#varvatos

Refusing to watch any more of the mushy spectacle, Krel turned to walk away, but fell into someone immediately. He stumbled, but she stumbled harder. She looked ready to fall over, but managed to catch her footing and only lost her chunky headphones instead. They clattered to the parquet flooring with a heavy thwu-tu-tunk.

“Sorry,” said Krel hurriedly, though he held Aja and the blonde oaf responsible. He picked up her headphones, held them out as if to hand them back, but paused when he heard the song playing out of them. “Hey! I know that music. You like Tiësto?”

He was surprised to find someone on his musical wave-length. But instead of reciprocating, the girl looked wide-eyed nervous. She nodded, but took the headphones from him then dashed off as quickly as she had come.

Krel watched her go, raising a puzzled eyebrow.

“Smooth move, buttsnack.” Said Steve, his voice dripping with its usual cockiness. Of course. The only reason he would break away from Aja’s face for a few seconds would be to interject his unwanted opinion.

“My movements are always smooth, thank you.”

After checking in, the quartet retired to their room on the tenth and highest floor. It was a room more akin to an apartment. Originally, Steve had booked a double just for him and Aja, but Varvatos had insisted on upgrading to one large room. He insisted everyone be within rescuing distance should the moment arise. It had left the clerks with very little choice but to put them in the penthouse, equipped with three bedrooms, a lounge, kitchenette, and cushy balcony hot tub. Krel’s digitally-adept fingers had made swift work of the resort’s membership cards, loading one with enough points to pay for the entire trip upfront.

“If I must be dragged away from fixing Mother, I should at least be comfortable.” He said, flopping down onto one of the large, sunken couches surrounding their personal fire-pit. Aja was over by the floor-length windows, looking out at the grand, snowy mountain peaks.

“So lively.” She cooed. She could see people on the hills, zipping down them on poles attached to their feet. “I want to try that.”

Steve came up alongside her, slipping his arm around her waist.

“That’s why we’re here, babe. We’re going skiing tomorrow.”

“Glorious!” Bellowed Varvatos, his hulking Akiridion body pressing up against the glass next to them. “We shall battle these who-mans on their powdered-water terrain. Varvatos imagines he is even more terrifying speeding towards his enemies on pointed sticks.”

The others laughed, hardly willing to tell him that skiing was not a contact sport.

*

The next morning, two of the Akiridions eagerly transducted into their human guises, while the third had to be bullied into it by his sister.

“I upgraded your serrators so you could go out whenever, and this is the thanks I get?” Complained Krel, shifting into his human form after Aja’s endless pestering. “Go without me! I have no desire to be cold or wet on some hill.”

“Please, little brother.” Aja begged, already wrapping up in thermal gear on the couch. “It will not be the same without you.” She paused to punctuate her point. “You need a break from duty, too.”

Krel knew she was right, in essence. But his idea of a break was something separate from the outdoor escapade she clearly wanted. But when she looked at him like that, he could hear his mama and papa telling him that all they had was each other. And with a sigh, he caved in.

“Fine. It should be no harder than riding your hoverboard.”

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PART 2: [Click here]