Danny enters the Alcatraz Bar. Dervin's normal place is empty, already getting dust on it. He looks around, coughs into a tissue and looks at it. Blood. He orders a drink at the bartender and gives him a package with a small letter.
"Here *coughs* If Dervin's cumin' back into this bar *coughs* giv'im this pack'ge."
Danny leaves the bar and the bartender starts reading the letter.
"Who is it doing this synthetic type of alpha beta psychedelic funkin'?"
Dervin returned late in the evening, at least as far has his body was concerned. Without even unpacking the Barghest, he decided to pay a visit to the bar before turning in for some sleep. He paused to grab his cardamine and made his way to get some wine. Due to previous... disagreements with those that ran Alcatraz, Dervin hunched his shoulders in a worthless attempt to appear inconspicuous. Any anonymity that his efforts afforded him were shattered by the loud voice of the bar tender:
"Dervin mate, that boy... um... the one that coughs ya know? He left somethin' for ya!"
Dervin growled at no one in particular and quickly took a stool at the bar.
"His name's Danny, an' pour me some wine; no, give me a bottle. So, what'd he leave with ya?"
"Well Son, a bit of a package, I had it moved to your room for safe keepin's and this here note" The bartender dug into his dirty pocket and retrieved a crumpled piece of paper with Danny's writing on it. "Here," he said as he thrust it at Dervin with the requested wine.
Dervin took both and consciously decided that he'd enjoy the company of his room over the prying eyes of the Rogues around him. Rogues that he had once considered his brothers. He sighed as he shoved the door shut behind him and pulled the cork from the bottle in one well practiced movement. Taking a drink or three to steady himself, he smoothed the wrinkled paper and read.
The boy 'stands why I left does he? I think not, but I'll give the likes of Danny the benefit of the doubt. Dervin sighed and took another pull from the bottle. Well, gonna have to make a response at least...
The diminutive Dervin reached for his nightstand and felt around for his personal computer and powered it up. With the skills he had perfected before even applying for the Lane Hackers and much before his first encounter with the Rogues, Dervin easily bypassed any logging programs and broke into Danny's personal computer and began to compose a message that read as follows:
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Well Danny, I figured that of all of em' that I left behind, you'd be the one to contact me. Ya always were too nice fer yer own good boy, but I suppose that it could just as easily be said for meself. Anyway, lets get to the meat of it. I can't be joinin' again. Just can't be the same as it was. I wanted something from the Liberty Rogues that I'll never have, and I ain't sacrificing my freedom for the lack of a thing. Ya 'stand what I'm tryin' to say? It's like havin' an ugly wife that nags a'cha but will no cook or clean. Why keep her 'round, eh? Anyway, ya 'avent seen me much on account of me trip to Omicron Alpha. I hadn't been there since I was a young little recruit in the Rogues, and the place made an impression on me it did. Well, at least the cardamine did. So I took meself a vacation, get away from it all ya know? In any case, you'll be seein' me 'round Liberty mate. I may have left the faction, but I ain't takin' leave of who I am. Anyway, I do be hopin' to see ya 'round. Take care of them lungs mate. An' keen that stuff I taught'cha. It'll keep ya alive it will.
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Dervin deleted the records of his connection and closed the computer. He sighed and reached for his wine. He'd check the package and unpack later, at the moment he wanted only sleep.