Name: Nami Hikari, Pooka
with a PasscodePlayer: Shawn Hagen
E-mail Address: hagen@netroute.net
Chronicle: Santa Cruz/Changeling
Court: Seelie
Legacies: Virtuoso/Outlaw
House: Eiluned
Seeming: Childing
Kith: Pooka (Fox/Kitsune)
Household/Motley:
ATTRIBUTES:
Physical: Strength-1, Dexterity-3, Stamina-2
Social: Charisma-2, Manipulation-2, Appearance-4
Mental: Perception-3, Intelligence-5, Wits-3
[Thoughts on the number: Physical, well a low strength is a given. Social, she still has a bit to learn about dealing with people, especially in an adult manner. Mental, makes sense. Her wits might be going up soon.]
ABILITIES:
Talents: Alertness-1, Athletics-1, Dodge-1, Empathy-1, Expression-1, Intrigue-1, Kenning-2, Style-1, Subterfuge-1
Skills: Etiquette-1, Gambling-1, Security-1, Singing-1, Stealth-1
Knowledge: Computer-4, Computer Hacking-4, Enigmas-1, Investigation-1, Law-1, Mythlore-1, Linguistics (English/Japanese)-1, Literature-1, Occult-2
[Most of her abilities are at 1, this is because Nami tends to get bored with most things fairly quickly, she learns something, then puts it aside to learn something else.]
ADVANTAGES:
Arts: Chicanery-1, Primal-1, Wayfare-1
Backgrounds: Contacts-1, Greymayre-1, Resources-5, Title-1
Birthrights: Eidetic Memory (+2), Computer Aptitude (+1), Farie Eternity (+)
Frailties: Changeling Eyes (-1), Child (-3), Speech Impediment (lisp) (-1), Surreal Quality -2)
Realms: Actor-2, Fae-2, Scene-1
[Her contacts are delt with over computer. Most think the person on the other end is a little immatrue but basically all right. If they met her in person though....]
TEMPERS:
Glamour-6
Willpower-6
Banality-1
Appearance Nami looks like a child. She is a slim, small girl with long brown hair and the most startling lavender eyes (Changeling's Eyes). She is very cute, not all that odd in a Pooka Chidling. She tends to dress as a child would, though her clothing is always of high quality. Dresses and skirts and ribbons in her hair, smelling of baby shampoo (she likes the no tears part) as smelling faintly of talcum powder. No one ever takes her seriously, (which is one reason she does a lot of things over the computer).
Personality: Nami is a child. She sees the world through a child's eyes. There is bad and good, black and white, she does not understand shades of gray. While sometimes showing remarkable maturity she still cries when frightened and throws temper tantrums if things aren't going the way she wants and laughs at the simplest things.
Prelude:
Nami is twenty years old, she underwhent her Chrysalis when she was ten. Her mentor was an old Satyr named Mikkar who she first met on the train on her way to school one day. He gave her a fairly realistic view of changelling society, but slightly slanted with a Satyr's viewpoint. She lost contact with Mikkar some years ago and has not heard from him since.
Nami likes mortal, they are the best people to play tricks on, and they can be ever so helpful, most of them. The bad ones are of course best avoided. Still, at times their blindness to the real world can be a pain. She likes meeting them over computers where they are still willing to play and pretend.
Nami hs of course encountered Autumn People, often at school. She avoided any class taught by an Autumn Person as best she could. Her most dangerous encounter was over the computer. She did not realize that the person was a very dangerous individual, trying to find those who deluded themselves and help them. Fortunately she realized the danger in time and dropped all contact. Then she cancelled his account and gave him a police record.
The most beautiful thing that Nami had ever seen involved, not surprisingly, a computer. She had just finished desinging the ultimate computer security system, so she thought, even using a little glamour to do it. It was perfect. And then, as she watched, as she tried to stop them, someone compromised her security like it was not there. It was beautiful. And, after they had got the data they wanted, the person formed a winking smiley face on the screen with a 'Better Luck Next Time' message. Their skill and speed were breathtaking.
The most frightend she has ever been was in the presence of a powerful Dautian, a psychologist, who she was sure was after her. Just being in his pressence for such a short time scared her so much, the possibilty of undoing. She had nightmares about it for a week afterwards, waking up with her sheets soaked with sweatm and once or twice other things.
Cash Flow: Her montly allowance is 30000. 10000 goes to basic living expenses, eletrictiy, phone, credit cards, etc. It also covers her constant upgrades of her computer. The 20000 left over is used or dumped in a bank as needed.
Currently I think she would be going to a nice private school, if there is one in Santa Cruz. If not then she will skip the school deal for a time, until she is forced into it to keep the child welfare people away. She can always pull out the birth certificate, but that is such a pain and they almost never really fully believe it.
Nami Hikari
Pooka with a Passcode
In an odd way Nami was never quite the same as any other children. She seemed to be more interested in what was going on in the quiet corners of her house and in the garden rather than the bright colors of the TV or the simple toys or anything that other children were captivated by. Long hours, spent lying in a pool of sunshine, out in the garden, with a book or two to keep her company.
She always worried her parents a little, but only a little. She was a precious and precocious child and they loved her dearly. Never did they tell her to put away her childish fantasies. Imaginary friends were always invited to dinner, monsters in the closets were treated as serious threats and dealt with in an appropriate way and life was good for the young girl.
One thing did fascinate her, captivate her attention and make her sit up and take notice. Her father's computer. While a simple machine and ultimately nothing compared to what the computers would become in time, it was still a thing of magic to young Nami. She sometimes would sit on her father's lap, entranced by the work he did. It should have bored her, all the numbers and everything that in the end did so little that was exciting, but it did not.
There was magic in those numbers, the dancing bits of data that her father so patiently worked with. There was so much potential. And sometimes her father did things he should have been able to do and the computer did things it should not have been able to do.
What Nami was to find out later, was her father was a mage. A member of the Virtual Adepts.
But at the time is was all part of the magic that was part of her world.
Her Chrysalis came when she was still a child, a little over ten. Everything changed so suddenly for her and her world was never quite the same, but how could it really be? She was Fae. She was a child of the Dreaming.
Her parents both noticed the sudden change in their daughter. He mother first took it as a sign of early puberty but changed her mind soon. Her father soon discovered the truth. His daughter was not human, not completely. She was something else. Something he was not quite sure of.
It is hard to be certain what he might have done had he been given the chance. He might have accepted it. He might have tried to drive the alien part from her. It is not to be known.
A month after her change, while he was still researching what had happened, and Nami had just met up with other Fae, he and his wife were killed by NWO hit team as he had found out too much about a certain operation. His death was for his knowledge. His wife's death was a warning. Leaving the daughter alive was a show of compassion. Of course had they known what she truly was they would have killed her as well.
Nami knows this now, but is unsure of how to react. Going to war with a group of mages seems like a bad thing, but they did kill her parents. She is too unsure. It is likely that he day she becomes a wilder is the day the NWO starts finding itself with a clever and potentially dangerous enemy, but that is some time off.
She was taken in by relatives, her mother's sister and her family, who raised her as best they could. Her aunt was not the woman her mother had been nor was her uncle like her father. They had little time for the imaginary worlds that Nami so often found herself drawn into.
The other Fae came to her and told her that she was in danger, that she might be undone by those people, that she would be safer with them. Nami disagreed, she was not that easily dissuaded from her dreams and was clever in hiding who and what he was. Never once did her adoptive family threaten her with psychologist couches or other Fae breaking tortures. They did not know the Child of the Dreaming that lived with them and brought a little magic into their life.
Unfortunately Nami was oddly blessed, part of the immortality once part of all Fae's nature had touched her. One day, when the calendar said she was 13 she looked at herself in the mirror and saw a child's body. She looked at her toys, and the toys that her cousin, only a few months older than her, had put away. She thought about how everyone told her to act more her age.
She thought about all that and more, then went to see Mikkar, an old grump Satyr who told her stories and gave her candies. She went to him. sat on his knee, and asked her why she was still a child.
He looked at her, hemmed and hawed then told her he did not know, but knew someone who might. He took her to see a Sluagh, who never gave her name. That Sluagh examined the young Fae carefully, with the thoroughness of a physician and in the end told Nami she was aging very slowly, perhaps as slow as one year for every ten. Then she told her to leave, which Nami did.
Before Nami had been willing to stay with her aunt's family, but not any longer. She was suddenly too different, too odd to remain with them. It would not be long before her slowing aging began to draw comment, before she was branded as too different to be ignored.
It was not only the fact she would not age, Nami thought that while odd, such an occurrence could be explained away. What she knew they, her aunt and uncle, would be worried about was her refusal to let go of childhood.
And a refusal is what it is. She sees no reason to turn her back on what the world she is in. She has a child's body, and in many ways, a child's way of looking at things.
Let others grow up, she will anyway, eventually, why rush it? When she finally reaches the age of puberty and hormones start racing through her blood she is likely to change her mind and wonder how she could have been so stupid. For now she is happy.
So she turned her back on the mortal world and ran off to freeholds and the world of the Fae. As time passed things about the mortal world began to interest her. Computers were changing, becoming more and more interesting. She began to study them, to learn and to add to what she had learned on her father's knee.
Eventually she became a master of the tool, making it an art, making art with it.
She has drifted back into the mortal world a little, her birth certificate says she is twenty now, though who would know to look at her? She has taken control of the money that her parents had left to her, setting up a household of her own, living her life as she sees fit, though at times she is a little overwhelmed by the adult world that she has to deal with.
She works with her computer, building security systems, programming games and recently designing home pages. That, along with some clever, slightly gray side work, has ensured she lives quite comfortably. Bills are paid automatic bank withdrawals, she does most of her shopping by catalogue, the best catalogues of course. She has several gold cards but can't use a single one of them in person. Most people just don't accept ten year olds with their own credit cards.
As good as her set up is she still needs the occasional bit of help from some adult who can pose as a parent. In those times she often calls on the aid of a few Fae friends. She thinks there is nothing more amusing that getting a slightly crazy Pooka or Satyr to pose as her father or mother.
Her pranks are centered around her computer, which it not to say she is above planting stink bombs and such, just that what she does with a computer is so much better. She can get the most amusing rumors flowing around the world with just the stroke of a key. Altering home pages is also another fun little game, changing the pictures and adding fraudulent, but funny, text. Sometimes, when she is feeling naughty she does worse, but it is all in the name of fun.
Nami does not spend all her time sitting in front of her computer. She enjoys going out and playing in play grounds and, games of hide and go seek and other things, whether with mortal or other childlings matters little to her. She does not watch TV though, owns a few but they are unplugged, or still in their boxes. She reads an on line news paper to keep up with current events. While other kids have planted themselves in front of he tube she is likely in front of her computer, doing something, more often that is writing. So far she has managed to get a few stories published in magazines. While most critics have said her work shows a certain immaturity, they find it refreshing and charming for the most part.
Her contact with the mortal world is an on and off thing. Sometimes she enrolls herself in a school, which while dangerously banal, can be a lot of fun. And it gives her a chance to help other kids who need a little help to avoid being sucked into the world of banality. There are also many pranks you can play in a school.
Her contact with the Dreaming is strong and regular, hanging out with other childlings, going to court and sometimes even going on adventures.
She has a few friends at court and is even a noble. She is not sure how that happened, she just found some data that she thought might interest the local Count and suddenly, boom, she's got this title as his thanks. Weird is how she puts it. Still, it is kind of neat. She is a member of the House Eiluned, which seems fitting as she has her fair share of secrets, many other peoples. When will they learn that putting information on computers is not a way to guarantee security?
Monday, June 19th, 1995 3:09 p.m.
It was the backpack, she decided, it had to be the backpack. Nothing else would explain it. Saddle shoes, a yellow skirt that almost went to her knees, a white blouse and her straw hat were nothing odd. It was the red 'Hello Kitty' backpack that was attracting the stares. That was it.
Oh, Nami thought, she certainly did look a bit out of place wandering the campus of U.C.S.C. There were not that many children there, she had only seen a few really, but she knew it was the backpack.
Hello Kitty had obviously not made any sort of inroads into North America, which Nami thought was too bad. After a few days of sampling North American Television she had unplugged all her TVs. It was the only way she could have saved herself. They could use some Hello Kitty.
A new back pack would be in order sooner or later. Perhaps there was a store on campus where she could purchase one. That could come later. At the time Nami's mind was occupied with the task of finding the registrars office. If she found the place, and she was currently beginning to think that it might not exist, she could go about deciding if she wanted to register for any of the summer computer courses that the school offered.
She stopped, her legs beginning to hurt from the walking. She should have brought her bike, she decided. It would have been a much better option. Looking around she spotted a comfortable looking bench. Of course comfortable was not really a word she would have normally used for it, but feeling as tired as she was, it did look inviting. She took a seat then took off her pack and placed it to the side. Sitting as she was, her back near the rest, her toes, but only her toes, touched the ground.
Nami was a slim, small girl. She did not quite look to be the eleven years she claimed, though close. Her light brown hair was pulled back from her face with a yellow ribbon--the same color of her skirt--at the base of her neck. Her large eyes were a startling shade of lavender, not that any shade of lavender would be normal. She was extremely cute, which was something she both knew and knew how to use.
Taking off her hat she used it to fan herself, it was a hot day. The hat, while perfectly normal, had two holes cut in the brim, opposite to each other. If asked what they were for, which occasionally she was, Nami always said for her ears which were too nice to be covered up by the hat. It was that that sort of thing that made most mortals she met think her a little odd.
Nami was the first to admit hat mortals had a rather limited view of things, but she did not really hold that against them. It was not their fault, not entirely. And there were some whose views were quite large. She liked them the best.
She put her hat back on her head, careful to make sure the holes were positioned just right, then looked around. There were not that many people around. Most of the students were gone for the summer. It sort of made the place look a little, well sad really. It was the sort of place that really needed a lot of people to feel right.
She slid off the bench and headed off again, once more intent on finding the registrars office, or at least something interesting. There had to be something interesting on the campus.
A short time later she was approaching McHenry Library, she though it might make a useful reference point, assuming the map she had was to be trusted.
Her destination was the front entrance but as she approached something else caught her attention. A young man with a laptop on, appropriately enough, his lap. It was the computer that grabbed her attention at first, but there was something else about him, though she was not sure what it was.
Looking at her Swatch, a pink one, she decided she was not pressed for time, not that that would stop her anyway. Hiking her pack higher up on her shoulder she walked over to where the young man was sitting under some plumb trees.
As she got closer to him she decided that there was nothing special about him. He was thin and pale, his hair dark, but normally she would have not noticed him in a crowd. It looked as if he was having some trouble with his computer.
"Okay," he said, "if you don't work I will get nasty. I mean it," he hit a few keys. "You can be replaced," he told the computer. His voice was not too loud, kind of soft really.
Nami smiled. She liked watching people talk to computers. It was really kind of funny.
"Why aren't you working?" he demanded. "I hate these things. I'm a writing major, not a computer geek. I don't need this," he said, hitting the computer's keys in frustration.
"That is not going to help," Nami told him, leaning over his shoulder. Not a bad computer, she thought.
"What?" he said, sounding a little startled. He looked at her, an odd look on his face. Nami figured he was surprised to be confronted by a child on the campus.
"Konichiwa," Nami said, smiling. "Mondai dethu ka?" [got a problem?]
"Again, what?"
"There are better wayth to fix that than by pounding on it, which motht of the time won't make a difference." She said, lisping slightly.
"I see," the odd look he was giving her did not go away.
"Mind if I take a look at it?"
He sighed, definitely giving up. "Go ahead."
Nami sat down beside him and took the computer from him. She tapped few keys and moved the mouse pointer around, double clicking her way through menus and files.
"Oh my!" Nami said.
"What??" he leaned over to see what was wrong.
"How can you get by on so little memory? And the processor," she shook her head. "I can think faster than that," she looked at him.
The look he gave her told her that he did not care for her observation.
"Just a minute," she said, quickly fixing he problem with a few more double clicks. "There you go," she handed the computer back to him. "You might want to check the help next time."
"You fixed it."
"No problem," he told him.
"Thanks," he told her. "My name is Marc by the way. You would be?"
"I am princeth Arwen of the houthe of Elrond. Ath I am hiding from my huthband, Aragon, a bit of a twit, I am going by the name Nami," she told him.
"I see," he said. The odd look returning again. He looked back too his computer. "Hey, what is this? Did you do this?"
Nami looked at the screen. Weird patterns were filling the screen, they were full of bands of light. Nami thought they were rather pretty, and she thought that she could see a pattern of sort emerging. Then they were gone.
"Kirei dethita ne," she said. [that was pretty.]
"You know what it is?" Marc asked her.
Nami shrugged her shoulders.
"It is because you are a changeling. This happened when Tweedhopper was trying to peek over my shoulder once. It only happens when I'm on campus though."
Nami was a little surprised. People just did not say she was a changeling out of the blue like that.
"I'm a Slaugh," he told her, "Marc Slink's my full name."
"Ah," Nami nodded. "I'm not," she smiled at him. "By the way, why wath this Tweedhopper trying to thee what wath on your computer. There ith nothing really interethting there."
He gave her another one of those looks. Nami wondered if he practiced them in the mirror. She was about to ask him when he began to shift slightly. A thin lankiness became almost snakelike, pale skin became paler and Nami was facing a dark eyes Slaugh. He's not going to be much fun to be around, Nami thought. Most Slaugh were, well, less than fun. Of course she would do her best to be polite.
Behind him, like a cloak, was the shadowy visage of his banal form. It was a blurry afterimage and if Nami squinted just right she could hardly see it.
"What are you doing," he asked in a wispy voice she had to strain a little to hear.
"Thquinting just right," she told him. She was rewarded with another of his looks.
Marc looked back at his computer. "It's those damn Magi," he said, once again Nami found herself challenged to hear him. "They're up to something, not that that is new. Every time they're really active, and there is too much glamour close to the screen, it just goes nuts."
"Thugoi," [wow] Nami said as she tried to get a better look at the screen. Magi, active Magi, and computers going nuts. She shook her head. She had actually thought the day might be boring.
