Leela and Zhou's Place
Undisclosed Location
3-29-116 23:22
Leela finished drying off after her pre-bed shower. Her damp hair stuck to the sides of her face and blocked her vision, so she brushed her bangs out of her eyes in frustration and examined her face in the mirror on the bathroom wall. The bags under her eyes told the tale of her sleepless nights worrying over Ryven's current state. He had shown up a few days ago, eyes wild, unshaven and reeking of booze. He wept and clutched a small cloth doll stained with blood and told her the story of the morning after Kat broke up with him. He was convinced he murdered a family, including a little girl, a sin for which he felt there could be no atonement. She did what she could to comfort him, but he fled to parts unknown, afraid of the danger he represented to anyone and everyone. So, naturally, after spending several hours crying herself, she set about trying to find a way to fix Ryven's problem, specifically, trying to figure out how to free him from the Other Ry. The evil Ry.
She finished her nightly ritual and, dressed in her sleepwear, a pair of black silk pajamas, she walked out into the living room to find Zhou and let him know it was time for bed. "Zhou. It's time to--" She stopped in her tracks, her eyes taking in the scene.
Ryven, attired entirely in black, dripping from the rain, stood in the center of the room, a dagger held to Zhou's throat. Zhou's eyes signaled the seriousness of the situation. Ryven, the Other Ryven, sneered, his eyes colder than Leela had ever known they could be. She felt a revulsion welling up within her. How had she ever been married to this man? Of course, she then remembered she hadn't been married to this man. She'd been married to a very different Ryven. This one was a wholly different animal, and that's exactly what he was, an animal.
"Good evening, Leela. It's been too long." Ryven's voice was drenched in mock-cheerfulness and familiarity. "I felt it was time for a visit."
"You really should call ahead next time. I could've arranged a much more festive welcome, Ryven." She responded coolly. "Although, your manners leave something to be desired, so it's probably better that I didn't." She managed a wry smile. She wasn't about to let him intimidate her. Zhou was a capsuleer. If he died, he'd wake up far away from here, safe. So, go ahead.
"Feisty as ever. Moments like these, I wish my other half had kept you as his better half, well, apart from me, I mean."
She laughed bitterly. "If you're his better half, I don't think we'd have much going for us."
Ry grinned. "As much as I'd love a tete-a-tete, I'm here on business."
Leela rolled her eyes impatiently. "Then I really wish you'd just get down to it already. These theatrics may work on schoolchildren or whoever it is you prey on these days, but it's fucking tedious to me."
"Schoolchildren? So, my other half made a visit here, did he? Told you about the poor little girl I murdered, I suppose?" He smiled, pleased with himself.
"Did you? Even the Ry from the old days wouldn't have murdered a child."
"Does it matter if I did or didn't? What matters is that he thinks I did." Ry grinned, his eyes telling her what she already suspected. "Besides, I am Ry from the old days, remember?"
She shook her head. "No you're not. You think you are. He thinks you are. I know different. Remember? I knew the old Ry and the new. You're neither. You're something else. You're the old Ry, but twisted, more sinister. You're the old Ry minus all the things that made the old Ry great. You're a shadow of the old Ry."
Ry yawned and gave a dismissive wave with his free hand. "Sticks and stones."
"So, get on with it. What brings you here?"
"I need you to figure out how Shalee's little sprite, Red, functions. How does her consciousness infect the holograph systems? I need you to figure that out, and then I need you teach me. I'm sick of sharing this body with my stupider half."
Leela considered this for a moment. If he were able to inhabit the holograph system, he would be free to roam, but he'd be lacking physical substance. What harm could he do in digital form? Actually, probably a lot, but would it be on par with the harm he already was doing? Further, the digital realm was Leela's forte. She could deal with this impostor much more easily in such a form. She made up her mind. "Okay, deal."
"You made that far too easy." Ry smiled darkly. "I'll be taking Zhou with me, as insurance."
Leela seethed, but she didn't say anything. She just nodded, barely containing her rage. She made up her mind then and there that she would end this fucker. "Fine. You hurt him, I promise you, you will wish you hadn't."
Ry just laughed and drug Zhou back out the front door, leaving Leela to begin her research, her rage fueling her.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
The Hangover
Unknown Location
Afternoon
Ryven awoke with a pounding headache and the throbbing can-taste-your-own-teeth feel of a night spent in overwhelming intoxication. He could also taste faint hints of blood mixed with the lingering burn of the alcohol. He was laying face down on a hard surface that he suspected, oddly enough, was cobblestone. The stones were damp and sticky and he could just barely identify it as blood through his squinting eyes and still blurred vision as he pushed himself up off the stones. His cheek felt swollen and tender as he worked his jaw open and shut, testing it. He couldn't see it, but he assumed it was likely bruised.
His next realization was that he was in a cluttered alley littered with the usual urban detritus. He tried to stand but found his balance was not yet up to the task, so he sat down with his back to the wall of the alley. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and sucking in the warm smoke. He closed his eyes and tried to piece together what he could remember of the previous night.
