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March 15, 2003
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Gideon Club, Lounge ...
Yosannah stares at the image of
Merlin...
To the image of Merlin, Yosannah smiles,
"So, it's Saturday night. And here I am. Nothing to do and nobody to
do it with."
The image of Merlin smirks. "Oh, woe is
me. That's terrible."
To the image of Merlin, Yosannah says "It
is, and what are you going to do about it?"
The image of Merlin tilts his head.
"Mm... Buy you a drink?"
To the image of Merlin, Yosannah says "A
drink. What a wonderful idea!"
The image of Merlin lifts a hand, tapping
an index finger against the side of his head. "Full of 'em," he says.
The image of Merlin then extends that hand. "Come
through?"
To the image of Merlin, Yosannah says
"Oh, okay." She reaches for his hand...
World's End Bar...
Yosannah raises a brow as she holds
Merlin's hand, "This does not count as 'buying' a drink."
Sarah loses interest in Merlin, abruptly.
She pushes herself to her feet.
Yosannah notes Sarah's reaction. Her
smile fades as she looks to Merlin, a question playing on her lips.
Merlin shrugs slightly, giving Yosannah's
hand a squeeze before releasing it. He raises his bottle again,
finally taking a sip.
Sarah stalks off into shadow.
Yosannah hmphs and then climbs atop the
stool beside Merlin, "What'd I miss?"
Merlin says "Not a thing. What are you
drinking?"
Xavier takes a sip of his ale.
Yosannah says "Merlot," She looks him
over, "You didn't just get out of work, did you?"
Merlin gestures vaguely with his bottle.
"I'm always working." He turns to give the bartender a nod, who goes
about getting Yosannah her drink.
Yosannah hehs and seems about to comment
on that but, apparently, thinks better of it.
Merlin smirks slightly, shakes his head.
"So," he says. "What's new and exciting?"
Mora waves over to Yosannah, giving a
quick smile.
Yosannah is given a glass of Merlot by
the bartender, "Thank you," she offers. And then, "Well, I've been
out and about the last few days..." She notes Mora's wave and smiles
lightly at the woman.
Merlin says "Out and about,
huh."
Mora wanders over to the bar.
Thomas sits down at the bar.
Yosannah leans toward Merlin and mutters
with a smile, "Gee, I'm sorry. It must be hard on you spending time
with me. People just seem to flock whereever I am."
Mora murmurs, "Good turning."
Yosannah rolls her eyes with a chuckle,
and then to Mora, "Heya, Mora. How goes?"
Merlin laughs quietly at something,
raising his bottle to his lips. He sips, taking a moment to look over
the rest of the room.
Mora shrugs lightly, "Oh, just trying to
keep out of trouble." She seems ammused by this thought. She sips
her wine and takes a quick look around.
Yosannah offers to Mora, "Like the rest
of us, I suppose. Oh, Mora, have you met my friend Corey," She
indicates Merlin sitting to the other side of her, "He's buying
drinks tonight."
Merlin looks back, smirking slightly. He
lifts his free hand in greeting.
Mora offers Corey a polite smile, "A
pleasure."
Merlin says "Likewise."
Mora considers Merlin's face as she sips
her wine.
Zeta choses a stool at the bar and half
sits/leans against it, shifting her cloack just a bit to make this
easier.
Thomas turns to Mora with interest, "You
seem rather popular around these parts, mademoiselle."
Yosannah notes Mora's expression and then
whispers to Merlin "Here it comes...."
Mora murmurs, "Good turning" to
Zeta.
Mora turns her gaze to Thomas, "One might
take that as an insult.
Yosannah chuckles, "Or maybe
not."
Merlin sets his bottle down on the bar,
then leans back against it, folding his arms across his chest. He
murmurs something in a hushed tone to Yosannah, "It's the beard, I
told you. Works like a charm."
Thomas raises his glass to his lips,
"Some might, are you such one?"
Mora says "That entirely depends on the
intent behind the comment."
Yosannah chcukles and then holds her
glass to her lips in effort to whisper behind it, "Trying to
converse here with you is a joke. Yet we keep doing it."
Thomas drains his glass, "Ah, but intent
is rather relative, isn't it?"
Merlin whispers "The place is like new to
me again. But the novelty will wear off pretty quick, I'm sure."
Zeta rolls her eyes, "Oh my
god."
Yosannah nods at Merlin, "Ooookay. As
long as you don't mind all the attention I attract."
Merlin smirks. "No, no. I find this
magnetism of yours fascinating."
Mora sips her wine, "Indeed, intent is
relative, so why not tell me yours?"
Yosannah finishes off her wine. She tilts
her empty glass at the bar tender and then offers to Mora, "Mora, I'm
sure he meant nothing disrespectful."
Zeta looks at Thomas, her eyes fiery, yet
dark. They fall to his neck. "Let's bite him, Lady." She looks to
Mora, her smile still wicked.
