Warning- not everything in this story becomes part of the ongoing Tally Road universe! This is the seed from which the comic came, with many similar points, but the comic rapidly took new directions and introduced new characters, from which further stories are told. That said, enjoy the previously secret original Tally Road story!

Tally Road Original Story- Chapter 1

The entrance into the bar was dark, and the smell wasn't entirely from things to drink. The voice was a wolfish growl, crassly suggestive.

"...But maybe you'd like that, huh? Are you a good kitty, huh?"

"Hey, man, that ain't right- you should back off..."

"What? It's a free country. And we don't get many Nerre in here as sweet as this little honey. Why do you think she came here? Quit bitching, buddy, you can even watch. Hey, honey, what's your name?"

The new voice came clearly through the dank air, trembling, tense, feminine- feline.

"...Lanste..."

"Hey, Lan-steh, honey, you're a fine sight to see, babe, and I know just how you feel. You don't have to just stand looking- come over here- yes, there's a good kitty. That's right..."

"Man, you don't tell them like that... I mean, you don't TELL them, don't you know that? There could be trouble..."

"Shut up! That's right, honey- now sit down real slow."

Outside the bar, Rairate Tais winced as a wild, lewd shriek rang out, and his ears flattened against his head- and he hoped against hope that he could get past the doorway without...

"Whoa!" said his companion, eyes bright with curiosity. "Rai, can I go in and watch?"

"No! You're not to talk about that sort of thing!"

"Why not?" replied Boodins Earncy.

For a moment, the two stared at each other- neither of them looking like they belonged in front of a low dive in a dirty city on the Runge homeworld. Boodins was a bit less incongruous- he was a Resten, of the 'scruff' lower class, so he resembled the Runge slightly, but on a smaller scale. They were wolfish creatures of great determination and industry, and Boodins, in his unkempt way, could almost pass for a small one.

Rairate was utterly incongruous, resembling a barely five-foot bipedal cat, with the Siamese markings of the Taistronn bloodline. He was Nerre- though not like, never like, the expatriate whose shrieks rang out across the street. He was no longer True Nerre, but he had enough respect for the protocols to be False Nerre, and he would not let go of that. The trouble was, Boodins was likely to try and coax him into the bar, so the insufferable young pup could gawk at his culture's shame.

"I'll explain later. It'll take some time." hissed the feline. "You are to come with me now, 'aons."

With that, he grabbed Boodins' hand, and led him past the doorway and on down the street. The young Resten was at least a head taller than Rairate, but it seemed not to matter- he even tugged against the Nerre's grip, but to no avail, the little cat's muscles were like steel bands and Boodins was completely outclassed, and gave up, as always.

"Why do you keep saying 'yonce'?" asked Boodins sulkily, stumbling rapidly in the wake of the diminutive Nerre.

"It is a short form, an abbreviation. What you would call idiom. The full word is 'vraonse'."

"And what does that mean, then?" asked Boodins, resigning himself to the fate that he'd NEVER get to see a Nerre kitty doing the nasty, and would have to be dragged about by his cruel taskmaster, and content himself with curious questions about words and things. Rai was so stubborn sometimes.

Rai was calming down, as the orgiastic sounds faded in the distance, putting them out of his mind in the Nerre way. "Vraonse is a signal of protocol, indicating that I regret the appearance of overriding your wishes, but believe myself to be in a position where my authority may be employed to direct events to a more desired outcome. It also suggests that if other Nerre do not agree with my intent, they must signal first that they do not, and then allow me to register my objection before discussing further. They must wait, however long it may be, until I am disposed to respond."

"All that?"

"Why, yes." replied Rairate earnestly.

Boodins had a happy thought. "So maybe, if the kitty girl in there wanted to let me watch, and she asked you to let me..."

"There was no-one in there." said Rairate, hastily.

Boodins gawked back the way he'd come. "But Rai, I heard... I mean, you couldn't mistake it for any other..."

"There was no living Nerre in that place." said Rairate. "And if you'd known better, you'd have led me away from there even faster than I led you. That is assuming, of course, that you wish whatever was inside that place to remain alive. And yowling."

He said it very coolly, but it took Boodins aback, and the puppyish, adolescent Resten fell quiet, remembering what Rairate, in fact, was. And it wasn't simply that he was one of the strange, inexplicable Nerre race- who were known to kill their own over brazen defiance of protocol.

Rairate Tais was a mercenary, an assassin- and Boodins was just along to help with a job, thankfully not as deadly a job as the little feline might otherwise be asked to do.

They arrived at their hotel, Rai deftly unlocking the door with their pass-number, and rode the lift up the front of the building to their room. Nobody rivalled the Runge for technology, except of course the Vorsi, but they hardly counted unless you were very wealthy. With Runge, the technology was mass-produced, and it was everywhere.

Rairate pulled a kimono-like sleep-garment off the news-tape, and was rewarded by the tail-end of a commercial for Runge knot expanders and a headline: "Terrorist Magarce Flees Planet With Wolf Lover!", which caused him to immediately cover the tape again. It glowed dully through the cloth, but could no longer be read. You had to pay the machine to read the actual story, and it couldn't be turned off- the Runge often had these devices even in their private homes, it was just their way. Rairate knew that the operators of the newstapes claimed property rights over fresh news, but if that was the best they could come up with, they could have it. Anyhow, he actively wanted not to hear of Magarce- she was worse than the one in the bar, worse than anybody.

"Now can you explain why I couldn't go and watch?" asked Boodins, but Rairate wasn't listening. His attention was drawn to the security camera. That, too, remained always on, but the information in it was available not only to the governments, but also to private citizens at a price, and as the temporary legal owner of the room, the Nerre was entitled to complete access of the records during the time of his occupancy. There was a play button, a shuttle control to let the video capture go into temporal shift, a time-stamp in the corner of the screen alongside an ID number for the camera.

