Sarah S. dials.
Zebina picks up the phone on the third ring. "BlueSky Air Transport, Elizabeth Bradley speaking."
Sarah S. says "Elizabeth? Oh, good. This is Sarah."
Zebina laughs softly. "Who else would it be at 2:00 am?"
Sarah S. pauses a moment. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I didn't know you'd developed an interest in opera."
Zebina says "Well, after the coffee shop the other day, it seemed like a new and interesting thing, so I went by to check it out. Besides, you never know when someone will need a little last minute cargo transport. I might get some business out of it."
Zebina says "I heard you got into a little bit of a fracas earlier. Are you all right?"
Sarah S. says "Oh, yes. The police were kind enough to break it up quite quickly. Pity he, ah, evaded arrest, though."
Sarah S. adds, more thoughtfully, "Considering that his local friends will probably be quite interested."
Zebina nods. "Yeah. Sounds pretty scary though. If you want to meet and talk about it, over breakfast or something, I've got some time in the morning."
Zebina says "I found this really nice bar over near the opera house, and I think I saw they serve breakfast. The food's great, too."
Sarah S. says "That sounds good; I think I can arrange some time, if you'll give me the address. It would be nice to talk to someone who actually was about for coffee the other day. I'm afraid I had to miss the conversation."
Zebina says "Sure, be happy to."
Zebina gives Sarah the address to the bar/restaurant from last night. As a Divine Tether, surely it also served breakfast.
(The place is now called Sistine's. GM Fiat.)
Zebina says "See you at eight?"
Sarah S. writes it down on the pad next to the phone, and reads it back. "Did you have a particular time in mind, or shall I wait for you to wander in?"
Zebina says "Eight, unless you want to meet earlier."
Sarah S. says "Eight should do."
Zebina says "Okay, see you then."
Zebina hangs up, and goes to work on her plane until six am.
Zebina then gets up, showers, dresses for the day, and is out in time to take in the morning sunrise. Aah, Essence. *happy*
Zebina enjoys the first rays of sun for a nice long time, at least a minute, then finishes a bit more paperwork inside, checks her email for any possible responses from Marc, and, calls a cab so that she should arrive at Sistine's at precisely eight.
Demiurge fears that Marc has not replied to the email yet. Sorry.
Zebina chooses her clothing more on the 'business' side today. Depressing, as a pair of mechanic's overalls are much more comfortable, but she may wind up at the Opera again.
Sarah S. re-plans her work week, checks the address against a map, copies out useful telephone numbers so that she has them this time, and is generally patient and reasonably methodical. Spends some time getting ahead on Necessary Paperwork, too. She leaves in time to leave some margin for possible diversions - all being well, she should arrive fifteen or twenty minutes early.
Zebina somehow winds up getting out of her cab in front of Sistine's on the very tick of eight. Ofanim are really annoying that way.
Zebina saunters into the dining area, looking about for Sarah.
Sarah S. is, barring another car accident, seated in reasonably plain sight, quite admiring the place.
Zebina walks over to Sarah, smiling. "Good morning. You're looking well."
Sarah S. agrees, "No long-term ill effects. Would you like to sit for a few minutes?"
Zebina seems to think about that, then nods. "Sure."
Zebina sits, orders a small pot of peach flavored tea.
Zebina looks around, sees we're more or less alone, "About last night."
Zebina says "I talked to Detective Chavez, you know, Eduardo, and got the details."
Zebina says "Why don't you tell me about it, and then I'll tell you a few things I've found out, and maybe together we'll figure out a few things from there."
Sarah S. sips at her own tea, which smells something like jasmine. "The Calabite was watching the opera house," she answers, keeping her voice not unreasonably low. "It apparently decided I was meeting someone it wanted to talk to there."
Sarah S. says "To be more specific, two or more someones, probably in hiding, possibly with 'a sense of humor'."
Zebina says "Mmm? Is that what it said? 'Sense of humor'?"
Sarah S. says "To the best of my memory, that is exactly what it said."
Zebina spoons a slice of peach into her teacup to go with the tea, stirrs absently, then cuts slice of the peach, munches, and sips.
Zebina says "Well, that's very interesting."
