The saloon keeper jumped as one weary, fur-covered hand slammed down on the bar, leaving a small handful of coins as it pulled away.

"I need a room."

The barkeep looked over the newcomer, and wasn't impressed. Surprised, to be sure, but not impressed. It was uncommon to see one of the foxfolk this far out, and this one was a stranger sight than most. Rare to his kind, this man's fur was a light gray, darker about the eyes, with patches of white around the brow, snout and ears. He was scrawny, too, even by their standards, and leaned heavily against the bar as he waited. He wore a light-colored, dust-laden poncho draped around his shoulders, and a hat of darker and tougher material. He was breathing heavily but silently as he watched the saloon keeper with his narrow, black eyes.

"I got a few left," the barkeep grunted, looking down at the coins. "That'll get ya about a week." Twice that, in truth, but the stranger just nodded, and if it was fine with him, it was fine for the Sleeping Dog, the worst saloon in town that didn't also have a rampant vermin problem. Muck, the barkeep, pulled out a large book and a small stub of charcoal. "Name?"

The fox-man glanced down at the registry, then back at Muck. "You need names?"

Muck rolled his eyes. "Just good business. We need to know who's doin' what to the rooms, so we know who ta send the boys after if things get broke."

The stranger nodded, and shifted his poncho blatantly to reveal the gun hanging from his belt. For a long minute, he said nothing, and neither did Muck. The saloon keeper wondered if this kid was trying to threaten him, and tried not to laugh at the idea. Finally, when his gesture failed to produce his desired effect, the stranger spoke again.

"Antine. Name's Antine."

Muck nodded as he scribbled the name. "Where ya from?"

Again, the fox-man hesitated, though not nearly so long this time. "Dayko."

This time, Muck was genuinely surprised. "Up Midnight Mountain way? That's where all them land offices are, ain't it? What's a quill-pusher like you doin' way out here?"

This time, Antine gently laid his hand on his gun and made a show of looking down at the registry, holding his gaze there while he answered. "You need that for the book, too?"

Muck wanted to call him out then and there, but a fox-boy from the hills with coin to spend was a valuable guest to have. He put his hands up slightly in a dismissive gesture. "Just askin', just askin'. Alright, your room's just up there, first on the right. If ya need anything, name's Muck. I'm here most of the time."

Antine took out another coin, flipped it once in the air, caught it and set it down on the bar. He waited a moment, then slid it over to Muck. When the barkeeper went to grab it, Antine did not move his fingers off the coin, but instead leaned in closer and spoke lower.

"There is one thing," the stranger said.

Muck replied, also lowering his voice. "Name it."

Antine moved his fingers away, and Muck grabbed and pocketed the coin. "I'm looking for someone. Maybe you've seen her. Human, short, red hair."

Muck considered. "You got a name for this girl?"

He nodded. "The name she'd probably give is Mea. But her real name is Nynca."

Muck shook his head. "No one I've ever heard of, I'm afraid."

"She's travelling with a sangrite-sucking lizard named Vam. Big guy, mean," he paused to rub the fur below his eye, "wicked right hook. Nothing?"

Again, the barkeeper shook his head. "No, sorry." He reached back into his pocket and withdrew the coin again. "I guess I should give this back."

Antine stood up straight and adjusted his poncho and his hat. "Keep it. But if you hear anything about those two..."

"I'll let you know immediately," interrupted Muck.

The fox-man just nodded. He took one step away, then seemed to think of something, and glanced back over his shoulder. "And if anyone comes asking about me..."

Muck smiled. "Never heard of you."

Antine nodded again, and quickly made his way up the stairs and into his room. He had to force himself not to gag as he entered. The room had clearly not been cleaned since the last tenant had left, which from the look of things was a long time before. The bed hadn't even been made up. At least the room itself was still in decent order, but the stink of stale air offended his nostrils.

