ProLogüe: Pieces Made Whole
Part 1:
Not much is known about our beaked brother, Zopi, but there are certainly rumors. There was something strange about that night in 1997 when the Hale-Bopp comet passed over Eastern Europe, one moment a simple family was enjoying the evening together and the next their precious boy grew a beak on his face. Mortified by the growth, young Zopi’s parents abandoned him in the Forest a great distance from their home. Zopi grew up in the Forest, with only the birds to raise him; they saw him as one of their own, probably because of his odd beaklike protrusion. To pass the time, Zopi would take various sized vines, and after applying tension, he would pluck them producing beautiful tones; however this led to him being found, captured and forced to perform in a traveling circus. Zopi spent years in confinement strumming on a crudely strung guitar, until the circus made its way to Nashville, Tennessee. After a night of performing Zopi was locked up again; but as luck would have it, a Forest Troll by the name of Scufflemoss snuck into the circus. While looking at the caged animals and Cryptids, Scufflemöss felt that they didn’t need to be locked up. He freed them by breaking the locks and turning them all loose; Zopi being among the liberated. Years passed, and the time has come for a reunion of freedom. |
Part 2:
Of all lives affected by the summoning of the Evil Loa Spirit last year at Notaroo, The Dingo lost the most. The Dingo chose to live a simple life away from the city with his child, in the Tennessee woods; They lived off the land, played guitar, sang songs, and enjoyed the peace of each evening. One evening while the sun was setting and The Dingo was gathering kindling for the fire, he saw a figure standing between two trees; being a Shaman, The Dingo didn’t need to see it clearly to know what he was looking at. They met each other’s gaze, and The Dingo could feel the evil intent in the dark incorporeal eyes. Just then The Dingo’s child came out of the forest and shouted that dinner was ready, and in a snap their staring contest was broken. The Loa rushed out from the trees sped towards the young one. The Dingo acted as quickly as he could but his world seemed to move in slow motion as he watched the spirit reach his spawn. The Loa wasted no time and snatched up the little one speeding away like a comet, with only a muffled scream to trail behind, and then the silence of the evening to follow, leaving The Dingo alone with a heart full of vengeance. Months passed, and The Dingo formulated a plan to catch the spirit and avenge his child; all he needed was for a certain Forest Troll to seek him and set the plan into motion. |
Part 3:
So, you think you know Scufflemoss Treemen? Well, you only know a part of his story. 230 years is a lot of time to cover. Spawned in a forest far from where he now calls home, Scufflemöss lived in peace with the world around him. His days would come and go without a way to mark the time. His primitive life consisted of pruning the leaves off of trees, foraging for food off the forest floor, and interacting with animals that he would meet. This all changed the day he mistook a wasp for a bumblebee; and led to him being accidentally locked in a crate of hamburger buns that was scheduled to ship to Nashville Tennessee. When the crate was opened, the Troll was thrown into a world he didn’t understand, frightened by the city around him Treemen fled to the safety of the Forest, that at the time was abundant in Tennessee, where he lived for 50 some odd years. Strange things happened during his stay in the woods: cultists, bears, aliens, fake Santas, and traveling oddity circuses; to name a few, but that all changed when he was hit by a car. Prior to the accident, Scufflemöss was working for a couple of haunted woods owners who used the Troll’s naturally frightening appearance to make money, but scaring humans was something that Scufflemöss could not enjoy. He likes to make people laugh, and would frequently ditch his scare routine for twerking or telling crude jokes with his limited English vocabulary; this didn’t last long. He left the haunt that he worked at for a bun a day to meet the front end of “Caretaker’s” car. “Caretaker”, as Scufflemöss refers to the human companions who took him in, brought the unconscious Troll to their house and gave him a place to sleep in their garage under lock and key for many years while the Troll learned to speak English and how to properly interact with humans. They gave him access to the internet and plenty of hamburger buns to live off of, but he wanted more. He learned to dance, he learned to sing, and learned magick from an ancient book; and that is where the trouble started. |
Part 4:
