I wrote.
I'm not going as Ducky, because it seems to be a more.. non-screenname thingy, if you know what I mean. So I just picked a random name.

Some time ago...
The Civil War on Diamondus had been going on for almost two years. It was February now, the worst season on Diamondus at any time, but with the war confining everyone, the streets were filthy, dirty water running down them in rivers, and the blue circles under everyone's eyes were deeper. Rabbits everywhere kept their blasters well greased, their blades sharp, because there was no telling which side your neighbor had turned to. Species could not be a determining point, for it was well known that foxes, rabbits, and turtles alike could be seen sharing drinks in the grubby taverns. Clans, too, kept to themselves, meeting in secret, but even still, several mutilated bodies bearing matching cerulean armbands had lain in the rain and grime on the main street for two days before a Patrol carried them off. Inflation had skyrocketed, and tiny children could be seen begging in the alleys, bony paws outstretched.

Rain was pouring straight down upon Verity's hunchéd shoulders, soaking the brown paper bag with her precious groceries. Her black tipped, grey lop ears pinned back against the downpoar, she ducked into the cover of an overhanging doorway. Fumbling for keys in her pocket, she slipped into the dusty gloom of the apartment building. From her fifth floor window, she could see most of the city to the south and west. A plume of smoke, rising from somewhere in the buildings, blended with the leaden clouds. Too warm for snow, as always on Diamondus, but too cold to ever get the suggy chill out of her bones. Verity booted up her computer, stuffing packages from her bag into the cupboards. She peeled off several layers of colorless, sodden garments, shivering slightly as the drafty air touched her wet fur. Verity tied her dark auburn, waist length hair out of her pale green eyes, shaking rainwater out of it. Her body was skinny and unhealthily bony as she pulled on a dry shirt of neatly patched linen and traded her dripping shoes for knee high black boots. She reapplied the black eyemakeup that blended into her grey fur, and, after briefly checking for an update on her computer, she scrambled into more layers and prepared to leave.
For a moment she paused, looking out the west window. The sun was setting, and the clouds were bloodied by it's last rays.
Verity turned and walked out her door. The rabbit's heavy boots were noisy in the vacant apartment- many of her neighbors had been elderly, and had traveled to other planets seeking peace when the war broke out. Although Verity felt her 28 years weighed heavier on her than they should, she had stayed behind when requested, working as a hacker. She was sometimes needed for her skills at combat, though, as was everyone, and she bore scars of more than one skirmish that she would like to forget. At times it seemed hard to even remember why the war had begun. At times Verity was on the verge of tears as she remembered her childhood on this planet, and even more so when she recalled her peaceful life on Medivo. Though it rained there nearly constantly, the rain was warm and sweet, and the moss grew heavily on the ruins. Diamondus, though, had once been beautiful too- that was why Verity had chosen it, although it was not until the war that she had moved into the city.
Verity walked the cracked pavement to a small tavern, stepping around puddles and the ocasional blowing newspaper. Over the door, a battered wooden sign from which the weather had long since worn the name swung creakily. Searching again in her knapsack to find another key, she plunged it into the lock, opening the door into a dimly lit room crowded with chairs and round tables.
"Eddie?" Verity tugged off her cloak, already soaked from the short walk, and hung it by the door.
From a back room a dusty red rabbit emerged, peering over round lenses.
"Ah, Verity." He smiled, a scar scribbled in white through his fur.
"I've been working on the new code. It seems to be going well. You made excellent progress on the Uniform Amplification Locators, also."
Verity cast the older rabbit a wan smile, tying, as she did so, a short white apron over her garments.
"Try and look innocent tonight. You never know who might come in." She began to start a fire in the brick fireplace in the left wall.

Carrot ale gurgled into a green glass. "Get you another drink, Nick?" Verity's tray was perched precariously between shoulder and chin as she wiped a table down, smiling at a friend. "How're you doing, Riff?" She attempted an awkward hug and spilled a bit of sherry onto her tailtip. Grinning wryly, she topped off someone's glass while he dug in his pocket for more change.
"Another round, gentlemen?" She paused to laugh at a joke a tawny-furred cat was telling in the back corner, and eyed a cloaked visitor at the bar, who's tiger striped tail was twitching off the edge of the barstool. Verity made her way back behind the bar.
"Can I get you a drink, stranger?" While she tried to welcome people, there was no being too careful, and Verity did not like unfamiliar faces.
Green eyes peered out from behind the hood, inspecting Verity's features.
"Are you the bartender?"
"That I am. You look chilled to the bone. Nasty weather out there, among other things. How about a mulled wine?"
The creature sighed, relaxed slightly.
"That sounds nice."
Verity poured the liquid from it's copper tin into a glass mug, watching it bubble softly. She poured herself a Lemoncello and sipped it as she wiped down the bar absently. In the back room she could faintly hear Eddie clicking away at his keyboards. Her silver RF blaster was under the counter, her javelin leaning against the wall, and she didn't feel safe. As the only bartender, she knew half the people in the bar as regulars and had seen most of the faces before, always responded to their winks with a smile and a wave, would not hesitate to plant a kiss on a cheek before wishing one of them a safe trip back to their flat. She knew any of them would try and protect her, and she knew Eddie, not to mention the rest of her friends, would do twice what they were capable of for her. She did not feel safe.
She drank the last of her Lemoncello.
She wondered when she would feel safe again.

It was late in the afternoon the next day when she roused herself from her sleep, having gotten home from the bar at 6 AM. Verity clutched her cloak around her as she wandered from the tangle of blankets on her couch. She knelt on the floor, looking out of her window as she did so often, leaning against the chair back. She traced a scar on her arm, thought about the poison she kept in her medicine cabinet.
She thought about the poison every day.
Her computer beeped, drawing her attention.

Verity stood up. She would make one more person laugh tonight at her bar.
She would give at least one more day to her cause.
She would not give up yet.
Though she wanted to.



*pagegloomp*