Zebina says "May I ask for a little discretion on your part?"
Sarah S. says "It's here with a Liar at the very least. - Certainly."
Zebina says "This is still all very preliminary, and I don't want any of the more, ah, proactive, of our associates to get ahead of themselves. Besides, I haven't received clarification from upstairs yet, but."
Zebina says "I ran into a very nice guy yesterday at the opera house. He's cute, and charming, and he even took me out to dinner afterwards, which is how I found this place."
Zebina motions around the restaurant.
Zebina says "He's also, I'm pretty sure, a Lilim Servitor of Comedy, and a highly placed one at that. Ever hear the name Daimon Lightner?"
Demiurge pages: Make a Int roll? :)
<
Demiurge pages: Naah. You don't recognise the name. ;)
Sarah S. says "Not that I can recall, no. But that does suggest some interesting possibilities,
doesn't it?"
Sarah S. adds, "I could do a touch of research, if you liked."
Zebina says "That'd be nice. He claims to be a famous stand up comic. Famous enough to be
doing specials on HBO and appear on the Tonight Show. Both of those are easy enough to
check."
Zebina says "If it's true, he's probably pretty high up in the organization."
Zebina says "He's in town on very short notice. He didn't mention any performance dates, and he
actually tried to lean past Hubert into a phone booth to get a phone book."
Zebina chuckles. "I wonder if he'd have done that if he knew who Hubert is."
Zebina sips her tea.
Zebina says "But I still thought he was human when he did it, so..."
Zebina shrugs.
Sarah S. fetches a small notepad from her pocket, and jots down the two words. "Lightner, you
said. Certainly, I'll take a look. How sure are you that he isn't?"
Zebina says "Well, two things."
Zebina says "First, and most important, he freaked out just about the time you and Hubert were
being attacked by the Calabite. I only heard one Song, but I'm guessing there was more than one,
right?"
Sarah S. agrees, "Two or three, I think. Yes."
Zebina says "So, he definitely noticed the song I noticed, and some before and after. He also
ended dinner early so we could rush back to the opera house and have a look around."
Zebina says "He also wound up talking about 'there is no such thing as a free lunch' and
'everything has its price'. He wouldn't take a free ticket without wanting to do something in return,
and looked pretty unhappy when I told him 'Just go buy someone a free lunch.'"
Zebina smiles. "He also has these dreamy eyes and the cutest butt I've seen in ages, and if all of
that doesn't say 'Lilim' down to the horns, I don't know what does."
Sarah S. coughs, delicately, and sips her tea. "Well. As you're certain. I wonder if he was the one
being watched for?"
Zebina says "So, add it all up. The Calabite's looking for 'someone funny', and we have Daimon
in town on very short notice. Sounds like the Game's after the Kobalites, and Mr. Lightner's
supposed to do something about it."
Zebina says "I don't think, if he was worried about being pursued, he'd have been so eager to run
back and investigate. Especially since I don't think he's a real combat type."
Zebina says "His main plan if we ran into trouble seemed to be 'take a look and run'."
Sarah S. says "You can deal with him by yourself, then? For the moment at least."
Zebina says "Well, I don't think I need to worry about him mugging me in a dark alley."
Zebina sighs. "I'm just not sure what he does want. Okay, I think he's a troubleshooter, but he's
the oddest demon I've ever even heard of.
Zebina says "He probably wants to find out what the Game knows about the other Kobalites.
Maybe he doesn't even know what they're up to."
Zebina says "That would make sense, right? Protect his own organization from the Game, or from
Renegades, or both. Or protect the others from the Game."
Sarah S. replies, "Well. You yourself said you thought he was a highly placed servant of Comedy.
That would imply a degree of oddness, wouldn't it?"
Zebina laughs.
Zebina says "I don't know."
Zebina says "D'you think it's odd for a Demon to profess not to believe in God?"
Zebina says "Not the usual 'God's a bad guy' or even the 'God is dead' junk that I've seen around.
It's a lot... well he said 'existential' and I suppose it's a good word for it."
Zebina says "I think he thinks that he doesn't know if God exists. Never mind the humans, or the
demons, or we angels. And if we're not proof that there's a Higher Power, what more could you
want?"
