Somewhere, tucked away deep in the bowels of the Nexus, sits a small, brown apartment building. It is not spectacular in any way, shape, or form. Most of its windows are dark, or lit up by the uncertain flicker of a television set. Its steps are spray painted with various icons; their meaning only known to the gang members who haunt the street at night. Even the mortar between the muddy brown bricks that make up the building is crumbling, as if the strain of living has just been too much for it to bear.
A tall woman looks up at the building before her. Her pale blue eyes search its face, as if trying to determine whether or not it will win the battle with gravity and time for yet another day.
She enters the building through the dilapidated front door, being careful not to knock it off its rusting hinges. Directly to her left lies another door: this one in slightly better condition. With a slender hand, she pushes it open.
"Brinly!" Katharine calls, closing the door behind her. Her dark red blazer falls to the floor as she shrugs herself out of it. "Brinly, have you gotten yourself locked into the closet again?"
There is no sound from the other room. Indeed, it seems as if the entire building is holding its breath. Even the faint whisper of the wind blowing through the open window is muted.
//That's odd...// Katharine thinks, glancing at the window. //Brinly knows better than to open the window while she's alone....//
A quiet whimper from the kitchen causes her ears to perk up. She frowns; her usually calm eyes taking on a fiery tinge.
"M-mama!"
"Brinly!" Katharine cries, leaping across the living room and into the kitchen. Once her stocking-clad feet touch the linoleum, however, she stops dead. A cold sweat breaks out on her pale skin.
A small child--Brinly--beats helplessly at a long black tentacle which grips her waist. Her large blue eyes are bright with tears, causing her blonde hair to mat to her dampened cheeks.
The beast which holds her is far less innocent. Its oily black skin bubbles menacingly, rolling over itself as it moves about the kitchen. Its many tentacles seem intent on crushing the child in its grasp, but Katharine's shouts have given it cause to pause.
Desperate, the mother flings herself at her child, wielding only a hastily acquired kitchen knife. Several tentacles fall at the onslaught, dropping little Brinly to the ground. The other appendages clutch Katharine as she flails helplessly.
"God, Brinly, RUN!" Katharine cries, moments before the darkness envelops her with its viscous body.
Sobbing, the child retreats from the room; her pink skirt billowing about her stubby legs. The door to the outside is thrown open with a wild shove. Brinly bolts onto the street like a frightened deer, barely watching the road ahead of herself until she runs straight into a dark shadow.
"Hey, now, lass, what's the rush?" Warm, kind hands encircle the struggling child, holding her until she realizes that this is not an enemy. She looks up, straight into a pair of platinum eyes that gaze curiously back at her.
"Mama...she saved me from the black thing!" Brinly cries, clinging, terrified, to the folds of the woman's long jacket. "It...swallowed her up...."
The woman sighs, kneels, and gathers Brinly up in her arms. With an effort, she is able to hide the sadness welling up in her eyes. //It would not do to scare the child any more than the Twisting did....//
"Well, now, lass, you needn't worry now. You're with Auntie Morrigan now, y'hear? I won't let no Twisting get at you."
Morrigan pats the girl's blonde shoulder encouragingly, and turns to wander back down the worn street from whence she came. Neither of them looks back at the decrepit building, nor attempts to catch a better glimpse of its twisted occupants.
The sounds of joyful laughter, emanating from the restaurant ahead, pricks like a thousand needles into Morrigan's skull. She puts a slender hand to her forehead, as if by sheer force of will, she can block it out. Her longsword, strapped solidly to her back, seems to suddenly weigh her down more than usual.
//At least no terrible evil has found its way to this place, yet....// she thinks.
A little tug on her coat brings Morrigan's attention downwards; perhaps for the hundredth time today. The woman smiles warmly down at her companion, absently brushing a lock of mouse-brown hair from her eyes as she does so. Little Brinly peers up at her, bright eyes widened in curiousity.
"I know it's late, but don't you worry, lass," Morrigan assures her, patting her blonde head. "You'll like this place!"
Taking the child's hand in her own, they make their way toward the entrance of the busy restaurant, and the occupants therein.
Rinaldo looks up from greeting his guests at his customary station at the top of the stairs leading down to his restaurant. His smile, as usual, would put a piano to shame.