Steady, Antine reminded himself. This isn't Verkel anymore. It's not even Dayko. He thought about his time in the land offices, and remembered how rough and inhospitable he had thought that town was. Now, after long days travelling and finally arriving in this hole of a town, Antine saw that Dayko had been abject luxury by comparison. He looked around his bare-bones squalor and sighed. The bed was thin and sagging, with straw sticking out from every opening. There was one tiny table with a single drawer which didn't seem to close all the way, and a window half-covered by boards. Antine slumped down onto the bed and contemplated the decisions that had led him here.

Just about a year ago, Antine had met Mea. She was enthralling. In his entire life, he had never known anyone like her. In Verkel, his life had been boring, stagnant, and completely consumed by the business of managing the sales and development of the vast new lands available in the Jakkard. So boring was it, in fact, that when a land office opened in Dayko, much closer to lands that were being sold, Antine volunteered to transfer there. He had hoped for a life of excitement, but mostly got more of the same old life he had in Verkel. Occasionally, there would be drunken brawls or shootouts with particularly aggressive prospectors, but nothing Antine felt would show him how to live.

But Mea changed all that. One night, she danced herself into his life and it was never the same afterwards. They would spend their nights talking about their dreams. Mea dreamt of moving out into the vast country, finding some deep vein and retiring rich and happy. Antine mostly dreamt of Mea, and told her so often. Antine had always been a fairly honest man, and though he wanted excitement in his life, he was not prone to taking risks. Mea helped change all that. She convinced him that with just a little creative handling of the books at the land office, they could both have their dream. So, Antine did just that. For months, he would skim a little off each sale, and always held one track of land, one of the best prospects out there, for Mea. Finally, the day came, and he bought her the land.

That's when Vam showed up. Antine had the whole day planned, a romantic dinner, a presentation of the deed and his proposal, the culmination of his dreams. When he arrived, Mea was waiting for him, and so was Vam. Antine had seen Viashino before, of course, but had rarely had to deal with one up close, and if his brief interaction with Vam was any indication, he wasn't particularly good at it. One swift punch across the eye and Antine went down. When he woke up, they were gone, along with the deed. At first, he had been too upset and depressed to do anything, but the more time passed, the more angry Antine became. He just kept thinking about Mea, and everything she had represented to him. Finally, he decided that if he wanted excitement, and revenge, he had his chance. He quit his job, withdrew his savings from the bank, bought a gun, and set out to track down the swindlers who broke his dreams and his heart.

The trail had gone cold for a while, and Antine was no tracker. But he remained vigilant, and refused to give up his persistent plots of revenge. At first he thought he could just stake out the land he bought for Mea, but they never showed up, and odds were they simply resold the valuable property immediately, so he simply began his search. The further out he went, the more he caught stories of Mea and Vam. In one town, he learned Vam's name from a leatherworker who had lost two brand new leotao saddles to him at the tables. In the next, a centaur sheriff filled him in on their backgrounds, how they'd been swindling and cheating people through the Jakkard for years. It was here he learned her real name was Nynca, his Vamuel, and both were wanted for any number of crimes across the sparse land.

Antine sighed heavily on the uncomfortable bed. He should have seen this coming. He should have known. But Mea had seemed to be exactly what he needed in his life. His dreams had blinded him. Maybe he should thank Vam for shattering them. As Antine allowed his hand to drop back down to the handle of his gun, he knew he couldn't. He believed in justice, and what was justice if not the older sister of vengeance? Antine sat up. There was no time to rest. The last he had heard, Mea and Vam were headed here, no more than two days ahead of him now. They had to be here. He felt it.

As the fox-man stood up, he noticed something inside the table drawer. Curious, he opened it, and inside he found a strange book. Antine had, over the course of his life, developed a certain appreciation for books, and could not resist the impulse to pick this one up and thumb through it. The words within baffled Antine, as they were in a language he had never even seen before. Even the characters were completely foreign to him. Strangest yet, the book felt warm to the touch, as though it was radiating its own kind of heat. With a confused expression, Antine put the book back in the drawer, and made himself a mental note to dwell on it later, and maybe crack the code.

But for now, he had work to do. Antine took a few moments to dust himself off, adjust his belt and his hat, and make his way downstairs. As he descended, he saw Muck speaking with another man, smaller and darker, and Antine pretended not to notice as Muck pointed at him while the other man looked his way. He was going to simply walk toward door when Muck waved him over. Reluctantly, the fox-man obliged, and as he drew close, Muck said to the other man, "This is the one I was telling you about."

