Comparing notes

It was late morning by the time Denise stumbled home the next morning, still in the clothes she'd worn the night before, and looking pretty rough. She wasn't sure if Aunt Hettie was going to be awake or not, as they both tended to be night owls, but her schedule might have been just as thrown off by the chaos the night before. There had definitely been gunshots coming from inside the club before she'd managed to get Ander and Ralf out, but her memories of the specifics were not as clear as she could have liked.

She opened the door quietly and peered from the entry into the living room. If Aunt Hettie was awake, she would probably be in there. If not, Denise would maybe just go and raid the kitchen before finding her way to a real bed...

Hettienne sat on the small sofa in her living room, knitting and nursing the first coffee of the day, and trying not to worry about what the shutdown of the cabaret would do to her income. Maybe it weren't as bad as it seemed. Maybe it'll only be a few days. She did still have a little cash saved away. And when Tits did reopen, there would probably be a lot of costumes in need of repair, or replacament.

She heard a key turn in the front door, and looked up to see Denise peeking in.

"Oh hey there girlie. Was wonderin' when you'd roll in."

"Mornin' Aunt Hettie. Is there coffee?"

"What kinda question is that?" She inclined her head in the direction of the kitchen.

"Oh good!" Denise beelined for the coffeepot, and slices a hunk of bread she'd made the day before as well. She wasn't quite feelign up to making eggs but they sounded delicious.... maybe after the braed. "That was some crazy night, wasn't it? With the - gosh say do you know what the gunshots were about? I was just tryin' not to let Ander and Ralf get off in any trouble while they were out of it, and then there was that dead guy and I thought we shouldn't stick around 'n find out more, ya know?"

"That were me 'n Geff... Well, easier to start from the beginning. I was in the hall and I saw, well, I sorta saw but not really, this thing run by. Little, like a cat or a dog or summat. It smelled funny, like outside, so I thought maybe an animal had got in, an' I followed it downstairs, all the way to the boiler room. So then I sees this nasty fuckin' little thing, like an elf but all stunted an' ugly, with snaggly pointed teeth - an' it's doin' somethin' with the boiler, see? Then it peeps me and just straight disappears!"

"I yelled an' Julien came down... The boiler was fucked up but good. He said if we hadn't've found it, it woulda been bad. So he went to get Geff, an' we started to look for the thing. Oh, that snake-handler girl, she was there too. Lathra."

"Anyway we followed the trail along.. It had fucked with the electrics too. And then we went outside and we met up with your friend - whatsisface, the pretty one. So he came along. But then it seemed like the thing had circled round and gone back inside, downstairs. That's where we found that slinger boy. He was all slumped on the ground passed out, even though he didn't have but a tiny scratch. Lathra was checkin' him out when I realized the fuckin' little imp was right behind me. That's when we all started shootin' at it. Hard as fuck to hit, it were. Geff winged it, and after that it slowed down some. Weren't nothin' to it after that." She set down her needles to sip at her coffee.

"Then we heard the big racket upstairs..."

Denise flopped down onto the chair by the sewing machine, careful despite her grogginess not to disturb any of her aunt's sewing things, and certainly not to spill her drink.

"Void then! That's even more crazy'n I thought! Like... what I figure is something messed with the beer, so Neva was pushin' the wine see? An' Dorien had gone to see if he could get the taps runnin', but I guess he got got! But like, I don't know much from wine right? But this stuff was all just went right to your head if you didn't have more n' a sip, and it made the boss an' Ralf get all loopy, so I was a little worried. An like - it was everyone gettin' all loopy, not just our table so I think the whole batch was off. I tried to get the boss to leave but less I picked up the both of' em and carried 'em that weren't happening, and one, sure, but Ralf is awful wiggly! I know 'cause I had to get them out after, took 'em back to Ander's place, and finally they passed out, but it weren't pretty, so I just crashed out on the rug just in case, ya know? They looked pretty rought this morning but I thought it was best not to stick around then. But anyway, Argent was gonna go check on Dorien and I guess that's when he found you. Oh, and there was a light fell from the ceiling an almost hit the good magician, and she'd cleared folks out to do some big trck which is good or it could'a hit someone else!"

Denise paused her prattle to take a big drink of her coffee, glad that it had cooled a little before she'd come in.

"You know what that thing was? Or who the stiff was? Man - what an operation though!"

"Ain't got the foggiest. But I'd bet money that slicker bitch had somethin' to do with it all. Did she turn up after?"

Denise shook her head. "Who?"

"That singer. Was supposed to be a 'special guest' for last night's show. I knew bringin' in a Psyrene weren't gonna be nothin' but trouble." She shook her head, scowling.

"I dunno, maybe Argent said somethin' about that but my head's a bit fuzzy on everything still. I don't think I were so bad off as the others. But yeah, I wonder what they were thinkin'? Folks are still pretty sore. Lots of vets what work at Tits's too."

"Wonder whose idea it was."

"I dunno, but I bet someone's gonna be real mad! How long you think it'll be closed? Was the damage real bad?"

"It ain't really my area of expertise... But with the electrics, an' the furnace, an' the lines... and all that junk what fell on the stage? I'd figure at least a week."

"A week?" Denise's eyes went wide. "I wonder what the boss'll do - I wonder what I'm gonna do! I guess maybe we can move elsewhere, but there ain't nowhere as fun."

"Tell me about it," Hettie snorted. "Guess I'll be catchin' up on my knittin'."

Denise tilted her head, as though a thought was just occurring. "Are they gonna still pay you if you can't work? I mean, it ain't your fault they're closed..."

"Doubt it. I got a couple commissions to work on, though."

"That's no good! They should be payin' you extra, if you found the thing and you caught it!" Denise frowned. "Well. If the boss don't need me, I'll see if Dorien does - he's gotta have other things going if the club's shut down too, and if he got hurt, too, he might need more help."

"Things. I bet he does." Hettie pursed her lips.

"What?"

"Listen girlie. I ain't gonna dance around it. I don't wanna hear you been slingin' dope."

"I aint slingin' nothin!" Denise pursed her lips, trying to match her aunt's stern look and trying not to get flustered. "It's just like - courierin' stuff. No questions, ya know?"

Hettie shrugged and picked up her needles. "I guess I ain't gotta tell you to be careful. Hate to see you get caught with someone else's problem."

"Oh, pfft." This Denise felt confident about. "I ain't gonna get made over somethin' like that. Cops can have the package - they ain't gonna run me down. If I got to I'll just dip into the Shade. I got more friends there'n they do!"