What's The Latest Racket?

Chapter 62 - What's The Latest Racket?

"Argggh, this is ridiculous!" Duran growled in acute frustration and embarrassment. He looked between Arlon and the kind elderly gentleman with awkwardness. "I cannot believe this is still happening, what with everything that occurred earlier." He shook his head wearily. "I'm so sorry."

This was becoming undoubtedly very awkward for Arlon, not to mention Duran. "So, what should we do?" Typically, they wouldn't have remained out this long if they hadn't been caught out during another unexpected squall sweeping in with such ferocity. "I'm out of ideas for getting rid of pests."

None of this would've happened between attempting to escape those morons who chased them and working their way to another area that Duran wanted to find before entering the Academy. "Should I attempt going somewhere else?"

Having clearly had enough of his grumbling, Arlon elbowed him. "Don't even think of blaming yourself for any of this." He grimaced when transferring a dollop of dirty muck onto Duran's plain, no longer clean clothing. "That wasn't supposed to happen." He scowled in disgust. "I'm a tad careless, it seems." Arlon almost scratched his head but refrained. No point in getting the mud everywhere else.

Eh, well, that was no big deal, honestly. Easy enough to clean that up in a jiffy. Duran stared at his side and rolled his eyes. "This is still better than what happened when I was home." He made a sour face. "Mud, I can handle. Other weird stuff happened, which was harder to remove from clothing that I hated dealing with."

An eyebrow arched, and then Arlon frowned slightly. "You have some interesting standards for what isn't deemed clean." He shook his head. "Well, I suppose this is different from what you dealt with elsewhere."

Duran smirked. "Oh yeah, it is."

Arlon grunted. "Okay, this is pointless. What were we talking about before the stain incident?" Now he appeared somewhat confused.

Duran blinked. "Uh, right." Hell, this was a small stain. "Good point. I don't remember either."

"You two are hopeless." Chastain Claude informed them with a chuckle. "I believe we're having a conversation about patterns and dealing with the issue of living quarters for the present."

Oh right, that was what they'd shifted to talking about. Duran reddened in response. He sighed in frustration. "If you say so." There was no point in arguing about something pointless. He rubbed his temples with a grimace. "I think I will be sick just from the overload of sights, scents, and new information pouring into my brain."

The older man looked at him with a frown. "There are different cleanliness levels," Chastain confirmed Duran's reaction to the stain. "In his case, this is considered tolerable because it'll come out with one washing." He glanced at Duran. "Right?"

Arlon merely shook his head. "Well, that makes sense, I guess." He folded his arms.

"That's right," Duran confirmed. "Though I can tell this isn't acceptable to either of you." He folded his arms. "That's not to say I didn't wash clothing with similar stains the same day they occurred." His nose wrinkled.

Some of that was just plain nasty. Duran sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to go through that horror again. "I did, along with all kinds of other stained items." He grimaced. "Now that was disgusting." He shook his head when Chastain and Arlon eyed him blankly. "Use your imaginations. What do women suffer from after puberty hits?"

They grimaced in acute horror. "Oh."

"Yes, 'oh.'" Duran agreed sarcastically. "I wish I didn't have to clean it up," He had standards, thank you very much, and now he clarified what he didn't tolerate. "They were too lazy to do it on their shift. I didn't care for the ensuing stench." How do you get off that topic? Duran wondered. He really wanted to think about something more interesting.

"Hmm, well, you won't need to worry about that in my little place," Chastain reassured him. "The same with Miss Augustina. She always has the laundry sent out, especially when storms such as these roll in."

Speaking of storms, Duran frowned. "Is this typical?"

The two men frowned at him. "Yes." Arlon sighed. "Though I'll admit this system wasn't on the usual predicted cycle." He shrugged. "It came several months early. That happens every two or three years, though."

"Come to think of it, we were overdue." Chastain shook his head. "Now that I remember, I overheard weather seers discussing the oddity in some weather formations not running as usual. Then again, several of them have been off by quite a bit lately."

*

Arlon was definitely having mixed feelings about how Duran viewed the world. He finally understood the concern Andre had regarding his younger brother. A sigh escaped him as Chastain finally put an end to the wrangling. He frowned as odd scents caught his nose. What in the world was happening outside the tunnels? Shivers began running down his spine and body.

Arlon cleared his throat. "I think I may need to take a step outside." Now he really wanted to get away from those two. He tried to verify why his senses were going crazy.

"You can't leave the tunnels from here, Milton." Chastain cautioned. "There's a good chance you'll end up underwater instead." He cast Arlon a sideways glance. "By the way, you're not the only one experiencing a frisson of unease." He nodded briefly at Duran, studying their surroundings with growing discomfort. There was a greenish tinge to his skin appearing once more. That was never a good sign. That's when Arlon remembered Duran's remark about getting sick. "Hey, you going to make it to the safe location, all right?"

Duran's shoulders hunched. "I don't know. I'm just getting a horrible feeling because the atmospheric pressure is changing fast." He was hobbling. "It feels as if the water around the poles and other parts was suddenly pulled away."

All of them froze at his statement. Now they faintly heard ominous noises.

"Klaxons." Arlon and Chastain swore immediately. "Well, we'd have to stop at my place anyway, just to gather necessary supplies." Chastain sighed. "This was not how we were supposed to begin life here."

Duran looked horrified. "Is it going to be a gigantic tidal wave?" He eyed them apprehensively.

