Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board SHAKES 4 - Now Open

<after taking a closer look, My Wee Fem realizes that the "Lardy" she sees is just some random fat guy dressed as his favorite LMBer>

<the real deal, the bartender says, had left some time ago...>

<a surveillance check shows he'd left well before the assassination attempt on Cobalt>

ladle of chum, por favor ...

<turns from his lonely barstool where he was nursing his Diet Coke, to face the selachimorphic fellow who sat down next to him>

Chum away, old friend... chum away; these have been some rough times these last few days and we all need some solace wherever we can find it.

Barkeep! Another Diet Coke... just leave the bottle.

Yeah, sharky... how did it come to all this? I just wanted change for Legion World. I looked around and saw... chaos... and thought that a new powerbase could restore it to its former glory. And now... all this!

Oh, don't get me wrong... Clive... yeah, well, the writing was on the wall there... but Cobie? That wasn't supposed to have happe... I mean... that shouldn't have happened. It's just... you know... the man behind the man, and all that.

Dammit... sometimes the hard decisions have to be made!

Who's going to make them?!? You? Me?

No... a guy like Lard Lad, though... a man with vision. These are all his children, man, as far as you can see. Hell, man, out here, we are all his children.

The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet-warrior in a classic sense. I mean, sometimes he'll... well, you say hello to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you and he won't even notice you. And then suddenly he'll grab you and he'll throw you in a corner and he'll say "Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in 'life'? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you."

I'm a... little man, I'm a little man. He's a great man.

"I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas."

I... uh... should probably stop talking now...

<gets up and walks sadly out the door>

Hang on a sec, there! Ex, wait up!

<throws some coins on the bar>

Keep the change ...

<lumbers out the door after Exnihil>

<enters, looks around>

He always said he did some of his best thinking here...(though so many stories I've heard led me to believe he was thinking with something else)...

<smiles; quickly realizes she's thinking about Cobie, who is lying dying; her smile fades and anger & sadness resurface>

I need to figure out whether Lard Lad tried to kill Cobie or not. And if so, how to bring him down. But if not...then who...?

Dammit Cobie, what were you keeping secret even from me?

<sits at stool>

Babette, can I have a vodka tonic?

You forget you have friends, LO?

<Sits on stool next to JBL>

Babette, bring me a Red Ranger, Please.

You think we're working on something else? We'll always have your back LO, but we can't help if you shut us out...

Talk to me girl...

Oh My...

Its my fault. Cobie counts on me...he relies on me. I always have his back so when he needs to be dramatic and over the top, I have all the angles figured out, and he has something to back that confidence up.

I was so mad... I walked out on him, abandoned him, and it was when he ended up needing me the most.

He's been so different for months, with this RMB, and those odd and vague references. He was working on something with Mayavale and some others, and when he was going to let me in on it--several times--I blew him off. I was trying to teach him a lesson.

I was trying to show him how much he needed me. But he always knew that. Just not in the way I meant for him to know it.

<looks down guiltily and shyly>

You'd think after being his confidante for so many years I'd learn a thing or too...

<tear down her cheek>

Oh My...

<hugs My Whee Fem>

^^
(some time later)

<hugs My>

Thanks My. For reminding me that without Cobie, it doesn't mean I'm alone.

And now that I'm here, I think I've got an idea...

<grabs trenchcoat given to her by Cobalt, and her holstered blaster, and runs out>

off to the streets of Legion World...

I'd like a Cheese Breeze, please.

<enters quietly, and quickly moves to booth in the back, away from prying eyes so she can just be alone>

I've been in here more these last few weeks than ever in my whole life...

...just need to get away from everyone for a little while...

*sniff*

<wipes away tears>

...i'm so stupid...

Ohmygod! Lo, You're gonna hate me for saying this girl, but it's like time to realize that he's a slut, he's always been a slut, and he'll always be a slut...

If you can love him the way he is... Well I'll always be here to listen.

Hey... <Pulls out a small package> This is from My. She's off doing something for Gram right now... but she wanted you to have this...

Babette can I get a Diet Pepsi, please?

If you wanna bi... talk, I'm here to listen...

<wipes tears>

*sniff*...I know, I know...I don't know why I put myself through this...

<hugs Brit>

Thanks Brit. I think I just kinda needed someone to talk to that, y'know, understood me. Unlike all the testosterone controlled men we seem to always be around.

<smiles; looks at the package from Brit, and opens it, pulling out a locket>

Brit, thank you. I...I don't know what to say. When I last saw My, she was shrunken like one of your Kacks in the Banned'Em Zone. So if this is what I think it is...well, thanks.

<another hug>

I think I better have a diet pepsi too. Definitely not the time for a drink. Not because of him.

<giggles>

So if My Whee Fem is my personal demon, does she still get have her katanas?

Ohmygod! I don't know where My is right now, Gram has her doing something for her...

But you like know that wherever she is she has those blades. She even wears them to bed!

Ask her about I.B.'s waterbed someday... But be ready to duck when you do... <Giggle>

Took her three whole days to dry everything out... <giggle>

<giggle, almost spits out diet pepsi>

I didn't hear about that! No wonder IB is so shy around her now!