Daddy Cat is one cool customer; whether he’s orbiting above Earth in his Space-Camero, or laying down a heart thumpin’ rhythm on his bass. In his down time, DC likes to travel back to his home planet, each trip only takes him about a month in hyperspace, but 30 years pass on Earth each time he does it. But why does he keep coming back? Because Earth has really good pizza. Who knows, someday you might grab a slice downtown and see a bi-pedal cat sitting at the next table; treat him with respect, he waited 30 years for that slice he’s eating. |
Part 5:
The backbone of any band is the drummer, butt being the rear of our list doesn’t mean Flurpis doesn’t have his eyes on the prize. Born to a wealthy family from the south, Flurpis was locked away in his parents attic to keep themselves from being the butt of the joke at the mega church they owned. He spent his life alone with only the spiders and musty old boxes to keep him company; until the day he tapped a fork against his China plateware and stomped the floor in rhythm. Flurpis loved the sound banging things made, and took whatever opportunity he could to learn more about making banging things happen. But one day he saw a chance to make his escape from the confines of his parent attic. He left the life of cobwebs and silk pajamas behind to seek the outside world. “It looks like sh*t to me” Where we last left our favorite sphincter-faced gütboy, he had escaped his parents attic, you know, the ones that run a Southern Mega-Church. Flurpis was enjoying his first wafts of fresh air, and walking along while tipa-tapping on a fence with a pair of sticks. He couldn’t believe his eye... holes, nature was all around him and he couldn’t help feeling elated. Flurpis walked for a few hours, taking in the new world, until it started getting dark; he had never been away from the attic after dark, or at all for that matter. Flurpis stopped walking for a moment, he felt the road begin to rumble and knelt to put his ear to the ground. Something was coming. |
Part 6:
After Zopi was freed from the Traveling circus by Scufflemoss, he fled to seek help in this new foreign land. He traveled for days until he reached the first city Zopi was able to find; Nashville, Tennessee. Zopi marveled at the city’s unique skyline and mix of architecture; he hadn’t seen much outside of his time in the circus, so this metropolis astounded him. But something else interested Zopi more; the sounds coming from the city, the people, the music. Of all the wonderful things the city could have offered, music called out to Zopi the most. Zopi stuck to the shadows in the dark alleyways to listen to the buskers on the street, he envied their bravery, how they would play their songs without worry of being ridiculed. Zopi wasn’t going to let having a large black beak on his face stop him, he was going to make music just like all of the “normal” humans; but first he needed a guitar. |
Part 7:
After the Loa Spirit kidnapped The Dingo’s child, he was left alone in the forest with only his thoughts, a dangerous place to be. That night He stared into the flames of his campfire and contemplated deeply what his next move would be. He kept running the last few moments through his head, he could see the Loa as if it were just on the other side of his campfire, but it wasn’t there. The Spirit’s eyes seemed to bore into Dingo’s soul, they were cold, ruthless; but there was something beneath the stare that Dingo could not quite nail down. The fire began to die down, but something sparked in Dingo’s mind; now was the time to act! This Spirit was just like any other Dingo had banished, it had to have a weakness he could exploit, but what was it, and would he be in time to save his child? A stick cracked nearby and Dingo was pulled out of his trance to the sound of footfalls in the forest, someone was there; Dingo grabbed his sickle and stood prepared for a fight. |
Part 8:
For all his goofy antics and loving kindness, there lays a darkness within our Front Troll Scufflemoss that he really doesn’t want his human “fruends” to see. If you were at Scufflemöss’s spawning day party this year, you may have heard the tale of the Spawning(now available on YouTube), its a story not directly about our leafy buddy, but about the downfall of his people the Anq’ji and their protector Anq’coraj. We aren’t going to spoil the story for you, but because of the events that take place, each Forest Troll from then on has to live with a curse, one that lives inside their chests. Scufflemöss calls it his Rööt, an appendage that keeps him from fully being able to join human society, because of the danger that it poses. With its sharp teeth and gaping mouth that release a noxious poison gas, the Rööt is Scufflemöss’s greatest weapon, but also his great shame. If you happen to be in a sticky situation and this Troll has to come to the rescue, you best hope you have a gas mask on hand; the gas induces a psychedelic coma, and brings out the body’s primal urges, and in the past has led to the death of many. Our advice? If you see the Rööt, DON’T YOU TOUCH IT. |
