It is currently 18:39 Pacific Time on Sun Aug 8 2004.
Currently the moon is in the waning Half Moon phase (48% full).

Cockroach Mansion -- Downstairs
The heavy, dark opulence to this mansion known as Dominion is perfectly
      exemplified by the room vistors first enter, this front hall. 
      Dark-stained wood serves as paneling on the walls, gleams with high gloss 
      in the hardwood floor, and supports a semi-circular balcony in carved 
      pillars. The heavy double doors, made of oak, open into the hall from the 
      south, opposite the huge, hourglass-shaped staircase composed of red and 
      black gneiss which soars up to the balcony; both are fenced in with a 
      wooden railing of simple spiraled posts. Several doorways can be made out 
      on the second floor, nearly blending in discreetly with the back wall. 
      The wall to the left of the front doors is composed entirely of windows 
      which run from the forty-foot-tall domed dark wood ceiling to the floor; 
      if drawn, the heavy velvet drapes of deep red would completely mask them 
      from view, but when parted, as they often are, one has a marvelous view 
      of the grounds outside.
A doorway to the right of the front doors leads to a parlor, and towards the
      back are the kitchens, the large dining room, and an office with an 
      adjoining bedroom suite.

Chaney lies sprawled out on the couch in the darkened parlor, bathed in the
      glow of the widescreen television. _The Lion King_ is just starting, and 
      all the animals make their way to pay homage to the newborn prince.
The door opens, admitting Rina--still bruised, but recognizable now that the
      swelling has gone down. She steps over to the parlor, drawn by the glow; 
      it reflects off polished black leather, the tailored jacket different 
      from the usual metal-studded monstrosity.
Chaney is wearing the same pink kitten-shirt and cutoff pink shorts that she's
      had for weeks. Sitting up as Rina enters, she bares her teeth in an 
      approximate grin and greets with an enthusiastic, "'Eena!"
Rina smiles faintly, and steps in with a slight stiffness to her movements.
      "Hi, Saney," she says hoarsely. "How are you?"
Chaney bounces on the couch and then pulls her legs up. "Tee-bee," she
      announces, pointing at the screen.
Rina's smile widens a bit, and she steps in and joins Chaney on the couch.
      "Yeah, TV." She glances at the screen and says, "Oh, the Lion King..."
"It's the Cirrrrcle of Liiiiiife!" sings the television, while the caroon
      animals go about the ritual of heir-presentation. "Pwitty," the cub tells 
      the kinfolk. Indeed, the screen is awash with lush, crisp color.
Rina looks at her, eyebrow raised. "Yeah, it is. Can you sing?" She hums along,
      to demonstrate, singing a little of the refrain.
Chaney tips her head to the side quizzically, then hums a bit too, vaguely
      mimicking the tune.
Rina's smile widens, and she sings along happily.
The song climaxes with the monkey holding the lion cub up for all to see (don't
      drop him!) and ends abruptly soon after that. Chaney says, "Pwitty. 
      Pwitty teebee."
"Yeah," Rina murmurs. She tips her head slightly, studying the woman. "Do you
      see colors?" she asks, curious.
Chaney grabs the hem of her t-shirt and announces, "Pink!"
Relieved, Rina points to her jacket. "What color is this?"
Someone's been playing the color game with her, it seems; Chaney seems quite
      familiar with it. "Bwack!"
Rina grins, the expression odd on her discolored features. "Good," she says
      quietly, and turns her attention to the movie. "You know about lions? 
      See, Simba is a lion."
"Wion," Chaney agrees. "Wions pwitty." The cub seems to have a new favorite
      word.
"They sure are. Have you seen the real ones on TV yet?" Rina asks.
"Wions teebee. Pwitty," is the cub's less-than-informative reply. She shifts
      her weight and leans back against the couch cushions. "Pink, pink, pink, 
      pink."
"Pink Saney, yep," Rina answers, absentmindedly. She leans on the girl's
      shoulder and watches TV quietly.
Chaney likes this. "Pink Shaynee!" she repeats, gleefully. "Bwack 'Eena!"
Rina laughs. "Sounds like a pirate song. Black Rina of the Silver Blade."
