AHHH! I promised you I'd finish it at the end of this week! And here it is! A total of 2.3k words.
And holy moly! I'm seeing new readers every day! Business is booming! I'm so glad I'm getting to share this with all of you.
Oh and the art above is for Itzel-gema-azul.
Enjoy!
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After they drank their full, Mono decided that it be best if they'd rest up for a while. After all that time, he'd been running in the streets under the rain, soaked and cold. A nice, warm place to sleep and a pillow... wouldn't that be swell for a change?
"Welp... I'm off. See you in the morning, Six." Mono said. Wait a minute. The sun never rises here in the first place, "Or, see you when I see you..." He said, waving his hand as he turned and went to find a comfortable spot. He hopped onto the cushions, and brought a pillow to the corner of the couch and laid it there. He sat and rested his head against it and let out a long sigh. Mono laid there looking up at the brick roof, then slipped one last glance around the bar before nodding off to sleep.
But before he could close his eyes, Mono saw Six's head poking from beneath the couch. She climbed up and made tiny grunting sounds as she reached the top. She crawled towards him and laid beside him, knotting her fingers together and resting her hands on her stomach. Mono turned his head to look at her, his paper bag rustling as he did. "Is this heaven, Mono?" Six asked, staring at the ceiling.
Mono gave a quiet laugh, "Nah, I'm sure it's something better than this."
"You mean... there's something more beautiful?" Six said.
"Yes."
"Like what?" Six said, sitting up and placing her arms behind her.
"Well, I dunno. This is all new to me too. But the old world is full of beautiful things. You know like, movie theatres, fancy hotels, buildings so tall that scrap the clouds, and-..." He said, pausing for a moment, "New years? I guess..." Six laid her head back on the pillow, looking at him with a wide smile drawn across her face. She looked as if she could listen to him talk all night. And so he went on, talking about everything he caught a glimpse of on TV, somehow forgetting about sleep.
"I mean, I've looked at comic books before." Six said, shrugging, "But if this is a slice of the real old-world... and it's this beautiful... I wish we could stay here forever."
"Yeah, me too... I don't want to leave... I want to stay here with you." It took him a while to realize what he just blurted. Oh crap, is she looking at me? Mono turned to look. She is. And she had that smile, not one of mischief, but one that is kind, warm. Jeez, why did it get so hot in here? Mono turned to the other side and said, "Good night!" and made fake snoring sounds.
Six huffed, "Honestly... good night, Mono." she said, shifting into a more comfortable position. Before long, she closed her eyes and slipped into a dreamless sleep.
When she awoke later, her mouth felt dry and her back sore. Apparently, she had lost track of time and everything else. She sat up straight and looked around through the patch of black hair, struggling to get her eyes open. She rubbed the sleep off of them and blinked as everything around her slowly became clearer. Outside, the streets shone with the flickering lights of bent vintage lamps, stretching all the way from one city block to the other and sinking along the road, where she could see no more. The sky was still as black as ever, and thick clouds came and went, passing by the moon like wandering mountains. She got off the couch and planted her feet on the cool wooden floor, making for the half-empty bottle of soda where'd they left it, in the heap of plastic bags and leftover food. She would've preferred water over this bubbly liquid at a time like this. But oh well, it was better than nothing.
She tilted the bottle over to the side and rolled off the lid. Carefully so as not to spill out the soda. She then placed the lid under the rim of the bottle and filled it to the brim. And so she drank from the cap, quenching her thirst. She then took a small piece from the cake to go with the soda. She put the piece in her mouth, chewed, then spat it out as realization struck her. Mono was nowhere to be seen.
"Mono?" She called out, nobody answered. She paced from one corner to the next, whispering his name. She checked everywhere, behind the bar, under the couches, the top of the pool table, "Come on, Mono! This isn't funny!" She said, But then she came across a door that stood slightly ajar, with a faint yellow light slipping from the other side. She must have missed this door when they first through here. She was quite reluctant to take another step forward. It was still unexplored territory. But regardless, she found herself moving towards it, and before long, she heard something rummaging as she got closer. Fear gripped her, and every step became more laboured than the last. "Mono?" She called out one more time.
The rummaging stopped, and soon a familiar voice came from the other side, "I'm in here."
Six let out a sigh of relief. She made for the door and pushed it open, "What are you doing?" she said, taking a good look around the room. This one wasn't as fancy as the last. There were plastic board signs stacked in the far left corner of the room, stocks of brandless bottles on the shelves just above where she stood, and a bunch of other weird stuff which Six couldn't quite understand what they were for...
She looked up and saw Mono kneeling at the top of an arch-shaped box made of wood. It had colourful lights on either side, a glass window in the middle through which she could see a set of records, and a small panel where Mono was busying himself. He looked away from the buttons and down towards Six, "Oh... did I wake you?" He asked.
"Not really, I just woke up." Six said, her head moving this way and that, trying to see what he was doing, "What is that?" she added.
"You'll see..." Mono said, "Give me a moment." He resumed working on the buttons, pressing each one in a specific order, mumbling a few incoherent words as he did. "Come on, let it work..."
Six moved closer, the floorboards creaking under with each step she took. She stopped under the queer box, tapping her foot as she waited. "No, seriously, what are you doing?"
"Shhh," Mono said, waving with his hand. Then he held a forefinger in the air and pressed a button with the other one. The mechanism inside the box came to life, and Six's eyes widened when she saw a mechanical pincher through the glass window working its way towards the set records, it picked one out of the sets and placed it neatly onto a turntable. Mono rose and whispered in excitement, "Come on, come on."
