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KS HOTLINE MEETING /HQ CHRONICLES #11
SNAP, CRACKLE, POP... BUZZZZZ
Part one
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Context: new and improved. I hope. Did I ever tell you that when I’m sick I get some very weird ideas. No, well, now you know. Muawwwwwww……
Sit back and enjoy.
Chantal
"Pain is just nature’s way of saying : Hey you’re alive"
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<Late Sunday night>
Chantal was getting out of her jeep. Everything looking so calm and peaceful. But she knew better. Pulling her luggage out of the truck she smiled. "Well, it would not be the same without a little mayhem." She heard then someone giggling and laughing close by. Her watch indicated 9.13 pm. Then she heard.
"Oh that darn bow has gotta go. Who tied this the last time?"
"Melite. She said she was practicing her sailor knots skills."
"Gee, Melite, good one. <chuckles> Stop moving so much…"
"But your hands are cold…"
"That’s the only things that are cold.."
Leaving Skeezix and SHerk to their "discussion", Chantal picked up her bags and started to walk towards the new wing and her place. "I wonder what color is his bow this week?" she whispered.
(Note of the author: now I know SHerk is not Herk but it’s a start don’t you agree Skeezix. <g>)
****
Half way in the garden, she saw Nyxx doing her round. "Boss. Good. You’re back. Plane arrived on time, I see. Found your jeep too. Good." Nyxx was smiling.
"Oh cut the boss routine, my friend. How are you? Nice leather cat suit by the way. Deep hunter green. Great for spring." Chantal started to walk again. Nyxx tagged along.
"Well, I’m getting there. Not a lot of trouble since the chief trouble maker, Sov, was nowhere to be found for a couple of days. And your almighty… " Chantal raised an eyebrow. " I mean, the almighty lord with a bad attitude has been busy with our own resident loony. So not much to report except for Gazelle’s new venture."
"Ah, yes. Gazelle’s little new project. What do you think? Will it work?"
"Too soon to tell. It might but I’ll need more staff to prevent any riot. I mean, you can imagine the mayhem her project will create."
"Well. it might be fun." "And fun is good." completed Nyxx. Both laughed.
Looking at her friend, Chantal said " I’ve missed you, Nyxx. So, you’re on night patrol. Any reason? No hot tub party to go to? No private art classes with Sov? "
Nyxx’s face became a little paler. "Hey my name is Nyxx as in night. And no. No art classes or hot tub for me. I don’t know. I’m a little out of sort lately."
They had arrived at the entrance of the new wing. " Hey, take the elevator, Boss. Don’t go and hurt yourself on your first hour back." Turning to leave, Nyxx heard Chantal asked very calmly : "Who taught Melite sailor knots?"
Nyxx turned abruptly. " I don’t know. I’ll see what I can find out." Leaving she mumbled to herself "This is not good. The bow. Won’t be able to get the bow untied…"
Entering Chantal smiled. "Well that will keep her mind occupied for a few hours. I’ll see what I can do for the rest of the night." She pushed the elevator button. And waited. And waited. "Well I guess, I have to take the stairs. Oh man, 5 floors." She sighed and started towards the stairs.
"I remember telling you not to carry so much especially if you’re going to use the stairs. You’ll never learn, will you? You’re impossible!"
*****
Nyxx was running all possibilities in her mind. "Who would have been careless enough to show Melite sailor’s knots? I mean might as well given her a lock and key to SHerk. That darn bow!" Nyxx chuckled. " the next lady who wants to play, will have to bring scissors" she thought.
She was getting near the old wing when she saw Skeezix running towards her. Flushed and a little ticked off, Skeezix stopped Nyxx. "Oh, good. You wouldn’t have by any chance, say a pair of scissors , would you?"
*****
"Me! Impossible? It’s that mechanical no good elevator that’s impossible. And you should really think about not sneaking up on me like that. Might be dangerous." Chantal answered with a smile.
"Well, it’s a half god thing. Let me get your bags" replied Herk.
Entering the loft, Chantal went directly to her bedroom. " I need to get change. I smell like fuel, airport fuel" she said out loud. Then to herself "and that shoulder is hitching like crazy." "You can get something out of the fridge to drink , Ill be right back. You have to tell me what went on when I was gone and how did you know I was back? You see only three people knew…" said Chantal coming out of her bedroom a very large white tee shirt on.
