Open to... the cabin. $hane's cabin, in the raYne Forest... in some unknown location in Saint Louis, Missouri. The cabin is darkened... but a dimly lit bulb dangles above the wooden floor. Through the shadow, emerges The raYne Storm. He wears a dark brown tee-shirt, with the 'anarchy' symbol in white covering the front. He also wears a pair of slightly baggy jeans, a black belt with silver spikes, and his cherished dragon pendant around his throat.

His hair is shaggy... its natural state. And he has grown a noticeable goatee. He's fully embracing the masculine side of his androgynous dichotomy. He stares, quite callously, into the camera's lens. $hane sneers... a hand placed upon the head board of a wooden chair, which sits right below the light bulb. The bulb barely illuminates the room... simply giving an eerie glow... $hane speaks.

"First of all... Lexxi. I've decided, from now on, that is my name for you. Sebby hates being referred to as such... so I figure you wouldn't be completely enthralled with my very own, personal, nickname for you. Lexxi... I've told you before. And I'll tell you again.

"You know nothing... NOTHING... about me. You know more than when I first said that... but you've only touched the tip of the iceberg. You think I'm 'no heel'? Ah... I see. Fine. Believe that. And keep believing that, all you wish.

"For... it's true.
But neither am I a 'face'.
iAm... a tweener.
Neutral.
In EVERY sense of the word.
Right down to my gender role.

"And just as my mood and gender tip the scales this way and that... so too does my alignment.

"And at any time?
The scales could tip one way...
And stay there.
Keep that in mind, 'honey child'."

$hane then slowly sits down upon the chair, only, crouched, with his feet resting upon the seat, in a kneeling fashion. He folds his arms before him... and stares intently into the camera.

"LJ... I've got a riddle for you.

"01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100011 01100101 01110010 01110100 01100001 01101001 01101110 00101110 00101110 00101110 00100000 01110011 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01100101 01100100 01100111 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110101 01110000 01100101 01110010 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 00101110 00100000 01000010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01110011 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01100101 01100100 01100111 01100101 00101100 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00111111 00100000 01101001 01000001 01101101 00101110 00100000 01000001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100011 01101100 01100001 01101001 01101101 00101110 00101110 00101110 00100000 01101001 01000001 01101101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110"

A piece of text briefly flashes across the screen... perhaps to aid LJ in deciphering the message...

http://home.paulschou.net/tools/xlate/

raYne grins devilishly, "And even SMOKiE, who clearly despises the very ground I walk on, agrees with me. Sweety Petey holding ANY title is a disgrace. An even bigger disgrace than, say, MY holding a title. Oh yes. I went there. Self burn. I don't mind a bit of self-harm, Believe me. And I can run myself down better than the whole lot of you."

raYne looks off to the side, as he often does... the facetious smile fading... being replaced by a dark scowl... "And Rebel... I'll admit. The Odd Couple '13 DOES sound enticing...", he sharply returns his gaze to the camera... anger building behind his eyes.

"... but honestly? iAm getting SICK... and tired of being the butt of everyone's joke here. And to tell the truth... it's always BEEN that way. XAW... SWC... MCW... hell, even BOB, and that place WAS a joke. Literally, a federation based around comedy, entitled 'Brawlers on a Budget'... and even there? I was the laughingstock. The town fool in a CITY of fools.

"... no more."

raYne drops from his stoop, and sits normally, his feet planted firmly upon the ground. He stares into the camera... with intent.

"Rebel... soon. VERY soon. I'll be sending a little... message... your way.

"Take heed. And respond. End of fucking story."

With that, $hane lifts a hand, and grasps the lightbulb's cord... before pulling down.

Plunging the room into pitch blackness.

~ tbc ~


#today_is_the_greatest
#day_i've_ever_known