Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [BBD] Rat in the House Message-ID: References: <93112.125347344LWKC@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU> Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 19:24:15 GMT [ Darvos, Lissa, Little Rat, and Lancos are visiting 'Raelf and ar'Elya in the Old Lighthouse. Lancos has asked 'Raelf for a private discussion.] "So," Lancos began, "now that it's just the two of us..." "Three." 'Raelf corrected, kneeling and pointing to the trailing Bast. She batted at his finger, then went bouncing after a grasshopper in the garden. Lancos grinned. "What can I say -- like animals group together occassionally." It had almost been strange for him to see 'Raelf as a humanoid again, once his true cat-man form had been seen. "She thinks me a ranger too; and since recently I'm inclined to agree." "That's righteous, dude, but I doubt you're here to tell me you've found your true calling, or else you would've done it solo." "Too true. So, what have you REALLY been doing?" "Details? You want details? Well, let's see. Archmage Dasham wants to live forever and has decided I am the one to tell her how; Archmage Urcohea has hired me to do some repairs and general maintenance on the Guild building; I'm still making boards for export back in ss'ChshC'Kan, yes, I know the pronunciation just changed," he grinned, "the place is always changing to match. Oh, and ar'Elya and I spent most of the storm trying to keep it from washing Generica off the map. It was a lot nastier than most people will ever know." "It destroyed most of the town and flooded lots of the farms and you say it could have bene worse?" "I'll show you some home movies sometime." "Uh, sure, I guess. So how's the local business front?" "Bogus. Completely bogus. I was getting a surf-shack setup on the north beach, and there's hardly even a north beach now, much less the shack. Anyway everyone sees me surfing, acts like I'm out of my mind. Oh well, if I wanted to rake in the dough locally I'd just open up a convenience store anyway." "I'm not surprised. Right now I know no one will want to go surfing -- the idea of being surrounded by cold, hostile water probably won't _flow_ too well with people. And what's a con-veen-yence store? "Ooh. Good point, rotten pun. Score one for your side. And as far as convenience stores go, trust me: you're better off not knowing." "If you say so. Though that relates to my topic. You can't always be right, and despite your attempts, you can't do it all." 'Raelf looked askance at his green-clad friend, wondering how he'd managed to give such an impression. Damage control time? Lancos continued. "I was mainly wondering how many 'Raelfs were running around Generica. I particularly wonder about the immortality; it seems like if you do that for one person, many others will want the same thing." "You think so? It's not like I plan to make it public access, like the Joystix treatment." 'Raelf was grinning, like a cat with a secret, and Bast stared at him suspiciously as Lancos continued. "Sure. I'm positive basically everybody desires in some degree to be immortal, in words or deeds if not form. It's not always sought, but the desire's present. Of course, great things about my profession is that fighters don't die of old age -- either a weapon cuts their life short or they move to another job." A small smile crossed his face on this last sentence. "Believe me, I'm handling that situation in the most proper way. You don't have to be a ranger to have a code of ethics, bro." "All right. All I'm saying is not to overstretch yourself; the need of people will always seem to be greater than what society can supply. I don't expect you to _listen_ any more than I did with the medallion -- which was basically not at all --, but I feel better for saying it." "Point taken, dude. I'm not distributing the cure for dying, trust me. That would be what we call `unwarranted cultural contamination' and it would get me in more trouble than you can imagine. So not to worry. And I'm only in ...uh, let me see ... four other places right now. Anyway even with a mob of fresh-minted evil gods replacing a bunch of old worn-out forgotten ones, I don't see anything coming up that's as rude as that storm. Not for a month or so anyway." 'Raelf crossed his fingers. It wasn't QUITE true, because there WAS something scary coming, but even talking with the Warrior of Hope hadn't allowed him to see just what. "Ok. I figure I owed you the advice. And more, which is why I brought the others." He paused for a second, to sigh and collect his thoughts. "You see, the Little Rat is without any family. And while I know you're no boarding house, I also know your helpful attitude. She needs someone to guide her -- she found a handful of gold impressive. I'd do it for her myself, but I'm unsure I'm qualified, and there's no way I want to risk her being harmed in my adventures." "It's up to her, dude. If she does decide to stay with us, well, we'd be delighted. We love children. Especially with ketchup." Lancos gave a puzzled look, until he realized the comment was pure satire. He let out a chuckle, and soon the two old friends were deep in laughter. "Great!" the warrior said as the peal settled down again. "All we have to do now is convince her." "No biggie. Shouldn't be too hard." "That's what _you_ think. Those who live by favors can be difficult to give gifts to. But I did prime the pump for you - let me tell you about the Gutt Man." Lancos proceeded to narrate their encounters earlier, telling about the child-murderer. A look of anger crossed 'Raelf's face, but was smoothed out so fast that Lancos wasn't sure afterwards that he saw it. "Hm. Dude, we can keep her here for a while, but it may be harder than you think to keep her locked up safe. She's got a mind of her own." This was sort of proven when they came back to the room. Lissa held a small, red-gold velveteen dragon. "I wanted to give the girls each one of the Teddy Dragons from the Hostel," ar'Elya explained. "Lissa agreed, but Little Rat says she doesn't deserve it." "Well, we'll see about _that_." Lancos announced. "You and I have to talk alone again, Little Rat. The girl followed the ranger to the room he'd just left. At ar'Elya's questioning look, 'Raelf shrugged. "He's gotta learn sometime." "Little Rat, it might be wise to start accepting things from these people. Especially since I'd like you to live here." Little Rat couldn't believe her ears. An actual home, living with people like these wizards? "I cants do dat. Aint nuttin I done worth dis jeckt." Lancos smiled friendily. "But you have, and will. I don't think they can have children by normal means, and certainly no one as special as yourself. You would fill that role. They may wish to give you all sorts of presents, perhaps down to a new name so that they can feel you're their own. And you should be willing to receive them, for in turn you'll be repaying them by making them very happy, and their happiness will also repay me. It's the most important job I can give you. Can you handle it?" "You ain't gonna slave me to dem, is ya?" "Of course not, but you have to stay with them for now, at least until we get the Gutt Man, okay?" "Sure." Little Rat said, and impulsively gave Lancos a small hug before heading back to the room. They were intercepted half-way. "c'MON!" said Kev, half-dragging her towards the tower. "There's some really fun games in here!" "Well, _that's_ done. Now we'd better leave. Places to go; people to see; things like that." Lancos said. The group started to head out, but Lissa notcied the Little Rat wasn't coming, and inquired about it. Now it was Darvos' turn for an explanation. "She's staying here. You can probably visit her though." "Sure, no prob." 'Raelf added. "Send me a note - you're in the Guild, right? our aetherdrop is Lighthouse.guild.nexus." Darvos nodded. He waved to them until they had rounded the corner on the down path then shut the door. "Oy." ar'Elya sighed. "He's certainly ... energetic, isn't he?" "Oh yeah. Sometime I'll have to tell him that we already have two kids, back home. Oh well." "What was that bit about ketchup?" "Well, I didn't feel like explaining that you prefer horseradish." "He almost believed you. Really, you need to tell him some things." "But it's more fun watching him figure it out. Anyway, did you see what I saw? Around his medallion?" "Depends on what YOU saw." "Wonder if he knows for sure about THAT?"