Sarah S. looks quite blank for several seconds while she absorbs the entire concept. "I think that's
either odd, or the reason he's a demon. Alternatively, he may be amusing himself by perplexing
you."
Zebina looks a touch troubled.
Zebina says "Yeah, there is that last."
Zebina says "Except I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm human, and for humans it's 'no big deal' to not
believe in God."
Zebina says "So what would be the point?"
Unbidden, a waitress brings across a refill for the drinks.
Sarah S. says "I'm afraid I don't have any basis on which to venture into infernal psychology just
yet."
Sarah S. sketches briefly on the pad, a collection of unequally spaced points connected by lighter
and darker lines. "So. Balseraph and particularly unintelligent Calabite, probably of the Game,
with an interest in Comedy and the Opera House, who may recognize Hubert, Eduardo, and
myself - though I suppose it's theoretically possible that the Calabite may, ah, still think I belong
downstairs rather than upstairs. One probable Comedy servitor we know of, with an interest in
the Opera House. Two or more possible renegade Comedy servitors, with an interest in the Opera
House, who may or may not overlap with the prior category. I had no idea Hell had so many
opera fans."
Zebina laughs. "That sounds about it, although to be honest about it, I think Daimon's interest in
the opera house is limited to, ah, any other possible servitors of Comedy, and, to be frank,
myself."
Zebina says "I wonder what he'd say if he knew who I was."
Sarah S. says "I suppose we'll find out, sooner or later. Just as well the fight didn't start till after
the pair of you had left. That could have been rather touchy - and I'll admit, if you can handle him,
I personally do like the idea of having half an eye on one of them."
Zebina says "And the way he's acting, if I didn't think he was a troubleshooter, I'd think he was
halfway Renegade himself."
Zebina says "I've no idea if I can handle him or not. Lilim are tricky. But if he's not running a con
job on me, and if he really is as confused about reality as he says, and so long as he thinks I'm a
human, I don't think I'm in more danger than you are with the Calabite still out there. Which is fair
enough."
Zebina says "I'll just be sure not to make any open ended bargains with him if I can possibly avoid
it."
Zebina sighs. "It really is a pity. He is cute. Sort of an attractive cross between Gary Cooper and
a puppy dog. No wonder there are all sorts of warnings about Lilim."
Sarah S. says "If he /is/ halfway Renegade, that's all the more reason to keep an eye on him. Do
be careful, though -- Yes. You like him, don't you."
Zebina looks a little distant for a moment, then refocuses. "He's charming, and good looking, and,
well, nice. To me, if not exactly to himself sometimes. On the other hand, it took him half an hour
to ask me what I did for a living. I wonder if the nice part isn't his way of drawing people into his
own little world."
Zebina says "Yeah, I suppose I like him. I just don't know if he's safe to like."
Sarah S. replies, "He's a demon. He isn't safe at all to like. It might be a good idea to keep talking
him over with one of us, now and then, to help keep that in mind."
Zebina laughs. "No worries there. This is so not my thing. I run -cargo- for goodness sake. Okay,
I've really enjoyed my roles where I got to have some attachments, and I haven't had a good one
of those since I was John Johnson's wife for twenty years back in the late 1800s, but he was a
human, and a really good human at that. And he knew how to run a ship."
Zebina says "So if you don't completely mind, you might get a few frantic calls at three in the
morning if I'm confused."
Zebina says "I don't think Daimon can even drive a car well, much less sail a ship or fly a plane.
And I've only met him once. It took John three years to even propose. I thought I was going to
go nuts waiting."
Zebina sighs. "But, meanwhile, if you could keep Daimon sort of under your hat, I'd be grateful.
Sarah S. nods. "And this is a Lilim. And if he decides that seducing or corrupting you would be
funny, he may find out what your 'thing' is."
Zebina says "Yeah."
Zebina smiles. "Well, if he suddenly starts getting eager to fly, we should worry."
Sarah S. says "I don't mind frantic calls at three in the morning, no. And yes, you're quite right
- he has enough promise, if only as a way to find the rest of them, that we should try to protect
him for now."
Zebina smiles, somewhat relieved. "Thanks. You seem very good at this."
