. “It’s kinda of our anniversaryówell, half year anniversaryóand I wanted to do something reckless like Jay here always does. I thought sneaking in some alcohol would have been pretty hardcore. Dumb, I know…”
Junior sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “Moron. If you had waited like three seconds I was about to take the blame. Not like I’m not used to it. It’s also not like I tried to stop you or anything, I was on board with it. So…”
He shrugged. He felt far more guilty for allowing Diddy to get in trouble more than actually trying to sneak drinks, and he wasn’t hiding the fact. Diddy gave a bemused smile. “You can’t lie to Stripetail, dude. You know that.” The koopa twitched a cheek, which turned into a grin.
“I think he would have let me, just this once,” Junior said as he leaned in to give the kong a noogie. “You know, as an anniversary gift.”
Then Usso’s name came up, and the two straightened up in their seats a little.
“Oh yeah, it has been a week, hasn’t it? Half a mil…” Diddy whistled. “Geeze…” Junior looked excited at first, then seemed to quash his look and replace it with an aloof jutted chin.
“Yeah, for sitting on his ass,” Junior said as he picked at his teeth with a claw. “A sinecure, that’s what he has. Starting to think that whatchamacallit he keeps being ominous about is make believe. I mean, have you seen it, Stripetail?”
“Oh, ignore himóhe’s hoping you’ll give us information about it,” Diddy said to the wizard as he waved his hand dismissively. “Anyway, that’s great! Usso’ll be really excited about that. We actually invited him over to the tavern, so if you stick around a little you should be able to give it to him.” Junior frowned at little. “Where is he, anyway?” he said, speaking seriously for once. “He was supposed to be here awhile ago. Dude’s rarely late for things. What if he’s having one of his ëNam flashbacks or whatever?”
Diddy winced a little. Usso had once had a nervous breakdown in front of them before, so it wasn’t an unwarranted fear. Still, Diddy had a bit more faith. “I think he’s fine… But, maybe we should go look for him if he’s not here in fifteen minutes.”
----------------
Defago caught a familiar scent in the air as he followed the boy to the Winterville tavern. It was faint, and he had only ever experienced it once before, but to his wild, enhanced sense of smell it was unmistakable. It was the wizard Stripetail, the squirrel who had invited him on this ship. As he saw the boy Usso walk into the tavern, he caught a glimpse of the wizard through the window. He thought back to that day, on Mawashii…
~~~~~~~~~~
Night fell on the tiny little impoverished shack, and it’s newly wealthy inhabitants all went to bed. Before they did, Defago caught Lucy Jones coming into the living room where he was to sleep for the night, and held something out in her hand.
“I want you to have this, Mr. Defago,” she said gently. It was a simple silver ring with no gems or ornamentations. “It used to be my prized possession. You know why?”
“Why’s that?” Defago asked. She smiled and put the ring in his gloved hand to examine.
“It used to be all my family could afford for my birthday. But that’s not true anymoreómama says with this money, we can get a real life with fancy stuff. I know it’s not much, but I wanted you to have it to remember me by!”
Defago looked at the ring for a moment, examining it’s cheapness, it’s plainness, and the great polish and daily care that clearly went into it to make it glisten without tarnish like it did in such low light. Then he opened an arm up and hugged the girl. She hugged him back.
“I’ll take real good care of it,” he said honestly. “I promise you.”
“I know you will,” Lucy said sweetly before she smothered a yawn. “Maybe one day me and my family can come and see one of your plays!”
“Yes,” Defago said with a nod and a stab of guilt. “I’d love that. Now you better get yourself to bed, alright? Startin’ a new life is hard work. Yer gonna need your rest.”
The girl nodded with a smile. Defago had lived long enough to know she’d grow up to be quite lovely, just by that smile alone. He gave her one more huge before she walked to her tiny bedroom. “Good night, Defago,” she said through a tired yawn.
Defago smiled, knowing this was probably the last he’d ever see of the little girl ever again.
“Goodnight, Lucy. Fais de beaux r’ves.”
It was about midnight, when he was sure the family was fully asleep, that he walked out away from the rickety house to just the right distance away. That was to say, far enough away that the family wasn't in danger, but close enough that nothing would be able to get inside without him knowing about it. He took off the cloth covering his face and tucked it into his pocket along with Lucy’s ring. He let la b’te maudite have a tiny bit of controlójust enough to alter his appearance a bit and increase his size. The grass below him immediately died and wilted, and animals from several miles around reared their head up in alarm at the presence that had suddenly materialized in their forest.
ëWhatever fils de pute is leaving his presence in the air right now, he better know what’s waitin’ for him here.’ He grinned with large, sharp teeth. ëOtherwise he’s gonna be reaaal surprised what he finds runnin’ at him in the dark.’
Then he sat, cross legged, on the ground, and pulled out his old whittling knife to pass the time. He didn’t have to wait long.