"Magi?? Like real, full on, magic uthing typeth? Where? Who? Do they have a thecret hand thake?"
Marc did not bother looking up from the screen, he was too busy trying to make sense of the images. "Believe me, you don't want to know," he said. "If the campus Magi ever got hold of you, they'd suck you dry and then digitalize you for product and information storage. They're rather useless lot. And they run around with werewolves - and believe you me - you don't want to meet and werewolves."
"Do you think they'd use a scanner to digitalize me?" Nami asked. Then she shook her head. Silly question. How else would they do it. "So, Magi and Werewolveth and Bearth," she chanted. "Any other changelingth around. I'm kind of new in town."
"The woods are full of them. All you have to do is look," he told her, paying more attention to the screen. His wispy voice sounded distracted.
Nami tried to get another look at his screen, wondering if there was anything new on it. Marc gave her a hard glare. "Look," his said testily. "it was nice of you to help me..."
"No problem," Nami interrupted him. "I thwore and oath to the god of computerth to help anyone in need."
Marc shook his head. "It was nice of you to help me but I do have work to do. With you hanging around all I'm going to see is nightmares from the Data Fascists - so do you mind?"
"Are you athking me to leave?" Nami asked, giving him her best dewy eyed look. She had practiced that for some time.
He replied with yet another of those looks.
"Yea, well I have things to do to," Nami got to her feet. "Dragonth to thlay, treathure to accumulate, regithtrarth officeth to find, it's not like I don't have anything better to do," she set off towards the library's entrance again. "I mean, I just have tonth of thingth to do," she said looking over her shoulder again.
Another of those looks.
"Well, take care," she turned away and set off.
Nami shook her head. Definitely less than fun.
Data Fascists, she thought, taking her pack off so she could rummage for the map she had. Maybe after she found the registrars office she might see if she could check out the university's computers. If there was anything there she could find it. She was among the best after all.
Nami smiled.
It looked like it was going to be a fun summer.
And she thought Santa Cruz might be boring. Silly girl, she silently chided herself.
Tuesday, June 20th, 1995 10:41 a.m.
Nami looked at the building, she had arrived. The Hahn Student Center. All that searching and she was a little disappointed. She would have thought the building to be grander. Shrugging her shoulders she chalked it up to the fact that architects were boring individuals for the most part.
Shaking her head at that fact she entered the building and wandered down the halls, looking at the lettering on doors. Finally, there it was. The Registrar's Office.
Pushing open the doors she looked in, hoping for some excitement. Very little as it turned out. Lots of paperwork, little fun. Paperwork, how terribly evil and mind numbing. For a moment she considered just turning around and leaving, then she squared her shoulders and entered. Perhaps she could help these poor souls, or maybe just mess with them. Either way could be fun.
"Excuthe me," she looked up at the woman at the reception desk. "Could you help me?
"Maybe. What is it you want young lady," she said with the condescending sweetness people often used on children.
"World peace, an end to hunger, and eathy bake oven, but I don't thuppose you could help me with that. How about information on computer clatheth?"
The woman gave her one of those stares that Nami was so used to and so enjoyed. Always nice to see you had pushed the right buttons. "Pardon."
"I'm interethted in taking some computer clatheth."
"We don't run programs for children," she explained.
"That'th fine, I'm not looking for that thort of clath."
She looked down at the young girl, part of her thinking about tossing her out and the other part considering possible dangers. Politeness was always the best option when it came to keeping jobs. She smiled slightly and looked across the office. "Why don't you talk to Mr. Bernard over there," she told her.
"The one who lookth like he lotht his thaver?"
"That's the one dear."
"Office politicth. Got to love them," Nami said softly as she crossed to room.
More people doing paperwork, a man by the photocopier in a bland suit, nothing at all to interest her. She was beginning to think a nice, private elementary school might be more fun. Still, she had come that far, not time to give up yet.
She hopped herself onto the seat in front of his desk and stared at him when he looked up at her.
"Yes?"
"Daddy?"
The look on his face was priceless. Nami truly wished she had a camera.
"Thorry," she winked at him. "My name is Nami Hikari and I'd like to enroll in some computer clatheth. Hathn't wearing knock off Egyptian jewelry gone out of thtyle yet?"
"What?" he looked at her, then his hand went to the ankh earring he was wearing and he flushed slightly. "You want to take some classes here?" he put on a slightly snotty attitude to hide his embarrassment.
"Yes. I want to take some computer clatheth here, hence me asthing about them," she smiled at him again and wondered again is her Hello Kitty backpack might again be at fault. Best to clear up any problems right way she decided. "I promith to buy a new backpack."
"What?"
"You thay that a lot."
"What?"
"Thee."
He gave her a poor copy of one of the looks Marc had earlier given her. She considered telling him to practice more but was afraid if she confused him anymore his brain might shut down. She would probably get blamed for it too.
It was time to distract him with something mundane.
"Here, my tranthcript," she kept smiling. Something about it almost made it look as if she were barring her teeth.
With something normal he could concentrate on he was much better off. He read over the papers she had handed him.
"I'm sorry, you'll have to graduate high school first, come back in five to six years" he said, mixing in the right amount of condescension and snootiness to make Nami want to make his life hell. She would have to remember this one.
"But I'm ever tho thmart," she told him. "Please."
"Young lady, this is a place of business," he told her, severe adult tone number 6 Nami decided.
She sighed and went into her backpack. Her hand lingered on the squirt gun, but she passed over it for more of the dreaded paperwork.
"Here," she said, handing him a Photostat of her birth certificate and some ID. Most of the information on both documents were fake, except her name and date of birth. They were good fakes though and proving otherwise was virtually impossible.
She preferred not to produce them though. People cut her so much more slack when they thought she was eleven. It made life so much easier.
He looked both over, several times. He could not believe it. No way that the girl was twenty. Still, what could he say. That she had a fake birth certificate so she could sneak into university. He could get sued for saying something like that.
"Okay," he shook his head, handing her back her ID. "You'll have to fill these out," he pushed some more paper across the desk, in Nami's mind living up to his highest ideal.
"Right," Nami took the forms, and decided she would have to go out and have a lot of fun later to counteract the effect all the paperwork she was being exposed to was causing.
"You'll probably be able to get into the winter quarter," he told her.
"I don't thupose I could thtart earlier, thay, the fall term?"
"Not without an act of God."
"Which god? There are so many."
"What major did you want to study," the tone of his voice told Nami he was ignoring her question and wanted her to be aware of that.
"I did thay computerth, right?"
"Yea, yea. Computer Science? Forget it, they aren't taking any more applicants. The waiting list is over a year. Try history."
"Why hithtory?"
"What?"
"Why Hithtory? Why not Engineering, or Phythicth? Are you suggesting some course of study based on my gender," she put a little anger in her tone. Time to have some fun.
"Of course not," he said quickly, laughing a little. "I just mean that there are openings in history and some other similar courses. I'd never...."
"Time out," Nami interrupted him. "I wath joking. It is thomething I do," she smiled at him again.
"Fill the forms out, bring them back here," he said though clenched teeth.
"Could I athk you thome more questionth?"
"No."
"Pleathe. I promith to be theriouth."
"What?"
"Do you like me?"
He looked like he was ready to explode.
"Thorry. Ith there any way I can get a look at the computer thystem? It would be ever tho helpful."
"You can access the library computer system," he said testily. "Students are given an account,"
"but you're not a student," Nami said at the same time as him, her lisp keeping it from being a perfect mesh.
"Are you trying to be funny?"
"Yeth. Hey, I heard about thome experimental AI work and a government grant. It was in this month Teen Beat magazine."
He looked at her, then turned back to his work, chuckling in an arrogant manner.
How mature, Nami thought.
She noticed the man who had been making photocopies walking up to them. When he was standing right behind the young man he cleared his throat. The young man started.
"Blaine, I couldn't help overhearing. This, uh," he looked at Nami, "young lady is interested in studying computer science."
Nami smiled at him, though there was something odd about him. Still he had given her a first name to work with. Blaine Bernard. Oh, she was going to have some fun at his expense.
"Yea Doc," he said, his voice timid, "but I was telling her that we're all booked solid," he explained. He looked apprehensive and Nami wondered what was up.
"May I see that," he said, looking at the transcript still on the desk . It was not a question. He looked up at Nami and smiled thinly. Nami was beginning to have a bad feeling.
"Of course," Blaine snapped the paper up and handed it to the professor.
As he looked over the transcript the bad feeling crystallized in her stomach and she felt like she might throw up. Autumn Person. The word echoed in her head. She wanted to run, but that would just attract attention to her. She had to get out of there without arising any suspicions in the man.
"This is very impressive," he looked up at her. "Very impressive. Maybe I can help you out."
"That would be nice," Nami forced herself to keep her tone light and a quaver out of her voice. Her knees felt like they were water.
"I'm professor Morris," he told her. "I head Chaos Science studies here at U.C.S.C. I'm also, as luck would have it," he gave her that thin smile again, that Nami thought was supposed to be reassuring and friendly, "a full professor of Computer Science."
"Well, that is thomething," Nami said, wondering if she could flip over Blaine's desk and make a run for it. The desk looked awfully heavy.
"I'm looking for a bright new talent in my new field of research," he said. "You might be just what I'm looking for," he slapped her transcript with his free hand. "Would you care to discuss it.
Nami wished she had not pulled out the ID. It was in times like these that she truly enjoyed saying things like her mother was calling.
"I don't know," Nami said. "Right now I was hoping to jutht deal with ethtablithhed thtuff. You know, thpreadtheets, and the like. New fieldth," she shook her head. "I'm not thure. I have to think about it. Professor Morrith," she said, nodding. "I'll remember that. Perhaps I can come back tomorrow," she held her hand out for the transcript, hoping that she would not actually have to touch his hand. She would scream.
She did not like the man. She did not like his interest in her. She wanted to be out of there. It did not matter that he was offering her easy access to what she wanted. She would rather wait a year, wait two years, wait twenty, before working closely with that man.
Tuesday, June 20th, 1995 10:54 a.m.
Professor Morris stared at her, his smile beginning to fade as Nami told him her decision. For a time he continued to look over her transcript. He was giving it a lot of attention she realized. Likely memorizing it.
That worried her. In the end the information on the transcript was fake, but like the best lies it had a basis in truth. If her were clever, and knew how to dig, he might find out more than she wanted him to. She was certainly going to have to be careful, and maybe make some big friends. Trolls. Trolls were good.
Finally her handed it back to her, extending it across Blaine's desk. Nami took it, but had to give it a slight tug before he would release it.
"Thank you," Nami said, covering the shaking in her hands by putting the transcript back in her pack. She really did not like being close to the man. She liked it even less that he was showing so much interest in her.
"Yes, well you really should think this over," he reached into his jacket and pulled out a business card. "Please call."
Nami nodded and took the card. "I'm thure I will," she lied.
"I look forward to hearing from you."
"Thank you very much," she old him, then turned and headed for the exit. Why did he have to be an Autumn person? She wondered. It would have been a lot of fun to rub Blaine's face in the fact she got exactly what she wanted despite what he said. It was not easy to be immature when you had to worry about monsters, she decided.
Once she had cleared the student center she felt better. The fresh air was helping. Still, a lot of fun and bubble bath would go a long way in helping. Even then she was going to have a nightmare or two before everything was done.
Tuesday, June 20th, 1995 11:11 a.m.
Nami found a new way to the library by taking a number of shortcuts. They were a little fun and they helped to ensure she was not being followed.
Happy that she did not have a tail, in the figurative sense as she did in the literal, Nami walked up the library. On the way in she looked over to where she had met Marc Slink. He was not there, which really was not that surprising. She was a little disappointed. It would have been nice to talk with him. Slaugh knew all sorts of information and he might have been able to help her with the professor.
She would have to hope she ran into him later.
The interior of the library was much like she had expected, standard institutional library set up for the most part. Finding a computer terminal was not in anyway hard.
As she sat down Nami decided that the level of the key boards and monitors had not been selected with children in mind. She slipped out of her shoes and knelt on the chair, seiza style, which made it a lot easier to work.
Isn't that cute, she thought, looking at the how-to-use tutorial. She ignored and with a few key strokes was into search mode. After a few minutes the limits of the functions she had available to her were painfully obvious. Shaking her head, a little disgusted, she expanded her search to other libraries, then found the side door she wanted and entered the Internet.
From there she spun around, as it were, and tried to plunge back into the U.C.S.C systems. Almost from the first she was blocked by passwords. She could spend hours trying to guess ad never get anything. If she was going to hack their system it was going to take a little research and a computer that was a bit hotter.
It was just not her day, she decided, shutting off the computer and getting off the chair. She put her shoes back on and considered her options. Giving up was seeming more and more inviting, but no, she would see it through as far as she could. If had better be interesting though.
Grabbing her backpack from the floor she walked away and headed for the exit.
Tuesday, June 20th, 1995 2:27 p.m.
A few more hours spent wandering about the campus proved to her that the place was incredibly boring. In theory it might be a fun place in the fall when all the students came back, but she could not be sure of that. The simple pleasures of being in the sixth grade were beginning to call to her. Elementary schools could be fun, as long as one remembered to never take them to seriously. Still, that option was some distance away as well.
Along the way a few bright glimmers of Glamour caught her eye and interest but the mortal were in much too much of a hurry or to preoccupied with other things for her to make a connection of any sort. It was something to remember though before she went to study and recess route. The University offered a lot more potential for Glamour.
It was getting close to the point when she was thinking of hailing a taxi and heading home for a nap when she stumbled upon an amphitheater. It was a large place, seated at the head of a canyon, screened by trees. She walked down the terrace like steps towards the stage, looking around. It looked like it might be bale to hold several hundred people.
She looked around the empty area, wondering what sort of performances the place had seen and might see. For a moment she was content to loose herself in the feel of what was and what might be before a muffle whimper broke her out of the revive.
She moved forward, picking her way carefully, climbing onto the stage and then onto some red and gray rocks. From her position she saw a couple lying down behind the stage, well screened by the rocks that had been left in the area.
The young man had spiked green hair and was wearing tattered jeans with a studded leather vest covering a dingy gray T-shirt.
The woman was dressed in a white speckled sun dress and a pair of black sneakers. Her hair was bleached white and highlighted with pink.
All in all Nami was completely unsure which fashion statement made her want to throw up the most.
The two were obviously having sex. Sex was one of those things that Nami knew all about, well most of it, but never understood, a little like country music. While she knew that there were aspects to the act that felt pleasant, so she had been told, it all came across as much too messy.
The woman let out another whimper. There was a note of agony to it that Nami had not heard before. The young man suddenly choked the sound off. "Shut up!" he hissed. "Or I'll stick you with something else."
Rape, Nami thought, once more feeling ill. Autumn People, rapists, what sort of place was the campus? There was more to the act than just a physical assault she realized after a moment. He was building up the woman's fear, her terror, awaken more and more with every second.
She was watching a ravaging in process and was sure that the man was a redcap.
She hated redcaps, but that was a matter of course. She knew that she had to do something but she didn't know what. Screaming for help? That might not even work, and it might only get the young woman killed. She had to do something else.
Crossing her fingers she reached for the Glamour around an within her. She might look harmless, and most of the time she was, but she could pull a few surprises out of her hat, as it were.
(Nami will use the hearty commoner realm to affect the redcap, with chicanery, fuddle, and combined with scene 1 to make the redcap thing he is trapped in a coffin. Then while he flails about, trying to break free, she will run to the woman, get her onto her feet and get them both heading out of the amphitheater at a run. She will start screaming fire, as it is more likely to bring people running, and try to get them both to a place where there are a lot of people about as soon as possible.)
Tuesday, June 20th, 1995 2:32 p.m.
The glamour flowed around her and through her and gave her a warm feeling that so few things could inspire in her. She began to click her tongue, softly as she could, hoping the redcap would not hear her. After a short time she felt the power come into the shape she desired.
Closing her eyes she let it go.
She heard a surprised shout and cursing. Looking over the rocks she saw the redcap, rolling on the ground, biting at the air as if he was trying to chew through something, which he was. She had convinced him that he was trapped in a coffin. Quite a pleasing effect really.
Cutting short her admiration of her work she pulled herself over the rock and ran to the woman who was still lying on the ground. Grabbing her hand Nami began to pull on it.
"Come on oneechan [elder sister], let'th go," she said.
The woman looked at Nami for a moment, still in shock. Then she looked over at her assailant, rolling on the ground, biting at the air. It was all she needed. Nami did not need to pull very hard to get the woman up on her feet and running.
As they ran from the stage Nami could sense the tingle of glamour in the woman, strong and warm. She wondered if the woman was an artist. She wondered if she would be adverse to making extra money baby sitting.
As they started up the stairs out of the amphitheater Nami began to scream.
"Fire!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, glad there were no S's in the word. She had heard that fire was a better thing to yell than rape.
Odd world she lived in. Arcadia was probably a lot better. "Fire!," she yelled again. "Plague! Locuthth! Famine! Wayne Newton! Fire!"
A number of people were rushing forward as they exited the amphitheater, Nami hoped they would not be too disappointed by the lack of a fire.
"Where's the fire?" a young man asked.
"Was anyone hurt?" another asked.
"Actually there wath no fire," Nami said. "It wath more of a rape. I get the two confuthed thome timeth," she told the assembled crowd.
A few people ran off, Nami hoped they were going to call the police as opposed to just wanting to get out of the area.
A woman had come over the girl Nami was leading by the hand and sat her on the ground. "Are you all right?" she asked as she looked the rape victim over with the look of someone who knew something about first aid.
Nami dropped down to sit on the ground. "Tsukareta, [I'm tired]" she sighed.
"He raped me," she said, sounding like she might start crying. "God DAMN him! Who the hell does he think he is? I thought he was my friend." The sounds of tears mixed with the heat of anger. Then the anger faded, like a match blown out, and she began to cry in earnest. The woman held her and comforted her.
When the police arrived they began to ask standard questions. Once they found out what had happened they asked the obvious. "Who was he?"
"His name is Uther," she said, sobbing.
"Where is he?"
