Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [GATM] [ELR] Exposition Blues Message-ID: References: <93223.093850ASG102@psuvm.psu.edu> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1993 22:38:26 GMT [ADMIN] This is by Rick Jones, Dreamer, and me. I ghost-wrote bits of Krupp's dialogue, but that's most of it. All characters are copyright their respective authors, rights granted to distribute along usual Usenet bounds and for archival but not for sale or reposting, without expressed consent. Normally we've been leaving these copyright things out, but with the coming influx of new college students, I think it's appropriate to remind folks of the rules we're following. Now for the story... Recap, Krupp Faraway, ghost detective, has been trounced by a cleric of some new god, and the god seems to be doing really nasty things to the children of Generica. Meanwhile, Lex and Erik are having a nice dinner out and expect to enjoy a performance of Rhythm Song at Ale House. When Krupp arrives, frantically searching for Lady Ale, the frightened hostess activates the Bouncer Spell and the hapless ghost is tossed into the holding tank... Finally someone showed up to let me out. Actualy, two someones. 'Raelf and this guy in a funky grey cloak. Oh, I'm sorry, it's a GREY cloak. Excuse me. He reminded me of Luthor. Not just cuz he was immortal (and how I knew _that_ little tidbit is beyond me), but he seemed to have that same strange demimagical smell to him Luthor did. "How's it going dude?" asked 'Raelf. I shook my head. "Oy, what a day I've been having. Get your girlfriend Ale." Erik got a strange look when I mentioned Ale's name. I smelt something between the two of 'em. I gracefully ignored it. Who am I to comment on wizards' sex lives? "We gotta talk. I found out what's gone nuts in Low City and it's uglier than Trawm's undershorts." "Grody. I'll call her up." 'Raelf held out his finger in the air, and spun it, like he was spinning a dial. "Oh this is Erik, by the way. You met at the Founder's Day party but nobody introduced you." "Krupp Faraway, pleased tameetcha." "Hello." <> <> The place where he spun his finger turned into a circle of light, which spun itself into a sphere of light. The pretty lights resolved into an image of a clearing. ar'Elya, in form I mostly recognized as 'her', was laying on a blanket, chatting with a girl. Or was it a unicorn? Hard to tell. "Lex, the lunch was wonderful. Thank you." "Thank the Little Rat and Kev. They did the hard work. Anyway, Krupp here has a report for you." I felt dorky talking to a ball of light, but what the hey. "Yeah, I have a report for you. Or Ale. Whatever." ar'Elya's form shifted to Ale and the unicorn nickered in suprise. "Lex, would you and Erik mind leaving for a moment while I talk to Mister Faraway?" "No prob-" 'Raelf started to say. Why she was calling him Lex confused me, but I had lots of stuff to say and little time. "He may want to hear this. This isn't some mobster with magical backing. I... I think it's a god." Ale raised a delicate eyebrow, and nodded. I sung them the story, with all the verses. All three of 'em tossed in comments and questions. ++ -- ++ Terry found _it_ hidden under his sister's bed. It made his tummy feel all upset, like when Mommy and Daddy yelled at each other. Reeny didn't know he spied on her last night. She was talking to _it_, that doll she found, and _it_ was talking back to her. He didn't hear what it was saying but Reeny got up and went into the other room, and came back with some money that Terry knew that Mommy was going to use for food for them, and she gave it to the doll, and it went away. But he was hiding, real good, holding onto his stuffed dragon and being quiet. Reeny was being so mean to him, too, since she got the doll. He hated it. He kicked it. Right in its stupid purple and green clown butt. It jumped, grabbing onto his foot and shrilling a high-pitched yowl, and tried to bite him. Something flashed past his hand, and the doll was knocked off his foot, into the place under the bed. Growling and screaming and flashes of light came from under there, and Terry started yelling for Mommy. She came in, and when she figured out what he was saying, about something bad hiding under Reeny's bed, she got the poker from the fireplace and carefully lifted up the mattress. There was something like a little nest under there, that Reeny had made for the doll. It was filled with little things taken from the rest of the house -- the good-luck sprig from over the door, the red cup that Gramma had given Mommy (that she had been looking for and nobody knew where it was, and Reeny said that Terry had broken it), the money that Reeny had taken yesterday... the eggs from the birds' nest that had been outside the window, before the birds abandoned it for some reason... a