Monster Hunt NYC 2

by Harmon Cooper

  “Um...”

  She smirked. “I'm just playing with you. Of course I made reservations, but you’re paying.”

  “Deal.”

  It was definitely an old greeting card store, evident in the way some of the pithy phrases were splashed across the walls in cursive. The restaurant was packed, and even though we had a reservation, we still ended up waiting twenty minutes before we could get a seat.

  The background chatter, soft jazz music playing from a hovering speaker, the sounds from the kitchen – the restaurant had ambience, I'd give it that.

  “Let’s order a bottle of wine,” I told her as soon as we got our seat.

  “A bottle? Are you sure?”

  “I've never ordered a bottle before, just a glass. Let's go with the bottle this time, why not? I have brawls lined up for tomorrow, I plan to do some catching, and I want to prep for the tournament.”

  “I was reading more about the tournament – and seriously, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you this earlier, but we were a little distracted.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “It's not like any of the tournaments we've been in thus far.”

  The waitress approached, and I ordered a bottle of wine to go along with our set menu. She smiled, told us it was an excellent choice, and stepped away.

  “What do you mean it's not like any of the other ones?” I asked as soon as she was gone.

  Iris’ eyes grew wide behind her stylish glasses. “The Alphas actually participate in these battles.”

  “You mean, like you and I?”

  “We participate in the battles; we have to fight. We're not just on the sidelines, but since there are two of us, we'll have to alternate.”

  A million questions came to me. “So, we have to fight mythcrea and other Hunters and Huntresses?”

  “I know, it's so awesome!”

  “I don't know if awesome is the word I would use to describe it, but it's definitely intriguing. The thing is, neither of us really know how to fight.”

  “Well, you know how to throw a punch,” she said, raising an eyebrow at me.

  “That was the most expensive punch I'll ever throw...”

  I recalled the thousand dollar fine I had received for assaulting Thad. Lesson learned, don't punch people in New York City.

  Our first dish came almost immediately, a jerk chicken roll with fried bananas and ginger. It was good, different, but good.

  The waiter poured more wine from the bottle on the table as Iris spoke. “Aya and Lady C. could train us.”

  “That could work, or Magnus. Wait, are we supposed to use weapons? I have no idea how to use weapons. I mean, like any gamer, I can sort of figure it out. But going against someone who actually has skill ...”

  Iris lifted her shoulders and sighed. “Exciting, isn't it? We have to learn how to fight.”

  “It’s definitely something.”

  Our next dish came, soba noodles with ackee and coconut curry dip. The texture was interesting. The noodles were cold, and to eat the dish, I had to wrap one of the fat noodles around the chopstick and actually dip it in the warm sauce.

  “I hope you fight as well as you play bass.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, let’s hope. I have a feeling you’re going to be the Killer Queen.”

  “Maybe.” Iris slurped up a noodle. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

  The bottle of wine explained how we both ended up at my place. It was slightly closer, and the shared UberLyft cost less than ten , a bargain.

  We were both tipsy, Iris more than I, and I was glad to see that Alex was gone when we entered.

  “Shouldn't there be a body on that couch?” Iris asked with a hiccup. “Sorry. I get them sometimes.”

  “No worries, and yeah, there should be. I don't know where he is. I never know, to be honest.”

  “I guess that's the advantage of having a guy on the couch as a roommate,” she said as she pressed passed me, her body brushing against mine.

  I watched her walk ahead, only for a second, noticing the way her ass moved under the red fabric of her dress.

  I shook my head, trying to turn down those animal instincts.

  “You coming?” she asked over her shoulder.

  “Yeah, sure.” I followed her into my room, not sure where this was going.

  We ducked under the pipe, and she sat on the corner edge of my bed, her eyes moving over my room, from our Linen posters to the bathroom back to the pipe and finally settling on my new bass.

  “Play something for me,” she said, nodding toward my bass.

  I took the red bass from its case and flicked it on. It could plug in as well, but I figured the built-in speaker echo system would do for now.

  I sat to Iris’ left, and my iNet screen lit up with effects options for the bass. I started with something simple, a warm, almost fuzzy tone.

  “That sounds good,” Iris said, slightly nodding her head up and down.

  “Yeah, I've been working on it,” I lied. In actuality, it was a riff I’d played a couple of years back that just came back to me in the moment, one of those mysterious musical snippets that seemed to appear out of thin air.

  I mentally switched out effects, this time going with something hollower, almost acoustic, but with a spark at its end.

  I riffed on this sound setting for a moment, and felt Iris move just an inch closer to me, her head nearly on my shoulder now as she watched me play.

  I changed tones, adjusted the sound setting so that it had a cool delay, and after getting my dials right, I started on a new piece.

  “That's awesome.”

  “The instrument’s incredible,” I told her. “I feel like I could just play it all day.”

  “I wish I had my ukulele or my keyboard with me,” she pouted.

  “You can play on my acoustic…”

  “No, I’ll just listen to you.”

  By this time, the moment had taken over, defining its own music and producing its own unique rhythm.

