He wondered if those young Gaians he had sent to Deadman’s Pass had defeated the OMGWTF yet. It was a mission he always gave soon-to-be-novice Gaians who were eager to fight the Animated and get one step closer to figuring out the reason for their appearance. Like all missions given out to these adventurers, they had dubbed it ‘Denial of Service.’ The reason why was beyond him, but he was just glad that there were so many young people who would go out of their way to help him out. Ian shuddered at the thought of the forbidding dark gates that led to an ominous familiar place that had once been his ‘home.’
These thoughts were interrupted once again so he could continue his chess game with Rufus. For this, he was glad. Remembering his evil father, Vladimir, and the death of his mom, Rosalie, was always a painful thing to think of, which brought him to the subject of his younger brother, Louie. The young man was living with Edmund in Durem working at H&R Wesley, but at this moment he was manning the shop alone. He had been given a call by him recently that Edmund had left on a journey to find Gino to tell him the horrible new that his father, Johnny Gambino, was dead. Even though he and that man had never gotten along, Ian still felt sad that his passing had finally come.
“Ian, I know you’re not paying attention to this game,” Rufus said bluntly, catch his friend off guard enough to accidently knock the chess board, pieces and all, down to the ground.
Biting back a swear, Ian muttered an apology and quickly went to clean it up. Rufus just shook his head sadly and decided to finally say what he wanted to say. “What’s bothering you?”
“Nothing,” Ian said evasively as he put the chess board back on the table with all of its pieces scattered around the squares in tossed conditions that had them teetering on their sides. Another look from the tom’s yellow eyes brought out another sigh. “Okay, fine. Everything seems to be bothering me these days. With the Animated loose all over Gaia and now Gambino’s death affecting the bank system, what is there not to be bothered about?”
“Hmmm. Dancey-dancey won’t fix this problem, will it?” when the man shook his head, Rufus continued. “What about some beer? Too early for that, huh. Do you want to talk to Louie?”
“No, he’s probably too busy in Durem with Edmund gone for the moment. I don’t want to be a bother.”
“He’s your brother, Ian. He would never think of you as a bother.”
“Well, Gino’s my brother, too, sort of, and he’s always thought of me as a bother.”
“But those were in the days when you both really liked Sasha.”
“Who says I don’t still like her?”
“Well, I don’t know… Maybe because you…”
SQUEEEK!!!!! The two shopkeepers of the Barton Boutique whirled around to see a small, but familiar, face. “Peyo?!”
“Hello!” the red-headed boy exclaimed cheerfully. The shrill noise they had heard was caused by his sudden squeezing of the rubber ducky he always carried with him. Besides his forever-loved toy, he was also carrying a small yellow backpack that looked like it was stuffed to the brim with miscellaneous things. “I was wondering if you have any yum-yums? I’m almost out of mine.”
“Wha~” Ian sputtered. “What are you doing here, Peyo?”
“I’m um…!” Peyo stopped short of answering, apparently forgetting what he was going to say. “Oh, yeah! I’m running away!”
“Eh?! But why?”
“So do you have any yum-yums?”
“Well I think I do have some in the back but….. Wait, what’s going on here? Peyo, did something happen between you and Ruby, I mean, your mom?”
“Nope!” Peyo smiled exuberantly as he looked around the man to the door that led to the back. “Can I have those yum-yums?”
“Then, why?”
“Because I’m almost out of yum-yums. I already told you that.”
“No, Peyo. I’m wondering why you ran away if nothing happened.”
“Because he said it was fun!”
“Who’s he?”
“The boy in the barrel of course!”
“A boy in a…? You know what, never mind. So this guy told you that running away is fun?” Ian questioned. At the kid’s nod, he sighed and decided not to go any further on the subject as to why he decided to do it. “Did you ask him why it’s fun?”
Peyo shook his head, “All he did was say that it was before shushing me and closing the lid on the barrel. But just saying it’s fun is good enough, right?”
“Peyo, did you leave a note for your mom?” Rufus asked as he sat on his perch next to the forgotten chess board.
“Nope, I snuck away really secret-like while mom was talking to a customer,” he replied in a matter-of-fact voice that gave away the pride he felt in himself for a successful sneak. “I could be a ninja ducky!”
“Peyo, what do you think your mom is doing right now?” Ian asked seriously, his arms crossed.
Noticing the sudden change in atmosphere, Peyo’s grin wilted as he answered, “Mom’s probably wondering where I am.”
“Do you think she’d be feeling sad and scared?”
“Huh, why?!” his soft blue eyes were now wide in confusion.
