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KS HOTLINE MEETING#8
KING OF HEARTS
PART TWO
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<In the art room, Tuesday around 1.30 PM>
Birdly was putting the last touches to the room. The mattresses were in rows (all four of them) and beside each there was a chocolate jar, brushes, towels… She had her notes all ready. She was a bit nervous. She hoped this little test run would not turn into a riot like the pool game.
She still had nightmares about that day. Being head referee, she had had to explain to Ap and her team and Deeva and her team that the game was a tie. They would have to share the prize. It had went better than expected but now they had to set a date. "Oh, I think my headache is coming back" whispered Birdly . "May be a nice head massage would help you relax, Birdly." She had not hear SHerk come into the room. "Well, it’s still early. Sure, why not." SHerk gave her a smile and indicated one of the mattresses on the floor.
<Near two o’clock>
Birdly, her headache all gone, SHerk magic fingers had performed a miracle once again, was greeting her friends.
"Castalia, you look tired, what happened?"
"Don’t want to talk about it. I just want to have fun, please?"
"Fun is my middle name. You looked so tired, Cas. Come here, tell me about it" said Iolaus who had walked in behind her, opening his arms and giving her a big hug.
"Apollena, so nice of you to grace us with you presence" teased Birdly to Ap coming in.
"Well I was in the neighborhood and voilà."
"Good, you’re here. I don’t need to send someone to get you" said Kull bending down and giving Ap a light kiss.
The door flew open and Hebea came in hand in hand with Autolycus. She noticed Cas and Iolaus but said nothing. " Got your invitation, Birdly. You don’t mind I brought my own partner, do you?
"No, not at all, I’ll set up another place." Birdly was now thinking two Iolausians, better call out for support. She decided to alert the covert operation center as soon as she could.
Deeva and Freya walked in with Sov holding each by the waist. "Okay, let’s play chocolate body paint" he yelled. Birdly sighed and took out the phone on the wall pressed 1 and whispered "Help me".
Seconds later, Melite was coming up to the art room, new recruits in tow. She was a bit weary because she had not expected Kendaa to be in the group. Josée, Andulasia and Susan were a little afraid but were following Melite.
<Thursday, 9.00 am in the conference room>
Nannyboo was pacing up and down the room. Mumbling "I should have been there, no fair, how come I was not there. Would have made sure it didn’t go wrong?" "Nannyboo, stop pacing, you’re giving me nausea" said Ap holding her head. Princess was looking out the window and talking to herself: "I missed it, by the gods, how could I have missed it…"
Melite came in with a smile as wide as it could be. Said nothing and sat down at her usual place. Not a word came out of her mouth.
Two pairs of eyes bore into her. She still just sat there and smiled.
"Well aren’t you gonna say something?" finally asked Nannyboo.
"Yes, Melite, tell us about you’re technique for training new recruits. I can’t believe you did that. To Birdly of all people! Come tell us…" coaxed Princess.
"Oh, she would if she could but she can’t. She lost her voice. Boy, you can reach those high notes when motivated, can you Melite" said Apollena still holding her head.
The door opened. Chantal, Star and Freya came in and sat down. Star started the meeting. "Well, I would like to report that Josée, Andulasia and Susan had to be transferred to a special room at Herkspital for over exposure to Sov and shattered eardrums. Deeva is in recovery and will be able to attend the kissing booth Saturday. How’s your head, Ap, better?
"No, but I’ll manage" replied Apollena. Star continued. "Hebea was lucky, and suffered only minor discomfort. As for Castalia, she has been granted a leave of absence and some TLC with Iolaus. Now, Melite, I believe your voice is gone. So no poker game for you, girl. Kendaa is resting in her room with a splitting headache. As for Birdly, Freya will let you in."
"Well, Birdly is devastated. What was supposed to be an innocent test run became a nightmare. Well, maybe nightmare is too strong a word, I mean Sov got a bit over enthusiastic with the paint brush, I mean, he really didn’t need that much encouragement. No, that came out wrong, let just say that Birdly is resting and is being consoled by Herk but that the demonstration part of the conference Saturday is canceled. For one, we have to clean up the art room before Saturday. We will need ladders to scrape out the chocolate from the ceiling and there isn’t any chocolate left."
"Euh, Freya, you have some on you right elbow" mentioned Chantal. Freya looked at it. Blushed and whispered "I was sure he got all of it." "Hum, okay now next, Melite you will not ever do recruit training ever again " said Chantal. Melite’s smile became wider as if that was possible. "But you are now my administrative clerk for this week and the next. And I intend to make the most of it. Now, Nannyboo, the names for the poker game. How is it going?"
