A Conversation Piece – dragon

A Conversation Piece dragon smallRini-chan looked at the tiny flash drive in her hand. Then she looked at the USB port someone had installed in the back of one of Ford’s computers. She read the instructions in her other hand, stuck the drive in the port and pushed the tiny jeweled button on the end that wasn’t connected. The entire thing lit up as it did whatever it was programmed to do.

“Mom, if you just virused SHADO I am soooo not gonna take the blame for this.”

The light went out. Rini-chan pulled the drive and folded out of the area just as the day shift came wandering in.

 

Lightcudder opened her door to see the insanely pink haired Rini, who handed her a small flash drive and folded away without a word. Torn between jealousy and curiosity, she decided to see what it was that she’d been handed.

“Oh my word!” She just about fell over laughing. Quickly she IM’d An Delen Dir. “You’re gonna love this. Dragon talked to Him! Apparently Straker showed up yesterday to talk and someone recorded it.”

“What?”

Lightcudder looked at the screen. “They were sitting on a bench, in a park, back to back when Ed spoke. I’ll send it to you!

Straker (companionably)

“Dragon.”

dragon (startled)

“Huh? Oh, it’s … you. Uhm …”
(suspects he’s not quite laughing at the reaction)

Straker

“We need to talk.”

dragon

(incoherent noises)
(small voice)

“Well, that’s what An and Ltcdr keep saying … are you sure?”

Straker

(polite snort)

dragon

“I’ll just be going …”
(folding up netbook and trying to leave)

Straker

“Sit down!”

dragon (kneejerk reaction, sits)

“Yes, sir.”

Straker (a little bemused)

“Sir?”

dragon

“I was well brought up? Even if it’s not real evident most of the time?”

Straker (acerbically)

“Do you ever finish anything?”

dragon (offended)

“Yes, i finished skulls!”
(realizing which story she chose to defend herself with, blushing and mumbling again)

Straker (dryly)

“Yes, I noticed that one.”

dragon

“You got the girl!”
“And I got rid of the aliens.”

Straker

“What did you do with them?”

dragon

(mumbling again)

Straker

“What?”

dragon

“The other bad guys got them.”
(looking around like she’d prefer not to have said that)
“Still, they are gone and you and Kelsey are definitely going strong.”

Straker

“Magic.”

dragon

“Well, er … yeah.”
“They ate the aliens, not me”

Straker

“And a magic using madman?”

dragon

“That’s the other guy! You’re not crazy.”

Straker (snort of laughter)

“That’s a relief. you did write one where I was.”

dragon

“Unpublished vignettes don’t count.”
(scooting to the end of the bench and nearly overbalancing)

straker

“Which reminds me: vampire?”

dragon

“Hey, I like vampires …”
(meeting the mirrored sunglasses squarely and backing off the end of the bench)

Straker (fighting laughter)

“Are you all right?”

dragon (attempting to retrieve her dignity and getting back on the bench)

“Yeah. I’m a bit of a clutz.”

Straker (regarding her curiously now)

“Not with language.”

dragon

(blushes)
“Uhm … thank you. I try …”

Straker

“Sometimes you’re very trying. Alice in Wonderland?”

dragon (smiling)

“Hey, I’m fond of the books and the movies, most of them. Chessie is fun.”

Straker

“Hmm. I’m stuck there in one of your stories.”

dragon

“But I’ve got it figured out, honest.
(blushing at remembering just how some of the thing will turn out)

Straker (raised eyebrow)

“Oh?”

dragon

“You don’t have to kill the jabberwocky!”

Straker

“Malice?”

dragon

“No. you’ll be fine and won’t actually kill anyone in that one.”

Straker

“Good thing, considering what I … my alter ego is doing in sorcerer.”
(ending on a sinister note there)

dragon

“none of the canon characters are getting … de — cimated …
OK, I picked on Jackson pretty thoroughly in that one.
…but he got the girl in the other one … the one on wheels ….
i should shut up now, shouldn’t I?”

Straker

“Drunken immortals on roller blades, that was a concept. I’m not jealous.
… Caleb …”

dragon (brightly)

“Great character!”

Straker (nodding)

“And homoerotic undertones…”

dragon

“Welllll …. that’s caleb. It makes for great tension. at least he’s not
a psychotic blabbermouth … no, you’re not meeting that one! ever!
Caleb just … is that way … and he’s a great agent.”

Straker (nodding)

“And loyal, I will give you that.”

dragon

“Thank you.”

Straker

“Still, the undertones in those stories are … “

dragon

“At least they’re undertones. I didn’t actually invade your … er … sex life with him.”

Straker

“No, but you did give me a ghost in that sequence of stories.”

dragon (quickly countering)

“Guardian angel…
…sort of.
Mostly?”

Straker

“Uh huh. and the rebellious second cousin? That was necessary?”

dragon

“Wellllllll, she’s a lot like you.”

Straker

“What?”

dragon (ducking slightly)

“Well she is: tormented, devoted, leader, going to do what she
thinks is right come hell or … high …. water …. isn’t that my ride?”
(grabs bag and deserts ship)

Straker

(answering cell phone)
“It’s all right, let her go.”

Lightcudder frowned at the next page which was filled with boxes and funny faces and other odd symbols. “Oh, drat,” she wrote to An. “It looks like they encoded the rest of it.”

“Translate it?”

“I’ll see what I can do. At least dragon seems to have survived the encounter, in spite of her misgivings.”

This article has 2 Comments

  1. I was absolutely delighted to read this conversation between Straker and dragon. Not simply because she survives the encounter 🙂 but because it is a wonderfully amusing and intimate account. dragon (yes, it is a lower-case “d”!) writes so well that we can visualise the two of them, back to back on a bench, Straker’s dry tone, dragon’s worried responses. Straker knows his writers well, which is good to know–(Straker – regarding her curiously now: “Not with language.” ) and I love the final sentence. — Straker (answering cell phone. “It’s all right, let her go.” —– Perfect. Fun to read, fun to imagine and also so much in character. Thank you dragon. Just *one* complaint. An unpublished vignette? You have to share that with us at some stage! 😉

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