The Universe's Mixer

The day was crystal clear. Warm, even, considering what time of year it was. Kids were happily running around the park wearing their shorts and maybe a light sweater. Flowers had bloomed unseasonably. Bees and butterflies busied themselves while birds sang.

To top it all off, in a nice grassy area some picnic tables popped up. They were all covered in food and drink. A big banner unfurled across a nice space that could be seen from the road. It touted "Annual City Picnic" in bold black lettering.

Elizabeth was beginning to believe she actually was becoming more like Jack as the days went on. It wasn't the swagger or really the crazed actions. It was the rum. The rum that never seemed to be enough or was always there for her. She was a beautiful intelligent woman and yet rum seemed to be the only thing that stuck around these days. Not that she'd gone out of her way to make lasting friends. Not when her mind had been on William and on the fight that was probably already over. Beckett would be dead, or alive and she'd still be stuck here.

Without William because she hadn't seen him. Without James who was dead. And without Jack since he was either very busy or they just never seemed to cross the same paths. That was for the better. She was getting caught up in him for awhile there and she had to take the time to stop and forgive William before any of this made sense.

William had gone against all of them, against her, but he'd done it because.. because Jack always did it? Or because he hated Jack? Or because he expected Jack to make it out of the bind with no trouble?

She couldn't ask him. She wanted to ask him. She kept asking the City for him and yet, no matter how sweetly she worded it or how many curse words she invented, the City didn't want to give William over.

Or James.

But it did bring her moe rum.

Laying there on the deck of the Pearl with the sun shining down on her was comfortable Her hat half over her face. An old looking bottle of rum in one hand.

It alwas did give her rum. Maybe one day it'd see fit to give her something else she wanted.

Another beautiful day in the City. Or at least it would be, if I had any damn clue what I'm supposed to be doing here...

So thought one Farley Claymore as he sat in one of the City's cafes, pondering his next move and coming up blank.

Looking for work had proved difficult - obviously the War Department was out, as the City didn't seem to have any (one of the downsides of living in Nowheresville) - but at least it was kind enough to help him get by until then. Hell, he could probably not work at all if he wanted, the way things were going...

But for all he knew, that generosity probably had a limit, and God only knew when it would run out. So, working for the military being an impossibility, he decided to take a chance on the Help Wanted ads.

Mechanic? Ugh, no, too lowbrow...

Teacher? Oh, hell no. I'd probably be ready to take over the world by the end of my first day...

All the while, the card he got from Savage was proving quite the temptation. While he was by no means a genius, he was competent at what he did, and the idea of working with potentially alien technology would be interesting, to say the least...

But while he was far more pleasant than Shiwan, there was no denying that the man could prove to be less than trustworthy, and the memories of his last encounter with the Shadow were a reminder of how far in over his head he'd been the last time he threw in his lot with someone like that...

He sighed, putting down the newspaper again. Well, at least the City wasn't boring...

Farley Claymore certainly did.

He ran.

He needed to get out of there - it didn't matter where he ended up.

Of course, the sudden appearance of the handily-marked exit was convenient, even though he could have sworn there had been a window overlooking the lobby there a few minutes ago...

You disgust me, he'd said, though a voice in his head now replied And you disgust me when he thought about it.

It didn't matter though. All he wanted now was to get away from that horrible, choking, lying darkness-

WHAM

He came to a minute later, and tried to focus on whatever it was he'd just hit.

Stop sign. Oh...

He glanced around, trying to figure out where he was. A glance to the left revealed the brightly decorated canopy of... what the hell?

...magic... shop? Magic shop?

Well, it was a shop. Shops inevitably meant people, no matter how weird they were. Even if he'd had enough weirdness for quite a while...

After a little struggle, he stumbled to his feet and made his way unsteadily towards the store...