“I-I’m being honest. I came here for you as well,” Lirzod said in an emotion-choked voice.
A few moments of silence increased the distance between their drifting senses. The blowing wind carried away the kerchief that covered her nose and widened Lirzod’s eyes at the same time.
“A young master of a clan, born to stand out,” Stussy took another step forward, staring at him emotionlessly. “Maybe, fitting in doesn’t exist in your genes.”
“No. I-I can blend in pretty well with people,” Lirzod replied while his feet took another step backward.
Her gaze turned toward the horses before shifting back to him in a protrusion, “What about the animals then?”
Lirzod averted his gaze, his chin dipped down to his chest. “I-I can blend with them, too.”
Stussy exposed her laugh lines in a scant churlish manner. “What about your clan? Is it any different?”
After a second of quietness, he shook his head. “I agree. I can be weak and narrow-minded at times, but my clan is different. It’s quite strong and diverse, you know.”
She made an expression that appeared pained. “Many mouths talk about diversity without having the slightest clue as to what it truly is, and their excuse is that ‘In this world, the rules of etiquette are ever-changing.’ These mouths always act justly in favor of the majority but act unjustly against the minorities. They can change their color faster than a chameleon can. In my eyes, these kinds of people with no absolute etiquette do not deserve to be pitied,” Stussy moved two steps ahead. “You, too, were so compulsive that you couldn’t contain yourself from cowardly attacking two animals that were sleeping nonetheless.”
“That… I was just trying to tease them a bit, and…” as Lirzod was saying, he remembered how he ended up disturbing other horses, and then unintentionally set fire to the haystack he was in. He lowered his head, looking regretful. “I didn’t think that things would turn out like this.”
“I’m sure you didn’t.” Her eyes gleamed with daunting coldness. “No matter who did it, a wrong never becomes a right. If not for your age, I would have held you responsible for everything you did. Moreover, this is your first day, first time on this ship…” she paused for a moment. “Go and garner some good memories.”
Lirzod stood silent, though color palpably drained from the face.
“Understood?” Her flat voice shepherded weakness from his knees to all corners of his frame.
Lirzod nodded, and though his shoulders drooped, he lifted his head. “I’m sorry.”
“If you’re really sorry, then it’s good,” she turned away from him. “Don’t repeat this.”
“Mm!” Lirzod nodded heartily. He then looked down and thought back of all that had happened. Even though he regretted throwing crackers at the horses, he felt like at least something good came out of it.
After a moment of silence, clutching at the chest, Lirzod lifted his head by enough degrees till her scatheless image reflected in his eyes. The whisking wind whipped her hair and exposed her nymphic neck, grabbing his whole attention. When she ran her fingers through her hair, one of his arms subconsciously lifted, but he held it back with his other arm. Control yourself, you stupid hand! This isn’t the right time for a handshake. He clenched his fist and brought it under control before staring at her again. “Can I come back?”
Stussy didn’t reply and started to walk away, leaving Lirzod despondent. As his thoughts were about to drift into desolate daydreams, a few words reached his ears. “Not until you’ve reached the thousandth deck.”
His eyes lit up like the stars of the desert skies, and lightly bouncing on toes, he frolicked in ecstasy. “Thanks, Snow White! Thank you so much! I don’t know if I’ll get there in time or not, but if I do, I promise that I’ll come back here for sure!” Saying that Lirzod turned and ran away in excitement while waving his hand. “Smell ya later!”
“A quirky kid.” Stussy glanced toward the foal, which was nibbling on a sandwich. A corner of her lips curled up, just a little. “A heart that cares for the weak is never weak.”
Meanwhile, the stench that spread from Lirzod traversed everywhere he went and sullied the senses of men and their surroundings alike.
Lirzod maundered through dozens of hallways trying to find his room, but everyone he attempted to get close to, shut their noises and hurtled away from him, without even bothering to listen to his words, much less his worries.
Some corridors bustled with men like the markets of Helenia, while some others were desolate like the streets of a disease-struck town. Some were colorful as if a festival had just finished while some were colorless with wizened wood stealing the view. And wherever he went, he chased off people into their rooms. The putrid smell that his clothes gave off not only scared people stiff, but they were also revolted by it.
Some rooms had multiple pocket doors, while some didn’t. He entered into some rooms that had one of their doors open, but nobody was even willing to listen to him, let alone allow him to take a bath. Unfortunately, no room with doors open was uninhabited. Some rooms had guard dogs that straight out chased him at first sight.
Lirzod hoped to clean himself before the Dyed Splurge dried up and glued to him like a leech would, but he had already wasted enough time for his skin to suck in part of the miasma. It would probably not go away any time soon, even if he were to shower for hours.
At the same moment, in one of the corridors—a highly decorated one that had balloons and ribbons furnishing the walls, carpets garnishing the floor, and vessels and nates gracing the stone benches alike—the Darling Brothers’ focus was wholly on the multi-colored layered cake as they waited with utmost eagerness to feast on that birthday cake atop which the name ‘Dillo’ was drawn with cream.