Part 9:
We’ve mentioned before that Daddy Cat really enjoys a good slice of pizza, Earth is the only place he can find it, but one day getting a slice changed his life. During one of his visits, while being bored from orbiting above Earth's atmosphere, Daddy Cat stopped in at a local Nashville pizzeria, one with a line that went out the door and wrapped around the building. He waited in the line with humans acting like it was perfectly normal for a 5 1/2 foot cat to be waiting in line for pizza in the city. People stared and whispered under their breath, but DC didn’t care, the pizza from this store was going to be worth it. He got to the front of the line and ordered a slice of cheese. After all that time in line, the pizzeria ran out of most of their pies. DC took his slice and sat down in the far corner so that he wouldn’t be disturbed and munched on his hot, cheesy slice of heaven. Perfect every time. Or it would have been perfect, he heard the door to the pizzeria open and two strange figures walked in. Had they been human, DC would have ignored them, but one of them clearly was not. DC stared at them until his eyes met the short strange looking one… |
Part 10:
On our last adventure with Flurpis, he escaped his parent’s attic to explore the world outside. He had felt the ground rumbling, so Flurpis put his ear to the ground to listen. Whatever it was, it was coming fast. Flurpis stood up and waved his hands in the air to get the approaching thing’s attention. He could feel the rumble in the asphalt start to grow nearer but also slower. “Hey! Excuse me? Could you move out of the road please?” Flurpis heard from behind his back. He turned around with his arms outreached to feel what was there. “Yes, could you please move your assho....” The voice stopped abruptly, but Flurpis could make out a red vehicle in front of him with three passengers. “Dude...” the voice said again, “Ass Eyes...” |
Part 11:
Zopi spent a few weeks scrounging around until he found enough money to buy a second hand guitar from one of Nashville’s many pawnshops, he was elated to have something to play that was his. He immediately went to the nearest street corner on Broadway and began to play, even though he was very good at playing, people walked away as soon as they saw his beak. They didn’t understand. He did this for a few weeks, made his way to the corner to play guitar for a couple of hours, just enough to snag a couple of dollars here and there. It was all he wanted in life, to play his guitar; but unlike his time in the traveling circus, Zopi was free to play whenever and wherever he wanted; until one evening while he was an hour into busking on the corner when a metro officer approached him. “Excuse me, sir,” the officer eyed Zopi up and down, settling on the black beak jutting from his face. “Do you have a license to busk in this city?” Zopi didn’t know how to respond, he didn’t know much English and most people he met wouldn’t stick around to talk to him. “Busk?” Zopi asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity. “Yes, busk, you can’t do that here without a license. You’ll have to come with me.” The officer reached for Zopi’s guitar; but he wasn’t fast enough. Zopi took off like a flash and ducked into the nearest alleyway he could find. He hid behind a wall and listened for his pursuer, but no one came. He sat with his back against the wall, and contemplated what he was going to do next; until he heard a familiar voice coming down the alley. Zopi peaked to see who it was; the Troll who freed him, but who was that with him? Zopi stayed out of sight, but followed them closely as they passed. If their was anyone who could help him it was the Troll; but would he recognize Zopi and show him the same mercy as before? |
Part 12:
When The Dingo investigated the sound he found a curious looking creature, a Troll. “Oh Hallo, Scufflemöss didn’t mean to startle you, fruend!” The Dingo remained silent. “Scufflemöss is here to speak to you about a matter most dire,” the Troll said, “last June, I accidentally summoned a Loa Spirit, but before I could banish it, the Spirit escaped.” Images flashed through Dingo’s mind, he then realized that the spirit the troll spoke of was the same that stole his child away. “I have seen this Loa,” Dingo replied, “He took my child, and you are to blame?” “My sincerest apologies, fruend. I didn’t mean for that to happen; but Scufflemöss is responsible, und he want to banish the spirit more than anything, please help Troll und we can try to save what he took from you.” Dingo contemplated the on the Troll’s offer, “How did you summon the Spirit.” He asked. “Music, it was just meant to entertain mein fruends, but things got away from me und I lost control.” Scufflemöss replied. “Then music will be how we trap it, I have an idea, but it will require bigger speakers and a stage.” “I have just the place und time, Notaroo 3 at Exit/in on June 15th!” Scufflemöss said with elation. “Let’s get moving, Nashville is a long walk from here.” Dingo grinned. |
