I am writing a chatterbox client as well. The language it is written in is Delphi. So far, it can load the chatterbox XML ticker and parse it, though it does not yet parse links or /mes. I have yet to allow the user to actually say some thing, but, due to N-Wing's help, I should have that done soon.
I just had the following idea: to take some load off of Everything 2's server, how about some body putting up a server middle-man for chatterbox clients to connect to? What this middle-man would do is connect to E2 every ten seconds or so, get the chatterbox XML ticker, and PUSH the results to all connected chatterbox clients.