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In The City We Have Plenty Of Psychodramas, Part II
Character(s)::
Ebreth, the Rat Pack, a frustrated cop
Author::
Puppet Head
Storyline::
Rat Kings
Title
of Post:: No! No! EVERYTHING'S gonna be OK!
"I hope so," said Ebreth, very
softly, without raising his head.
"Excuse me," said Harry Novoa,
sharply. "We're not finished here."
"Sorry, officer," said Ariath,
apologetically. "When the rat says move, we have to move."
"I want that boy to identify everyone
who kidnapped him. You don't want this to happen to other kids, do you? And I
want to know what the hell you mean by Barry Spivot. You would think you'd show
a little more interest in cooperating when an assassin trying to kill you is at
large."
Character(s)::
Khyrisse
Author::
Kristin L.K. Andersen
Storyline::
The Rats of R.U.M.I.
Title
of Post:: An Old Tale Retold
Khyrisse covered her eyes and sighed.
"Yes, well, people trying to kill me is very old news, Detective. You'll
have to forgive me. When you've come back from being dead half a dozen times,
an attempted assassination loses a bit of its impact."
She looked around. "Skitch will be back
in a moment. You're welcome to come with us, but we've already been attacked
once here. If you have any suggestions of somewhere to go that might be safe,
we're willing to entertain them."
Khyrisse gave Ariath a pleading look for
some breathing space. She nodded her head in the cop's direction. Ariath
suppressed a smirk and nodded back. Khyrisse went back to Ebreth. "You
suggested that we stay together and go somewhere safer. Well, we're going to
try." She sat down in a nearby chair while Ariath chattered away at
Detective Novoa, keeping him distracted. "You said something about leaving
before you went after Skitch," she murmured, leaning close so the
detective wouldn't hear. She wished briefly that she could see Ebreth's face,
but understood why he might not want anyone to. "Do you still want to
leave?" she asked after a moment. "I've got no right to get you into
any more trouble."
Character(s)::
Ebreth Tor
Author::
Laura Redish
Storyline::
Rat Kings
Title
of Post:: Identifications
"There. is. nowhere. to. go."
Ebreth spoke quietly, as if the words weren't really part of the same sentence.
Skitch had returned with Khyrisse's things.
It didn't look like any of them were missing. Or that there were any bombs
mixed in. She'd been wrong before, though. Skitch was cheerfully drawing
pictures of his various abductors for Officer Novoa. "Do--you want to talk
about it?" said Khyrisse, wishing it sounded less awkward.
"Of all the torments of Hell,"
he said, so softly, "the worst is the silence. In that hollow, consuming
silence, sometimes. Sometimes he could hear voices."
If Khyrisse had guessed all night, that
would not have been the sentence she would have come up with. "What?"
"Terrific," said Pieret.
"More prophecies."
Character(s)::
Jack Paris, Harry Novoa
Author::
Douglass Barre
Storyline::
Rat Kings and Dead Villains
Title
of Post:: On The Road Again
"Look, you really don't want to go
talking prophecies. They tend to have a tautological recursive effect."
"Dalen," both Cori and Val said
simultaneously.
"If you call something a prophecy
enough, it starts to become one."
"I'm going to be rich!" Skitch
cried. "I so prophesy!"
"Look, Ebreth," Jack said.
"Temporal metaphysics aren't my specialty, but statistical metaphysics
are. If you're worried that you're trapped in a no-way-out situation, you tweak
the odds." Jack looked at the man in a new light. "You can't be
Ebreth Tor," he whispered to himself.
"Look," said Novoa. "As
much as I'd like to, I don't have anything to hold you with. I can't force you
to stay here. What I can do is ask that you keep in contact with me. I'll
follow up the kid's kidnapping and you can tell me if you find any connections
on your vision quest or whatever the hell it is you're doing."
"Was that a reasonable,
non-threatening, understandable compromise?" Khyrisse asked Vastarin in
shock.
"First one of the mission," Vas
agreed.
"It's a deal, Mr. Novoa," Jack
said. "Just promise you don't use a sending spell," he muttered under
his breath.
Character(s)::
Khyrisse
Author::
Kristin L.K. Andersen
Storyline::
The Rats of R.U.M.I.
