Chapter 403: Pride

Chapter 403: Pride

Surrounded by his own people, sitting with Blake and Haley and Lexi—and after a drink or two that probably did more for his brain than his body—Mason found he was fortable.

"And then we were locked out, so..." Blake laughed as he remembered his own story, Haley smiling, Lexi leaning forward as if enthralled. "Mason climbed up to the balcony, which was two stories. He was drunk, freezing, ice everywhere. And then the balcony was locked, too."

"Oh my God." Lexi laughed and glanced at Mason, who did his best to sip his drink and look disengaged.

"So there we are. It's snowing," Blake went on. "We're drunk. We're locked out. It's three hours past our curfew."

"We only had a curfew because you stole their car," Mason said.

"Not important to the story," Blake said. "And please don't interrupt. Now Mason is pretty much trapped on the balcony, because when he looks down he realizes how high he is, and there's no way he's coming back."

Lexi was laughing and staring at Mason now, who hid his own grin beneath a mostly fake glower.

"So he's telling me to come up," Blake says, still laughing. "Because somehow in his drunk mind it's better if we're both trapped on the balcony."

"The barbecue had a tarp," Mason said. "We were going to sleep there and share body heat."

Blake gestured as if to say 'you see? this was the insanity I was dealing with'.

"So what did you do?" Lexi said. Blake pulled back as if it was obvious.

"I woke up our parents and lied my ass off. They grounded me for an extra two weeks, which I got out of anyway. And after letting Mason suffer in the cold an hour or so, I snuck over and let him in. He got away scot-free."

"I can't believe that's how you remember that story," Mason said. Blake quirked a brow and said nothing, and Mason rolled his eyes. "This idiot woke me up in the middle of the night and convinced me to go to some girl's party, which we never found. Then he convinced me to get drunk in a parking lot. Then he realized he hadn't taken his keys. And since I was still wearing my damn sweat pants, I didn't have any. So we froze our asses off for no reason, and I'm pretty sure the next day I flunked a test."

"The lack of personal accountability is astounding," Blake said, shaking his head as he looked at the still-smiling girls. "You'd think I put a gun to his head. And kept him from studying for the two weeks before that night."

"Well I was an excellent student," Lexi said, sitting up straighter. "And I didn't go out to random boy's parties in the night, either. You were very naughty boys."

"Some of us are still naughty boys," Blake said, wiggling his eyebrows as he leaned towards Lexi. The Brit laughed and glanced at Mason again.

"I can see why he's a bit of trouble."

"He's more than a bit," Mason confirmed, nudging Haley. "I can't help but notice a certain Canadian isn't telling any drunken war stories."

She smiled, but Mason knew her well enough to know it was mostly a mask.

"I didn't have much time for such things. I was always with my father, singing, playing. He was a musician and we didn't have much money. Every penny went to my school, so, I took it very seriously."

Mason was reminded how lucky he'd been with the Nimitzs. And certainly how ungrateful. That his aimlessness and struggle to fit in still involved a life of wealth mostly free of real worries.

"Well. Now I feel like a shit," Blake said, because of course he did. "But if you need to make up for any lost drunken, hedonistic experiences, I would be more than happy to..."

What about the easterners? Were they all part of the Emperor’s house? Or were there several? Haley might know. But he did see several banners around, so he was guessing there were.

Should he recruit Blake right now? He turned to explain the situation and do just that when he noticed a small crowd of red-robed 'imperial' players had apparently walked straight into his House's cluster of tables.

The emperor himself stood not six feet away, face curled with a small smile as he watched Mason and the others.

"I came to congratulate your tournament point winners," he said, then shrugged. "But it seems...you don't have any."

Mason refrained from rolling his eyes as he stood.

"What do you want?"

The older Chinese lapdog beside the emperor narrowed his eyes as if offended and ready to intervene, but Jeong held up a hand.

"I've enjoyed watching your matches, Baron. But I can't help but notice you're fighting them alone. Was your partner injured? Killed?"

Mason's players were gathering up behind him now, and it all would have felt very dangerous if they weren't in this 'Neutral Zone'. He shrugged.

"I don't need a partner to beat your people."

Jeong smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes.

"Pride is the very worst of sins. In the Christian religion, is it not even considered...demonic?"

"Remind me," Mason said, "what titles did you make for yourself again?"

Jeong laughed. It was a sudden, almost violent sound, ending as quickly as it began.

"Very good," he said, gesturing to the others he was finished. "I'm sure I will see you on the battlefield soon, Baron. But hopefully not before I defeat your pitiful number of players."

"Maybe we'll be lucky," Mason said as the emperor turned. "With our alien overlord, you never know. Maybe it'll let us make challenges. Then we can sort it out right away."

"We can only hope," Jeong said, with no enthusiasm, then walked back towards his own, much larger area of the auditorium.

"What a wanker," Seamus said. "But if it's all the same to you boss, I hope you fight him before I do."

Mason sighed as he watched more and more of the system's drugs pouring over tables, turning civilians into a laughing, whooping mob.

He supposed it was a kind of perfect dichotomy, or duality again. The false, opulent, faux hospitality of the Neutral Zone—the barest veneer covering the reality of opposing warriors waiting to kill each other.

Civilization in a nutshell, he thought, hating the facade as he always had, whether here or back on earth.

He turned to tell his players the good news about House 'deferments', and hopefully recruit Blake.