Sarah S. smiles back, if a little shy at doing it. "We each have our specialties, I suppose. You have
my number?"
Zebina checks a few pockets. "Mmm, not on me."
Zebina says "Oh, one thing I should ask... if I brought Daimon to meet you... do you think you
could get a link on him without him noticing? It's not exactly nice, but it could be really handy if
we have to find him in a hurry."
Sarah S. flips a page, and starts to scribble something on it - and pauses, without even finishing
the curve of an 8, and looks up at Zebina.
Sarah S. says "Ah. He... /is/ a demon, you remember."
Zebina nods. "Yes. I'm having trouble forgetting. Wonder if he'll think I'm acting weird. Why?
Can you not track him?
Sarah S. says "I probably could, if I needed to. But he's hardly above suspicion. Especially as a
highly-placed Servitor of Comedy, if you're correct about that. He may very well turn out to be
the sort of person we don't want to have protected. Let alone be protecting."
Zebina blushes a bit. "Where did you...? Oh, no. That's not it at all."
Zebina says "Really, I hardly know him."
Sarah S. closes her eyes, just a touch, and clarifies gently, "I can only track someone I'm obligated
to protect."
Zebina says "Oh."
Zebina sighs. "Okay, I get it."
Zebina says "Mostly I want to know what he's up to."
Zebina says "Yeah, maybe he's a Renegade, or maybe he's not, or maybe he's running the biggest
con job of the century, but it doesn't matter once we find out."
Zebina says "Then we can decide to stop it, or help him, or do something different."
Long distance to Zebina: Sarah S. wishes she'd taken Divine Logic, as it would've made finding
out *so* much easier. :)
Sarah S. says "Well. If you like, I can meet him. Perhaps between the two of us we can find some
evidence somewhere, one way or the other. Or, then, perhaps not."
You sense Zebina almost giggles.
Zebina says "Either way, we'll know more about him. Sure."
Sarah S. says "Or ask Hubert to talk to him, possibly?"
Zebina thinks.
You paged Zebina with 'We're here to help. Help may be to your advantage. So you should tell
us what you're up to, so that we can help *you*. :)'.
Zebina says "That might work."
Zebina says "I really don't have any idea what I'm going to do about him. Hang around and see
what he does, I guess. If Marc responds that we should negotiate with him, then we might do that
instead."
Zebina says "I'm not really good at hanging around."
Sarah S. says "I suppose not. We could play catch with him, then."
Zebina wishes she could just ship him to Burma to find out. That would be easy.
Zebina says "Problem is, if Eduardo or Pat find about about him, and we don't know what he's
doing, they might decide that one less demon around is a good precaution."
Zebina says "And at this point, they might be right."
Zebina says "I don't really know how Hubert feels about Lilim, either. I doubt Hitherby or Sephar
much care, either way."
Zebina blinks. "Oh, it completely slipped my mind. I left Hitherby at the Opera House. Have you
heard from her?"
Sarah S. laces her hands about her cup. "I haven't heard from her, but that doesn't entirely surprise
me; I don't think she knows I'm involved. For that matter, I didn't know she was involved."
Zebina blinks.
Zebina says "Oh, that's right, you weren't at the coffee, were you."
Zebina says "I must be completely distracted. *sigh*"
Zebina says "Okay, let me give you some background. Pat called me up the other day, as well as
a few of the other locals."
Sarah S. smiles. "I was lending a hand after a car accident, actually. I'm afraid I missed it all."
Zebina says "Some of them you know, I think. Eduardo and Hubert. Me, of course, although I'm
only sort of vaguely local."
Zebina says "He also found a couple of Kyrios I didn't know about. Hitherby is a Servitor of Jordi.
I have no idea what she's doing involved with this, but she was brought in. She's a lot more
interested in dragonflies."
Sarah S. says "Dragonflies have a valuable place in the scheme of things. What was she doing in
the opera house?"
Zebina says "Looking around."
Zebina says "For Demons or anything else unusual. I don't know. Maybe she found something.
I certainly haven't heard from her."
Sarah S. says "I hope she didn't find the Calabite. Though that would be less trouble for her."
Zebina says "Sephar is another Kyrio, working for Jean. I haven't seen him since the meeting."
