The haze of the telepathic connection breaks down, and Izzy’s eyes slowly start to focus again. “Yoko,” she whispers.
The salaryman looks at Izzy. His dark brown eyes focusing on her. “You understand why she won’t go back now,” the man says. Finally the last of the connection falls apart. He lets go of her hand. The world snapped fully back to focus, and he smiled at her.
She leans back, putting her head against the dirt wall of the hobbit-looking house. “Fuck,” she whispers.
Jacob, about to pull his hair out, comments, “What the hell just happened?”
“Uh, telepathy,” Izzy says, looking up at the ceiling, her brain tired.
Jacob looks at the spot where the fox was but got up 10 minutes ago and went inside. He was shocked when the fox jumped up, grabbed the handle, and pushed the door open.
“This is getting out of control. Why am I the only one who isn’t telepathic?” Jacob whines.
There is a clearing of a throat, and the kitsune stands by the door. “Daryl…” she whispers. Her gold-edged kimono sparkling in the sunlight
“Yes, Yoko?” Daryl whispers back.
“I need you to move so I can go to work,” she says with a warm hostess smile.
Daryl’s mouth hangs open. She kisses his cheek. And pushes him aside.
“Ok, let’s go,” Yoko says, putting a wide straw hat on her head.
“But honey, you said you wouldn’t go back.” Daryl the salaryman says, looking left and right, confused.
“I did say that, didn’t I? But I also waited till he sent emissaries to “make nice.” She smiles a smile that makes him butter in her hands. “I’ll be home later, or you can come walk me home later.”
Izzy wipes some drool off the side of her face as all the memories fall into place. “Yoko,” Izzy whispers.
Yoko furrows her brows. “Are you walking with me, or are you staying here?” She taps Jacob on the head with her folding fan.
The area around the ranch is even more packed as they crest the hill and look down at the controlled chaos. A large tractor trailer is being unloaded in the center of the caravan circle. A mountain of pallets being stacked carefully.
A small group of trailers is set up on the side of the ranch, and a large black tour bus proudly proclaims PSYCHENAUTS down its side.
Curiously, just to the left of the ranch sits the shrimp taco truck pulled over on the side of the road. A line 20 people long spread out along the road.
Izzy feels her stomach tighten, the amount of people overwhelming. She mutters, “Yoko.”
“What?” Yoko responds, turning around.
Izzy can’t help but feel the love Daryl has for her. She blushes slightly. “You… you are… what…?” Izzy stumbles on her thoughts.
“This is why telepathy is useless for telling stories.” Yoko dismisses Izzy’s statements.
Yoko dances through the crowd, leaving Jacob and Izzy to struggle to push their way. through to the bar, “Cat, we did it somehow,” Izzy shouts over the din.
The cat greets them. “My duo of heroes returns, and you returned victorious like Mikhail Kutuzov.”
“Who?” Jacob asks, confused.
“Don’t worry about it.” The cat says with a humanly grin as he looks at the waitress wearing her kimono. His cat eyes sparkle. “YOKO, you return! Good, can you start bussing the tables, and won’t you change into something aligned to our uniform?”
Yoko, in response, turns around and starts to walk out of the bar.
“I am kidding, please. It won’t happen again. Wear what you want; hell, work when you want. Why don’t I make you my head waitress? You can be your own boss?” He grovels, his usual neatness looking more rumpled than before.
“I want double the pay, and I make my own hours, and I pick my own damn outfits,” Yoko says through gritted teeth.
“Anything you want, Yoko. You won’t regret this.” The Cat smiles.
“It better not…. We are even. All debts are paid.” Yoko Kitsune says, her fox ears perking up. “Ok, whose order is next?”
She moved with the grace of a fox, seemingly in two places at once, her little pad filling with orders in a system to complex for mere mortals to understand.
After a half hour the bar is under control; the masses are shoved outside or into reception to wait their turn; phone numbers are taken and called when seats are available; and the cat is machine-gunning orders out of the kitchen as fast as the cook can manage. His many, many hands flying almost too fast to see as he handles 10 orders at once.
