There was quite a lot of water between Vecchia Roma and the mainland, and Kurt knew very little about handling boats. He did, however, know a few things about getting places. After spending three years in a small cage, he'd decided it was only fair that he get to see a bit of the world, and had devoted the next two years of his life to seeing Europe by night and from shadowy corners.
Kurt guided his boat slightly northward, since he didn't particularly want to begin a tour of Africa. The moon was getting low when he finally bumped into a beach. The first thing was to find a town. That was easy enough, since the beach seemed to be the focal point of a resort. Now, to get to a public computer.
Kurt wandered the empty streets, keeping strictly to the shadows, peering into every shop window. Soon he passed a nondescript building with large double doors. "La Biblioteca", read the sign above them.
Kurt tunneled his hands around his eyes and looked through the small window. Plenty of empty spots. *Bamf*
The library was not big, and the media corner was not hard to find. Kurt fired up a computer and waited for it to boot.
**********
Kitty was lonely. People seemed to be leaving the mansion left and right. She sat in her swirly computer chair and signed onto instant messenger, hoping for someone interesting to chat with.
An incoming message got onto her screen even before her buddy list fully loaded.
Bamf: Kitty!
Sprite: Kurt??
Bamf: Tell Evan to get on.
Sprite: Where are you? Why?
There was a long pause. Even *Kurt* didn't type *that* slowly. He was obviously refusing to answer.
Kitty got up and poked her head through the wall. Evan was working on something at his desk. When he was hailed by a head sticking out of his Festering Boils poster, he promptly fell off his chair.
"Kitty!" he yelled from his awkward position on the floor. "Don't *do* that!"
"Just get on instant messenger!" she ordered.
Evan knew better than to mess with girls when they used *that* voice. He picked up his chair and flipped on the monitor. Kitty removed herself from his wall. There was another message on her screen.
You've been invited to chatroom "Just Come". Join? Yes/No
Kitty hurriedly hit the enter key and waited for the new window to load.
Bamf: Hi
Sprite: Talk to me, Kurt!!!
Bamf: ...
NYStreetSkater has entered the room.
NYStreetSkater: what's this?
Bamf: I'm sorry Evan :(
NYStreetSkater: K-man?
Sprite: You...what?
NYStreetSkater: for what?
Bamf: I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. Forgive me?
NYStreetSkater: it's cool. I did a dumb thing
Sprite: Tell me what happened!!
Bamf: Don't be nosy, Kitty
ShadesOfRed has entered the room.
Sprite: *growls*
Bamf: About time you showed up!
ShadesOfRed: Kurt?
Bamf: Have you guys all forgotten me already?
ShadesOfRed: Where are you?
Sprite: We all miss you!
Bamf: Um...either Spain or Portugal
NYStreetSkater: did you run away cuz of me?
Sprite: How'd you get there?
Bamf: I didn't run away
Bamf: boat
ShadesOfRed: Is this a stupid joke, Kurt?
Sprite: A boat, he says.
Bamf: No!
Bamf: a boat
NYStreetSkater: are you coming home?
ShadesOfRed: Yes, we've established the boat.
Bamf: I'm trying to
Sprite: But...a boat?? From where?
ShadesOfRed: Kitty, it's not important!
NYStreetSkater: can't you get a boat back?
Bamf: long story short. I sorta ported randomly, found a boat, ran across Amara's island's neighbor, they were weird, I ran away.
Bamf: boat back=no Got no money
ShadesOfRed: Where'd you get a computer?
Sprite: He sorta ported randomly.
Bamf: public library
NYStreetSkater: what's your problem, Kitty?
Bamf: Can you guys send the x-jet or something?
ShadesOfRed: Lay off, Kitty.
Sprite: *is completely disgusted*
Sprite: X-jet's already out.
NYStreetSkater: it is?
ShadesOfRed: Logan and Amara went somewhere.
Bamf: great...
Sprite: Amara went home. They're having a war, or something. Professor was brief about it.
NYStreetSkater: Amara's skipping finals?
Bamf: oh no...
Bamf: Ach! How much school have I missed?
Sprite: What?
ShadesOfRed: A week. Work's piling up.
Bamf: They're warring over me...
Sprite: They're warring over you.
ShadesOfRed: What?
NYStreetSkater: Kitty, pretend you're understanding the conversation, hey?
Bamf: It never does any good to speak badly of people.
Sprite: Well *sorry* if I can't understand a thing you *guys* are rambling about.
ShadesOfRed: Kurt? You're scaring me. Don't do anything stupid.
Bamf: I gotta go
NYStreetSkater: you doing something illegal, man?