Arlon shrugged because he didn't know.

Chastain grunted. "I won't know until I see the details. There is still some time left." A peculiar expression crossed his face when chiming came from his hip. "Huh, now this really must be an emergency."

Arlon was startled when his pager went off as well. This had a different nuance. He studied what appeared and cursed. "Tidal wave it is," He confirmed wearily. "How are we supposed to deal with this latest calamity descending upon us?" It wasn't something he was familiar with at all.

Chastain smiled faintly. "Don't worry too much, lad. There were preparations made for this type of situation long ago. It isn't the first or last time we'll see one of those headed our way."

His lack of concern did nothing to reassure Arlon. He noticed that was also the case for Duran, who was now starting to swallow convulsively. Arlon sighed. "Here," He ****** a bag at Duran. "Get it out of your system now. Otherwise, you won't be able to function properly." He couldn't believe Duran's sensitivity.

Even Chastain was stunned at the violet upheaval shaking Duran's body. "This must be one nasty wave coming toward us." He sighed. "Fortunately, we're now at the end of the tunnel."

Arlon was relieved when he heard that information. For once, he understood Duran's distress. Now his body was having minor spasms. "I think this is going to become contagious soon." He didn't have any more bags to catch vomit either.

Chastain snorted. "Eh, well, as I said, we're here now." He hastily made way for them to reach the inside of the building. "There are two bathrooms. One is off to the left, and another is off to the right. Go make use of them." He ordered and watched in surprise as they kicked off their boots automatically before even stepping through the door.

"Forgive my intrusion," Duran murmured. His courteous manners gave Chastain a start. Evidently, he hadn't heard such wording in a very long time.

Arlon noticed Chastain's subtle unease. "Looks like you haven't had visitors in a very long time, old man." He commented, aiming to cover Chastain's discomfort.

Chastain shot him a cool stare. "Who's an old man?" He growled but grinned when Arlon arched a challenging look. "True, I am old, but I'm not out of my prime yet."

Arlon chuckled. "Yes, well, I wanted to ensure that Duran wouldn't feel self-conscious for expressing a very ancient custom of greeting." He surveyed the boots. They were hopelessly mucked up.

Chastain followed his gaze. "They can be cleaned and repaired." He reassured Arlon. "As I mentioned, the bathrooms are on either side of this room."

Arlon took the hint and headed to the left. He'd noticed Duran going to the right. As far as Chastain was concerned, they obviously needed to clean up. Arlon took the opportunity to look outside a window to observe what little he could of the pier.

Much to his horror, he had a bird's eye view of that wave. It was massive, ominous, and threatening. Not only that, but he saw giant alien creatures heading straight for the curve of the rising wave. That sucker would do some severe damage, from what he could tell. Would there be anything left of the Seaport once it hit? He shook his head and sighed. "Great, now what do we do?" It behooved Arlon to recall the reason for going into the bathroom in the first place. That's when he realized other functions needed dealing with and did so with mild haste. He wanted to be as clean as possible once he exited the bathroom. "Good grief, I look like an ancient demon. How did I get so messy?"

This was going to take more time than Arlon had available. However, he did the best he could in tidying his appearance to make it somewhat tolerable. Once he emerged, he saw Duran in a slight state of undress, in that he only wore a pair of sturdy breeches. Otherwise, he had nothing else adorning his body. What was more, half the scarring was gone, but what remained still counted as hideously horrifying. Duran saw him staring and winced. "I'm dismissing the illusion. It is a waste of energy and was making me ill."

Huh, even Duran recognized when it was time to stop wasting energy. "Yeah, you look better than earlier," Arlon informed him.

Duran grunted. "We'd better join Mr. Claude." He produced a shirt, vest, and different footwear, which he proceeded to put on without closing the door. "Done. Shall we go find him?"

Arlon nodded. He was in awe at Duran's nonchalance. "Just how many relatives did you have running around in varying stages of undress that you're so casual around me?"

Duran paused. "Good question, no less than three, but no more than five at any time." He grunted. "I did my level best to avoid being around the females since they would scream bloody murder at the sight of an unclothed male if they dared go around in mere breeches and nothing more."

Wow-what a rough time Duran had led. Arlon shook his head. "I don't think that will be a problem around here." At least he didn't think so. "What do you think of him?" He was curious about Duran's opinion.

Duran hesitated. "I don't know what to say. I haven't been around him long enough to really figure out what his deal is."

Arlon frowned but nodded in resignation. After all, Duran was right. They didn't know anything about each other. As for Arlon, his impression of Chastain Claude was that the man was a total loner.

Not only that, but Claude was that way by choice. He'd clearly gone through some rough times, and the fact that he would open his home to Arlon and Duran was downright shocking to Arlon, in all honesty.

Duran rubbed his jaw and shrugged. "I'm sure he'll have some ground rules we'll have to abide by."

That's when it hit Arlon. Duran was utterly terrified. He'd managed to hold up so far only because of the promise that life would settle down. Now, however, they faced one hella dire crisis through that Tidal Wave. Arlon sighed. "I think we'll have an interesting time ahead of us." If he wasn't mistaken. Measures would soon enact as far as keeping residents safe, even if structures disappeared. All Arlon could hope for at this point. Some of the more prominent, sturdier buildings, such as the Academy. They would remain standing once the tidal wave busted through the Seaport like the calamity it portended just in its size alone.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***