The cat finally takes a deep breath and sets a bag in front of Jacob and Izzy. “A gift for your hard work,” he smirks.
Izzy looks in the bag, and it’s all old pennies. All from around 1910. All well circulated. She flips them over, looking at them, the president’s face looking at her.
Jacob looks at the small baggie of change. “We went through all that effort for you to literally pay us pennies?”
“What is this? There is less than 2 dollars here. I wasn’t expecting a reward, but if there was one, I expected it to be worth more than this,” Izzy says, almost laughing.
The cat grins an inhuman grin. His teeth showing their razor sharpness, he tilts his head, his eyes looking fully feline. “What those are worth is more than their weight in gold.” He scurries off to handle more orders.
“It’s just some worthless pennies, what the hell?” Jacob says, confused. “Worth more than their weight in gold, uh-huh, yeah.”
Eros slides into a seat next to Izzy. “Ready to tell me about the door?” He smiles, his teeth unnaturally white. He turns the stool around and leans on the bar.
His eyes dart to the right, and in one smooth motion, he draws his magical gun and fires into the crowd, hitting a married man, a single mother, and an older man with a cane.
Izzy screams, making everyone around her stop and stare for what felt like an eternity but in reality was only 3 seconds. “Did you just shoot a gun?”
He looks at her, his curiosity piqued. “I shot something, but you’re human. How did you perceive it?” He gives her a much closer look. Izzy feels warm and tingly in a bad way.
The cat appears behind them dripping in his purple excellence. “Yes, Izzy, how did you hear that?”
“Three orders of onion rings with buffalo sauce,” Yoko yells at the cat as she picks up 2 armloads of orders.
The cat glares at Izzy. “We will talk about this later.”
“What is he?” Eros says, his focused eyes having caught a side glance of the Cat with the puzzled expression of someone who has seen something unspeakable, “What are you?” He looks around at the strange mix of beings in the room. But his eyes fall back onto the cat.
The eldritch abomination behind the bar turns one of its many eyes to glare at Eros. “Look away, lesser god, or you will go blind.” The cat seethes, and Eros blinks. All that’s left is the cat’s humanoid form. His smile widened, and his eyes gleam purple. He adjusts his tie. “That’s better.”
Mouth open, Eros Looks away and sees the Yoko kitsune with her ears peeking out of her hair. He admires her curves. The creature she is taking the order from is a 7-foot-tall lizard person. “What is that?”
He looks further around and spots the god Mars, who is in one corner having a hushed conversation with a fiery red-haired woman; she looks sad, but he knows there isn’t much he can do.
He spots a green slime creature running around, getting stepped on, and laughing. “Is that an ooze? I thought they went extinct.”
Everywhere he looks, there is something extraordinary. His eyes ended up on Izzy again. “What is this place?”
Izzy touches his shoulder, patting him for comfort. “It’s the Ranch Motel.”
“Yeah, but what is it?” Eros asks, gesturing around.
“I don’t know; it’s just the Ranch Motel. You’re a god; why didn’t you know about it?” She looks at him confused.
“I am technically a lesser god but also primordial essence.” He looks across the room to the strange threesome being escorted out of the room by Yoko; he visibly relaxes as he admires the chaos he has created.
“primordial essence?” Izzy asks, but Eros cuts off her line of thought.
“Any other pair you want me to encourage? It always makes me feel more calm to spread love and lust.” Eros asks with a devilish sparkle in his eye. He looks around the room, scanning faces and looking into people’s eyes for loneliness or simply to see who to mess with.
A face catches his eye, and he stops. “Psyche,” he mumbles, his mouth suddenly dry.
“What?” Izzy asks, looking around.
“Psyche,” Eros says again, appearing in a trance. He moves across the room, pushing people out of the way. His glorious wings spread wide, people ducking out of their way even if they can’t perceive them.
“Is it me, or is this place getting weirder?” Izzy asks, looking around for Jacob.
“It definitely is,” Jacob states as he runs his hand through his hair.
