chocolady3   10:08PM - November 11, 1998 (845)
...has a tendency to daydream.



Re-entering the main room of the diner, Roxy immediately sensed the high level of tension.

"Hey Cat. You must be losing your touch. Your name's only mentioned four times on the men's room walls." she called out to the group. 

The women break into easy laughter as a nervous Jehan places steaming cups of fresh coffee on the counter. They all fix their coffees according to their preferences and fall into easy, casual conversations, catching up with news from the road. 

Ten minutes later, with a nod towards Spye, Roxy clears her throat and everyone turns to her attention.

"I ran in to the Dragon about six weeks back in a no-name town just outside Tuscon. He told me a story y'all aint gonna be happy to hear.

Two weeks before that he was travelin down a desert highway, just after mid-day and came across a horrible accident. Smilin'Jack's freight-hauler on it's side up and belching flames. Across the road lays a Ford Taurus tit-side up with what was a family of four. Mom, Dad and two babies. Now y'all know the Dragon and death ain't no stranger to any of us on this path, but something about that accident struck him cold to the marrow. Clear day, fine weather. And Ol' Jack was one of the best damn haulers this side of the Rio Grande. There's the smell of just not right hanging in the air. 

Anyways, the Dragon gets the bodies out of the smoldering heaps and just as he reaches for the mother, suddenly her eyes fling open and she grabs his wrist. Quiety she whispers and he bends closer to hear her tortured words. 

Roxy stops to clear her voice, her head bends down before she looks up again, into the eyes of the best friends she's ever had. 

One word."TAK". Three times she said it and the look in her tortured eyes said more than any police accident report would ever say. 

Roxy hears an immediate growl from the Cat and sees Sage briefly touch her hidden weapon. Her own hand inadvertently brushes the side of her left breast where that same word is seared into her skin from a nightmare fifteen years old. 

Roxy continues.. "Anyway hours later, the Dragon pulls out a bottle a bottle of boot-leg Mescal and we talk through the rest 
of the night. When we left the next morning he was off to find any word The Pirate. No-ones heard from her in too long and it ain't like her not to keep in touch. And now that we know Tak has returned.. well y'all know she's got a burning taste for vengeance. 

Roxy laughs with a shaky voice. " Took me two days in a sweat lodge to remember where I'd parked The Black Dog." 

I've spent the last few weeks in parlez with the tribes and all the elders tell me that the evil signs are there. Two-headed snakes creeping into the reserves, mis-shapen baby colts born in the off-season, fires burning suddenly in the desert. 

Roxy reaches for her coffee as she finishes.

" And all those signs are pointing directly here at Desperation." 


chocolady3   10:08PM - November 11, 1998 (846)
...has a tendency to daydream.


A thundering silence chills the assembled women as each remembers their own experiences with an evil all thought had long since been returned to the depths of Hell.

Hours later, plans are made and as quickly discarded. Jehan grasps a history of horror from the anger expressed and knowing there will be no appetites for food, keeps the pot of coffee hot and strong.

Three times during the night, Roxy leaves the group to make calls on the battered old pay-phone in the back of the diner. As the hour strikes four a.m., she returns and catches Spye's attention. Roxy indicates the parking lot with a tilt of her gleaming silver-haired head. The two friends quietly leave the diner walk towards Roxy's battered and well-served Harley, christened The Black Dog.

"Hate to do this, especially now, Spye, but I just got confirmation that my deal is going down. If all goes right then I can leave the business in the hands of some people I trust" Roxy laughs "that is if you can ever trust a lawyer."

She looks out into the night, knowing sunrise rests just beyond the horizon. Her voice continues low and trembling.

"It's been fifteen years since I've been scared, my friend, but I feel that old fear back again and my guts are churning with sickness. The Dragon's story wasn't a surprise to me. I've been dreaming about Esmerelda for the last two months. Waking up with the taste of her blood in my mouth. Hearing that song she sang in the middle of a crowd. And a red-tailed hawk followed me all the way down through the Rockies. I see her Spye, I see her eyes in my sleep, those eyes and that moment when I knew her life was gone." 

Roxy is at her most vulnerable and with the only person who really knows what she experienced that night of nightmares. 

Spye grasps her friend in hr strong arms and whispers gently "She's your Angel, Rox, Esmerelda would never do anything to hurt you, you know that." 

