[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

Mercurial.

It was the word that came to Al's mind when Alyce stood and locked the outside door. A nice word for unpredictable. Inconsistent. Unsteady.

Then the adjoining door closed and he figured she was tired of Grace listening in. But the second click of a lock - was it just in his head? - it has been ten times, no, a hundred times louder than the first.

He'd broken into a cold sweat by the time she took the remote from his limp fingers, heart racing.

Somewhere as the walls closed in she was kissing him, touching him. His breathing grew ragged, irregular.

Her tongue probing his mouth far in the distance...and then her words, saying his name, brought him back to reality. She was touching him. He snatched the wrist.

Not quite enough to hurt her.

He pushed it up, enough that her body rose a few inches with it. He figured she could feel his heart palpitating, and she must surely smell the sweat now. She couldn't see the hardness that had swept over his craggy features, but she would hear it in his voice as he hissed, "You ever lock me in a room again, I'll..." Fuck. No. Be cool, baby. You won't rip the wires from her head. She's a friend. You won't skin her alive. She hadn't meant it that way......Calm down. Get a grip. Don't be fucking pussy. He loosened the grip on her wrist. His body didn't move. "Never lock me in a room. Or you'll never see me again."

He waited. Forced himself to wait as the milliseconds dragged by. Cold with her half atop him.

[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

Alyce collapses on Al’s chest.  Her mind flickers and the doors are unlocked and the connecting door is opened.  As soon as he lets go of her, she springs off of him to the floor, crouched over, her good hand holding the mangled one.  Her head moves from side to side and her mouth opens but no sound comes from it.  She can see the blood flowing from where she had pulled the hand from the spike that had held it to the heavy wooden table.  The blood pools at her feet and she tries to stem the flow by holding the crippled hand to her chest.  But nothing can dull the pain.  The physical pain she feels in her hand is enough to almost drive her mad, but the fact that Al had done it to her was more than enough to finish that job.

With a shriek of fear, pain, dismay, and agony all rolled together in one primal sound, Alyce loses control of her magnificent mutated mind.  The memories of what had happened to her come flooding back from the dark corridors she had thought were locked to keep them in.  She looks at her hand and feels the blow that had driven the spike in and then she sees movement on the bed and HE is after her again.  With a second scream that echoes through the compartment, Alyce Krait’s mind dissolves into an animal’s need to get away.  She spins and is out the door while her tormentor is still trying to get off the bed.

A porter is her first victim, dashed to the wall and then the floor as the naked……..thing…….races past him.  Before the man can pull himself from the floor, she is gone and out the train car door, running like all the demons in hell were after her.  She leaps the fence of the station platform, dashing past several people standing there and landing in the gravel car park on the other side of the barrier.  Some part of her feels the stones and gravel cut into her feet but she is too far gone to let that stop her and she tears out of the car park.

Back in the compartments, Grace is completely startled by the screams and bumps her head getting out of the bed.  She looks into the adjoining room in time to see Alyce tear away and fails to grasp for an instant what is happening.  Her ears catch the sound of Alyce racing down the corridor and the clash as she runs into the porter, who is cursing a stream.  Grace looks at Al and says, “What happened.  Frag, she has no clothes on!”  She turns to grab up the sundress that Alyce had discarded and heads out the door of her room, colliding with the porter as he is getting to his feet, sending the poor man to the floor of the corridor again.  She is able to follow Alyce out of the train and tries to leap the fence to the car park, failing rather spectacularly as she plows face first into the gravel of the lot.  Her last sight of Alyce is of her running down the street completely starkers then she groans and rolls over on her back, dazed and almost unconscious.

[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

"The fuck?"

Okay, sure, he'd had himself a moment, but....sheeesh....

He sat up, shook his head clear. No time for his boots - he took off after Grace. Nearly tripped over the porter. Recognized him from the evening before. Dragged him to his feet. Held him steady against the wall. "Well, kid, ya got the good side o' crazy. Now ya see there's gen'rally a bad side goes with it. Keep yer mouth shut, tell yer mates ta do the same." He grinned in the lad's face and gave his cheek a couple of friendly slaps. Bounded out the door after the women just in time to see Grace crash and burn in the gravel.