She came up behind him. Herk was still looking inside for lemonade. "What’s wrong? Something died in there?"
"No, I can’t seem to find anything. When was the last time you made some space in there?" said Herk.
"Funny. Let me, I’ll find the lemonade." Herk let her looked. " Ah, ah, there it is. See. You were looking like a man." Turning back, Chantal asked again "How did you find out I was back?" She went to get two tall glasses.
" A little bird told me" was the answer.
"Oh really. Three people knew. Nyxx because it’s her job. Cokie because I have to meet her early tomorrow and …Okay how did you get Gazelle to tell you?" Chantal was now reaching for the upper shelf and glasses with her left hand and arm, reveling a very recent addition on her left shoulder.
It took about 2 seconds for a reaction.
"Where and when did you get *that*" Herk shouted.
Turning abruptly to face him. Chantal chose to play dumb. "Get what? Those glasses? I got them in Venice last year, you know on my fall vacation." Turning quickly, she took the glasses and lemonade and retreated into the living room. Now Herk had a very curious look in his eyes. A mix of mischief and laughter.
"How did *he* get you to do that? I’ve asked you, oh what, 15 times… and I can quote your answer «No way. No play. No bribe will make me get one.»
Chantal looked at her friend and said " Well I had a momentary lapse of judgment and he took advantage of it. You looked disappointed. I’m sorry but there’s no way I’m going thru something like that again. Once was enough! And I think I’m allergic to the ink."
"How did *he* get you to do that?" Herk asked again very curious.
"Oh no, you don’t. you give me the name of your informant first" replied Chantal .
"Okay, let’s look at this logically. What could Sov do to get you to «momentarily lose your mind» Herk started out loud with a very wicked grin.
"Don’t even go there, Big Guy. Not a good idea." Chantal had gotten up from her rocking chair and stood by the window.
Herk continued on. " Must have been something quite important. Come on tell me. You at least owe me that since you won’t get a tattoo for me."
Herk looked at her funny. "What did he want? Why did he want to know? This is strange but he’s my friend. He doesn’t have any ulterior motif. Right? You’ve been hanging around manipulative gods to long." Chantal said to herself. "Okay, Sov threw my chess box into the ocean. I got really mad and I needed some kind of diversion for when I got back. Happy. Now you know."
"So who told you I was back?"
" You know if I had known all I needed was to use my half brother as a ploy…" Herk began.
"Oh no, you don’t. I am not getting another one of those thing. Go ask Nyxx. Yes that’s it. She’ll be delighted for sure." Chantal was now thinking fast to find a way out of this.
"Nyxx. Of course, she’ll be thrilled. I’ll go ask her." Herk started for the door.
"Thank you for welcoming me home my friend. I’ll see you tomorrow" Chantal said with relief.
As Herk reached the door, she heard him say "Upper right thigh. That’s where it should be."
Chantal went pale. "What did you say?" she asked.
"Nothing. Don’t you worry. You still have that Ares’ teddy bear locked in your office closet don’t you?" Herk was now laughing and he quickly closed the door behind him. A clash of glass was heard and a very loud " I’M NOT GETTING ANOTHER TATTOO" was yelled.
*****
Around 7.30 am in the garden of KSHQ
Chantal was doing her Tachi routine. Simple exercises nothing spectacular. She was to meet Cokie at the construction’s site a little later. Stopping, she noticed Nyxxx doing her morning run. She had a big smile on her face. "Well, I guess she did get a little fun last night." Taking her towel, Chantal began to walk towards Amazon Height, the apartment building currently being built.
Cokie was already hard at work. Plaster was the order of the day in the great entrance hall. Getting close, Chantal realized something was amiss, really fast. First, she heard Star’s, Nannyboo’s voices. "At this hour of the morning, highly suspicious. What have they come up with now?" As she came closer, she noticed the highly unusual number of amazons taking either their morning walk or running towards the site. She saw Kendaa, Michelle and Hestia. She waved at them. They waved back with a big grin on their faces. "All of this for plaster? No way, there’s gotta be…" Then she heard "why do I need a coverall anyway. I’m going to get all wet and dirty anyway. Get that away from me." Chantal sighed. "Sov and plaster. Of course. Oh my. Well it will be interesting to say the least."
