Chapter 12 of 74 · Book 6, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Chapter 12 — Shadow Boxer

Book: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride · Part: Havana · Previous: Chapter 11 — Asojano · Next: Chapter 13 — Milk and potatoes · Floor: Floor 8 — The Ghosts of Earth · Series: the series

Opening

We, once again, transferred to the space station before being zapped down to the underwate

Summary

Through the station over the Indian Ocean to the underwater trailer where Carl met the Popovs — rotisserie chicken, their deck of cards still on the counter — and a liaison who is a caprid: twice Prepotente's height, silky black fur, a line of red eyes, a horn through the ceiling, a holo. 'Are you the same cheat who tried to get Maggie My to kill us?' A bass bleat; a demonic language the translator will not render. Quasar pops in mid-tie ('Not a word to my client!' 'Holy tits […] I should've been informed'), calls Zev Fish Sticks, and names him: Harbinger, sanctioned for trying to murder his client, a caprid like Carl's sponsor — 'like hiring an incubus as a guard on a chastity yacht during an elven rut.' The host is Rosetta Thagra: a Crest, a former crawler and game guide two seasons before Mordecai, a bomber, newly released from her indenture, maker of The Other Side of the Glass, an Odette wannabe — and Carl goes very still. A Cookbook note, ninth edition, Crawler Rosetta: 'How can they do this? Do they not see us? […] I swear it, I swear it, I swear it.' The interview: Rosetta pale, meek, a lopsided blond hair-blob that changes sides and colour, a nervous hand on her thigh, her eyes darting to Harbinger; Donut on Gossip Girl versus Gilmore Girls, Barb, the Acapulco spinoff, the wicker furniture on Golden Girls, and how shows shaped a cat who was not yet sapient; Rosetta offers to let Donut pick screencaps between segments — 'Negative,' says Harbinger; she finds a way. While Donut calls out numbers, Quasar leans in fast: the elf castle landed on the Lemig Sortion's battlefield and splattered half their army, who now squat in it and filed a grievance that failed ('an AI action'); the Zerzura ghouls persist; Signet's tattoo golems roam and people like the shark; Tina is still an allosaurus; Kiwi's baby is a betting pool; the changelings are building the Posse's stronghold; Ferdinand lost his hat and went to the city; the Lemig commander is stuck in the Desperado Club. Then the screens fill with Carl at seventeen holding a baby goat ('You're holding a baby Prepotente!'), and his parents' wedding photo, the one that hung over his fish tank. Rosetta, in a short dress and a leg tattoo, winks: 'Let’s talk about your dead mother.'

Characters

• Carl — Recognises a Cookbook author in the host; a photo over the fish tank.
• Princess Donut — Gossip Girl is caviar; screencaps by number.
• Quasar — A pickle tie; 'Fish Sticks'; the Faction Wars news in one breath.
• Harbinger — The caprid liaison who armed Maggie; a horn through the ceiling; 'Negative'
• Rosetta Thagra — A Crest, ex-crawler, bomber, documentarian; the ninth edition's author.
• Zev — 'The system has been buggy lately'; watching the screens strangely.

Locations

• The Valtay landing vessel — The Popovs' room and the studio where a reporter was stabbed.

Motifs

• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — Rosetta's oath in the ninth edition, and Rosetta on a couch.
• Faction Wars — Quasar's dispatch: the castle on the Lemigs, a stronghold, a hat lost.
• The Syndicate — A liaison from a sponsor's own race; rules about sponsors and crawlers alone.
• The show — Shadow Boxer: Earth told through raw interviews, funded by the pacifists.
• Carl's family — Fifteen to eighteen; a goat; a wedding photo; 'your dead mother.'