She'd live. He snatched the sundress and vaulted the fence. Snagged his jeans on the top, sending him toppling to the hard ground. He turned his head and looked through the chain link at Grace. Their eyes met. She was distressed. Al grinned in a bid to calm her, make her useful. "Jist another day at the office, li'l darlin'. Go back, light some aromatic candles. Put some whalesong on. Whatever you females do ta git yer heads straight."

Alyce was nowhere in sight, but the sound of exclamations of surprise were easy to pick out up ahead. He raced along at speed as long as there were turning heads and raised commlinks in sight. Followed in her wake to a large park. No more onlookers pointing the way. And his damned socks were ruined. But her sign was child's play to follow on the grass, and she'd gone into the underbrush like a rhinoceros. He was gaining on her - there was still a quiver in some of twigs and branches she'd disturbed.

He moved more cautiously then, remembering the whip she'd added since their time in Cambodia.

[Mercy Merchant]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

As Al turns to continue the chase he hears Grace quite clearly say, “Fuck that shit.”  There is noise of someone scampering up the chain link fence behind him, but he is already off on the hunt.  By the time he enters the park and begins to push through the underbrush, he can hear Alyce slightly ahead of him, struggling and making sounds that he has heard from wild animals, not people.  A couple of severed branches remind him of the monowhip in her hand and that brings a fear to his mind.  That weapon is often as hideously dangerous to its wielder as it is to an opponent, even in the best of conditions and in the hands of a skilled user.  He knows that neither of these applies to the current situation, which means that Alyce is just as likely to slice her own arm off as to clear branches away, especially in the mindset she is currently in.
 
Footsteps behind him let him know that someone is catching up to them and he hears Grace gasping for breath as she tries to talk.  “Al, be careful.  She has a fucking monowhip.  I don’t know if you know that.”  When he turns to look at Grace, he sees that her face and upper arms are bleeding from a couple of dozen small cuts and scrapes.  At his look, she nods.  “I saw it on the boat when she almost killed me.  I guess you don’t know that she is terrified of being alone on open water?  Anyway, her mind went into shock when she was left alone on the boat.  I found her all curled up and tried to touch her.  Hell, I didn’t know what was wrong with her, did I?  She reacted like I was going to kill her and that fucking thing barely missed me as it cut a thin slice from the railing.  She made me promise not to tell you, but hang me for a traitor if I am going to let you walk into it without knowing.”
 
Al’s smile at her brought one of relief to Grace’s face.  “And I don’t do aroma candles or whalesong, so I am coming.”
 
The sounds of animal fury make it easy to track Alyce.  She has made it to a small clearing in the underbrush and is flailing away at the wall of branches in front of her.  She might be mostly an animal just now, but there is nothing wrong with her senses and she easily detects Al as he enters the clearing.  The look of rage on her face is replaced by……………..terror, sheer unmitigated terror.  She takes a step back as she raises the whip in her hand.  “Stay away.  I won’t let you do that to me again.  I will kill myself first.  No more nails.  No more nails.  No more………”
 
Alyce’s voice trails off as something from her sensors makes it to the sheltered spot that holds the remaining bit of her sanity and that part realizes that Al is not the enemy.  Confused, she recoils the whip into her finger and calls out somewhat plaintively, “Al?  Help me”.  Almost completely used up, Alyce falls to her knees in the clearing, her body shuddering in great heaves.

[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

Well, Al thought, this is what happens when you fail to keep things light. From now on, vacation stays vacation.

Still wary of the now-retracted whip - he supposed it was a good weapon for a weakling or a woman - Al put his arms around the spent Alyce and drew her upright. A nod at Grace and the girl approached with the dress - it was ideal, easy to put on a slack body. Once she was covered, Al picked her up in his arms and headed back to the train, Grace running interference.

Naturally the local constabulary - real cops here in Bristol; why couldn't she have pulled this in some podunk backwater - had taken an interest and two, a man and a woman, spotted them when they broke into the open. The very good news was that Alyce had not taken out the whip until she was well into the foliage, so it was just a matter of a naked crazy woman.

