by GoozX, TheTimeTrust, I'm Not Mister Mxypltk, T5 and Sonja
56 Oakwood Avenue, Puerta Mibela, La Perdita:
A taxicab pulled up to a large apartment building, and out stepped Sam, Mick, and Shirley. Sam threw a few dollars to the driver and took a few steps toward the run-down complex.
"Fourteen stories," Sam said, his voice keeping a monotone beat.
"Damn, man, I can't believe your relatives are giving us this building. This place is great."
"Yeah, about what I said before..." Sam hesitated, then said, "My relatives are gone. They died a while ago."
"I'm sorry." Shirley put her hand on Sam's shoulder.
"Nah, it's okay. Over two years have passed. I just really didn't want to tell the others, not yet. I can't even remember most of their names, let alone share secrets with them. When the others get here, could you just make sure that no one uses, or even goes into the top floor?"
"Yeah... for sure, man."
"Okay, now I'm gonna hit the streets. It's been a while since I was home. Let yourself in."
Sam threw Mick a set of keys and began walking into the heart of the city. As he disappeared into the distance, two other taxis pulled up to the complex.
Mick took the keys and opened up the building, even as the others helped Shirley with the groceries she had bought. Since they were going to be living there for a while, they would need something to eat.
"You guys might as well know -- I'm not planning on being the official cook, here," Shirley said.
"Maybe Sonja can help you," said Lance, smiling.
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Sonja said, scowling at Lance.
"Uhhhhh..." Lance stammered, "that is, I meant to say, uhhh... maybe we can each take turns cooking?" Lance grinned and kept on looking at her.
Sonja's face grew hot with anger. "Lance. Stop. Looking. At. My. Breasts."
Lance grew embarrassed. "Sorry. I -- I just can't get them out of my mind..."
"Just shut up while you still can, man," whispered Tobias. "She'll eat you alive."
"I can dream, can't I?" Lance said as he watched Sonja walk up the stairs in front of him.
"This room's ours!" Mick yelled from inside the room he was checking. The room wasn't very big, but it had a big bed in the middle of it.
"What do you mean 'ours'?" Shirley asked, looking inside the room. "There's only one bed in there... unless by 'we' you mean you and the cat..."
"No way!" Tobias said. "Li'l Jo is staying with me."
Velo came out of the room next to Mick's. "This room seems good. I think I will stay here," he says.
"All right!" Mick said, raising his hand for a high five. "We're gonna be neighbors!"
Velo looked at Mick's raised hand for a second. "Now that I think about it," he said, rubbing his chin, "I think I will stay on the next floor."
Lance, looking excited, was about to say something to Velo, when Velo quickly added, "And I think I will take the whole floor for myself, if you don't mind." He then walked away.
"That's funny, I was just gonna suggest that--" Lance began.
"Don't worry, pal, you can stay next to me!" Mick said. "We can be neighbors!"
"High five!" they both yelled at the same time.
"Are they drunk?" Sonja asked Shirley, looking at the two men.
"I wish..." Shirley answered.
Naecken sat on the wooden floor of his new apartment on the tenth floor.
The dust drifted in the wind. No one had occupied this floor for some time, he had been told. And that was just the way he liked it.
The sun shone through the open windows, which had wooden shutters on the outside. Fresh air quickly replaced the stale, dusty smell.
He relaxed and started to meditate. The meditation technique was similar to something his friends called transcendent meditation, which was popular throughout the more creative and artistic societies in Europe.
By focusing on a single circle (imagined, of course) made of light, he focused his mind and relaxed. The deeper he went, the more details were added on to the circle. A few lines, an interconnecting circle, a few curving lines, until he had assembled a complex symbol. Each time he did this, the symbol had to be created exactly the same, preferably with an additional line or circle.
He knew the others would soon gather in the kitchen to make dinner.
"In the time of fire, the green will emerge from the red, bringing life where none existed before." The words echoed in the mind of Sonja while she was looking at herself in a big mirror she found in the room she chose on the thirteenth floor.
She had undressed and was observing her big tattoo, the image of an ancient Sumerian demon, extending from her neck to the ankles. Red-skinned, long-bearded, and short-horned, the figure had a vague resemblance to Naecken.
Naecken. Sonja slowly took a small disk from her bag on the bed.
"Put this disk on Naecken's forehead at the crucial moment I told you about," said the future Eurostar weeks ago in the Malvan-X building in Mandelovia.
After the collapse of the building, while the others were looking for Eurostar's body, she succeeded in digging out the disk from the debris. It was the first thing with which she had begun building her investigation, but only now did she have the time to look at it.
"Dinner is ready!" the voice of Mick shouted from one of the lower floors.
Sonja quickly dressed, put the disk in the bag, and joined the others in the dining room.