Chaney doesn't quite get everything she just said, but the laugh makes her grin
      widely, open-mouthed. "Bwack 'Eena, Bwack 'Eena!"
Rina does her best to glower convincingly. It actually works pretty well, with
      her bruises. The play is brief, though, and she returns her attention to 
      the movie. "Don'tcha wanna watch?"
Chaney glances back at the TV. Simba's pestering Scar, who's about to let slip
      the "secret" of the Elephant Graveyard. Just talking and therefore, it 
      seems, quite boring. "Shaynee Naht Mah-ehs," she says, turning back to 
      Rina. "Moot!"
Rina tips her head, turning a little on the couch to focus more on the girl.
      "You went to the Moot?"
"Yeh," says Chaney. "Yeh moot. Groo, groo, /groo/."
Saul ducks out from behind one of the pillars on the stairwell, a gun with a
      bright orange tip in his hand as he front summersault, lands on his feet, 
      over-balances and proceeds to roll down the staircase, "Ow! Oof! Oif! Ow! 
      Gee! Biff! Ow!" He exclaims the whole way down and lands with a thud at 
      the bottom sprawled out.
Chaney's attention snaps over toward the hall, and in a flash the cub is on her
      feet and jogging quickstep toward the bottom of the stairs. "Sah!"
"Jesus /fuck/--" Wincing, Rina gets to her feet and moves stiffly toward the
      noise.
Saul closes his eyes and shifts to his glabro and remains motionless at the
      bottom of the stairs for the moment, "There's an 'L' in Saul, Chaney. 
      More Die Hard, or something..." He says, his voice grumbly and horse.
Chaney peers down at the other cub, nostrils flaring. She tips her head from
      one side to the other. She frowns. "Sah nuh-tayse."
Rina laughs, bemused. "Saul's a nutcase?" she asks, wryly.
Saul raises his right hand, the one with the toy gun in it and fires a suction
      cup dart at Chaney, "Trying to learn how to shoot."
Chaney swats the projectile out of the way with a snort and eyes the other cub.
      "Figh'?" She shifts her stance the way Natalie taught her and brings up 
      her fists.
Saul shakes his head and slowly gets to his feet, "Stand down, soldier. I'll
      play you a game of Quake or Duke Nukem, but not thanks. No Kung Fu today."
Rina rolls her eyes a little. "I'm still wondering what she /said/..." She
      gives the young man a faint smile. The swelling is down, but the traces 
      of bruised color remain, coloring her face and jaw.
Chaney looks disappointed and relaxes from the fighting stance. "No figh'. Sah
      nuh-tayse." That said, she flounces back into the parlor and the bright 
      glow of the television, where Simba and Nala are going on, musically, 
      about how Simba just can't /wait/ to be king.
Saul closes his eyes and shifts back to his homid and sighs, "Oh hell if I
      know. I've given up trying to throw english at her. I think she's saying 
      I'm a bloody nut case, but I could be very wrong. It could be the most 
      profound thing in the world, and I'd never know." He reloads his toy gun, 
      "Oh, by the way, hi." He says as he passes Rina on his way to the parlor.
Rina nods amusedly. "Idunno what /else/ it could be," she murmurs. She follows,
      to reclaim her place on the couch. "How are you holding up?"
Chaney curls up in one corner of the couch and focusses on the television
      screen.
Saul shrugs simply enough and takes a metal case out from the corner of the
      parlor and sits down on the couch as well, "Well, I've learned fairly 
      recently that I'm someone's living nightmare, I can turn into a huge 
      werewolf, I've learned werewolves have law and culture, I'm suppose to 
      kill evil things, /and/ apparently with just a mirror or a reflective 
      surface I can disappear. All that taken into account, I think I'm doing 
      okay. How're you holding up. You don't look s'good, neh?" He says as he 
      opens up the case and turns on his laptop.
"Getting better," Rina murmurs, giving him a wry look. "And it's not that you
      disappear, it's travelling to the spirit world."
Saul shrugs again, "Spirit world. Right. Lunes and stuff. Pesky. Don't travel
      during the day." He taps on his computer, and sighs as it wirelessly 
      connects to the internet, "Gotta find a gun..."