Title
of Post:: Phantom Voices
Khyrisse blinked several times, still
staring at Ebreth, who still hadn't moved. A hollow look invaded her face, and
she swallowed hard. "I know a little about hearing voices," she
whispered absently. She tightened her hand on his shoulder in a comforting way and
stood up. "Ebreth... thank you for making sure that Skitch wasn't one of
mine. If you ever want to share... this... with someone, I might deal with it
better than you imagine."
Faced with Ebreth's continued silence, she
nodded. She went to answer questions for the detective, grabbing Pieret along
the way. He opened his mouth to say something, and she yanked fiercely on his
arm. "Don't. Say. A word. I don't want to discuss it," she hissed at
him, scrabbling mentally for her lost composure.
Character(s)::
Warp, Jack Paris
Author::
Douglass Barre
Storyline::
Orion's Belt
Title
of Post:: With Enemies Like This
"So who is that guy?" Jack
asked.
"That 'guy' is Orion the Conqueror.
He's the leader of a stellar empire covering fifteen star systems. He's been trying
to make our system number sixteen since the early Eighties."
"And you... fight him?"
"Me and some friends. I've been
staying out here orbiting Titan for the last year, helping Darkstar and some of
the Saturnian Templars fend him off. We just recently signed a treaty, and you
showing up broke it. I'm not supposed to warp anyone into treaty space."
"I'll pretend that made sense,"
Jack sighed.
"You've got me in buttloads of
trouble, my friend," Warp grinned, his eyes sparkling even beneath the sunglasses.
"That's what it means."
The sound of the Orionian shuttle docking
with Warp's rented runabout hurt even Jack's ears. Moments later, the airlock
cycled and a woman in less clothes than Jack had ever seen stepped in.
"Dom," Warp nodded.
"Warp," she said.
Even Jack could tell the tension in the
air.
"I've got to take you to Orion,"
Dominator said.
"You could help me escape," Warp
said charmingly.
"I could get my cells downwashed,
too. Not bloody likely."
Warp sighed. "Well, we'll always have
Paris."
"You knocked me out in Paris and left
me with French gendarmes," Dom said, suppressing a grin.
"That wasn't me! That was... uh...
Tessa!"
The two laughed.
"I hope you're on as good terms with
Orion," Jack interjected.
They both looked at him querulously.
"New guy," Warp said.
"I can tell."
Character(s)::
Khyrisse
Author::
Kristin L.K. Andersen, face red for a week...
Storyline::
The Rats of R.U.M.I.
Title
of Post:: I Don't Speak COBOL!
Khyrisse looked at Jack when he mentioned
the sending spell. "No, I can do
that, Detective Novoa. I'll keep in touch with you via magical means, if that's
all right."
"What on Ataniel was that about,
anyway, Jack?" she then asked quietly. "I got back the strangest
reply..."
Character(s)::
Jack Paris, Cori Yashida
Author::
Douglass Barre
Storyline::
Rat Kings and Dead Villains
Title
of Post:: "Lies Make Baby Jesus Cry"
"Huh," Jack said. "Maybe
there's, uh, some sort of magical, um, static in Rimbor City."
"It worked pretty weird on Jack's
end, too." Ariath said. "Sounded just like you, but his lips were
moving."
"I doubt it's an issue. I bet I was
thinking of a math problem while I was sending to you. That's probably what you
got."
Cori had forgotten what a bad liar Jack was.
Apparently he hadn't told them yet what he really was. Cori determined then to
do all she could to help him keep his secret.
Character(s)::
Valende
Author::
Kristin L.K. Andersen
Storyline::
The Rats of R.U.M.I.
Title
of Post:: I Don't Do Cat-Fights
Valende looked at Jack while he attempted
to explain away the unexplainable... and then looked at his recently arrived
friend, Cori. Oh, dear.
With an internal sigh, Valende put her
dinner with Jack in the indeterminate future.
After this woman figured out what kind of relationship she wanted from
him. Jack was just not going to
understand, either. She'd have to find a way to do this gracefully, without
alienating him. Valende sighed again,
this time out loud.
"Val?" her brother asked quietly,
surprised.
"Never mind," she murmured back,
with an ironic smile at her own choice of words.
Character(s)::
Harry Novoa, Beliath
Author::
Douglass Barre
Storyline::
Rat Kings and Dead Villains
Title
of Post:: Blame Tila
Harry Novoa watched as the Rat Pack zoomed
off in their magic carriage across the water. Harry doubted he'd ever hear from
them again, and hoped he made the right choice. It was hard trusting people in
Rimbor City. "You and me, Graves," he said to the unconscious man
tied up next to him.
