The TIMELINE
________________________
Discoveries: Cleaning Days
Dive woke up and did his morning rituals and headed to the
kitchen where the whole group was gathered. "*Good morning*!"
he smiled brightly, grabbing a mug to make his morning cocoa.
"Morning
" The others murmured quite
sullenly.
He cocked an eyebrow and glanced to each one. "What's wrong
with you guys? You look all look like
well personally, like
a plague hit Anaheim." He shrugged taking a sip. Mal fixed
at him with a weak look. "Dive, have you actually forgotten
what day it is?" She asked, stirring her spoon in her coffee.
The teen frowned and shrugged, "No. It's Sunday." He
took a seat between Hacker and Ace and said a matter-of-factly.
Grin sighed and asked, "*What* Sunday?"
"The last Sunday of the month." He raised one eyebrow.
He glanced at Duke seated right across him and the grey duck
smiled weakly, "and that means
?" he gestured with
his hand to the direction of Dive's room.
"No." The blond paled under his feathers and smiled
weakly, "nononononono
." and he rushed out of the
kitchen, leaving the team and his cocoa, which Castel swiped off
the table and now held in her hands. "NYRE! DON'T YOU *DARE*
TOUCH MY COMICS!!!!"
Duke sighed and sipped on his own cup. "Yup, he remembers
alright... just a little too late. Bet she's already started
sweeping out the bottom of his bed." Wildwing shook his
head trying not to laugh.
Castel smiled and sat down, glancing to each of her friends.
"Why do you guys freak every time Nyre cleans out your rooms?
It's not like anything bad is gonna happen to your stuff."
All eyes darted in her direction and she smiled weakly, raising
her hands before her. "TRUST us, you don't wanna know."
Came the unison reply.
"Otay
" she squeaked out somewhere between a smile
and a grimace.
Drake sighed and leaned back on his chair, "Well, if ya do..."
he paused, "when she cleans... she *CLEANS*."
"Oh."
"So," Tanya said as she sat down beside Grin, handing
him his cup of herbal tea, "who'd she attack first this time?"
Eyes glanced from left to right and then landed on a rather crimson
Duke L'Orange. "You, I take it?"
He nodded, "Yeah." And sipped on his coffee once more.
"So how'd she attack DK?" Dee asked, calling him by
the affectionate nickname she and Nyre had thought of not too
long ago. "Well
" he started, "as ya know,
I get up at around four somethin' nowadays to do some practice
fencing for myself."
"I take this has something to do with that competition you
signed up for a week or two back?" Ace smiled and the duck
nodded. "Anyway, I guess I darn forgot that it was
well
today and when I got back
." The memory of
that morning returned to him.
Duke whistled as he stepped out of the elevator door in the
Pond. As he rounded the corner to head for his room he stopped
dead in his tracks. No. He thought as he gazed upon what stood
before his slightly opened door.
A pale
a mop. Some rags.
No, no
no-ho-ho-hoo
he winced and glanced to the opposing
wall.
A dustpan, a broom and a rather large trash bin.
On the floor lay three opened packs of plastic bags. White was
the smallest, and then pink, and black. That could only mean
one thing
"NO! NYRE! Out! *Out!* Not here! Not my room! *OUT!!!*"
He rushed inside and tried to shoo the petite human away. She
faced him and cocked the only eyebrow she could raise, her left
brow. "What?!" She asked, placing both hands on her
hips. The grey duck winced. She was wearing her 'gear' alright.
The ebony-haired wonder stared up at him in a pair of denim shorts,
a red shirt, socks and beach sandals. On her shoulder was a wet
rag, in her hands a soap-and-water mixture and a Scotch Brite
sponge, her long hair twisted up the back of her head and secured
with a large clip.
"Didja have ta start with *mine*?!" He dropped to his
knees and clung onto her leg in mock despair. Nyre fixed him
with one of her looks and he stood up. "So, what's the evaluation
on my *mess*?" he gestured around the fairly clean room.
It was safe to assume that she'd barely started when he'd come
back from the inner gym.
"Weeeeeell
" she started and pulled out the white
plastic bag. She shooed him out of the room seconds after. "Lemme
start and I won't be long. You did good
*this* time."