handful of dead mice, their eyes poked out and tails tied in knots... The doll was broken, the head half chewed off and the wooden body scorched as if by a very hot fire. Terry's stuffed dragon had the doll's neck in its cloth mouth, and a big rip down its side that the stuffing was leaking out of. Terry started to cry. The dragon's eyes were all dull. Mommy tossed the doll into the fire, and gathered up all the things from the nest and burned what would burn, and put the red cup and the money back where they belonged. Reeny would be in real trouble tonight. She sat down with Terry and began to sew up the rip in the side of his dragon. She put a kiss in behind it and Terry helped her by being really quiet and helping pick the right thread. Then she cleaned the purple and green stuff out of the dragon's mouth so he wouldn't be tasting doll blood. When they were done, the scar down the dragon's side was hardly big enough to see. The glass-gem eyes glittered. But Reeny didn't come home from playing that day. == ~~ == They had almost gotten back to the public part of Ale House when Lex noticed how faintly Krupp was glowing. The halfling even seemed to be having trouble moving, drifting like a rock falling through treacle. "Dude, you're just about out of power, aren't you. This `Br'Nai' thing must have hit you hard. Hey Erik -- wanna help me power up the ghost?" "How would that be done?" Erik looked speculatively at the fading wraith. "Strong emotions. Say, lust." Lex grinned invitingly. "Besides, it's a great excuse for something I've wanted to do all night." Krupp started to say something about being fine, really, you guys don't have to bother, but they ignored him completely. Lex inhaled slowly, deliberately, enjoying the scent of the ShadowMage. With a painstaking clarity, he anchored himself in his body, feeling each nerve ending, each fiber. He _was_ David Alex Berenson, here and now, not some spinning mess of elements. He looked down at Erik, remembering how much he'd wanted to be able to hold him, how they'd been teasing each other all night with veiled offers. Erik reached out and placed his hands on Lex's chest, feeling the strong heart beating loudly therein. As their bodies came closer, Erik's hands moved across Lex's chest to his sides then to his broad back. Now standing chest to chest, Erik looked up into Lex's eyes. They were large and deep blue, like some strange distant ocean. At that moment, Erik lost all feeling of his surroundings and fell into the gaze. Lex stroked his hands down Erik's arms, then pressing into the small of his back, moving hungrily to feel as much of him as he could. Erik closed his eyes in anticipation. There was a pause that seemed like forever, then a shiver of pleasure wrung his body as Lex's warm breath carassed his neck. Moving slowly from his adam's apple up the side to his left ear. Erik shivered again as Lex briefly nibbled on his lobe. It tasted of cinnamon. And myrrh, and sandalwood. Erik moved his hand up to the back of Lex's head. The silky blond hair ran through his fingers reminding him of a cat's fur. Erik leaned in closer, feeling the heat of Lex's body warm his own. He began to tingle from excitement. Lex heard the pounding of Erik's heart, the insistent hard grip of his hands trying to pull him even closer. A faint growl came from deep in his throat. Erik was trying to bite his shoulder, his collarbone. A moment after Lex's lips left Erik's ear, and Erik's mouth left Lex's neck, they met in a kiss, or rather a series of them. The first was brief and gentle, the second strong and deep. Lex was joining the energies of their bodies, Erik felt it as a surge of pressure that left a heat behind it. He replied eagerly, returning the pressure with his own. Animal instincts. Burning Touch. An end to 'I'. The beginning of 'we'. The spirit's sweet music. The heart's rhythm. The body's need. Combined. The heat of their desire made the coals of their souls burst into bright flames of tender light. To be extinguished a moment later by a bucket of ice cold water. Erik turned to the direction of their attacker, furious that anyone dared ruin the moment. Then, spotting a bouncer with a dripping bucket and a huge grin, Erik remembered where he was and proceeded to out-red a rose. He turned back to Lex and gave him a big hug. "Well, that was ... " "I know," Lex said wrapping his arms around Erik. "It certainly was." Erik looked up and studied Lex for a moment. "Of course you know, that 'gift' tells you everything." "No, it's not the gift that told me. You just can't fake a kiss like that." Satisfied, Erik held Lex for a moment longer, then he remembered Krupp (who tended to be a bit forgettable at times). "All better, Krupp?" Krupp looked much more solid. He staggered a bit as if he were drunk, and then nodded his head