"He's down there, on the stage. He threw a fit. Why don't you do something about it?"
Two officers went down into the amphitheater as another remained up top. Nami noticed a few people following after the police. Going to see the rapist she guessed. What fun. She shook her head.
After a few minutes they led a dazed looking Uther out of the theater, his hands cuffed behind his back. He did not look at all happy.
"Is this the man who rapped you?" One of the officers asked.
"He'th jutht full of tact," Nami whispered.
She nodded, sniffing loudly.
"Were there any witnesses?"
She pointed at Nami.
"Did you see what happened," the officer asked her, speaking slowly.
"Yeth I did," Nami said at the same speed. There were a few soft laughs from some of the bystanders.
"Did he rape her?" his tone assumed a brisk manner.
"Yeth, he did," Nami said. Part of he wanted to have denied it. She was just leaving more and more of a trail. If professor Morris wanted to find her, he was not going to have a hard time. She couldn't lie though, not about a rape. "Okay, take him away," the officer said, looking at Uther.
As two officers led him away he gave Nami a hard glare. If looks could kill, Nami thought, a tendril of fear in her stomach making her feel like she might be sick.
"I'll remember you," he hissed.
Nami looked over her shoulders then back at him, putting her finger to her nose, her body language saying 'Who? Me?'.
He only smiled at her.
Oh, he does not like me at all, Nami thought. Then he was gone.
Another officer got the girl up and led her off. Nami guessed she was going to go for a medical examination.
The remaining officer asked Nami a few questions, she answered them, realizing she was just making things easier for Morris if he was interested in her. Nothing she could do about it. She did add a few interesting parts to her story, though the officer looked quite skeptical when she told him about the elephant stampede.
"Are you all right," a young man asked her once everyone had gone off.
"Me?" Nami looked at him. "Jutht peachy."
"That was a brave thing you did."
"Brave would be facing a dragon down," Nami said matter of factly.
"Yea," he looked at her oddly. "Well, Jane needs all the friends she can get."
"Jane?"
"The girl who was raped. Jane Roechel."
"I was just trying to get my rape prevention girl scout badge," Nami told him.
"Yea, well, take care," he told Nami, giving her another odd look. Then he walked away.
Well, Nami thought, that was fun.
She found a bit of privacy behind some bushes and threw up.
Autumn People and redcaps. She hated them both. And who was it she had after her? I should have never traded that four leaf clover for that MO drive, she lamented. But 2 gigs on each disk, how could she have turned it down? And knocker built, that had to mean something.
Shaking her head she headed off. The day was turning out to be particularly crappy. It was probably all the Hello Kitty backpack's fault.
Some time later Nami was lost. She wasn't really lost, but she was close to it. All she needed was a cab to get back to the hotel. As long as you had cab fare you were never really lost. She had learned that one hot summer in Tokyo. Still, being in the middle of Harvey West park was not the best place to find a cab. She was about to turn about and head back the way she came when something hit her foot. She looked down. It was a soccer ball.
"Hey! Kick it here!" she heard someone yell.
Nami looked up. About twenty meters away from her was a boy, he looked ten or eleven.
Nami looked at the ball then kicked it to him. She did not get much force behind it, strength not being her strong suite, but it went straight to him. He looked down at the ball, then up at her.
"Wanna play?" he called. Nami loved that about kids. It was one of the reasons she was happy to be one.
"Thure," Nami ran up to him. "My nameth Nami," she said.
"You talk funny," he said.
"And you got a big nothe," Nami replied in an age old custom.
"I'm Dan," he said. "You're new."
"Freth off the athembly line."
"What?"
"Nothing Danny."
"Dan! Come on," he ran off.
Nami smiled and ran after him. Computers, mages, werewolves, rapists, autumn people, what did they all mean on a warm summer's afternoon with a soccer game ahead of her.
Tuesday, June 20th, 1995 5:35 p.m.
The lobby of the Dream Inn was a lobby of a boring as far as Nami was concerned. Still, it was a nice place. Nami had taken a suite there until she could find permanent lodgings. Due to a helpful computer glitch, as far as Nami was concerned she knew nothing about it, and a little clever use of glamour, she was staying for a very low price.
The staff ignored her for the most part, one of the clerks at reception waved at her. Nami waved back and went to the elevators. When she got off at her floor she had to resist the urge to press all the buttons and contented herself with only pressing three.
She walked to her room, opened the door and walked in. She closed the door behind her then reached up to slide the locking chain in place. She wanted no one coming in there without her okay. She could just picture Professor Morris sneaking in for whatever it was that he wanted out of her.
Turning around she walked into the room where the bed she had claimed was and threw herself onto it. A soccer game and then some hide and seek. She was happily tired. The kids had been good at hide and seek, but she had been better. She was as clever as a fox after all, with good reason.
Crawling across the expanse of the king sized bed she made her way to the head. Once there she reached over for the phone and dialed in a number. After several rings it was answered.
"Detroit's Law Firm, how may I help you?" the receptionist said.
"I'd like to talk to Richard, tell him it'th Nami," she said as she flipped over onto her back. The ceiling was truly ugly. It needed a good crayon mural.
"Just a moment please."
Nami cringed as she was put on hold and the hold music began to play. Nothing ruined a good hide and seek buzz more than hold music. Fortunately it was cut short.
"Nami, babe, what can I do for you?" Richard's voice came over the phone. As smarmy as ever.
"Thtop calling me babe. So thythter, embezzled me dry yet?"
"You know I'd love to but you won't give me power of attorney, which you should. It would save you all kinds of hassles."
"Yea, thure, when dragonth invite me to tea. Lithen, I want you to make an offer on a houth for me."
"Okay, give me the details."
Nami filled him in on the address and other details. "Tell them I'll give them eight hundred thouthand for it."
"Okay, eight hundred Ks, will do. I'll get back to you in a couple of days."
"Thankth thythter."
"No problem, just keep paying my retainer."
"Got ya,"
"Bye babe," he hung up.
Nami shook her head and cradled the phone. She liked Richard, he wasn't boring.
Getting up from her bed she padded back to the central room where she had set up her computer. It was a bit of a monster really. It was cutting edge with a hard disk full of software that would get her in a lot of trouble if anyone discovered it. It was likely to be more that just a spanking or a boring lecture kind of trouble.
Flipping on the switches she watched as the screen flickered to life, information printing across the screen. He did so enjoy reading the numbers there.
Once it was up she entered the passwords she needed and went to work. First thing was to go back and make sure her trail was as clean as possible. She might not be able to keep the good doctor from finding her, but she would be able to keep him from finding out anything he might use against her. That was basically easy. She already knew where to look and had all the passwords. Next was dealing with Uther. He might remember her, but that might not do him much good when he was locked up.
She figured that the best way to deal with him was to make sure his previous record was as dirty as she could get it. Oh, she was going to have fun.
After a while she was sure that she could do it, but not make it stick. Marking up his records was no real problem, but getting the necessary background into the works was another thing. There were places where, as far as the police were concerned, if it was in the computer, it was true. She would have to find out where Uther had been, find one of those places and then find an arresting officer who was no longer around to disagree with what the computer said. It all meant time.
Sighing, Nami did what little she could. It might not hold him, but it could boost his bail up high. Nami leaned back in her chair, yawning deeply. She was so tired, and she still had work to do. She shut her computer down and got out of the chair. Her stomach rumbled and suddenly she felt hungry.
"Yes oh master," Nami said, walking to the door.
After a good dinner and a trip to a close by convenience store for some cokes and a few other things Nami returned to her room. She turned her computer on once more and sat down to work, grabbing a coke with one hand she typed in the address and waited for the prompt to come up asking for a password.
"Shall we dance," Nami smiled as she cracked the coke.
Some time later, when her cokes were gone, Nami was no closer to getting what she wanted Sighing she began to shut down her computer. This was going to take a little time.
It was not yet light out when Nami bolted up in her bed. She was breathing heavily, crying softly. The nightmare had been rather unpleasant. Mix Autumn people with redcaps and the result could not be anything but unpleasant. After several minutes she had forced calm on herself and brought her breathing under control. It was only a dream, she told herself over and over and finally convinced herself. Of course just because it was dream did not mean it was harmless, but it was harmless enough.
She dropped back onto the pillows, still tired. There was something odd though. She reached over and turned on the bed light, then lifted her covers up and peered under them.
"Well, the maid thtaff ith not going to be happy with me," she said softly as she got out of the bed and walked over to her suitcase to get some dry clothes.
She thought she heard some soft chucking and turned back to her bed.
"You juth thut up," she said to the monster she suspected lived under it.
Wednesday, June 21st,1995 10:34am
Nami checked the room once more, then left, hanging the 'Make up my Room' hangar on the door. She wanted to get out of the hotel as fast as she could, though she was putting off the inevitable. She had left a note on the table, supposedly from her mother, apologizing for the mess. If that happened again the hotel staff might actually want to see one of her fictional parents. After the unfortunate incident there was no way she was going to tell them her true age.
Once out on the street she was at a lost as to what to do. She did not want to go back to the University, not yet and there was nothing else that interested her. It would be a while before Dan and his friends would be available for more playing.
Then she smiled, and ran her hands through her hair. She was a pooka; she had a beautiful day ahead of her and there were some roller coasters down by the boardwalk that needed to be checked out. Simple, pure fun. It was what she lived for.
The sun had set by the time she got back to the hotel. Her day had been full of fun and more fun. Amusement parks, stores, games, and other things that made for an enjoyable day.
She breezed through the lobby and took the elevator up to her room. Everything was as she had left it except on the table where she had left her note. There was an envelope, stood up against the vase.
She grabbed the envelope and ripped it open. Inside was a note from one of the maids telling her 'mother' that a plastic sheet had been put on the bed. Nami felt her cheeks grow hot, horribly embarrassed. There was also and offer to supply 'protective clothing'. Nami's cheeks grew hotter, as if that was possible.
Someone is going to die, Nami thought angrily, crumpling the note into a small ball and throwing it at the trash can. Tossing her shopping bags aside Nami went to her computer. She still had a lot of work to do.
Thursday, June 22nd, 1995 3:51 p.m.
Nami was feeling a little cranky. She had had another bad night. From past experience she knew the bad nights might continue for a while. The best thing to do would be just to leave Santa Cruz, put it far behind her. There was something about the place that interested her though. She would stay, for a while at least.
Shopping for computer parts had proven to be a bit painful. Santa Cruz might have a lot of things, but a technical utopia it was not. She had tried to get in touch with Jane but had not had much luck. Of course she had not tried very hard. She hoped the woman all right.
The message light on the phone was blinking. She walked over and picked it up, hitting the buttons to get a playback. It was from Richard. The offer one the house had been turned down.
Nami sat down on the floor, feeling as if she was about to cry. Then she laughed suddenly and got back to her feet. Tapping in the number she decided there were things that she could do something about.
She got the receptionist again but was put right through to Richard instead of being put on hold.
"Nami, babe, sorry about the house deal," he said.
"It'th okay thythter, make another offer an nine hundred, if they turn it down go up to the athking price. I can afford it."
"That what I like about you babe. So, how's life been treating you."
"You know, monsterth, villainth, nocturnal incontinence, nothing out of the ordinary."
"Sounds like you are having a blast."
"You know me, jutht full of fun."
"I'll get back to you about that offer."
"Thankth,"
"Later babe," he hung up.
Nami cradled the phone and skipped towards the washroom. She wanted to take a long bath.
Thursday, June 22nd, 1995 11:35 p.m.
Nami adjusted the brightness and contrast on her screen, trying to get something that was less harsh on her eyes. After dinner she had settled herself down in front of the computer and got to work. She had alternated her time between browsing the web, some hacking and some game play. Doom II was just so fun, especially since she had plugged in her own graphics. Blowing the hell out of Redcaps, Sidhe, and Suits was a lot of fun.
Something had caught her attention. It was not something she had seen before, but she guessed it was something like a vrml image transfer. The interesting always caught her attention. Smiling she decided to track it.
Her smile went the moment an odd program stopped her and kicked her off line. Nami was about to say how rude when the computer shut down, the fuses on her power bar popping loudly, sending out sparks. It was only the second surge protector she had that kept her computer from becoming a rather expensive paper weight.
"Kutho,[shit]" Nami swore. She stared at the dark screen for a moment then jumped out of her chair.
Opening one of her suitcases she pulled out a new power bar. She tossed the dead one aside and plugged her computer back in. Taking her seat again she began to find out what had happened. That power surge had been too conveniently tied to the program that had dumped her. She did not believe in coincidences like that. Well, actually she did, but not that time.
A few minutes later she found the source. The Moss Landing Power Plant. If she was reading the data right, then that surge had hit her room only, bypassing the hotel's surge suppressers. As far as she knew that was impossible. Of course, according to some, she herself was impossible, and not just in the literal sense.
"Omothhiroi,[interesting]" Nami said quietly.
Nami, for all her claims to the contrary, knew she was not the hottest thing in the computer world. But she wanted to be. That someone could do something like that was a little scary, but it was also exhilarating. If someone else could do it, maybe she could as well.
Her smile was broken by a huge yawn. Nami had not realized how tired she was until that moment. She shut her computer down, and unplugged it just in case. That done she shut off all the lights but one and went into her room. Sleep was in her future; she hoped nightmares were not.
Friday, June 23rd, 1995 2:12 p.m.
Nami had the music turned up loudly, singing along with it as she danced around the suite. She had a pleasing voice, and knew how to use it. After another lousy morning she was finally feeling good. Spending part of day playing pranks had improved her spirits immeasurably.
The shrilling of the phone got her attention on the second ring. She hit the stop button on the CD player and grabbed up the handset.
"Mothi, mothi, Nami dethu," she said, still singing.
"Babe, you sound great. Drugs?"
"No thyster, jutht happy. Tho?"
"You got the place. You can move in on the 13th of the coming month. $882,000, no furnishings of course."
"Like I'd want their furnithingth," Nami said. "Okay, I'll have the fundth tranthfered to the bank in the Caymanth by tomorrow. This will put a crimp in my cath flow for a while so no crazy invethmenth. I don't need any tax write offth. Buy the houth in the name of the corporation."
"Babe, I do love you, you know that. You are just so good at it."
"If it involveth lying, I'm the betht."
"I hear you babe," Richard laughed. "Anything else?"
"If a dragon callth you trying to collect damageth to hith lair, hang up."
"Got you."
"Take care thyster."
"You too babe," he said before hanging up.
Nami hung up the phone and turned the CD player on again.
Money was the path to banality, Nami was sure of that, but she did not care about the money. The games were what she lived for, the clever lies. She was god at that part of it. The tax authorities in four different countries had been trying to figure out her net worth for several years. If the time for the audit ever did come, she was showing up with a teddy bear in her briefcase and would break into tears the minute they said anything bad. It would drive them insane.
Friday, June 23rd, 1995 11:39 p.m.
"Yatta,[I did it]" Nami said as she broke into the university data base. It had not been too hard, but it was good practice. Now she thought, beginning to type, let's see where Jane lives.
It did not take her long at all the find the address though she did spot some other interesting things. Student transcripts, Blaine's name jumped out at her. Dear Blaine from the Registrars Office. She had to take a look at that. Good marks all the way through, positive comments, all things considered a rather average and boring grad student. She would have to shred them later. Under Doctor Morris' name she discovered a number of student reviews. She looked through them, reading them quickly. Blaine's name came up a few times, all his reviews were glowing and positive and smacked of sucking up. There were others like that and she committed their names to memory, deciding that they were the best avoided.
Others were much less positive of the good professor. She liked the Nazi comparison, but it was not too original. On the other hand calling him a refrigerator was rather clever. Most of those people later transferred to humanity programs. Lucky for them, she thought. She wondered if she made an assessment up and accused Morris of sexual harassment if that would get him in a lot of trouble. Something to think on.
While she knew she could have hours of fun where she was, Nami cut her connection and began to shut down the computer. She wanted to visit Jane, as late as it was. The woman interested her.
Sneaking out of the hotel was easy enough, though the cab driver gave her a little bit of a hard time. When she showed him some cash he was much more cooperative. Nami shook her head as she got into the cab. Where were people's morals these days, she wondered. Taking an eleven year old out in the middle of the night just because she had some money. The world was indeed a sad place, which was exactly why she was needed.
Friday, June 23rd, 1995 11:55 p.m.
The cabby grunted something that might have been a thank you as Nami handed him his fare, and a reasonable tip.
She pushed open the door and slammed it close behind her. The night was hot and humid and she wished she was back in her air conditioned suite. Almost as soon as she was out of the cab the sound of barking, growling and other things surrounded her as a pack of huge dogs charged her. She was reaching for the door handle when she noticed the cab was moving away from her at speed, leaving rubber marks on the road. A small part of her promised that he would never get a tip from her again. Most of her was too busy being terrified as the snarling dogs moved in on her.
Nami screamed, dropped into the a crouch, put her hands over her face and prepared to be ripped into little pieces. She was sure it would hurt a lot. She could feel the dogs' hot breath on her skin from all around her, hear there panting, smell them. Their presence pressed in on her with an almost physical force. And then they were gone.
Nami looked up to see the dogs disappearing into the night.
"That wath not normal," she said breathlessly. There had been something more than a group of animals there. There had been intelligence behind it and something beyond the normal had prickled her skin. If she had not been so scared she might have actually enjoyed it.
She waited where she was, crouched, for a time, letting her breathing slow and her heartbeat approach something closer to normal. When the dogs did not seem to be coming back she stood up and looked around. She could not tell much about the street, it was not very well lit. It was however noisy.
A bone deep thudding of music, heavy on the noise, light on the talent as far as she could tell drew her towards a co-op. When she got close enough to read the number on the house she realized she had found Jane's home. She almost turned around and went back the way she came.
She guessed the majority of the people were students, destroying what few brain cells they had left. Shaking her head she headed up the stairs, hopping over the prostrate bodies of impaired young men and women, some of who were being nosily sick.
"Oooh," she said, swinging around one young woman. "Eight out of ten for disthtance but only three for artithtic merit."
