Yoshi and I are still arguing over parts of the rest of p3, but I think I've found a reasonable cut-off place in the finished section.
If you need the rest of the story (so far), it's at http://users.vnet.ne...les/bluescreen/
Pedantry and comments welcome, of course.
The journey had started pleasantly enough once Yoshimo had actually gotten into the vehicle. There had been a brief argument with the safety belts that Jean had finally settled by disconnecting them from the door long enough for him to sit down. She settled into in the other chair, did something with the pedals and a key, and the car coughed and began to vibrate. More moving of the levers and pedals, and they backed out of the stable - no, garage - smoothly.
The sun was just at the horizon, giving more than enough light for him to confirm his earlier guess that he was in a wealthy, if not noble, part of the city. Houses lined the twisting roads, most larger than Jean's, with a generous distance between them, easily enough for three horsemen to ride abreast. The large houses gave way to smaller houses spread even further apart, and then as the road broadened he caught glimpses, behind the screen of trees at the roadside, of long, low buildings surrounding large plazas.
He had begun to assemble a pattern behind the stops and starts in their travel, one that matched the colors of the lighted boxes suspended above the roads, when they turned onto an even broader street. Jean drove alongside a thick metal fence that seemed to divide the vehicles by their direction of travel, slowing to a stop, and he smiled to note a red-lit box ahead of them.
Then the box changed colors, and their travel ceased to be pleasant.
Until that turn, the vehicle had moved no faster than a runaway wagon. Impressive, but not necessarily alarming. Before they reached the end of the short, gently curving road and slipped in among the other vehicles on the wide highway, he had sworn to never fire another arrow without first apologizing to it.
Later, he would never be certain which had unsettled him, the trees blurring past on the one side or the vehicles roaring by on the other. After an eternity, she swung the car into a tightly curved road and paused at the edge of another highway before joining its traffic. They eventually turned into one of the broad plazas and stopped before a large building, the facade larger than the Council House itself.
He swallowed hard, grateful he had not eaten. From the glances Jean had sent his way during the trip, he suspected his skin was rather green under the brown.
She reached into the back of the vehicle and fumbled for her purse. "Stay put." She climbed out and jogged toward the building.
Yoshimo sat back in his chair, breathing deeply. Now that they were no longer moving, the supply of fresh air had ceased, and the slowly building chemical smells only made him feel worse. He realized he had forgotten to ask her how to open the door or even how to release the belts. He tugged on a lever set into the door, which popped open a tiny bit before the straps caught. A thin stream of cold air hit his face. He closed his eyes, willing his body to be satisfied with it.
City of Sorrows
