Subj:	 [ffml] [HD] And now for something completely different
Date:	01-02-08 10:03:18 EST
From:	larathia@mcs.net (Larathia)
Reply-to:	ffml@yahoogroups.com
To:	ffml@yahoogroups.com, hilliondynasty@egroups.com

(Don't ask me why I'm doing this. I'm not exactly sure yet. I've just got
this uncontrollable impulse right now, and I'll work it in later...)
*****************************

The motorcycle raised clouds of dust as it roared across the desert. It was
a beautiful machine, a custom Harley that could hit 200 mph without
breaking a sweat, and the roar of its engine was a growling bear. The local
Hell's Angels had inducted its owner just to be able to say that *that
bike* was in their chapter. It was the only one anywhere, for example, to
have a sword-scabbard built into the frame.

And, of course, so they could claim the female that came with it as a local
symbol. In the book of Cool, she easily had seven chapters to herself;
enough for them to forgive her obvious mutations.

The rider of the bike was sort of an incidental bonus, but one they didn't
regret. Long, raggedly-cut brown hair tied back in a nondescript ponytail,
loose strands pulled back by the wind of his passage, his face seemed
permanently cast in a pose of seriousness and deep thought, as if he were
pondering the fate of the world. He wasn't particularly muscled; in fact,
he was built as long and lean as a steel rail, not a spare inch of softness
anywhere on him. He wore a headset that presumably plugged in to a
cellphone, but it wasn't to be seen.

There had been no sign of habitation, or of pursuit, for half an hour. The
growl of the bike rumbled to a halt, and he said into his headset, "Hear
anything?"

"No, nor see anything for miles. We're clear," came the response.

"Come on down, then," he replied.

A thin steel chain that had been welded to the back of the bike, and pulled
taut while he travelled, slackened. Shortly thereafter, his companion
landed in a flurry of dark wings. There was a small, happy smile on her
alien lips as she said, "We got 'em."

The man shook his head, and a hint of anger entered his voice as he
replied, "Why do you provoke them? You know eventually they'll catch us.
You should have stayed on the bike, with me. They can't see you on the
ground."

"I have to fly, love. You know that. I have to fight, too, wherever I am.
There's always an underdog looking for a helping hand, and I like the
mutants." She thought about that. "Well, most of them, anyway."

"Don't start," the man growled. "You go on your anti-human crusade, and you
always forget *I'm* human."

She looked at him in surprise. "But you have been so very many things,
love. It's hard to think of you as human. I -"

She halted, moaned, and clutched her leather-gloved hands to her temples as
she fell to her knees. Her companion was instantly by her side, silently
supporting her, a look of concern on his face. He watched her intently as
slowly her pain ceased, then helped her to rise. When she did, he stepped
back as if he'd done nothing at all.

"Are you all right?" he asked. "Did you catch a shot of something, or one
of their gas canisters got too close?"

She shook her head, at least in part to clear it of the vestiges of pain.
"No. It's not that. It's a sending."

"God-FUCKING-damnit," the man snapped, then got control of himself again.
"All right, from who and for what?"

She shook her head again, this time sadly. "Do you remember the world of
the moogles?"

His features changed very little, but still he gave the impression of being
surprised. "Yeah. I was your cat, and a very short-lived clone."

"We have to go back there."

His features hardened. "Who says, and why?"

"The Lady. I'm not sure why, the impressions came so fast..." She looked
bewildered, trying to make sense of the images she'd seen.

He slipped a companionable arm around her, under her wings, and gave her a
gentle hug. There was regret in his voice as he said, "Well, I guess we
can't argue with the Lady. Did she show you how we're to get there? The
Gate from *here* doesn't open for another fifty years, and the Gate to the
moogle world only opens once every thousand or so."

The winged woman drew back. "We?" she said. "No..I can't risk you. Not
there, not again. I'll go alone. The Lady showed me a direct portal, it
shouldn't take long."

The man made a sweeping gesture of negation with one arm as he looked her
in the eyes. "I'm not letting you go alone into danger. And it *will* be
dangerous or the Lady wouldn't have tapped you. And I'm not waiting here to
grow old and die alone while you go fighting god-only-knows-what. I married
you, remember? Thick and thin? And I am most definitely not going to run
the risk of being reborn on that godsforsaken planet. The *best* option I
had was the clone. The way that planet runs, I could end up a moogle next
time."

Without another word, he stalked back toward the bike, restarted it and
revved it up.  The noise was too great for any kind of conversation, but
his grey eyes were the color of storm clouds as he stared at her. Perhaps
he was angry at her idea of going into danger without him. Perhaps he was
angry at the idea of being reborn a moogle. It was hard to say, and she
knew she'd never find out. She only nodded, in acceptance of the decision
that had been made, and took off - taking care to be well within her
partner's field of vision as he roared after her.