If the woman heard her she ignored Nami's comment. Nami continued up into the house, almost slipping on something she did not want to know about. As soon as she was in the door someone had shoved what Nami guessed was a joint into her face. She was about to make some witty refusal when she felt someone grab her behind.
She whirled about angrily but she could not tell who did it. She could not believe these people. She was only eleven. Well, of course she wasn't, but for all intents and purposes she was.
Turning back into the house she moved forward quickly, calling out loudly for Jane. Someone, who should be shot due to lack of taste Nami decided, had replaced most of the lights with pink and purple ones. It was kind of a sick mess. Some of them seemed to match the beat of a very bad grunge band.
"Excuthe me," she asked a young man. "Did I take a wrong turn and end up in hell?"
"Wha?"
"This wouldn't happen to be hell would it?"
"Wha?"
"Do you happen to have any functioning brain thells left?"
"Wha?"
"Have a nithe night," Nami said, turning away from him. "Jane," she yelled again.
She was near the back of the house when a closet door opened and two people almost fell on her. A young man with green hair and a nose ring was holding a young woman with her brown hair in a pony tail.
"Did you say Jane?" the woman said, giggling. She was flushed and her track suit was disheveled. Nami had little doubt what they were doing. Sex.
She just did not understand the fascination.
"Yeth," Nami said.
"She left," the girl said.
"You her kid sister?" the man asked. Close as he was she could smell the strong scent of body odor about him.
"Thee left?"
"Yea, with her boy friend."
"Boy friend?" Nami said, she had a boyfriend? She thought that hellip; . "Wait, do you mean Uther?"
"You know him? He's great."
"With Uther? He'th thcum."
"What? Scum. No. Oh, I think they had a fight, but I guessed they made up."
"Made up?"
"Yea," the man said. "He came in here with these two dudes and dragged her out of here. You know, now that I think about it, I think she was yelling a lot," he had an odd look on his face, as if he was trying to figure out if that was in somehow important. "Anyway, they took off on their bikes."
"He raped her, he cometh in here and grabth her, and no one doeth anything? I wath right, this is hell."
"Rape," the girl shook her head. "Uther doesn't need to rape anyone, he can have any girl he wants. He's so bitchin. Really, Jane's so caught up in that poetry crap that a rape is what is needed to bring her back to ground. Not that I'd wish that of course."
Nami had no idea what the woman's point was, though she was not sure if she had a point. "Of courthe. Jutht like I wouldn't with Uther thurvive jutht long enough to come back here and bite your fathe off," Nami said.
"Pardon?" the girl said.
"Do you know where they might have taken her after they kidnapped her?"
"Kidnapped," the man said. "You know, it kind of did look a little like that. Maybe they went to Uther's place on James Street."
"Jameth threet, okay, where exactly?"
The woman suddenly let out a shriek, the man's hand had dropped below her. She then giggled and turned to face him, kissing him. They stepped back, falling into the closet. The man pulled the door close.
Nami shook her head, wondering why Jane was hanging around with people like them. She could do so much more. If she saved Jane, which seemed unlikely, maybe she should try to help the girl. Having an adult around the house, when she moved in, would be helpful.
She could think about that later.
As she turned to leave someone pushed some pills into her hand, she noticed that they were green and white, and a syringe full of something dark.
She pushed them back and turned away. "I'm only eleven," she said angrily. Then to no one in particular, "Why don't you jutht put a gun in your mouth. It would be ever tho fathter."
When she finally got out of the house she took some deep breaths, trying to make herself feel clean. The house was full of dead people and they didn't even know it. She was so angry she wanted to cry. That would not be of any use though.
Reaching into her pocket she took out her cellular phone and tapped in the number for the taxi company. A few minutes later the cab pulled up and she got it, telling the driver where she wanted to go.
She should call the police, she knew that, but that could be dangerous. She knew there were a number of way that Uther could easily deal with Jane if the police came. Few of them would be pleasant for the girl. It would be best that she wait until she saw what was going on.
Leaning back in the seat Nami wished she had some friends. Mikkar had always told her to make friends. Trolls were the best he had said. Nothing more useful than a Troll when things went down bad. Her life was too complicated for someone who just wanted to play.
Saturday, June 24th, 1995 12:47 a.m.
"You know, it's a little late for you to be out," the cabby said, he had an accent, German.
"Late Girl Thcout meeting," Nami told him, looking at the phone in her hands, still wondering if she should call the police.
Her driver laughed. "None of my business I guess. Still, being out so late by yourself, can't be safe."
"My imaginary friend packth a gun."
"Is it licensed?"
"The gun?"
"No, your friend."
Nami smiled slightly, almost laughing. "He doethn't have a green card."
"He's a foreigner then?"
"Imaginary people aren't American."
"Sometimes I'm not so sure. So, why are you going to James Street?"
"Rethcue a printheth," Nami told him.
"So a quest."
"Lookth like it."
"Little small for a hero."
"Thome printhetheth can't get tall heroth."
"Too bad, for the princess. You know, I offer 'Spooky Tours', lots of fun, with a special day time rate."
"What could you find that'th thpooky in the day?"
"Well, that's kind of why there is a special day time rate," he said, sounding a little lame.
"I thee."
"Well, of course I offer night tours, but they tend to be a bit spookier, ja but much more dangerous, you see. Of course, for the right price" he trailed off.
"I'd have to thave up my alloawanthe."
"My name is Norb Baker, by the way."
"Cheltha Clinton," Nami said.
"Chelsea doesn't go to girl scouts," he told her.
"Well, thee thould. Thee could get her nuclear proliferation badge."
"Is their such a badge?"
"Right after terrorithm."
"These Girl Scouts sound a little more dangerous than I had been led to believe."
"Jutht continue to buy our cookieth and you'll be fine."
"You know, the Spooky Tours are really fun."
"But also dangerouth."
"Only at night."
"And thpookier."
"That's a given."
"I like your cab."
"It gets from point A to B."
"What if I want to go to C?"
"Take a bus."
"Never cared much for C anywayth."
"Why are you looking at that phone?"
"I'm ethpecting a call."
"From who?"
"Elvith."
"He's dead."
"I thaid I'm ethpecting it. I never said it would come."
"You are an odd one."
"Thtop flattering me."
"I think you would like the Spooky Tours."
"You mention them a lot."
"Do I?"
"Maybe it ith jutht my imagination, or my imaginary friend," Nami said, giving it some thought. "No. my imaginary friend never talkth about tourth."
"Well, the Spooky Tours would be worth talking about."
"I'm almotht getting curioth," Nami told him.
"About what?"
"Thpooky Tourth."
"You've heard of them?"
"You are really increathing the oddth that thomeone leaveth a thtink bomb in your car."
"What did I say?"
"Thatth what I am trying to figure out to be truthful."
"We're almost there," he said.
Nami looked around. Most of the houses were one story, older looking houses. Some of the houses were well kept, others looked like they might fall apart if she looked at them hard.
"There," Nami pointed to a house ahead of them. There were three bikes there, once they might have been Harleys, now they were road trash and garbage covered to lawn. There was also loud music coming from the house, very loud, so loud that the lyrics were lost in it.
"Here," Norb said, pulling to a stop on the side of the street, across from the bikes.
"It lookth promithing, in sort of a bad way."
"Do you want me to wait."
Nami looked at him, a little surprised by his offer. "Thure."
"I'll be here when you want to go," he shut he lights off but left the engine running.
Nami opened the door and exited the cab. She looked back and forth then crossed the street, taking a moment to look the bikes over. They were a mess and she thought that there were teeth marks on the seat of one, but she wouldn't have sworn to it.
She didn't bother trying to be quiet as she walked up to the house, with all the music she could have drove a tank up to the front door and it was not likely that anyone I the house would have heard. Driving a tank up to the front door did not sound like a bad idea at that point.
She moved up to one of the windows, stood up on a piece of trash-it might have been an engine block in some earlier incarnation-and peeked in the window.
The stereo had two of the biggest speakers Nami had ever seen, outside of a rock concert, attached to it. It all looked very fine, new, top of the line. Without a doubt it was all stolen.
It looked like there was more trash covering the floor inside the house rather than the lawn, though Nami thought it was due to the fact the room contained it, making it look like there was more. Or maybe there was more.
Uther and two other red caps were lounging on a pile of ripped and soiled upholstery that might have once been a couch. Of course it might have also once been woolly mammoth. She looked over the trash on the floor then looked down when she felt something cross her toes. Probably and ant. She looked at her toes in the sandals she wore. Her toes were rather cute, she thought, wiggling them then she suddenly remembered where she was.
She stepped off the thing that might have once been an engine block and moved towards the front door, being careful where she stepped. It had been propped open. No doubt Uther and his friends wanted to be sure that everyone in the neighborhood could listen to their music. It must be a joy to have redcaps as neighbors, she thought. A Mongol horde was probably quieter, and cleaner, she decided as her foot stepped down in something that squished unpleasantly. The was going to burn the sandals when she got back to the hotel, and maybe her feet as well.
Moving beside the patio she peaked into the room through the door. All of the redcaps seemed to be out of it and they were shouting to be heard over the sound of the music.
"What!? What did you say!?" One of them, the tallest, shouted. Nami wondered if having all those earrings put in had hurt.
"I can't hear you!" the shortest yelled back.
"Didn't I tell you that she was fine!" Uther yelled.
"What?!" the first looked confused. "Oh, her! Yea! Good score Uther!"
"Best I've ever had!" Uther barked over the sound of the music.
Some movement on the floor caught Nami attention. Some of the trash looked like it was moving. She caught site of a rat tail then of a rat that was about to bite her hand. She frowned at it as she moved her hand away. "Don't bother me now," she said softly to the rat.
The rat looked back at her for a moment then disappeared into the trash that covered the patio.
"Do you think she has got anymore?!" the short redcap asked.
Uther shook his head.
"Then let's got back to the party!" the tall one shouted.
The other two nodded and Uther gave the his companion the thumbs up. All three got up and headed out, screaming and pounding each other on the back. They never noticed Nami as the passed and one almost put a studded leather riding boot on a hand she was slow to move. Nami figured they were too stoned on the glamour they had taken to notice much. She wondered it if was too much to hope that they might slam their bikes into a semi on the way to the party.
A few seconds later they were on their bikes and kicking them alive. It was obvious that it had been some time since any of the bikes had had a muffler. As they headed down the street they went out of their way to kick trash cans over and cross people's lawns.
Nami got up on the patio and tried the door. It was open. That was a break for her. As she entered the room she considered turning the stereo off but decided not too. Since it was obvious Jane was not in that room she picked her way across the trash strewn floor, looking for a clear path that would decrease the chance of her meeting up with any rats. She still saw a few of them but they ran off. Then she saw a couple of big ones, nearly as big as cats, that just stared at her, showing viscous looking yellow teeth.
She smiled back at them, hoping it might help. They did not seem impressed. She shook her head. Rats were always so impolite.
She walked through the door at the far end of the room, entering the kitchen. Slumped in a chair was Jane.
As Nami approached she felt sick. They had not raped her physically, but if they had it could not have been worse than what they had done to her. She had been ravaged, her mind shredded by what the red caps had done to rip the Glamour from her. Her eyes looked right through Nami, not seeing her. The young woman's lips were moving, soft sounds were coming from her.
Leaning in close Nami heard the simple pattern of a child's nursery rhyme. It was not familiar to Nami and it had a power that Nami could feel, a soft, warm, buttery feel that went through her bones.
Nami wanted to cry. This woman should be writing the great works of her generation and she would have, but for Uther.
She looked around and her eyes focused on the guns and knives in the room. All the cruel weapons. She felt sick. That was replaced by terror as she felt hot breath on the back of her neck.
Turning slowly she found herself looking up, and she did have to look up, at a huge Rotweiler. He did not look happy to see her there, his growling sounded a little like the sound of timbers beginning to break. He stopped his growling, but only to lick his lips. Nami did not feel better for that.
She looked over at gun that was close by but crushed that thought before it could form.
Looking up at the dog she said, "I do not hurt animals," as calmly as she could. Of course, that did not mean that animals would show her the same respect. It was obvious why the departing redcaps had not locked the door.
Saturday, June 24th, 1995 1:08 a.m.
Looking up at the dog she said, "I do not hurt animals," as calmly as she could. Of course, that did not mean that animals would show her the same respect.
The dog growled, a deep noise, a noise that cut down to something primal in her brain. It was going to kill her.
Well, it would have to work before she became a snack.
She moved right, knocking some dishes to the floor, then dodged left. The movement and the noise of the breaking glass confused the dog a little, allowing her to get around it. She ran as fast as she could, zigzagging as she went.
The dog was faster, but she knew she was more maneuverable--a bonus of having spent time as both a biped and a quadruped.
She leapt over the trash that filled the room, dodged around the larger piles, the door getting closer and closer. She could hear the big dog behind her, its breath hot on her neck. She was already imagining what those teeth, sharp on her neck, would feel like. All she needed was the sound of horns and horses' hooves and it would be a nightmare come true.
Then she was at the front door, hitting it at a run. It swung open and she was out on the porch. She reached out and gabbed the doorknob, coming to a sudden halt. Her feel slid out form under her, going up into the air. She was certain that it looked rather comical to anyone who might have been watching it. The dog tried to stop, but with all the trash on the patio and its considerable forward momentum it had little chance. It slid right off the porch and onto the lawn, head first. The small yelp of pain made Nami feel a little guilty, but not much.
Nami, having reached to top of her swing and swung back. She moved fast as soon as her feet touched the porch, scrabbling for purchase, getting back into the house and slamming the door. She dropped her head against the dirty wood, breathing deeply. She could hear the sound of the dog scratching on the outside, trying to get in.
"Bad dog!" Nami said to the door.
Having caught her breath she turned around and went back into the kitchen. Jane had not moved at all, she was still completely out of it. It made Nami angry.
She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and used it to pick up one of the guns. She then marched out into the living room and shot the wall. She had been aiming at the speaker though. Her next shot was closer to the mark and the speaker to the right of the stereo died in a shower of sparks. She dealt with the speaker on the left the same way.
The sudden quiet was amazing.
Satisfied she had made the world a better place, at least until Uther and his cronies stole some new stereo equipment, she returned to the kitchen and placed the gun back where she had found it.
"Come on Jane, we mutht be going," Nami said, grabbing one of the woman's arms and pulling at her. It had little effect. "I know that leaving a party ith rude, but I left a thank you note, I'm thure no one will mind," the last was an incoherent grunt as she finally managed to pull the woman to her feet and almost had her fall on her.
Slowly, very slowly, Nami dragged her towards the rear of the house, hoping there was a back door.
It seemed the gods favored children, fools and foxes for their was a back door and the dog was not waiting at it.
It took a bit of work to keep Jane up and open the door. When she finally it was open she pulled her from the house.
She did not know about Jane, but she was glad to be out of that place. If it had not been for all the rats in there she might have burnt it down.
Now all she had to do was get to the taxi, avoid the dog, and get Jane to a hospital.
"Momma said there's be days like this, there'd be days like this my momma said," she sang softly, not lisping at all.
Saturday, June 24th, 1995 1:08 a.m.
Looking up at the dog she said, "I do not hurt animals," as calmly as she could. Of course, that did not mean that animals would show her the same respect. It was obvious why the departing redcaps had not locked the door.
The dog growled, a deep noise, a noise that cut down to something primal in her brain. It was going to kill her.
Well, it would have to work before she became a snack.
She moved right, knocking some dishes to the floor, then dodged left. The movement and the noise of the breaking glass confused the dog a little, allowing her to get around it. She ran as fast as she could, zigzagging as she went.
The dog was faster, but she knew she was more maneuverable--a bonus of having spent time as both a biped and a quadruped.
She leapt over the trash that filled the room, dodged around the larger piles, the door getting closer and closer. She could hear the big dog behind her, its breath hot on her neck. She was already imagining what those teeth, sharp on her neck, would feel like. All she needed was the sound of horns and horses' hooves and it would be a nightmare come true.
Then she was at the front door, hitting it at a run. It swung open and she was out on the porch. She reached out and gabbed the doorknob, coming to a sudden halt. Her feel slid out form under her, going up into the air. She was certain that it looked rather comical to anyone who might have been watching it. The dog tried to stop, but with all the trash on the patio and its considerable forward momentum it had little chance. It slid right off the porch and onto the lawn, head first. The small yelp of pain made Nami feel a little guilty, but not much.
Nami, having reached to top of her swing and swung back. She moved fast as soon as her feet touched the porch, scrabbling for purchase, getting back into the house and slamming the door. She dropped her head against the dirty wood, breathing deeply. She could hear the sound of the dog scratching on the outside, trying to get in.
"Bad dog!" Nami said to the door.
Having caught her breath she turned around and went back into the kitchen. Jane had not moved at all, she was still completely out of it. It made Nami angry.
She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and used it to pick up one of the guns. She then marched out into the living room and shot the wall. She had been aiming at the speaker though. Her next shot was closer to the mark and the speaker to the right of the stereo died in a shower of sparks. She dealt with the speaker on the left the same way.
The sudden quiet was amazing.
Satisfied she had made the world a better place, at least until Uther and his cronies stole some new stereo equipment, she returned to the kitchen and placed the gun back where she had found it.
"Come on Jane, we mutht be going," Nami said, grabbing one of the woman's arms and pulling at her. It had little effect. "I know that leaving a party ith rude, but I left a thank you note, I'm thure no one will mind," the last was an incoherent grunt as she finally managed to pull the woman to her feet and almost had her fall on her.
Slowly, very slowly, Nami dragged her towards the rear of the house, hoping there was a back door.
It seemed the gods favored children, fools and foxes for their was a back door and the dog was not waiting at it.
It took a bit of work to keep Jane up and open the door. When she finally it was open she pulled her from the house.
She did not know about Jane, but she was glad to be out of that place. If it had not been for all the rats in there she might have burnt it down. Now all she had to do was get to the taxi, avoid the dog, and get Jane to a hospital.
"Momma said there's be days like this, there'd be days like this my momma said," she sang softly, not lisping at all.
Saturday, June 24th, 1995 1:18 a.m.