The time-stamp was wrong. Rai froze, the tip of his tail twitching.

"Rai?"

"Quiet. Boodins, do not move, but if you would please ascertain the scent of our surroundings and inform me of discrepancies?"

The young Resten gaped. "What? Why?"

"Please do it. I am attempting not to move either. I have a suspicion."

Boodins stared at the Nerre, and shrugged. "I don't know why you make such a big deal out of it. You can move if you want, it won't matter. I smell cleaning fluids, the sheets on the bed, smog, the carpet outside that someone yacked on probably a week ago... um... steel from that video thing... I think someone scorched the sheets, they must dry them in a terrible hurry..."

Rairate held his position. "More, please."

"Rai!" whined Boodins. "It's hard to tell what else. I never got to stay in hotels before, I don't know what I'm smelling past a certain point."

"Indeed. Please describe." The little cat was unyielding.

"Oh... something sort of dank and musty..."

"Is the scent coming from that air exchanger?"

Boodins blinked. "I thought I was supposed to not move. All right, all right!" He went over past the motionless cat and sniffed the air exchanger. "Whoa. It's loaded with it."

"Then it is contamination in the ventilating system, common to hotels. What else?" asked Rairate.

The young Resten closed his eyes, sniffed, concentrated. "Something... spicy... but dry, very dry..."

Rairate's tailtip began to flicker. "Does it remind you of the spice 'coriander'?"

Boodins involuntarily wagged his tail. "Yes, that's it!"

"Please remain still, at least four feet from any entrance or concealed space in the room." said Rairate. Boodins did, a little awed, and watched the feline begin moving, with a curious deliberate grace, poised to spring at any second- to the open-plan closet, to the bathroom, checking that there was no room under the bed, scouting the seemingly innocent room with unwavering professionalness- yet nothing happened.

"You can relax now!" said the Nerre.

"What was it?"

"Tompar. I might have guessed from the video feed..."

"Really?" said Boodins, awestruck. "Like, like- a snake ninja person sent to kill us?"

"That is a crass generalization, and yes- one of their operatives was in here. I wonder what they wanted?"

"Do they put out some kind of wave that interferes with video machines?" asked Boodins, fascinated.

Rai unexpectedly laughed. "Indeed not! I thought it might be Tompar because of the video machine. It has been hacked in a particular, crude way. They don't have the sophistication to understand computer operations, and this one was using what's called a 'kit' to erase the footage showing her in the room."

"But he wasn't in here! You acted like he might still be hiding in here, and I'd have smelled it!" objected Boodins.

"I had to be sure." said Rairate quietly. "Besides, there might have been a trap."

"Wouldn't he be out to kill us? They're trained killers!"

"I am just as trained, Boodins, and I am not out to kill anybody. I have been hired to find a kidnapped princess of your world..."

"Not princess," interrupted Boodins. "Posh, maybe."

"Very well, to find a kidnapped posh-maybe of your world, and return her safely home. That could possibly involve killing, and that is why I was hired. But killing is rarely the most elegant response to a situation."

"Tompar ninjas do a lot of it. Well... in movies, anyway."

"Tompar are rarely elegant, but they are subtle in their own way." said Rairate. "They're just not very technological, which is our good fortune- we know our room has been entered, and she doesn't know we know. I saw no traps laid for us, and if she was targeting us there would probably be one of the traditional Tompar traps present, so it's likely that she doesn't intend to attack us physically. I suggest we sleep on it. She won't be back tonight."

"Wait. She? You think the snake ninja is a girl?"

"Yes, the operatives are almost invariably females." said Rai, as he undressed for bed. Boodins stammered and looked around awkwardly, yet the little feline remained unperturbed. The young Resten was suffering a degree of culture shock on a regular basis, and had yet to figure out that to a Nerre, any implication that an observer's self-control was dependent upon things like clothing would be the gravest of insults.

Boodins hastily got into bed with none of the grace of his Nerre companion, and covered his embarrassment with nervous chatter. "Do you really think the Tompar is a girl, Rai?"

"It is almost certain. I would be greatly surprised if it was not. Do please go to sleep, 'aons- we have a busy day tomorrow."

Boodins pressed on. "But why? There's gotta be a reason. In movies they're guys."

"On your world, perhaps. I have found that your people have strong opinions on the matter, and certainly this is seen in your entertainment. It seems peculiar."

"What do you mean peculiar?" replied Boodins. "It's just- some things are just suited to guys. Like in the movies! If it was Tompar women getting in fights, their tits would bounce around and get in the way. Uh, which would be kinda awesome, actually."

"Your information may be less than complete, 'aons. I'm familiar with some of the Tompar martial artists who appear in your movies, and though they are playing male roles, they are females, the same as the one that searched this room. You're assuming that Tompar are built similarly to Resten, when they are not."

"You're kidding!"

Rai tensed. "Certainly not- please do not suggest it, 'aons. It is a most improper suggestion." He sought to calm himself, reminding himself that the boy was a young whelp who knew nothing of Nerre protocol and values.

"But... why?"

"Do you mean, why do they cast female Tompar in these roles, or why are Tompar Mued invariably female?"

Boodins thought for a moment. "The second one. Mued are the assassins, right? Like the one that was here?"

"Yes, indeed."

"Well, why are they females?"

"Because their venom is twice as strong as the males... go to sleep, Boodins, 'aons."

Unaccountably, the young whelp was not soothed by this new information- but eventually, both slept.