‘Robin,’ said Midge, ‘you’d better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking.’
‘I’m pretty sure I am.’
Ahead of the taxi, a police car had pulled over beside what looked like the aftermath of a fight. A gaggle of people stood outside a bar, one man on the ground nursing his head. Broken glass sparkled all around him on the pavement.
Midge groaned in Robin’s ear.
‘Fook’s sake, Robin.’
‘Was Beth still playing the game when you split up?’
‘Not as much. I think she was getting bored of it.’
‘Well,’ said Robin, ‘that’s kind of ideal from our point of view.’
‘It might be from your fookin’ point of view, but I hoped never to speak to her again.’
‘Is there anything we could offer her in exchange for her log-in details?’
Another longer pause followed.
‘You couldn’t,’ said Midge at last, ‘but I could, I s’pose.’
‘I wouldn’t want you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable,’ said Robin, crossing the fingers of her free hand.
‘It won’t make me uncomfortable, it’ll just fook me off to give her what she wants.’
‘What’s that?’
‘I kept an antique mirror when we split. She’s mad about the thing.’
‘We could buy you a new one,’ suggested Robin.
‘I don’t want a new one, I hate it. I only kept it because she wanted it so much and I fookin’ paid for it,’ said Midge. She heaved a loud sigh. ‘All right, I’ll see what I can do.’
‘Midge, I can’t thank you enough,’ said Robin, now beaming.
After Midge had hung up, and in spite of the fact that she’d closed it minutes earlier, Robin opened Twitter again.
The responses to Anomie’s retweet of Grant’s unfortunate mistake were still flooding in.
Soph The Gopher @BlackHartIsMe
replying to @AnomieGamemaster @gledwell101
if that dumb fucker’s in charge #TheInkBlackHeartIsOver
Brother of Ultima Thule @UltimaBro88
replying to @AnomieGamemaster @gledwell101
#BringBackWallyAsDrek
Algernon Gizzard Esq @Gizzard_Al
replying to @AnomieGamemaster @gledwell101
Hey, Anomie, you should kill Grunt next
31
The rat is the concisest tenant.
He pays no rent, —
Repudiates the obligation,
On schemes intent.
<Moderator Channel>
<10 April 2015 23.29>
<Anomie, Vilepechora, Paperwhite, Fiendy1, Hartella, Worm28>
Anomie: right, everyone here?
Worm28: Morehouse isnt
Hartella: LordDrek isn’t either
Anomie: ok we’ll wait because I want everyone to hear this
Anomie: did you all see what Grunt just did on Twitter?
Vilepechora: getting the title wrong? yeh
Worm28: josh doesn ‘t wand us to attack him tho
Vilepechora: has josh got magic powers in hospital?
Worm28: ?
Vilepechora: ’wand’. Or as you’d say, ‘ wand ‘
Fiendy1: piss off and leave Worm alone, Vilepechora
Hartella: Josh must be be loads better if he’s tweeting
Fiendy1: cd be getting a nurse or someone to do it for him
Fiendy1: hurry up, Anomie, don’t keep us in suspense, it’s not the bloody X Factor
Worm28: lol
>
>
>
Hartella: it’s terrible Grant Ledwell’s going to have so much power over the IBH when he can’t even get the title right
Hartella: god knows what the film will be like if he’s in charge
Fiendy1: he won’t be completely in charge, there’s still Josh
Worm28: Maverik should sit down with fans , and hear what we think should happen with the movie
Hartella: yeah
Paperwhite: that’ll never happen, though
<LordDrek has entered the channel>
LordDrek: sorry I’m late, only just got home from work
Hartella: hi LordDrek xxx
LordDrek: hi Hartella
Anomie: right, all here?
Anomie: ok, so, Grunt Ledwell’s title mishap just proves there’s no point playing nice any more
Fiendy1: you’ve been playing nice so far, have u?!
Anomie: it’s time to start terrorizing Grunt Ledwell and those Maverick fucks
Fiendy1: how?
Anomie: we need as many people as possible to turn up at Comic Con wearing Drek’s Game T-shirts
Anomie: show them this game’s the epicentre of the fandom
Anomie: and any attempt to shut us down will mean a massive backlash against them and their shitty film
<Morehouse has joined the channel>
Worm28: but how do we keep ruel 14 if we’re all there ?
Anomie: no names, no personal details and masks
LordDrek: sexy. Like a swingers’ orgy
Hartella: lol
Morehouse: I want to talk about the Halvening
Anomie: Morehouse ffs give it a rest
Morehouse: I think we’ve got two members of The Halvening in here and I want them to fuck off out of this game and not come back
>
LordDrek: I take it you’re referring to Vilepechora and myself?
Morehouse: correct
LordDrek: we’ve had this out with Anomie and he accepts we made an innocent mistake
Morehouse: did you fuck
Vilepechora: we did
Vilepechora: we didn’t even know what the Halvening was until Anomie explained it to us
Vilepechora: he’s well up on all that dark net stuff
Vilepechora: we think he used Bitcoin to buy the machete and taser
Worm28: how can u joke about that ?
Fiendy1: fuck u Vilepechora!
Fiendy1: a human being was murdered and your making fkn jokes
Fiendy1: Morehouse’s completely right, if it was an innocent mistake you’d be hiding under a rock after hwat happened to Ledwell and Blay but here you are bloody laughing about it. I don’t think it was a mistake
<Fiendy1 has left the channel>
Anomie: made it up with Fiendy1, eh, Morehouse?
Anomie: been having little cosy private channel chats again, like in the old days?
Morehouse: You can keep LordDrek and Vile or you can keep me, Anomie.