John (not him, but the other one) had been left in a state of extreme agitation by his interview with the little man who called himself Ivan. He spent hours working off his aggression, traveling around the city in routes only known to him and a few others, traversing the city with feats of athleticism that would have left the most daring disciples of le parkour scratcing their heads in wonder and admiration.
The icy man, clad in only the veneer of civilization… rather like a thin rime of frost… he had appealed to John’s ego. It had been clumsy and obvious and insultingly transparent.
It had also been effective.
Something was moving in the city. Tribe called its streets home, but it was his domain, this jungle of concrete of glass, and if some fell beast had dared to move into his territory, it was his duty to see to it. No one else could… not Ivan, with his spider-like web of manipulations, and not the other John, with his self-flagellation and his Elizabethan histrionics.
No, he was the only one capable.
If he was going to stalk the stalking beast, he would need to enter its element. It had attacked in darkness and vanished before the dawn. He would not find it, clambering over rooftops or even prowling through alleyways. He would have to descend to the beast’s own level to fight it.
To do that, he needed to get much lower.
John could wear the mask of a civilized man as well as Ivan could. He retrieved the necessary items from one of his safe spots, then made his way down to street level, dressed as a businessman on his lunch break, briefcase and all. He descended into the subway station and waited with other commuters until the train arrived, disgorged its passengers and took on more. The platform was briefly deserted.
He went to the edge, and lowered himself over it, flipping his body into the space beneath it.
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These two John characters are so interesting.
He would have to descent to the beast’s own level to fight it. (descend)
Like MU, Tribe is addictive. I love the constant suspense.
i love this story. let’s hope all the campaigning for the story pays off. i’d hate for this story to abruptly end.
jungle of concrete AND glass ?
or
“of concrete, of glass”
“scratcing their heads” – scratching.
Parkour, not parkeur…. cool characters and nicely built tension helped along by the format. thanks
“the most daring disciples of le parkeur…”
I think you mean parkour.
Love that Tribe’s being updated so much! This has got to be my favorite of your stories, possibly second only to ToMU.
It’s a very rare occasion for the editor in the back of my head to kick in on one of A.E.’s works, but it really should be “He would have to descend to the beast’s own level to fight it.” Rather than decent.
Great story!
It’s a rare thing for such a cohesive story to come in such small snippets.
Oh yes. Nothing frustrates like manipulations that are clumsy and obvious and insultingly transparent…and effective.
le parkeur is the original way of spelling it, parkour is an americanization.
Actually, it was always parkour… it’s an “aggressive and efficient ” version of the French word “parcours”.
Thanks for the corrections.
and now i’m all curious whether monday will bring an update or not..
it would seem not
Did we fail to make this worth updating? If so that makes me very sad.
Whoops! I’m so sorry, I made a note but it looks like I left it back on 4.7 instead of here:
Also, I didn’t realize until recently that this Wordpress layout apparently doesn’t include an RSS feed. I’ll be getting that fixed soon.
I’m loving these three Johns (since Ivan is, in fact, the Slavic form of John) and really wondering what their ‘true’ forms are, since they are only making a passable imitation of civilisation.
Update please! The 333 word limit is killing me!
“… feats of athleticism that would have left the most daring disciples of le parkour scratcing their heads in wonder and admiration.”
“scratcing” should be “scratching”. Loving the two Johns too, BTW.