  I simply watched the moment take place, trying to match my notes to the tensions of the room, the atmosphere, our memories in the form of band posters, my humble dwelling, the beautifully talented musician next to me, the feel of my guitar neck as I slid my hand up and down it, the vibrations against my stomach from its new age speakers.

  Iris moved closer, and still playing, I turned my head to her.

  Our lips met, and the music stopped.

  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

  Iris was on top of me now, my bass off to my side, her cardigan somewhere on the floor, her legs squeezed tightly around my waist. We continued kissing, Iris biting my lip just a little as we made out. Her glasses fell, and we took this as a sign that we should both probably take our glasses off as well.

  They came off and we continued kissing.

  I swept some of her curly blonde hair out of her face, and held it back as she kissed me again.

  She sat up, still straddling me, and gave me a funny look.

  “Something wrong?” I asked her.

  “Nothing,” she said as she came back in for another kiss.

  My hands naturally found her sides, moving up her waist and feeling the grooves caused by her ribcage. I hadn't done anything else yet, hadn't put my hands in places that were semi-forbidden; I was just enjoying the moment, the surge of energy I felt just by locking lips with someone.

  “Weren't we supposed to do something tonight?” she asked as she sat up again.

  “I think we’re supposed to be hanging out with Dalton the ink shadow at the Midnight Library. Also, that previous sentence is possibly the coolest sentence I will ever say.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, that's right. We should totally do that. Unless...”

  “We can continue this another time, right? Sorry, awkward question.”

  She moved back in to kiss me. “Sure, but we need to go to my place.”

  “Why?”

  Iris stopped, our eyes inches apart.
“Because it's better? Just kidding, well, not really kidding, but I do need to end up at my place at some point. I have work I need to bring in for my class tomorrow morning.”

  “Can't you just send it over iNet?”

  “It's in my notebook. I like using paper and doing things the old-fashioned way. And not just for the sake of being hip!”

  “Hey, I never said that,” I said, not able to suppress the shit-eating grin on my face. “Let's go to your place then. I'm fine with that. Although, I may end up sleeping in the Dojo tonight. It's, interesting to sleep there, a really strange way to sleep, actually.”

  “It is?” She eyed me suspiciously for a moment. “Okay, that's fine, I'll order us a ride.”

  Chapter Eleven: Birds and the Bees and the Games we Play

  And that's how we found ourselves at Iris' place about twenty minutes later.

  The kissing stuff had come to an end. We were all business now, which was funny to think about considering we were gearing up to log in to a digital world to play music with an NPC.

  Regardless, a gig is a gig, and besides, it was nice to be able to focus on something a little less ‘real’ for the time being.

  Once we were on her futon, and our gear was on, we started the login process.

  We appeared at the Dojo moments later.

  “Time to get all dolled up,” I told her.

  “Already am.”

  She wasn’t wrong. Iris was as cute as ever in a black top, skirt, tights, and Converse.

  Since it was a gig, I decided to go with the suit I wore to Sagelock’s Tournament, sans the tie. It appeared on my body and I made sure the collar was sitting right.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked.

  Sure, I could see Yaksha in the distance along with Joe Camel, Rose, and Gobi, but only one of the lights in the mythcrea quarters was on, the light that I believed belonged to Sun Wukong.

  “Maybe they’re already there,” Iris said.

  “Good call.” I stuck my fingers in my mouth and whistled for our horses.

  They appeared a few moments later, two of them, blue-tinged lightning rippling off their bodies.

  Once we mounted, the horses lifted into the air, their muscles pulsing as they increased their speed.

  Iris sped ahead, her movements much more natural than mine.

  We traveled above the main road that led to the city center, a trip I was starting to grow used to, and once we neared the center, we descended into one of the horse parking lots.

  There were loads of people in the streets, lined up on either side. I quickly saw what all the commotion was about.

  “It’s a night parade,” Iris said as a marching band started up. Porcelain-skinned elves at the front twirled batons accented by blips of lightning, their skin changing form, darkening as the lighting turned to a beautiful indigo, which was a few shades off from the blue sky and the blue sun above.

  We dismounted, and she grabbed my hand.

  The sun never sets here, I thought as Iris led me to the front of the parade.

  “We have to get to the Midnight Library,” I reminded her. My eyes fell upon a familiar goblin, who stood in a tunic with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “What the fick are you two doing here?”

  The goblin had a sly look about him, and the leather backpack he wore looked fuller than it should have.

  “I should be asking the same of you,” was my reply.

  “It’s a fickin’ night parade. I’m not one to steal, not like my fickered uncle, but…” His eyes narrowed as he looked left and right. “You see the crowd, right? Mostly tourists from other Kingdoms. I’ll rob them blind in a heartbeat, especially those from the shittier kingdoms.”

  Iris raised an eyebrow at him. “If you get caught, you’re on your own.”

  “Fick no, I’m not on my own. That’s what Fujin is for.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder just in time for Fujin to step forward. He bowed as if to say, ‘I’m sorry you’ve found me in this type of situation,’ and kept his head bowed in our direction for a good forty seconds.

  “So, we’re good?” asked Spew Gorge.

  I glanced at Iris and she gave me a cute little shrug. “Yeah, I don’t know… just don’t get caught. And also, we don’t approve.”