"Hey, Morrigan! Good to see ya!
"But how come you no call ahead, eh?" he adds with a mock pained expression. "I woulda got you you usual table!"
Morrigan grins widely at the sight of Rinaldo, and reaches out to shake his hand. "I'll just have to take your personal table, then, eh Rinaldo?" she says with a wink. "That, or I'll just have to show the flat side of my sword to the people with the gall to be sittin' at my spot!"
"Aaaah," Rinaldo replies with a sly, knowing wink, "you know Rinaldo, he like'm _feisty_, eh? Ha-HA!"
He glances down to take in the young girl at Morrigan's side. "And since when you gotta little one, eh? You move so fast, you no got time to tell Rinaldo nothing! Ha-HA!"
Brinly, terrified of this large man with the loud voice, cowers between the folds of her guardian's trenchcoat. Morrigan reaches down to pat her head reassuringly, and smirks at Rinaldo. "You think so little of me, Rinaldo, that you believe I'd get hitched with a kid of my own doing?
"Nah...this here's Brinly. I...found her." Morrigan's voice drops slightly at this last, as does her gaze. When she looks up again, her smile has lessened ever-so-slightly.
Rinaldo catches her look and nods, his own smile losing a touch of authenticity. But only a touch.
"Perhaps we should discuss matters with Sophia?" she queries, tipping her head towards the doorway. She winks. "If you're not too busy coaxing every passerby with a wallet in his pocket into your restaurant, that is."
"Heeey," he says, grin brightening once more, "I no hafta stand there to get people inside! EVERYbody know about Rinaldo's place! But if they doan' see _Rinaldo_, how they gonna know they at _Rinaldo's_, eh?"
He bends over with his hands on his knees to regard Brinly, clucking her chin with a beefy finger. "But you gotta right idea. This wan, we take her to Sofia! I bet she like some spaghetti an' meatballs, eh? An' maaaaybe... maybe she wan' some _spumoni_..."
"Thas' _ice cream_," he tells the child in clandestine stage whisper from behind a cupped hand.
Brinly giggles shyly, blinking with bright blue eyes up at Rinaldo. A faint flush rises to her cheeks. "I like ice cream..." she mumbles, taking a few tentative steps from the protective shadow of her guardian.
Morrigan chuckles and gives the girl a little nudge towards the friendly Italian. "Come on, lass. I'll make sure ol' Rinaldo gives you the biggest bowl of spumoni that you've ever seen!"
More assured than before, Brinly takes Morrigan's hand in one of hers. And, as they head into the restaurant, she even dares to lightly grip Rinaldo's in the other.
The dining room is awash in a sea of happy customers tonight -- a sea that Rinaldo parts it like a garralous Moses to lead Morrigan and Brinly across. He politely turns aside the many greetings and toasts in his honor as they pass with a wave and his trademark grin, ushering the pair into the aromatic Promised Land of Sofia's kitchens.
"Hey, Sofia!" he calls into the clouds of fragrant steam, "where you at? We gotta hungry little girl here!"
A happy squeal precedes Sofia's sudden appearance out of the steam by precisely three seconds, and her crushing embrace of Morrigan by two.
"MORRIGAN! So good to _see_ you! How come you stay away so _long_?? *gasp!* And who is _this_ lovely little one??" she asks, turning her attention to Brinly. "She is so _lovely_, it is like an angel has come down to bless my kitchen!"
"Thas' Brinly," Rinaldo offers with a proud grin, as if he were introducing his own daughter. "She's a friend of Morrigan, and she gonna needa good meal while Morrigan an' I go talk, eh?"
His smile never falters, but the slightest of nods he gives Sofia speaks sober volumes to her. She returns the small nod with one of her own, then turns to offer Brinly her hand and the warmest of smiles. "Well! My DEAR! If you need to eat, you come to the right place! Auntie Sofia gonna have you plump as a cherub!"
"I tell her you gonna give her _spumoni_..." Rinaldo stage whispers.
"_Spumoni_? She gonna have all she wants... IF she finish her dinner!" Sofia tells the child with a loving finger-wag. She leads the child off into the billowing depths of the kitchen in search of the promised meal.
Brinly, delighted with this turn of events, seems entirely willing to release Morrigan's jacket and wander off with the plump Italian woman.
