Lords And Ladies (2.16)

Dante leans against a table, hand covering his eyes, shades propped up on his forehead.  He sighs.

“Everyone, stop poking the sarcophagus,” he says, as most of his employees’ hands grope the ancient stone.  “You don’t know where it’s been.”  Most of them remove their fingers from it, taking a step back as he looks it over again.

It’s definitely covered in the image of a woman, replaced with the head of some sort of feline.  Maybe an image of one of the Egyptian goddesses?  Either that or someone had robbed the tomb of an ancient fursuit enthusiast.  Upon closer inspection, the cat-woman appears to be covered in some sort of plated armor.  Her arms are folded across her bosom, and are cupped as if holding something.

Whatever it was, they were long gone.  As was the paint, only the smallest green or blue or black speck here and there.  Otherwise, the cat-woman is in remarkably good shape, assuming it’s really that old.  There was always the possibility of counterfeits.

“Tara, Mindy, grimoires are...usually books, right?”

“Duh,” says Mindy.  “They’re always books.”

“They’re textbooks on magic, for the magical.  Sometimes they’re magic themselves, but...” Tara shrugs.  “A magical sarcophagus wouldn’t be a grimoire.  Unless it had instructions on it.”

Dante glances over at Tara, then drops down to the side of the sarcophagus.  Columns of shapes and lines wrap all the way around it.  “...Maybe the instructions are in the hieroglyphs...?” he ventures.  “Though I doubt any of us can read them.”

“Sometimes grimoires can only be read by certain people,” says Tara.  “I think, anyway.”

“That’s true.  Bloodlines, certain affinities...” adds Mindy.

“...Well, I certainly can’t, and it doesn’t sound like either of you can.  So we’ll have to try the next best thing:  Visiting our local library.  And learning.”   Dante stands up, clapping his hands together enthusiastically.  “Roxanne, bring the delivery truck around.  Someone get a couple of the androids to lift it in.  I’ve got to make a few phone calls.”

***

Despina

“I see the man...he’s getting into the truck, now, with his lovers and two employees.  They are really crammed in there, with the robots and sarcophagus in back.  Hmm, and now they are driving down the street...”

The air seems to rumble as an enormous, noisy gas powered vehicle roars moves down the street near the caravan.  Destiny focuses on her crystal ball.

“Now they have parked.  The man is exiting the vehicle.  He is running towards...a...err...Roma caravan...He’s walking up the steps...he is entering the front...He is throwing aside the curtains.”

“Despina!” says Dante  “Hey!”

“He appears to be shouting at a small Roma mystic.”

“...Despina, what are you doing?”

“He is asking her what she’s doing.”

“The small Roma mystic continues to talk about herself in third person for some reason.”

“The man complains about the Roma mystic, despite the fact that the Roma mystic is clearly with a client right now and is quite busy.”

“The man sees no client.”

“The Roma mystic calmly points out the gentleman sitting in front of her.”

“...The man sees no client.”

Destiny looks up.

The strange man for whom she was reading the fortune is gone, leaving only a chair.

Destiny’s mouth drops, crashing right through her character.

“Fuckin’ bastard,” says Despina, instead.  “The little runt must’ve run out on me!   Good thing I forced ‘em to hand over some cash ahead of time, Christ.”

“...Sorry,” says Dante.  He rubs his hands together.  “While you’re not busy, I need another expert to help me with a possible magic thingy.”

“Thingy.”

“Yes, thingy.  There will be pizza.”

Despina stares at him, cocking her head to the side.  “...Maybe.”

“I’ll pay you.”

“Oh, fine, fine.”  Despina stands up.  “Beats sittin’ around and listenin’ to people call me a gypsy all day.  I’ll grab my things.”

***

Kitten Tiger

At this point, Kitten was no longer particularly surprised when Dante entered the Library with several women and two robots carrying a sarcophagus.  And several pizzas.

An empty room on the third floor near the living room was of course commandeered by Dante and his friends, the bots depositing the sarcophagus in the center.  Kitty and Annie watch, with interest.

“...So...where’s the grimoire?” asks Kitty.

“That,” says Dante.  “Is the grimoire.”

“...That’s a sarcophagus.”

“The note said it was a grimoire.”

“Note?  What note?”

“The note that came with it.”

“Who from?”

“I don’t know.  Someone named Levesque.”

Kitty’s heart pounds.  Levesque.  Lord Ilucis had said that name, hadn’t he...

“Anyone you know?” asks Dante

“Nope,” says Kitty, quickly.  She takes a look at the sarcophagus herself.  She whistles.  “This is certainly a beauty.  Too bad it’s probably a fake.”

“Huh?”

“Some idiot put the writing in English.”

Dante looks up at her.  “...What?”

“The writing on the side.  It’s in English, I think.”

Dante glances at the sides again.  He looks at Mindy and Tara (standing right next to him), then at Despina (presently sipping tea across the room).  “...It’s in hieroglyphs?”

Kitty raises an eyebrow.  “...No.  It’s in English.  Can’t you read?”

“...That’s not English,” says Tara.  “That’s definitely not English.  That,” she says, pointing at a specific spot.  “Looks like a bird or something.”

“That just says bird, ma’am.  Are you both feeling alright?”  Kitty asks, carefully.  Clearly surrounded by the ill or insane.

“That’s definitely not English,” says Mindy.

“I think I know what English looks like!”

“Apparently not.”

Annie shuffles over.  She regards the writing on the side, then looks at Kitty.  She strokes her chin in thought, carefully putting things together...

She snaps her fingers and grins.

“Oh my god.  I’ve always wanted to say this,” she starts.  “I love this part.”  She grabs Kitty by the shoulders, spinning her around to face her.  “It’s like a dream come true.”  She clears her throat, shakes a bit of hair off of her face, and kisses Kitty’s cheek, before taking a deep, slow breath and belting:.

“You’re a wizard, Kitty!”