Everybody waited for the birthday boy—the only one with a facemask in the crowd as compared to the rest, most of whom wore eye masks—to blow out the candles, and as he did, “Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to dear—”
Bow-bow! Wrav-wrav!
The barks of the dogs and the cats replaced people’s wishes, and as everybody turned toward the source of discomfort, half-a-dozen dogs and an almost equal amount of cats came rushing in their direction, baring their teeth at the yellowish boy who kept throwing all objects he could at the mongrels and felines.
Everybody in the corridor—the gathered dozens—freaked out and bolted straight into their rooms. After all, getting bitten by cats was one thing, but getting bitten by the dogs was an entirely different thing. However, the Darling Brothers’ attention was rather focused on the cake, and ignoring everything else, they began to feast on the cake like pigs let loose on a heap of horse apples.
Waving his arms, throwing vessels at their heads, letting his legs loose—none of Lirzod’s strategies were fruitful. It gave onlookers the feeling that getting skin scratched, blood sampled, muscles bitten, cartilage torn, and bones stolen was inevitable.
With cream-coated mushes, holding king-sized cake chunks in their hands, the Darling Twins turned their oversized heads and glimpsed over their shoulders when their stare metamorphosed into an incredulous one. The moment their eyes caught sight of Lirzod, the cake chunks in their hands cream-brushed the ceiling as the two skedaddled.
“Hey, aren’t you two—” Lirzod beamed a grin, bouncing from foot to foot.
“Eek!” He’s seen us! the brothers’ eyes bulged, bodies tremored, and feet came to a halt as they checked out each other’s faces.
“Help me!” Lirzod shouted in a desperate tone, his feet reducing the distance between them in haste. “These dogs and cats took your sandwiches! And they didn’t stop there. They seem to want more!”
The brothers’ mouths slacked, and stomachs tingled in shock. Since when dogs and cats liked to eat sandwiches? Gulping down the heaviness from their mouths into their hearts, they shuffled back and bolted ahead.
Lirzod slipped through the teeny space between those two and got behind their backs just in time. With adrenaline coursing through their veins and blinded by the bad mood, one of the dogs lunged at him; however, Elder Darling grabbed it single-handedly by its throat. “Where do you think you are frolicking off to?” He slammed the dog— head first—onto the floor, cracking its skull open, and the cerebral matters smashed to smithereens.
The cats turned their tails and sprinted away in cold feet, making themselves scarce. The dogs, howbeit, still barked with an aggrandized paroxysm of rage, their eyes reddened in a fit of fury.
One of the inflamed dogs, the most vociferous of all, made a sudden forward thrust to pounce on those two.
“You shitty pets! Show your rage someplace else!” Younger Darling roared, “Vomit Spit!”
A greenish-fluid shot out of Younger Darling’s mouth, whistling the wind as it traversed, and drilled through the head and torso of the dog, damning it to the darkest of its dreams, before it punctured its way out through the rear ring and ended up in the wooden floor behind.
Prior to reaching the brothers' feet, the dog hugged the floor, drowning in its own blood as death knocked on the door of its fading away sentience.
The souls of the remaining four dogs placated, and their tails coiled between their legs in a moment’s grace. In the time the brothers took a single breath, the dogs beat a retreat that comprised no goodbyes.
Lirzod’s face paled a bit, but upon sensing that the Darling twins were about to shoot again, he leaped on those two from behind, and his arms curled around both of their necks as he tried to stop them from shooting other dogs that were fleeing. A bit of redness gathered in his eyes. “Don’t. What are you two doing, huh? You shouldn’t have killed that dog either. You could have just scared it away.”
Taken by surprise, blushed by praise, dismayed by the gluey substance, and appalled by effluvium, the visages of the brothers turned into a grotesquerie.
“Get down from us! Please get down!” the two of them pinched their lips.
“Ah, I am so sorry,” Just realizing what he did, Lirzod jumped down and took a step back. “I didn’t mean to...”
“It’s alright,” though revolted by the happenings, they showered requisite smiles, albeit with clenched jaws. They then glanced at each other and nodded in affirmation.
“Oh, that’s so nice of you two,” Lirzod’s placed a hand on the chest. “I should make a confession. Those canines didn’t steal the sandwiches. They eyeballed at my clothes and came after me willing to brawl for them. The stench on me was probably too much for their noses to bear. And I was forced to run away. That’s what happened. What did the booth owner say?”
The two brothers called to mind of the bygone affair—them rising to their feet in umbrage and flouncing out after hearing the owner’s words—and all but staggered through reveries.
“He didn’t put me at fault, did he?” Lirzod’s voice outreached their ears, bringing them back to their senses.
“No, no,” Elder Darling was quick to reply. “That guy prattled on and on about irrelevant things. He never mentioned you.”
“Oh...” Lirzod’s eyes twinkled, his lips constructing an overstressed grin. So, he didn’t blabber? That's great. “Ahem, is that so? Then all problems are steered clear, I guess.”
“What problems? There never was a problem,” the brothers shoulder-bumped each other and beamed in unison. “To say the least, we both are just good-mannered brothers, that’s all.”