He remembered going to the Terrace and seeing Kat. He also remembered her breaking up with him, which set off his drinking binge. He drank two full bottles before he even left the Terrace. He also remembered confessing to Aldrith about his Other personality and Aldrith's laughable threats. He also remembered telling Kat she could keep his suite. Ryven chuckled at the realization he was now technically homeless, despite his assurances to Kat that he had other homes.
So, where did he fly to? He glanced at his Neocom to see if there were any clues there. He opened his first of six mails, this one from Leela:
"You fucking dick. How dare you? You came in here reeking like a damn brewery and propositioned me in front of Zhou, for God's sake! What the fuck is wrong with you? I kicked your ass out before Zhou could make things worse. He was about to fight your drunk ass. Get your shit together before you talk to me again."
The timestamp put it around three in the morning. So, she must've been his first stop. Where'd he go from there? The next two mails were basic business mail. The fourth was a solicitation. The last mail was from, oddly enough, himself. Ryven scowled, immediately aware of what this meant.
"Thank you for finally letting me come out and play. You're probably waking up in some alleyway somewhere you don't recognize. Sorry for the damage I caused to our shared body. The family I decided to visit last night was more energetic than most. They got in a few licks of their own. The bloodstains on your shirt, you'll be pleased to know, are not ALL your own blood, so you won't need to visit a doctor, though you'll probably want to see a priest.
P.S. I took a souvenir. It's in your left pants pocket. Cheers."
Ryven instinctively reached into his pocket and pulled out the object within. He stared down into his open hand and began to weep and clenched his hand tightly into a fist, rage welling within him matched only by his own sense of powerlessness. He stood, shakily, his vision blurred by both his tears and the hammer hell of a piercing post-binge headache. He walked slowly out of the alleyway, using the wall to keep his balance, a tiny cloth doll hanging limply out of his left hand, the sounds of sirens in the distance. To the few who took notice, all they saw was a husk, the broken shambles of a man, as he meandered out into the dawn and the maze of a city whose name he'd never know.
Afternoon
Ryven awoke with a pounding headache and the throbbing can-taste-your-own-teeth feel of a night spent in overwhelming intoxication. He could also taste faint hints of blood mixed with the lingering burn of the alcohol. He was laying face down on a hard surface that he suspected, oddly enough, was cobblestone. The stones were damp and sticky and he could just barely identify it as blood through his squinting eyes and still blurred vision as he pushed himself up off the stones. His cheek felt swollen and tender as he worked his jaw open and shut, testing it. He couldn't see it, but he assumed it was likely bruised.
His next realization was that he was in a cluttered alley littered with the usual urban detritus. He tried to stand but found his balance was not yet up to the task, so he sat down with his back to the wall of the alley. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and sucking in the warm smoke. He closed his eyes and tried to piece together what he could remember of the previous night.
He remembered going to the Terrace and seeing Kat. He also remembered her breaking up with him, which set off his drinking binge. He drank two full bottles before he even left the Terrace. He also remembered confessing to Aldrith about his Other personality and Aldrith's laughable threats. He also remembered telling Kat she could keep his suite. Ryven chuckled at the realization he was now technically homeless, despite his assurances to Kat that he had other homes.
So, where did he fly to? He glanced at his Neocom to see if there were any clues there. He opened his first of six mails, this one from Leela:
"You fucking dick. How dare you? You came in here reeking like a damn brewery and propositioned me in front of Zhou, for God's sake! What the fuck is wrong with you? I kicked your ass out before Zhou could make things worse. He was about to fight your drunk ass. Get your shit together before you talk to me again."
The timestamp put it around three in the morning. So, she must've been his first stop. Where'd he go from there? The next two mails were basic business mail. The fourth was a solicitation. The last mail was from, oddly enough, himself. Ryven scowled, immediately aware of what this meant.
"Thank you for finally letting me come out and play. You're probably waking up in some alleyway somewhere you don't recognize. Sorry for the damage I caused to our shared body. The family I decided to visit last night was more energetic than most. They got in a few licks of their own. The bloodstains on your shirt, you'll be pleased to know, are not ALL your own blood, so you won't need to visit a doctor, though you'll probably want to see a priest.
P.S. I took a souvenir. It's in your left pants pocket. Cheers."
Ryven instinctively reached into his pocket and pulled out the object within. He stared down into his open hand and began to weep and clenched his hand tightly into a fist, rage welling within him matched only by his own sense of powerlessness. He stood, shakily, his vision blurred by both his tears and the hammer hell of a piercing post-binge headache. He walked slowly out of the alleyway, using the wall to keep his balance, a tiny cloth doll hanging limply out of his left hand, the sounds of sirens in the distance. To the few who took notice, all they saw was a husk, the broken shambles of a man, as he meandered out into the dawn and the maze of a city whose name he'd never know.
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