sloppily. "Sure, fine," he muttered, blushing furiously. "Great, because it's time for some more of the same," Lex grinned. "Now, come on, guys, what you do in private's your business, but..." Krupp squirmed slightly. "I'm not really into voyeurism, 'Raelf, and..." "You have a dirty mind, Krupp Faraway," Lex retorted. "Besides, I didn't mean us, I meant the crowd out in the party floor." "What, a nice light lunch of gambling frenzy and greed? No thanks, gives me the hiccups." "We've got a satyr band here," Lex said patiently. "Oh." Krupp got a strange expression on his face. "In fact, here they are." Lex led them through a green door into a green room, where four goat-footed people were test-tuning their instruments. "Didn't know you could tune a drum," Krupp commented. The redheaded satyr flashed them a leer. "So this is Erik, huh? Cute, we approve. Hey, why you bringin' a kid into a place like this," he said to Lex. Lex snickered. Karl looked closer and leered even more. "Oh, a halfling, sorry, fella." Krupp glared. "Folks, I'd like to introduce my friend Krupp Faraway, he's a private dick working out of a prestigious Low Town address. And yes, this other fellow is Erik that I was talking about this morning. Krupp, Erik, I'd like to introduce Rhythm Song." He pointed first to the redhead male, then to the blonde female, then to the twin black-haired males. "This is Karl, the babe is Anna, the two bookends are Dirk and Dack." "Charmed, or I will be," Krupp muttered politely. "What's this all about, 'Raelf? You know we gotta deal with that sicko priest." "Right, and the first thing we need is for you to get some power back. Since I'm all out of DT's right now, and since these folks are really good at getting emotional rise out of crowds, I figured you could get stoked on the performance here. Second thing we need is a ground fault intervener, so you can ignore it when they get all holy at you, which I better start. Hang on, I'll only be gone a second." He vanished, twisting sideways in a direction that made Krupp queasy, and reappeared what would have been a heartbeat later, if Krupp still had a heart to beat with. "Got it started. Parts have to ferment," Lex said. "Then I'll put it together. Got a couple rituals cooking up in the ol' 5000, too, that we'll want to do for added protection. Spiritual kevlar," he grinned. "In case they try to do something even nastier than usual." "Show time," came the call from the door. -o oo o- The band was your typical loud, rowdy, good-times sort of thing. I would have liked them better when I was still alive because I could have had a beer. As it was, I was getting a real charge out of the way they were playing the audience. Literally, I mean. I hadn't felt that full for days, and with Lex/'Raelf and Erik sitting there at the table, makin' gooey faces at each other, I almost felt like I was eatin' too much dessert. At least they weren't just goin' at it right there on the floor. I never did feel comfortable when folks forgot they weren't in private. I mean, I'm no prude or anything, I just think private things should be kept private, if you know what I mean. Anyway 'Raelf had tried to explain why everyone was calling him Lex, but afterwards I was more confused than before, something about water in his nose, and taking presents from things that eat gods for breakfast, so I decided it was more wizard stuff and just let him talk. There it went again -- the band was playing another one of those drum things the satyrs do, and the crowd was gettin' hot and bothered again, and they made it worse by sending out dancers in clothes that left a lot to the imagination -- like, fabric. I wondered whether or not I should make a side trip to visit the Bildurbom sisters -- sure, I was a ghost, but they say there's a will, there's a way. No, what was I thinking, must just be, yeah, that redhead satyr singer, grinning funny at me. Very funny, ha ha, yuck it up, Karl. Ghosts can tweak emotions too, joker boy. You wait. I turned my back to the stage so I could talk to Erik and Lex/'Raelf. "You said you knew what this god thing is," I said to 'Raelf, hoping he'd say something to distract me. He rose to the bait. "You see," said Lex/'Raelf munching of a slice of pitza, "There's a bunch of different kinds of gods. The Reaverchildren are Feeders." "What's that mean?" I asked. "Essentially, they're like _really_ powerful ghosts. They feed on the emotions and worship of their flocks and use it to build their power. Which they use to get more worshipers, to get more power to get more... You get the point. This one's tapping the kids' for worshipers." "And you said those dolls are the hook they use to get 'em started in the first place?" I got a real bad feeling, remembering how many of the kids in my neighborhood were playing with dolls lately.