The doctor's setup was better than the brushed-over-filth of a street doctor, and less smelly than the ramshackle huts proclaiming traditional cures and charms -- whatever those were -- at the end of every oldtown street. It was a lot cleaner than anything Yoger'd ever had cause to use (because his ...

"You cretin !" Sabiro didn't just yell it, he screamed it.

Yoger was cringing away, thinking maybe he could just duck into another room or something, get out of there before it turned into some sort of bloodbath and he got blamed, but Sabiro's bloodshot eyes had already turned to him. This was so ...

Yoger's hands opened and closed, helplessly, as Sabiro and Egg both snapped at him. He wished Rue hadn't gone crazy. She'd take on Egg, whether or not the gnome wanted it -- though if she hadn't gone crazy they could have settled things in a reasonable manner. Misery spread out through his stomach ...

Rue was dragged away after receiving a blow to the back of the head that caused her to stop speaking, though she still made an outraged growling sound. It caused her to go wobbly, that blow; Rafiu wasn't known for his patience or generosity. She had no reply for Egg's continued insults. Yoger ...

"I'll be seeing you, princess ," Rue was grinning, and it was as ugly as Egg's face. Rafiu hit her on the back of the head, all casual and cocksure. Rue lunged at him, and Dasha snarled warnings as they held her steady.

Yoger grabbed Costin by the arm and pulled him halfheartedly back towards the ...

Cahan's words were met by Rue's snarl. She'd never signed to anything for takin' shit. She tackled Egg down, and there weren't no holdin' back now. She landed a fist in his face, jes to lay the small man flat, and then she was straddling him on his chest, pinnin' his arms down so he couldn't defend ...

Yoger looked from Egg to Rue and back again, his lips all blubbery like a brat's. "Rue, gerrof him."

Rue pushed forward on Egg, still close to his ear. She bared her teeth in a cat snarl, narrowed eyes locked on Yoger. "You the Boss now, eh shoelicker?"

Yoger came forward, and Rue could fair taste ...

Rue was going to be bruised. If he'd hit her ankle right, it'd be on the bone. She'd gotten bruised on the bone before, and them bitches took forever and a day to heal. As it was, she'd be limpin' for the day. That pissed her off.

He'd just tightened his arm around her throat when she toppled them ...

Egg was weak. Rue's base nature took care o' weak shits, it was how she grown up, but that didn't mean whole uncapable. Mostly stupid, his limp wristed punches, but his knuckles was hard and knees were weak spots. Rue'd crippled some dumb bastard before with a good hard kick to the side of the knee ...

He didn't get it. He was really fucking stupid. Rue stared down at the gnome, that brief moment of potential popped easy like a knife in someone's eyeball. The gnome thought there was a negotiation! He thought that he had a choice, that he could assert his will into a knife fight and get through it ...

Rue stared at Egg, a dodgy frankness in her eyes. "Y'want t'be treated special? I'll be needing something right special in return." She rubbed her thumb against her fingers in the classic street sign for bishani. "Business is business, an' I'll do what the master says. Don't bother me to mess with ...

Rue swayed her head side to side, not looking at him as she mused over his question and how to respond to it. She settled on indifferent scorn; it was the most comfortable out of her limited range of emotions. "Nah. They's a group. Rabble, guards'd say. Scum like me, but with shinier buttons." She ...

"What d'you know 'bout the Paragon?"

Rue slouched against the wall near where Egg sat, tipping her head back and breathing in and out. She liked breathing. Funny how much nicer it was when you was afraid you wouldn't breathe no more. She didn't gabble her troubles at him, just stood silent for a moment as the gnome's charcoal scraped ...

Rue stepped away from the wall and its gaping, hard edged window. She was sweating, and dusty, so a paste not unlike mud slowly formed on her skin as the dirt absorbed her sweat. She stank, but that weren't uncommon in the streets. She'd been wrapped up with filth long as she could remember. That ...