She was no longer nude, which would help, but yup, she was definitely nuts. Al hadn't known about the water thing (so at least twice now she'd nearly killed someone with her new toy), but he figured this hullabaloo was about the torture she'd mentioned at the hands of her molepeople friends, or girlfriends, or...hell, he couldn't keep track beyond the conclusion that all those protection tats had helped her exactly zero.

"Everyone all right here?" Good training - act like they wanted to help. Hell, maybe they did.

Grace put the whole thing down to a combination of too much bubbly and an ill-advised dare. Since no one had really been hurt, this mostly seemed to satisfy the officers. But of course they still wanted to check IDs. None of the three were carrying theirs (Al figured maybe Alyce kept it on her headware, but she wasn't being super communicative at the moment). The officers offered to drive them back to the train. Al declined. They insisted. Of course that meant riding in the back of their car. Which was basically a cell.

But he wasn't going to leave Alyce.

It was indeed quicker back to the train that way. Grace presented her ID. Al ponied up one of his - it was about as solid a nuyen could buy, and he used the one with no security affiliations. Alyce lay quiet on her bed while Al found the 'link she kept for show, thumbed through for a Robyn Lysander ID, and flashed it AR. Apparently neither of the officers was one of the UK's burgeoning cello fan base, and they didn't raise any eyebrows. They advised the three to slow down on the liquor, but that was all. They saw the compartments. They knew better than to mess unnecessarily with rich people. Again, good training.

Fifteen minutes after leaving the train, it was just the three of them.

[Mercy Merchant]

Monday, August 4th, 2076


Alyce struggles back to consciousness, shunting all the dark memories back to the dim corridors of her mind that they are supposed to be kept in and locks the doors behind her.  She know that it is not a cure, but it is the best she can do.  For now.
 
Her eyes flutter as she wakes and she looks around to see where she is, half expecting the walls to be covered in rubber mats, but is quite happy to see that she is back on the train.  Quickly, she searches her memories to see if maybe the experience had been a dream, but the part of her mind that was recording everything tells her that it really happened.  Alyce looks around to see who is in the room with her and smiles at both of her friends.
 
“Thank you for helping me.  I know that  I put both of you through a bloody hard time and am sorry for that.”  She holds up her right hand.  “I will be getting rid of the monster hidden in here.  Twice now it has been more of a hazard than a benefit.  I will see if there is something else I can do with that finger.”
 
She looks at Grace and smiles.  “I would like to talk to Al, dear.  Would you please give me some time?  Afterwards, I would like some time with you.”
 
Grace pales a bit but nods.  She gives Al an almost pleading look but says nothing as she hangs her head and leaves the room.  Alyce waits until she and Al are alone before starting to speak.  “Poor girl.  She probably thinks that I am going to send her away.”  She turns her face to Al and takes a deep breath.  “I want to give you the biggest apology I can, Al.  I have hurt you so much.  You would never have snarled at me if you were not in pain and I brought that on.  I have been so very wrong and selfish, trying to make you see my point of view.  I had no right to try to put my ideal of love on you and I had no right to even say that I could help you with what is bothering you.  Some things just are what they are, like my irrational fears of someone trying to hammer spikes through my hands when they grab my wrists or being alone on open water.  I do not know if there is any way for anyone to help me with those.  I was just too afraid of losing you and I just said everything wrong.  Hell, I was trying to seduce you and I couldn’t even do that properly.”
 
“Al, something you said made me see that, in your opinion, I was creating a small room and trying to lock you in there with me.  Looking at what I said objectively, I can see where my hopes for a home and wedlock could be seen that way, but that had not been my intention.  You had asked what I wanted and I told you what to me would be the perfect life.  I had thought that we could negotiate to something in between seeing you a couple of times a month on one end and being married on the other, but your response was so completely negative, so void of any compromise, that I lost sight of what we were discussing and focused only on that negative answer.  Then my words set off more negative answers from you and I got lost somewhere along the way.  So let me try to be clear.  I do not want you in that little room.  I do not want to chain you to me.  I do not want you to feel trapped in any way.”
 