The darker human looked Antine up and down, then broke into a big smile. "Hello, stranger! I'm Savt!" Then he quieted down considerably and looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "I hear you're looking for some information."

Antine glanced over at Muck, but the saloon keeper simply gave an encouraging nod. "Very specific information, yes. You have any?"

Savt shrugged. "Always hard to say, you know?"

Antine nodded. He pulled out three coins and stood them on their side on the bar, between his fingers. With a deliberate motion, he flicked one, which rolled across the counter and into Savt's hand. The other man laughed.

"I like you, stranger. You've got style!" His voice lowered again, almost to a whisper. "I run the Howling Dragon, the huge place across town. Rooms, drinks, weekly dances for the locals, that sort of thing. Anyways, I was just stopping by Muck's here to invite him and his clients to tonight's shindig, and he tells me he's got someone looking for someone. He gives me a couple descriptions, and I'm thinking, hey, that sounds like two people staying at my place."

Antine's eyes widened, and he tried, and failed, to repress a grin. "Mea and Vam are staying at the Howling Dragon?"

Savt shrugged. "Could be, who's to say. Course, I can't have gunslingers bursting into my establishment, shooting my guests. Bad for business, you know."

Antine nodded, then flicked another coin Savt's way. Savt sighed. "Of course, sometimes these dances get a little...wild. Nothing we can do about that, you know? That's just what life is out here."

The fox-man smiled again. "Tonight, you say? You know, maybe I could use a good dance..."

Savt smiled broadly and returned to his normal volume. "Oh, that is good news. The more the merrier, as we all know!"

With that, as well as a knowing nod in Muck's direction, Savt pushed himself away from the bar and disappeared through the front door. Antine said nothing, but casually rolled the final coin over to Muck, who happily grabbed it.

"Glad to help, my friend," the barkeep said cheerfully.

Antine began to walk away, then remembered the strange book in his drawer. He leaned back against the counter and spoke. "You keep names of all your tenants, right?"

Muck nodded sharply. "It's just good business."

"Do you have the name of the last tenant of my room?"

Muck looked confused. "Well, sure, but I don't really think he would like it if..."

Antine anticipated the problem. "I'm not looking for him the way I'm looking for the other two. He left something in there, and when I'm done here, I'd like to ask him about it."

When Muck seemed reluctant, Antine sighed and dug out yet another coin for the saloon keeper. That seemed to settle Muck's moral dilemma. He pulled the registry back out and scanned several pages back until he found the name. "The name he gave me was Jura."

Antine considered it for a moment, then shrugged. "Mean's nothing to me. Did he say where's he's from?"

Muck shook his head. "He said, but it weren't nowhere I'd ever heard of, so I didn't write it down."

Antine laughed. Maybe he should have tried that. He thanked Muck and returned to his room to prepare for the night.

The Howling Dragon was crammed full of people. Antine had no idea how many lived in this town, but he was willing to bet that most of them were here. Keeping one hand on his gun and the other on his coin pouch, Antine moved cautiously through the herd of dancers and toward the bar. The crowd seemed predominately human, with a few others sprinkled sparingly throughout. There were even a couple of centaurs in the mix, towering above the other revelers with stern expressions on their face. Fortunately, they seemed to be staying clear of the bar.

Savt was now working behind the counter, and Antine pushed and squeezed his way up to him. Before he could speak, however, the barkeep addressed him in his usual, boisterous manner. "Ah, welcome stranger! What brings you to these parts?"

Antine could tell by the look in the other man's eyes that he wanted the fox-man to play along. He could certainly understand why. If word got out that an innkeeper sold out one of his clients to any random drifter with a few coins, he probably wouldn't get much return business. Antine shrugged. "Just passing through. Hoping to get some directions."

"I could probably give you some, if I knew where you were headed."

Antine thought for a moment, trying to decide how to be subtle enough, without being too subtle. "I'm just hoping to find a prospect. Something high risk, high reward, maybe?"