Nami dragged Jane around towards the road, beginning to breathe heavy, feeling the perspiration that was starting to dampen her clothes.
"Your a heavy one aren't you," Nami gasped. "I wonder what it will be like to be bigger? Well, I'm thure I can wait to he fifty yearth or so to find out. I hope fathionth don't get too thilly. Don't you hate thilly fathionth?" she asked Jane, not expecting, nor getting, an answer.
She went around the long way, avoiding the front lawn of Uther's place, as well as the largish dog that was no doubt waiting close by. Norb must have seen her as he pulled the cab up close to her. He just got into her very good books and it was not likely that he would find anything unpleasant in his can when she left. He reached over and opened the door for her, Nami got Jane into the back seat, with a lot of help from Norb, then climbed into the cab as well, yanking the door closed behind her.
"A hothpital, and thtep on it, and if you athk me why I want you to thtep on a hothpital I'll bite you."
"Right," Norb said, turning around and putting his taxi in gear. "Is that your princess?"
"Yeth."
"What happened to her," he sounded concerned.
"You don't want to know," was all Nami told him.
A few minutes later Norm pulled his cab into the emergency room parking lot of the Dominican Hospital. She paid him and gave the cabby a big tip.
Nami had a lot of trouble convincing them what the problem was. Telling them that she had been ravaged by a Redcap was not likely to make a lot of sense to them. She fell back on kidnapping and possible rape. It sounded good to her. After an examination one of the Doctors admitted her to the psychiatric ward for observation. Nami was not happy about that; to her psychiatrists were just one step away from being butchers, and a small step at that. She saw little other choice though. Now that she had brought her to the hospital they were not likely to let her go until the saw fit. She would give them their chance, but if she thought they were not helping she'd break Jane out of there.
A short time later Nami was talking to one of the nuns in the admitting room.
"Miss Roechel, what is your relation to her?"
"Thee'th my thithter," Nami said
The nun gave her a hard stare.
"Dad wath a thlut."
"Such language," the Sister said, shaking her head.
"Would it be all right if all my bad wordth were in Japanethe; then you wouldn't underthand them?"
"No. What is Miss Roechel's Blue Cross policy number?"
"I give up, what ith it?"
"You are not helping anyone by acting like this young lady," she said crossly.
"You should be at home in bed you know."
"You know," Nami said, tilting her head to look at the woman. "you kind of look like a penguin."
The nun stared at her for a few seconds, then got up and walked over to Nami, standing above her. She was pretty tall. "You should be taken over someone's knee."
"Thpanked by a nun? I know thome people who would pay for that."
The Sister looked like she was thinking of doing more than a spanking when another Sister entered the office. "Excuse me, the police wish to speak with the girl."
"They should arrest her," the woman said, going back to behind her desk.
"You know, I read thith little piece of fiction once," Nami pushed herself off the chair. "I think it was called the New Tethtament. I don't remember, but I never recall Critht athking for Blue Croth when he healed the lepers," Nami walked from the room, leaving the fuming sister behind.
The police were about the same as the nun, asking a bunch of stupid questions. Nami answered them as truthfully as she was able, which left a lot to be desired by the police. In the end they left, telling her that they would do what they could to find him. To Nami it did not sound like much. Then it was back to the nuns, one of whom promised Nami a special place in hell before two other Sisters calmed her down.
Nami sat calmly sipping the hot chocolate someone had kindly given to her.
"It's not a party until you get a penguin pithed off at you," she said.
3:22 a.m.
Nami was quite surprised to find Norb waiting for her when she came out of the hospital.
"How's the princess?"
"Won't know for a while," she told him. "Can you take me to the Dream Inn?"
"Of course," he smiled, opening the back door. "I am a cab driver after all, it take people places."
"Unleth they want to go to C," she said as she climbed into the back of the car.
"I can't do everything."
Nami had Norb make one stop before the inn, and that was at a 24hour convenience store for several cans of coke. Once she got to the hotel she ran all the way to her room. She dumped the cokes on the floor then fired up her computer. She logged on and went to work. She really was curious how Uther had managed to get out of jail so quickly.
"Okay. Let'th thee what ith what," she said.
Breaking into the police records took a bit of work, but was ultimately within her abilities. It was in the process of doing so that she realized that they were much better protected than she would have thought for a city like Santa Cruz.
"You have thome talent working for you I thee," she said, fingers flying over the keys. "Hope you appreciate them."
A cleverly designed bit of IC tried to cut her connection. "Daaaame(bad/no)," she said, reestablishing her connection. She was going to have to make it fast if she wanted to get what she wanted.
She quickly scanned through the files and found what she was looking for. It seemed that Uther was released on bail. She shook her head and cut the link. Bail.
A icon of a anime style cat girl suddenly appeared on her screen. "Gomen na sai Nami-sama, demo, mite, mite,(Sorry Nami, but look, look)," it said.
"A trathe," she laughed. "Let'th play."
It was a good program, very good, but she had played that game before. Where to send it, where to send it, she wondered as she ran the counter programs. As much fun as it would be to link the intrusion to the CIA, she decided not to. A little work and she created a false address for them to look into.
"I'm better," Nami said. "Now, karmic retribution."
Tracing the bail bondsman who gave Uther his freedom came easily enough. Transferring all the organizations funds to a women's shelter took a little more work. She was up to it. A counterfeit electronic copy of the transfer, signed by the administrator of the account no less, topped the work.
The local women's shelter on Cedar Street was suddenly two point three million dollars better than they had been not so long before. Nami yawned as she shut off her computer. She was too tired to make it to the bed so she cured up on the floor, in a nest of printer paper, and slept. She was to exhausted to dream.
June 24th, 1995 11:15 a.m.
Nami came awake gently, the sunlight through the window making her blink. She sat up, stretched and yawned, looking around the room. She just sat there for a while, not quite willing to get to her feet. It would be nice just to lie there through the day but a growing pressure on her bladder decided it for her. Twenty minutes later, after a shower and a change of clothes, Nami returned to main room. It was a bit of a mess.
Shaking her head she gathered up all the printer paper, looked through it, then began to giggle as she realized that she had in fact stolen over two million dollars the night before.
"Well, no good deed goeth unpunithed," she said as she fed the printer paper into the paper shredder.
After tossing all the empty coke cans into the garbage she left the room, turning the please do not disturb sign over to the 'Make Up The Room' side. She left the hotel at a run. The day looked a little unpleasant, but she didn't really care. For a moment she thought about going to see Jane but she decided to put it off until the next day.
A bike was what she was interested in. A little while spent wandering around found her what she was looking for. She went and looked around, checking the many mountain bikes on display, looking them over. A short time later one of the clerks approached her. A young man with wavy blonde hair who looked like he spent a fair amount of time on a bike.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Dependth, got thith baby in a frame my thize?" she asked him, placing her hand on a black bike.
"That's a two thousand dollar bike," he told her.
"Yes, I know."
"Don't you think that is a little too expensive for you?"
"No."
"Even if we had it in your size, think about it. You'd only outgrow it in a year." "Maybe," Nami smiled at him.
"Look, there are some bikes over there that you might like," he pointed towards the entrance of the store. "And they are a good price."
"I've theen them. You know as well ath I do they are cheap crap."
"Some of them are fairly good," he told her.
"Thay was I wath riding down a mountain path, and a monthter wath chathing me. Now, could you promithe that thothe biketh would allow me to ethcape that monthter?"
"I don't think you have to worry about monsters," he told her.
"Thure, you would thay that. In thith thection of biketh here, do you have anything my thize?" He sighed. "I'll go see," he told her.
Nami did not mind the trouble she had to go through just to get the bike. It was nice to see that he was not just interested in making a sale.
He came back a few minutes later. "We have the Norco in your size," he put his hand on a blue bike a few meters down from the one Nami was first looking at.
"What color?" Nami walked up to him.
"Red."
"Good color," she looked over the bike he was indicating. It looked pretty good.
"I can promise you this bike will not give you any trouble as you are trying to outrun monsters on mountain trails. And it is half the price of the other one. I still think you should get one of the cheaper ones. Save a bike like this for a couple of years from now."
"Nah, I don't think so."
"We could have it ready for you by tomorrow."
"Good lock, make that two, water bottle carrier, lightth, all the standardth."
"And a helmet."
"Nah."
"I won't sell it to you unless you get a helmet with it."
"Fine," Nami gave in. "And a helmet. If it is thtupid looking I'm not wearing it."
"One helmet, non dorky looking," he made a note. "We're going to have to ask for a deposit."
"Of courthe. How much?"
"One hundred."
Nami took out her wallet, opened it and took out a bill. "Here you go."
"Carrying around a lot of money aren't you."
"No."
"Okay, now, let's take a look at lights and stuff."
Nami spent he next several minutes looking over various types of lights and other things, picking the ones she wanted, constantly going for quality, not worrying about the expense. When it was over he gave her a receipt and she left the store.
After that she made her way to the Boardwalk where she went from ride to ride, searching out the one that was hardest on her stomach. Having found that holy grail of rides she rode it over and over again until she was only one ride away from throwing up.
Stumbling away from the amusement park Nami wondered why people bothered with drugs when an amusement park buzz had to be such a better thing.
June 25th, 1995 12:30 p.m.
Nami paid for her bike, causing the young man some upset by using cash again. She wheeled the bike out of the store, put on the helmet, which was not as bad as she would have thought, and took it out for a test ride. She was quite pleased with it, glad she had gone for quality. It was light, the gears shifted well and it gave her a smooth ride. Happy with it she headed off for the university, though her ultimate goal was the state park that bordered the university.
June 25th, 1995 1:41 p.m.
After locking her bike up at one of the university bike racks Nami walked to the park. Once she was far into it, off some of the trails she closed her eyes and embraced one of her birth rights. Where one moment a young girl had stood, now there was a young fox.
{Q: What about clothing when a pooka transforms? The books don't say anything about it. I just want to know for future reference. Thanks. A: Good question. I guess they would have to be left behind unless they are enchanted. Find a good knocker tailor to make her some good duds that can exist in both realities.}
Nami stretched out her four legs and groomed her fur, getting a feel for the form she now wore. It had been some time since she had been a fox. Leaping up into the air, enjoying the way her new muscles played against each other, she turned and ran into the forest, going deep places were no human could make it. The scents of the forest were richer than they had been in her human form. The sights different, the feel of the ground, everything. She loved freedom it gave her, being a fox. No matter what might happen she always had this. One day she was going to have spend a year or so in the form and really learn how to be a fox. That was for another day though.
June 25th, 1995 10:28 p.m.
It was dark when Nami locked her bike up outside the Dream Inn. It had been dark for quite some time. Fortunate she had picked up the lights for her bike. She stripped all the easily removed things from her bike, put them in her backpack, then went into the Inn.
She was feeling tired, but in a happy way. When she got to her room she almost wanted to go straight to bed but she shook herself out of her lethargy, put some music on and turned her attention to her computer.
The first thing she did was to delete all the information from her hard drives about the previous nights activities, as well as some of the other things she had done. Then she backed up all the information on her hard drives onto her tape drives.
The backups ready, she reformatted her hard drives, after convincing the animated cat girl icon that she indeed want to do so. Once the hard drives were clean she put all the information from the tape drives back onto disk. It was important, she had learned, to clean up after herself. She stretched out then picked up the phone to order room service.
June 26th, 1995 2 p.m.
Nami placed her bike on the ground. She had just been over to see Jane at the hospital. The doctors were still a bit unsure about her and could tell Nami nothing new.
The police were still looking for Uther.
All in all things weren't going as well as she might have hoped. But, she couldn't feel too bad. It was too nice of a day. The park was a nice place to rest, but as it was also a golf course Nami was a little worried about being hit in the head with a golf ball. Still, the course was some distance away, and screened by a number of trees so she thought it fairly safe.
She sat down, her back against a tree trunk, and opened up her nap sack. Inside was one of her disposable lap tops. It was almost a year old and, to Nami's thinking, woefully out of date. Still, it made a good word processor. She opened it up and turned it on then went to work.
The book she was writing was called 'A Foxes Guide to Computer Security' and subtitled 'A Non Standard View of Security Layout'. Her publisher was getting antsy for her to get it done. She wanted to release the book in time for Christmas, which Nami thought strange but was not about to argue. Her last book, 'Foxing Your Way Through C++" had hit the best seller list for such books for a time. Nami found books like hers very boring to read, but they were, oddly enough, a lot of fun to write.
She sat down and began to make revisions to a lot of things she had written already. The last few days had taught her a lot of new things and they deserved to be mentioned. After she finished revising it she would have to go through and clean everything up so it was ready to send to the publisher. That was one of the problems she had with such works. By the time they reached the shelves they were a little obsolete. Of course that had a good side. No one reading her book would be able to use any of the information in it to help them crack her security systems.
"You got funny ears," she heard some one say some time later.
Nami looked up. There was girl who looked to be four, maybe a little younger, standing close by.
"Pardon?" Nami said.
"Your ears. They're funny."
Nami looked at her curiously for a moment then reached up to brush one of her foxes ears. "Do you like?"
"Yes. No one else has ears like that."
"Oh, they do," Nami told her as she set her computer aside. "You just have to look. Not everyone can thee them you know."
"Like monsters?" the little girl's face took on an intense look.
"A lot like monsters."
"There is a monster under my bed," she said hesitantly, as if she was afraid to admit it.
"Mine too," Nami shook her head. "So, what kind ith it?"
"What?"
"What kind of monthter is it?"
"I don't know."
"Well, what doeth it do."
"It grabs my ankles sometimes and scares me."
"Doeth it bite?"
"No."
"Ever theen it?"
"Once. It was kind of big and shaggy."
"Ah. What you want to do is thave up some of your bread cruthtth and give it to it."
"Why?"
"They like that thort of thtuff."
"Are you sure?" she looked skeptical.
"Of courthe," Nami lied. "All it wantth ith thome attention. Give it that and it will be happy to leave you alone. It will altho make thure that no nathty monthters move in."
The girl nodded after a moment.
For a time she and Nami talked, Nami telling her stories, all of them full of lies of course, and giving her various advice. The most important one she tired to get the girl to accept was that grown ups would always say that there were no monsters and such, but not to believe them.
They had been talking for some time when the girl suddenly looked up.
"Julie, come here," a woman was calling.
"My mommy," Julie said. "Good bye."
"Bye bye," Nami said as Julie ran off.
Nami reached over and shut off her computer then packed in away, pulling the back pack on.
She watched as Julie reached the woman and pointed back towards Nami. Nami could guess the conversation. Mommy, that girl has fox ears and a tail. Now Julie, don't tell lies like that. But it's true mommy. Julie, what did I tell you about stories like that.
She shook her head as she got on the bike. Parents could be so obtuse at times. She pushed the pedal down and rode towards Julie and her mother, both of whom had turned their back to her.
She leaned over and flipped Julie's mother's skirt up as she went by. "Foxes have feelings to," she yelled then stuck her tongue out.
As she turned back to face the way she was going she was certain that she heard Julie laughing.
Monday, July 3rd, 1995 3:22 p.m.
Nami spent the next few days like that, playing, visiting the park, working on her book, playing with the children who grew in number each day. Few of them could see any of the Dreaming, but they were still interested in her stories. She always stopped by the hospital to see Jane, drop off some flowers, ask the doctors about her. They were still not sure but they seemed to think she was getting better.
She played her pranks, told her lies and simply enjoyed life. She was eleven years old, she was rich and the summer stretched out in front of her like some unending tapestry.
Of course her time was not always idyllic. In the evenings she was often in front of her computer, trying to crack the codes that held her from the data she wanted at the university. Since the night her hardware had almost been fried by the impossible surge she had been taking things a bit more carefully. It was taking more time but she thought the precaution worth it.
On the day before Independence day, a big holiday that meant little to her, she was walking along the beach. There was a light foggy drizzle falling, one of the reasons she was not at the park. The beach was nearly empty, except for the surfers in their wetsuits taking advantage of the waves. Nami liked the quiet, liked the way the damp sand got between her toes and stuck to her feet. The day was still warm for the rain and Nami liked it.
She was making her way carefully through a patch of broken glass when she spotted something of interest. A young woman, holding a surfboard, looking out over the waves. Nami might not have paid her much attention but for the fact she was Fae. Sidhe in fact.
"Thurfing Eleveth?" Nami said as she approached. "What would J.R.R say?" The woman turned to look at Nami. She was beautiful, not that Nami would have expected anything different, with long brown hair and silver eyes. "Go away child before I become angry," she said.
"Why?" Nami asked.
"You annoy me Pooka."
"Why?"
"Because all of your ilk are foolish liars not worth my time."
"Why?"
"Because I am Sidhe, noble born you commoner."
"Why?"
"Enough with this silliness," she turned back to the ocean.
"Will you be my friend?" Nami asked.
"No."
"Pleathe," she wined.
The young Sidhe said nothing, just ran off towards the ocean. Nami wondered if she might trip the woman up but decided not to try. Not with magic.
"But thith," she yelled out so loud that anyone close by could hear. "daddy said you couldn't thurf any more unleth you stopped wetting your bed."
The Sidhe stopped so suddenly she almost fell. She spun around but by then Nami was already running.
July 4th, 1995, 7:30 p.m.
Nami looked at herself in the mirror, wondering if she really wanted to go out. Earlier that day she had seen Julie's mother slap her daughter for telling lies. That she had apologized to her daughter and later tripped and landed in a mud puddle did not make Nami feel much better. Part of her just wanted to stay huddled in front of her monitor, away from everyone, starting malicious rumors on newsnet.
She shook her head.
It wasn't a time to dwell on such sad things. She had work to do that night and it was best that she do it. No one else would after all. Nami squared her shoulders and walked from the room.
July 4th, 8:00pm
A restless, bordering on angry, mood drifted through the crowd that blanketed the boardwalk. They were tightly pressed in, hot, and tempers ran high. It was only the anticipation of what was to happen that night, the fireworks that would fill the sky, that acted to keep a cohesive force of something bordering on goodwill within the mass of humanity. But it was a goodwill that was hard maintained and often fractured in small pockets.
