An Affair at the Faire

AgentCorp Endgame

There was nothing like a pint of ice cream and a good movie to start one's day off right. The well-orchestrated chaos of the hospital was a familiar place to Alex at this point, but it also wore heavily on her. That's why these little moments of quiet, these simple times to unwind and decompress, were priceless.

"This is a disaster, an unmitigated disaster!" Kara announced as she barged into her sister's apartment.

So much for peace and quiet. "Sure, just let yourself in, Kara, and tell me what's going on in your day. I'm not doing anything else."

The obvious sarcasm was either ignored by or more likely went over the head of Kara, as she paced the room, arms waving so madly in her agitation that she might take flight. "Lucy just bailed on this weekend. She's going to meet James' mom. She thinks James might pop the question."

Alex sucked the ice cream off her spoon as she studied her sister. Kara was a little dramatic even on a good day, being as excited about seeing a new dog as the normal person was about winning on a scratch ticket. Joining the local renaissance faire players group, hanging out with a bunch of wannabe actors, had only pumped up the drama to eleven, and if whatever had Kara riled up was related to the faire, it usually reached a twelve. So no matter what Kara said, this level of unrest hardly encouraged Alex to get off the couch. The phrase 'unmitigated disaster' from Kara probably equaled a mild inconvenience in the real world.

"So Lucy won't be able to play Dame... um... who does she play at the faire again?"

"Morgana, and it's worse than just that. It means we don't have a Lady Morgana or a Sir Gawain. Ugh, Mike will probably get moved up to Gawain."

That was bad news all around, even Alex had to agree. Mike was a thirty-year-old who peaked as a frat boy. In college, he majored in roof diving and body shots. Shockingly, he hadn't graduated after six years there, six years the school had only allowed because his parents had money and donated generously. Mike had an attraction for Kara on which he wasn't hesitant to comment no matter how often he was rebuffed. When you looked up the term 'male entitlement', his was the first picture that came up.

Instead of saying any of that, as she had countless times already, Alex asked, "Doesn't Mike work in the mudpit?"

"Yeah, with Winn. He's actually pretty good at it. He gets to act like an ass—"

"Not much of an act," Alex mumbled.

"He begs for money and drinks, and people enjoy the act enough to give it to him. It's pretty close to what he did in college."

"Hmmm. I thought Winn was a theater major and a really good actor. Why not have him play Gawain?"

"Oh, Winn is a really good actor. He can portray the part except—"

There was a painfully long pause as Kara seemed to search for the words. Alex rolled her hand, not willing to pull the words that she knew would eventually come.

"He doesn't look the part, and Mike does."

"What, does Gawian need to write "This space for rent," on his forehead?"

"Alex, don't—"

"Sorry, just ignore me. As medical staff on site, I'm not comfortable giving Mike anything more dangerous than a plastic spork. He's gonna get someone killed."

To Kara's credit, she didn't try to defend Mike. "What if you weren't medical for that day?"

"A weekend to myself? I like it."

"No, I mean, we need a Lady Morgana so—"

"No."

"But—"