|
Outside, the three fans were getting into their car -- a brand new red Toyota Corolla. They were still laughing over their encounter with the Annoying One and couldn't wait to tell their friends about how thoroughly they'd "stuck it" to the most universally despised character in all of fandom, when the sound of a bang and a metallic crunch rattled their little vehicle. It rocked rapidly for a few seconds. The three stopped, and looked at each other curiously. Then the woman, who was sitting in the driver's seat, carefully turned the key in the ignition. A few clicks sounded, but nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing happened, not even a groan from the engine. The only thing that could be heard was the clicking noise in the steering column. They got out of the car, and curiously began to walk around it, trying to figure out what was wrong. It was the effeminate one who found the hole. It was barely larger than his finger, but was still warm when he touched it. The hole was on the passenger side of the car, toward the front and just below the level of the hood. The impact appeared to aim inwards and straight toward the engine block, an appearance which was later confirmed by an amused mechanic, who eventually managed to extract a .50 caliber armor-piercing slug amid the shattered remains of the vehicle's cylinder head. ***** "Good shot, Alpha Seven." "Thank you, Sir." ***** The Round was as peculiarly active as it always was, and Adric was once more on-shift bartending. Relative safety for a few hours, he thought. But relative to what? It had thus far been a boringly eventful evening. Turlough had done a fairly credible Linda Blair impersonation (complete with head spin, levitation, and pea soup), for which they were still cleaning up the mess. A dazed and slightly stunned Katarina had shown up for work and had found a large number of robed beings standing outside, all of whom hailed her as a savior and a heroine (she greeted them all embarrassedly, but declined to elaborate to anyone else what it was all about). The Doctors were all arguing among themselves as to who should have the honor of attending the Barrayaran Emperor's wedding (the invitation clearly specified only one Doctor and one companion, but didn't specify _which_). 4Doc had been caught making another prank call on the pay phone. Oh yes, the Lenny Henry-Doctor and the Dave Allen-Doctor both made rare appearances, each pointing out that if the Atkinson-Doctor, Lumley-Doctor, Grant-Doctor(s), and Broadbent-Doctor were being allowed in, then they should as well. But two female faces were nowhere in sight, and hadn't been all evening. Considering the events of the previous day, Adric didn't know whether to be concerned or relieved. At least, he thought, the work was steady enough to keep his mood off the other thoughts that had been creeping in ever since. He finished mixing a coconut rum for the Henry-Doctor, and pushed it toward that patron. The timelord gently waved away some of his strands of shoulder-length dreadlocked hair, and wordlessly took the drink and departed. The gap was filled by a very slender, red-haired young woman wearing a Cisco Systems sweatshirt and carrying a stack of papers. "The usual?" Adric asked Melanie Bush, his hand already reaching underneath the counter for the bottle of carrot juice. Mel nodded but didn't look up from the papers in her hand. "Yes, that's fine." she said, intently examining one sheet. Adric grabbed a glass and poured her a drink, his eyes wandering toward the stack of pages. One eyebrow slowly raised. "Story assignments?" he asked. Mel nodded once more, still not tearing her attention away from them. She took a drink from her glass. "Uh huh. They just came in. I'm trying to sort everything before I pass them all out." She shuffled a few pages, then tapped them vertically against the counter to straighten the stack out. A slight look of bemusement spread on her face. "Some unusual pairings in this batch. Should be interesting." Adric was about to open his mouth to ask the obvious question, but was beaten to it by Ace, who happened to be shuffling past at the time. "Oi, are those assignments?" she asked excitedly. "Anything in there for me?" Mel handed her a few sheets. "A novel and a couple of audios, plus all the usual small stuff." Ace grabbed the papers gleefully, but by that time word had quickly spread and Mel began to be inundated with similar questions. "Just wait a moment, just wait a moment, I'll get to everyone if you'll all just hold on... Jo, you and 3rd Doctor, as usual... Hmm, this one's mine... so's this one... Anji, Fitz, here are yours... Sarah-Jane, you and 7th Doctor -- remember to pack a kevlar vest; it's a McIntee... Evelyn, here. You've even got a novel appearance in this lot... Steven... Dodo... Jamie... Turlough -- no, it's not Christopher Bulis this time... Leela... Charley... pardon me, but could you please pass these over to 6th Doc and 4th Doc? Thank you... Peri... Romana..." Her voice trailed off as the stack became increasing light, until only a couple of sheets remained. Finally, she carefully offered the bartender one sheet, face-down. "Um, sorry, not much this time. Just a piece of fanfic, I'm afraid." Adric looked at the proffered paper hesitantly. "Print, ADWC, or RADW?" he asked cautiously, but taking the paper anyway. Mel grimaced. "RADW." Adric smirked, but did not bother to so much as glance at the sheet. "Oh. Lovely." he muttered, then folded it up and placed it in his chest pocket, unread. Mel thought she caught a ripple of something cross his face. "Yes, well..." she low-voiced cautiously, "I suppose not everyone..." She bit her lip to kill the words she was about to speak, then changed her tone to something a little more cheery. "Well, there's always next time... you never know." "Right, there's