Writers: Katt, Barb
Characters: Reid, Harold, assorted NPC's
Date: Day 4, early a.m.
Location: Nick's Too, The Strip
Turning away from the window that over looked the scene of the Strip below, Reid's eyes traveled once more over his room above Nick's Too. On the Mortal Plane a room like this was known as a studio apartment. Reid just thought of it as 'his room'. It was vast and mostly empty except for a few things; one item of which, a large library table that stood in the center of the room, was completely covered with various odds and ends cluttered on its surface. Books, a comic here or there, a few other small items, stacks of papers with vast lists upon them, most of the list items crossed off in red or black ink. The red signifying those items that he had found himself. There wasn't a lot of red-ink markings on those pages compared to the number of black, but what there was, he would be the first to point out, had been an impressive number for only one Fetcher to have found. Looking at those papers now he had thought, Finders-keepers, with an impish little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. A saying he had quipped to another Fetcher once when they had been after the very same item, but Reid had gotten to it first.
Things didn't really matter in the end of it all, but people liked to have things about them, and Reid was no exception. In a pocket of his jeans he placed one such old favorite of his. A silver pocket-watch. A good-luck charm more then an actual time-piece to him. What did time matter here in Purgatory? But it was Time that Fetchers dealt with on a Purgatory daily basis, and having some small symbol of that on his person, in his opinion, didn't hurt. The watch reminded him that Time didn't stop for anyone except Chronos himself, and that every Retrieval was a race against the ticking clock.
Crossing the room from the window to the table, Reid picked up a paper laying on the top of the stack and read it over a moment before picking up the red pen and crossing off two items listed upon it. The rest of that list he had crossed off with the black pen with a disappointed shake of his head. Two items out of all of those on that list. Reincarnation didn't wait for anyone either. When you had to go, you had to go, and oh well for the plans you had made that day. But at least there had been two items he had Retrieved before he had been sent away. And those two items now sat upon the table. One, a Madam Alexander Doll, a portrait of Alice in Wonderland; a whimsical little doll with a sweet cherub face. The very essence of childhood. The other, a Faberge Egg titled The Trans-Siberian Egg. It still had all three sections of the miniature train within it. And, when those three sections were joined together and the engine was wound, the miniature train still ran. It was a wonderful and beautiful piece of craftsmanship. And now that he was back, he'd have to find the doll's and the egg's new home. And more items awaited Retrieval yet.
With this in mind, Reid picked up a smaller item from the table and slipped that into his pocket as well while heading to the door of his room. Once out in the hall, he turned and closed the door, then laid his hand on the doorjamb. Built into it were exquisitely sensitive essence scanners wired into the building security system. Reid felt the scanner read him, and the doorknob on this door disappeared.
With the security field activated, Reid headed down the stairs and out of the building. He halted for just a moment when his feet touched the pavement, giving a curious glance to the Branch office of Hell, and the Casino nearby. It wasn't those buildings themselves that had caught his curiosity, but the thought of what new items the Black Market might be offering. He'd have to find out later. Right now, he wanted his new list of the day. Turning right, he took two steps and was in front of the opaque glass door to Nick's Too.
Opening the door, he stepped in and said, "Hey Beautiful, what color are you painting your nails today?"
Tuesday, Nick's secretary, looked up, a smile spreading across her pretty features. She was a petite girl, appearing in her early twenties, and she was as efficient as she was ruthless when it came to safeguarding Nick's operation. She'd been with him for almost 700 years. There wasn't much she didn't know about everyone in Nick's databases, and she kept it to herself.
She wore her chestnut hair in a delicate bun, and she favored slim skirts and sweater sets. Quickly capping the nail polish she jumped to her feet, waving her hands in the air. "Reid! I'd hug you but..."
"I know, you just did your nails."
"Exactly. You have to admit it's nice how some things never change - like you." She eyed him up and down, playing their long-standing game of flirtation. Tall and blonde with green-blue eyes, his form appeared the same age as she. The laugh lines he sported at the corners of his eyes proved what she liked most about him - his optimistic, fun-loving and competitive nature. All Fetchers were competitive, it was practically a job requirement; but not all of them viewed the chase with the good humor and utter confidence Reid exuded.
Beaming at him, she said, "Handsome as ever. Tell me how you died this time."
"This time... it was like a ride at Universal Pictures," he grinned in return, leaning his back against one of the file cabinets.
"Universal pictures? They have rides at an Astronomical Museum?"
Reid laughed at her puzzled look. "It's an amusement park, darlin', late twentieth century. Sorry, I just came from there and it's still fresh."
"Ahhh. So? It was fun?"
"Check this out: I went through an entire lifetime, never once bothered by a bee of any sort. Go on vacation, bam! Get stung and turns out that body was allergic. Didn't stop there though. I sailed right over the embankment on a mountain-road, flew out the windshield, bounced off the ground, smacked the car and landed again with the car on top of me. Just to keep me there, you know. For the Bar-B-Q that the car turned into." he nodded with that same impish grin, "You just can't buy that kind of entertainment any more."
"Wow," she breathed, impressed. "No wonder you guys go straight to the Infirmary."
"Actually...I'm hoping that someone will slip up somewhere on that one." he admitted with a shrug, "That way I could be the first Fetcher to have one of those Karmic Hangovers everyone's on about."
Tuesday shook her head, and shuddered. "Trust me, you're better off. There was a doozy of one yesterday - a Hunter. I think the EMT's are still trying to get the stains off the sidewalk in front of Molly's." EMT's, or Essence Management Technicians, worked out of the Infirmary and tried to track karmic hangovers in progress so they could get the corporeal forms off the street. "Anyway, Nick got word last night you'd be coming in, and he had me do up a special report for you, to catch you up."
"Oh?" Reid stepped away from the file cabinet and watched her with curious eyes as she moved to get the report. "News travels fast, as always."
"For Nick it does," she grinned, gathering the papers and handing them to him.
"Thank you much." He skimmed it, knowing he'd go over it with a fine-tooth comb in a little while. "So what's changed around here? Not much I'm thinking." He closed the report and looked up at Tuesday. "Anyone else find anything I should know about?"
Tuesday knew he was talking about the Fetcher's Pentathalon, those coveted items that all the Fetchers were after. She smiled slyly. "Interesting you should ask that."
"Any windows spotted?"
She handed him a paper she'd held back from the rest. "As a matter of fact, yes. There's a WOO this afternoon." A WOO was a Window Of Opportunity. You reincarnated so quick last time, I never got the chance to ask you about finding that coin. Did you get it?"
"Oh ye of little faith," he said, grinning. Reaching into his pocket and finding what it was he was looking for, he freed it and tossed the coin up in the air, caught it, then placed it on her desk. "Roman, as requested. I think that's the Caesar you were missing." Though Reid was actually sure of this. He had a list of all the coins she had mentioned that she wanted for her collection, and that one was the last of the Roman coins on it.
Tuesday pulled a magnifying glass from her desk drawer and examined the coin quickly. When she looked up, her smile was brilliant. "You are the greatest!"
"Only because of you." he had nodded in all seriousness, waving the report in his hand slightly. "Who, after all, just found me a WOO? You keep me ahead of the pack." he winked one of those twinkling green-blue eyes her way.
"Still," she said, smiling. "Go on with you now, or you'll miss the roll call and the WOO."