Sprite: Is it me, or is Kurt weirder than usual?
Bamf: No! Watch's broken. Haven't slept in 19 hours. Things to do. Don't bother coming for me. Bye.
Bamf has left the room.
ShadesOfRed: Kitty!
Sprite: Whoa...
NYStreetSkater: did that really just happen?
ShadesOfRed: I'm going to get the Professor.
ShadesOfRed has left the room.
Sprite has left the room.
NYStreetSkater: that *did* just happen
NYStreetSkater has left the room.
**********
Kurt shut down the computer, and carefully put everything back the way he'd found it before teleporting out to the street. He hurried down to the beach and climbed back into his boat. He was exhausted, but summoned his last scraps of energy to fight the waves. Had to get back to the island before something stupidly unnecessary happened...
As Vecchia Roma loomed into view on the western horizon, the sky glowed blue at Kurt's back, as if the sun was thinking about rising but hadn't quite gotten there yet. Kurt's arms ached, but he pushed forward until the raft's bottom ground against the sand. Silently repeating a mind-over-matter mantra, he forced his limbs to show a little hustle, and made his way towards the village.
People were milling aimlessly, exchanging mostly untrue news. There was quite a large concentration of men in armor. Erti and the Listeners were having a heated discussion outside the building where Kurt had spent the first part of the night.
Kurt pushed through the crowd and tugged on Erti's sleeve. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
"What happened?" Erti asked anxiously. "Are you all right?"
"I had some...business to attend to," Kurt replied. "My sources tell me you're having a war."
"Of course," Erti nodded. "We thought the Nova Romans kidnapped you."
"Well, they didn't," Kurt said patiently.
"Their princess still insulted you," Fenor joined in. "We can't let them get away with that!"
"No!" Kurt subdued the urge to slap both of them across their faces. "You can't have a war over that!"
"Sure we can!" Takren said enthusiastically. "It's our destiny!"
"Look," Kurt sighed. "This is between me and Amara. You," he pointed to Erti, "come with me and we'll sort this out."
The four men looked at each other. "The Messenger orders it," Kyan said at last. "Who are we to argue?"
"Indeed," Erti said. "Follow me. Tell the men to stand ready," he instructed Kurt and Fenor, respectively.
Kurt dragged himself to the north side of the island, where a grand ship was waiting. Actually, it was large and wooden, and looked like something that would have been floating around in the 1600s. Kurt didn't have the energy to care.
Kurt guided his boat slightly northward, since he didn't particularly want to begin a tour of Africa. The moon was getting low when he finally bumped into a beach. The first thing was to find a town. That was easy enough, since the beach seemed to be the focal point of a resort. Now, to get to a public computer.
Kurt wandered the empty streets, keeping strictly to the shadows, peering into every shop window. Soon he passed a nondescript building with large double doors. "La Biblioteca", read the sign above them.
Kurt tunneled his hands around his eyes and looked through the small window. Plenty of empty spots. *Bamf*
The library was not big, and the media corner was not hard to find. Kurt fired up a computer and waited for it to boot.
**********
Kitty was lonely. People seemed to be leaving the mansion left and right. She sat in her swirly computer chair and signed onto instant messenger, hoping for someone interesting to chat with.
An incoming message got onto her screen even before her buddy list fully loaded.
Bamf: Kitty!
Sprite: Kurt??
Bamf: Tell Evan to get on.
Sprite: Where are you? Why?
There was a long pause. Even *Kurt* didn't type *that* slowly. He was obviously refusing to answer.
Kitty got up and poked her head through the wall. Evan was working on something at his desk. When he was hailed by a head sticking out of his Festering Boils poster, he promptly fell off his chair.
"Kitty!" he yelled from his awkward position on the floor. "Don't *do* that!"
"Just get on instant messenger!" she ordered.
Evan knew better than to mess with girls when they used *that* voice. He picked up his chair and flipped on the monitor. Kitty removed herself from his wall. There was another message on her screen.
You've been invited to chatroom "Just Come". Join? Yes/No
Kitty hurriedly hit the enter key and waited for the new window to load.
Bamf: Hi
Sprite: Talk to me, Kurt!!!
Bamf: ...
NYStreetSkater has entered the room.
NYStreetSkater: what's this?
Bamf: I'm sorry Evan :(
NYStreetSkater: K-man?
Sprite: You...what?
NYStreetSkater: for what?
Bamf: I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. Forgive me?
NYStreetSkater: it's cool. I did a dumb thing
Sprite: Tell me what happened!!
Bamf: Don't be nosy, Kitty
ShadesOfRed has entered the room.
