Author’s Note: Please take note that some time has passed since the events of episodes 1-4. Readers are advised to keep an eye on the date (and sometimes location) in the subtitle of of each episode.
Rin sat at a small square wooden table and quietly polished off a bottle of Bowmore Darkest. Not even a tingle. This wasn't a surprise, of course. It had been a very long time since alcohol had any effect on her, an unfortunate downside to being the way she was. These days, Rin just drank for the memories it conjured. Scotch wasn't quite like the drinks back home, but close enough to serve.
She had tried well-nigh everything over the years, and for some reason the Bowmore worked best. Nostalgia in a bottle. She would have to learn how to make it herself before that company passed, as they all did. No, it was better not to. Nostalgia had its place, but an unlimited supply would furnish only melancholy and regret. Rin was not naturally disposed to either.
The room was nothing special, but it served its purpose. A rather spacious square, the wall opposite the door was occupied by a cheap mattress on metal springs, while the other two boasted a kitchen counter and bathroom. Being an agent of the gods was far less glamorous than Rin had imagined. She hadn't signed up because of the excitement, of course. In fact, she hadn't signed up at all. The gods had a nasty way of bending people to their purpose.
Rin had come to accept this, but it did little to numb the boredom. She once had heard a quote to the effect that war was long periods of unbearable tedium punctuated by short spurts of unbearable terror. The first part certainly was true enough.
A fan slowly rotated on the ceiling, and she envied its motion. If this kept up, she'd have to manufacture her own excitement. And that never ended well for anyone. One, two, three ...
A knock on the door interrupted her weary train of thought. She only had managed twenty-seven turns of the fan. However bored she was, Rin still was in no mood for company. Especially a cleaning woman or some nosy neighbor. They were more boring than boredom itself, and she simply had no energy for trite conversation.
Rin had observed that most prisoners welcomed change in any form, however banal. In the old days, pain and starvation and fear were the enemies. But in modern prisons --- at least the ones in the U.S. --- the enemy was boredom. There was no inquisitor, no agony to focus on. Just monotony and the endless bureaucracy that begat it. Pain would break anyone, but so would tedium.
If there was no dignity in screaming uncontrollably while oozing bodily fluids, the consequent surrender was at least honorable. But to lose one's soul to mere emptiness? That was without dignity or honor. That was the genius of the modern penal system. An endless calendar of unfilled days with no hope of reprieve. Rin laughed. By that token, she was worse off than anybody. They at least would find eventual release.
The knock repeated itself, more urgently this time. Rin briefly weighed whether killing the interloper would offer a distraction. Forty-five, Forty-six ... Or she just could keep counting. Well, there was nothing for it. It wasn't like she had anything better to do.
Rin decided she wouldn't kill the nuisance, but they certainly would leave less happy for importuning her. It had been a while since she had driven anybody to suicide, but maybe she'd give that a try. Rin groaned. It just seemed so pointless. She couldn't even muster the energy to hate the person. Whoever was at the door didn't deserve the blessing of suicide. What would killing one more human accomplish?
She'd just be civil and smile and eventually shut the door and return to watching the fan. It better not turn too much while she was busy. If she lost count, she'd have to kill it to avoid starting over. Damn it, she had to kill something but just couldn't be bothered. The fan had been fucking with her all evening, and it deserved to be dealt with. No, she would do one better. She would kill all fans everywhere, extirpate the very notion of fan-ness from the world. Never again would ...
Suddenly, Rin was terribly sorry. She wanted to hold the fan, cradle it, love it like no fan had ever been loved. A distant third round of knocks intruded, and she realized she had been dozing off. Rin cursed incoherently. This meant she really was bored. She only slept by choice, and it couldn't be a good sign if she chose to without even being aware of it.
Rin rose with great effort, plodding her way to the door half-awake. When she opened it, there was a popping sound followed by the shattering of glass from behind her. She wondered if it was the mirror above her bed. Goddamn it, seven more years of bad luck. Rin yawned and stretched out lethargically. Eight more pops followed, commingled with various muffled cracking and splintering sounds. By the fourth, she was awake but still woozy.
A tall man in the doorway had some sort of gun against her head. By the time Rin had taken in the situation, the popping had ceased. The man appeared to have run out of bullets and was reloading. If he hadn't been scared off by now, he clearly wasn't about to go away. Rin really didn't feel like chasing him, and probably would have just let him go. Ah well, his choice. She turned around and plunked back into the wood chair.
