From Newsgroup: rec.arts.comics.creative

Original post: https://lists.eyrie.org/mailman3/hyperkitty/list/racc@lists.eyrie.org/message/3OFC3IVRDGOD5E2FGTELL6BARJXKYA2M/
On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 4:02rC>PM Arthur Spitzer <arspitzer2@gmail.com> wrote: <snip>

Is it time for LJC to put some more people's brothers in
body casts?! When is the next Tantric Banjo Jamboree
and Bake Sale?!

X3 Excellent questions

And is it time for someone who would've
once gone by the name 'Dave' to be very mysterious and
cryptic?!!!

ALWAYS. :D

"Some war." LJC muttered to herself. She threw back the last of her cider, and stared at the dregs of the glass. No one would let her use
their account. No one. "Ungrateful little..." she trailed off, then stopped. Okay, so she had a bit of a history. She could understand that. But no one had gotten killed....

Well, recently, anyway.

X3;;;

"Hello?" Charles sounded muzzy.
"It's me."
"Good morning, LJ."
"Morning? Chuck, it's 2:12."

Immediately imagining that this is Charlie Brown and LJC is an adult
Peppermint Patty.

"And you actually sprang for a long distance phone call. I'm very impressed ."
"Don't be silly, I don't do that sort of thing. Some very curious people are going to wonder when they get their credit card bills."

Heeheehee

"Sarcasm doesn't become you." She sighed. "You're my best bet, Chuck. I promise, this is the last time."
"I don't know LJ. I want to live to see my fiftteenth birthday."

...is she begging favors off a teenager, or is that weird spelling an injoke? X>

"Computer problem you say?"
"You're my fave hacker. What can you do for me?"

"Teenage hacker" lines up, I gotta say...

"Jesus, do you have to sneak up on me?"
"Ghost don't exactly have footsteps, unless of course you *want* me to." Linda hadn't changed since the last time LJ had seen her. Of course, the last time LJ had seen her, she'd been breathing, but that was hardly her fault. She had been in Poland when she got the news, and couldn't make the funeral.

Welp. X>;

"Keep on your toes, kid." The ghost whispered in her ear, then dissipated, and LJ allowed herself to shiver. She supposed it could have been worse. At least Linda had liked her before she died.

Das gay

"Oh, LJ?" The bartender called over as she headed for the door. "Someone was here, looking for you."
"For me?"
"English guy. Blond."

I don't think any of the characters so far have gotten their hair
color described, so I have no idea who this is. X>

All in all, thought Kit as he limped into the office, it's been a good morning.
I mean, here he was, trying to get something done for Jo (not that he'd dare call her that to her face) and he had made it alive to his destination. Only one pit bull mangled his leg, the semi had stopped just in time, and the plane had come no where near him. Yessir, this might be a good morning after all.

Holy shit. X> Terrible luck

One of these days, Jo, he thought, the payback will come in. In the year
they had been living together, since they had met at the Tantric Banjo Jamboree
and Bake Sale, life with a Constantine had been...interesting. Now, though, he
wasn't dying anywhere nearly as frequently as he had at first, and the close calls were beginning to get less and less close. Bloody good thing, that. I mean, she's a great romp and all, but how much can one man take?

*Fascinating* X3

Several hours later, Kit found himself at ther front of the line. As he stepped forward, the man behind the desk moved to place a "Closed: Try next window" sign on the counter. With parrot-like reflexes, Kit grabbed his hand.
"What's this, then," he asked, only mildly annoyed.
"It's lunchtime," the man grunted. "Go to the next window."
Kit looked to his right, then to his left. There apparently was no next window, and he pleasantly informed the man of this fact, while squeezing his hand tighter.
"Hey, you got a problem with the facilities, complain to Building and Maintenance."

*Definiely* Kafkaesque.

"Yes I can," Kit replied in a steely voice he had heard LJ use a few times, "I have a trenchcoat."

Heeheehee

"Well," said the useless one, "I'm not supposed to access files for anyone
but the owner of the account..."
Twenty dollars later, LJ's account record was on the screen. "Well," said
the man behind the desk, squinting at his monitor, "there is no record of the account being closed by this office. Therefore we cannot re-activate it. Have a
nice day."
With that, fearing further pain might be inflicted on his person, the man
darted from the desk and into the office complex.

The thing is, having worked face-to-face customer service, I have a
*lot* of sympathy for this guy. X>

"Beyond this door you do not want to go," rumbled the figure.
"In proper English you do not speak," replied Kit less than wittily. "Who
the hell are you and what are you doing blocking my way?"
The tall man took a deep breath. He needed to. He was about to begin a soliloquy.
"Once I would have gladly shaken your hand, invited you over for pizza, watched MST3K with you. Once I would have answered to 'Dave.' But now, I must remain...a Stranger!"

YES. :D Dun dun dunnnnn...

He waited for Kit to be inpressed. He waited a long time. Finally he went
on anyway.

heeheehee

"No. You should not be here. Even your knowledge of this place is dangerous. I must remove you from here and cloud your memory."
"Hey! You can't do that!"
"Yes I can. I have a trenchcoat."
Oh, well. Can't win 'em all, thought Kit.

X3 I love how that's just the final word.

Great grey clouds of smoke
poured forth from the smoke machine in the corner. Slowly consciousness slipped away...
...and Kit found himself lying in a snow covered cornfield. Damn, he thought. Why can't I hang around with *normal* people. Slowly, groggily, he got
up, dusted himself off, and walked to the nearby road to hitch a ride back home.

hehehehehehe
Drew "ah, fun stuff" Nilium
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