IACET
KEVIN
My name is Kevin Irwin.
I am a Jotuun spy.
I don’t have any buffs or cosmos, but that’s the point. It wouldn’t be very subtle if I was three feet taller than everyone else. Passer is the common term, but I hate it. It implies I’m an assassin.
I was in my dorm room, with a depressed Simon and jolly (as usual) Steve. I had difficulty paying attention to Steve; despite his height, he was just baseline, and years of training forced me to memorize Simon’s every word, since he was the enemy.
Well, enemy was a bit strong. He wasn’t a Jotuun, and thus a potential threat. I was ordered to observe his movements—and those of his sister—but nothing more.
“Let me get this straight,” Steve said with a slow chuckle. “Your culture has some weird monster thing watching over your servers.”
“Correct,” Simon confirmed, sitting on his bed calmly. I was perched on my own mattress, the top bunk bed, where I got a good vantage of everything. Steve’s bed was under mine, but he was standing by the window.
“This creature didn’t know about the screamers or the Composer or anything.”
“Right. He seemed to be on bad terms with the Power.”
“Right, right…and he was scared of MC and the Servants for some reason.”
“I think he was just paranoid.”
Steve was smiling at some private joke. “Whatever. The point is…you agreed to talk to MC on his behalf. Quiz her on how far the ‘sarian research is coming, all that.”
“That’s about the size of it,” our sibriex roommate admitted calmly. He took a sip of his drink, as though we weren’t discussing anything more important than sports.
Steve laughed and rubbed his forehead. “Kevin, help me out here. Explain what an idiot he’s being.”
I shrugged nonchalantly, doing my best to quell my pounding heart. This was the most important discovery I had made since I found out Simon was working with a fey. If he used the same laptop for his interviews, the bug I’d planted would turn out to be completely invaluable.
“I don’t think its really that big a deal,” I lied smoothly. “Every culture has secrets. His talks.”
The large black man frowned, a rare sight. “No, I don’t mean about telling us about it. I mean the fact that he’s trying to screw over MC.”
“Hey, I’m not screwing her over!”
“Steve has a point,” I admonished. “Letting someone listen in on your conversation without telling her will be a breach of trust. You should consider just telling her.”
“Somehow, I don’t think Aramazd will appreciate that.”
“Hey don’t worry!” Steve said, slapping our roommate on the back jovially. “You said he was completely cut off from the outside world. He has to work with you.”
“Besides, it’s not like you have to tell MC you’re working with…” I waved my hand. “An abomination. If she would even consider him that. Just say he doesn’t get enough contact with people to feel comfortable talking to her.” I shrugged. “It’s true enough, right?”
Simon rubbed his forehead, finally showing some consternation at what was coming. “I really don’t want to trick MC at all. I mean, its MC.”
I snorted. “Five minutes ago you were willing to lie outright. Now a little bit of subterfuge is out of the question?”
“That’s different,” he insisted. “That was me fulfilling a promise.”
I shrugged. “You can make distinctions like that if you want. Doesn’t change what you’re doing.”
He threw up his hands. “So, what? I have a choice between screwing over someone who hasn’t seen another living soul in a month, or the most important woman in Domina?”
“Or just talk to the monster again,” Steve suggested as he sat down on his own bed. “Just explain that you don’t feel comfortable messing with MC.”
“Somehow I don’t think it will be that simple.”
I sighed again. “You have your choices laid out in front of you, Simon. Pick one, and accept the consequences.”
The purple sibriex nodded. “You know what? You’re right. I’m going to tell Aramazd it’s off.”
That was about when I realized that I was in the middle of convincing him to turn down a priceless espionage opportunity.
I sat bolt upright on my bed. “Wait, you can’t do that!”
Simon stared. “Wait, what? You just said—”
“I know what I said,” I snapped. “Look, your ‘rex buddy wants to discuss things with MC, right?”
He nodded slowly.
“And MC like debating with intelligent people, right?”
“Well, obviously, but…”
“So you just have to convince both of them its in their best interests to work together.” I shrugged. “Take the third option.”
He put his face in his hands. “Okay, okay. That’s…that actually makes sense.” He shook his head. “But leaving aside your schizo behavior, I really don’t think it will be that easy. Aramazd is really paranoid.”
I really needed to keep him from thinking about my actions. “Well, you only met him once, right?”
He frowned. “No. Didn’t I…no, I forgot to tell you. I met him last Friday. Talked to him a couple times since then, tried to work out a better solution. Didn’t work. He’s definitely scared of what MC will do to him.”
I heard Steve giggle. “But c’mon. It’s MC. What’s she gonna do? Cut off his cell service?”
I smiled grimly. “If you think that’s the worst she can do, I invite you to see what happens if you piss her off.”
Steve laughed, and I heard rustling from his bed. Judging from Simon’s reaction, he was gearing up for a full-blown argument.
“Settle down, guys,” he advised. “I’ll figure something out.” He bit his lip. “I’ll talk to Jelena. She’s good at politics.”
“Yeah, but she’s a spy for the fey now, right?”
“True. Even though no one has the heart to tell her.” The sibriex frowned at me. “Wait, how’d you know that?”
Inwardly, I cursed at my own stupidity, but I kept my calm and just shrugged nonchalantly as I quickly came up with a believable lie. “You mentioned it earlier.”
Simon waved his hand. “Whatever. You’re right, she’s out. I guess I’ll have to deal with it myself.”
“The ferret girl might be helpful,” Steve noted, snapping his fingers as he thought of the idea. “The one rooming with Delphie.”
Our roommate cocked his head. “You mean Zusa? She didn’t strike me as the type to have any experience in this area.”
“Well, she’s the friendliest of the bunch. Might be able to give you a little advice.”
“Better than you two, at least,” Simon muttered. “At least she’s sane enough to not do a complete 180 halfway through the conversation.”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” Steve cautioned with mock seriousness. “She is a woman.”
The sibriex sighed. “That makes one thing easy, at least.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“I was considering bringing you guys along for advice when I talk to her.” He smiled grimly. “I’ve changed my mind.”
Behind the Scenes (scene 85)
Oof, this one…not the best. But it serves.
Domina Urbana 