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Here's an excerpt from the scene I've been having fun with last week. It still has a way to go before it's fully ready, but here's a piece of it in its current, imperfect state. I call it the Burgess Dinner.
Over Greg’s creative appetizers, conversations diverged, mostly about the ongoing festival — about the impossible crowds in the inter-district transits, about travelling in this kind of weather (even though most of the travelling took place underground), about festival thematic cosplay preparations, and the outstanding art display inside the inter-D tunnels, and so many upcoming shows…
Leona’s ear caught Anthony’s voice venturing on darker grounds. Anthony Limoges was Anita’s mother’s new spouse, and Anita liked to call him the Obnoxious Spouse, or OO. After a taste of his personality upon meeting him for the first time a year before, Leona wasn’t too keen on repeating the experience.
The OO was giving it to Old Lian’s ear, his voice loud enough for Leona to pick up over the multiple threads of conversation. “I hear the sub fluxes are abuzz with this new non-drug thing that just hit the underlevel markets; some ancient, multigorative tech from Seb’s renaissance… They call it VR, for Void Reduce”. He laughed out loud. “Reducing the Void… I wonder how one can do that.”
To a true Voidist, this kind of talk would have reeked of blasphemy, but apparently, Old Lian wasn’t one. The ancient man just grunted, looking at the ceiling to express his agreement with Limoges’ assumption that the matter should be considered at least a mild annoyance, then he turned away, making a show of addressing someone else.
Leona tried to put her attention elsewhere as well, but the OO’s piercing, nasal voice tended to cut through the loud chatter of Anita’s numerous relatives.
“Also, did you hear about the Partisans, acting up again? It’s either the old gang, or some dubious new organization that calls itself the Third Partisans…”
Why in Seven would the old man give a shit about any of that?
Apparently, he did.
Limoges must have been loud enough—and the sound of his voice really was annoying—that all other conversations stopped. Everyone in Dani's and Greg's dining room looked at him.
Leona noticed that Anita’s father was also present. She didn’t need to make a significant mental effort to recall his name: Liam-with-an-‘m’ — Liam Xavier, or Younger Liam, so as to not confuse him with Lian-with-an-’n’, the ancient son of the even more ancestral Madison.
Leona had racked her mind the year before, trying to understand why Anita's dad still bothered to attend the Burgess dinners, what with his ex-spouse’s presence and, not to mention, this hardly bearable new companion of hers. But she’d given up the case. Some people’s motivations were just too hard to fathom.
Anita’s father, Younger-Liam-with-an-n, was a man of few words. He was also a notorious alcoholic. Leona hadn’t heard him talk today so far, but presently. he rose and stood on wobbly legs, managing to stare Anthony Limoges down. “This is all in very bad taste, man. You’re making everyone uncomfortable.”
“Rumours,” Irma pointed out - Anita’s mother, Leona reminded herself. “Fake news," Irma said, pulling at her OO's arm. "Nothing we should be paying attention to, honey. I'm telling you, that's what you get for spending too much time on the Bad Feuds channel.”
Leona shot Anita a quick look. Anita glanced back, the lines on her forehead softening a little.
Greg and Dany were good at hosting, and they must have coached each other for this particular occasion, so they were quick to pick up the need for a diversion. Greg took charge this time, showing off his festival pass.
“Did you know The Solemongers will be performing at the big 2-cents night on Saturday?”
***
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