  “Don’t approve? If that’s the case, I’ll be sure to get your approval next time,” the goblin snorted. “Ha! Like fick I will. Okay, Fujin, let’s see what kind of fickboys from Kingdom Ignis we can round up. Also, we saw that one guy, the douche-fickered guy you faced off against the other day. William? He’s lurking around too. If we see him, we’ll put in a good word. And by good word, I mean Fujin and I will see if we can get a little loot from him.”

  “Why do I get the feeling this is a bad idea?” I asked Iris, as Spew Gorge disappeared back into the crowd.

  “Because it is.”

  Iris took my hand again and led me deeper into the crowd. As if the goblin had willed it, we pressed through a group of people and ran directly into William and his two ogres. William had his hands around the waists of a couple of buxom NPCs who didn’t seem to be as into it as he was.

  “Hey,” he called over to me. “Yeah, you.”

  I started to turn away from him, but Iris stopped me. “See what he has to say.”

  “I can’t wait…”

  I took a few steps closer, and his two ogres stepped in front of him, flexing their beefy muscles.

  “It's cool,” William told the two. “I just have a few things to say.” He let go of the girls and ran his hand through his blonde hair.

  “By all means,” I said.

  “Is your guild going to take part in the tournament?”

  “Planning to.”

  “I'm pretty sure we're in the same bracket, so…” He spat, his glob of spittle landing inches away from my feet. “See you at the tournament.” William turned back to his ladies.

  “What a bastard,” Iris said as I rejoined her.

  “I think there are better words for him, but whatever.” I shrugged, not wanting to let him ruin our night. “Let's get to the Midnight Library. Screw this parade.”

  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

  We found the Midnight Library, and sure enough, as soon as we entered, Aya and Lady C. waved us over. Well, Aya waved us over – Lady C. practically knocked over the waitress to come and lead us to the table.

  Seated at the table were Magnus and Ophelia, both of them flipping through encyclopedia-sized books. Altsoba was there too, sipping from a fancy looking cocktail.

  The elves were seated at the piano on stage; this time, they were playing a fun, video game-sounding riff.

  “What's with the lighting?” I asked, noticing that it was much dimmer than the previous time we’d visited. Most of the tables were lit by candles, and the bar was lit by small lightning bolts inside glass bulbs.

  Magnus nodded toward the stage. “It was Dalton's idea; he wanted to give the place a little mood.”

  “A little mood? It's a Midnight Library, people need light to read.”

  “I don't, I can see in the dark. Ophelia too.”

  Ophelia swept aside the stringy hair in front of her face and gave me a wicked little grin. “That's right, Chase, I can read in the dark.”

  “Dalton is waiting for you backstage,” Lady C. said. “He told us to tell you to get back there as soon as you arrived.”

  “Well?”

  “Let’s go.”

  We kept to the wall, moving in front of the Midnight Library’s expensive collection of books, which ran all the way up to the ceiling. We passed the stage, and entered a room that led into a hallway that was completely green. There were two doors in the hall, and we chose the one with smoke wafting out from under it.

  We entered to find Dalton the ink shadow smoking from a big water pipe, the end shaped like the body of a dolphin. “You guys want a hit of this?”

  Iris laughed.

  The ink shadow shrugged her off, his billowy form moving in just
about the coolest way possible. “I like to smoke a little before I perform, it sets the mood. It's nothing illegal now, just some stuff I picked up in Kingdom Fumus.”

  “You’ve already been there?”

  He laughed. “You act like it’s hard to travel in my form. You two wouldn't believe the kind of things they smoke there. Smoky place.”

  “I can see that.”

  I waited for the ink shadow to finish a long exhale.

  “We got instruments, like you asked,” I told him.

  Dalton coughed after an especially large hit from his water pipe. “Whew! Did I say it already? You two really need to get to Kingdom Fumus and see what they have there. It'll make you feel nice, righteous, in tune.”

  “Um, do you want to see the instruments we got?” Iris asked.

  Dalton chuckled as he set his pipe down on a table. He stood, stretching his shadowy hands over his body. As the shadow stretched, his form grew larger. Once he lowered his arms, his form returned to its normal size, which was still a few feet taller than either of us.

  “You mean to tell me that you two got some new instruments and you're not already showing me? Just show me, let me see what you got. Better yet, convince me that you’re capable of backing yours truly up tonight. I don't know about you, but those two elves up there playing piano four-handed ain’t bad. They’re not great, but they ain’t bad.”

  “I got a new ukulele,” Iris said. The instrument had magically appeared in her hands. She started up, and as she played, the ink shadow nodded his head to the sound.

  “Not bad, not bad, but for tonight, I need a little singing, a woman's voice. Show me what you got, back me up.” Dalton started snapping, his chin moving up and down as he sang.

  “Everything that I’ve ever had, is gone, gone, gone that woman’s mad. But I’m the one who made her that way, the birds and the bees and the games we play. The birds and the bees and the games we play, we’re the ones who turn out this way, ‘cause of the birds and the bees and the games we play, the birds and the bees and the games we play.”