ireny-octs

THE ROUND PROGRESSES AS FOLLOWS: As Ireny and Scarlette walk, Scarlette postulates that the blood, sweat, and general bits of people--all of which were made of Synchgel--lost during everyone's battles collected together and gave rise to Toron’s physical form. Zozo must have been affected by the Synchgel particles as well--either that, or Publisher!Zozo is a cleverly constructed body double. Either way, the Synchgel allowed the Publisher to control both pets. Instead of finding Lee, Scarlette and Ireny run into the Editor and the Illustrator, who seem cheerful and enthusiastic and claim to have been looking for Ireny. The final round i

It was high noon. On the rooftop of the Facility, a weasel and a med student contemplated the future. “Jay and Leafy should be okay,” said Ireny. “Most of the people in the infirmary should have broken watches already, and it’ll be the work of a moment to break everyone else’s.” “You think it’s a good idea sending her back in there?” said Scarlette. Ireny snorted. “I don’t think anything’s a good idea at this point. But she seemed okay with it.” They fell silent again for a moment. “So let me get this straight,” said Scarlette. “Lee and Jay ar

It was instinct that saved Ireny, in the end. She sprang sideways, twisting in midair, and the dragon’s massive jaws snapped shut on empty tile. Ireny landed on all four paws, skidding to a halt a short distance away, eyes wide and heart beating at a frenetic tempo. The creature was immense to her eyes, though logic dictated it couldn’t have been much larger than a horse. It was grey, and scaled, and as she watched, it shook out its leathery wings and regarded her with eerily intelligent eyes. Oh my god, she thought. Someone brought a dragon. Someone is a dragon. But if they were another contestant, they could be reasoned with,

It was later. Scarlette sat with her back against a wall, and watched the world go by. Almost an hour had passed since the end of the last round. Since then the initial rush of the infirmary had abated, and now there was only the quiet sound of feet on tile and the murmur of the nurses as they worked through their charts. As far as she could tell, Bram and LE were sleeping peacefully in an isolated part of the ward and were likely to make a full recovery. She should have felt pleased at the news, she knew. After all, what sort of technology would allow for that kind of comeback? She’d seen the extent of Bram’s injury--palpated i

The Facility Present Day The hallways blurred around Ireny as she raced further into the depths of the building, staying close to the ground and in the shadows. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she wasn’t sure it mattered all that much, either. Basic tactics, really. The more distance she put between herself and Leafy, the better. Sure, there might be security cameras everywhere, but the people watching the feeds were only human, right? Attentions could be divided. And if they were busy watching her, they wouldn’t be watching Leafy. She didn’t like playing the decoy. She’d always considered herself one

An Unspecified City on the US Eastern Seaboard Chinese New Year, 2012 “Gan bei!” Four hands raised their drinks into the air at the toast. Four empty glasses hit the bar a moment later. “Thanks for coming out to the CSA dinner tonight,” said Scarlette, sitting back. “Anything for the club president.“ Lee grinned. “Besides, we give you guys the same performance every year. Not like it’s hard.” “And we get free food afterwards,” said Jay. “Pretty reliable way to keep lion dancers coming back.” “Although,” said Ireny thoughtfully, “we’d pr