Rina nods. "No worries," Rina answers. "You want it with or without a serial
      number?"
Saul looks down at the screen, "Without. No registering. No previous owners."
      He taps a few more, "Smith & Wesson 500 series would be nice. Too bulky 
      though. Have to fit up my sleeve..." He looks over at Rina, "And probably 
      only tracer rounds since I doubt Marcus'd want me having live 
      ammunition." He looks back at the screen, "Dunno. What do you think?"
Rina pulls a Pilot from her pocket and takes down a note or two. "If you're a
      Smith and Wesson guy, that's cool," she says quietly. "I do fine with a 
      shoulder rig, in the city. Under the arm, you just wear bulky coats." She 
      isn't packing now, of course--not in that tailored, fitted thing she's 
      wearing. "And fuck Marcus."
Saul swings his head to the side to look at her, "Rather not, but thanks for
      the vote of confidence." He looks back at the screen, "I'd take the 500 
      series if it had a semi-auto model. Know a /really/ good gunsmith?" He 
      shoots a look back at her, "If so, I could take two 500 series, 
      semi-auto. Need five clips. Oh...and three bean bags."
Rina purses her lips. "Hm. I'll look into it. Usually with filed, I don't go
      that specific--but I'll talk to some people."
Saul looks back to his computer and makes a motion as if to cock a gun with his
      hand, "Click-Click-Boom!" He grins widely, "That's going to be so great 
      if you can get it. I could actually shoot a lamp post in half with those. 
      Have to be in glabro to use them to good effect..." He pauses, "Hope 
      Marcus doesn't get pissed and take them away..."
"Anything else you like, if I can't get the Smiths?"
Rina scribbles quietly into the Palm, nodding. "'Kay. I'll see what I can do."
Saul brings up his download client, "Good. Now I just have to watch
      'Equilibrium' a few thousand times and try to keep the guns out of sight 
      from Marcus." He turns back, "By the way, I owe ya one now. Jus' for 
      tryin'."
Rina raises an eyebrow. "Equilibrium?"
Saul nods as he turns his laptop toward her as a movie starts to play,
      "Basically, in the future people realize that feelings were bad so they 
      created a drug to get rid of all fealing and started destroying art. 
      Blah, blah, blah. They needed a new form of law enforcement and in doing 
      so, also created a new way to use a gun. The gun-kata. Combines martial 
      arts and a semi-auto/full-auto mod'ed gun. Not saying I'm going to try 
      anything when fighting, but it'd be a good way to focus."
Rina frowns. "Hm. Do we have it? Or do you?"
"Sounds kinda cool..."
Saul points to his laptop, "I already cued it up. Rather good. Be nice to learn
      all forms of martial arts and try to actually make a gun-kata, neh? First 
      thing's first though. Need a gun. Next I need someone to teach me some 
      Kung-Fu." He pauses and pauses the movie starting as well and frowns, 
      "Should I be thinking about this stuff? Ya know, killing people and 
      things and stuff? Maybe I should just lay low for a couple of years. Try 
      and become a regular teen or something?"
Rina glances to him, her expression bleak. "Don't bother. Take this learning
      first, and then if you want, go back and get a GED or somethin'." She 
      gives a little jerk of her head toward the big TV, and glances to Chaney. 
      "Can we put a new movie on?"
Chaney yawns widely, tongue curling. "Noo moofee on," she says, echoing Rina
      lazily.
Saul nods slowly at this, "Yeah, that does kinda put things in perspective. Get
      a doctorate...or save the world. Yeah. That does put things in a new 
      light." He yawns and looks over at his plastic gun, "I'm a warrior with a 
      plastic gun. Fear me and tread lightly."
"'Kay. Put in that movie, then, kid." Rina relaxes into the couch.
Saul takes a mini USB drive out of the drive slot and sits his case aside and
      walks over to the VCR, plugging the drive into the back, "A'right." He 
      turns the VCR on and grabs the controller, tossing it at Rina, "Should be 
      uploaded in a minute." He sits back down on the counch and puts his 
      laptop back in front of himself.
Chaney squirms a bit, getting comfortable against the couch cushions, and curls
      up. Her eyelids flicker closed.