Rinaldo, for his part, leads Morrigan into his private dining room. "You need to talk, eh?" he says quietly.
Morrigan takes her seat gratefully: glad for the opportunity to rest herself. She notices that her jacket has been cleaned and turned a darker shade of black, since she entered this odd portion of Nexus. Her shirt and slacks seem to have benefited from the treatment as well.
The woman leans forward to rest her elbows on the table. Long, crudely cut, mouse-brown hair falls into her eyes. She sighs.
"There I was, Rinaldo. There I was, just sittin' in my apartment watchin' some new television show that the papers have been talkin' about. Wasn't very good."
She shakes her head, not looking up. "I got up, after that. Felt somethin' weird outside. Took my sword. Don't know why; it wasn't really late yet, and the kids have stopped sitting on the building's entranceway, since I moved in.
"Next thing I know, there's this blonde kid hanging on for dear life to me!" Morrigan leans back at this, spreading her hands to show her amazement. "She said there was a Twisting that had gotten ahold of her mother. I...I wanted to go back for it...but she was too little to leave by herself. So I came here. To find out what you knew about it.
"There's more Twistings now, y'know," she says, voice dropping to a whisper, even though it would be a truly foolhardy sort that would listen in on anything said in Rinaldo's private dining room. "They're comin' back. I've had four calls this week, alone. Used to be I'd get barely two a month.
"What d'you think it all means, Rinaldo?"
Rinaldo sighs and pats her hand fondly. "You talkin' to tha wrong guy. Rinaldo, he hear a lot, but that doan' mean he know what it means, eh?" he says with a small smile. "He is just a big dumb guy witha wife who can cook like God's chef!
"You wan' know what that all means? You wan' somebody like George LeChat, or Joe Black." He shakes his head, worry alien on his smile-wrinkled face. "But Joe... I no have seen him or his Birdie for a long time. I hope he doan' get inna more trouble again..."
Morrigan sighs and shakes her head. Joe Black. She had seen him, once, in this very same restaurant. An odd looking man. Seemed relatively decent, though. She chuckles silently. //He sure cleaned up nice, in Rinaldo's little pocket dimension here.//
"Maybe you can help me with my second problem then, Rinaldo," Morrigan says, smiling warmly at him. This would have to be done just right, lest she be saddled with the little blonde problem forever....
Rinaldo gives her a canny look.
"Y'see, what with my employment an' all...it'd be very hazardous for a child like Brinly to stay with me for any long period of time. She's such a dear little child...it wouldn't be right for me to put her in such danger.
"She seems so fond of you and Sophia, and I'm sure she'd be a big help around the kitchen. Sophia'll have a student to learn all about how to cook the best pasta this side of the Nexus." Morrigan moves to grasp Rinaldo's hand in her own. Her smile deepens, and she tips her head to look up at him through her lashes.
"Couldn't you just take her in for a little while, Rinaldo?... I'd be really grateful...and be sure to tell all of my customers about your wonderful establishment...."
Rinaldo leans back in his chair, tenting his fingers over his ample belly. "So, you wanna stick Rinaldo with a little wan, eh?" He glances through the doorway to the kitchen and chuckles. "Well, fromma way things look now, we havva hard time getting you lil' girl _outta_ here. Ha-HA! Yeah, sure, we keep her for you. Sofia, she gotta lotta love, and she always need someone else to give it to, eh?"
Morrigan smiles genuinely, and stands to pat Rinaldo on the shoulder amicably. "Rinaldo," she says, "I don't know what I'd do without you and Sophia to help me out! Remind me to buy you two somethin' pretty." She grins and winks.
"Oh...speakin' of which..." the woman pauses a moment to rummage through her pockets. Several coins of various worth spill out onto the table, followed by a couple of worn-looking bills. "This is all I got on me, to pay for the kid. You take a cheque?"
*****
To those familiar with the quirks of Nexus travel, the consensus holds that nobody gets around faster or knows the reality-hopping streets better than the rickshaw-pullers commonly known as "shawmen".
The consensus is _almost_ right. But there's also Paulie.
From his perch atop his customized 12-speed bike, Paulie can spot a dimensional shortcut as well as the best of the shawmen, if not better. And a small wonder that is, too, because the swarthy youth's job takes him all over the Infinite City, requiring him to get where he's going _fast_, do what needs to be done, and be on his way before anyone knows what's happened.