“I hurt you…..I hurt you a lot.  The words you used and the words you did not use have me thinking that I was very close to losing your friendship, but I think we have stepped back from the brink of that.  I hope that we have, anyway.  So, can we get back to where we were before I lost focus or have I totally ruined any chance of something more than friendship with you?  I understand that marriage is out of the picture and so are kids and cohabitation.  What do you want out of us?  I want you to be happy with US, in whatever form that ends up being.”
 
 

[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

As Alyce spoke, Al took off his shredded socks and threw them out the window. His toenails were in desperate need of a trim.

His eyes could record anything he saw. Sometimes when Alyce started talking, he wished his ears would do the same - then maybe he'd be able to keep up. But he caught the important points. Figured it start with something light.

"That there whip o' yours, reckon those things take a heap big lotta practice ta git a handle on. More important, I seen how good ya are with it. Hell, ya gave them hippie demons a run fer they money, an' ol' Al din't think that was possible with that sorta weapon. So here's jist a thought. Wny not lock yer cybernetic activation with a fairly complex code? Jist 16 bits or so oughtta do 'er. Somethin' wouldn't take ya but a split second ta mentally enter when ya got yer wits about ya. But likewise somethin' ya'd never be able ta git yer head around or would even occur to ya ta do at such times as ya may not be thinkin' straight. Give it some thought. It's no small comfort ta me ya got some means ta look after yerself, things git up close an' personal."

He lit cigarettes for both of them. it was clear she was still in a state. Needed rest. But she wouldn't get any if he didn't throw her at least a bone on the woman-talk front.

"Alrighty then, jist a few quick points, an' it's ta bed with you an' a walk fer me. Hell, reckon I gotta git my own head straight - ain't like I'm immune to a bit of a panic attack myself, it seems. Yer's jist happened ta be a mite more flamboyant is all. So that's quick point number one: no apologies. Always with the apologies. Ya ain't done nothin' wrong by me, Alyce. Not by bein'...upset. That warn't your fault. Not by tellin' me the truth - ya got ever' right to want whatever it is ya want, an' ta say so if asked. An' not by bein' any other thing about yerself."

He extended a second finger. "Second point, contrary ta what yer penchant fer melodrama might tell ya, ya ain't now nor ever been nor ever will be anywhere inna vicinity o' losin' my friendship. 'Fraid we's passed the point o' no return on that one."

Another finger. "Third point...third point is that two points was more'n enough fer now. Git some rest, we'll all have a nice dinner tonight." He kissed her forehead, said, "Reckon I'll fetch yer teddy," and then opened the adjoining door.

"Yer up, li'l darlin'." They passed in the doorway and then Al was alone in his room. He put on his other pair of socks, then his boots and jacket, and headed out in no direction at all into the bright Bristol afternoon.

[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

Alyce just smiles and stubs the cigarette butt out in the ashtray before she snuggles down in the bed and pulls the cover up to her chin.  “Thank you, Al.  You are a comfort.  I love you.”
 
Grace is still looking a bit worried as you let her by into the room.  Al can hear soft talking from the two women but cannot make out the words.

When Al returns from his walk, he sees Grace sitting on one of the benches located on the platform outside the train.  She lifts a hand and gives him a short wave before motioning for him to join her.  She is smoking and seems to be trying to form rings as she exhales, but is doing a horrid job of it.  She fishes a pack of cigarettes from a pocket and offers it to you and you see that she is smoking Players.  She has cleaned her face but you can see a small horde of cuts and scrapes on her face and arms from where she crashed into the gravel.
 
Hunching forward a bit, Grace places her elbows on her knees and looks up at you.  “Alyce tells me that you do not go in for a lot of feminine talk, so I will go right to the point and try to hit the facts.  You can use your imagination to toss in all the womanly stuff if you like.  I am in love with her, Al.  I have never met anyone who affects me like she does.  She is in love with both of us and you are in love with her, completing some sort of odd love triangle.  To complicate things a bit, I also have feelings for you and would gladly try to find out just what those feelings are if you were to indicate the least bit of interest in me.”
 
Grace takes a couple of drags on her cigarette and continues.  “I want to stay on the train with her and with you.  But I am an outsider to your party and want to know what you want.  You invited me along but I want to know if you still want me here.  I will pack and leave if I am in the way.”

