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July 24, 1998
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World's End Bar...
Merlin sips his beer, smokes his
cigarette.
Alayne says, "I spend too much time in
the labs." She shakes her head. "What have you been up to, Merlin?
Anything exciting?"
Merlin smiles, "Nothing of
note."
Yosannah says, "I think his exactly words
to me were: Drink, smoke and Bed."
Alayne chuckles.
Merlin says, "Preferably not all at the
same time." He glances, sidelong, at Yosannah, "Or by
myself."
Yosannah smirks, "Right." To Alayne she
asks, "Where's the boy?"
Alayne chuckles, "He's around. I think
he's trying ton convince Deb to let me raise the boys."
Yosannah says, "Introduce him to Merlin
sometime. And tell him that sending trumps of the Club to people
without introductions is not only not bright, but it's rude as well."
She smirks.
Alayne laughs, "Anyways, I have to go.
Take care, Yo, Merlin." She moves forward and vanishes, leaving
behind a rapidly fading afterimage.
Merlin asks, "Oh, she and Stone are a
thing?"
Yosannah says, "You can call it that,
yes."
Merlin says, "What would you call
it?"
Yosannah considers, "I would call it: She
loves him and he needs what she's got." She smirks, tilts her head
back, downs another shot and suckles on a lemon covered with
sugar.
Merlin shakes his head,
"Okay."
Yosannah says, "You're right, that needs
clearifiction. Stone is a business man. Alayne, I'm sure, is business
too."
Merlin nods, "Yes. Some sort of business.
I admit to not entirely trusting her."
Yosannah smiles as she places the lemon
in her shot glass and pushes it away, "See, that might surprise me
except I know you're an Amberite." She pauses, wets her lips with a
tisk and then asks, "Okay. I give. Why don't you trust
her?"
Merlin says, "Because I'm an Amberite.
And, I know better than to trust family. AND a Chaosian. The worst of
both worlds."
Damen appears suddenly.
Merlin waves at Damen.
Damen appears with half a bottle of
tequila in his hand, "Heya Merle... punched a Llama in Peru. How ya
doing?"
Yosannah notes Damen's arrival. Her green
eyes narrow as she regards him cooly, a puzzled expression on her
face.
Merlin just shakes his head and offers,
"Nothin' much."
Yosannah mumbers under her breath, "Oh my
god..."
Damen wipes a bit of Llama spittle from
his shirt, "To each his own, I suppose." He moves to a
table.
Merlin nods, "I suppose."
Damen laughs, "This is beginning to sound
like a bad Clint Eastwood flick, Merle."
Merlin sayd, "Uhh, a fistfull of dollars
this is not."
Yosannah mutters softly to Merlin,
"Corey, I'm apoligize for him... Jesus, he's a mess." She
sighs.
Damen kicks his feet up on the booth's
table, making himself comfortable.
Yosannah turns to regard Damen for a
moment. A blank expression on her face.
Merlin leans into Yosannah and assures
her, "No need. I'm used to drunkards."
Damen makes no move even hinting that he
registered Yosannah's presence. Which, according to his state (albeit
unusual, even for him) isn't a surprise.
Yosannah turns back to the
bar.
Damen smirks, "I could have used a roll
of quarters for that damn llama. Tough Jaw." He closes his eyes,
resting the bottle on his stomach.
Merlin says, "So what's the
occasion?"
Damen hmms thoughtfully for a moment, "I
think it's just one of those times, Merle. Ever have them?" His head
tilts back and his eyes remain closed as he queries.
Merlin says, "Sometimes."
Damen nods, "Rare and in between. But
they come. Beats burning a village to the ground, right?"
Merlin says, "Mmm, yeah."
Vaughn looks over at Merlin; narrows his
eyes. After a moment, he shrugs and sips his lemonade.
Yosannah turns to Merlin placing a hand
softly on his arm, "Don't. Just ignore him. Please,
Corey."
Merlin shrugs, "I figured if something
was genuinely wrong, he's so drunk he might say."
Yosannah mutters softly, "He has, you
just don't know him well enough to realize it..."
Damen takes a swig of tequila,
"Although... if memory serves me right... and it does for the first
time in my life... burning and pillaging was a trip... I remember
tasting the flesh of a seventeen year old boy. We stuck a spike along
his length while his mother watched... rotating him slowly over a
high flame." He takes another swig of tequila, almost as if he is
trying to wash the taste of something from his mouth. "Yup, those
were the days."
Merlin says, "Okay, Damen. Enough on that
topic."
Vaughn glances over at Damen and wrinkles
his nose.
Damen blinks, "Why? You a vegatarian?" As
he looks over at Merlin he spies Yosannah, "Oh... hi."
Yosannah clenches her jaw and shakes her
head.
Merlin turns his attention back to the
bar.
Damen chuckles softly, "Ah, I have become
an embarassment to the family." He gets to his feet, eyeing
Yosannah.
Yosannah peers at Damen as she toys with
her drink. She says nothing. After a moment she turns her attention
back to the bar as well. She mutters, "Maybe he'll just go home and
sleap it off..." And then to herself, "Please just go home
Damen."
Damen says, "Well, I understand. I bid
you all adieu. I'll be fine. Ayupyup. I'm sure you'll all be at my
next premiere, whatever the hell that will be. In the mean time, I'll
be punching llamas in Peru." He slams the tequila down on the table,
"But, damnit! It's an art. They have really tough jaws."
Merlin shakes his head and mutters to
Yosannah, "Old relationship die hard."
Yosannah whispers to Merlin, "It's not
even that. It's just that I've never seen him like this, you
know."
Damen mumbles, "Tough crowd."
Yosannah turns to Damen, finally, and
urges, "Damen, just go home."
Damen's image flickers, "Beat you to it,
love." He moves forward and vanishes, leaving behind a rapidly
faiding afterimage.
Merlin says, "Hmmm."
Yosannah pushes her glass away, "I need
some water..."
Merlin shrugs, "Version four."
Yosannah sighs, "At least version
four."
Merlin says, "I think I'm off to bed
now." After a moment he states, "How 'bout you go back to Elbridge
with me, Yo."
She bites at her lip for a moment,
staring at an ashtray. She glances sidelong at him and nods with a
single tilt of her chin, "Why not. It's just a natural progression of
things. Drink. Smoke. Bed. You know."
Merlin's gaze finds hers as he finishes
off both his beer and his cigarette, pushing the empty bottle back
onto the bar and crushing out the butt of the cigarette. He reaches
out his hand to her without a word.