She smled mischievoulsy and slammed the door shut in his face.
This
is not good.
The team's teens were laughing hysterically on the floor as
Duke smiled, realizing the amusement of the past situation. "Come
to think of it, it wasn't too bad. She said my walls didn't need
cleaning so all she'd had to do was empty out my trash bin and
sweep a little here and there." He smiled and turned to the
others. "How about the rest of ya?"
"Do you seriously think that any of us here haven't been
victimized by the 'cleaning-wonder' already?" Hacker snorted
and started to explain the predicament he and his roommate Ace
had *had* that morning.
The sound of a vacuum cleaner reached Hacker and Ace's ears.
The two glanced to each other immediately and paled. "It
can't be!" Ace hissed to his best friend and grabbed for
the calendar.
"Tell me it isn't Ace, say it isn't so!" Hacker winced.
"It's so."
The door burst open. "Out! *OUT!*" Nyre pulled both
of them from their mattresses and pushed them out into the doorway.
"Nyre!" The two boys cried indignantly, trying to glared
her down. She waved a hand dismissively and scanned their 'area-of-responsibility'.
She shook her head and pulled out one pink plastic bag, the medium
sized kind of all her bags and quickly picked up the broom and
dustpan in the other hand.
"No!" The door shut. "Darn it."
"Unmerciful I tell you! Unmerciful!" Ace cried out
in mock horror as if he was being eaten alive or
something.
Castel swatted him and turned to Tanya. "Explain the 'bag
theory' Mallory mentioned Taunny?"
The blond tech laughed and smiled, "okay." She paused
for awhile. "Well, you see, when Nyre cleans out every last
Sunday of the month, she brings along three kinds of plastic
erm, garbage bags. The white is the smallest, which is the size
of a regular grocery bag. She uses that when you have little
to take out. Like the trash in your personal trash bin and a
few of the things she sweeps off the floor or the dust she wipes
off." The hybrid nodded, an amused smile creeping onto her
face.
"The pink, well, it's the medium-sized type about twice or
thrice the size of the first bag. She uses this in cases like
Hacker and Ace's room. Duke's on occasion as well."
"Hey!" the one-eyed duck swatted his teammate who stuck
a tongue out at him.
"Admit it Duke, you'd be as bad as we are if Nyre wasn't
doing this!" The two other boys in question laughed, the
oldest duck snorted and raised his fist at them. The two scampered
behind Mallory who leaned onto Drake, tears from laughing in the
corner of her eyes.
"What about the black? If the pink was bad
"
"The black means you run for the hills." Mallory supplied
as soon as she could speak. "Tanya?"
"Technically it would be totally outrageous if Nyre had to
use that since I personally use that for the lab and include in
it the other stuff from the other general rooms. But in Nosedive's
case--"
"Aw Nyre c'mon!" the younger duck's voice was suddenly
heard from the hallway. Drake held up his hand and the others
stifled their laughter to hear the conversation.
"Nuh-uh Dive, this has *got* to go!"
"NYRE!!!" Dive's voice pleaded. The sounds of knees
being dragged on the floor were heard and moments later Nyre entered
the room dragging out a filled black plastic, Dive on the floor
clinging to her leg.
She looked up at the group and smiled as she opened the garbage
shute at the back of the kitchen. "Pardonez moi." She
smiled sweetly and pulled her foot away, and tossed the bag into
the shute. "I'll not have any empty, greasy pizza boxes
under your bed Dive. Now go get me a second black plastic and
move your comics from those shelves!" He saluted sullenly
and followed her back into the hallway.
The team exchanged glances.
"A s-second?!" Wing almost dropped his mug.
"Oh man! Nyre must be having a party cleaning out that kid's
room!" Duke doubled over with laughter. The rest agreed
thought nods were their only reply.
"Who else gets the black bag treatment?" Castel asked
wiping a tear from her eye.
"Well
presently no one else." Tanya shrugged and
put the mugs in the sink.
"Okay
" Castel laughed and leaned onto Dee who
was grinning from ear to ear in amusement. "What do you
get Grin? White or pink?"
"White." The large duck answered as he took on dishwasher
duty. "An unclean room tends to find its way to bad karma.
I clean my own."