Chantal finally got to the site and behold Sov was holding court and having to much fun with plaster. And he was not the only one. Nannyboo had hand imprint of each cheek, a daze look and she was rubbing her left index on her somewhat bruised lips. Star had plaster stains on her shirt and Sov was commenting on her beautiful SoviaK tattoo above her left breast. Melite was grinning and staring at Sov. She had two plaster hand imprint on her bum. <LOL>
Coming behind Cokie, Chantal let out a loud whistle. "Okay, I know I’m going to be a witch now but I believe you ladies have work to do. You can come hose him down at the end of the day. I’m sure he and you will enjoy it." Chantal gave Sov an ironic smirk. "Now a little work would be nice, please." Walking up to her, Sov stopped only inches away from her. Gently brushing with a finger her left shoulder, he said very quietly " Shoulder still hitching, luv?" Chantal took a few steps back. " Don’t even mention that… thing…." She shuddered. Then turning around she heard him laugh out loud and he replied " Now who’s the spoiled brat! Now ladies, I have to get to work if we are to have a wash out party this afternoon. LET’S MAKE A MESS!"
Cokie silently cursed. "Yeah, let’s make a mess! And who will clean it up." " Oh, don’t worry, I’ll have SHerk help you. You can "supervise". Now how about our meeting? Ready?" asked Chantal. "All right. Let’s walk, I can’t watch this too long, I’ll need a cold shower again" laughed Cokie staring at Sov bare chested applying plaster to the wall.
Walking out of the hall both Chantal and Cokie could not failed to notice the group of ladies, eating silently their breakfast, sitting on the lawn across the building. Freya’s spoonful of cereal was suspended in mid air. Deeva was holding her orange juice glass very tightly. Enough that her knuckles were white. Her mouth was open and a strand of drool was showing. Kara was eating her grapefruit and in between each piece, she took a long deep breath and was saying to herself like a mantra " Remember to breathe. Remember to breathe."
Castalia, who’s turn it was to train new recruits had brought Ann, Skie, Tedras who wanted a refresher’s course and Kelly to witness the effect of Sov up close. Castalia was now discussing the said effect. "Notice the glazed eyes, the drool slowly running down. The shortness of breath, all of these symptoms are clear signs of an overexposes to Sov. And must not be taken lightly. Turning to face her "students" she laughed. " Well, I guess, there’s nothing like experiencing the effect first hand to understand it." Ann had difficulty breathing. Skie was in a trance and could not take her eyes of Sov and Tedras, well she was sitting down, her legs being to weak to support her . Her mouth was open and drool was beginning to appear. As for Kelly, well, she seemed unaffected. But a slow smile was forming on her lips. "Euh, will you excuse me a minute, I have a sudden yearning to touch plaster." And off she was. Reaching Sov, she gave him a big smile, put both her hands into the liquid plaster then applied them on Sov chest and she planted a big, long kiss on him. Even Sov was speechless. Breaking the kiss, Kelly returned to her "teacher" with a wide smile and said " Had to do it, you know. He’s the reason I’m here afterall."
Passing Cas, Chantal gave her two thumbs up. "Nice technique, Cas. Good job. Now you get your class out of here before they overheat and end up in Herkspital." To Cokie, Chantal added " That was a good test. If they can withstand that they can handle anything thrown at them." Pausing Chantal added "Well, almost anything. Cass has a way with trainee."
Walking towards the old wing, Cokie explained that the Amazon Height complex would be ready in late May. "What about Gazelle’s little new project, how soon can it be operational?" They both entered the old wing. Walls had been thorn down. It was now a big airy space and empty. "Windows on three sides. The fourth mirror. What do you think?" asked Chantal. " Not bad. It needs a painting job but under two weeks I can turn this into a first rate gym. No problem. With some help of course with the painting." answered Cokie.
"Then, let’s plan a painting bash. Might be fun, don’t you think?" mused Chantal with a wicked smile.