Savt's eyes lit up. "Ahh, I think I know the perfect place!" He pointed off to his right, and just happened to point directly to a ground-level door. "If you head out of town that way, and travel for a week and a half, or so, you should come right to it."

"That long, huh?"

Savt seemed to fight back a coy smile. "Well, you'll probably get there a lot sooner. I just hope you're fast!"

Antine nodded, and slid the sly man one final coin in gratitude. Then he decided to serpentine his way back toward the entrance, trying to draw away any suspicion of his benefactor's involvement. He waited near the outside door for nearly an hour, bidding his time while the band played on and the people danced and drank and laughed and brawled. Occasionally, people would try to talk to Antine, or get him involved in the festivities, but the fox-man remained silent, always watching the door Savt had pointed to out of the corner of his eye.

Eventually, the crowd began to thin out a bit, and Antine decided the time had come. Moving across the wide common room was much easier now, but Antine still kept a close watch on his belongings, particularly his gun, the instrument of his vengeance. With each step he took toward that door, his heart was beating faster. This was not only the culmination of his months-long search, this was the culmination of his life up to this point. This was the excitement he had always been looking for, the glory and the justice he had always hoped to earn. Antine took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and kicked in the door.

Inside the room, Vam was pacing back and forth while Mea leaned back in a chair. Both of them were startled by the sudden interruption, but Antine spoke before either of them could recover. "I've been waiting a long time for this. Vam, it's time for a showdown."

Mea threw up her hands wildly at this declaration. "Antine? You're here to rescue me! I knew you'd come!"

Antine looked over at her in surprise, shocked that she would even attempt such a ridiculous ploy. "Mea, you can't possibly expect me to believe that..."

In the short amount of time it took Antine to speak those words, Vam drew his own gun, leveled it at the fox-man, and fired. The blast caught Antine in the stomach, and the pain was worse than anything he had ever felt before. He staggered over to the corner to steady himself, but it wasn't enough, and he slumped down to the ground in a heap. He tried to move, but the pain was too great. Above him, he heard voices.

"He's probably not the only one after us. Let's get out of here."

"I'm with you, Vam."

"Take his gun. I can never have too many of those."

Mea bent down over the prone Antine, and she laughed as she picked up his gun and unhooked his coin pouch. "Thanks, darlin'!"

Together, the two laughed and charged out of the door, leaving Antine lying there on the ground. He had no idea how long he was there, but eventually he felt himself being lifted up and dragged, though the legs that were now supporting both of them seemed as wobbly as his had been. Antine felt himself being laid out on a flat, hard surface, and when he forced open his eyes, he saw it was the table in Mea and Vam's room. The person who had carried him, a tall human who couldn't quite keep his head up straight, slumped down in the chair. He leaned his head near the table to get a look at Antine's wound as the fox-man heard Savt's voice.

"Hard luck, stranger! But don't worry. The doctor here was at the party tonight, so I asked him to come take a look. See anything yet, doc? Doc?"

Antine looked back at the doctor, whose head was now resting on the table, his eyes closed.

"Doctor!"

This time his eyes flew open, but he didn't move his head. "What?"

"Is he going to be okay?"

The doctor closed his eyes again and mumbled his response. "No. Hopeless case. Order the tombstone, and while you're at it, order me another drink, will ya?"

But Antine was over his initial shock, and forced himself to sit up. "It's really not all that bad, doctor."

The drunken man seemed to disagree. "Nope. You're already dead. Doctor's orders. Time of death: just then."

Antine rolled his eyes and, with Savt's help, struggled to his feet. Though weak and in tremendous pain, Antine thanked Savt for his help and stumbled his way out into the street. Even he had no idea how he did it, but he managed to find his way back to the Sleeping Dog, and although Muck pressed him for information on what had happened, Antine said nothing. With considerable effort, he made his way upstairs. As he pushed his way through the door, his feet finally lost their hold completely, and Antine fell backwards into his bed.