Larathia


Subj:	 [ffml] [HD] Of Chrome and Steel
Date:	01-02-08 15:39:06 EST
From:	larathia@mcs.net (Larathia)
Reply-to:	ffml@yahoogroups.com
To:	ffml@yahoogroups.com, hilliondynasty@egroups.com

"The Lady's manipulating events," came the crackling voice from his
headset. "She's keeping it small, don't ask me why, but she's making sure
there'll be a gate. But we've got to be quick."

He nodded, forgetting she was unable to see him. "How far?" he asked.

"Not far," came the response. "She's able to control *where* the gate opens
a lot better than she can control when or for how long."

He didn't like this. Of all the things he'd never really liked much about
Larathia, her deity was very near the top of the list.  Flighty bitch, as
liable to send a tornado as a helping hand. In the days when he'd been of
the same kind as Larathia, he'd worshipped Erevan Elisere, the solitary
hunter. A good god to have on your side, and if he wasn't...well, if he
wasn't on your side you'd never know about it. Elven gods tended to be
subtle, but direct.

This time around, at least officially, he was Catholic. Unoficially, he
didn't give a damn. He wondered if he'd be human forever after he went
through the gate. It didn't matter, really. He lived for Larathia; the
shape was more or less incidental - though he had a strong preference for
humanoid. An entire lifetime of only being able to curl on her lap, or lick
her hand, was torture. And if he *were* ever reborn as a
moogle...well...that would be one short life. He couldn't commit suicide,
but Larathia's attitudes about moogles were sharp and to the point. She'd
have his dick on her trophy string before ever realizing it was him. She'd
be very sorry afterwards, when she found out, but he had no desire to look
at an incarnation of his own dick forever after.

She was slowing. He eased up on the gas of his bike to keep behind her.
Soon after, she landed. He pulled the bike in a curving skid around her,
and looked around. It was desert, everywhere, pretty much indistinguishable
from where they had been. He stared at her, saying nothing, features
betraying nothing.

"This is where it will be," Larathia said. 

"So what do we do?" he asked.

"We wait."

He growled, but put the kickstand down and got off the bike. If there was
time, there were some adjustments to check. "Sword or gun?" he asked as he
checked over the bike.

"Bring 'em both," she said. "I am. They're heavier into magic than around
here, but science works."

His response was a noncommittal grunt. Having nothing else to watch, and
nothing else she'd rather watch, Larathia stood by as Aelis-Re busied
himself with preparations; checking all the connections and fittings on his
bike, checking his packs for certain small essential spare parts and tools,
and pulling out a long ivory-dragon-hilted katana from the scabbard fixed
onto the frame. Assured of its strength and sharpness, he made sure his
pistols were loaded and then got out the polish to work on the chrome and
paint job. The design was of a tiger, with a raven in an attack position
over its head. But its name, picked out in sweeping script, was 'The Bear'.
Larathia watched him in silence, delighted as always with the feline grace
of his movements, and the fall of his brown hair over his shoulders as he
worked....

* * * * 

Kaelis had followed his elder brother eagerly into the cave. For days,
they'd been preparing to go exploring in the caves near the lower slopes of
the Phoenix Star mountain range, but today was the first day they'd managed
to actually get away.  There were rumors of fabulous lost cities up there,
and fabulous lost cities had to be chock-full of treasure.

"Hey, I got something!" came the call. Kaelis scrambled to catch up.
Tomlin, his brother, was standing proudly, holding a glittering crystal in
his hand. "Get a look at this! Gotta be pure diamond," he said. "Come on, I
gotta see this in the light."

"Hey, remember we promised to share the profits," Kaelis whined as he
backtracked out.

"Oh, don't worry, there's got to be enough here for both of us," came the
reply. "Whoa, will you take a look at that?"

As Kaelis caught up at the cave mouth, he could see what his brother meant.
As the crystal was struck by daylight, it almost seemed to catch the light
and glow with a power of its own. As the brothers looked at each other in
surprise, the crystal suddenly flared forth a powerful wave of energy,
hurling both of them backwards, headfirst, into the cave walls.

And a Gate opened. Within a few seconds, a black-winged woman and a man on
a roaring motorcycle flew through it. He halted a short distance away, and
she landed with a long-range rifle ready in her hands.

But there were no enemies. The area was as deserted as the desert they had
left, only there were hills and plains instead of dusty desert. Noting the
bodies of the fallen boys, Larathia raised her rifle, prepared to make sure
they were dead.

