I was a Special Forces Officer. Now I work in a bookstore. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
I really miss those days, my buddies, the missions, the magical stuff we got to play with. I even miss the food. Which is really missing it if you’ve never eaten army food.
“I’m sorry ma’am we don’t take checks.” Not since the nonnies had started coming here anyway, what with their ability to do illusions.
The lady in front of me was tall with gleaming black hair, she might have been pretty except for her gut, around which three smaller versions of her stood like escorts around an aircraft carrier.
She argued with me for a few more minutes until I finally gave her an impromptu discount, she handed the Conan book to her son and Miss Nimitz Class swept out the store. I sighed and made a mental note to get a stool, this concrete was killing me.
“Can I help you?” I said without looking up from the battered cash register, when you do it this long you just know when someone’s there.
I swore at myself, if I had been that careless during the conquest of Vietnam I would have died on my first day. Check that, I wouldn’t have even made it through training.
“Can I speak with you in private?”
She was about five and half feet tall and judging by the silt pupils and the how thin she was, the girl was a halfy. Halfies have it better than nonnies but not by much. In my experience they were just as bad as a full-blood nonny.
But I felt a wave of pity for the half-starved thing, she was watching me like she expected me to take a swipe at her and her shoulders were hunched under the worn fabric of her coat. I don’t like nonnies but I don’t kick whipped dogs either.
I nodded shortly and gestured towards the breakroom, there wasn’t anyone in the store right except her and me and it should be private enough for her liking. She hesitated and then followed me. I didn’t blame her, plenty of men and woman like to force halfies.
“Don’t worry kid, I like redhead human gals with big chests, so you’re in no danger.”
She nodded jerkily and sat down and I went to the coffeepot, “You want some?”
She shook her head, I shrugged sitting down and taking a sip. I was going to kill Morris he’d left the same batch sitting there for the past week. I tried not to gag.
“You got something to say, say it.”
She nodded, man she was making me dizzy.
“Mister Koenig, I was told you were a Night Blade?”
“Quick lesson, that’s the knife, we don’t like being called Night Blades anymore than Special Forces soldiers like being called ‘Green Beret’s’. Call me Daniel.”
She cringed and nodded, really dizzy.
“Mister Koenig I have a child, I’m sure you couldn’t care less but she’s very precious to me and I haven’t seen her since yesterday.” She looked down at the table and tears started running her face.
I didn’t bother to ask her if she’d contacted the police, they wouldn’t have cared less.
Eight years of peace and quiet and now this.
“I don’t have much to pay you with but I’m good in bed and . . .”
I felt like giving her a hug and rocking her back and forth, even halfies valued their kids and if this poor thing was good in bed I was Maddona. She reminded me of a whore I knew in Saigon, the poor thing had lost her husband so she did it for food and then when you got done she’d hurry home and give her kids whatever scraps she managed to find. But she’d always had a kind of dignity about her.
“I’ll do it.”
She stared at me like I’d sprouted horns.
“Thank you,” She whispered.

I decided that wasn't that great of me to post something like now it's a dialogue experiment. (Sorry)

Please critique. : )

And no, magic is still governed by physics.

There were a lot of grammatical errors in there…I’m not sure if that was part of the experiment or the style you were playing with. It did make reading a bit difficult. However, the idea was interesting.

@ Dan, what is magic if it’s governed by phsyics? If it makes people float it still works with physics.

You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.