Roxy lets her tears fall freely, hurt and fear mixed with bitter anger. 

"No she's not my angel, Spye, Emsie's my curse. I couldn't do a damned thing to save her from that bastard. She was the good one, Spye and I just wasn't good enough." 

Roxy steps back and bends to check the leather saddel bag on the Dog, in an effort to regain her composure. She gives her friend a crumpled piece of paper.

"This is the number you can reach me through. I've got 18 hours to make the Concorde out of JFK and I want to stop at Spider's to see if he's had word of our Pirate." Roxy slips a pair of black leather gloves on her hands, slams Tom Wait's Bone Machine in the cassette player and pushes the electric start, her only concession to the scars on her leg from a badly timed corner on a rain-slicked road. The Dog growls to life and she 
relishes the raw power beneath her thighs. The last of night air is brisk and frought with unknowns. She reaches out and hugs her friend tight. 

"Tell the Dragon to kiss my ass if he shows and I suspect he will. Oh and don't be havin that first hot flash without me, girlfriend." Roxy laughs with a wink, cranks up the volume and steers the Dog into the night. 

Pandikat   9:45AM - November 11, 1998 (847)

"If I only had da nerve!"


Pandi watches Roxy pull away with mixed emotions. She'd known something big was going down, else why would the old gang be hooking up again? But Tak...she hadn't 
expected to hear that name again. Pandi has her own scars, her own fevered nightmares of that time long ago when the beast was last faced. She'd been so young then, it was a wonder she'd survived at all. She has The Pirate to thank for that. 

"What you got back there in the way of chocolate?" Pandi asks Jehan. "Chicago Bob is the least of my worries tonight."

While Jehan disappears into the kitchen, Pandi joins Sage at a booth in the back. Why does she suddenly feel like her time is running out, that she has to make peace? Surely all of them together...well, she would think about that later.
"How's it hangin', Sage? I ain't seen you in a while and, well, I just wanted to apologize for Aztec. I knew you really had it for that guy and I shouldn't of done what I did." Pandi sighs, suddenly feeling very old. "We shouldn't of let a man come between us."

Spye.   9:06AM - November 12, 1998 (848)
"Let's do the Time Warp again!"

Spye lit up a Marlboro and watched the receding bike until the tail light winked out. 

"Kick some ass, Roxy" she said to the empty parking lot. 

Lost in memories stirred up by Roxy's words, Spye flicked the butt over the assembled Harleys to a corner that the blue glow from the neon sign could not reach. She more felt the movement in the shadows than saw it and knew it for what it was. The mineral taste in her mouth was a sure sign that the old fear and hatred were back and as strong as ever. She raced toward the corner with the .44 leading the way and came skidding to a halt where the tarvy met the water starved earth. Moving the red laser sight through the shadows, she searched out every corner for the shadow within a shadow. Ears straining to detect any movement, she almost lost it when the door of the diner flew open and "Brick House" boomed into the night. Pandi dove for cover when she spotted the red dot on her chest. (They don't call her the cat for nothin'!) 

Spye holster the piece and with a last glance around, moved back to the cold glow of neon-lit entrance. 

"She's gone Pandi. In some ways she's the strongest out of all of us. But she has her own demons to confront before she's of any use to us here. 

"Come on back in and I'll buy you an Irish Cream Expresso. We still got a lot of talkin' to do."

Pandikat   9:45AM - November 11, 1998 (849)

"If I only had da nerve!"


"So I hooked up with Chicago Bob in Topeka and we've been ridin' together for about seven months now. He's not so bad, really, besides the chocolate ESP thing." Pandi sips at the expresso. Yeah, Chicago Bob is an okay guy. But he's nothing like Dex had been. No-one would ever be like Dex. 

Looking around at the remaining faces in the diner, Pandi can see the same sad tale etched in their faces. The Dark Man had touched all their lives, taken away the ones they'd loved. That's what had drawn them together in the first place.

"Do you think Roxy will be okay out there alone?" Pandi asks Spye. "Not that I feel okay in here right now."

Spye.   9:06AM - November 12, 1998 (850)
"Let's do the Time Warp again!"

"Yeah Cat, she'll be okay. She's halfway across the Atlantic and It is still here with us. I can feel it in my bones." 