Merlin's lips purse faintly, and he
glances over.
Thomas smiles lopsidely, "Now
mademoiselle, I rather like this old neck of mine. However, I really
did mean no disrespect, I only stated the obvious."
Mora shrugs lightly, "If it were
obviouos, why state it?"
Zeta lifts her eyes, one brow lifted just
so, "Who said anything about your neck?"
Thomas says "Sometimes it pays to be
obvious."
Thomas eyes Zeta, "Because I associate
biting fellow beings to either cannabilism or vampires. Which are
you?"
Yosannah winces lightly at Thomas'
words. To the others at the bar she shrugs, "Nevermind what I just
said, Mora. Have at him."
Zeta leans forward just a bit, sniffs the
man and whispers, "Neither."
Merlin's nose wrinkles faintly, and his
eyes slide back to Yosannah.
Mora chuckles and sips her wine, "I was
just toying with him."
Yosannah gaze meets Merlin's and she
offers a wink.
Thomas laughs, "Then we are kindred
spirits, mademoiselle." He turns to Zeta, "I meant no offense, but I
did offend, I'm sorry. Interesting drink by the way."
Merlin lets out a bit of a laugh, just a
single, sharp exhalation. He reaches for his bottle.
Zeta shrugs, "I'm not offended." She
practically lilts as her eyes move to Merlin, "Careful though. Not
all Chaosians are forgiving enough to give way to an /I'm sorry/" She
notes with a tone of amusement, "Some would just gut you and wear
your entrails as a hat."
Yosannah considers, "What a minute. Let
me picture that," She stares above Merlin's head, "No, no. It's
definitely not you. Like that beard."
Thomas's eyes widen, "As a hat?! I'd
always thought entrails would look better as a necklace, but I prefer
mine inside my body for now."
Merlin opens his mouth to reply to
Yosannah, but no sound is forthcoming. His brow furrows
slightly.
Mora's brow furrows as she regards
Merlin's beard.
Zeta swipes her hand at her drink with a
passive dismissal, knocking it over and spilling the fiery drink onto
the bar. Slipping off her stool, she sighs and says flattly, "Bored."
And starts walking toward the door.
Merlin follows her absently with his eyes
for a moment, until he remembers the bottle in his hand. He
sips.
Yosannah asks Merlin, "What? You don't
agree?"
Merlin says "I think I'd look very
debonaire in an entrail-hat, as a matter of fact."
Yosannah gulps at her wine and mutters,
"Gross."
Merlin smirks. "I look all right in a
fedora, too."
Mora murmurs, "How odd."
Yosannah chuckles at Merlin, "I'm sure
you ..." She pauses and studies Mora, "What's up?"
Mora shrugs, "I have never seen her
behave in such a manner."
Thomas chuckles, "Perhaps you've never
seen her bored."
Yosannah shrugs, "Can't say that I've
noticed a difference. Though, I've only met her, maybe, once before."
She runs her finger around the rim of her wine glass, obviously
getting restless.
Merlin tosses back the dregs of his
bottle and sets it aside. He exhales, audibly.
Yosannah looks to Merlin expectantly.
Merlin meets Yosannah's eye. "Mm. Time
to go, you think?"
Yosannah nods, "Yupper." She hops of the
barstool, "Night, Mora."
Merlin nods his head. "Gotcha," he says,
sliding off his own stool.
Thomas turns on his stool and gives a
slight nod to Yosannah and Merlin, "A pleasure meeting you
both."
Yosannah nods at Thomas. "You too."
Merlin produces a few cards, thumbing
through them. He inclines his head to Thomas and Mora, pocketing all
the cards again, save one.
Yosannah makes an effort to peek at the
card.
Mora nods to Yosannah and
Merlin.
Merlin makes a half-hearted attempt to
hide it, lifting it high, then low, then putting it behind his back,
just for a moment. He grins.
"Jerk." She crosses her arms in a feigned
huff.
Merlin laughs, offering her his
hand.
Yosannah reaches for Merlin's hand,
almost reluctantly.
Merlin smiles. He flicks a last glance
around the room before focusing on his card.
Apartment in Berkeley...
Merlin says, "I'll bet you were expecting
me to spirit you away to some strange, exotic locale,
huh?"
Yosannah takes a moment to orient
herself, "Yes. Sigh. Maybe some day..." She smiles, "But until then,
I'll live." She slides her arms out of her suit jacket.
Merlin walks towards the kitchen. "Care
to let me 'buy' you another drink?"
Yosannah nods, a light smile playing on
her lips, "Please." She toss her jacket over the chair.
Merlin's voice comes from the other room.
"Okay, but I think they're out of Merlot."
Yosannah moves toward the area where
Merlin had been sketching the other day, "I'll take whatever 'they'
have got."