Remaining hushed, Lirzod kept the expression of those two under his observation. A moment later, his expressions shifted to reserve means. Good mannered? My foot! What about snatching my cashews, huh? Geez, these guys are awful at lying than even Trirera! Lirzod inwardly sighed. Now, one thing’s still uncertain... what are these guys exactly overplaying things for?
The others who stayed hidden until then began to come out of their rooms separately and in succession.
“Damn, it’s been too long since I’ve seen those many cats and dogs, so I ended up freaking out.”
“I don’t know about the dogs, but all those cats have probably escaped from the twelfth deck somehow. Those are a nasty bunch. We’re lucky that nothing bad happened.”
As they discussed, it was then they recognized the Darling Brothers and stirred up a commotion. A few amongst those were rather inclined toward tasting the cake.
"Look! It's the Darling Brothers!" some of the loose mouths yelled in excitement.
"Darling Twins of the Egg Diggers!" some other oblivious souls called out in delight.
The brothers that lack any etiquette whatsoever? The same brothers who would steal food even from infants? A very few people, however, either stayed where they were and blended into the crowd or made an increasing distance.
The Darling Brothers waved their hands at some of those and tossed a few eggs into their hands, flabbergasting them. An Egg Digger gifting eggs to the outsiders was a decent deal. Most people thought the reason for such a happening was because of the birthday. No other occurrence made as much sense.
“So much hassle. So this is a birthday celebration, huh…” Lirzod was surprised as he looked at people who were partying madly. “I don’t know whether to feel good or bad.”
Meanwhile, some men ran into one of the rooms and carried out in their arms, the birthday boy.
Seeing the birthday boy—who no longer wore a mask—Lirzod almost choked on his own breath. The Darling brothers, on the other hand, had their mouths fall open from the sudden coldness that hit their cores.
The birthday boy, Dillo, was the owner of the bread booth, both in flesh and spirit.
Hiding their faces from the birthday boy's view, the brothers slapped their hands on their cheeks. Lirzod turned away and squeezed his eyes shut. Though they found their feet at a distance to each other, their vital fluids still rushed to the hearts of those three in a kindred vogue.
Propitiously, surrounded by many men and overwhelmed by their wishes, Dillo never got to see the faces of any of those three.
Realizing the shift of the limelight, the three of them breathed sighs of relief, then turned to face each other again and exchanged apprehensive smiles.
“Now that everything is taken care of, we’ll be going.” Saying that the brothers turned back at full speed. However, as they strode away, the two of them couldn't help but stare at the people who were smearing the cake—what’s left intact—on the birthday boy’s face before they resumed stuffing the cake down their own throats. Just the sight of it salivated the brothers’ maws and grumbled their stomachs. Eyes consumed with desire, Younger Darling gulped his own saliva and massaged his belly, but his brother’s lucid head shake more than put an end to his mental yearning.
“Wait!” a voice from behind churned all the fluttering butterflies in their stomachs, but they stepped ahead as if their ears caught the wind of nothing. Before they took another step, “Darling Brothers!” the same voice outreached their ears and grabbed most others’ attention as well. Cursing their bad luck, they pivoted back and labored their lips into a phony smile.
“Oh, brother, you called us?” Elder Darling’s voice was half-smooth and half-strained. Oh, dear Egg God... We were never lackadaisical in our grafts. So, why are you carrying out so many trails on us in one day?
“Yeah,” Lirzod said, exhibiting a penitent expression, “I’m so sorry, but... Can you guys direct me to my room?”
The brothers froze in their footsteps, then turned their heads by degrees and stared at each other, taking their own time.
What does he think of us? We are not freaking delivery men! Younger Darling struggled to contain his indignation.
Just bear for a little more time. Elder Darling relayed a sight-coded stare, coupled with a twitching chin.
“Is everything alright?” Lirzod’s voice cut the space between the two, making them turn in his direction. “Did I ask for too much?”
“No, not at all,” Elder Darling replied in an amicable tone, further backed by his brother’s salubrious head shake. “It’s totally understandable that one can find these corridors akin to a labyrinth. It takes time to get a hang on these singular decks. Just tell us your room number.”
“Oh, thanks a lot,” Lirzod stepped forward, and his movements made others in the vicinity shift places, which startled him to a halt.
“What’s wrong?” Elder Darling furrowed his brows.
“N-Nothing,” Lirzod glanced over all the onlookers, and then at his own attire before making eye contact with the brothers. “Can I first take a quick bath?”
It took no more than three silent seconds for the brothers to become conscious of the full extent of implication behind Lirzod’s words. They turned their heads in opposite directions to one another and instilled fear in the hearts of everyone their foreboding eyes made contact with. "Are your noses that sensitive to smell? What about the dozens of farts all of you pigs unleash every single freaking day, huh?" their voices embarrassed the men who previously stepped away from Lirzod.
It was at that moment, their eyes met with that of the birthday boy.
Everybody in the corridor froze right where they were, including Darling Twins and Lirzod.
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