Nami pushed through the crowd, not quite sure what she was doing there. The holiday meant nothing to her and after the last few days she was not in the celebratory mood she might normally be in. Still, if she tired hard enough, she should be able to have some fun. And when it came to having fun, there was no such thing as trying too hard.
Nami reached out to pinch the bottom of an attractive, young woman. She spun around, completely missing Nami who was lost in the crowd even standing beside her. Her eyes locked on a man behind whose only real crime was being to close. Jaw hardening she slapped him, hard enough that his head snapped to the side, her hand sliding past his head. She closed her fist and snapped it back, right into the side of the unfortunate man's head, knocking him down. "You pervert!" she screamed at him.
Several meters away Nami continued to push her way through the crowd, using her small size to slide through the mass of bodies. She shook her head, feeling a little bad as she listened to the sounds behind her. She had not really meant for anyone to get hurt beyond a slap. People were just overreacting; tempers were running too high. Maybe going out had been a mistake, she thought.
Some screaming and yelling caught her attention. Nami put her foot out, the brown and white saddle shoe coming into sharp contact with a young man's ankle. His flight ended as he slammed onto the Boardwalk.
"Lotht pointth on that one," she said, moving on.
If the young man thought to take revenge he never had a chance. The boyfriend of the woman whose purse he had stolen caught up to the thief and made his displeasure known.
"That'th got to hurt," she said, turning away, continuing to push through the crowd.
Something up ahead of her caught her attention, a huge something. Bright, garish clothes, white face, red ball nose, a shock of orange hair and a mouth full of shark teeth. No one else was reacting to it, everyone simply moved around it. They couldn't see it. It was a Chimera, and a nasty looking one at that.
Escaping it would be easy; all she had to do was retreat into her mortal seeming. She wasn't going to do that though. Too easy, and, to her way of thinking, too dangerous. Better to simply outsmart it. She ducked to the side, moving into the cover offered by a refreshment stand. She watched the monster clown as it ambled closer and closer to her.
Nami had heard that fear of clowns was fairly common, as phobias went. Something about childhood events as she understood it. Of course she had been told, by a source that she trusted, that people who feared clowns just had strong racial memory. They recalled a time long past when a powerful demon had unleashed an army of evil clowns in an attempt to destroy humanity. It made sense to her.
After a minute the clown was gone and she moved from her cover to continue her way down the boardwalk. Shortly later she reached a clear area of railing. Placing a foot onto one of the cross pieces she boosted herself up to get a better look around.
There was a bank of fog out on the ocean but it looked like it would stay out there. Boats were moored right up against the wall of fog, so it looked to her. If the bank did not advance the people in the craft would have a very nice view of the display. The beach was covered with the spill off from the Boardwalk, a crowd of milling people. Down there the tempers seemed even hotter. She made a mental note not to see any of it up close.
She cut an interesting figure on the rail. Her long brown hair was pulled back from her face by a bright red ribbon, a bow tied on top of her head. She was conscious of how cute she was, as well as some of the looks she was getting. How many pedophiles in this crowd? she wondered. She had run into her fair share, well, more than her fair share really, of the child market crowd. She had learned to recognize them and avoid them.
She wore a lose, white, Rayearth T-shirt-her favorite anime series--, a jean jacket with a nine tailed fox air brushed on the back and a pair of black, silk slacks. The painting on the jacket had been a gift from a young Sidhe noble she had met a few years before.
The Boardwalk was packed with people wandering along it, lines for the rides jutting out into that mass of humanity. From the rides came screams, a few seconds of safe terror. There were other screams, from down on the beach. She did not want to think about them.
The crowd was truly huge, composed of all the strata's: bikers, yuppies, punks, kids, teenagers, harried parents and lovers, they were all there, and more. She shook her head and wondered yet again why she was there. Taking a deep breath Nami turned towards a man beside her. Time to have some fun.
"What ith thith all about jithan?" she asked.
"Pardon?" he asked her.
"Thith night?"
"It's independence day. It is a celebration of this country's independence from the British."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"I heard that King George wath more worried about the French, who the Britith had a long hithtory of hating and really didn't care about an upthtart colony," she smiled at him.
From the look he was giving her she was almost positive he wanted to hit her. She gave him her most winning, 'how could you think of hitting me' smile. He shook his head and walked away.
Of course he did not notice the kick me sign she had put on his back, and likely never would as it was Chimerical. Under the large 'KICK ME' was written in small letters, 'if you can't see this you are banal'. The Knocker who had made those signs for her really had been kind. She hoped re-labeling his chemicals had cheered him up.
"That'th one," she smiled.
Feeling a little better she remained by the rail, looking out at the people, breathing in the scents, both pleasant and not. She came close to forgetting what was bothering her. Perhaps she might enjoy the night after all.
"Excuse me, is this spot taken?" Nami heard from behind her.
"I'm thaving it for Evith," she said, not bothering to look around at the newcomer.
"Would that be Costello or Presley?" he asked.
"Who ever thows up firtht," she looked up at the man and winked at him. There was nothing particularly striking about him, except for maybe the black jumpsuit. Brown hair cut conservatively, brown eyes and nothing else except an odd feeling Nami had that there was something more to him, He wasn't Fae though.
"Well then I'll keep the place warm until one of them shows up to claim it - or your parents."
"Well, other than the Elvith'th I don't think there ith any one elthe who will take that thpot," She told him, looking out over the crowd again, stuffing a hand in her pocket and pulling something out.
"Gum?" she asked, holding out a package.
"Thank you," he said as he took a piece from the package. "It will help to remove the popcorn from between my teeth. Mmm, not bad, can't tell what flavor it is due to the lousy coffee I had."
Nami hid a smile, that's two, she thought. "Thperemint," she said
"This crowd is different then the one back in DeeCee on this night."
"Different from the oneth in Tokyo too, not that anyone thelebrated thith holiday, but plenty of fireworkth."
"How soon before show starts?" he asked her.
"In about twenty theven minuteth," she said, glancing down at her Rolex. Then she turned and stared out over water, and at the setting sun that was painting everything red.
"Never been to Tokyo. I've studied the lingo but haven't made the trip yet. Besides I thought fireworks came from China."
"Mars actually; Japan importth them."
"An old girlfriend of mine once told me that if you listen very careful when the sun sets on the ocean, you can hear a hissing sound. Almost as if the water was putting it out. Doubt that we will be able to hear anything with that music blasting back there." He said indicating the stage.
"Well, maybe if there ith a power outage we'll hear it. Better happen thoon though," she looked over the ocean as the last of the red began to fade away, the sun nearly gone. "Kirei dethu ne (beautiful isn't it)?" she said softly.
"Yes it it lovely, especially with the fog tonight."
"Creeping in on little fox feet," Nami said as darkness descended, "Magic tonight, you can thmell it on the breeze, or ith that the rotting fith?"
He took a deep breath, "That's the smell of death in the air. Death caused by stupidity, accident, or even mis-directed MAGIC." He leaned heavily on the railing. "Sorry, shouldn't be so morbid on such a happy Holiday. Is it all right with you if I just stay quiet for a bit and watch all these people," he waved toward the folks on the beach, "having fun. Rather then thinking about what I've had to do and will have to do in the near future?"
"Mithdirected magic hath itth plathe, and everything hath to die," she looked over the crowd for a moment, then back up at the man, smiling. "Read that it a fortune cookie onthe. And it'th not my holiday. I'm just here to liven up the thtraights. And have you ever thought of writing a poem about what you are feeling? Dark emotions are jutht as powerful ath the light," she smiled, but it felt a little forced to her.
He said nothing.
"I'm going to cauthe thome miththeif," Nami told him as she pushed off the rail. "And then maybe I'll bite thomeone, but probably not. You'll excuthe me I hope, but there is a four meter monster clown coming thith way and it lookth hungry. Thome people's fearth," she said, shaking her head.
"Ja, ojithan (later mister)." she called, waving.
"Go'om bye, short stuff." he called back.
Nami turned away from him, smiling as she thought about his blackened teeth. That gum was too perfect. It was too bad it had been banned. Supposedly carcinogenic in large doses, but who would take it in large doses?
She let the crowd swallow her, quickly loosing the monster clown. She wanted to be some distance away from the area when the stink bombs she had planted went off. Expensive little devices, but harmless and efficient. It would clear that area of the Boardwalk for a minute or two.
Some distance away she stopped at a refreshment stand and looked at the board behind it to see what they offered.
"Excuthe me, do you have any crithpy walruth waferth?" she asked.
"Pardon," the young man looked down at her.
"Crithpy Walruth waferth. Do you have any?"
"No, sorry."
"Why not," Nami demanded.
"What?"
"Why not. What'th wrong with crithpy walruth waferth?"
"Hey, it's just that..."
"What?"
"It's just that..."
"What?"
"I don't think they exist," he told her.
"Well, they thould," she told him.
"Do you want anything kid?" he said angrily.
"Peathe on Earth, good will to all foxes, Di to dump Charleth and adopt me." "Do you want anything?" he stressed each word.
"Large coke, one of thothe leathery looking hot dogs and a package of M&M, unless they don't exitht ath well."
He quickly put her order together and handed it all to her. She paid him with a twenty, got her change and then set off into the crowd.
"Hey, watch where you are going," a kid in a leather jacket told her after he almost bumped into her.
"Why?" Nami asked.
"Because if you don't maybe someone will punch you," he said, giving her a hard stare.
Nami looked at him, sighed, then dumped the contents of her cup on his head. He sputtered, pushing the coke soaked hair out of his eyes.
"What if I dump a coke onto your head?" she asked him, careful to avoid any 's'.
He looked at her then began to cry, a moment later running off into the crowd, probably looking for his mother.
"They jutht don't make bullieth like they uthed to," Nami shook her head as she reached into her pocket, removing a twenty dollar bill. She had spent over an hour working flash powder into the very fibers of the bill and then had attached a simple sparker to the bill. Waiting until a group of people covered her action, she placed the bill, pressing over the sparker, the two part epoxy gluing it in place.
When some one took the bill it would disappear in a flashy, Nami forgave herself the pun, but ultimately harmless explosion. It would not only be funny but would teach someone a very valuable lesson about the transitory nature of material objects.
She spent the rest of the time doing similar, wandering, playing pranks, never the same prank twice though. The crowds grew restless as the time for the display approached. The bands had stopped playing, but the rides were still running, though not that many people were using them. All eyes had turned upwards, waiting for the spectacle to begin. Well, not quite everyone. Nami was more interested in the people around her then what was about to take place in the air.
Drunks, of one sort or another milled around, a few fights broke out, Nami only caused one of them, which she was proud of. The police--private and city--were out in force, but the crowd was too large for them to do anything about it. And some of them weren't too bright, especially the middle aged cop whose shoe laces she had tied together.
The first boom shocked Nami a little, causing her to jump suddenly. She looked over to see sparks raining down on the boats and some of the spectators. Too low, Nami thought, shaking her head. She did not pay too much attention to the display of fiery flowers that painted the sky and chased away the darkness for a time. She listened the the 'oohs' and 'aahs' and almost used them to pick her targets, as it were.
The fireworks were beautiful, but she had seen fireworks before. She remembered watching the most beautiful display from the Yokohama Bay Bridge with... With... Well, she did not want to think about it. Now that she thought about she had not watched fireworks in a long time. Shaking her head Nami walked up to a woman who was staring up at the display. It seemed nothing else existed for her.
"You could write a poem about it," Nami said to her, pitching her voice to carry over the booms.
When the woman turned to look Nami was gone, fading back into the crowd. She knew it was better that way. If they never knew who said it, they might attribute it to themselves. So much the better if they did. She kept that up through the display, finding people, making a suggestion, then moving on. Nami took the long view to gathering Glamour. What was good for the Dreaming was ultimately good for her. She might never benefit directly from the work she did that night, but she was sure she benefit from it eventually. It was the faces of the people that told her that the display was over. Disappointment that it was over and a going back to the everyday world. Nami leaned back against the railing around one of the rides, feeling tired. She couldn't do anything more that night. The opening the fireworks had given her was gone. She sighed and shook her head.
She heard screams, and music, and the noise of the rides.
People began to flow away from the Boardwalk, the spectacle over, time to go home. They were the respectable folks, the middle class, those who had warm beds and TVs waiting for them. Nami had all that, and more, but she stayed. She stayed with the rest, the bored youths, the poor, the gangs, and the predators. She stayed and watched them. They were interesting. Perhaps a little dangerous, but interesting.
The temperature dropped as the fog rolled in, cloaking the area in a misty blanket. Nami shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her. The quality of the bands went down, though she could hardly hear them with the music from a multitude of portable stereos. There was nothing there for her any longer. She had watched it all for a time, but it no longer interested her. She walked towards the beginning of the Boardwalk, she would get on the street and take a cab back to the hotel.
"Out late aren't you kid?" she heard from in front of her.
Nami looked up. Three teenagers were in front of her.
"Go to hell," Nami said.
"Why you little..." one approached her.
Nami kicked him in the shin and dodged around him.
One of his friends came at her, she drove the heel of her shoe down onto his instep.
She continued walking, not looking back, though she knew that they would follow. That was all right, Nami knew what she was doing. Ahead of her were some cops, one of them talking to a man and woman. They didn't notice Nami but that was all right as well. The youths behind her did see them. She could tell that by the fact that the sounds of pursuit died away.
She was cleverer than any of them. She turned away from the officer and continued on.
A few minutes later she hailed a cab and was gone.
Tuesday, July 11th, 1995 3:19 p.m.
Nami waited for Jane in the waiting room of the hospital. She was being released that day and Nami decided she should be there. The doctors had said there were no major problems and little reason for her to be kept in the hospital.
Nami flipped through one of the magazines, not really reading it. After the fourth of July she had spent the days much like she had before. Having fun and enjoying herself. It was easy and she was good at it.
Now things were changing. She had more or less decided to assume responsibility for Jane until something better came along. While she wanted to help Jane she personally preferred that someone assume responsibly for her than the other way around. Still, there was little she could do.
Nami jumped to her feet when Jane came out into the room. Her recovery from the ravaging had been remarkable, though she seemed to be a bit air headed and had not been quite sure who Nami was. Still, all things considered, Nami was amazed at how Jane had quickly come back.
"Come on Jane, let'th go home," Nami said, reaching up to take the woman's hand.
Jane gave Nami a slightly confused look, then smiled and took her hand. Nami led her from the hospital and down the road a few blocks, looking for a taxi. Jane stopped, staring in a florist shop window. Something catching her attention. Nami walked back to her and looked in the window. Jane was staring a some lavender. The clusters of purple flowers looked a little faded but Nami thought that it still looked beautiful.
"The sweet scent of lavender," Jane said.
"Something so old world,
a scent of a mystery.
Like the eyes of an strange child."
Nami felt something go through her, a sweet shiver, so delicious, so powerful, so very, very impossible.
"What wath that?" she asked, her voice quavering slightly.
"What?" Jane asked.
"That poem?"
"Poem?"
Nami shook her head, it was an effect of the ravaging, but he poem itself. The poem.
She stared at the young woman across from her, not quite willing to believe what she was confronted with.
"Come on," Nami took Jane's hand. "There'th a taxi." She pulled Jane towards the cab and got her in to the back seat. "Dream Inn," she told the driver.
As she pulled on her seat belt Nami realized that there was only one possibility to explain what had just happened. Jane had to be a Glamour Well. A living being capable of producing an almost unending stream of Glamour. It was nearly impossible to destroy that, their creativity.
She could not believe it.
A Glamour Well had just dropped into her lap.
It was the last thing she needed.
How long before every Fae in the area was going to be coming after Jane, and probably annoying Nami all to hell. Representatives of both courts might be visiting her soon, and there was still Uther.
Uther. She did not want to think about him. She had stopped having nightmares only a week before, Uther could bring them back.
She sighed and looked up at Jane. Part of her just wanted to set Jane loose and go her own way. Unfortunately she liked Jane and could not bring herself to do so.
Life sucks, Nami thought. I never wanted a Glamour Well. A half decent poetess who would also work as a baby sitter would have been just perfect. She was still not sure what to do when she got back to the hotel. She took Jane to her suite and got her settled into the other room. Jane promptly fell asleep. Nami stared down at the woman and shook her head. "You probably would have made a good adult figure to have around too," she said, smiling. Then she left the bedroom.
After checking a few things she left the room.
In two days she would be moving into her house and she had a lot of shopping to do. She needed a bed, well two, and a bunch of other stuff. She also needed to get a protective cover for her mattress. A doctor had told her that cases of night time incontinence like hers usually cleared up by the time children reached twelve or thirteen. Of course that meant 10 to 20 years for her. Ah well, such was life.
Wednesday, July 19th, 1995 2:54 p.m.
Nami blew a lock of her brown hair out of her eyes. When it fell back she retreated the process. It was a sad indication of her state of mind that she actually found doing so interesting.
Her mountain stronghold, Minas Humor as she liked to call it, was more than comfortable and her neighbors more than just well off. It had seemed like a nice place to be at the time, but in a little more than two weeks she had discovered living in the sticks, as exclusive as they were, was more than a little boring.
Her neighbors were so dull she was surprised they could even cut through the air as they walked. They were sooooooo boring. They just did not get most of her jokes, well, all of them really. She was sure that they were only a few steps away from being Autumn People. Still, she had thought, at first, that she might be able to help them. Forlorn hope really.
Well thought out pranks, the sort of things that should have had them laughing for weeks, well, a few minutes at least, had resulted in nothing more that some of the gardeners and maids fired. What was funny about that? Anyone could fire and illegal immigrant. Now, filling a Mercedes with Jell-O took some thought.
Many of her neighbors were giving her odd looks as if they suspected she might have something to do with the rash of pranks. She of course had long practiced her innocent look and had clothing that she had specially picked out to help in that. Still, she was fairly sure that they were going out of her way not to interact with her. She was being snubbed.
It seemed every day, sometimes twice if Nami had been busy, Jane was getting complaints about her. They obviously took Jane for her older sister, or perhaps even her mother. Of course Jane did not look that old so they either thought that Nami was much younger than she thought she looked or they thought Jane had been a very, very young mother. She felt a little bad for Jane, but listening to what her neighbors called her was always fun.