Beliath stepped through the portal. It had
cost him dearly to learn about the Thief's Bridge, a residual path from Hell to
Rimbor City, created a few years back by an overzealous thief. The last
remnant's of Grayson Mer's identity were gone, and his face was open for all to
see. The devils he didn't mind, but here, in Rimbor City, none may look upon
his true identity and live.
"I've got to clear passage for us
with the Guild Authority," Harry Novoa said to Graves. "Stay
here," Novoa smirked. The police detective went into the unmarked
shopfront to pay the tax on passage through the undercity to the only safe
precinct he knew of.
There was a man, tied and unconscious,
leaning against a building across the way. Beliath thanked the mortal gods for
his luck. Keeping to the shadows, he crept over to the bound figure. In
moments, there was nothing left of Graves but a true seeming, worn by Beliath
of the Dead College.
"Shit," muttered Harry Novoa, as
he exited. All that remained was rope. Graves was gone.
Character(s)::
Lilith
Author::
Laura Redish
Storyline::
Rat Kings
Title
of Post:: Hell in a Handbasket
"Thirteen," First Intendant
Lilith said to Geryon through her teeth, "is a very unlucky number."
Character(s)::
Pieret
Author::
Laura Redish
Storyline::
Rat Kings
Title
of Post:: Road Trip
"Khyrisse?" said Pieret.
"I don't want to TALK about it,
Pieret!"
"Look, I know Rimbor City's been kind
of rough on you--"
"I said I don't want to TALK about
it!"
"--but it's the middle of the night,
and everyone's exhausted, and how far are you going to drive this thing before
we can get out and sleep?"
Khyrisse paused. That wasn't what she'd
been expecting him to say. "Oh."
Character(s)::
Lilith and Geryon
Author::
Douglass Barre
Storyline::
Rat Kings and Dead Villains
Title
of Post:: Everybody Needs One
Geryon pondered for a moment then
addressed "But wait... if we lost twelve souls..."
"Yes?"
"And I recovered one..."
"Yes?"
"Then we're at eleven."
"Your point?"
"So we lose that one again."
"Right."
"That puts us back to twelve."
"So?"
"Not thirteen."
Lilith looked to her hands. No fingers,
only serpents, too wiggly to count on.
"Damn it all, we need to get a
mathematician down here."
Character(s)::
Ebreth Tor, the Rat Pack
Author::
Laura Redish
Storyline::
Rat Kings
Title
of Post:: Inside the Carriage
"I am so glad--glad, yes?--you are
okay, little Skitch."
"Me too," said Skitch, and
hungrily devoured the handful of hotel mints he had stolen as they had left.
"Man, you guys could have waited dinner on me!"
"You shouldn't run away on your own
like that," admonished Ariath. "Didn't you see how much trouble that
got Khyrisse in? And she's much more powerful than you are."
"Yeah, well, well you followed her
alone, and you're only first level," said Skitch, and stuck his tongue
out.
Ariath didn't really have an answer for
that. "How did you find him, anyway?" she asked Ebreth, sweetly.
Ebreth was kind of leaning against the wall
of the carriage, staring out the window at the passing blur. "I. Called a
favor."
"He can talk pretty creepy,"
Skitch offered with his mouth full. The whole cabin was starting to smell kind
of minty. Jack felt faintly disgusted.
Character(s)::
Jack Paris and the Rat Pack, Hronmir Silent-Voice
Author::
Douglass Barre
Storyline::
Rat Kings and Dead Villains
Title
of Post:: South Side Story
The "Trade-N-Post" Inn in
Southern Dalencia was about halfway between Rimbor and Sturtevant. Between Pieret's
whining, Ebreth's silence, Skitch's mints and Jack's apparent nausea, a rest
stop seemed like a damn good idea. Besides, she needed to talk to the manager
about the name.
The Rat Pack moved slowly, together,
towards the inn. Jack felt like he was part of a street gang. He began to snap
his fingers in perfect rhythm. "When you're a Rat, you're a Rat all the
way..."
"Shush," shushed Cori.
Val looked back at the two of them. Her
expression betrayed nothing.
