Rowdy Dead Productions

By David C. Daoust

Colin had not awoken in such a situation in quite a while. Studying the strange ceiling above, told him he had not made it back to his home chambers. Instead, wound up crashing in some strange domicile. It was a familiar feeling, though truly not since he was a young hothead had he awoken without a clear memory of where he was. It was not until the body next to him shifted, and he caught a glimpse of the shock of red hair next to him- that he started to remember the evening before.

Bruen- she was strong, and she was fast. Strong like- the rather tone biceps had given Colin pause, though he quickly found she was just as soft as any other woman he’d been with. Fast like- well, not like a cheetah. Fast like- he’d only just said ‘hi’, before her tongue was down his throat. That was alright with Colin though. His host for the evening, Gordon Hitch, had poured quite a bit of high quality liquor down that same throat- and hers as well. So when the wee hours hit, and the wild romp through Half-Hull’s Night District started to wind down- he and the fiery proprietor made their own after-party.

Colin rolled over and sat at the edge of the bed. Glancing back, he could see she was still out. He could smell coffee brewing somewhere, realized they were not alone in the strange domicile. He located his pants, and pulled them up over his legs, before sneaking barefoot from the room.

The carpet was lush and full beneath his feet. As he rounded a short hallway he came across a fancy balcony, which overlooked a spacious sitting room- which was empty.

The shadow hound padded by, and Colin gave the construct a quick scratch behind one ear, before he strode on down the stair. He located the kitchen by the tile floor, and followed his nose to the coffee. Of course he found himself taken aback as he found the three, incredibly long legged, woman all standing around the small island in the middle of the room. Each had a pastry sitting on a small plate in front of them, and a steaming mug of hot coffee.

Colin was suddenly aware of his shirtlessness- He quickly buttoned up his pants, as they turned to greet him. Their eyes playfully danced over his chiseled form- which only made Colin aware of the scars that pocked his chest. Colin wasn’t really one to allow such situations to bother him, though the awareness was their all the same.

Colin vaguely remembered these women. These were who they began to refer to as ‘the Triplets’ the night before. Last night, they were all dressed in the same shimmering lace costumes, unusually stiff wigs, and such caked on stage make up- they truly looked identical. Now, however, sans the wigs and makeup, Colin found they were each remarkably different. In fact, the only thing that still matched, were the amazingly toned legs that seemed to reach to the heavens- which, considering Hitch had picked them up after a rather impressive dance number in one of the many, many cabarets they had visited…

Colin was about to be impressed at the implied conquest of the wiry Engineer, when Gordon Hitch came striding into the room, accompanied by a whole ‘nother lady. Colin remembered meeting Hitch’s girlfriend, Iris- who had requested a place to crash for the Triplets. Iris was much closer to Hitch’s age than the young dancers. Colin found the woman became incredibly uncomfortable whenever he was around. Colin had to assume the older showgirl had an inkling of who he was.

“Whoa- Colin,” Hitch announced comically at Colin’s half-dressed appearance, “Put some cloths on man- It’s a little early for a floorshow!”

The Triplets laughed at the implication that it was Colin’s turn to dance. Iris only blushed as she tried to silence the obnoxious engineer.

Colin smiled at the girls, ignoring the remark; he brushed past the small island of pastry eating showgirls, to retrieve a mug from the cabinet, before helping himself to some coffee.

It was good coffee. Colin found out last night, Hitch liked to spend his coin on quality comforts.

He found a seat at a small table across the room, where the Engineer had also gotten comfortable. Hitch was suddenly surprised when Iris brought him a mug of coffee as well, before pulling a chair closer; the couple had a silent conversation Colin was not privy to.

Colin seemed to remember, with such ‘morning after’ situations in his youth, he would have a headache at this point. He suspected his altered body was a bit too strong for such things as hangovers- Although, come to think of it, he vaguely remembered Bruen insisting that they both guzzle down insane amounts of water before they stumbled to the bedroom.

Colin found himself pulled from his drunken memories as the girls all chatted about random inane tidbits. His mind wandered in and out of their conversation as his thoughts returned to why he was here to begin with: his investigation of one Theobald Gray.

At one point a triplet insisted there had not been any good music since ‘Hugo Lions’ stopped releasing new music. Colin found himself in agreement before he let his mind wander to the creator of the battle drones.

Gordon Hitch knew the man Colin was investigating, knew that he could not possibly have coded an AI for the Battle Drones to function as described, though he definitely confirmed that the drones were Theobald’s handiwork, if only through the arachnid like design. All of which told him nothing new.

Colin did, however, manage to acquire contact information for Theobald’s last known address from Hitch. It was as Colin double-checked that the information was still scribbled on the napkin in his back pocket- that his attention was pulled back to the showgirls.

The triplets conversation had shifted to a debate, one of which stood heatedly- While the other found a way to insist that Capitalism would surely crumble without fair wages among the workforce, and that the evils of Corporatism -hiding itself in plain sight- as it slowly rotted the tenet’s of True Capitalism… all to make a game of robbing the workforce… just to accrue a larger pile of wealth for the faux-entity ‘corporation’- would truly and most assuredly destroy all of society, and all chance of freedom for anyone -ever- including the scrambling execs that dream up such stratagems!

While taken aback by the sudden shift in the conversation, the triplet’s solid jaw as she spoke of it, made Colin wish he’d paid closer attention to the conversation, sooner.