| Eighteen - Suikoden III, Mel and Branky
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| Branky tugged at the earring caught in one pointy ear with her claws,
then combed her white ruff with them. Mel, meanwhile, was nearly dozing
over her breakfast, and Belle stared at the puppet in fascination. How
did Mel do that? And was it something she could adapt into
Gadget Z's programming, or was it just Mel's training?
"Psst," she said, leaning forward over her oatmeal. "Mel." "Hm? Ah?" Mel blinked her eyes open. Branky immediately settled into a position of, well, call it repose, with her clawed forelegs clasped demurely over what passed for her chest and her (positively frightening) blue-green eyes at half-mast. If Belle didn't know better she'd swear Mel was trying to make the puppet look seductive. "Ah! I'm sorry, Belle! Branky was being so noisy last night that I barely got any sleep..." "Pfah, can I help it if you're always listening in on my private conversations?" Branky snapped out of the corner of her, ah, muzzle, her eyes still half-closed as she gazed off over Belle's shoulder. "Really, it's rude!" Belle blinked at Branky for a moment, then changed the question she was about to ask. "Mel, what is Branky doing?" "I don't know," Mel said cheerfully, spooning up a bit of her breakfast. "Why don't you ask Branky?" Belle didn't hesitate. Years of working with Gadget Z had inured her to the apparent lunacy of talking to (temporarily) inanimate objects. "Branky, what are you doing?" "Not now!" Branky hissed, still not moving. Her eyes still looked soulfully over Belle's shoulder. Belle, curious, started to turn around to see what Branky was looking at. Immediately Branky howled, "No! Don't look, he'll see you!" "Who?" Belle studied the tables behind her. At this hour they were mostly empty, but... "You mean Sir Borus?" "Shut up!" Branky howled, her piercing voice cracking. "He'll hear you, you stupid--" WHAM went Branky's face against the table. Heads all over Mamie's restaurant whipped around. "Don't!" WHAM! "Call!" WHAM! "My!" WHAM! "Friends!" WHAM! "Names!" Mel said, utterly cheerful. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! "And what did I tell you about Sir Borus?" WHAM! "Owwwwowowowowww!" Branky howled, her little forelegs flopping like bits of stuffed cloth. "Stop hitting meeeeeOW!" "Then behave," Mel said, still absolutely serene even though she was suddenly the center of attention. Even Borus had stopped eating to watch the commotion. Belle wondered if he'd heard his name. His eyes were pretty wide. "Or do you want to go see Peggi?" Branky clawed at her muzzle in consternation. "Nooooooo!" Mel smiled and stopped beating Branky against the table, and went back to her breakfast. "Okay, Branky. Just remember: Peggi can sharpen that!" |
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