InterRealm - Chapter 4
#4 of InterRealm
"He's late," the tall otter grumbled, leaning back against the brick wall in the damp alleyway. No snow had fallen yet in New York City, but yesterday's chilling rain could still be felt on the ground and slick roads all over the bustling city.
"Patience is a virtue, Love, even in our trade," the Cockney rabbit replied. She sat on the small steps leading from a back door of the restaurant into that narrow alleyway--an alley like any of the other hundreds in New York, but still Cynthia sat on that stairway as if it were her throne. Her natural Dutch markings of black and white were complimented by her black leather jacket. Add in her tattered jeans and the spiky, purple headfur, and she was a shining example of the London punk scene, despite having lived in America for many years.
"You said he'd be here," the otter went on, still disgruntled as he pulled out a fresh cigarette, lit it, then placed the box back in the breast pocket of his suede brown coat.
"And so 'e will be, Matthew," Cynthia replied. "If 'e knows what's good for 'im," she added a bit more quietly, as if more to herself than to the otter. "This is my domain," she said, turning her head around to face him (he was standing on the other side of the stairway). "If 'e don't show up, it won't take me long to track down why. I keep good record of all the goings on 'ere."
"And you say he's the best?" Matt asked. Cynthia paused before she answered.
"I've 'eard rumours," she explained slowly, "that 'e's able to go into a crowd, sit down, and listen to up to six different conversations goin' on at once, and just make sense of 'em all, never forgettin' a single detail."
"Rumors can be exaggerated," Matt said skeptically. "Nevertheless," he said, seeing the wary look in the rabbit's eye, "if you trust him, then that's good enough for me."
"Better be fuckin' good enough for ya--I've been using 'im for a long time now. Oi!" she cried, seeing a figure tread cautiously at the end of the alleyway. "Get yer arse over 'ere! Yer late!"
A twitchy bat scuttled close to the duo guardedly, his erratic movements more akin to a spider than a flying mammal. His large ears kept shifting in all directions, almost as if acting independently from the rest of the diminutive bat.
"'Bout ruddy time you showed up, Radar!" Cynthia half yelled, half sighed. "I've got other things I gotta be doin', ya know." She stared at him a moment, then quickly pulled out her purse, rummaged through it, then tossed a small roll of bills at the bat's feet, all the while leaving Matt to wonder what happened to "patience is a virtue." "So what 'ave ya got for me?" the rabbit asked.
Without hesitation, Radar scooped up the bills and stowed them away in a place unseen on his body, then pulled out a small necklace from the same location. It looked mundane enough, a simple shimmering chain with a tiny amulet attached, shaped like an oddly-formed cat's head. It almost looked cartoonish, like something one might find as plain costume jewelry at a second-hand shop. Radar looked like he was going to say something, but he was eying Matt suspiciously. "It's all right, Love," Cynthia told him, seeing his hesitation. "'E's with me. You can talk in front of 'im."
"It's true, what the news is saying," Radar finally spoke, his voice raspy and dry, causing Matt to finally realize how underfed the bat appeared--a true life from the streets. "There was one I saw up close, one that came through. I snatched this off of her," he went on, pointing to the necklace. "Not sure exactly what it does yet--I think I startled her too much when I reached out for it. She was keener than any other mark I've done. Caught me right after the act was done, so I had to run for it."
"And 'er appearance?" Cynthia asked, pulling another piece of paper money from her purse and handing it to Radar. "Looked sorta like a faun. Tall, too. Very tall. 7 feet, maybe. And very green. Don't know why she was so green. Maybe all fauns are that way."
"But she came through the portal, you said?" Cynthia asked, handing yet another bill to her informant.
"Yes, from the other side, wherever that was. Someone said 'another world' in the crowd, but I can't confirm that."
Cynthia stared at him a moment in silence, then stared down at the necklace, rubbing meditatively over that flat amulet with her thumb. "Well," she finally said, looking at Radar again. "Not your best work, but given the circumstances, I won't hold that totally against ya. Thank you, Radar. I'll be in touch."
The bat turned to leave, quicker paced now, knowing his task was completed, before a voice called him back. "Radar," Matt had called, and he stopped and turned to face him. "I might have need of your services sometime soon myself. Will you be around?"
Radar smiled, giving an eerie look about his whole self, then replied slowly, "I sleep where you keep pigeons."
"Thank you, Radar," Cynthia repeated, a tone of finality in her voice. Radar took the hint and hurried out of the alleyway, disappearing from view.
"What did--?" Matt began, but Cynthia cut him off.
"'E knows 'is worth as an informant," she explained, knowing the otter's question already. "Never try to get a straight answer out of 'im unless you're willing to pay. Don't matter what the question is--'e'll send you for a loop 'less you pay up."
"Gotcha," Matt replied. "So what of that necklace?"
"Well, I don't know yet. All I can say is that anythin' that might be comin' from some other world has limitless potential as to what it could be. Could be somethin' right powerful, but then again, it could be a worthless trinket." She held it up, gazing at it curiously, then hid it in her purse. "Worth holdin' on to for now, at any rate."
"So the reports are right, then," the otter sighed. "Portals opening up all over the world? Portal to where? From where? And a faun now? What the hell is up with this world?"
"You ask too many questions," Cynthia stated, turning to look at him. A smile carefully drew upon her face. "I sorta like that. But it can be dangerous, asking too many questions. Sometimes, I think your safest bet is to let things go and work themselves out." She turned back around, looking out at the far end of the alleyway, the occasional passerby popping into view for a second before popping right back out again. "Take it from me, Love--this 'ere is my domain, and I keep a good grasp of all that goes on. But that doesn't mean I have to meddle in every last furson's detail of their lives."
"So you think we should just let this whole situation work itself out?" Matt asked, almost incredulously.
"Well, let things play out a bit for now," the rabbit replied. "See where everything is going before we make any more moves just yet. The board is getting set, there's no doubt about that. Where the pieces will lay...that remains to be seen. And you never want to start a game without knowing where all the pieces are starting, do you?"
"I guess not," the otter replied automatically.
"This isn't just me giving you orders, you know," Cynthia said angrily, turning around to face him once more. "You've been moving up in the food chain 'ere, especially for only having joined two months ago. And even though you've still got a long way to go, I'm only telling you all this because you've got true potential to take over whenever I go. Not that I plan on goin' anytime soon," she added as an afterthought, "but you still get my point. I've made almost as many enemies 'ere as I've made friends, and a lot of them are still out to 'urt me, or worse. So it's not like I don't think about who's going to take over the Clan whenever I'm gone."
"Sorry," Matt replied, again rather automatically. "I appreciate your good faith in me. I really do," he continued, trying to sound genuine.
"Well, our business 'ere is done," Cynthia said, rising from the steps. "We have other things to attend to today." With that, she strolled casually out of the alleyway and onto the busy street, Matt at her heels, the pair of them blending perfectly into the backdrop of the diverse, sleepless city.