I run a newspaper called The Dani Daily that I put out three times a week. Sometimes Ill do a special edition if something big comes up. I collect messages at whats left of the General Post Office, from folks who are having problems with tough-to-kill Fae. I like to swoop in and save the day! I take my beat seriously, like Inspector Jayne and the Guardians who patrol the streets at night. Dublin needs me. Im not about to let her down.
I just published my first book, Dani Does Dublin: the ABCs of the AWC. Dancer helps me print and distribute it. The reviews have been great. Only problem is, whenever I learn new stuff, which is like constantly, I have to put out a revised edition. Im on the fifth already.
Some of the folks I help are real basket cases, afraid of their own shadow. I can tell just by looking at them they wont survive long. It makes me sad but I do all I can.
I decide to pop over to the General Post Office now, see if anybody left notes for me.
I polish off my protein bar in two gulps and pocket the wrapper. Dont know why I cant bring myself to litter, considering the streets are covered with debris from the riot the night Dublin fell, but adding to it feels wrong.
I narrow my eyes, look down the street far as I can see, plot each obstacle on my mental grid until it all snaps into place: abandoned cars with open doors just waiting to slam me if Im off by an inch, streetlamps ripped from the pavement with chunks of concrete attached at the base and strips of metal sticking out that are going to kill my shins if Im not careful, tables flung through pub windows blocking the sidewalks. You get the idea.
I take a deep breath and give in, set that sidhe-seer place in my head free and slide into a different way of being. Ro used to try to get me to explain it to her, like maybe she could figure out how to do it if she tried hard enough. The best I can come up with is this: its like picking your whole self up mentally and shoving it sideways, till suddenly youre just something else. I shift Danigears, I guess. The rush is megaintense and, well I cant imagine life without it because theres no such thing as life without it.
I do it now, shift hard and fast, and then Im whole and free and perfect. Wind in my hair! Freeze-framing! Cant even feel my feet, because I got wings on them! I scrunch up my face in concentration and push harder, faster, every nanosecond is going to count if Im going to beat
I slam into a wall.
Where the feck did that come from?
How could I have missed it on my grid?
My whole face is numb and I cant see. The impact snaps me out of freeze-framing and sends me into a blind stumble. When I finally get my balance, Im still not able to focus. I hit the wall so hard it temporarily blinded me. My face is going to be black and blue for days, eyes swollen to slits. How embarrassing! I hate walking around with all my mistakes on my face, right there for anybody to see!
I waste precious seconds trying to recover and all I can think is: good thing it was a wall, not anenemy. Im a sitting duck right now and its my own fault. I know better than to lead with my head when Im freeze-framing. You can kill yourself that way. The body can take a much harder impact than the face. Youll drive your nose up into your brain, if youre not careful.
Sloppy, Mega, I mutter. I still cant see. I wipe my bloody nose on my sleeve and reach out to feel what I hit.
Thats my dick, Ryodan says.
I snatch my hand away. Gah! I choke out. I can feel my face againbecause, like, its going up in flames. What kind of universe makes me reach out at exactly that fecking level to feel what I think is a wall and puts my hand on a penis?
Then I remember this is Ryodan and scowl. You did that on purpose! I accuse. You saw my hand go out and you stepped right into it!
Id do that why, kid?
Ryodan has the most infuriating way of asking questions without the proper inflection at the end. His voice doesnt rise at all. I dont know why it annoys me so much. It just does. To embarrass me and make me feel stupid! Always angling for the advantage, arent you? Ryodan makes me totally crazy. I cant stand him!
Sloppy is an understatement, Ryodan says. I could have killed you. Pull your head out, kid. Watch where youre going.
My vision is finally starting to clear. I. Was. Watching, I say pissily. You stepped into my way.
I look up at him. Dude is tall. The only streetlamp that works is smack behind his head, casting his face in shadow, but thats the way he likes it. I swear he stages every place he goes in order to keep the light at his back for some reason. Hes wearing that faint half smile he usually has on, as if hes perpetually amused by us lesser mortals.
I am not a lesser mortal, I say testily.
Didnt say you were. In fact, its precisely because youre not lesser that youre on my radar.
Well, get me off it.
Cant.
I get a sinking feeling. Not too long ago Ryodan tracked me down where I was hanging out up on top of my favorite water tower and told me he had a job for me. I refused, of course. Since then Ive been telling myself he filled whatever vacancy he had with someone else.
I dont want to fall in with Ryodan and his men. I get the feeling you dont ever get to fall back out. You just keep falling.