Part 13:
There’s a mysterious and terrifying secret that every Anq’ji(Forest Troll) keeps on their chest, and Scufflemöss is no exception. The Rööt, as Scufflemöss calls it, was recently discovered to have been a curse that was laid on the Anq’ji and their descendants by Anq’coraj(The Old God, Guardian in Bark) eons ago. A long and veiny appendage that seems to have a mind of its own; with strange wriggling tendrils hiding rows of sharp teeth. But more dangerous than anything is the poisonous gas that it produces. In general, there is one rule to follow around the Rööt. “DON’T YOU TOUCH IT!” |
Part 14:
When Daddy Cat, and the short stranger’s eyes met, all Hell broke loose. DC picked up a stack of napkins, and threw it across the pizzeria at the pair of strangers then bolted for the back door. The strange pair reacted how anyone would when a 5 1/2 foot tall cat throws napkins at them, confused, but slightly more intrigued than before; they made chase after DC out the back door. DC sprinted down the alleyway trying to figure out who was after him; he was too far away from his home for the old empire to track him down, was it the galactic police? DC thought he still had a few unpaid parking tickets from the time he spent on Vera 7, but why was one of them a human in a kilt? These strangers didn’t add up to what DC had known about Earth. He looked behind him to see if his pursuers were still following, they were; then it hit DC like a ton of bricks. He had ran directly into a brick wall, then hit the floor with a THUD. The strangers caught up to DC before he was able to fully recover from his collision; they approached him cautiously, as one would for a Cat they want to pet. “Easy Fruend, Easy. We not going to hurt you, we just wanted a slice of pizza before we hit the road again.” The short one said; he sure was a sight, not like anything DC had seen on his time on Earth. “Travelers?” DC asked cocking his head to one side. “You aren’t the fuzz?” “Fuzz? Do we look like lint to you?” The short one piped. “The Police Scufflemöss he means the Police. Hey, I’m The Dingo '' The tall one said reaching out a hand to help DC up. “Like the Troll said, we are kind of on a time crunch, and really need to hit the road again.” DC rose to his feet and dusted off his fur, “Alright, stranger, where are ya headed?” “To save my Kid.” The Dingo replied, turning to leave. “Well I could give you a ride part of the way, I guess it’s the least I could do for making a scene back at the shop.” DC offered. “You have Wheels?” Scufflemöss chimed. “Baby, I don’t need wheels.” DC chuckled. “How is not having wheels faster than walking?” Chided the Troll. “Two words. Space. Camaro.” DC sauntered past the pair, “You guys ever heard of catnip?” |
Part 15:
We will continue with where we left our crevasse crested boy next week, but this week we’d like to inform you a secret shadow organization to be on the lookout for: The Brotherhood of the Blood Moon or BBM. This group of unnamed cultists under the guise of a southern mega church has existed for several thousand years, however, when Flurpis turned up missing from his parent’s attic they mobilized a search party to bring him back. Their motives are unclear at this time and we recommend that you do not engage them if you encounter one of their agents. If you do happen to come across someone wearing their symbol, alert your nearest Forest Troll. You may think that Flurpis parents, the owners of a Southern MegaChurch, would be in charge of this organization given their wealthy standings in the community; however they are just pawns in a greater scheme that dates back eons. We must keep our precious Flurpis from their clutches, beware the Brotherhood and see to it that their mission to banish the Loa Spirit is accomplished. |
Part 16:
