“Not eating the maid’s cooking today?” Eleen still referred to Mallea by her old job title.
She’s off in Drome Coli helping Nathym with that project. It’s been moving too slowly. We need to be ready for the right moment since it’s inevitable at this point, Drim answered wordlessly as he slowly chewed his breakfast.
“Oh, right, that,” the mother often had a hard time keeping up with her son’s multiple machinations. “It will be interesting to see if that scheme plays out quite how you expect. You’re really relying on quite a few pieces to play their part, especially her. I think you’ll find that some surprise you.”
Like your own son murdering you in cold blood? Drim’s smirk and the pride he still obviously felt wounded her a little bit
“Yes, like that,” Eleen had to agree. “Betrayal will always come for you one way or another. But I do agree that the trigger is certainly an inevitability. Though, it probably won’t be as simple as the world is expecting. But it should be fun to watch, regardless of the outcome. I only wish I could participate myself.”
The boy didn’t take the bait and respond to that, leaving Eleen to stare longingly at the food. What the hell are you doing? Drim suddenly asked after the woman had floated somewhere new.
“Oh, I must look rather silly at the moment,” the ghost realized. “Just a head popping out of the table. It’s just… I was hoping that I could maybe take a bit of the food, if you don’t mind sharing. Since you missed my grand pen-lifting earlier, I was hoping maybe I could recreate a similar experience by taking a bite.”
Wow, you lifted a whole pen earlier, her son couldn’t be more condescending if he tried. Congratulations, you have the motor skills of a newborn. But by all means, if you can eat it, then take a bite.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Eleen opened her mouth wide and moved her head forward, wrapping her lips around the pastry before biting down to chew. She gave it a few more nibbles before giving up and accepting that nothing was happening.
I said you could have some, so eat your fill. Don’t hold back on my account. Drim was likely creeping out everyone around him, wondering why he was suddenly smirking to himself.
“Hnggggggggh, let me take over your tongue again so take a bite!” Eleen suddenly pleaded. “It’s calling to me! The food smells so good that it wants me to eat it!”
Can you even smell? her son glared at her severed-looking head with doubtful eyes. Tell you what, if you can tell me what flavor is inside this pastry, I’ll let you have the whole thing. It should be obvious by just the smell alone.
The woman who couldn’t feel hunger stared at the pastry intensely with ravenous eyes, trying to unravel the secret inside of its flakey layers. Sadly, it was so perfectly baked that there wasn’t even a hint of sogginess and nothing was oozing out anywhere. Hell, it could even be plain and empty inside. But her son wouldn’t be so cruel as to torment her with a trick question.
No, he absolutely would. She received the blunt end of his sadist side that no one else saw, well except for Phon when she really screwed up. It was certainly a trait that he’d gotten from his mother. It’d make her feel more prideful if it wasn’t now biting her in the ass. “Strawberry!” she answered with confidence, trying to will the flavor into existence.
Ehhhh, wrong, Drim mimicked a buzzer sound in his mind. It’s sausage with cheese and herbs. Very delicious, and all mine. The boy grabbed the remaining pastry and stuffed it into his mouth, rapidly chewing it, determined to swallow it down with one bite.
“No, my breakfast!” Eleen leapt into his body and tried to wrestle control away from his tongue, wanting to taste that savory sensation for even one fleeting moment. But she never managed to take over, too flustered and exhausted from all of that morning’s training. She was left starved and sobbing for the entire walk back to Drim’s room.
◆◆◆
“So what are we doing today?” The ghost-mother’s mood had improved greatly. Drim had gotten so sick of her incessant tantrum that he’d let her take over his digestive system so she could remember what it felt like to be satiated. In her opinion, the boy could have eaten a little more to really get that good full feeling, but it was enough to bring back happy memories.
“Gonna plunder some pirates? Feed some orphans? Or some classic monster slaying?!” She was starting to get excited—a proud mama who liked to watch her son at work. At least now since she knew he could handle himself and wouldn’t get himself killed. Maybe she was a bit too assured by his abilities, seeing him as invincible more than she should.
“Or are we stealing awesome tech? Infiltrating a corporation? Maybe saving some damsels? Well, that one’s probably not the best idea. You already have too many damsels. And one whatever the male equivalent of a damsel is. Should get to breaking their hearts already.” She was starting to trail off on a different tangent entirely.
“Wait, what are you wearing?” Eleen immediately noticed that Drim wasn’t slipping into his combat outfit, her plans for an exciting day quickly shattering. “No, don't tell me that it’s meetings all day again?! I had to suffer through so many meetings in my life, and now I can’t escape them in the afterlife! Your mommy’s tired, so very tired of listening to boring pointless zjik.”
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“Sounds like you need to get some hobbies,” Drim flatly suggested as he continued to dress. “I swear it’s like trying to keep a toddler entertained.”
“And what kind of hobby am I supposed to have without being able to touch things, eh?” his mother immediately protested. “I can’t crochet, can’t play cards, can’t even whistle because I have no proper lips. Look, when I try, it just makes a hoo sound. Hoo.”
“Hell, I’d even try playing a video game if I could. Never got the chance. Too busy taking over the world. But some of them look so fun now, not the basic beep boops and flashing lights that we’d catch our soldiers playing in bars. If I could hold a controller, we could even play two-player games. Doesn’t a family game night sound fun? I’d say your sister could join, but then you’d have to tell her about our secret.”
