Ruby Red

She approached me again today.

"I've been watching you," she said. "I was too hasty last time."

"I'm still not interested," I said.

"Yes, I know," she said. She smiled and her lips were a very vivid shade of red. "I've noticed a lot. You don't seem to worry about much. Even when when Scarlet-marked were here, you didn't worry. You do know what I am?"

"I try to keep up," I said. "They call you the Red Cap, right?"

She smiled. "Well, right now I'm Ruby, but that's right."

"Wikipedia says you're a murderous little dwarf."

She laughed and her laughter echoed across the silent pavement and shuttered windows. "Well," she said, "perhaps I was long ago. But I think I prefer...different forms these days. Do you know what they used to call me, back in the old days? Back when they would find desiccated corpses empty of blood and assume it was some supernatural creature?" Her eyes bored into mine. "They called us a vampire back then. No silly notions about sunlight or sparkling. We were a beast to them, foreign and strange, with ravenous appetites." She licked her lips. "And they were so afraid of us. But you are not afraid. Tell me why?"

"Maybe later," I said.

Ruby Tuesday laughed again and said, "Yes, later. I believe I shall come back later." She stepped away quickly into the shadows.

She's wrong. I am afraid. Not of her, but of what she might make me reveal. That she might force me to open the box.

Heat, Water, and Tuesday

"Remember that two-legged tigers and crocodiles are more dangerous than those that walk on four.”

Well, I can't say it hasn't been hectic lately. Summer's been pretty hot this year, almost sweltering. It makes me think of Water Balloons for some reason. I wonder if those things even feel the heat, considering what they're made up of. We once had a runner here who was fleeing from them. Judy was her name. A Doctor Morcerf was treating her for depression, and gave her something to help. He gave her some Ichor, the stuff that fills up those balloons. She began to obsess over things, but eventually it passed, and soon she had Water Balloons on her door trying to take her away. To do what, I don't know. They kept coming back, day after day, even following her as she moved towns. So she did the only thing she could think of. She ran, and I'm guessing she still is, if they haven't got her yet.

Normally people open up after a while here. They'll tell their stories. Maybe they'll even laugh. But those cutters we had, they creeped me out. The was a feeling in the air when they were about, like a spark ready to be set off. And then there is this 'Ruby Tuesday', who Sal was talking about. I swear I've seen her around, whenever I've gone out. Just the other day I was coming back, when she bumped into me, wearing the same red jacket and scarf. She didn't do anything though, just looked at me, smiled, and continued walking.

I've heard a few tales. I've seen some strange things. But I have this feeling that things are gonna get stranger around here, whether we like it or not.

This is what happened.

Finally kicked out the last of those cutters. And I'll tell you why.

It is hot. Really, really hot.

So, because it was hot, I stopped off at Starbucks this morning to get some cold water, when I run into this girl wearing a bright red jacket and scarf. She can't be more than twenty-one, but she gives me this shy smile and starts hitting on me.

Now, I'm middle-aged, but I guess there are people who go for older fellows. However, there also another little, itty bitty factor that would prevent this girl from getting what she wants: I am gay.

I try to tell this girl that, but she starts telling me that it doesn't matter. I start telling her that it does.

Then she introduces herself as "Ruby Tuesday." She says that those cutters I kicked out last week? Those are her "Scarlet-marked." She says she can show me a good time. She can make me one of her "Scarlet-marked."

And so I dumped a cup of cold water over her. It seemed like she needed it.

Anyway, she was surprised by that, so I just turned and walked away. And since those cutters weren't runners, I kicked them all out. They weren't earning their keep anyway.

So that was my day.

Like Herding Cats.

So yeah if I'm going to be part of this I might as well actually write some stuff. Well record keeping for a group of runners is, as one would probably expect, not easy and in some cases downright frustrating. For instance someone disappeared recently from their room. They were labeled as missing and it was assumed something had taken them or they had wandered through the wrong Door. An hour or two after they were removed from the records they show up again and reveal they had actually just gone out to a local club to make some money. So, then I had to alter the records to show they were in fact still here and then the next day the same person actually did walk through a Door but the record was left unchanged just in case they somehow showed up again down the line. So, yes the records are not exactly one hundred percent accurate.

However I must admit this is actually a good thing in multiple ways. For one it makes what is normally a ridiculously dull and boring job... Not quite exciting but not as dull as usual. Also if someone were to say take The Records it wouldn't be a big loss since the information they get would be mostly inaccurate without proper contextual understanding of the situations occurring within.

So the most recent record related problem. This fight that was mentioned earlier and the large influx of runners lately. Larger numbers means larger amounts of strange occurrences and record abnormalities and the record will remain up in the air regarding those involved in the fight until Sal comes to a decision regarding how he wants to deal with them.

There you go I've contributed.

Trouble

With a capital T, that rhymes with B and that stands for blood. Because, well, we had some blood spilled last night.

Some of the new runners that are still staying here got into a fight. Quite a few of them were those cutters Ivory mentioned. Lots of people ended up with bloody noses.

I'm not quite sure what started the fight however. I have to check with Ivory - she got in the middle of it when it started, she saw more than I did.

I kicked most of those runners out for the evening - one of our main rules is no fighting. But I'm not sure if I should permanently ban them - I don't know why they were fighting, for one thing. But still, it's making me uneasy.