Child-thing was perhaps her favorite. She had not thought the middle aged matron in the house across from her had that sort of creativity in her. Maybe she was having a good effect on them.
She blew the hair out of her eyes again then turned her attention to the pad of paper, covered in doodles as well as few piece of information. Since leaving the hotel she had been searching for a private detective, the police were not having any luck in finding Uther. Of course she could not just hire any private detective, Uther would eat them alive, literally. No, she needed a specialist, but finding one, outside of self styled which hunters, was not easy.
There were two possibilities. A Joseph Locatelli, whose last name she was sure was fake, and a Charles DeRama, whose name she had stumbled upon by accident. Finding Mr. DeRama's phone number had been hard as he was not listed in the phone book. Fortunately the Phone Company's computer was her friend.
She had found out that Locatelli was 'indisposed' and unable to accept any cases. She had asked if he was drunk; all the movies she had seen told her PI's drank a lot. They had hung up on her.
She had gotten DeRama,s machine and left a simple message. "Hi, I need someone to find a monster, and a nasty one too. He's got great big teeth and goes by the name of Grendel. Well, not really, call me at this number if you think you can help.'" Of course she has lisped all her S's.
Moving in, writing her book, keeping an eye on things and trying to break into the University Computer Club, the Neo-Data Fascists, had taken up a lot of time. It was a wonder she had time to play pranks on her neighbors at all. And they were so unappreciative about it. It almost made Nami mad.
Turning her seat slightly, she began typing on her computer, checking things out again. She had learned a lot of interesting things over the past weeks, not quite what she wanted, but still very interesting.
She froze the information scrolling across the screen, looking at something that had caught her attention. There was a transfer going on, and very fast at that. Anything that big had to be a graphic file, but is was so fast. Someone knew a few tricks. She tipped an imaginary hat to whoever was on the other end then decided to copy the stuff. All she had to do was mime one of their units and she'd have it. Easy as breathing. Or it should have been. Someone had tagged her.
"Chikusho," she cursed.
Reacting quickly, remembering the last time someone had noticed her, she gave the power bar on the floor a good kick. The cord pulled out the wall, cutting the power off to her computer. For some strange reason the information was still in the screen, which was impossible. Then she noticed her monitor had begun to glow. That was not at all normal, even for her monitor.
She kicked her chair back and dove under her desk a moment before her computer did what she guessed as an amazingly good imitation of a sun going nova. If only Carl Sagan could see it, though all things considered it was best he was not there as her computer was throwing a lot of plasma around the room. If George Lucas could do that he'd be a happy man, she thought.
She winced as she watched a lance of plasma flash out and burn her chair in half. Then Just as suddenly as it started there was a loud whumphing sound and then everything was quiet.
Nami looked up at the bottom of her desk, noting no damage what so ever. And she had thought the clerk at the store was lying when he told her that the desk would stand up to a grenade. Getting out from under her desk she looked at the damage.
Everything on her desk, including an R2-D2 action figure, still in the package no less, was for the most part destroyed.
"The Empire tried, the Jawath tried and in the end it wath my computer that killed you," she said sadly, looking at the melted blob of plastic which has once been that feisty droid.
Her computer no longer looked like a computer. It did not look like much. If she didn't know better she would say it had imploded and took a few things with it. She wondered if she put it on her lawn if her neighbors would think it modern art and offer to buy it. Something to try later, she decided.
"Che," she cursed, shaking her head. Then the left the room, heading to her bedroom. There were several computers, all recently purchased; it never hurt to have a few back ups, in her closet. She pulled one out and began to unpack it. Putting all the software back on was going to take a bit of time but all her other modifications were going to be a pain to replace. She was going to have to find herself a Knocker, not that she looked forward to that.
As she set the tower to the side she began to think about the code she saw on her screen, while she still had a screen. The program running the transfer was unlike anything she had seen before. She would have been willing to swear on a few hours ago it was like something no one had ever seen. It was almost as if the code was alive, changing, no, rewriting itself as it went along. Of course that was impossible, but she didn't let that bother her. People who said things were impossible were very dull.
Could the code have actually reacted to what she was doing, recognizing her interference as such? A wild idea. It would have to be both a program and an operating system and maybe more. A living thing that recognized that her trying to bring it into her system for analysis and had reacted to that.
"Thugoi, (wow)" Nami said.
The program was incredible and playing with it had been so much fun. She had enjoyed it. That scared her a little. She couldn't be a danger junky could she?
As she sat there she heard Jane composing poetry in the other room, another work she just made up on the spot. Nami shook her head, trying to get away from the sound. Her eyes fell on the vase in her room that held a beautiful arrangement of flowers.
There was no where in the house where she could escape from Glamour. It was like she was drowning in it. And it wasn't just Glamour. There was enough Dross in the house for Nami to buy a kingdom, she was sure of it. She didn't want a kingdom though. She wouldn't have the slightest idea of what to do with it.
Turning her attention back to her computer she wondered where her life was going and if she could ask the for the ride to be stopped for a few hours so she could catch her breath.
Thursday, July 20th, 1995 2:33 a.m.
Nami sat up in her canopied bed wondering where the pounding sound was coming from. It took her a moment to decide it was her door. She got out of bed, wondering who could be bothering her at, she looked at the clock on her night table, 2:30 in the morning. Had she played a prank she forgot about?
She walked over to the window and looked out on her lawn and saw, torches? Oh my, she thought, her neighbors had finally banded together and come to burn her out. Where was Igor when she needed him?
She shook her head. Her neighbors would not use torches, unless Gouchi designed torches. Did Gouchi design torches? Something to look into later. If not her neighbors then it was likely Uther had finally found her, him and his redcaps flunkies.
She had modified her the burglar alarm that had come with the house. She had seen Home Alone in the theaters in Tokyo; she hated that screaming little boy, but the writers had had some good ideas. That and the on line version of the 'Anarchist's Cook Book' had made the system rather unique. She was just about to activate the system when she heard a shrill, female voice from below that was not at all redcappish.
"Don't try to hide! I see you, Pooka! Come down and open this door- at once! I order you!"
Nami slid the window open and poked her head out.
On her front lawn was a very well dressed Troll woman with two guards, also trolls. The guards were bearing the torches.
"You don't thee that every night," Nami said quietly.
They were dressed in the finest of Fae garments and it seemed they were lacking in a mortal seeming. If her neighbors were to wake up it was likely that the focused banality would kill the fools on her lawn. She wondered if that would be such a bad thing.
"Come down and open this door! I am the Duchess of Gort and I demand my right of hospitality!"
"Oh my," Nami said, pulling her head back in and leaving her room at a run. When she pulled open the door, lights were just coming on in the houses around hers. She stepped aside and let the Troll and her retinue enter.
"What's up?" Jane asked, yawning, as she walked down the stairs.
"Avon lady," Nami said.
"Oh," Jane nodded, then walked towards the kitchen.
Nami saw some flashing red lights and quickly slammed the door. There was a small memo board by the door. Nami uncapped a pen, reached up and put a mark on it. The Sheriff's Department had to be getting a little tired about coming out to hear complaints about Nami. If it kept up Nami was going to have to buy a new memo board. Of course her neighbors had called the police, who had come fast. That bode well if Uther ever did come calling.
"It took you enough time," the troll woman exclaimed. "You commoners have no sense of decorum."
"Which of the five thentheth ith that?" Nami asked. She noticed that the guards were still carrying lit torches.
"You know, if they set my house on fire the sprinkler systems is just going to come on and soak us all."
"Well, if you are stupid enough to build your house out of paper, what do you expect? Put out those torches," she ordered.
The two guards looked around then doused the flaming brands in the salt water aquarium she had recently bought. She had yet to put any fish in it but there were a collection of Barbie dolls in swim wear, as well as a GI Joe in a wetsuit, floating around in it. She had picked up the GI Joe, an old large size one, at the same store she had bought the R2-D2 and an antique teddy bear. She was still not sure if it was art or just weird but she liked it in either case.
"By Luna! Is stone unheard of here?" the Duchess asked, accidentally punching a hole in one of the walls. "So flimsy!"
"They put a ban on all thtone buildingth due to the fact mountainth were being killed for their preciouth thtone. It wath really thad for a while. They thought that the herds of wild mountianth would be extinct, but fortunately they were thaved. If you are going to punch another hole, could you put one over there, I wath thinking of putting a new door in."
The Duchess gave Nami a very odd look. Nami smiled at her.
A moment later Jane came out of the kitchen. She was carrying a tray of refreshments. Nami noticed she was looking at the Duchess and her guards oddly. The Duchess produced a pair of opera glasses and held them up to her eyes, and gave Jane the same sort of look Jane was giving her. The opera glasses looked absurd in the woman's huge, gray-green hands.
"You are a very precious child," the Duchess said to Jane, taking the glasses from her eyes. "If I didn't know better I would say that you were a..."
At that moment there was a loud pounding at that door, cutting off what the Troll was about to say.
Nami sighed and walked to the door, readying herself for the usual inquisition from the Sheriff Deputies.
"By Luna," the Duchess exclaimed. "Are you mad!? I order you away from that door!"
Nami was about to say one of several rude words, a few actually in English, when the pounding at he door repeated.
"This is Comitus, Centurion of Thraxenthome! I demand that you open up and surrender! You are harboring fugitives who are wanted for crimes against the State!"
"Don't pay him any mind, Pooka!" the Duchess demanded. "I am a vassal of Ador Sanh. We don't suffer the demands of churlish ilk from that 'other' place. I demand you defend me - to the death if need be!"
Nami was suddenly very afraid. She ran to the window that gave her a vantage on the front door and looked out. On her door step was a Dark Sidhe Knight, in armour, carrying what had to be an iron sword. There were glittering lights around him, as well as two Troll Legionnaires who held Iron maces that looked like they could flatten her door with one blow. Behind them were four redcaps and a knocker, each bearing an iron dagger. All of them had a dragon emblem on their surcoats.
"All right," she heard the knight order. "Surround the place. We'll burst in from the front, the rest of you swarm in from the rear and windows. Remember--take no prisoners. Kill everyone you meet!"
"You," she turned to face the Troll. "My name is Nami, a noble of the houthe of Eiluned, personal friend of the High King. If it wath not for thothe redcapth out there I would let him in."
She reached out and flipped the security system on to active mode. The halogen spot lights came on around the house and the tape of barking dogs began to play.
"And the only way I'll defend you to the death is if you are running faster than me and they run me down to get at you."
"I have Avangerth on the roof and I can turn the whole lawn into a killing field," she yelled through the door. "Back off unleth you want to become Thidhe paté."
It was a lie of course. Even if the roof would have supported them, the main weapon of the A-10 had been beyond her ability to acquire. She had been told that she could get her hands on mortars and a 150mm howitzer though.
Sometimes she did not understand America.
Thursday, July 20th, 1995 2:37 a.m.
Nami stood by the control for her alarm system, hoping that the unseelie might be willing to talk, or that it all might be a bad dream. The bad dream part would be really nice. She decided the first was not all that likely when she heard the sound of braking glass followed by the high pitched wail of her burglar alarm.
The two troll guards rushed off, their heavy feet causing the floorboards to creak loudly, to deal with the problem. Soon she could hear screaming and grunting coming from the back of the house. Jane had a worried look on her face, not that Nami could blame her. The Duchess on the other hand appeared unfazed by all the noise. Nami was a little amazed when she took out some yarn and needles then began to knit. Nami was about to ask her what she was doing when a redcap charged in, brandishing an iron knife. On the sight of him Jane screamed and stumbled back. The blood left her face.
The redcap turned in the direction of the scream and then began to
advance on Jane, her fear reaching out to him, exciting him, promising him so much. Just as he was about to leap, the Duchess reached out and grabbed him, tossing him back and through one of the wall. Maybe stone construction is the way to go, she thought. Or concrete with reinforced steel. She wondered if the American government was still selling all those used missile silos they were closing down.
Nami rushed to Jane's side and tried to comfort the poor girl. The last thing she had needed was a redcap. The last thing anyone needed was a redcap, but Jane more than most. It was only when she noticed the thick smoke filling the room did she realize that her house was on fire. Thank goodness for insurance, Nami thought as the sprinklers came on, soaking everyone and putting out the fire.
She was coughing, the smoke was still thick and had an unpleasant, oily taste to it, when a Knocker came charging into the room--wearing some sort of odd contraption on his back. It sort of looked like the kind of flame-thrower king Arthur might have used, assuming he would have used one.
"Do put that silly thing down," the Duchess said, not bothering to stop her knitting, which was as soaked as she was.
Time to check out, Nami thought, grabbing Jane by the hand and dragging her up the stairs. Jane was not too helpful, but she seemed willing to be pulled along. Nami made for her bedroom and closed the door behind. Then she pushed the dresser in front of it followed by her bed. For a moment she thought the strain was going to cause her heart to burst. She was a little pooka after all and not all that strong. She was desperate though and the bed moved into place.
Jane was huddled in a corner, crying and whimpering. Nami went over to her and dropped to her knees, holding her tightly, partly to give her comfort, and partly in hopes of getting some back.
From below there was a booming sound, and the house shook, as if there was an earthquake. That was soon followed by the sound of her door breaking and then battle, clanking armour and clashing weapons. Nami held onto Jane tightly and hoped it would all be over soon. Next she heard the sound of screaming from below. The person sounded terrified and Nami held onto Jane tighter for a moment, then slowly released her to go and peak out the window.
She saw the Duchess being dragged from her house, out onto the lawn and towards the street. One of the unseelie trolls produced a set of iron shackles which he used to bind her. They seemed to cause her incredible pain and she thrashed around, as if trying to escape it.
The Knight whistled and a team of Nightmares came clattering up the street, their hooves striking sparks from the asphalt with each step. From their flared nostrils came tiny curls of flame. It was oddly beautiful.
The Knight quickly chained the Duchess to two of the Nightmares then started off, what remained of his team following him. Only one redcap, one troll and the knocker, who was wounded, had survived the fight. They left, the Duchess being dragged behind them, in obvious agony. As soon as they left the lights around her started to come on, as if time had been frozen before. In the distance she heard the sound of police sirens. A lot of them.
She pulled the dresser far enough from the door to allow her to squeeze through, then went back downstairs where she shut off the sprinklers and the alarm. The entire ground level looked like it had been scorched. A real mess. Smoke damage, water damage, fire damage, it was all too much. It was time to move, she decided. With luck she'd be able to get her neighbors to pay big in order to get her to leave.
Looking around she found one of the unseelie trolls lying across her mantle, his head had been crushed by a savage blow. There were also two redcaps lying there. It almost looked as if they had stabbed each other. It was odd. The looks on their faces seemed to be a mixture of shock and triumph. Very strange, she thought.
Looking around, what she didn't see was any sign of the Duchess' guards. Perhaps they had escaped. If so they were probably already on their way to save her. Trolls were like that.
She signed and started up the stairs. If the police were going to be wandering around she wanted to make sure there was nothing illegal around her computer. When she reached the room she found the duchess there - attended by her guards - still knitting furiously. None of them seemed harmed, though they were all soaking wet. Nami, staring, openmouthed, noted that that whatever she was knitting was disappearing as fast as she made it. She continued to stare for a moment, then shook her head.
"What ith going on here?" she demanded. "Well, actually, I know. It wath a trick worthy of a Pooka."
The duchess looked up suddenly and in that moment the whole work disappeared, yarn and all. Only the needles remained.
"Look what you did you Stupid Pooka! You have done it now! They will know they have been tricked and they will return here. We must depart," she stood and began to gather her things. "I am leaving," she said as she walked from the room, almost stepping on Nami. "This place is not fit for my presence anyway," she said, walking down the stairs. "Next time, you would do well to build out of stone; then this sort of thing wouldn't happen."
"While, I am thinking of reinforced concrete," Nami said. "Maybe heavy blast doorth and bulletproof glath."
"Yes, well I'm sure that would be fine," the Duchess said as she began to dig around in her bag, not really giving Nami much attention.
After a moment she pulled out a black seed the size of a walnut, but it was smooth and shiny.
"This will more than cover your losses I believe," the Duchess said, handing it to Nami.
"What is it?" Nami asked.
"As for that mortal girl," she said, not answering Nami's question. "I think I am interested in buying her. I don't have time right now, but if you clean her up, fitting to be presented, bring her to my castle at Gort and I will reward you handsomely."
"I don't thell people. I just torture them with mind gameth," Nami said.
If the Duchess was about to answer, it was stopped by a loud rumbling.
"I must be hungry," she said. "How odd. I'm not sure. I don't think I've ever wanted for food before," she turned to look at Nami. "Do you have any sandwiches? Cucumber would be good I think. And a spot of tea for our journey would be appropriate."
"I have a vat or five of Jell-O," Nami said. "I kind of miscalculated on how much the car would hold."
"Duchess," one of the guards said at the same time, drowning out Nami. "Our time is short and we much really depart."
"Of course, you are right," the Duchess agreed, heading out back, trampling the landscaping, kicking over some large rocks. "My, look at all this clutter. Perfectly good rocks and they build their houses of paper," she said, heading off.
"Pooka," one of the guards said.
"Sir, yes sir," Nami said, saluting.
The guard looked at her oddly. "The dark knight!"
"Bat Man?"
"What?"
"Never mind."
He shook his head. "The dark knight and his retinue will return, I fear. If you hurry, you can follow us. There is safety in numbers. You'll have toforgive her grace."
"Why?"
"Forgive her grace. She doesn't always notice details; but I'm sure
she's grateful for the aid you have given. I know she did not mean for that poor Knocker whose house we were last in to have met the end he did." He paused, as if he was thinking of something. "Do take care, pooka. The unseelie will kill you for having given the duchess refuge."
He turned and hurried off in the direction the Duchess had gone. "If you are captured," his voice drifted back to her," remember to demand your right of trial. It will at least buy you time." And then he was gone.
Nami sighed and walked back into her house. She quickly reviewed her options. Follow after a Duchess who tended not to notice details, and who wanted to buy Jane, and who was just plain annoying. Not great. Nor was throwing herself on a mercy of an unseelie court though.