“She’d be sad that you left her all alone at the shop and be scared that you might not come back.”
“But running away is supposed to be fun, isn’t it? I thought it was a game!”
“Running away is never a game, Peyo,” Ian said, internally wincing as he remembered his experience as a young child of being murderously chased through the forest by Zhivago. In this boy’s case though, the circumstances were different but just as serious. “Running away means that you don’t like your parents and you can’t every go back home when you do it.”
“I LOVE MOM!!!” Peyo exclaimed frantically. “And I have to go home. I forgot to bring my Kiki doll with me!”
The boy was now on the verge of tears, but a reassuring hand on his shoulder stopped him short. Ian looked at him with understanding eyes. “Do you know what you have to do now?”
Peyo nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Okay, then I’d better call…”
GROWL~! All eyes went to the boy’s stomach, which had not been filled since his breakfast much earlier that day. The anxiety that had been felt in the trio had now seized to exist. “Um…can I still have those yum-yums?”
“Sure,” Ian smiled lightly. “Just as soon as I call Ruby to come and pick you up.”
“Can’t you take me home?” Peyo asked innocently. “Mom’s been wanting to see you.”
A tint of red graced the man’s cheeks as replayed the boy’s words a hundred times in matter of seconds before finally snapping out of it enough to produce an answer. “I…I’ll think about it.”
“Yay!!!” the boy threw his arms up in glee, nearly dropping his ducky and dislodging some of the contents in his bag.
“Could you watch him for a moment, Rufus?” Ian asked his pal before leaving to make the call.
Ring! Ring! Ring! Ri~! “Hello?! Peyo, dear, is that you?!”
Ian put his hand on the receiver for a moment to relieve his sore eardrums and give Ruby a chance to calm down enough to talk. “No, Ruby. It’s me, Ian, but I have to tell…”
“I’m sorry Ian; I don’t have time for this. Peyo’s missing and…”
“Ruby, listen to me. Peyo is here with me at my shop.”
“What?! He’s all the way out in Barton?! But how?! The Animated are still lose around the plains and…”
“Calm down, Ruby. He’s fine. I…I’ll be bringing him home soon, so don’t worry.”
“Thank you so much!!!” Ruby cried, wishing she could glomp him. “Will you be bringing Rufus as well?”
“Uh…” Ian paused for a second, sweatdropping at Ruby’s extreme interest in his friend, the ‘cutest kitty ever.’ “He’ll have to watch the shop for me today since I have to take Peyo home.”
“Oh, well. Bring him back quickly; I have lunch waiting for him. It’s his favorite,” Ruby said in her usual pleasant voice before hanging up. Ian stood there as he listened to the line cut. It had been a while since he’d spoken to the attractive carrot-top. Since his infatuation with Sasha, Ian found that girls no longer mattered much to him, but when he thought about his relationship with Ruby it felt much more different than the other friendships he had. They’d met when they were kids, only about a week after he moved from his life under his evil father to a family of shop owners and their talking cats.
“REOWR!!!” Rufus’ panicked screaming brought Ian out of his muse, rushing him to put the phone down and into the adjoining room. Peyo was currently squeezing the gray and white cat, wondering why he didn’t feel squishy like his Kiki plushie. Ian put a hand on his head in exasperation.
“Come on Peyo, let’s go. Your mom has lunch waiting for you back at the Rack,” he said, gently lifting the defeated Rufus out of the boy’s arms.
“Do you have the yum-yums?”
Ian smiled; his fangs gleamed dully in the artificial light of his store. Holding up a small pouch, he said, “Of course I do. Now let’s get going.”
“Hooray!” Peyo snatched the pouch out of his hands and cuddled it to his cheek. He looked up at the man with sparkling eyes. “Thank you, Ian.”
“You’re welcome, Peyo,” he took the boy’s hand in his and informed Rufus to mind the store before walking out onto the cobblestone streets of Barton.
“Do you think mom would mind if I ate a yum-yum before eating lunch?” Peyo asked the man as they walked toward the town’s west gate. Though Zen Gardens was infested with killer Kokeshi Dolls and exploding Cherry Fluffs, Ian knew that adventuring Gaians would help them get to Durem safely.
“Oh, I don’t know. She might if she knew that you ate one,” Ian replied with a hinting tone. Peyo beamed as he understood what he was implying and quickly popped a yum-yum into his mouth, savoring the flavor.
“You’re the best Ian,” the boy said when he finished the yum-yum. Ian glanced down at him briefly and did not reply. There really wasn’t a need to anyway.
End