[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

Having declined the Player, Al pulled out a Lucky Strike and lit it as he listened patiently to Grace's spiel. Once he was sure she was done, he said, "Yup, still want ya here."

He was sure he didn't understand these women's need for him to constantly repeat things, but no harm in humoring them.

"Now, I'm hungry. Nothin' wrong with anyone in this outfit a good steak won't fix."

He stalked back to the train assuming Grace would follow. And assuming she'd get them a table somewhere. And assuming she knew where he'd like to eat. And assuming she'd get Alyce sorted to go out.

She was a good girl, even if she was useless when it came to aromatherapy and whalesong.

[Mercy Merchant]

Monday, August 4th, 2076



Grace nods and stubs her cigarette out after lighting another from the end.  She catches up to you and takes your arm to walk across the platform to the train.  Alyce is still sleeping when you get to the room and Grace goes over to her and sits on the edge of the bed to stroke her hair.  Alyce smiles up into her face and holds out a hand for you.  “My heroes.  I made a bloody fool of myself and the two of you kept it from getting lots worse.  Dinner?”
 
Grace nods and helps her out of the bed and tosses her a sundress to put on.  While she is doing that, Grace sits down and plays with her ‘link.  “Hmmm.  The dining car on the train does not have steak on the menu tonight, but there are two eateries within a block that do.  One advertises Authentic UCAS Cooking and the other is an English restaurant that serves steak in addition to its normal meal.  I will book us three seats at the foreign one.”
 
Alyce chuckles and then she twirls and asks if she is presentable, causing Grace to almost choke to see her lover flipping the skirt of her dress above her waist.  Alyce leads the way out the door, followed by Grace and Al.  One of the porters is in the corridor and turns sideways to allow everyone to pass, but lets out a snort and mumbles something that has Alyce stiffen a bit as she walks by the man.  Grace moves with the swiftness of the athlete she is and places a hand around the neck of the man, lifting him three inches off the floor as she slams him against the corridor wall.  “Yeah?  It’s bloody alright for you to get your tiny dick hard just looking at us in the room, right?  Or for you and your mates to place bets in the corridor about what it would feel like to take me in the arse and how long it will take before I offer it up to one of you?  And it’s OK for you to wank off thinking about ramming your puny rod into the Keeb just so you can have a bit of strange?  And then she gets a bit pissed and decides to take a dare and streak through part of Bristol and that gives you the right to snicker?  For your information, my arse belongs entirely to the man behind me so you can just quit gagging about it, and we are considering shutting down the peep show.”
 
The man is gurgling a bit, but is not in danger of choking…..yet.  Grace pulls him from the wall and slams him back against it using just her arm.  “When I let you go, you will offer a really heartfelt apology to the lady and if we think it is enough, you will be allowed to see more of us.  Otherwise the tittie show is over for you and your friends will know why.  And if I ever hear you talk about her like that again, if I even hear from someone else that you have been talking about her, I will find you and rip your pissant head from your shoulders and use your neck like a straw to suck out the two functioning brain cells you have then use your empty head as if it were one of my rugby balls. All of this will be extremely unpleasant for you, believe me.  Now, are you going to apologize to the lady?”
 
The porter tries to nod his head, or at least it looks like he might be trying.  It is hard to tell with Grace’s hand on his neck.  But his feet are beginning to drum against the wall behind him and she lets him go.  His feet hit the floor and he collapses, sucking in huge breaths. He manages to get to his feet and make what an apology to Alyce that could easily rank among the legendary apologies of all time.  He looks back at Grace and she nods her head, which seems to give him the impetus to vanish up the corridor.  Grace looks at Alyce and Al and shrugs.  “What?  Was I too soft on him?  A girl has to develop some sort of skills when she is the only female on a bloody co-ed intra-city rugby team, but I did not want to hurt the wanker.”
 
Alyce just laughs.  “No, it was perfect in my book.  But you do not have to be so protective of me, Grace.  I have heard it all and much more and it does not really bother me much any more.”
 
“It bothered me.  No one should get to talk to you or about you like that.  Besides ig I had not done something, Al might have killed the guy.”
 
Alyce laughs again and kisses Grace before departing the train.  When the two are arranged at Al’s sides, Alyce asks, “So did you mean what you said about your arse?”
 