Paulie's _very_ good at his job. Indeed, to the select few who know of him, he's something of a living legend.
And tonight's job demands even more speed than usual. This one's _personal_ -- a job that Paulie's put off far too long. Tonight, some select people are going to get what's coming to them.
His bike drops several tech levels as he passes through a dimensional interface into a 1920s reality, but his athletic legs take up the slack without losing an ounce of speed. And there, ahead of him, he sees his goal: the popular restaurant known as "Rinaldo's".
For a moment, he considers making a bold entrance through the front, but quickly dismisses the idea. Too public. Instead, he swings his bike down the alley behind the restaurant. The element of surprise is all-important.
He parks the bike behind a garbage bin, startling a pair of amorous felines in the process. Then he unstraps a long, dark box from the back of the bike, walks up to the back door of the restaurant, and, finding it unlocked, steps inside.
The overwhelming odors of Italian cuisine in the making lead him to the right, toward the kitchen. There, he knows, he's likely to find at least one of the evening's subjects.
And he's right. He rounds a corner, and there she is: Sofia Cabrini, sitting at a low wooden table chatting merrily with a young girl who is currently feasting on Sofia's spaghetti. Paulie hesitates a moment -- the girl wasn't part of the plan. But, he decides, this job is too important to back out now, girl or no girl.
Silently, he opens the long box, removes what's inside, and, brandishing it, steps forward into the light of the kitchen.
Sofia sees him immediately, and gasps in shock!
Brinly looks up, startled. The fork falls from her hand, clattering loudly as it hits the table. Embarrassed, she reaches up to hide her sauce-covered mouth and chin from the stranger.
"Paulie!!" she cries.
"Momma!" the youth replies warmly, stepping forward to offer her the bouquet he holds, and to accept the forthcoming embrace.
Morrigan's sensitive ears almost seem to perk up as she hears the commotion outside the warm little dining room. She peers absently at the door. "You expectin' company, Rinaldo?" she asks.
His ears far less acute than Morrigan's, Rinaldo cocks his head and listens. "Nah, we not expecting nobody... Did she say-"
"Paulie!" Sofia cries again, excitement putting a quaver in her voice. "Rinaldo! Paulie is here!!"
Morrigan gets but a fleeting glimpse of the sudden, bright joy on Rinaldo's face before he heaves himself out of his chair and through the door like an enterprising boulder starting its own avalanche.
"Hey, Paulie!" he calls as he stumble-bursts into the kitchen. "How you _doin'_, eh?? Ha-HA!" "Hiya, Pop," Paulie gasps out, obviously recovering from a Sofia embrace. "Howzit- *ERF!*" he grunts, Rinaldo proving himself to be every bit as adept with a hug as is his wife.
"Oh... sorry," Rinaldo says as Morrigan enters the room, releasing the boy with a fond thump on the back. "Morrigan, this handsome guy, he is our boy Paulie! You can see where he get his looks, eh? Ha-HA!" He pinches the boy's cheek fondly, much to the youth's embarrassment.
"Hey, c'mon, Pop...!"
Morrigan chuckles softly, watching the boy. Indeed, there is a family resemblance...if only in the dark complexion and sparkling eyes. She idly wonders if Paulie has the same natural ability with business as his father does.
"An' Paulie," Rinaldo continues, arm outstretched in presentation, "this lovely lady, she is our friend Morrigan!"
The woman in question tips her head in greeting.
"Hiya, Morrigan," Paulie says, smoothly recovering his dignity as he offers her his best Italian wise-guy grin along with his hand. "Nice ta meetcha. Hey," he adds speculatively, "have I seen you aroun', maybe...?"
Morrigan cocks her head and eyes the boy more carefully. "Maybe..." she says slowly, searching back in her mind. "What's your business?"
"Ah, nothin' special," Paulie replies, the pride in his voice belying his modesty. "I work delivery. You wannit there, I get it there... if I can carry it on my bike, anyway," he adds with a grin.
"Hey, my boy, he is too modest, eh? Ha-HA!" Rinaldo enthuses, slapping Paulie on the back once more. "Paulie, he is the best delivery boy inna Nexus!"