Zebina says "If he's around, he's probably hanging in someone's cellphone."
Zebina says "As for who we're looking for... now you know as much as I do."
Sarah S. glances to Zeb's cellphone. "Really," she answers, with a smile.
Zebina shakes her cellphone dubiously. "Sephar?" She opens the microphone piece, putting it to
her ear as if she were talking on the phone, then shrugs. "No answer. Nobody home, I guess."
Zebina puts her cellphone away.
Sarah S. says "Still, I hope you don't mind him finding out, sooner or later.. It sounds quite likely
if he takes an interest."
Zebina says "I don't mind, so long as we can establish Daimon's objectives here, not to mention
our own."
Zebina says "If he could be of use, then it'd be a waste if his vessel got killed. If he's an enemy,
then he'll need to be gotten out of the way."
Sarah S. nods. "And if we could help him - that would be quite something. Doubtful at best,
though."
Zebina says "I doubt Eduardo or Pat would much like it if he were around, but I don't think they'd
have too much of a problem with it... if Daimon could be coaxed in to doing the right thing."
Zebina says "Well, I think Pat will do what's best, no matter what he thinks. It just worries me.
The Game and the Comedians are involved already, and in an opera about Judgement at that."
Zebina says "The whole thing makes me want to take a nice long flight to New South Wales."
Zebina says "And as for helping Daimon... I don't know. That sort of thing leads to lots of
trouble."
Zebina says "I wouldn't mind not hurting him, but helping... he'd have to want help, or need it.
Our kind of help."
Zebina says "If that happens, sure, why not. Marc's an open minded sort. But I don't want to make
assumptions."
Zebina gets that distant look on her face again, "I'm sure he'd look just dreamy with wings, but.."
Sarah S. listens patiently to the flood of words.
Zebina 's fingertips tick down on the table, 'It doesn't seem really likely.'
Zebina makes a face, "Especially if he doesn't believe in God."
Sarah S. replies, "That would be a sticking point, yes. Still. I'd like to know if there's any hope for
him before making any unfortunate decisions. We may or may not have that luxury, of course."
Zebina laughs. "Well, I hope he'll cut us the same sort of slack, if it comes to that."
Sarah S. says "I'd hate to think about what he'd consider hope for us."
Zebina says "Um, I was thinking more like if things get really ugly, and we wind up in a bad
situation, he might give us a chance to get out of the middle."
Zebina says "Anyone offering me a Free Ride Downstairs I'll arrange to fall into a jet intake."
Zebina smiles pleasantly. Really. No, really.
Sarah S. says "Let me know if you'd like a bit of help."
Zebina says "I'll run the jet. You can push. Fair enough?"
Sarah S. smiles. "More than."
Zebina says "Oh, and just so you know... my friends call me Liz these days. You're welcome to
use it. Besides, if Daimon is around, he might wonder if you didn't."
Zebina says "He's conflicted and angsty and puppydog cute, but he's also very very smart, don't
let him fool you."
Sarah S. repeats, "Liz," with a little nod; she glances down to her pad, blinks once at the
half-finished number, and makes a few more marks. "I'll bear that in mind. Shall we presume Liz
told Sarah absolutely nothing about our Mr. Lightner? Or would you like to have mentioned him
in passing?"
Zebina says "Depends, I guess. Figure we're sometime friends, but not 'call each other up every
night to gossip' close friends? I might have mentioned you, if I'd run into you. Which I did, so I
probably mentioned this nice guy Daimon."
Zebina says "Oh, one more thing I wanted to ask..."
Sarah S. says "All right. Daimon, a nice comedian you met, certainly. Yes?"
Zebina says "Do you think of yourself more as Sarah, or as Chephirah, when you're in vessel?"
Sarah S. says "Chephirah, of course. It's who I am, after all."
Zebina says "I mean, I've probably spent most of my time on Earth for the past few hundred years.
It's what I do, move cargo, so I have to be here to do it. So after a few years in vessel, it's 'Liz'
or 'Jane' or God help me Philip during the War, and not so much Zebina any more."
