Excolo Guardians: Chapter 5: Riding the Wave

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

Three weeks later; heading to Ladon's Night

It is a hot night outside the Dome. The Dome has stayed at its usual pleasant 70F (plus or minus 5 degrees, to give a sense of climate), but out here it has risen to 100F by day, vegetation browning, asphalt sticky. The night brings little relief, and so going out tonight I am wearing only silver pants and shoes. I went to No 93 Engine earlier, the best clubbing supplier in the Outer Districts, and I had myself blacklight painted, an intricate design reminiscent of the gears of a great machine. It took two hours, but after the artist was done and she switched on her blacklights to show me the effect, I think it is worth it. I wish to have an...excessive sort of evening. Ladon's Night should manage that. It is one of the most elusive of the clubnights in the city - usually but not always once a month, it moves locations, although it is always close to the outer walls. The location is given out in an electronic scavenger hunt, images of a dragon buried in raver forums and music sites. It has been a few years since I last bothered to find it, but it does not take me long. I am good at puzzles, but recently I am finding it easier to simply ... ask. And people deliver. Tonight Ladon is being hosted by Cathode, a basement of burnished bronze and pipes and fire. At the door I show the doorman the download of the final clue and he lets me in. Not that I would have let him stop me, and it is in fact an effort not to simply tell him to let me past the barrier. These last few weeks I have had less patience for delays in getting what I want. When I get inside the music is still quite mellow, the club half full. It is yet early. The two dance rooms are quiet, but there are people in the bar, and I go there first. I am hoping I will meet interesting people tonight. I have some frustrations I would like to burn off.

One way or another.