"Good. Everyone interested left their name in the box in the administrative area. I will announce the names at noon. How many names do you want?"n "Well, three plus two alternate will do. Unless, Freya, you’re our Sov specialist, is it enough. He seems to go thru amazons pretty quickly?" "In my professional opinion, you should add one more, just in case."
"Okay, six names it is. Princess, check with Deeva to see if everything is ready for the kissing booth. She still had practice time with SHerk scheduled, maybe you could take over?" "No problem, I’ll get right at it" replied Princess. "Meeting over. Have fun. I’ll see you all at noon" said Chantal. "And Freya will you stay a minute, please"
After, everyone had left Chantal looked at Freya, smiled and asked. " So give me details, what happened…"
Later at the covert operation center, Nyxx was knee deep in trouble. "I know, I got the call. I beeped our new operative, she was at the scene but could not intervene without blowing her cover. And yes, I’m still trying to recover the Herk Grape Standee from Gazelle but she’s suspicious, she won’t even share custody now…"
<Noon administrative area>
Nannyboo was getting ready to draw the names of the lucky Amazons who would play poker with Sov in the game room Friday night. He was there, of course, sitting, no, lounging in a chair, with Amazons fawning over him (black leather does have that effect, lol), with a wicked grin on his face.
"Well," Nannyboo cleared her voice " here we go." She pulled the first name out : "Nuance, (a small cry was heard) second name, Princess (a loud yesss came out), third name SaraQuinn (all that was heard was THUD). The next three names are alternates: first Skeezix, second Tedras, third…." Nannyboo let out a loud…. "ME!"
<Late Thursday night>
Melite was still filing research papers in Chantal’s office. She had been at it all afternoon. She could not understand how someone who could keep things running, be such a mess with paperwork. "This paper is dated April 1997 "Why the second season of HTLJ was marketed towards kids". Interesting. Another one. May 1997 "The impact of John Schulan on the creation of the Herk/Xena myth". Never read that one. Oh, this one sounds good " Why aren’t there any female centaurs?"
The phone rang. Melite picked it up. Her voice was slowing coming back. She had been very careful not to speak at all since last night her vocal chords had bee slightly overused.<g>
"Yes, KS Hotline manager’s office. Can I help you?" "Melite, finally, I found you. I heard about the poker game and I had one of my brilliant idea. What if we sold tickets to watch the game? What do you say, 50% for me, 10% for you, the rest for charity. How about it?" Melite, who had been searching for a way to get into the game, just whispered "Tell me more about this idea…"
<Friday morning conference room>
Deeva and Princess were finalizing tomorrow’s program for the kissing booth. "Okay, we start at 2.00 PM. We lead off with SHerk for the first hour then we introduce Kull then we finish with Sov. What do you think? Deeva was still a little light headed and somewhat spacey when thinking about the Sovereign.
"Well I like starting things off with SHerk but if may I suggest we sandwich Sov between SHerk and Kull. That way, we don’t have to reanimate everybody at the end of Sov’s time because they aren’t going to overuse Sov, to be still standing to get a kiss from Kull. And besides, throwing ice water on hopeless friends is so messy. Fun but messy. Then you have to clean up…" countered Princess.
"Good point. It’s true, too much Sov can be hazardous to your health" laughed Deeva.
"Unless, you’re Herkspital head administrator…" replied Princess.
Chantal and Kendaa were having lunch at the KS HQ cafeteria. "So how’s the training going. Headache gone?" laughed Chantal. "Tell me about it. Wow. What a first day it was. Next time, I’ll know to bring earplugs but it was quite a rush. Sov has a lot of … hum energy… "said Kendaa with a far away look.
"Yeah, energy that a very good word to describe him.<g> He does have a lot of that. Think you can jump in and handle this evening shift. I’m off tonight. I don’t think it will be very busy since it’s the poker night, you know." "Really, I thought, we would have a few lonely amazons calling?"
"Well, obviously you haven’t heard about my administrative clerk latest operation. Melite and Sal are selling tickets to the game tonight. Very secret thing, password and all. Really like I would not find out. Please!" "Let me guess. One, you got a cut of Sal’s profits. Right? Two, got undercover security to control the crowd. Three, plan to lure Melite away from the game. How did I do?" asked Kendaa.
Chantal just smiled, nodded, picked a carrot stick and said "Not bad for a girl, right out of Ares’ detox. Right?" "Hey, it’s like a bike, you can decide not to use it, but it’s doesn’t mean you don’t know how."
<In the conference room, a little later>
Chantal found Deeva and Princess still at it. They were deciding how many tickets it would take for a light kiss, a deep kiss, a dip and a kiss and a kiss of the foreign variety.
Chantal could not helped herself and giggled. "Ladies, you’re on your own on this but whatever you decide you let me know I want to purchase the right amount of ticket for the last one, with Sov! <eg>.