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This is the product of a rainy afternoon and some license in my head of what interactions between these two would look like. If this one lands well, I will continue to embark on this journey as ideas appear.
Enjoy.
Respectfully,
Eliana
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The fact that one of the office doors was ajar when it was so late at night had Lenny both concerned and curious, and despite what would normally have been his better judgement, he decided he didn’t fear for his life that much. The lights were off in the office, so it was probably a mistake by the maintenance staff. He hoped.
A hesitant hoof came up to knock lightly on the door, and to his surprise a familiar voice answered. A familiar voice, but an unfamiliar tone.
“Come,” was the single word reply marked with a heavy accent, a hint of heaviness hiding in its undertone.
Lenny pushed the door inward and slunk a little way into the room, almost immediately feeling lost. He had always avoided this office. He had always done everything in his power to not come within fifty feet of the self-absorbed warthog of an owner of the team that dictated the most asinine of publicity stunts while handing out insulting jabs disguised as pompous observations.
That’s right. Poetry, he huffed.
Flo had been very blunt when he had been shifted to the Thorns, and it left a lasting mark on his psyche. To him, this office had a thick air of oppression.
Today was day 2 of new ownership and this space already felt different. All of the furniture was the same, but the energy had flipped on its head. Maybe it was because of its new occupant, the one that was currently sitting upright, balanced on his tail, facing fully toward one of the massive picture windows overlooking the light-speckled canopy of the forest surrounding the court. The rain pattering on the glass blurred the lights into a softer glare, reflecting watercolor shades off of the royal purple tank top he had chosen.
It seemed as though he had come with the intent to dance in joy (only speculation based on the happily dancing single candle and the picture of his team with their new contract resting on the desk), but something had changed his mind. The black dance pants he wore now seemed to be a mistaken wardrobe choice.
Without turning his body, the lizard cocked his head and fixed those yellow eyes on the giraffe, the brown irises barely discernable from the black pupils. Lenny knew Modo couldn’t see well in the dark, probably worse than he himself could. The dark was for another purpose. The soft yellow eyes were bloodshot. Now he was concerned.
“Spotted one need something from Modo?” the question came, and Lenny had to find a way to answer it that didn’t show how lost he was.
“Nah, man. I was headin’ out and I saw your door open. I just wanted to check on you before I left for the night, see if you needed anything from me. You good?”
“Modo is good,” his friend replied, though his voice was thick, “Had come to dance with rain music but mind became busy. Modo become sad and needed to acknowledge.”
“I can see that,” Lenny responded, shifting the bag he had strapped over his shoulder a bit, “You want some company? I wasn’t going anywhere but home. Or would you rather be alone?”
“Spotted one welcome if he wants.”
That was as close to an invitation as he was going to get, so Lenny took it and slipped further into the room, sliding the door shut behind him before heading over to his friend’s rest spot. With a soft sigh he tossed his bag on a chair before settling himself down, crossing his legs. Modo didn’t offer any more, just returning to look out the rain-spattered glass at nothing in particular. This was the first time Lenny noticed the egg cradled in his palms, balanced delicately close to his chest.
He had only seen Modo like this once – that one very quick second when they all came to retrieve him from the cinderblock locker room he had stowed himself away in on the team’s hiatus. In the checklist of events in his head, the giraffe was coming up empty on what could cause such sadness now. He wasn’t the best at emotional stuff but….he WAS good at supporting. He and Modo had good vibes between them, it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility that the smaller player would open up to him. So he would at least give it a try.
“You wanna talk about it? What’s got you sad, I mean.”
“Modo misses home. Misses mama and family. Modo wanted to share win and accomplishments with them.”
Oh. Lenny’s heart sank when those yellow eyes became misty again. He was homesick.
“Why don’t you go visit home? Season’s over, you can take a vacation. I’m sure paperwork and all can hold off for a bit.”
“Home is gone,” the Komodo told him, tongue lolling as he swallowed the lump in his throat, “Modo family pass on. No more, so no home to go back to.”
“Oh, man I’m so sorry,” the giraffe offered, ears flattening in empathy. That explained quite a bit. He didn’t want to dig more than he already had, and maybe he shouldn’t have pushed so quickly into it.
“No be sorry, but appreciate thought. I sure they happy where they are, but Modo misses. So I show precious egg,” he briefly held it away from him, “to sky so sky is happy and can tell sky family of Modo’s accomplishments.”