They waited in the common room for Khyrisse
to finish haggling for the rooms. They each put a silver piece in Skitch's pool
of how cheap she was going to get the rooms. Jack put his on "2 silver
per."
Khyrisse came back. "Great news!
Everyone gets their own room!"
"How much?" everyone asked in
unison.
"Free! I had some... copyright
issues... I could bargain with."
They looked at Skitch's scroll. The kid
had put his own piece on "Free".
"Wow! Looks like bed time!"
Skitch said, scooping up the silver.
Hronmir Silent-Voice watched the Trade
Carriage. Something that fast would be a tremendous help in his mission.
Perhaps the driver would be able to help him. He pulled his black cloak around
him and turned towards the "Trade-N-Post."
Character(s)::
a mysterious stalker
Author::
Douglass
Storyline::
Skeins of Fate
Title
of Post:: The Danger of Being Grimthane
Someone... or something... had been
stalking Grimthane Darkcloak. It had caught him in the forests outside Rumi,
and it believed that it had killed Grimthane there.
Now it suspected there was something
wrong.
Rumi was in flames. That had held the
stalker's attention long enough for Grimthane to crawl away. Now the being had
found Grimthane's body... but that which Grimthane carried was gone.
A howl
of rage joined the crackling of burning buildings in the night. The hunt was on
once again.
Character(s)::
Bambi and Candi
Author::
Douglass Barre
Storyline::
The Unbearable Swankness of Being
Title
of Post:: They Look Alike, They Walk Alike, Sometimes They Even Talk Alike
They should have listened to Lissa.
Now Palmer Khlone had dragged them before
his evil master, the Mad Doctor Swank.
"So, like, you aren't going to put us
on a conveyor belt heading towards a buzzsaw or anything, are you?" Candi
asked.
"Silence!" Swank shouted.
"Cease your infantile prattling, cow!"
"No, she's not a cow," Bambi
corrected. "She's a human. I know, 'cause I'm her twin, and I'm
human."
"You are more than human, my
dear," Swank said to Bambi. "You are a divine beauty."
"I'm her twin!" Candi added.
"Shut up, you pestulent boil! You are
nothing next to her! Like night is a pale shadow of day! Like peanut butter as
compared to jelly! Like..."
"Like Paul McCartney and Wings?"
Bambi offered.
"You speak nonsense, but I love you nonetheless,"
Swank beamed.
Candi pouted.
"Excuse me," Robinson Paris
called from across the room. "I've almost finished those stupid fractals
you wanted me to debase my science on."
"Excellent," Swank said. He
reached up and yanked a hair off of Bambi's head. "I'll throw this in the
mix, and we'll soon have our very own demigod! Muahahahahaha!"
Lissa sniffed. The clothes she was wearing
seemed a little ripe. She'd have to remember to polymorph new ones next time.
Character(s)::
Pieret
Author::
Laura Redish
Storyline::
Rat Kings
Title
of Post:: A Good Point
Pieret took his boots off. "Man, am I
going to sleep well tonight," he muttered. "Khyri, unless I'm
mistaken, Sturtevant has a lot of demons mucking through it, right?"
"Well, it can't be worse than Rimbor
City," she said, unpleasantly.
"I was just thinking that the odds of
our being attacked there are probably pretty good?"
"It's been a long day, Pieret. Get to
the point."
"Skitch has no weapon," he said.
"Ebreth has a sailor's knife. I don't know if Jack has anything either. A
little redistribution of weaponry might be in order."
Character(s)::
Jack Paris, the Rat Pack
Author::
Douglass Barre
Storyline::
Rat Kings and Dead Villains
Title
of Post:: Sleep, Perchance...
Jack watched as one by one the Rat Packers
went off to bed. Khyrisse and Pieret had a discussion for a while, then Ebreth
and Khyrisse. Most of them seemed to be deferring to her as leader. Jack
smiled. Better her than me, Jack thought.
Finally, when Khyrisse was the last one
left, Jack wandered over to her.
"Khyrisse," he said. "I'm going out for a bit tonight. I
don't need much sleep. I just didn't want anyone worrying."
"I'm not your den mother,"
Khyrisse said.
"No, but you're our leader. Uh, next to
the rat, of course," he grinned.
"What if we need you?"
"I'll be back in a few hours. Don't
send... just holler. I won't be far."
"I trust you, Jack."
There is a traitor amongst you.
"Glad to hear it. I won't be
long."