Grace does not even pause.  “Absolutely.  If Al wishes to pop that cherry, it is all his

[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

In the train, Al stood by and watched as he saw a totally new side of Grace. No denying she was full of surprises.

As they all walked to the restaurant, he said to her, "Reckon ya told that boy what was what, an' I won't fault it. But you'll want ta be careful 'bout assumin' who ol' Al will an' won't kill...or whatever ya meant by that. Robyn here's been 'round the block with this stuff a few times, an' ya might take a page from her book, take some shit in stride. Now you ladies decide ta amuse yerselves with yer little games, well, I ain't complainin'. But ya wind them fellers up, go outta yer way ta bring out they most carnal selves, an' then expect 'em ta treat y'all like vestal virgins when they's talkin' 'mongst theyselves...shit, ya don't know the first thing 'bout them fellers, nor did ya screen 'em fer chivalric quallities afore paradin' yerselves fer they captive pleasure. Sure, it'd be nice if they then proceeded to comport theyselves as perfect gentlemen, but that ain't the reality you'll often find. Now, ya wanna train 'em up, some, lay down some ground rules for 'em, let 'em know the score first, don't reckon they'd mind, considerin' the potential benefits. But abject humiliation on first offense...."

[Mercy Merchant]

Monday, August 4th, 2076


Grace blushes and looks about to say something when Alyce touches her arm.  "Al's right dear, as usual.  I am very used to people talking to and about me in those words.  Granted, what he said was a bit off the norm, but I have heard worse, believe me.  We have riled those men up over the last few days, going back to before you joined us.  It is not right to expect that they will behave as gentlemanly as Al does.  It is probably too late to begin covering up, as that would just be wrong, now.  I think that you have scared the boor man and we may need talk to him about that.  In any case, we are here to enjoy a nice dinner.

Grace blushes and looks from one to the other of her companions, her appearance as if she were about to cry.  "I was only.............well, frag, I guess I did not think that through."  She sighs.  "I am sorry for presuming about you, Al.  I just got caught up in what I was saying.  Sorry."

[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

When Grace said sorry, Al's first response was to answer along the lines of 'that's all right, yer jist learnin' the ropes.' But then his mind asked him, learning the ropes of what, exactly...? The fine art of being a newly-minted lesbian sex hippy in the company of over-monied urban mercenaries with deep-rooted criminal ties and severe mental health issues? (Well, to be fair, one with some mild hang-ups that were completely under control, and one whose batshit craziness was growing increasingly apparent.)

He remained convinced that Grace's presence was good for them. But was their presence good for her?

So he merely muttered "Bygones" and changed the topic to rugby, wondering whether Grace thought there might ever be an armed version along the lines of combat biker or urban brawl.

[Mercy Merchant]

Monday, August 4th, 2076


Alyce sits and smokes while listening to Grace and Al talk.  Her mind is absorbing everything they are saying to each other but is also working through her own internal issues.

Grace's face lights up when Al talks about Rugby and it is easy to see that she is enthusiastic about the subject.  She shakes her head. "Not sure about the combat version, Al.  There are always people talking about that and there have been a couple of leagues started up that never really went anywhere.  It's a pretty rough game as it is."

[adamu]

Monday, August 4th, 2076

"Well, i'll allow as them fellers seem fit, though i ain't quite sure how rough it can be, them not wearin' no kinda pertection an' all...."

"No no no, Al, that's precisely why they're so much tougher than those stupid Yanks hiding behind all their layers of padding and plastic..."

"Tougher, or stupider..."

And so began a lively dinner indeed, though the debate in no way detracted from Al's enjoyment of the double rack of BBQ ribs - one glazed in honey, the other with a habanero finish. Mountains of chips and onion rings were followed by a lofty stack of brownies and ice cream, no expense spared to spare them any hint of soy fillers or substitutes.

It had been a hell of a day, and Al figured he'd earned it (there were few, if any, days that he failed to make the same calculation), along with seven or eight bottles of beer.

The women likewise enjoyed the meal, though not necessarily to the same carnivorous excess as Al.

Eventually, repast complete, they headed back towards the train. Al did not speak much on the way.