"No," growled Aelis-Re, putting his hand on her arm. "They're *kids*,
Nighthawk," using her use-name in case they were alive. "You're not in any
danger from a pair of kids."

"They saw us arrive," she said flatly. "I'm not happy about leaving
witnesses around."

Aelis-Re walked over to the kids and checked them over. "Good hard knock on
the head," he commented. "They've got a fifty-fifty if we just leave them
here. Will that satisfy you? With that kind of knock, even if they do wake
up they're unlikely to remember what happened."

For a moment, the two stared into each others' eyes, dark green to storm
grey. Then, ever so slightly, Larathia nodded, conceding the point.
Aelis-Re crouched down, as if nothing had transpired. "This is what
probably caused the gate to appear," he said, holding up the glowing
crystal. "Looks like it's light that activates it. Well, we can solve
that." He strode over to where his bike was resting, and stashed the
crystal away in one of the packs. "Might as well keep it on hand for when
we go back," he said, looking back at her.

He didn't want to stay here, Larathia noted. Well, that was understandable.
She didn't, either.  The humans here were the dominant species, and the
most obnoxious and untrustworthy humans she'd ever had the misfortune to
encounter. And the second most dominant, the moogles, were even worse.

"Where to?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Most of the images centered on one of the Macaw girls," she said. "But she
wasn't in NeuVariel. Elven kingdoms don't change that much over the
centuries, but I didn't recognize any of the scenery around her. There's a
town oh....." and she looked around her, "probably a few hundred miles that
way," she said, pointing. "These kids were a long way from home."

Aelis-Re's mouth twitched, the closest he usually got to a smile. "That's
nothing for the Bear. You want to sail or sit?"

"I'll sail. I don't have the powers here I did on Earth, but I still have
to fly."

One eyebrow quirked, a silent inquiry. "The chain going to be strong
enough?" he asked.

Larathia nodded. "It's good steel," she said. "I made sure it could hold
three times my weight without breaking."

Aelis-Re turned around, and got his bike started. As Larathia hooked one
end of the long chain to her belt, he revved the engine pointedly. When she
was securely chained, she whacked the leather seat of the bike, knowing
he'd feel the vibration. Immediately, the Bear threw up clods of dirt
behind it and began roaring down the slope. Just before the chain ran out
of coils, Larathia jumped as high into the air as she could and spread her
wings. When the chain pulled taut, she was hauled high into the air like a
kite.

Sailing along a few hundred feet in the air, she wished she could remember
what the name of that town was. Well, it didn't matter. She couldn't
remember anyone on this world with a motorcycle, so her lover's arrival
would cause enough stir to shake many memories loose.


Larathia


Subj:	 [ffml] [HD] Time and Memory
Date:	01-02-09 23:31:49 EST
From:	larathia@mcs.net (Larathia)
Reply-to:	ffml@yahoogroups.com
To:	ffml@yahoogroups.com, hilliondynasty@egroups.com

A few short hours after setting out, the Bear rumbled to a halt. The lights 
of the city of Tzen were clearly visible on the horizon. By Aelis-Re's best 
guess, they'd averaged over a hundred miles an hour, but it was hard to 
really get up to speed on hilly grass. He crossed his arms over handlebars 
and wrested his chin on his wrists, his silver ankh pendant dangling freely 
as he stared at the lights of Tzen.

Shortly thereafter, he heard a thump and felt a rush of air as Larathia 
landed beside him, stumbling a bit as she touched earth.

"You know," she commented idly, "the flying trick works much better on 
Earth. I don't get whiplash there. Next time, I'll be airborne and in 
motion before the chain pulls."

When Aelis-Re gave no reply she noted his gaze, followed it to the horizon. 
Then she looked back at him. "All right, I'll bite," she said. "What is it?"

Never taking his gaze from the distant city, Aelis-Re got off the Bear and 
walked a little way off. When she followed him, he turned on her suddenly, 
speaking intensely, as though he'd been thinking about it all afternoon. 
"Are you going to be pursuing your crusade here, too?" he demanded.

It was Larathia's turn to consider the horizon as she took her time 
replying. Finally, she said, "If by that you mean will I kill them should 
they get in my way or hinder me, then yes." She turned to face him. "Why? 
Does it matter?"

Aelis-Re's features twisted in sudden anger as he snapped, "*Yes*, it 
matters. You were going to kill those kids back there, and now you're going 
to kill civilians down there, too." His hand made a chopping motion as he 
said, "I've had it."

Larathia was completely taken by surprise. "What?" she stammered, eyes wide.