Cori waited in her room. She figured Jack
would stop by shortly, even just to say goodnight. He was always so sweet that
way.
Ariath sat indianstyle on her bed. Vas had
declined again. Still, she thought smiling, she was patient. She reached over
for a book with the initials "ASR" on the cover. "Spells don't
learn themselves," she said to herself, and threw herself into the book.
And the dreams started to come...
Character(s)::
Khyrisse
Author::
Kristin L.K. Andersen
Storyline::
The Rats of R.U.M.I.
Title
of Post:: Den Mother to the Rat Pack-- Does That Make Me a Rat Queen?
"Ariath has at least one knife,"
Khyrisse pointed out with a strange smile. "No, you're right, we'll need
to pick up some weapons tomorrow. Of course, I'll have to be told what everyone
can use..." She tilted her head at Pieret with an amused look. He smiled
back with a wry twist to his expression. "Oh, just about anything,"
he replied. "But then, you know I can use a sword from back in
Cynystra."
"I know. It's what you can use from
other places that I wondered about..."
she said, then shook her head. She bent down and gave him a quick kiss
on the cheek. "Sorry. I'll be less bitchy in the morning."
Hesitantly, she went over to Ebreth. He
still didn't look very steady. She discovered that she missed his grin, and
gave herself an irritated shake for the thought.
"Ebreth?" He looked at her, but she was busy staring at
her hands, the right one yanking at the glove on her left, as usual. "I'm
not going to be able to sleep, but someone should probably keep watch for a
while, anyway. If you want to talk to someone, I'll be up."
Aware of the blush on her face, she
pictured the possible misinterpretation of her words, and turned hurriedly
away.
Relieved by the news that someone else
would be awake and nearby (thank you, Jack), she went to her room and searched
it thoroughly for more bombs. Then she dug out the roll of silk she'd gotten
from the Carriage before she itemed it back into the Sigil. She held the soft
lengths of fabric up, and a rich amber glowed in the lamplight, accented by
transparent swirls of burgundy and black. She'd bought it a long time ago,
hoping that the burgundy and black in it would let her wear it, but the amber
had turned dark red the instant she'd wrapped the material around herself,
spoiling the subtleties of the pattern.
Khyrisse looked down at her ruined
clothing, then at the bed. She wasn't even going to bother going to bed. She
didn't WANT to sleep, not until she was exhausted enough not to dream. It
wouldn't kill me to fall asleep in my chair, anyway. She wizard-locked the
window and turned a chair to face the half-open door to the hallway. Humming
quietly to herself, she sat down and started sewing herself a new tunic. The
tune, an eerily complex one that skipped from one cultural style to another,
seemed to calm her, and her stitches grew less erratic as her hands finally
stopped shaking.
Character(s)::
Valende
Author::
Kristin L.K. Andersen
Storyline::
The Rats of R.U.M.I.
Title
of Post:: Promises and Puzzlement
Valende stood staring out her bedroom
window at the sky, puzzling over Jack and his friend Cori. She was married to
another... she seemed to be truly despondent over his death... yet she is
interested in Jack. Perhaps she never realized it, she thought with a sigh.
It's probably just as well. Here the Madness is less than a month gone, my
promises to myself on this matter mint-new; yet I lay eyes on Jack, and my
intentions vanish like smoke. Vastarin is as steady as a weathervane, I can
understand his change of heart; but mine? She turned away from the window,
frowning. I am doubly a fool, because I
do not know what Jack is hiding, and Cori clearly does.
Valende curled up on her bed with her eyes
on the sky, waiting for dawn.
Corellon, where is your illumination when
I truly need it?
Character(s)::
Ebreth Tor
Author::
Laura Redish
Storyline::
Rat Kings
Title
of Post:: Ask Me Again Tomorrow
It sounded like a pass. Ebreth, who wasn't
feeling at his most attractive, was somewhat taken aback, especially since the
last couple of times he had tried to touch Khyrisse had resulted in her being
attacked by a gang and a demon bird. "Uh," he said, "uh, thanks,
Khyrisse, but you know, I think I, think I'd really just like to get some
sleep, if that's all right."
Ebreth Tor collapsed onto the bed, utterly
exhausted, and vowed not to mess tomorrow up as badly as he'd messed up today.
His dreams were violent and when he
finally woke the bedsheets were stuck to his body.
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