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Episode
066 |
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Knight on the Town Richard
Lorenz Age
– 31 Current
Occupation – Software Designer, Poet Age
sworn to the Oath of Chivalry – 19 Designation
– Knight-Errant Weapon
of Choice – Roland stared in the mirror with a
debonair gaze, his left eyebrow up, his lips slightly pursed. In a silk white shirt underneath a
fashionably archaic blue vest, he struck an eye-catching pose; an intense,
smoldering gaze staring back at him. In the corner of the floor-length
mirror, Ledger’s reflection watched with disgust. “Man, where the hell do you think we’re
going? The 16th Century?” “I’m in a goth chic mood,” Roland
answered, turning a bit, watching the way his vest moved. In dark blue slacks, he smelled of a fusion
of orange peel and ginger. “I think
the vest’ll trump any Hot Topic wannabe and impress the ladies.” Ledger turned away, sitting on the
couch in his blue urban jacket. “Man,
that is the last time I let you borrow my Vampire the Masquerade books.” Around Ledger’s sparse apartment, traps
were evident everywhere. Over the
window next to the door, a cement-filled PVC pipe hung from ropes, carefully
secured over the window. Out from the
pipe, nails punctured out in all directions, prepared to drop down into
anyone who entered through the window.
Next to the door, a metal bar hung against the wall, unsecured. At the end of the bar was a roll of nails,
while the line of thin steel twine was ready to be looped around the
handle. If set, the bar would swing
out against anyone who opened the door unexpectedly. The couch Ledger sat on faced the
whole apartment, two end-tables to either side. A coffee table which looked uncomfortably
close to dripped wax sat in front of the couch, while the kitchenette in the
corner was sparkling clean. Two doors
on the opposite wall were closed, while the front door was secured with
additional locks, the least of which was an iron barricade just over the
handle. There was a knock. Ledger was up in a flash, his
sawed-off shotgun ready in his hand.
He looked cautiously to Roland, then silently approached the
door. “Dude, it’s Armand,” Roland
explained with an exhausted tired, not looking away from the mirror. Ignoring Roland, Ledger approached the
door and peered through the peephole.
Standing under the light outside, Armand waited at the door, dressed
up for the evening. “Lucky guess,”
Ledger grumbled as he began unlocking the door. “No it wasn’t, you called him,” Roland
argued as the front door was opened. “I bring offerings of the Arby’s variety,”
Armand said as he held out a bag of sandwiches. Ledger snatched the bag out of his
hand. “Your apology’s accepted.” “Apology?!” Armand exclaimed. “What the hell have I got to apologize
for?” “Don’t know; think of something,” Ledger
said as he began to scarf down the first sandwich. Armand watched the black knight eat and
looked at Roland. “You look good, for
a count from the eastern province of…” “Stop,” Roland said with strained
patience, holding his hand up. “Save
it.” “You guys are no fun,” Armand muttered,
getting out a sandwich from the bag Ledger held. In a light blue shirt with white pants, the
honey-skinned knight held his black trench coat over his arm. “So who else is coming? “Your imagination would be right. Melissa won’t let him come out to play,”
Roland said, testing the look of the top button of his shirt being
unbuttoned. “Something about him owing
her movie night or something.” “Did you talk to him or her?” Ledger asked,
swallowing a mouthful. “I only ask
because if you asked him, then we might talk him out of it. If you talked to her, then it’s a done
deal.” “Her,” Roland confirmed. Ledger shrugged in acceptance, holding out
the bag for Armand to get a second sandwich.
“Anyway, “Cool,” Armand said, flopping down on the
couch. “Man, I need to unwind. All this crap about red knights and blue
knights and the Crimson Rose. It’ll be
nice to just get out and have some fun, you know.” “I still say we blow the club and go raise
some hell,” Ledger maintained. “We
could chase a bread truck around town like we did that one time.” Roland started giggling childishly, but
said nothing. “What was this?” Armand asked, amused. “Me, Ev, and Roland decide we want to go
raise some hell, right?” Ledger started, stepping into the middle of the
room. “This was about a year or two
before you moved down here. So we go
out, right, and we can’t find anything to do.
The roller rink’s open and stuff, but we’re too young to get into any
of the clubs and it’s just dead, you know?
So we go to the doughnut shop on the edge of town and get some
doughnuts.” “Only we didn’t have any money,” Roland
interjected. “Only we didn’t have any money,” Ledger
concurred, “so we can only get one doughnut because Ev found a quarter in the
parking lot and the doughnuts’re twenty-four cents with tax.” “So we tipped the waitress a penny,”
Roland tossed in giggling. “So then, we load up into Roland’s rusty-ass
pick-up,” Ledger said, smiling broadly, “and we just go out driving,
right? And we come up on this bread
truck. And it’s, like, four am or
something. So, because we’re hopped up
on sugar from the doughnut or the late night, whatever, we decide to follow
it. And the thing clearly starts to
get skittish about us, because it starts making these crazy turns and getting
over into the left-hand lane and turning right and stuff. The city’s dead because it’s so late, or
early. But this guy is just straight-up
trying to lose us. And Roland just
keeps on with this guy. Finally, this
guy starts running red lights and stuff, speeding like there’s no tomorrow,
and we just keep on.” “Oh my god,” Armand laughed. “That’s horrible.” “Yeah, but it was funny,” Ledger laughed. “At least it was at the time,” Roland
said, turning around. He pulled his
black trench coat on, letting the bottom swirl around his knees like a
magical mist. “So whenever you hear me
or Ledger talk about raising some hell; worry.” “Like I don’t already?” Armand said,
tossing a sandwich to Roland. He
thought for a moment, looking around Ledger’s apartment. “Every time I come in here, man, I get
scared I’m going to set off one of your booby traps.” “Nah, they’re not hair trigger or
anything,” Ledger said, sitting down next to him as Roland went back to the
mirror, studying how eye-catching he could look while eating. “I just want anyone who decides they want
to break into my place to leave knowing it was the worst mistake they ever
made.” “Have you ever been broken into?” Armand
asked. “Dude, that’s not the point,” Ledger
defended just before there was a knock at the door. He got up from the couch and stepped over
the coffee table to the door. He
looked through the peep hole, seeing only darkness. “Someone’s covering the hole,” he said with
a paranoid tone as he took out his gun. “Dude, it’s Ledger grumbled under his breath as he
undid the locks, pulling the door open.
Before the three knights, the blonde dame stood in a short silver
dress that stopped halfway down to her knees.
With a high neck, a hole was cut in the front that showed off her
navel all the way up to the bottom of her breasts. Wrapped in a blue shawl, she smiled at the
boys. “Ready?” she asked in a coy
tone. |
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