"Why am I not surprised?"
The large duck paused and then winced, "though there have
been times when Nyre has engaged in cleaning mine as well."
"Oh really now
?" Castel glanced to the others.
"He forgets to scrape off some of the candle wax on the floor."
Nyre suddenly came in, searched for something in the shelves then
sighed, "but he doesn't really need a white plastic so it
goes directly to the bin after sweeping." She gave her large
friend a smile and then exited the room.
"That was fast." Dee put in as she placed the dry utensils
in their drawer. "Anybody see what she got?" She glanced
for replies.
"A spray." Drake answered putting away the placemats
and leaving one for Nyre.
"Which one is the question. But forget it." Dee put
Nyre's plate (with food), a fork, spoon and glass on top of the
mat and covered it with a plastic, bowl-shaped thingy to protect
it from any 'critters' that might crawl onto the table if they
left.
"Hey Wing, how about you?" Castel turned to her 'father'.
The hybrid fixed him with a questioning look as did the rest
of his teammates. "I wanna hear more. What did she do to
you? Tell! Tell!" Her eyes pleaded him and his jaw tightened
suddenly at the recollection.
"Well
" He started then shook his head. "I
don't know
"
"C'mon Wing. What'd she give you a pink one?!" Duke
interjected jokingly, but the look on Wing's face told him it
was no joke. Wing couldn't have gotten a pink
Nyre used
white in his!
"No way
" Mal started as she turned to face their
captain. "She *didn't*."
The white duck winced at the memory, "she did."
Wildwing got out of the shower and changed into his clothes.
He glanced to the mirror and ran a hand through his almost dry
hair.
Rap. Rap. Rap. Came the knock on the door.
Who could this be? He glanced to the alarm clock on his table.
6:35. It's
*early*. He went and opened the door. "Nyre!"
He said, startled to find her at his door. "Why aren't you
asleep?"
"Cleaning day." She said simply and slipped beneath
his arm into the room. "Uhm
what's wrong with this
picture Wing?"
"Wha
?"
The tiny human turned back at him, a slight frown on her face.
"Why am I sensing that I got the wrong plastic bag?"
she raised the white plastic she prepared since she already knew
which rooms needed what plastic.
"What d'ya mean?" He asked, rather defensive.
"Excuse me for a moment." She slipped out then entered
again with her broom, dustpan, rag and *pink* plastic. "Please
tell me this happens only once in a blue moon. I don't want to
think that you've graduated from the white ones as Dive graduated
from the pink not too long ago."
"No! No! It's not that
" He winced, sitting down
on his chair. She gave him a lopsided smile and planted a quick
peck on his cheek. "I'll count on that. Now out! Scoot!
I need to *clean*!"
"Wait. This is so unfair. Why can't you start with the
others?!" He protested as she pushed him out. "I've
already done the others." Were her last words before the
door closed shut.
"Okay
" Dee suppressed a giggle.
"NYRE!!!" Came Dive's voice from the hall.
"What?!" Came the shrieking reply.
"They're at it again." Grin covered his ears. This
was not gonna be pretty. The team peered out into the hallway
to see Dive looking down on a *very* snappy-looking Nyre.
"Dive, I am cleaning -- and that is THAT!" She narrowed
her eyes.
"Well watch it okay! Those are
" He glanced to
the things in the black trash bag.
"TRASH!" Nyre supplied.
"Keepsakes from the party last week!"
"Oh yeah
used cups and napkins and that
"
She shuddered, "moldy take-out from who knows where it came
from are KEEPSAKES?!" she rolled her eyes, "oh puh-lease
those have *got* to be soooo *valuable*." She retorted sarcastically.
Silence filled the room.
Duke held up his fingers for the team to see. Two
three
four
.
Nyre darted into the room and locked a screaming Nosedive out
as she continued with her 'mission'. Dive plunked down on the
floor and pouted.
"Hey Dive." Wing approached his brother. The blond
teen glanced up then continued to glared at the locked door.
"C'mon baby bro, let's go back to the kitchen with the others."
The teen hesitated then reluctantly followed.
"So tell me more." Castel asked once more as soon
as they all moved into the Rec room. "About what?"
