Phantomness and Red Gambit returned to the main room of Phantomness's suite, where they found Meiou still present, sipping on a mai tai. "Hey, you two," said the rabbit author, "you look like you're decked out for an expedition or something. What's the plan?"
"We've decided to go out and see if there's a mall Backstage," said Gambit. "Wanna come?"
"Well sure there's a mall, I thought everybody knew that. I can show you, it's down on Basement Level 1 of the Concourse."
"Really?" asked Phantomness. "Great, what's down there?"
"Lotsa shops, of course, it is a mall, after all. The higher-class places are at the west end, that's where you find shops like Fred, Van Cleef & Arpels, Two Two Two, Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany's, an' The Sharper Mage. Then there's the middle, which has chain stores and ordinary shops like Starbucks, The Gap, Banana Republic, Enchanter Tim's, L.L. Bean, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Ruth's Chris Steak House, The Leftorium, Bed, Boob, and Behind, Flossie's Florist, Illuminati Surplus, an' Radio Shack. And hey, let's not forget the east end, which is fulla seedy joints an eating places like Spells R Us, Underground Arcana, Dr. Wu's chiropracty, Outlandos d'Amour, SCORE Magazine, WICKED Videos, Bennigan's, TGI Friday's, Applebees, Elli's Sandwich Shop, an' KFC."
"No McDonalds?" asked Gambit, disappointed.
"Well, not down there. There's one on the main level of the Concourse, though, in the same building as the Old Wizard's Bar and Grill."
"Hey, Meiou, for a bunny kinda guy you're one confirmed mall rat," said Phantomness with a laugh.
"I get around," Meiou replied modestly. "Y'know, when you've got a traveling portal like I do it's hard not to get around."
"You said 'Basement Level 1'," said Gambit. "What are the other basement levels?"
"Transportation an' parking stuff, mostly. Plus there're a lot of Character hangouts for Level 1 staffers down on Basement Level 2, like the At Work Bar -- they won't let the likes of us in that place, they don't allow authors -- an' then down in Level 3 the big draw's the Train Terminal for the Backstage Ring Tube, which'll take you anywhere you wanna go in the Ring except the forbidden or dead sectors, or places like the Antipodes that aren't supposed to exist."
"I thought the Antipodes wasn't supposed to exist," said Gambit.
"I rest my case. But that's no big, you don't really wanna go there, believe me. Take it from someone who knows." The bunny shuddered slightly.
Phantomness sensed a story there, but didn't push it because they were getting rather off the subject, which was
"Maybe we'll do the Tube some other time," Phantomness said. "Me for those shops!"
"Yeah, me too," said Gambit.
"Fine with me," said Meiou. "I'm not too keen on the train station myself, the Tube management's down on me for a coupla little things that coulda happened to anyone, an' more to the point Concourse Central Security's based there an' they'd nab me faster'n you could say 'Jack Robinson.'"
"I thought Security was based in Hilbert's," said Gambit.
"Common mistake, no that's the Troubleshooters' Office there, they run Security, but they're a level up, in more ways than one, actually. Anyways, how ya wanna go, you two? We could take the elevator or you could hitch a hop in my patented teleportation portal."
Thu Mar 02 01:06:49 2006
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