The table is strewn with a mess of
papers, notes and drawings, some just sketches, some much more
intricate drafts. The subject seems to be a fairly abstract
assemblage of geometric shapes, though in a few versions there are
definitely elements that resemble a more conventional computer
terminal. From the other room can be heard the sound of cupboards
banging, glasses clinking, and a cork being popped.
Yosannah furrows her brow as she regards
the items atop the writing desk, she runs her fingers over one of the
drawings.
Merlin clears his throat, now standing in
the kitchen doorway, a wine bottle in one hand, two glasses in the
other.
Yosannah turns her head to regard him
over her shoulder, a puzzled expression playing on her face, "Why are
you doing this?" She indicates the sketches.
Merlin shrugs his shoulders. "I thought
it might be useful," he says. He walks further into the room, setting
the bottle down, then the glasses, one at a time. "It's just an idea
I've been working on for a while now."
Yosannah fusses with a strap from her
top. She slides it further up her shoulder. "I'm not sure I get you.
Isn't that stuff dangerous." She moves toward him, "I thought you
said it was dangerous."
Merlin shakes his head. "This isn't the
same thing. It's much more...." He pauses, searching for the right
word. "Limited."
Yosannah stands before him. She looks
down at the bottle and then back to him, "What's it for?" As if the
answer to this question might truncate her worries.
Merlin shrugs his shoulders. "It's a sort
of shadow database," he says, reaching down picking up the bottle. He
begins filling one of the glasses."A user would be able to input
specific keys, boolean combinations of desired geographical
information or social statistics, and it would 'create' a shadow that
matched their specifications." He finishes filling one glass. Shrugs.
"It's just an idea still, really." He begins filling the
other.
Yosannah bites at her lower lip as she
digests the information, "Yeah. Can't you already do that, Corey. I
mean, why do you need a computer to do it?"
Merlin looks up. "Well, people could
write just fine before they invented the word processor, couldn't
they?"
Yosannah watches as he fills the glasses.
"I suppose so. What if someone like me got a hold of something like
that. That doesn't worry you?"
Merlin takes one of the glasses then
lowers himself onto the couch. "Well, what would you do with
it?"
Yosannah reaches for the other glass and
moves to sit beside him, "I don't know. I guess if I were interested
in such things, I might use it to..." She considers, "Make me a
shadow right next door to Amber. Or Chaos." She sips her wine, "Like
a staging point of some sort. Like I said. Dangerous."
Merlin shakes his head. "Well, it doesn't
really work that way. Like I said, it's got limitations. It doesn't
actually 'make' the shadows, because, I suppose theoretically they
already exist, somewhere in the infinite realm of possibility. And
the nature of the poles still applies: since shadows are cast from
Amber, all the shadows right next to Amber are very similar to it, or
direct reflections of it. You couldn't make a shadow to your
specifications right next door. But the further away you got, the
more possibility there would be to tailor it to your use."
Yosannah rests her glass against her
lower lip as she considers what he has said, "Well, Hmmm. I suppose
you have your reasons, right? Forgive me if I'm prone to thinking the
worst."
Merlin shrugs, "It's really just a little
experiment, no harm in that, is there? Every boy needs a hobby. This
wouldn't be incorporating any sort of complex AI anyway, so I really
don't see how anything could go wrong."
Yosannah chuckles, "I can think of better
hobbies."
Merlin smirks and leans back, crossing
one leg over the other. "Yeah, well. Taxedermy isn't really my
bag."
Yosannah takes a cue from him as she
turns and rests her head against the back of the couch adjusting her
body to face him, "No, I don't imagine that it would be." And then,
"It's getting late. Are you in for the night?"
Merlin nods slightly. "Barring any
unforseen circumstances..."
Yosannah hehs, "Unforseen." She lifts her
glass and tilts her head back, finishing the wine. "I'm contemplating
whether or not to head back to Elbridge." The drink has obviously
effected her as she rubs her temples with her free hand.
Merlin says "Can you think of one good
reason you should?"
Yosannah exhales slowly, "If I said
'yes', then what?" She sets her glass on the endtable.
Merlin shrugs. "Then I suppose I'd have
to try to talk you out of it."
Yosannah smiles, "I have to admit, having
you around again has been great." She tucks a stray strand of hair
behind her ear, "Though, I'm not entirely sure that it's appropriate
that I'm waking up in your apartment at the crack of dawn." She
adds,"Though you've been nothing short of a gentleman and I thank you
for that."
Merlin doffs an imaginary hat at
that.
Yosannah chuckles softly, "Go on." She
urges, "Tell me what you want."
Merlin grins. "Bah, you know you're
welcome to stay. If you want to head back, go ahead. I'll just have
to sleep with the light on."
Yosannah chuckles, "With the light
on?"
Merlin waves a hand in a vaguely circular
motion. "You know. Keep the monsters away."
Yosannah moves and rests her head on his
arm, "I guess I'm staying then. I wouldn't want to put you through
that."
Merlin smiles, exhaling a contented sigh.
"Well, there we go then. All settled."