New Neighbor

Desi waters the lawn. It’s a house in Soma, near the White House, kina, next to the Universal Church of Soma. The hose is old but still works. The house was vacant for a long while before Desi moved in.

There is a lump in the backyard that catches Desi’s eye. The thoughts swirl around in the skull. The ideas are moving again.

“No,” Desi says in a whisper. “Stop. I’m done.”

Then Desi turns off the water and goes back inside.

---

A bit later, over the kitchen sink, Desi looks out a window and sees someone moving in next door. It’s an odd time of year for it, being mid-December. Most uni students are moving out, not in.

Could be a transfer, Desi thinks. Or maybe it’s just a vacancy came open because of term change.

The woman is young and beautiful. She reminds Desi of someone from … the past.

Desi looks away, down into the sink, gets a drink of water.

The thoughts start up again …

Play procedures

• If you remember Desi, then you have advantage on all rolls related to evading them. If not, then you are at disadvantage. If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry about it.

• Desi is a somatic villain and is loose on the streets along with Alithea, though they don’t know each other and have separate motives and goals.

• You can substitute your own antagonist for Desi, if you would prefer. Or you can create another character to try and rehabilitate them. My efforts to do so have not met with much success.