"Okay Leer, where are we?" Blue whispers even though the two men are clear across the way from anyone who might give a damn and even further away from those who don't, considering half of rat town showed up minutes after the tenderising process had begun on Victor's face.
"Hang on Blue," Leer interrupts, punctuating the disruption with the barrel of small pistol he found in his pocket,"I suggest you quickly pull out that piece that's hanging off your hip and put it to my head." If anyone had been watching closely enough they would have seen that Victor clearly had the drop on Tommy but Blue recovered quickly enough to make a good show of it to the casual observer, which is all who were left watching. Anyone who really cared was too busy trying to find the right person to talk to, the right thing to talk about and the right attitude to bring to the conversation. Everyone was startled at the resurrection, bewildered by the laughter and perplexed at the vision of Tommy and Victor walking off like old friends. What they were seeing now was more like it. Tommy and Victor, guns to each other's heads, talking about God knows what. Correction, Farb knows what.
"And what the hell are we doing here? Blue continued.
"I have no idea, Blue," Leer confided,"Actually, no one does. I mean, seriously, when you start making these jumps you can't control it, schedule it, make a reservation or even entertain the thought of guiding your journey in any appreciable way, UNLESS you are a Quanji, which I am not, Leer pauses...but I think you might be."
"What's a Quanji,"Blue asks as he pushes the barrel of his gun harder into Leer's temple.
"Look Blue, I appreciate your enthusiastic performance but the gun is real. If you shoot me here, I'll be just as dead as anywhere else, so let's put them down. I think we've got them snowed." Both men tuck their guns away and the crowd relaxes once again. No one wants to make the wrong move so people decide to start leaving."A Quanji is what the Dolmari call the navigators or drivers. The Dolmari are your spirit guides, and yes, you have them whether you believe in them or not. Of course they can't do much for you if you choose not to believe, but given the circumstances, you'd better start believing, and fast," Leer urges as Blue tries to figure out just how much of this he is willing to swallow.
"Why don't we just hop onto another Goozlesnorp, all I had to do was just hold up my hand like thi..."Blue says as he raises his hand. Leer quickly pulls it down then follows through with a headlock instructing Blue against such behavior,"You don't want to do that, Blue, the places that you end up in can get pretty bizarre when you continue to wing it without a specific destination, Quanji or not!"
"So what the hell are we supposed to do now, John? Leer? Victor? SHIT! I don't even know what to call you!" Blue stands up to Tommy's full height, his frustration boiling over inside his muscular build. Victor's headlock snaps open like a little pistachio shell, dropping Leer to the ground. "Don't call me anything if you can help it," Leer suggests as he lifts himself back up to standing. "Call me whatever your thugs call me but play it cool as long as possible. We have no idea what sort of shit these guys were into. Bad enough to get them killed at least. Besides, I can't get over how much Max reminds me of Catherine. If we get through this I can tell you all about Catherine, Mona, even old Edgar Van but for now, we've got enough to handle right here. Anyway, you'll catch onto this parallel universe thing before you know it, especially if you are a Quanji."
"How are we supposed to figure that out if you won't let me put my hand up? Blue quips "I've got a destination in mind right now - My Time, My Planet, My Bed!"
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