But soon, Six saw his shoulders droop, his exhilaration leaving him, giving way to disappointment. "That's it?" She said.
Mono just shrugged, "Something went wrong..." He said, reaching under his paper bag to scratch the back of his head. "OH!" he cried out, startling Six. He made it past the turntable and grabbed the tonearm, dragging just above the spinning record and gently lowered the needle onto it. Static sounds came from the box, Six could only watch in astonishment.
"WHOA! I FEEL GOOD!" The room suddenly burst into music, Mono screamed a fell back on his rear, Six cringed and slammed her hands against her ears. "I KNEW THAT I WOULD, NOW!"
so loud! Six looked up at Mono and shouted, "MONO! TURN THAT THING OFF!"
"I FEEL GOOD, I KNEW THAT I WOULD, NOW! SO GOOD, SO GOOD, I GOT YO-" Mono ripped out the record and tossed it away. He stood there for a moment, panting.
"Sheesh... that was unexpected," Mono said, "Who the hell set the volume on maximum...?" He went back to the panel and fumbled with the buttons, he turned the volume down and got back up. The mechanical pincher placed another record on the turntable, "Alright... this is it..." Mono said, holding up his fingers next to his ears. The needle fell on the record and then came the static sounds once more.
Six winced, expecting another ear-bulging sound. But what came instead was a soft tune from the piano. It was such a wonderful melody that it could set your soul at ease, though no one was singing, it was still quite sublime.
On top of the box, Mono started spinning, his coat flying behind him as hopped from one end to the other, with one hand outstretched and the other against his heart. "Listen..." He whispered, "this... this piece is over a hundred years old..." Six was once again placed in bewilderment. There was no end to his shenanigans.
He hopped off the top of the box and landed softly on the floor. He stood up straight and adjusted his clothes. He waved his fingers around and brought them back and forth as if he were communicating with the music. "M-Mono... are you feeling well today?"
"Shhh, come on." He said as he spun around on the old floorboards, bending back and forth and moving his feet all about in such a graceful manner, everything about this was just majestic to her eyes. The music, the setting, everything. Mono kept on moving, his feet drifting against the floor like water flowing against bedrock. And before she knew it, Mono was standing right in front of her with his hand extended, "Can I have this dance?"
Six flushed, "D-Dance?" she said, swallowing hard, "I-I don't know how..."
Mono shook his head, "I'll show you." He said, beckoning to her.
"I... Umm..." She reluctantly gave him her hand, she yelped and he yanked her and brought her closer towards him. She made tiny disgruntled noise as her face slammed into his chest.
He held her hand up in the air, their fingers were tightly intertwined. Then he reached with his free hand and pulled her arm around him, "Now listen closely, follow the music and let your feet do the work." Then he led the way, taking her halfway across the room then back to where they started, "Good, now place your arm around my shoulder."
She couldn't hide the flush of her cheeks anymore, so close... he's so close! "Like this?" she said, her arm going around his shoulder.
"That's it! Now, again. Let's go over there, next to the plastic boards and back. Come on, one, two, three... one, two, three! There you go! You're getting the hang of this!" Six couldn't help but giggle now, this wasn't as bad as she thought.
Halfway through and Mono started spinning her around, "W-Woah!" Six stepped on his feet and lost her balance, but his grip on her was firm and kept her from falling. "Sorry!"
"It's okay! It happens, don't let get you down. You're doing great." Mono said, reassuringly. Six looked down, trying to match his movements while avoiding his feet, "Six, my eyes are up here." he said.
For a moment, Six felt as if the world had frozen in time, either that or all that was around her holding its breath. She felt something strange happening. Was it her? Was it the atmosphere? Was she somehow changing? Not that she would know, but it did feel like a liberation from heavy shackles. Right now, at his very moment, all she saw was Mono, heard his voice and his voice alone. Yeah... even the sound of her heartbeat was louder than the music. Mono lifted her hand up and spun her around, and they laughed their hearts out. And so they danced, moving and bumping together clumsily as they crossed one end of the room towards the next. She stepped on his feet again and again, but now he would just laugh it off. And finally, they didn't follow the rhythm of the music anymore, they just pranced all about randomly without a care in the world. They slammed together, laughing and panting. She pulled her arms around his back, and he answered her by doing the same, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulled her into a heated embrace.
They rocked back and forth, spinning around slowly where they stood, as the piano's melody became much, much slower now... Six drew back slightly, her crimson eyes boring back into his deep brown. "Six..." She saw his lips move beneath his paper bag. She gently reached for the side and pulled it slightly upwards.
They looked at each other for a moment, unsure what to do next. "Mono..." Her voice escaped in a whisper. Then his face moved towards her. Six gulped, feeling the sweat trickling down her spine, chilling her to the bone. Goose-flesh rose against her skin as her breathing became more erratic, let it happen...
She closed her eyes and now felt his breath brushing against her face. Oh, dear...
Suddenly lights all went out and the music fell silent as a flash of white came from outside followed by the loud rumbling of thunder. Six jumped, her heart racing in her chest. Now all she could see was pitch blackness the soft droplets of rain bouncing off the window.
"AW! Come on..." Mono cried out.
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HA! NO NOT TODAY YOU DON'T! UNTIL NEXT TIME!