Part 15 - Lights, Camera, Action� Pandemonium
And all over the valley, friendship was breaking out like Spring Fever.
Joxer leaned back in his seat and enjoyed the sunshine that wafted through the bowers of the al fresco eatery attached to the rustic inn on the outskirts of Bellox. He picked at the food piled high on his plate, marveling at each morsel and at the cautiously reverent look the cook kept giving him from the kitchen window. It was starting to make him feel really odd, especially since that same look had followed him around town as he'd followed Harmonia around.
But they can't know, he reasoned to himself. Harmonia was disguised and all blocked and stuff, so it wouldn't be obvious that she was a goddess and he... well, he was Joxer. Most people didn't even raise an eyebrow in his direction unless he was knocking them into the only mud puddle in town or something equally klutzy or annoying. He'd even found a plain white shirt to keep from looking all half-naked and crazy, but... Maybe they suspect something... But they couldn't. Not that he was helping out Ares or that the pretty young woman strolling along in front of him was at least a hundred years old AND the future Goddess of Infatuation and Platonic Love to boot. Their not knowing explained the ease of this 'game'. He'd gotten caught up in it pretty quickly himself, even sprinting ahead of the young immortal to point out someone who he just knew could use a happy touch.
As he sat there, munching on some sweet and tender meat strip that had been breaded and fried just enough to sizzle and not be uncooked, he let his mind turn that need over and over, examining it. What was up lately? It was as if an unseen hand was guiding him, some voice in his ear telling him truths that fit so neatly into his head. As if they'd just been waiting to find a way in. And it felt right, more right that anything else ever had. As if he was supposed to know these things, to do these things... to feel these things? Had he ever really loved Gabrielle? Everything about his heart told his head the answer was 'no.' Especially since he could still feel Ares' hands on him. So, then what? Was his whole life up 'til now a waste? A joke? A prologue to this particular moment in time? His head reeled with a thousand questions. Confusing would have been a major step up...
"You need a little cream for that puss?" The chuckle arrived before the chuckler. Pink, red and white shimmered in the air in front of Joxer and then deposited Cupid in the opposite chair, armed to the nines and dressed in a snappy white kilt that looked too clean and crinkly-stiff not to be formal dress. Or at least as formal as you got without a shirt. "Something I can help with?"
"I don't think so. Thanks, though. I just... have a couple things I need to think about." Joxer poked at the large platter again, contemplating his next mouthful and which piece wouldn't dump the lot all over him.
"Cool. But if you ever need anything - help, advice, an ear to chew on, an arrow pointed in the right direction - I'm always available." Cupid eyed the plate himself, thinking about the long day he'd put in since breakfast, and plucked out a grape without causing even a tremor in the pile. "May I?"
"Huh? Oh, sure. Be my guest," Joxer grinned, working a piece of cheese out. "No way can I eat this all by myself anyway. Not if I..." he cut himself off, but the rest seemed obvious.
"...want to keep fitting in those pants?" Cupid grinned back, popping the fruit into his mouth, "Strife could always let 'em out, y'know. He made 'em after all. Though, I don't see where an extra pound or two could hurt... things." No bones about what 'things' he meant, either. The same that Joxer had meant before, or at least one of them. "A little meat's always nice..." What should have been a professional-grade leer turned into a yawn, a big jaw-cracking one that Cupid didn't even bother trying to hide. "Man! Excuse me!" He shook off the last of it and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm sure you didn't need to see my tonsils."
