| From: | "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Invincibility |
| Date: | Mon, 20 Jan 1997 23:50:05 +0000 |
>>>>>[I hope the mailer-daemon can cope with a subfile of addressees,
but on the one hand this is sort of personal and we didn't want general
distribution... but it's also important, exchanging gifts is a big-time
power deal, so I thought most of the regulars deserved to see it.
It's also so Jason... okay, the blades were my idea, but the Guaranteed
Invincibility for Easy was all his.
+++++begin video
Probably a house's internal security tape, from the camera position and
the view: a living room, looking down onto a group of people watching
the trideo: the angle doesn't show the screen, but a stack of cubes
beside the set show they've watched or intend to watch several movies.
Most of the light comes from an open fireplace or the trideo screen.
Blade sprawls comfortably in an armchair, a six-pack within reach and
Quinn perched on the arm of the chair. Lilith and Lynch are wrapped
around each other on the couch, two pizza boxes by their feet and a
large cat dozing on Lilith's lap: a bottle of Jack Daniels and two
glasses sits in the empty pizza box. Easy sits in another chair, a
bottle of mineral water in a KeepzemKool jacket beside her: whatever
they're watching seems to involve Cantonese dialogue and gunfire. Quinn
cheers.
"Shoot him again!"
Another shot and a scream.
"He's still moving, shoot him again!"
Two more shots, as Lilith throws a cushion at Quinn and calls "Behave,
bitch!" The Coyote shaman just cackles, as what might be title music can
be heard.
"Look! Use the Force, Quinn!" She extends a hand and one of Blade's
beers flies into it, and laughs again.
"You are drunk." Lilith says.
"And you are an oversized spotty cat. But in the morning, I will be
sober."
"If hung over." Blade mutters, hiding a smile.
"Shut up, hardass." Quinn nudges him, falls off the chair and chuckles
again.
Easy shakes her head and sips her water. "And I used to worry about
falling off the wagon again?"
"Ignore her, she's crazy." Lilith smirks.
"Though speaking of crazy..." Lynch sits up, disentangling himself from
his wife. The cat stretches and jumps to the floor, starts licking
cheese off the leftover pizza: you realise three things, that the 'cat'
is bigger than most housecats, that its fur is a dappled pattern of
rosette-like spots, and that its huge paws mean it's still immature:
it's a young leopard cub.
"Easy, I got you a present. You too, Matt."
"No fair!" Lilith rises to her feet also. "I got her something too."
"You forgot Matt."
"No, I made sure David compensated him for his efforts on our behalf.
Besides, Easy needs these more than he does." Lilith disappears into the
kitchen, the leopard cub trotting after her.
"Needs what?" Easy asks.
"These." Lilith emerges with two sheathed swords. "These are for you."
The Elven samurai reaches for them, then hesitates.
"Go on. Take them."
Easy takes both, lays them on the arm of her chair, then picks up the
katana and draws it slowly, admiring the deadly sheen of the blade.
"Modern. Very good blades, though. Kawaguchi, from Osaka, a real up-and-
comer. Old methods, modern materials." Lilith says as Easy studies the
steel's depths.
"It's beautiful."
"It's yours. You're good close up, but a little reach is useful." Lilith
sits down, perhaps a little harder than she meant to. "Consider it as
thanks. It's called 'Dark Tide'-"
"_Kurosio_." The Elf almost breathes the word, studying the katana's
edge in the room's dim light.
Easy sheaths the sword in its blue-lacquered scabbard. She has a slight,
distant smile as she regards it and its companion blade: there is a long
silence, broken only by Quinn hiccuping.
"'Scuse me." she apologises as everyone looks around.
"Anyway, Matt, before you feel neglected, I got you a little something."
Lynch passes Blade a zipped nylon case that might hold a portable
computer, or something else.
"Too light for a deck, too heavy for some books on chip..." Blade unzips
the case and lifts out the small stainless-steel snubnose revolver.
"Nice. What is it?" he asks, opening the cylinder and studying the
compact weapon with professional curiosity.
"Ruger SP101. Three-fifty-seven Magnum, five shots. The smartlink's just
an aiming cue, there's not much room in there, but I can give your
headware the full ballistics for long-range shots. Not something to go
to war with, but..." Lynch shrugs. "They take that, they might miss your
arms. They spot your cyberguns, they might miss that. It's small and
light and hits hard, and you seem happy with modern stuff, I thought if
we were going to give you a classic it should be a backup piece."
Blade aims at an empty corner, nods, dry-fires the small pistol several
times. "I like the grips. You do some work on the trigger? Feels a lot
smoother than the Warhawk."
"Cleaned up the double action. And ported the barrel, too. You've got a
hundred rounds of serious hurt-factor ammo as well."
"Could come in handy. Thanks." Blade replaces it in the case.
Lynch turns to Easy. "Now, I wondered what to get you to say 'thanks'
for helping us so much with Thunda. One reason we wanted you to come see
those movies, in the end, was so you'd realise what these got you."
He hands her a polished wooden case, and Easy smiles wryly as she opens
it, then pauses.
"I see what you mean. Those were just movies, though."
"Yeah, well." Quinn speaks from the floor. "Symbols have power. You
could use some power. You've been making your own all this time, you
deserve some help."
"Is this shaman stuff?" Easy reaches into the case, lifts out a black
Beretta 92 automatic.
"Everything's shaman stuff. It's all connected." Quinn hiccups again and
hauls herself upright. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go piss, puke
and pass out. But hopefully not until I get to the bathroom." She
staggers out.
Easy, by now, is holding both pistols, regarding them with the same look
she favoured the swords with. Lynch says softly "Easy to pick up... hard
to put down."
"Yeah. But I already made that choice." The Elf replaces the Berettas in
the case. "Thank you. Both of you."
She takes a deep breath. "Blade, I know you like Ares stuff, but here,
this is a damn good gun, and easier to hide than that Pred-2 of yours."
Easy reaches into her jacket and draws one of her Manhunters, hands it
to Blade along with two magazines. "You hardly knew me and you still
backed me up, trusted me, worked with me. This gun saved my life a few
times. I hope it gets a chance to do the same for you. Keep it safe,
maybe one day you'll need it."
+++++end video
After that we toasted each other's health a few times, and we drank a
couple to the Devil hoping he'd chew harder on Thunda's ass, and Quinn
wandered back down and we watched some more movies and ate more pizza,
none of which is important so I cut it.]<<<<<
-- Lilith <23:50:43/01-20-58>