He had lost. His one moment, his one chance at justice in the world, and he had lost. Vam had just been too fast, Mea too clever, and he himself had been too foolish. Everything in his life was gone now, and it would only be a matter of time before people in town realized he had no more money, and no way to defend himself. It would be a long time before he could get back on the road, and even so, how long could he last there? He glanced over at his tiny table, and his eyes fell immediately on the book that had been left. He reached out to it, and he felt its warmth, and, to his surprise, he seemed to feel better. At that moment, he promised himself that he would recover. He promised himself that he would decipher the book. He promised himself that no matter how long it took, or how far away he might be, one day he would find the man who left it, and learn his secrets.

With a smile on his face and a new purpose in his heart, Antine closed his eyes, and allowed the world around him to simply fade away.

When he arrived, Mea was waiting for me, and so was Vam.

At first, he had been too upset and depressed to do anything, but the more time past, the more angry Antine became.

Antine's eyes widened, and he tried, and fail, to repress a grin.

Savt was now working behind the counter, and Antine pushed and squeezed his was up to him.

Now somewhere in the black mountain hills of Dakota
There lived a young boy named Rocky Raccoon
And one day his woman ran off with another guy
He hit young Rocky in the eye
Rocky didn't like that he said I'm gonna get that boy

So one day he walked into town
Booked himself a room in the local saloon
Rocky Raccoon checked into his room
Only to find Gideon's bible
Rocky had come equipped with a gun
To shoot off the legs of his rival

His rival it seems had broken his dreams
By stealing the girl of his fancy
Her name was Magill and she called herself Lil
But everyone knew her as Nancy

Now she and her man, who called himself Dan
Were in the next room at the hoedown
Rocky burst in and grinning a grin
He said, Danny boy this is a showdown
But Daniel was hot he drew first and shot
And Rocky collapsed in the corner

Now the doctor came in stinking of gin
And proceeded to lie on the table
He said, Rocky you met your match
And Rocky said, Doc it's only a scratch
And I'll be better, I'll be better Doc as soon as I am able

And now Rocky Raccoon he fell back in his room
Only to find Gideon's bible
Gideon checked out and he left it no doubt
To help with good Rocky's revival

I wholeheartedly disagree. To me, using canon characters falls at least at the same point of that spectrum as what I have done here, if not closer to the "unacceptable" end. First of all, while it is heavily hinted, nowhere in this story does it flat-out say that Gideon was ever on Jakkard. It is implied, absolutely, but it's implied by one line with the word "Jura," which could be anything. You are meant to assume it's Gideon, but no description of the former room tenant is given.

However, even if I grant you that this states explicitly that Gideon was there, I disagree with Barinellos in the premise that this somehow damages, or really in any way alters, his character. Only if Wizards comes out and says, "In his entire life, Gideon Jura has only ever been to Regatha, Kephalai, Diraden, Zendikar and Ravnica" would I accept that this somehow affects or contradicts his character. To me, suggesting that no canon characters can possibly have ever visited an M:EM plane bastardizes and cheapens the entire project. To my understanding, the entire point of the project was to "expand" the "multiverse" in which these characters live. If we say that these planes exist in the multiverse, but no "real" planeswalkers have, would, or could ever be here makes me wonder what the point is.

Now, to your last comment, Barinellos, let me address Cruel Ultimatum, which is also up for vote this week. To me, my putting in a reference that Gideon may or may not have once visited Jakkard at some indeterminate time is less potentially harmful to a character than using canon characters like Nicol Bolas or Malfegor in a story. You are attributing characteristics, mannerisms, and specific speech that may now or at some point in the future directly contradict canon. Is the character of the Keeper of Kederekt a canon character? Is he not "waters" now stepped in by both Bolas and Malfegor? Now, don't get me wrong, I like the story, and I do think what you did therein is acceptable in terms of the M:EM project. But my opinion is that my choice in Showdown is no less acceptable.

But that's just my opinion. In complete honesty, were this someone else's story, I would vote Yea, because I honestly do not see this as a problem. Barinellos does, and I know what that means. So the conclusion is already foregone, but I would have done myself and my work a disservice had I not explained my position on the matter. If "Showdown" never makes it into the Archives, I will find that unfortunate, but it won't bother me too much. You guys have to do what you have to do.