Sprite: *growls*
Bamf: About time you showed up!
ShadesOfRed: Kurt?
Bamf: Have you guys all forgotten me already?
ShadesOfRed: Where are you?
Sprite: We all miss you!
Bamf: Um...either Spain or Portugal
NYStreetSkater: did you run away cuz of me?
Sprite: How'd you get there?
Bamf: I didn't run away
Bamf: boat
ShadesOfRed: Is this a stupid joke, Kurt?
Sprite: A boat, he says.
Bamf: No!
Bamf: a boat
NYStreetSkater: are you coming home?
ShadesOfRed: Yes, we've established the boat.
Bamf: I'm trying to
Sprite: But...a boat?? From where?
ShadesOfRed: Kitty, it's not important!
NYStreetSkater: can't you get a boat back?
Bamf: long story short. I sorta ported randomly, found a boat, ran across Amara's island's neighbor, they were weird, I ran away.
Bamf: boat back=no Got no money
ShadesOfRed: Where'd you get a computer?
Sprite: He sorta ported randomly.
Bamf: public library
NYStreetSkater: what's your problem, Kitty?
Bamf: Can you guys send the x-jet or something?
ShadesOfRed: Lay off, Kitty.
Sprite: *is completely disgusted*
Sprite: X-jet's already out.
NYStreetSkater: it is?
ShadesOfRed: Logan and Amara went somewhere.
Bamf: great...
Sprite: Amara went home. They're having a war, or something. Professor was brief about it.
NYStreetSkater: Amara's skipping finals?
Bamf: oh no...
Bamf: Ach! How much school have I missed?
Sprite: What?
ShadesOfRed: A week. Work's piling up.
Bamf: They're warring over me...
Sprite: They're warring over you.
ShadesOfRed: What?
NYStreetSkater: Kitty, pretend you're understanding the conversation, hey?
Bamf: It never does any good to speak badly of people.
Sprite: Well *sorry* if I can't understand a thing you *guys* are rambling about.
ShadesOfRed: Kurt? You're scaring me. Don't do anything stupid.
Bamf: I gotta go
NYStreetSkater: you doing something illegal, man?
Sprite: Is it me, or is Kurt weirder than usual?
Bamf: No! Watch's broken. Haven't slept in 19 hours. Things to do. Don't bother coming for me. Bye.
Bamf has left the room.
ShadesOfRed: Kitty!
Sprite: Whoa...
NYStreetSkater: did that really just happen?
ShadesOfRed: I'm going to get the Professor.
ShadesOfRed has left the room.
Sprite has left the room.
NYStreetSkater: that *did* just happen
NYStreetSkater has left the room.
**********
Kurt shut down the computer, and carefully put everything back the way he'd found it before teleporting out to the street. He hurried down to the beach and climbed back into his boat. He was exhausted, but summoned his last scraps of energy to fight the waves. Had to get back to the island before something stupidly unnecessary happened...
As Vecchia Roma loomed into view on the western horizon, the sky glowed blue at Kurt's back, as if the sun was thinking about rising but hadn't quite gotten there yet. Kurt's arms ached, but he pushed forward until the raft's bottom ground against the sand. Silently repeating a mind-over-matter mantra, he forced his limbs to show a little hustle, and made his way towards the village.
People were milling aimlessly, exchanging mostly untrue news. There was quite a large concentration of men in armor. Erti and the Listeners were having a heated discussion outside the building where Kurt had spent the first part of the night.
Kurt pushed through the crowd and tugged on Erti's sleeve. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
"What happened?" Erti asked anxiously. "Are you all right?"
"I had some...business to attend to," Kurt replied. "My sources tell me you're having a war."
"Of course," Erti nodded. "We thought the Nova Romans kidnapped you."
"Well, they didn't," Kurt said patiently.
"Their princess still insulted you," Fenor joined in. "We can't let them get away with that!"
"No!" Kurt subdued the urge to slap both of them across their faces. "You can't have a war over that!"
"Sure we can!" Takren said enthusiastically. "It's our destiny!"
"Look," Kurt sighed. "This is between me and Amara. You," he pointed to Erti, "come with me and we'll sort this out."
The four men looked at each other. "The Messenger orders it," Kyan said at last. "Who are we to argue?"
"Indeed," Erti said. "Follow me. Tell the men to stand ready," he instructed Kurt and Fenor, respectively.
Kurt dragged himself to the north side of the island, where a grand ship was waiting. Actually, it was large and wooden, and looked like something that would have been floating around in the 1600s. Kurt didn't have the energy to care.
