<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">  Just decided that I really wanted to write this after today's Bash activities.  Go figure. -LurkingWolf ____________             Lois jolted awake, nearly rolling completely from his bed before he righted himself.  He lay back on his bed for a few moments, simply catching his breath for a few moments.  This was not the first time that he had woken up this time.  It was actually, in all likelihood, the tenth time he had done it the past two weeks, with the four missed days more because he had not had a single period where he had actually slept on those days.  As an assassin, he had become quite skilled in resting his body and mind without completely losing track of what was going on.  So far, that state of semi-consciousness was the only way he could manage any rest without being plagued by dreams.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             Sighing, the ermine dragged himself from his bed.  He stretched out to his full length; not very long ago he had been losing a good bit of his characteristic flexibility to age.  He hated to admit it, but even his strict routine of exercise couldn’t fix all of his ills.  Fortunately, the Curse had helped heal some of that; not only was he able to stretch fully again, but the extra length added to his body helped him extend further.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             He bobbed back on the balls of his feet for a few moments, breathing softly to try to calm his still-frayed nerves.  The dream had already gone, but the simple fact that there had been a dream at all made him uncomfortable.  He had always had occasional, quite strong nightmares, but they had worsened since he had arrived at the Keep.  Maybe the wanderlust was getting to him, but going out on patrol had hardly helped.  Also, during his waking hours, he had not experienced any doubts about his decision.  He wasn’t one to hide something from himself, not after all of his years as an assassin.  That was the best way to drive himself to the brink of suicide.  His confidence in that ability, however, just made the dreams even more worrisome.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             Just as Lois was about to continue his morning routine, whether it was morning or not, he noticed his pack sitting by the writing desk Kyia had provided.  He squinted at it, wondering if it had moved since the last time he touched it.  He walked over to it and looked through it for a little bit.  Finding everything as he expected, he took a wary glance around the room.  He pulled out his pipe from within the depths of the bag, quickly lighting it and taking a few puffs to settle his nerves.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             He threw a cloak over his shoulders and stepped out from the room, bare claws clicking across the stones of the Keep as he stepped into the hall.  Glancing either way, he took a quick puff from his pipe and strolled down the stone hallways.  The sound of his claws was his constant companion, and the occasional puffs of smoke tested his more sensitive nose’s endurance.  Normally he would not have resorted to smoking away his stress, but some occasions called for more than his quiet introspection could provide.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             He soon found himself standing in the familiar chamber he had been training in with Paula for the last few days.  A slate grey sky greeted him from the ledge that dominated the far wall.  As he had suspected, the sun was nowhere to be seen, and it likely wouldn’t find the horizon for a good hour or so.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             Lois stood there for a few moments, running his claws across cracks that he had caused yesterday during one of the more strenuous drills.  He hadn’t been hitting hard; the cracks were Paula’s fault as she had foreseen his strike by enough to drive his arm away before he could even get close to her.  His hand had smarted for a while, but it had at least proven his thought that she was learning quickly.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             It was amazing how real it looked.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             “There never was a first nightmare, was there?” he asked, eyes still fixed on the sky.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             There was a chuckle from behind him.  “Very good, Lois.  I was wondering there when you started walking about Metamor half-naked.  The cloak is quite fine, but it’s not your usual style.”  A dark figure stepped up to the rail and clasped the stone railing in both hands.  “I’m impressed; I thought you were losing track of reality there for a while.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             Lois shook his head.  “I can hardly be fooled when there are two of me running around, particularly one who is unCursed as of yet.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             The figure drew back his cloak, showing the familiar face that Lois had worn for the last few years before Metamor had changed it all.  The hard, steel-blue eyes that had only ever looked at him from within the mirror now gave him the same self-assured, predatory look that he had given to so many assassination marks in the past.  More than that, the ma beside him was the assassin he had sought to eliminate for so many years; the signature scar across his face was missing, not yet cut by the lutin blade during his tenure as a bounty hunter.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             “Well, I doubt you mind it.  Two of you, I mean,” the human said, continuing from the ermines last thought.  “With two of us, we could set up some interesting assassination scenarios.  Witnesses on both sides of the Keep seeing Vincent Lois, both Cursed and unCursed, killing two different important figures, with two ensuing chases both resulting in the Watch being utterly confused…”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             “No.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             “I haven’t even named the targets yet, and besides, you’ve already determined that this is a dream.  What is the harm in some…  More violent fantasies for the evening?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             “I swore that life off, and I don’t mean to go back,” the ermine insisted.  He showed his impressively sharp teeth to his human self, but got little reaction back.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             “Well, I haven’t sworn it off.  What if I were to go and find some Duke or other to slaughter?  What would you do, as the upstanding citizen that you have become?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             Lois sighed quietly, turning back to the city.  “I’ve sworn my allegiance to Duke Thomas.  I would have to defend him from you.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             “All right, quickly, and without asking you to elaborate on exactly how you would do that, I can point out two glaring flaws in that plan.  First, I am you; killing me would have to cause some sort of conflict in the ebb and flow of the universe—“<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             “This is also a dream, and regardless, you are a part of me that I could stand losing.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             “Second, you’re not exactly equipped to take down an assassin.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             The ermine gave a thin smile.  “By the way, that was another tell that gave away the dream.  You have my equipment; there wasn’t any more equipment anywhere in the room when I woke up.”  He took a puff on his pipe, nearly forgotten throughout the conversation.  “Also, the sun should have risen already.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             His human self seemed to take offense.  “That is very definitely a stormy sky.  The sun is up; it’s simply behind the clouds.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             Lois shook his head and turned back for the hallway.  “Sunlight, or it never happened,” he mumbled.  “No day is this grey.  At any rate, have fun playing games in this world.  I have another world to get back to, where the sun is probably already quite high and waiting for me.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>             His human doppelganger watched him go for a few moments.  “How long can you go without resting, Lois?”  The ermine stopped to let the human continue.  “Think about it; with me here, I know you’re going to be trying to avoid sleep at any cost.  No matter how well trained you are, you will fall asleep sometime, and when you do, I’ll be here, and you know that our interactions won’t be so friendly in the future.  You had best come prepared.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">            Lois shook his head and stepped down the curiously-black hallway before him.  Within moments, the quiet echo of his claws stopped, and his eyes opened.  He felt far more calm now, but his connection to reality was somewhat tenuous at present.  He checked the room again just to be certain.  It was a relief to find everything as it should be, but it still took Lois a little while to convince himself of reality.  The dreams were getting worse, and he had no desire to find out where they were all leading. <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 14"> <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CNathan%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"> <link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CNathan%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"> <link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CNathan%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"> <style>  </style> </body> </html>