moonsheen | AND NO ONE CARES

The woman's hair was divided into thick, black coils gathered at the top of her head in a loose knot. The ends hung next to one high, aristrocatic cheekbone. Her face was long and severe. Her skin was a healthy bronze under a tight, white dress. Her green eyes took his measure as he approached and her eyebrows arched.

"Stefanie Richmond...?" he asked, uncertainly. Coming to the basement of the Styx was seeming less and less like the brilliant idea it'd seemed about five drinks ago. The dog'd been bad enough.

She blinked. "Is that what they're calling me?"

"The guy at the door told me to talk to you. He said you knew where Dice was." He'd actually said that Dice was there but, looking around, all that he could see was an empty downstairs lounge of indistinct proportion. The woman sat on a red sofa in the center, one arm stretched over the back like a queen.

"Did he now!" Stefanie Richmond, apparently, shrugged. "All right. That's me. I expected to hear a different name from you. We've met before, you know."

The look she gave him was vaguely chiding. He felt himself shuffle, defensively. "I don't think so."

"What's your name?"

He answered without wanting to: "Orpheus." His arm went tight over the guitar case at his side.

Stefanie Richmond leaned forward, with interest. "Yes," she said. "We have."

AND NO ONE CARES

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