Let's Go For A Pint (Vampire/Humor)

4.3 #TeamMaIlCaWa

"Sure I love to help ye, Lena, but do we hae to meet where I legally work?"

The Chinese Herbal Medicine shop was a small place. By small, it was a kiosk embedded into a building. What I assumed were prices of what was available in stock and the cost per weight covered nearly every inch of glass. The only way to peek inside was through the sliding window after stepping onto a step stool.

"This is something important, James. Why won't you let me in and discuss things?"

He leaned forward and stuck his head out of the opening. "First, there's hardly any room. Second, ye tell me yer like Batman and won't form a partnership in solving crime."

"It's just this one time, and I lack the tools to play 'hide-and-go-scry'."

"I can lend them fer ye to do the search yerself, however since this involves Carmen I'm willing to help her. The third reason I can't hold it here is because—"

As he was about to give his answer, Max appeared in the kiosk carrying a jar of roots in some yellow brine. "Jimi man, where do you want this?"

James retreated from the window briefly. "Just put it in the basement," he instructed Max, "and label it properly." Once Max left, he stuck himself back out the opening. "Remember when ye came to my home and we were stuck?"

"Of course I do! I remember it like it was the last episode."

"My aunt's been looking fer another person to run the place since she believes I can't do both stock and serve customers. Because of my disability she thinks I should take it easy with the heavy lifting. While I hae no problems with it, it's her shop and her policies. I'm surprised Max is proficient in both Cantonese and Mandarin. He applied for the job the moment he saw the sign and now he works here part time."

"I see." I peered at the door next to the kiosk. All the posters were in Chinese, even the one advertising a local theatre production of a Bizet opera. Speaking of which, I asked James, "So, do you know how to help Carmen? Her thesis supervisor was a victim of an attack."

James nodded. "Aye, it was in the news this morning. Well technically, it happened last night, but unlike most people nowadays I still read the paper." He scratched his nose and continued, "She sounded upset when she called me around the same time, but I'll call her later to follow up. If I can recall, when she feels hopeless, it's hard to convince her to help with anything. It's best to solve this on yer own and keep Carmen away from the juice."

I leaned against the window sill. "Which is why we need her to help find out who attacked Dr. Black."

"Aye," he said while shaking an index finger. "Definitely need someone to keep an eye on her."

And when I least expected it, the door to the embedded kiosk opened and Max stuck out his head. "I can convince Carmen to help us."

James and I turned our attention to him. "Can you?" I asked.

"You have to invite me in on the action though," Max said. "That's the catch. Even if it's to watch over her I ain't doing it unless you let me in. I want in on any meetings that my human brain can't handle."

I exchanged glances with James. "I'm positive he's useless," I said to him.

"Well, he did point out the flaw in my barrier. His otaku-level knowledge may come in handy," He argued.

"Do you know anyone else that can help?"

"Do ye, Lena?"

Okay, neither of us could think of anyone to leave Carmen in their care. Sure the study buddies were an option, but I didn't want them involved. And I had no idea where the Hell Carmen's sister was. Chances were she lived outside the Metropolis.

"You're aware I can hear you guys deliberating," Max said. "I'm off screen while one of you performs a soliloquy."

With a great amount of reluctance I said, "Fine, Max, you're on the team."

Max jumped off from the doorstep and let out a woo-hoo. "Team MaIlCaWa is on!"

"Team what?" I cringed when he mentioned a team name for our small group.

"It's a combination of our names: mine, Ileana, Carmen, and James' last name of Walton."

Silence, just enough to process the info, then James said, "That's a terrible team name. Ye either came up with it on the spot or ye planned this but made sure yer name came first. And why did you choose my family name?"

"Hey, I had to make it flow. Unless you can make something better."

"I certainly can!"

Great, they had to argue over a lousy team name. Boys. "Let's leave the team name game for later. The less time arguing, the more we have for tracking the attackers." And the sooner I could go back to my introverted self.

"That name's even worse!" Max argued.

"At least it's better than yers," James argued back.

Since they weren't listening, I decided to leave and head back to the apartment. They knew where I live and they both had Carmen's number and mine, if they needed to call or message any of us.

Boys.

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Team MaIlCaWa may not be the best name for the four. Whatever name James came up with wouldn't have worked either (Lena didn't even catch the name of it). Maybe the next time I go over this I might come up with some silly team name.

So if you managed to get this far and like what you've read, you know the drill. Think there should be some improvements? Tell me!

Edited 19/04/2018