always next time." he agreed, tonelessly. But once more, she thought she could detect that flicker of something pass across his features. "There's always hope." "Yeah, there's always hope." A moment of silence. Adric's attention seemed to be... somewhere else, far off into the distance behind her. "Refill?" he asked finally, abruptly, as if suddenly coming to his senses. He pointed to her glass. "Yes, please." Mel confirmed, but her attention was now solidly affixed on the young Alzarian across the counter. She observed him intently as he poured more dark orange liquid into her glass, searching his face for any sign of the flickers she had momentarily thought she'd seen. But whatever it was had seemingly now passed; he poured the liquid stiffly but professionally, not once taking his eyes off the glass. "So, who's left?" he asked conversationally, indicating the last remaining assignment sheet. So intent with watching him was she that, without thinking about it, she handed Adric the assignment page for a look -- and immediately regretted it. The Alzarian took it and began to read, and once more Mel detected that flicker of something she couldn't quite define, only now more intense than it had been previously. And mixed within it, she thought, was just a hint of dismay. "Well, well..." he muttered, his voice somewhat low. "'Asylum', hmmm? 4th Doc and her. A real novel, even. I assume this'll be a post-Terminus version of her?" "From the looks of the assignment, yes." Mel answered evenly. Adric handed her back the sheet, his face now a mask. "As you said, an unusual pairing. Should be interesting." "Yes, it should." She took a sip of her drink. "Maybe you'll get a few days rest out of it, too." Mel suggested, trying to come up with something positive to say. Adric merely nodded. "Yes, perhaps. One can hope." He began to polish the counter with a wet rag, cleaning up some of the minor spills. As he did so, Mel heard one last set of whispered, deadpan words as he turned away. "One can always hope." the words were, the irony in the voice not the least bit consistent with the sentiment. Mel watched as he went on to a few of the other patrons, mechanically filling their requests and keeping his small talk to a minimum. She watched silently, contemplatively, as he answered the calls of "Dead Boy" without comment, filling glasses and mixing drinks and never once saying more than what was absolutely necessary. Keeping his distance now, she realized. Away from everyone else, as if glad that the presence of the counter could act as a barrier, keeping them all at arm's length. And, most distressingly, not one person there so much as noticing, much less caring, that there was a perceptible change in him. Not one, she thought. Not a single one. Not a single goddamn one of them. ***** Normally, Ryoko rather enjoyed spending time in the 'Round, mostly because of the vast and expansive list of alcoholic beverages available for consumption, many of which she previously had no idea were even available anywhere in this galactic sector. But now was not being one of those nights. In fact, she had barely touched the drink that bubbled and steamed before her all evening. She was also trying desperately not to think about Adric's earlier point about Tenchi, but found that banishing the thought was not nearly as easy as she wanted it to be. A Polly-shaped shadow crept across her table, and she looked up. "Name and universe?" the blonde-haired young woman asked. "Huh? Oh, Lt. Uhura, Star Trek universe." Ryoko said, automatically, more because it was the first name that came to mind. Polly nodded, and made a check on the liquid crystal display of the slate in her hand. "Right, got you. Welcome back." Polly looked at the ersatz Lt. Uhura curiously. "Um, pardon me for asking, but you look a little different than last time..." Ryoko nodded. "I dyed my hair." she said, in a complete deadpan. "Oh, that it explains it, then." Polly smiled, taking the explanation into account. "Have a pleasant evening." And with that, the local continuity cop made an about face and moved to intercept a leather-clad, short-cropped blond haired vampire that had just stepped into the entrance. Wesley and Lucas showed up just then, both looking glum. "No sign of Ember, huh?" she asked them as they slunk down next to her. Katarina came over to take their drink orders. "Nope, not a clue." Wes answered. "It's like she's completely disappeared." Lucas nodded in slow confirmation. "Which, after last night, I'm not surprised." Ryoko smirked. Ember may be a nice kid, she thought, but the girl had a frustrating tendency to come and go without warning. "Any sign of, err, Psycho Bitch?" Lucas asked. "No. She hasn't been around all evening, either." Wesley grunted. "So, what do you think? Mutual Assured Destruction? They both killed each other fighting over Adric?" "Do you think that's what his problem is?" Lucas suggested. "He's got two girls fighting over him now, and he doesn't know which one to choose?" "No, it's not that." Ryoko said. Her gaze was still on her friend across the room, who at that moment was silently drawing a pint for the 6th Doctor. "It's deeper than that." In as few words as possible, she then tried to explain their earlier odd conversation. When she was finished, Wesley nodded. "I'm actually not surprised he said that. I think it's pretty obvious that he's always been more disappointed by how things turned out than he lets on." There was a scrape on the floor in front of them, and a short, thin shadow stepped forward over the table's edge, casting itself upon three surprised faces. "Umm, hi." Mel asked, looking at each one of them in turn. "Err, do you mind if I sit here? I think I need to talk to you people about Adric..." Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Five - Part Six
Back To F
|