Books And Covers Thereof (1.15)

>Ask her opinion of Beret Lady! Can't hurt to hear both sides.

“So,” says Kitty.  “Do you know anything about the woman in the beret?”

“Eh?”  Mindy asks. Kitty points to the woman at the bar.  Mindy squints at the woman, who’s still watching them.  “I think I’ve seen her a few times.  I don’t know her though, she just comes in here and picks up some boy or girl every so often.  Why?”

“She...said some things about you.”

“Oh?  Like what?”

“Like that you’re weird.”

“I am pretty strange, thank you.”

“She also said you believed you were descended from a dragon.”

Mindy cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow.  “A what?”

“A dragon.”

A wide smile crossed Mindy’s face again.

“S-silly, right?” stammered Kitty.

“Yes.  Hahaha.”

“H-heh heh.”

“Hahahahaha, pretty silly.”

“Y-y-yeah, so silly, right?  H-heh heh h-heh heh heh heh heh h-h-h-h-heh.”

“Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”  Mindy burst into a chain of gigglesnorting that rivalled even Annie’s periodic bouts of it.  She threw back her head and loud out a thunderous guffaw straight into the air.

Kitty exchanges another questioning look with Pamela.  Pamela shrugs.

“H-h-heh?  ...It’s not true, right?”

Mindy began laughing again.  

“...Okay then.”

>Kitty: Elaborate on the Faust and Ilucis dealyo. Who are these guys, eh?

 “So, er, you mentioned the Faust and Ilucis families.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Who are they?” asks Kitty, unironically.

“...Is she for real, Pamela?”

“She doesn’t get out much, Mindy.  It’s not really her fault.  Plus she lives in the Tiger district.”

“Ahhhhh,” said Mindy, suddenly filled with understanding.  She began to nod sagely.  “You’re practically foreign.”

“We’re not...foreign,” replies Kitty.  “We just live on an island, and are largely of East Asian and Middle Eastern descent.  In fact, according to, um, records, my grandparents were of Chinese and Japanese descent, and, um, going far back, a lot of my ancestors were apparently Egyptian, which, I was told, is an interest story-”

“And I’m hispanic, but who’s counting?” says Mindy.

“I don’t see how that relates, but-”

“Hey, look, it probably is interesting-Wait, does it involve dragons?”

“Not as far as I know.”

“Then save it for later, or I’ll never get through telling you about the Faust and Ilucis families.”

“Er, sorry.  Go ahead, please!”  

Mindy takes off her jacket, tossing it over her head like a hood.  She clears her throat.

“Drama,” she explains when Kitty stares.  “Shhhh.  Ahem.”






“For as far back as anyone can remember, the ‘Dragon District’, so to speak, has been ruled by four noble families:  White, Ilucis, Faust, and the so-called Dragon family, which is of course this district’s Matriarchal family.  

“They held these titles long before before the Sharks came, and even today they hold an immense amount of power.  All four are deeply tied to the infrastructure of the city;  the White and Dragon houses are heavily involved in politics, law enforcement, and even the day to day mundane chores of the city.  The Faust and Ilucis houses, on the other hand, have strong ties to crime and the city’s shadier businesses, and a long alliance that runs back generations.  The four houses are the pillars holding up the entire city, and if one of those houses should fall it would all likely collapse.”

“Not exactly humble, Miss White?”

“You asked me to explain!  Do you want to hear about the individual families or not?”

“Um.  Yes.”

“Then shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  Ahem.

“The Dragon family - as previously stated, IF you were paying attention. I see your eyes glazing over, Pam - is led by the Matriarch Lady Dragon, the youngest Matriarch besides, of course, the Tigress.  She’s known for being very...eccentric, but a strong leader for the clan.  She has a history of cruelty, but has attempted to soften considerably since having a child.  She doesn’t necessarily succeed.  Their home is at the north side of the district.

“The White family runs a lot of the city’s bureaucracy and day-to-day activities, attempting to keep everything...orderly.  My father is a higher-up in the police force, and my older brother runs the post office.  Our mother is a black hispanic woman from the Raven tribe.

“The Faust family...Let’s face it.  They run crime.  Everyone knows.  But they keep crime organized and under control.  Lord Faust is an...Effective leader.  Few people in the city aren’t afraid of him, and his violent outbursts.   He has two daughters, but they both work fairly mundane jobs.”

“You could say that,” says the bartender, abruptly.

“Wait, is everyone listening in?” asks Kitty.  Mindy doesn’t answer.

“And then the Ilucis family.”  Mindy grins again.  “They’re a very mysterious family, but closely allied with the Fausts.  They prefer to hang out behind the scenes, pulling the strings and all the other cliches about manipulative sorts.  No one really knows much about them.  They’re popular with the opposite sex - and the same sex, frequently.  There’s all sorts rumors about them, but what is known is that they run the Dragon’s Den Hotel - it’s really more of an excessively upscale apartment complex - with the Fausts.”  Mindy suddenly took off the jacket.

“...That’s it?” asks Kitty.

“That’s it,” says Mindy, waving a hand dismissively. Kitty notices a ring on Mindy’s ring finger.  It looks like two red and white serpents entangled together.

“Well...Okay, then.”

Officer Kiplin still glowers darkly from a corner, and the bartender continues to be mildly attractive bartending.