Of course, that doesnt stop me from snooping around Chesters. You have to know your competition, know what theyre up to. Dude wants something from me, I want to know what. Last week I found a back way into his club that I bet nobody but me and his men know about. I think they thought it was so well hidden they didnt need to bother protecting it. Did I ever see some things! My face gets hot again, remembering.
I just published my first book, Dani Does Dublin: the ABCs of the AWC. Dancer helps me print and distribute it. The reviews have been great. Only problem is, whenever I learn new stuff, which is like constantly, I have to put out a revised edition. Im on the fifth already.
Some of the folks I help are real basket cases, afraid of their own shadow. I can tell just by looking at them they wont survive long. It makes me sad but I do all I can.
I decide to pop over to the General Post Office now, see if anybody left notes for me.
I polish off my protein bar in two gulps and pocket the wrapper. Dont know why I cant bring myself to litter, considering the streets are covered with debris from the riot the night Dublin fell, but adding to it feels wrong.
I narrow my eyes, look down the street far as I can see, plot each obstacle on my mental grid until it all snaps into place: abandoned cars with open doors just waiting to slam me if Im off by an inch, streetlamps ripped from the pavement with chunks of concrete attached at the base and strips of metal sticking out that are going to kill my shins if Im not careful, tables flung through pub windows blocking the sidewalks. You get the idea.
I take a deep breath and give in, set that sidhe-seer place in my head free and slide into a different way of being. Ro used to try to get me to explain it to her, like maybe she could figure out how to do it if she tried hard enough. The best I can come up with is this: its like picking your whole self up mentally and shoving it sideways, till suddenly youre just something else. I shift Danigears, I guess. The rush is megaintense and, well I cant imagine life without it because theres no such thing as life without it.
I do it now, shift hard and fast, and then Im whole and free and perfect. Wind in my hair! Freeze-framing! Cant even feel my feet, because I got wings on them! I scrunch up my face in concentration and push harder, faster, every nanosecond is going to count if Im going to beat
I slam into a wall.
Where the feck did that come from?
How could I have missed it on my grid?
My whole face is numb and I cant see. The impact snaps me out of freeze-framing and sends me into a blind stumble. When I finally get my balance, Im still not able to focus. I hit the wall so hard it temporarily blinded me. My face is going to be black and blue for days, eyes swollen to slits. How embarrassing! I hate walking around with all my mistakes on my face, right there for anybody to see!
I waste precious seconds trying to recover and all I can think is: good thing it was a wall, not anenemy. Im a sitting duck right now and its my own fault. I know better than to lead with my head when Im freeze-framing. You can kill yourself that way. The body can take a much harder impact than the face. Youll drive your nose up into your brain, if youre not careful.
Sloppy, Mega, I mutter. I still cant see. I wipe my bloody nose on my sleeve and reach out to feel what I hit.
Thats my dick, Ryodan says.
I snatch my hand away. Gah! I choke out. I can feel my face againbecause, like, its going up in flames. What kind of universe makes me reach out at exactly that fecking level to feel what I think is a wall and puts my hand on a penis?
Then I remember this is Ryodan and scowl. You did that on purpose! I accuse. You saw my hand go out and you stepped right into it!
Id do that why, kid?
Ryodan has the most infuriating way of asking questions without the proper inflection at the end. His voice doesnt rise at all. I dont know why it annoys me so much. It just does. To embarrass me and make me feel stupid! Always angling for the advantage, arent you? Ryodan makes me totally crazy. I cant stand him!
Sloppy is an understatement, Ryodan says. I could have killed you. Pull your head out, kid. Watch where youre going.
My vision is finally starting to clear. I. Was. Watching, I say pissily. You stepped into my way.
I look up at him. Dude is tall. The only streetlamp that works is smack behind his head, casting his face in shadow, but thats the way he likes it. I swear he stages every place he goes in order to keep the light at his back for some reason. Hes wearing that faint half smile he usually has on, as if hes perpetually amused by us lesser mortals.
I am not a lesser mortal, I say testily.
Didnt say you were. In fact, its precisely because youre not lesser that youre on my radar.
Well, get me off it.
Cant.
I get a sinking feeling. Not too long ago Ryodan tracked me down where I was hanging out up on top of my favorite water tower and told me he had a job for me. I refused, of course. Since then Ive been telling myself he filled whatever vacancy he had with someone else.
I dont want to fall in with Ryodan and his men. I get the feeling you dont ever get to fall back out. You just keep falling.
Of course, that doesnt stop me from snooping around Chesters. You have to know your competition, know what theyre up to. Dude wants something from me, I want to know what. Last week I found a back way into his club that I bet nobody but me and his men know about. I think they thought it was so well hidden they didnt need to bother protecting it. Did I ever see some things! My face gets hot again, remembering.