Pandi cut her eyes toward Spye knowing she meant that literally, but not the why of it. But Spye's eyes remained fixed on a spot somewhere in the distance, somewhere very far past the bong sitting on the shelf in front of her - no secrets were forthcoming, at least not yet.

Hey ya'all it's starting to get light. I'm going to get some sleep while I can. What say we all go on a little hunting trip this afternoon. Should be safe enough as long as we git back before sunset.

Bijoox 9:23PM - November 12, 1998 (851 of 837 messages)

O my joy has jaws...


Jewel takes her Frothy Iced- Whipped Double Decker Chocolate Latte Cappucino Decaf Espresso from Jehan. His hands still tremble, but he knows now that he is among friends.Jewel drops him a wink and blows the kid a little kiss. He scowls mightilty, but as he turns to stalk away she sees he is pleased, a little.... 

She sits alone at the end of the counter, meditatively sipping her drink as she absently rubs the side of her thigh....the scar tissue there sometimes flares into a throbbing agony, reminding her of that terrible night long ago.

She knows they all feel it... the naked memory of sheer pain and terror. And they all wear the scars....shapes..shapes like letters. A "T"...perhaps a "K". Burning. 

She hears Cat talking about Chicago Bob and her heart lurches....suddenly she misses Snake so bad it feels like a blow to her gut." Oh Snake," she thinks. He was the one who saved her ass that night, saved her from that sinister soul-sucking demon that haunts her dreams.But she was on her own now, and Snake was far,far away. Locked up down Shawshank all the way across the continent. Snake....so what if he looked like Jerry Garcia on a bad day? She loved him, that's all she knew.And she also knew she could trust these people here.She sent a silent prayer up for Roxy's safe return as she drained her mug.

Squaring her shoulders she swaggered up to the table with a confidence she didnt really feel. Gazing at the others, she said, simply:"Well? Whatcha think?"

Pandikat   11:35AM - November 17, 1998 (852)

"You know that I love you, but I'd be inclined to slap you in the mouth."

"I think sleep sounds like a good idea," Pandi says, stretching lazily. "But first we should all agree to stick around and face this...thing...together. I'll sleep a lot better if I know none of you are gonna slip out and disappear. And that means you, too, Happy Boy." Pandi glances over at Jehan, who is leaning against the counter watching them. "You're a part of it, too, like it or not." 

The women look at eachother, a tad uncomfortably. They all know what Pandi means. The last time they'd faced It, Darla had done the vanishing act and they'd almost gotten killed because of it. This is no time for cowards.

"Your hands on it?"

M_Jehan_7   12:11PM - November 17, 1998 (853)

"O my eternal soul, hold fast to desire in spite of the night and the day on fire." -- A. Rimbaud --

Jehan strides forward, slaps a surprisingly strong hand into Pandi's, and squeezes. Hard.

That feel like a Happy Boy handshake to you? And the name's Jehan, not Lavender Boy, not Lollipop, and not Happy Boy. I lost my man, an' I plan to avenge him, even if it's the last thing I ever do. An' where youse all get the idea I'm some kinda wimp is beyond me. Just 'cause I'm a little guy? 'Cause I ain't ashamed to shed a tear when I'm hurtin'? 'Cause I can cook better than any other guy you've ever met? 'Cause I got me a good sense of aesthetics?

Jehan grins, then frowns and whirls away from Pandi with a loud cry. With one sharp flick of his hand, the glass coffee pot shatters. Jehan briskly wipes his hands on his apron.

I'll be glad to repeat that with a brick, if someone wants ta run an' get me one. Like I said before, my Karate belt ain't lavender. It's black.

Jehan extends his hands, smiles.

That's right, I said black, an' these hands are damn fuckin' dangerous. An' they're at your service.

Pandikat   6:57AM - November 18, 1998 (854)

"You know that I love you, but I'd be inclined to slap you in the mouth."

Pandi grasps his hand in hers and, with a lusty yell, flips him over and slams him on his back onto the table. 

"No-one likes a show-off, Jehan," she says with a smile. Jehan scowls darkly, but Pandi helps him back on his feet and clasps him on the shoulder. "We'd be glad to have you."

Spye.   8:54AM - November 18, 1998 (855)

"Let's do the Time Warp again!"

Pandi, you're one hell of a woman. Spye raises her right hand, fingers splayed, she repeats the age old litany that every Hell Cat learns the hard way, Sisters united until death! 

We fight until it's just him or us. Agreed?












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