“Okay, seriously now, what the hell are you wearing,” Eleen stopped all other complaints and rambles to rightly judge her son’s sudden fashion sense. “I can’t believe you’re wearing a color other than black. What an auspicious day! But uhh, why yellow? It really is clashing with your black skinny jeans. Also weird by the way.” Drim was wearing a bright yellow windbreaker, one that was often worn by outdoor workers who needed high visibility.
“The point is that I don’t think anyone would believe this is something I’d wear,” her son mentioned while putting on a matching beanie.
“Well yes, you hardly look like yourself,” the mother had to admit. “Especially with your hair hidden like that, you just look like an everyday worker. Oh, does that mean we’ll be doing some kind of infiltration after all? Maybe some gang disguising themselves as a construction crew?”
“Nothing so exciting,” he had to crush her hopes. “I’ll be conducting performance evaluations since some of our employees are long overdue. And I find that you get better readings if people don’t know that their boss is watching. Hence the disguise.”
“I see, so today will be boring after all,” Eleen immediately started to pout. “I’d say leave me behind, but you literally can’t. Maybe I’ll just go to bed now so I can spend the night doing more touching practice.”
“No, I’ll need you at full attention today, since I’ll need your help.” That threw the ghost off in so many different ways. For starters, he was ordering her around like she was one of his employees. Where did he get the nerve? From her probably. But more importantly, it was the first time that he’d ever asked for her help without sounding like he was going to throw up.
“You… you really need my help?” She was so confused and doubtful that she was honestly a little afraid of asking.
“Yes,” Drim reaffirmed. “This is one time where having you tag along would be rather beneficial to me. The whole point of this is that I can’t get too close without them noticing me. So having you as a second pair of eyes and ears who can’t be observed should help. Assuming that you think you’re capable of it, that is. And to actually relay the information to me properly.”
“Uhh, yeah, yes! I can do it!” Finally accepting that this was real, Eleen started working up her motivation, more than she’d had for anything since her death. “So where are we going then? The workshop? I can definitely sneak in there without anyone noticing.”
“No, there’s already enough hidden eyes in this compound,” the boy almost sounded a little villainous with that statement. “I’ve already seen all I need to see within these walls. But I need to know how my employees act outside of them when they think they’re alone.”
“So we’ll be relying on your services a lot today to help move us around,” Drim suddenly spoke to the blank open air.
“Of course, just tell me where you’d like to go,” the disembodied voice, that Eleen routinely forgot existed, made his presence known. “However, may I suggest that the lady return to the young man’s body before transport. While moving you both at the same time is not an issue, I have no experience delivering a ghost. I can not say what would happen during the delivery process, and it may possibly sever the connection between the two of you.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Drim chortled while he scrolled on his tablet, looking at the list of employees he needed to get through.
“Well I’m not!” Eleen stamped her foot to the ground, but missed by a few feet since she was still floating. “But, wait. You can see me?! Can you hear me?!”
“Yes, I have always been able to see and hear you since your change in form,” Hand Guy broke the news.
“Oh woah woah woah! Hold on, this changes everything!” her enthusiasm for helping her son vanished in an instant when a new shiny toy dangled in front of her eyes. “You’ve just become my one and only friend… uhh, whatever your name is. I’m sure I’ll learn it soon enough.”
“Think of all the fun that we’re going to have. We can stay up all night talking and gossiping, braiding each other's spectral hair, not to mention the countless pranks we’re going to pull. Are you free after this?”
“Apologies, miss, but I am only allowed to fulfill requests from my contractor,” Eleen’s friendship was rejected immediately. “I am always observing, but I may only act when called upon. While the commands I may be given are limited to deliveries, I am free to converse while completing a task.”
“So if you and I were to have any form of relationship, then the young man must continuously provide me with work. However, I would strongly advise against that. Every move I take is being recorded, and if I make too many, it may draw the attention of someone you’re intimately familiar with, miss. Someone I’m sure you’d prefer remained in the dark about your existence given your history.”
“Tch, damnit, so she’s got eyes on you too, huh? Or are you actually working for her?” the woman’s suspicions grew exponentially.
“No, I am not under her employ,” Hand Guy immediately denied it. “But she and my employer have a complicated relationship.”
“So there’s more like our mystery woman?” Drim finally interjected now that there was intel to gather.
“It seems I have overstepped my bounds,” the delivery man clearly regretted his choice of words. “I would ask that you press it no further. My employer has requested that I keep their information confidential. While they are an understanding individual, I would like to complete my assignment with no further repercussions. Now then, where would you like to go?”
“Well, I have all of their precise locations,” Drim held up his tablet with a list of his employees. “But I’m guessing that you don’t need it.”
“Yes, I am fully aware of everyone’s existence and locations at all times,” Hand Guy confirmed. “Though I can not draw upon that information unless it is through a request, and I will not give any out unless it is through the framework of a delivery.”
“Alright, well let’s start with Itsy. Please take us to her location, but just the general vicinity. It needs to be far enough away that she is unable to notice us,” the boy laid out his list of demands.
“As you request,” the servant had no qualms. “Now then, miss ghost, please keep your essence and ectoplasm inside the boy’s body at all times for the duration of the trip.”