Dive asked sitting himself beside his favorite playmate. "Mom
and her antics when it comes to days like this."
"Oh yeah
tell me about it." The teenaged duck
beside her snorted as he found his place on the couch. "Well,
actually, I don't mind that she cleans." Several pairs of
eyebrows shot up. "Really!" He glanced from face to
face. "I don't
as long as she's careful
I don't
want another reenactment of what happened, what was it Dee
?
Two months ago? Three months?"
"Four, Dive." Nyre's foster sister grinned and recounted
the incident.
The whole team had gathered in the Rec room the evening of
Nyre's 'cleaning'. There were no smiles, no looks of thanks.
Just
frowns. The atmosphere was that of a courtroom.
The defendant: Nyre Leviste. Placed on the stand due to her obssessive
cleaning
or so they said.
The prosecution: Duke L'Orange, Nosedive Flashblade
and
a few others who requested to be kept anonymous.
The judge: Wildwing Flashblade.
The jury: Tanya Vanderflock, Mallory McMallard, Deanna Kerse,
Hacker Randall, Ace Matheson, Grin and Drake Freewind.
The verdict:
Guilty as charged.
Wildwing sighed. "You are hereby BANNED. Yes banned, for
a month, from all things related to cleaning, outside your own
room and area. I'll decide who does what when the time comes.
Understand me Nyre?"
"Okay." The girl smiled. "Your loss." She
hopped off the couch and headed for the door. He grabbed her
wrist and pulled her to him. "What
?"
"Nothing. You're overdoing this, understand that we're doing
this for your own good." She nodded, smiling. Then he turned
to face the group. "Sorry
I kinda got carried away
and did some things I shouldn't have."
"Tell me about it," Dive retorted from his seat, "It
felt like I didn't even know my own room. Hey Nyre, next time
you clean, don't move the stuff okay?"
"Same here princess." Duke pinched her cheek and she
swatted his hand away. The two began a mock fight and Wing laughed
as he broke them apart. "Enough!"
Castel was on the floor holding her stomach and laughing hysterically.
The others shook their heads and then Nyre walked past the door
carrying her supplies to the broom closet at the farther end of
the hall. Minutes after depositing the mop, broom, dustpan, trash
bags and trash bin, she shut the door.
Drake paled. "Yipes!" He rushed out and darted past
Nyre to head to his room.
"What's with Drake?" Castel asked.
Mallory snickered, "see what Nyre's holding?"
"The pail, the soap-and-water solution and several rags and
a Scotch Brite. What?"
"She's doing Drake's walls. She saw them earlier and freaked.
He was gonna change so she delayed his room for later. Right
now
I think
."
"NYRE!!!"
"Drake! Shaddup! OUT!"
Mal burst out laughing, "yup. She got him!"
Dee and Castel blinked, "She got him
bad."
"What?!" Seconds later, Drake rounded the corner.
Completely --
-- and totally --
-- drenched in soap water.
Nyre peeked out from the corner, her soap-and-water solution bottle
empty. She grinned and scampered off. Drake opened his mouth
to say something but stopped and sighed. The team burst out laughing,
and this time, no one stopped.
________________
End
DISCLAIMER:
The Mighty Ducks are copyright Disney. Drake © Freewind
2000.
Strobe, Castel, the broom, mop, rags, trash bags, pail, dustpan
etc and Nyre © NyreL 2000
______________________________________________________________________________________
Nyre: I know, I know
*grins* I really did it bad to Dive.
But hey, at least he had company! *Duke is
heard muttering in the background* Eheh
?! *grins*
Dive: *grumbles* yeah
whatever! *to readers* This girl is
INSANE! She *likes* CLEANING!
Nyre: *raises an eyebrow* eh
and leave the bugs and roaches
*shudders* to crawl under your bed and
eat those things?! I think not!
Dive: *shooing her away* GO AWAY! NOW! Yeesh! Scat girly-girl!
Go! Go! Go!
Nyre: *shrieks as Dive attempt to tickle her* WING!!!
Wing: *enters room and runs into the two* What the?! *frowns*
Enough! Both of ya! Dive, Cassy needs
you, Nyre
*eyes her skeptically* I
*sighs* whatever,
c'mon, let's go, Dee wants to talk to ya.