Last Interview with Sky

Work’s been keeping me busy lately, but I finally found the free time to interview Sky again. Lepidus asked her if she wanted to talk with us, and she agreed. We had the recorder set up and were ready to start, when Dumas and Gabriel burst through the door, carrying a very bloodied Andrew Jackson.

I don’t really talk about the Jackson brothers much. Most of the time, the two of them seem more like pieces of the background than tenants. They stick together, don’t’ talk much, they leave at the same time every morning and come back the same time every night. The two of them don’t even appear in my financial records that much. They’re juggling another job with their proxy work, and it helps make hem self-financing, though I don’t have any clue what the job is. And when they do request additional resources, I can grant the request knowing it won’t be wasted on something pointless. They’re among the most dependable and effective proxies in the city. I never thought I’d see one of them beat up so badly. Especially not Andrew. He’s like a mountain of solid muscle. Who the hell could take someone like him down?

With Andrew hurt as badly as he was, Lepidus had to drop our plans to help him out. I really didn’t want to reschedule my interview with Sky. Firstly because I didn’t know when I’d get another break from work, and secondly because I was worried that a sudden change in schedule might set her off, especially right after seeing Andrew covered in blood. I was considering doing the interview on my own. Then Dumas saw the recorder I had out, and asked if I had planning to do one of my interviews. Of course, I asked him how he knew about the interviews.

“I read your blog.”

At first, I felt outrage that he was reading my private thoughts. Then I realized that outrage was dumb because I’ve been posting my private thoughts on a public online blog. I told him that I was about to interview Sky, and he offered to help while Lepidus was busy. Since he was already caught up on what I was doing, and since Sky seems to like him, I agreed.

Sky kept staring at the recorder as I turned it on.

Sky: “Are you going to ask me what happened next?”

Diana: “Only if you want to talk about that.” I was hoping Fracture’s advice about just letting her talk would be less volatile than questioning her had been.

S: “What happened to Drew?”

Dumas: “I was just supposed to be the getaway car, so I only know what Gabriel told me. A mission went bad. They were supposed to harass a pair of Runners, just frighten them a little. Except instead of a pair, there were four of them. One of them attacked Andrew pretty viciously, and Gabriel barely got him out of there.”

S: “Why were they supposed to frighten Jenny and Ryan?”

Du: *Dumas seemed a little surprised.* “How did you know their names?”

S: “What?”

Du: “The two Runners. Their names are Jenny and Ryan.”

S: “Oh.” *She thought for  amoment.* “I don’t know. But why were you supposed to frighten them?”

Du: “That’s a good question.” *Dumas looked at me.* “Diana, you’ve been in this business longer than me. Why do we send out big muscular men to beat up kids?”

*I hate being put on the spot like that.*

Di: “Well… because… um….” *You know that feeling when people tell you to “say something”? That’s how I felt right then.* “Because… they’re Runners? And… because Ahriman tells us to?”

S: “Why does Ahriman tell you to?”

Di: “Because Truth tells him to?”

S: “Why does Truth tell him to?”

Di: “Because the Boss tells him to.”

*Sky tilted her head slightly and kept staring at me as if she was expecting more. After a while passed without her speaking, or even blinking, I got creeped out enough that I quickly changed the subject.*

Di “So… um… you called Andrew Drew? I didn’t know you were that familiar with him. He’s never mentioned it, at least.”

S: “Him and his brother were the second people to come live with me here, right after Lepidus.” *She looked up at the ceiling, and then at the walls, apparently already bored with this question.* “Who was it that hurt Drew?”

Du: “I don’t know, I wasn’t there. You’d have to ask Gabriel.”

S: “Okay.”

*Then she got up and walked away, over to the room Gabriel was in. I thought about stopping her, but I didn’t want to get her upset.*

Du: “I think those commenters are right. You’re not going to be getting anything else out of her.”

Di: “But there’s still things I don’t know about this!”

Du: “Why are you so determined to find out what happened to Sky?”

Di: “I… I don’t know. I thought maybe I could help her or something And it felt like a mystery I could solve, instead of sitting behind a desk all day. Like I was actually accomplishing something.”

But he was right. These “interviews” aren’t going anywhere. I suppose it’s time to finally call it quits.