There are certain sentences that take on entirely different meanings when you get to the second half. Quite often, when taken by themselves the first half of these kinds of sentences can be quite amusing to consider, or can leave a lasting impression within the mind that causes tremendous amusement for the implications and imagery. As a brief example: It was a testament to his professional pride that Kumitada was leering at rather scantily clad women behaving in a deliberate, over- the- top sexualised manner and that the only only reason he was doing so was because any alternative manner of behaviour would blow his cover.
Rather fascinating, isn’t it? The first half of the sentence, by itself, seems to imply that Kumitada has professional pride in leering at the sexy, leotard- clad women wandering around with tremendous regard for how much their outfits revealed of their bodies. It’s just that the concern was more tilted towards taking advantage of the fact rather than trying to conceal it. Then, once this image has implanted itself in your mind of a young detective’s assistant devoting his mental acuity and professional integrity to transparently lusting after these seductive brainwashed sirens, once that thought has passed through your mind you read on and realise that he’s not actually lusting after them at all. Only pretending, because he needs to fit in or something quite unfortunate could happen. Such are the tricks of language.
And such are the tricks of the mind that things like that were becoming rather necessary to keep himself focused on what he should be doing. Namely, watching the reaction to Zoe’s singing. Something about the singing was obviously important to whatever was going on here. So there he was, pretending to ogle these scantily clad waitresses and trying to read their reactions while attention fell upon the girl singing onstage.
So far as he could tell? They seemed rather pleased about something. From an objective standpoint, stepping back from the crisis at hand, he could understand why on the merits of the singing voice. It was rather good, so far as he was any judge of such matters. Musical quality wasn’t entirely his line of work, but he knew a good voice when he heard one. So did they, by all appearances and -
Where was that light coming from? It was burning at the edge of his vision, and was getting to be quite the distra-
Zoe vanished. Just like that. One moment she was there, the next - Gone. Everyone else rose to their feet and offered applause, leaving Kumitada sitting there stunned into silence. The crowd erupted into cheers that almost sounded like meows and roars, a strange energy seemed to fill the room and Kumitada felt his vision begin to swim.
Panic. Where had she gone? Where had they taken her? How had they taken her? Had they figured out something was amiss while listening to the song? No... The reaction didn’t fit. They wouldn’t be cheering. They would be laughing or something. Right? Besides, if they suspected Zoe then that would mean they would also suspect -
The crowd split, and Kumitada found himself looking right into a pair of slit, catlike eyes. Which were looking right back at him. She smiled in a manner that reminded him of a predator on the prowl, and walked right towards him.
Immediately Kumitada began to evaluate his options. The exit, which suddenly felt like it was a mile away? No. One of the other waitresses was leaning against it, looking out with her arms folded across her chest. Perhaps he could follow Yukiko? No. There was another waitress, pulling a dinner cart loaded with saucers of milk rather close to that door. Where, then? Where could he go? What could he do? He was hopelessly outnumbered, and hadn’t thought to bring any catnip with him. Damn! That should have been obvious! Now he’d have to try to fight his way out of here, before they -
Sat in his lap, seductively pressed her leotard clad body against his, purred and held the headband next to her own head.
“Do you think a cutie like you could give me an answerrrr to a question?” He he nervously swallowed, tried in vain to figure out what to do with his hands and settled for letting them dangle by his side as far away from those legs as he could manage to get them. “Which looks cuterrrrr?”
“That one,” he mouthed, pointing at the one on her head. “Suits you more.”
“Nya! Thank you!” she catgirl waitress called. She practically leaped forward to kiss him on the cheek., then hopped effortlessly out of his lap and practically skipped across the room, shooting him periodic glances as though she was expecting him to keep an eye on her. Well. That much was pretty easy. For some reason he was finding it rather difficult to look away. The rest of the mind- controlled patrons and staff seemed sort of foggy, indistinct. Almost like she was the only thing in the world that mattered, and the two of them were alone toge-
Kumitada pinched his arm in a rather discreet manner and scowled at himself. This place was quite insidious, in its own way. If not for his realisation that he would never think such things, never mind while while on a case, then he might have fallen under the influence. He concentrated more intently, and - Yes, there it was. Subliminals. He couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, obviously, but there was definitely something there trying to worm its their way into his thoughts. Sneaky. Not leaving anything to chance.
“Kumi Kumi!” an excited high pitched voice called, and Kumitada suddenly felt a significant (soft) weight attached to his arm. Yukiko. Naturally. Good. “You’ll never guess what I found!”
“I’ve worked out a few things as well,” Kumitada whispered. “They’re using subliminals to ensnare any stragglers, but more to the point they’ve made Zoe disappear!”
“I know!” Yukiko whispered back. “She should be safe for the time being, but we’ve got to act quickly. Come on. It’s time we put an end to this!”
Without waiting for a response. W, well. That was her normal modus operandi, and it was no different here. She simply hauled him to his feet and dragged him across the floor, towards the stage where Zoe had vanished. Rather a bold move, but Yukiko did tend to know what she was doing. Even if she did look like a goof as she did it.
“Excuse me!” she yelled into the mic, clipping the audio something rotten. “Oops, sorrrrrry,” she giggled, taking a small step back. “Everrrryone, please pay attention!” she said in a singsong voice. “I’ve caught an intrrruderrrr!”
Sat Jan 18 22:15:47 2014
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