Apparently, the man had finished reloading by then, and he promptly fired another nine rounds into her. The last two splintered the chair, and Rin landed on her butt. That pissed her off, and she completely emerged from her reverie.
There was distant screaming from the apartment below. Some bystander probably had been shot, but that wasn't her problem. Well, actually it was her problem, because she'd have to move apartments now. How very inconvenient. She suddenly was in a far less indulgent mood.
Rin picked up the remains of the chair and aimed a crushing blow at the man's head, but he grabbed it by the foot on the way down and yanked it from her grasp. Then he swung at her face, but slid off and fell onto the bed. Rin was on him in an instant, and had him in a headlock before he could recover. To her surprise, he calmly worked his hands between her arm and his neck, flipped around to face her, and locked his own hands together, one over her shoulder and the other behind her back.
Clever, Rin thought. If he couldn't grab her, he would try to restrain her within a loop. It wouldn't work, but he couldn't have known that. On the other hand, the man had remained calm when his bullets had no effect. He must have had some sense of what to expect. She decided to play along, and didn't break the loop.
The man butted her in the head as hard as he could. As his own head bounced back in obvious pain, Rin laughed. Maybe he wasn't so clever after all. On the other hand, he did manage to keep his arms clasped despite the injury. It was futile, but she was impressed nonetheless. Most people did not have such presence of mind when discomfited. This was fun, but enough was enough.
Rin slid through his loop, twisted his hand around and threatened to crack it. There was no need. The man was visibly disoriented from the head injury and didn't resist. She removed his belt without trouble and tied his hands together. For good measure, she punched him in the face a couple of times, leaving him in a rather unenviable state on the bed. Rin chuckled. Pretty soon, he'd envy that unenviable state.
There was a frustrating shortage of rope in the apartment, and her outfit didn't have a belt or anything that could serve. After rummaging around a bit, Rin cut the power cord off her table-lamp. With this she tied the man's neck to the bedpost using a slip knot, leaving a long tail which could be pulled to strangle him as necessary. At least this was a little interesting. Interrogations always were fun, especially when you didn't have any idea what the subject would say. Rin suddenly felt energized. Then she noticed that the man was unconscious.
She groaned with impatience. Ah well, back to the tedium for a bit. Rin was glad she hadn't killed the fan in her sleep. One, two, three ...
She remembered the screaming neighbor. Dammit, the police probably had been called. They weren't a threat to her, but Rin doubted she could keep the man safe if they came barging in, guns blazing like a bunch of meat-heads. That was the problem with police: one never could predict how they would react. She at least needed to figure out whether the man was worth moving before going to the trouble. She'd have to expedite things. Thankfully, in this neighborhood the cops would take their time. Rin estimated she had at least thirty minutes.
She examined the man more closely, but was unable to place him. This didn't surprise her. He probably just was one of the millions of random people she'd pissed off over the years. Or ... he may be a sign she was getting close to Vivvett. That could be good or bad. Vivvett would flee if she sensed real danger, and once again Rin would have to start searching from scratch. But if she'd sent only one thug, it likely meant she didn't know who was pursuing her.
On the other hand, the man had been surprisingly well prepared. Were the Proteges fighting one another? Rin hadn't seen this in recent times, and it would be utterly pointless. But that didn't mean it wasn't happening. It was the explanation which fit all the facts. The man had been sent to find out who was pursuing Vivvett, and maybe ascertain her number. Still, it made little sense.
Well, there was one way to find out. She would torture him a bit and learn what he knew. Then she'd torture him a lot for annoying her. Then she'd look for a new apartment. Rin reached for the table-lamp, but stopped and kicked herself. That lamp would have been very handy right about now if some idiot hadn't cut its cord off.
She scanned the room for something else which could work. Her eye alighted on the toaster. It hadn't been of much use to her for making toast, and finally could prove its worth. Yes, serve your mistress, little toaster. She beamed, grabbing it in one hand before feeling a tug. Her jubilation was as short as the toaster's cord. Why did companies have to be so cheap? How would she do anything useful to him with that?
Another fast-moving entry. Rin's dry humor is one of the best aspects of this story to me. That being said, I'm sure she will also excel at torture. :)