Zebina sighs. "Maybe I should ask Marc for a vacation. The most time I've spent Upstairs since
the Wrights few was nine years in Trauma after the plane crash. Playing tag through Gabriel's
volcano sounds like a nice way to spend a day right now."
Sarah S. says "If it's causing you trouble, that might be a good idea. Though the next two days
might not be the best of times."
Zebina says "Not trouble so much as perspective."
Zebina says "How much time do you spend on Earth, as a rule?"
Sarah S. smiles, a little. "Not much at all. A little over a year, this time - not for a few hundred
before that."
Zebina says "Oh, well."
Sarah S. adds, "I prefer the Library, generally."
Zebina cocks her head a bit, hair falling in a wave over one eye. "It's sort of like... you don't
exactly forget what it's like up in Heaven but it's sort of blurred. It's so nice, compared to a lot of
what's down here, that to stay down here for decades on end you kind of have to mask off how
nice it is up there.
Zebina says "And when you do that, your role gets more and more important."
Sarah S. says "That can be dangerous, in its way."
Zebina says "So you move a little cargo here, fly a few passengers there, and look up, and you've
been that role for years on end, and you spend all day every day like that, and it changes you."
Zebina nods.
Zebina says "Well, 'Elizabeth Bradley's sort of young. She's the second vessel I've had since the
crash, and I've only had her for about ten years, most of that to establish background in the role.
Here, look..."
Zebina digs into a pocket, brings out a New Zealand passport. "Look. Twenty nine. Twenty nine!
Sweet Jesus, and here I didn't think I looked a day over twelve hundred."
Zebina says "So, the role before that was pretty much straight cargo, all over the place, no time
for a social life, and 'Elizabeth' has been pretty much the same, until someone like Daimon
Lightner comes along, and now I'm thinking about how nice it was to be Mrs. John Johnson for
all those years, and I wasn't really ready for it."
Sarah S. peers at the passport, without much recognition. "You want a change?" she suggests,
with another small smile.
Zebina says "And just to make things completely screwy, he's a Demon! *sigh*"
Zebina says "Change? Goodness no. I've just got the Electra almost ready to fly!"
Zebina says "Mostly I'm just wondering. I haven't really been 'myself' for a while, and I haven't
even been what my roles normally are since the crash. Maybe I'm getting back to the point that
I started from. It's just a little weird."
Sarah S. says "I think you've been talking to the Lilim too much. And you've only just met him."
Zebina laughs.
Zebina says "Maybe. You're probably a lot better suited for this sort of thing."
Zebina says "Like I said, I'm good at cargo."
Zebina says "Cargo doesn't usually take you out for dinner. Even passengers don't normally take
you out for dinner."
Sarah S. says "I can try to keep an eye on him, if you like - especially if you'd like some time to
think about all this."
Zebina thinks about that.
Zebina says "It's a nice offer. Really, I mean it."
Zebina says "But I've already got sort of an 'in' with him, and Marc would undoubtedly have
something to say about how people who are good at business are also people who are good with
people."
Zebina says "Just keep an eye out, and if I look like I'm floundering, lend a hand?"
Sarah S. says "All right. Certainly."
Sarah S. says "Though if I do attune to him, at some point - well, I'm sure you've seen the
behavior before. No need to go into it."
Zebina smiles. "Right. I'll keep an eye on you."
Zebina says "And call in Hubert if things get weird."
Sarah S. says "An excellent plan, if undetailed."
Zebina says "Yes, but it has lots of flexibility, and that's good."
Sarah S. says "When one doesn't know the situation, yes. That's true."
Zebina says "And we definitely do not know."
Zebina says "Alas."
Zebina pours the last of the tea from the pot into her cup, then sips it away.
Zebina says "Sarah... Chephirah... thanks for the time. It's good to be able to chat with someone."
Zebina smiles, maybe a tad embarassed. "And if I chat with you, I might not be tempted to chat
with Daimon to the point where something slips."
Sarah S. smiles back, and tears the sheet from the pad, handing it to Zebina. "Home and work
numbers - I'm afraid I don't have a cellphone. Perhaps I should invest in one. I'll look up Lightner
for you."
Zebina says "Thanks a lot."
Zebina says "If you like, get a pager. They're cheap and small and pretty easy."