That egg… the sapphire blue Faberge that was so incredibly precious to the Komodo that no one else had ever been allowed to touch it was an object of fascination to Lenny. He had to surmise that to win the team in a game, Modo would have had to place a sizeable bet. That egg was the most important thing on the planet to him. He had never really dug into it before besides a random Google search or two, and he only really figured out what it was.
A Fabergé egg. Easy enough to identify, but hard to imagine where the eccentric Komodo had gotten it. Lenny wasn’t one to assume, but he was good at drawing conclusions around imaginary math. The accent, the second language, and now knowing of his family… it must be an heirloom. It was all Modo had of his home, of his family. If that all was true, he couldn’t believe the events that had happened.
Had they actually played out like that? Had Modo really bet all he had? He must’ve, it wouldn’t have happened any other way. But the one thing he couldn’t rationalize was:
“Why did you do it?” he heard himself ask, and then at the lizard’s cocked head he quickly backpedaled, “Nevermind, nevermind.”
“Explain question to Modo,” his companion prompted, one eye fixed on him.
Lenny took a deep breath.
“I’m just speculatin’ here, but… You said you won the team in a card game, right?”
“Tak. Uno.”
Modo’s tongue wiggled happily at the word.
“Which means it was a bet. And pretty high-stakes.”
“Tak.”
“So you needed to put up something in the bet that was at least worth the value of the team, and I know you don’t own much physical stuff. That egg is probably the most valuable thing you own, right?"
“Tak.”
“So, you bet your egg against the contract.”
“Tak.”
That one he had expected more hesitancy on, but there was none. Not even a lick of hesitation or remorse.
Okay, now he was beyond confused. Maybe Modo didn’t understand what he was saying, so he summarized it.
“You could have lost your egg. If you had lost the bet, you would have lost it. So why did you do it?”
“Is not a bet if you know you will win,” the scaly eyebrows quirked at him as the pink tongue quickly shot over a misty eye, “I aware that was no risk. Was worthy trade, leopard had hubris and Modo smelled from across table. Easy to out-think because Modo is smarter. Modo make him believe he better then take advantage and win. Modo is more intelligent than others think. Makes win easy.”
Fair enough. But that still didn’t answer his question.
“But why? Okay, I get it, you knew you would win, but why bother at all? It ain’t like the team is worth that much money with our record.”
“Modo no care about money,” the Komodo spit the last word and hissed at him with a brief spark of anger. It was quickly replaced with an eye that softened when it gazed into his own, “Mama give Modo egg. Say is from grandpapa and grand-grandpapa, and Modo is to keep egg safe. Modo protect egg and ask egg to help Modo protect team, and egg do as Modo ask.”
“I’m sure your mom is proud of you, man,” Lenny offered, “You’re a loyal son. You’ve done a dang good job takin’ care of it.”
“Modo is loyal to what matters. Spotted one and team matter to Modo, so Modo protects like Mama teach to him. Modo lost family but has egg, so he used egg to win new family. Now can protect both.
A final time, Modo’s tongue darted up to lick his misty eye. He fixed Lenny with a solid, serious look and gave a quick bob of his head.
“Was worthy trade. Modo would do again.”
They fell quiet again, eyes turned to look out the spattered glass as they both listened to the steady rhythm of the pattering rain. It was a soothing beat, one that slowly had Lenny humming under his breath to a song that was only in his head. The lyrics hadn’t even crossed his mind yet, but the beat from his chest and his lips came with confidence.
Slow and calm it came, the pattern of the rain shaping the beat from his chest.
Out of his peripheral vision he could see the pink spikes on the komodo’s head bobbing in time to the beat. If it was helping Modo, he would step it up a notch.
Before he knew it a full dropped beat had formed, and he didn’t so much as flinch when the dragon’s head nearly fully opened with a happy trill. He actually laughed.
He got to be the DJ to his friend’s dance, and he could appreciate the heart that went into the moves. Sadness in his eyes but joy on his face Lenny watched Modo pirouette and tiptoe through the delicate steps that he flowed in to, his precious egg held close. They hit a synchrony, and the giraffe was thankful to see what was left of those misty tears get absorbed back into his friend’s yellow sclera.
The rain softly pattered against the glass to his back as he chill-rapped to Modo’s dance, acting as his metronome. The minutes passed gently as the calming music floated through the office. Tonight, at least, music proved to be the great uniter.
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A quick idea on a rainy day. If I keep finding inspiration I will keep these coming, and may embark on a multi-chapter if I can find a decent-enough plot.
Respectfully,
Elaine