So when are you going to get a boyfriend around here, Brit? Don't you like any of these guys?

<smiles to self>

I'm feeling better already...

< departing from his Orrery , Phineas B. Fubble fades into SHAKES, one femtosecond into the future>

<made possible by the proximity of the chronometer , he is riding a wave of potenial... a sort of Schrodinger's tesseract of multiple futures. As such, he is invisible to those in the present, although all those around can sense a wave of disquiet, as one might the moment before one is tapped on the shoulder>

<maintaining this temporal distance, he watches the two girls>

<suddenly feels a wave of nausea>

Ugh...Brit, I suddenly don't feel so good...

I'm going to go splash some cold water on my face in the bathroom...

<gets up to go, at the last minute turning around to grab the locket Everyday Girl had given her a few moments earlier, thinking she wants to be close to it for whatever reason; then turns around to go to the ladies room to splash some water on her face>

That's right, little one... walk away

<Phineas follows, spatially behind Jailbait Lass but fractionally ahead of her in time>

<enters Ladies Room, and looks into the mirror>

No wonder things aren't going right for me with Cobie...I look terrible!

<splashes some cold water on her face, to try to shake off the odd feeling of anxiety and nausea>

Why do I feel so...strange...?

<Lolita's eyes begin to blur>

<Phineas stands behind Jailbait Lass and, for a moment, closes his eyes. He relaxes and lets the wave function collapse. The potential futures merge into a single reality. As he coalesces into the present, he opens his eyes and meets those of Jailbait Lass looking back at him in the mirror>

<mozies up to the bar>

Barkeep ... Bloody Thora, please!

Oh hey, Brit ... what's shaking?

<Jailbait Lass stares into the mirror and no longer recognizes her own face; staring back at her is Phineas B. Fuddle, a face she also does not recognize>

...wh-who...who are you...?

<the entire world begins to swirl around her, and all at once everything she has ever known seems to be rushing past her--indeed, rushing far away>

...what's...happening...to...me?

<memories hit her hard: that terrible day when the Khundian Pirates killed her traveling companions and captured her, and when she thought all hope was lost, she met Cobalt Kid that day and he saved her life>

<when she came to Legion World and met Everyday Girl and her other friends>

<the day the Red Bee buried her alive>

<the day the Red Bee kidnapped her again and killed Space Ranger and in her heart she knew it was her fault>

<the day she overcame all her fears and felt whole for the first time in many years>

<and when she realized she could not fight it, that she was utterly in love with Cobalt Kid>

...why...?

<and all of it turns to black & white, and begins to fade away>

Oh, you poor thing <condescendingly>... only seeing with the eyes of a three-dimensional creature.

I pity you... truly I do.

Does no deja vu strike you, now? No sense that we have danced this little dance before? Oh, admittedly, I did look a bit different then... I was still in my immature, larval "Traveler" phase, before I came into this form of my own... but we have met.

<clucks his tongue>

Ah, Jailbait Lass, you really should have died that day. It would have been so much easier on you. Death is just a temporary thing. What is about to happen now, however... is a bit more permanent.

<falls to the ground as knees go week and the room starts to spin; the nausea begins to pass and suddenly the oddest sense of clarity begins to take hold, as her eyes begin to adjust to a new setting, even though it is not the room that has changed>

...

<suddenly she feels extremely faint--but does not lapse into unconsciousness; rather, she begins to awake from an almost daydream like state>

<and suddenly the feeling passes; the mirror looks no different, everything is as its always been. There is no Phineas B. Fuddle starring at her.>

Is this...SHAKES...? That is so odd. Why would I possibly be here? Oh Mary, how very brave of you!

<and Mary Hatch prepares to turn around and be on her way, but not before touching up her make-up>

<she pauses>

Who is...Jailbait Lass? What an odd name. Where did that come from? Hm...jeez Mary, you're acting so odd today!

<and so the memory of Jailbait Lass passes from Legion World. Not only does she no longer exist--she never existed in the first place>

<And young Mary Hatch, who ages like a normal person, rejoins the citizens of Legion World. Mary is a normal girl, who generally keeps to herself. She is the public librarian, and though she has helped the Security Office upon occassions, she's always managed to stay away from the general excitement. She's just a quiet, shy girl>

Excuse me...

<Mary passes the patrons of SHAKES and leaves immediately. She generally doesn't drink or socialize in bars>

<Phineas, again phasing a femtosecond into the future, breathes heavily>


That... was more difficult than I had anticipated.

The separation, yes, just a simple matter of detaching her origin point from the established timeline... but the rethreading! So many variables... the sad romance novels she reads... the calico cats... her passion for 19th century poetry...

These humans are bothersome assemblies.


But... <closes his eyes> yes! Jailbait Lass has been wiped from the continuum, forgotten to all... even Cobalt!!!


So it begins, but that was just a test. So much more to do.

Damnation, I need those last three chronometers activated!!!


<Phineas fades to his Orrery >