Morrigan chuckles at Rinaldo's enthusiasm, and nods her approval. "He's gonna be quite the businessman one day," she notes with a wink. "Ambition runs in the family, it seems! That an' good looks!"
Paulie grins boyishly at the compliment while his father laughs and pats him on the shoulder. "Yeah, well... thanks. But businessman? Me? Naaaah... I'd go nutzo stuck between four walls all day."
Sofia clucks in gentle disapproval.
"I think your mother has other plans for you, Paulie!" Morrigan says with a smile. "Who'll take over when Rinaldo here decides he wants to retire to some nice island on the other side of the Nexus, eh? They'll need someone with wit and brains to keep this...operation...running." She winks at Rinaldo.
"Aaaaaah, Pop won't quit! S'not in his blood, right Pop?" Paulie asks, hugging Rinaldo around the shoulder.
"Yeah, tha's _right_!" Rinaldo agrees. "Why I wanna quit? I get alla food an' hooch onna job, eh? Ha-HA!"
Several less amusing thoughts fill her mind as she talks, however. //Paulie would have seen more around the Nexus than Rinaldo...// she thinks. //Lots more. I wonder if he knows of the Twistings, too?//
"You gonna be stayin' long, Paulie?" Morrigan queries innocently. She nods towards Rinaldo's wife and smiles knowingly. "Sofia here seems quite willing to have you stay for a bit."
Sofia's hopeful smile lends Morrigan's observation much credence.
"Yeah, for a while," Paulie says, returning Sofia's smile. "I got me some money saved up after a few good gigs, so I figured, 'Hey, Paulie! Give yourself a vacation, eh?'"
"Oh! I am so HAPPY!" Sofia enthuses, as if her current mood were in doubt. "We must celebrate! Oh!" She looks about in near panic. "I must _cook_ something!" She begins scurrying around the kitchen, a plump whirlwind of culinary activity.
Brinly sets about after Sofia. Almost without the other woman's notice, she silently picks up discarded dishes and cutlery as soon as Sofia finishes with them, and carefully places them into the sink for washing later.
"Heh... Sofia, she gotta lil' shadow, eh?" Rinaldo observes warmly, watching them go.
"I think she'll do well here, if y'don't mind my saying so, Rinaldo," Morrigan whispers to him. She looks over at Paulie. "And you'll look after little Brinly, there, when you're around, won't you?"
"Me? Oh, yeah. I'll look after her. Always wanted a little sister." He, too, looks after Brinly and smiles. "But I'm not around much, ya know? Work really keeps me movin'." He snaps with his right hand at various points in the air before him by way of illustration and grins.
"But how 'bout you?" he asks, eyeing her speculatively. "Whadda you do, and where's it gonna take you next?"
Morrigan shrugs in reply. Her hand absently travels back above her shoulder, where she touches the hilt of her greatsword, just to make sure it's still there. She smiles. "I got my sword, and my boots have plenty of steps left in 'em."
She pats her pocket, and the change within jingles merrily...but not as merrily as she'd like. A frown mars her otherwise pleasant features. "I haven't got a buyer right now, I'm afraid...but that's to be expected once in a while, eh? No harm in having a little vacation once in a while." Her smile returns. "I guess I'll just have a little more spare time to torment your old man!"
"Hey, you come bug me any time!" Rinaldo laughs. "I like havin' you pretty face aroun', eh? Ha-HA!
"Hmmmm... 'vacation'," he mutters, rubbing his chin.
"Tell y'what, though, Paulie," Morrigan continues. "If you ever find yourself in trouble, now, you give me a call, y'hear? Your pa here has people who can find me, dontcha, Rinaldo?"
"Yeah!" Rinaldo agrees. "All I gonna do is get Sofia making her lasagna, and everybody come running!"
Paulie laughs. "Thanks, Morrigan. If I need any heads rolled, I'll give you a call."
"Hey, Paulie," Rinaldo puts in with a (by his standards) sheepish smile, "I think maybe I gonna need _you_ help. You Momma and I, we maybe gonna take a vacation. You wanna runna restaurant while we are gone?"
"Awwww, Pop! C'mon! You _know_ I don't know anything about runnin' a restaurant!" Paulie glances uncomfortably at Morrigan before continuing. "Look I'll think about it, okay? I still got deliveries to do today."
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