Zebina says "If Daimon calls, I'll call you and see if we can meet for coffee or something. I'd like
you to meet him and see if you think he's as weird as I do."
Sarah S. repeats, "A pager," with a little nod. "Meeting for coffee would be reasonable, yes.
Good. Is that everything?"
Zebina says "Think so."
Zebina tucks her piece of paper away. "You're working at one of the local libraries?"
Sarah S. says "At the moment, yes."
Zebina says "Okay."
Zebina says "Mmm. Oh, what's your last name?"
Zebina says "I should know these things. I don't want Daimon getting suspicious too early."
Zebina says "And we met... mmmm... well I needed some research done, and you were the
librarian I wound up going to. There. Very neat."
Zebina says "Honestly I have no idea how Seraphs do this."
Sarah S. says "Schaeffer. I'm not quite a librarian per se, here, but I doubt he'll go to any great
lengths to check your story."
Sarah S. smiles again. "If Hubert's an example, they say as little as possible."
Zebina says "Hmm. What exactly is your role then?"
Zebina says "I don't know him that well, but he's... curious. Yes, curious. When something got
his attention last night, he just wouldn't let it go."
Sarah S. replies, "I study and restore rare books." She smiles again. "Close enough that most
people wouldn't know the difference to begin with, I'd guess. Or at least it's seemed that way so
far."
Zebina says "I suppose not."
Zebina says "So, why did you come down to Earth after all this time?"
Sarah S. replies, "Yves asked me to."
Zebina says "Anything more than that, or should I even be asking?"
Sarah S. says "I'd presume there's a reason he asked, but I'll find out what it is when the time is
right."
Zebina shakes her head, smiles a little bit. "Like I said before, I just do cargo."
Zebina says "I think I'm glad of it a lot of the time, too."
Sarah S. says "Straightforward?"
Zebina says "Usually."
Zebina says "Most of the time I'm on my own, doing Trade, keeping up the word with honest
business."
Zebina says "There are occasionally special cargoes, and those are usually fairly straightforward,
too. Maybe tough, but straightforward."
Sarah S. says "I suppose situations like this are twice the problem, then. For the contrast."
Zebina says "Maybe. I'm used to weird things happening with cargoes and customs and
immigration and stuff, but, like I said, I haven't done a really 'people' thing in ages. And it seemed
like I had a lot more time to figure things out back then."
Zebina says "And no demons either. Well, not cute, attractive puppydog demons."
Zebina says "There was this one Impudite who didn't want John's ship to leave this one time, and
kept messing around with the harbor master. That was what you call fairly straightforward."
Zebina says "We dumped the body 25 miles offshore, near a common spot for sharks."
Sarah S. says "As opposed to a minimum of two to three factions which may or may not be useful
in dealing with each other. And, er, puppydog demons."
Zebina laughs. "Let's be honest here, okay? *Cute* puppydog demons, with a really nice rear, and
who has made several allusions to dates and other things. And who may, or may not, be faking
it. And if he's not faking it, he might actually be a halfway decent guy, even for a demon.
Zebina says "Even if he's a high ranked Comedian troubleshooter."
Zebina says "Looking at it that way, I'm almost glad I'm confused. If I weren't, I think I'd be in
trouble."
Sarah S. sighs mildly. "It had to be Comedy. Any of the others might make *some* sort of sense."
Zebina nods.
Zebina says "And now I have to go. I have work to do, and a plane to finish installing a GPS
system in, and Daimon's supposed to call, although that last shouldn't happen until noon at the
earliest."
Zebina holds out her hand. "Take care of yourself, okay? Daimon's possible bad news, but you
might have a Calabite on your trail, and that's worse. Call me, or page, or just yell really loudly
if you get into trouble."
Zebina makes sure you have all of her contact info on a pair of business cards.
Sarah S. closes her notepad and slips it away, business cards enclosed; she leaves a rather large
tip on the table. "I can deal with the Calabite, if necessary. I'm sure I can lose him long enough
to shoot him, if nothing else. And, yes, I remember Hubert's gun. Good luck with Daimon."
Zebina says "Thanks. Bye!"
Zebina zips out the door, off to hunt down a taxi.
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