"Chikshou," Nami cursed as she ran up the stairs. The sirens were getting louder.
"Jane," Nami shouted, causing the young woman to start. "Want to move to Japan? It is really nithe there. There are monthterth of courthe, but they are really polite, and offer you green tea before killing you."
"I don't want to go to Japan," Jane said after a moment.
"Perfectly good plan thot to hell," Nami said.
"You shouldn't swear," Jane said.
"Hai Oneethama,(older sister)" Nami said. "Pack a bag, it is time to leave I think," Nami told her, then ran from the room.
She went to her computer room and grabbed her back up. Laptops weren't her favorite, but that one was pretty hot as they went. She packed her Zip Drive and several Zip disks into the backpack, then ran back to her room. When she passed Jane's door she saw the young woman packing a small bag. It was nice to see that she had recovered, some.
Nami went back into her room and tossed some clean underwear and socks in with her computer, followed by her cellular phone and the wallet containing all her credit cards. Crossing the room, she picked up a ceramic piggy bank.
"Thorry to do thith," she said, dropping it to the floor where it shattered.
She knelt down and gathered up about two thousand dollars in bills and another three thousand in small gold coins. It paid to keep ones funds varied, especially if those fund were for running.
She pulled off her clothing and got dressed in a pair of faded jeans and the blouse with kittens embroidered on it. As she was pulling on her socks, Nami wondered just what she was going to do.
The closing sirens offered her some hope. She doubted the unseelie would do anything in front of such a large group of people. After that, well, they looked to be strangers to modern times. She wasn't. As she saw it, that gave her a huge advantage.
Thursday, July 20th, 1995 5:04 a.m.
Nami sneezed violently. Must have been from the smoke earlier she thought, rubbing at her nose. Or someone was talking about her. Well, that certainly would not be a surprise.
She had talked to the Boulder Creek Police, the Santa Cruz Sheriff's department, the FBI, the Boulder Creek Fire Department - they had not let her blow the siren of one of their trucks - and four news agencies. She wondered if she would get international? It was definitely a possibility as she had heard more news teams were on the way.
When the last of the news teams had been cleared off the S.P.C.A had decided to get on her case. They weren't sure what the dead things in her house were, but they were sure that they were not human - no mortal seeming, very odd. She could not really blame them. Nami had heard it said that the only real difference between a redcap and a rabid pit bull was that the rabid pit bull was generally a lot more fun to be around.
She gave the S.P.C.A guy the same story she had told to everyone else. "Well, I had just finithed thaying my prayerth- I thtayed up late making charity bathkets for the poor - when thunddenly I heard thith noithe and the alarm thtarted going off. There wath a lot of noithe, the sprinklerth went off and I wath very thcared.," she told the man.
She continued with a number of lies and threw in enough Japanese to confuse him a little more. Having had so much practice telling the story she did not really have to give it much attention. She was more interested in what was going on around her.
All her neighbors were out there, standing around in their pajamas, obviously not able to sleep. She couldn't blame them for that. What with all the lights and the racket, she couldn't have slept. Most of them, well all of them, had been giving her hard looks throughout the entire episode. They were waiting for everyone to leave, probably getting ready to lynch her or something. That definitely seemed what Mrs. Johnson was planning. Nami noticed she was still wearing the wig. No one looked like they were planning on leaving anytime soon though. It was one of those good thing, bad thing type deals. A definite bad thing was the rumors about the scientist that were supposed to be showing. She did not like scientists.
She was reaching a good part in her story, the part about Elvis, when she saw several white vans screech into the street, closely followed by an entourage of black limousines. If she had to guess she would say that the 'dead alien visitors' hypothesis had taken hold. Yokatta(wonderful) she thought, I'm going to be involved in a cover up. I wonder if I can get a book deal out of this?
One of the FBI agents who had questioned her, Pam Murphy, took control of the scene, ordering men in neat NBC suits to quarantine the area and secure the 'specimens' for further study. Someone mentioned that they were being taken to Virginia.
She really wasn't paying that much attention to her story any longer, but neither was the man from the SPCA who had stopped taking notes and was just staring at her. She had a good idea of how to work a group of wandering Mormons into the story but decided not to. That would be getting greedy.
She paused for a breath - trying to remember if Elvis sang before or after the dimensional gateway opened - when she heard one of the black suited FBI agents tell Murphy that they had orders to take her and Jane back to Langley for examination. It took Nami a moment to connect Langley with the CIA. Now why was the CIA interested in her? It could be... No, there was no way they could have found out about that. She had fatally crashed the entire network so there could be no records. Well, no matter what they wanted her for, she was sure that she was not going to like it.
She heard Murphy tell the man that she'd like to finish interviewing them before they were taken away.
"I have a directive signed by Assistant Deputy Skinner stating that we have full jurisdiction in the matter, Agent Murphy. Of course you'll have an opportunity to finish your interview at Langley - once we're through."
Nami did not like the sound of that, nor the feel she was getting off the agents. It was as if they were, she felt a sudden shiver run through her, Autumn People. Definitely time to go, she thought.
As the guy from the SPCA wandered off in a daze Nami moved close to Jane. "I think it ith time we left," she said quietly.
"How?" Jane asked.
"Trutht me," Nami said, moving towards the woman from CNN. "Want an excluthive interview?" she asked the woman, keeping her voice low, not looking at her.
"Depends, are you going to mention Elvis again?" the woman asked, not looking at Nami either. She had seen the dark suit types show up. She scented a big story.
"Buddy Holly maybe."
"At least that is not cliché. I'll arrange for a distraction, when everyone is looking elsewhere, get in the van."
"Hai," Nami said, moving back towards Jane.
About a minute later there was a small explosion of sparks that caught everyone's attention. "Sorry," the CNN cameraman said. "I dropped a battery pack."
"John," his reporter called. "Let's get out of here, this story is dead. We'll piece what we got together and get it out for the wake up installment," she said, walking towards her van.
A minute later the van was heading out of the area. With all the people and vehicles in the area the police were only too happy to wave the van out of there.
"Okay, I got you out," the woman turned around in her seat to look at Nami and Jane. "What happened in there?"
"I have no idea," Jane said.
"I have to go to the bathroom," Nami said at the same time.
"Wait."
"No, I really have to go," she told the woman.
She shook her head and turned around. "John, pull into the next gas station or whatever."
"Thankth," Nami said.
When they pulled into a gas station Nami got Jane to come along with her. The left through a small window that Jane almost did not make it through then headed off into the woods.
"What now?" Jane asked.
"Ever been to Than Frathithco?" Nami asked. A big city was the best place to hide.
"A few times."
"Thounds like a good place to go," Nami said, leading Jane out of the woods and onto a road. They walked for almost an hour before Nami hailed a cab and told him to take them to the harbor. Once there Nami looked around until she saw a charter fishing boat that looked like it could leave at anytime.
"Excuthe me," Nami said to the woman who standing on the rear deck. "Could you take uth to Than Frathithco?"
"What? Just to the City?"
"Yeth."
"Two hundred," Nami said.
"Six," she countered.
Having no time to argue, Nami agreed.
"Fine," she looked over at Jane.
Jane stepped forward and took a few hundred dollar bills from her pocket - Nami had given them to her knowing people sometimes had trouble with children possessing large sums of money - and handed six of the bills to the woman.
"Get on," she said. "I'll cast off."
Nami scrambled onto the boat and went into the cabin area, deciding that being out in the open was a bad idea. Soon they were heading up the coast. It was a long trip, and a pungent one, but Nami doubted that anyone would be able to trace her all that easily.
Tuesday, July 25th, 1995 4:09 p.m.
As soon as Nami reached San Francisco she had got a cab and had gone straight to the Hilton. At first she had planned on taking a suite but decided that might be a bit too high profile. She chose a nice twin instead; Jane fronted for her.
She had spent a lot of time in the room, keeping out of sight. She did some work on her laptop but the computer was not up to any serious hacking. She was staying at the Hilton for a drastically reduced price of course, but that was about all she did.
Jane fell back into her old ways, seeming to forget all that had happened only a few nights before. Nami watched as she arranged the flowers the maid had put in the room earlier, barely listening to her real estate agent. The house could be repaired, but it was going to take time. The man was yammering one about all the permits they were going to need. She politely thanked him then hung up.
Well, she thought, let's have some fun. She picked up the phone and dialed a new number.
"Detroit Law Agency," the secretary said when she picked up the phone.
"I want to thpeak to Richard. It'th Nami."
"Just a moment please," the woman said.
A moment later the phone was picked up. "Nami, babe, do you know why someone has bugged my phones?"
"Yeth."
"Going to tell me?"
"No."
"Fine. Don't worry about the bugs by the way, they are no longer a problem."
"Good. Thhythter, I want to thell my houthe."
"I've heard about the place from your insuarance company. It will be a while."
"Get in touch with thome of my neighborth. Give them a thtory about my Grandma being thick, needing a kidney. I either have the thell the place soon or I will be back."
"Nami, have you been being cruel to your neighbors again?"
"No."
"Okay. Standard, almost blackmail. How much you want for it?"
"What I paid for it, maybe fifty thousand less."
"Okay."
"If you thell it for up to what I paid for it, you get three prethent."
"Okay."
"Anything you get above that, you get."
Richard went quiet on the other end of the phone for a few seconds.
"Nami, you have just made me go over to the dark side. I'm here. I'm bad. You know I will be telling these poor people about how you are one of a set of quadruplets, that your sisters will be moving in, as well as your brother who just got out of jail and has no where else to go?"
"Have fun Thythter," she told him.
"What about all these people, like the FBI and all that who want to talk to you?"
"Tell them to leave me alone or I'll thue."
"For what?"
"Whatever ith likely to be the motht expenthive."
"Right. That might not work so well on the government types."
"Tell them I am writing a book and the court cathe will be great publithity."
"Oh Nami, you are evil."
"Thankth. Talk to you later," she said, then hung up the phone.
She looked over at Jane, but saw that she had lain down on the bed and was asleep. Standing up, she stretched out, and looked out the window. It was a nice day. A shame to waste it.
Grabbing a sheet of hotel stationary, one of the few left - Jane had been writing more poetry - Nami left her a note telling her that she was going to be out for a while and suggesting that Jane remain in the room. Placing the note where she would see it, Nami grabbed the room key, and headed out.
San Francisco was not like Santa Cruz. It was full of chimerical and changeling realities superimposed alongside, inside, through or beside their mortal seemings. And while there was a lot of banality in the city, the changelings were flourishing.
She watched a number of changelings pass unseen or unnoticed though the crowds of humankind. Their glamorous clothing and natures made the reality of the humans seem dull and colourless by comparison.
Nami passed by a toy store and looked in the window. For a time she considered going in but decided that a toy buying spree was not what she needed. She turned around and looked out at the traffic, wondering what she should do. Golden Gate Park she thought. She had heard nice things about it.
Why not.
She walked to the curb and hailed a cab.
"Golden Gate Park," she said.
The cab dropped her in front of the De Young Museum. She paid the woman, then looked around. Across the way was a rotunda, she could hear classical music in the distance. Immediately across from her was a building identified as The Academy of Sciences and another that a sign said was the Steinhart Aquarium.
So much to do, she thought, looking around. So many choices. She was wondering if the Academy of Sciences had any computers when she spotted a group of changelings, talking, not paying much attention to what was going on around them. That is interesting, Nami thought.
There was a satyr, a boggan and a slaugh, their heads bowed together as they whispered among themselves. The slaugh was a dark and shadowy figure, though that was to be expected. The boggan and the slaugh on the other hand were brightly coloured to the point of excess. Nami almost laughed. She was certain that they were obvious to the humans around them, but no one noticed them it seemed.
As she moved closer she realized that she could not hear what they were saying, not even the faintest murmur. So they liked their privacy, she thought, falling in behind them. She also could not make out their mortal seemings, so powerful were their glamorous selves. She followed them into a Japanese tea house that was next to the De Young building. That it had a fae seeming did not surprise Nami. That that seeming was identical to the mortal seeming suggested that the design and creation had been done, or at least inspired by a fae spirit. It was not something she was that familiar with.
She took a seat near the three of them, noticing the number of fae in there, sitting along side of the humans, sipping tea and eating crackers. An ancient slaugh came up to her.
"Green or Jasmine tea?" he asked softly.
"Green," Nami told him, taking out one of Jane's cast off poems, a small token. To the mortals it would look just like money. To the slaugh, it looked like something else.
He read it, then bowed, placing Nami's tea in front of her. "Anything you desire m'ladie," he said. "You have to only ask."
Nami nodded as she sipped the tea. She had been with Jane so long that she had forgotten how powerful the dross she produced was. Still, the tea was worth it. It was rich and vibrant, alive really. Her changeling senses became focused and alert.
"Umai (delicious)," she said softly, then looked around. She had become the center of attention, for the fae.
"She likes to throw dross about," someone said.
"Who is she?" another asked.
"No, more to the point, who does she think she is? No noble, my boy. Like fine worked metal, you can always tell noble from base."
"A handmaiden to Queen Aeron I think."
"One of Blade's spies, advertising her willingness to buy secrets," another said.
Whenever Nami tried to focus on the whispers they died away. I think I have attracted more attention then I wanted, she thought. She shifted her attention to the group she had followed in. They weren't whispering. They were staring at her openly.
The satyr, older and stately looking with his white hair and waistcoat nodded at her. He motioned to her, indicating an empty chair. Nami got up from her chair, grabbed her cup, and walked towards the group.
"What thort of Japanetheth tea houthe hath chairth?" she asked.
"I am Spryg," the satyr told her. "This is Willow," he indicated a young male boggan, "…and Ulceinh (Ool-shain)," he said, nodding to the young slaugh woman. "Come, please join us. You've been following us since you first noticed us. Wouldn't you find out more about us up close?"
"And we more about her," Willow said, pointing out the obvious.
The satyr shrugged. "Well, yes, of course."
Nami took a seat, looking at them. "My name is Nami Hikari of the houthe of Eiluned, and one of the finest golfers who ever played in the Masters Tournament," she told them, smiling broadly. "Do you think thith Queen Aeron would have the liketh of me ath a handmaiden?"
The Satyr produced a pair of spectacles and studied Nami intently. Chuckling, he said, "No, I don't think so. Perhaps as a jester though." (Intelligence + Etiquette = 1 success). Though a rather sharp statement, Nami didn't get any feeling that he intended to be rude. He was probably just more direct - and honest - about his feelings.
"That'th what I thought," Nami said, wondering how anyone might of thought she was.
"Since you've given a more formal introduction, as is your right, I must respond in kind. I am then, Spryg, of House Dougal, one of many clerks to Duke Aeon, Duke of Goldengate in whose realm you are in. Though I am kin to a Great House, I am still a commoner." Spryg turned to Willow next.
"I am Willow Weeperknot, and I am in service to Countess Dunbury Lampdancer, who is of House Liam."
The sluagh Ulceinh whispered so low that Nami had to crane her neck forward to make her out. "I am Ulceinh, the Dreamstealer. I belong to no house and am glad of it."
Nami dipped her head in a small bow to each as they were introduced.
Spryg took up the conversation once more. "So, Nami of the dark Eiluned, where do you hail from and in whose realm do you dance?"
"Where do I hail from?" Nami said, trying to make sense of the English. She was almost certain he was asking where she came from.
"Japan, originally, mothtly around Tokyo, that partth that Godzilla was paid to leave alone. Now, well, I wath in Thanta Cruth until a few dayth ago. Then Minuth Humor got burned down by bat man and the C(she pronounced her C as thee)IA showed up. I dethided to take a trip. Tho, do you know any plathe around here that thells crithpy walruth waferth?" Nami asked, deciding she could never overuse that joke. "I thupothe I altho make the Net my home, but not ath much ath I would like."
Spryg thought for a moment and leaned conspiratorially towards Nami.
"I wouldn't make too much of that 'walrus wafer' stuff. There's quite a crowd of selkies hereabouts and they probably see the walrus as kin."
Nami thought about it, then nodded. Well, some people and not people, just could not take a joke. They were best pestered with practical jokes until they learned to do so. She made a mental note to figure out what sort of pratical jokes would work best on water types and then focused on the conversation
Willow spoke up. "Santa Cruz? You know, I know where it is, but I have no recollection in whose demesne it lies. Who's the Lord of Santa Cruz?"
Nami thought about the question for a moment. "You know, I really have no idea. I'm thure it mutht be thomeone. I've jutht never met them."
Spryg tapped his glasses on the table after cleaning them. "Going to have to get that knocker to fix these things one day," he muttered.
To Willow, he added the comment, "I've actually heard that Santa Cruz is a wyld place. It's full of a bunch of commoner radicals who don't know their proper place in life."
The three Golden Gate changelings stared at Nami, as if she might erupt into a raving radical at any moment. (Intelligence + Empathy = one success) But obviously, she didn't fit the profile. She could see them each shake the idea out of their head. Ulceinh poured Nami some more tea.
"So, what brings you to our duchy?" she whispered.
Nami took a drink of tea then looked at the slaugh. "You know how it ith," she said. "You get memberth of both courth thowing up at your door, burning your houthe down, thinging karaoke until dawn," she shrugged her shoulders. "You jutht have to get away for a while, like, maybe forever."
The conversation proceeded, with neither Nami nor the strange trio volunteering much. (Intelligence + Politics = 3 successes) Nami suspected that none of them were volunteering much, hoping instead to glean something interesting or useful from Nami. Obviously, it was soon obvious she had nothing to offer. She knew nothing about Fae Santa Cruz and they seemed to care more about the boring events in their own duchy; as if the rest of the world did not exist.
Tuesday, July 25th, 1995 2:11 p.m.
Upon returning back to her hotel, Nami decided to check her message box. With so much happening, she'd let it get by her. She was gratified to see that the detective she called had finally returned her call on July 19th, and had been checking back in at regular intervals.
The quixotic message he'd left said, "Looking for a Beowulf to slay your Grendel? Give me a call back, and we'll hold a council of war. You know the number."