"I. Have. Had. It." he spat, enunciating each word with excessive care. 
"You've had this obsession with killing humans for years. Well, *I'm* 
human. You going to kill me, too? These guys aren't the ones we were 
fighting on Earth. They aren't oppressing anybody, waging war on anybody, 
or killing anybody. I remember Tzen as well as you do. Once the moogles 
were defeated they were as peaceful as anyone else. Hell, these guys even 
set up a trade agreement with Elfland! They *don't deserve to die*, Larathia."

Stunned at his uncharacteristic outburst, Larathia latched on to the only 
thing she could, and whispered, "But...you aren't really human. Your soul 
is the soul of Elessar de TelContar, of the grey elves and the elves of the 
desert."

Aelis-Re crossed his arms over his chest, but she could see his hands 
clenching into fists. "Neither of us can remember just how long ago that 
was, Larathia," he growled. "And you want to know something? In all the 
ages since, I've clocked far more human years than elven years. I'm at 
least as much human as elf overall. But you never noticed, did you? No, you 
remember me as I was at the beginning - what you can remember of the 
beginning - and you've ignored everything else." He was practically 
twitching, so great was his urge to lash out. Larathia was frozen in 
stunned silence as he hissed, "Do you know what it's like to die, Larathia? 
I do. I *have*, more times than I can count. I think I can speak with some 
authority on the subject, and I am telling you *right now*, you are not 
going to take a single life you don't have to. We're not in a war zone 
here, Larathia, and we're not at war. I won't let you kill the innocent."

Now Larathia's eyes narrowed in anger in their turn. "I will not be 
ordered, Aelis-Re," she said quietly. "Not by any mortal in existence, not 
even you. I will kill them if it serves my purpose to do so."

"But you'll obey your nutball goddess, and leap across the worlds to do her 
half-uttered bidding," jeered Aelis-Re. "Do you know what my average 
lifespan was on this world, after meeting up with you? Do you?" As Larathia 
shrugged, he continued, "*three years*, Larathia. I'd live my normal life 
as whatever I was, then I'd meet up with you, and remember. And on average, 
less than three years later, I'd be dead again. And during that 
godsforsaken excuse for a war, I was lucky to last a few weeks. I could 
have made it as a Lance Henriksen if you hadn't got all fired up over the 
fireworks and *left* me in a ring of twenty moogles."

A hint of indignation entered Larathia's tone as she retorted, "Fireworks 
aren't a weapon of war, Aelis-Re. We were betrayed, my people *died*. I had 
to take vengeance for them."

"And while you avenged the already-dead, you made sure I joined them. And 
I'll tell you something else while I'm at it. I don't think Tim or Cyan did 
the betraying. I think you did."

"How, how can you say that? Only Tim was told of our weakness. How else 
would the moogles have known to use fireworks?"

Placing his fisted hands on his hips, Aelis-Re said, "Because they were 
honorable men, Larathia. You may not have liked them, and I'll agree they 
were royal pains in the asses. But they weren't traitors. I'd stake any of 
my lives on it. Oh, but you won't listen to that, of course. I die, I come 
back, it's like to you I'm going on vacation in the Bahamas. How about 
this? They *needed* you and your flights to win. Common sense says they're 
not going to sell out their allies before the war is won. If they'd wanted 
to take you and your flights out, they'd have done it themselves afterward 
- they couldn't count on the moogles killing your comrades off only *after* 
they'd done their damage."

"You didn't answer my question," retorted Larathia. "How *else* would the 
moogles have known what to do?"

"I. Don't. Know." snapped Aelis-Re. "If you can still care about it this 
much after two thousand years, I suggest you go find out, assuming of 
course you *can*. And while you're at it, see if you can remember what it 
is to be an elf -- because I think you've forgotten. You're a walking 
banshee, Larathia. The only difference is you're not dead yet."

Larathia was shaking her head over and over in denial. She didn't give a 
rotten fig for the opinions of the rest of the multiverse, but the good 
opinion of Aelis-Re was vital to her. To hear him condemning her and her 
actions so decisively was unbearable. Without even thinking about it, she 
spread her wings and fled, quickly disappearing into the evening sky.

Some minutes later, Aelis-Re slowly walked back to his bike and started it 
up. Gently, he banged his head on the handlebars, long hair falling past 
his eyes as he remembered the day she'd given the bike to him. He'd never 
been one for status machines of the impractical variety, but he'd grown to 
love the Bear, especially after some essential modifications. Used to rules 
and order, the first time he'd ridden it into the open places, he'd 
remembered what it had been to be a warrior elf. Gently he reached out a 
finger and traced the raven-tiger design on one side, and the stylized 
silver ankh design on the other, thinking.

"That could have gone better," he muttered regretfully. Slowly, he kicked 
back the stand and set the Bear in motion, gradually wheeling faster toward 
the distant lights of Tzen.