Zopi followed the Troll and his traveling companion, watching them closely from the shadows. Being that Zopi grew up alone, aside from the other freaks in the traveling circus, he wasn’t sure how to make contact with these two. He climbed a roof access ladder, so Zopi could get a “birds eye” view of the duo. The streets of Nashville were always fairly crowded, so Zopi learned it was often best to move around the city from above it; the rooftops had somewhat become home for him when he wasn’t busking on his corner, which was now not something he was sure he could return to. Zopi walked along the rooftops watching them closely with his guitar slung on his back, something about the two resonated in him, and made his longing for companionship grow even stronger. The lights of the city and noises of Broadway were great, but unknown force seemed to be drawing him closer to them. Zopi caught up to the pair, only two stories of building separated them, he had to make his move fast. He looked down the street to find an opening in the crowd, but when Zopi looked back the Troll and his partner had disappeared? Zopi craned his neck to search the sidewalk for them, but the only thing found was a rumbling in his belly that was made worse by the smell of pizza. A door opened below him and a few humans ran out bringing with them a raucous clatter from inside the building; then he heard a door burst open on the opposite side of the building, he jolted to the opposite ledge to see a large furry creature running down the back alley, closely followed by the duo Zopi was pursuing. What happened inside that building, why were they after the Catman? Zopi stuck to the rooftop and watched in silence; his reunion would have to wait. |
Part 17:
Dingo and Scufflemöss walked for about a day until they were out of the forest, they had reached Nashville sooner than expected; so they did a bit of sightseeing, although from the time they entered the city they couldn’t help feeling that they were being watched. They moved through the crowds that packed the sidewalks, or more likely the crowds moved around them; it wasn’t common to see a Shaman and a Forest Troll casually strolling down Broadway. Scufflemöss felt a bit more comfortable in his shirt and Battle Vest, with the exception of not wearing pants; while on the other hand Dingo was also feeling the breeze under his kilt. Most people would stop and stare at the duo like they had never seen anything like them, while others kept their stride to ignore the strange pair. The people didn’t bother The Dingo much, he was thinking about the time he had spent with his child; they would venture into town every now and again to get resources that the forest could not provide, it was the memory of his kid that kept Dingo moving forward, he was determined to find the spirit and get his young one back. Scufflemöss stopped, “Hey, Dingo, we should probably grab a bun or something, I’m pretty famished und we have a long journey ahead.” The Dingo snapped out of his reminiscent trod, “uh, yeah, I could eat.” He searched around the crowded street and took a whiff of the scents around him. Aside from the usual city smells: people, car exhaust, onions grilling at a street cart, dehydrated urine drying in an alleyway; he picked up on the smell of pizza wafting over the heads of tourists. “Hmm, pizza.” “Pizza is like Bun, but it was run over with a steamroller!” The Forest Troll said excitedly startling a group of nearby tourists. Dingo surveyed the street to find the restaurant and pushed through the crowd again until they had reached the door. *ding ding* the door closed behind them in the pizzeria and they found the store to be just as crowded as the sidewalk outside. “You think they have Bun pizza?” Scufflemöss thought out loud looking at the menu above the counter, he lost concentration as his eyes wandered and met a mirrored visor over fur… |
Part 18:
Daddy Cat led The Dingo and Scufflemöss further down the alleyway and stopped by a large dumpster. He made a weird waving motion with his paw, and a red Camaro fizzled into existence. Scufflemöss jumped back at the sight of a car appearing out of thin air and gasped in surprise. “Bitchin’ Camaro.” Dingo remarked. “This is my spare, my black one is in the shop up in orbit. I take this one on short trips, ya know like to get a slice at the pizzeria '' Said DC smugly. “So where ya headed?” “We have to get to Lewisburg, there’s some things that I need for us to perform the ritual.” The Dingo said. “Ritual? Is this some kind of religious thing” DC asked, “I’m not about get sacrificed now, am I?” “Oh no no no, we are trying to catch an Evil Spirit I set loose last year.” Scufflemöss chimed, “Dingo says if Musics summon the spirit, then Musics will banish it!” “I need to get my guitar, I stored it in a hollow tree years ago, I wasn’t sure I would need it again.” Dingo added. “Hmmm, neat.” DC scratched his chin, then moved to open the door on his Camaro. He rummaged around in the back seat before emerging again with a ukulele, then DC began to adjust the tuning keys. “I happen to like ‘musics’ too. You see. I come from a planet light years away from here, where electric music was banned and everyone had to perform concerts acoustically through huge resonance horns. Frankly, it was boring.” “That sounds like it suck” Scufflemöss said. “It did. Until I changed that. I brought literal ‘power’ to the people.” DC chuckled “Overthrew a Queen to do it too.” “Would you perhaps like to help us banish the spirit?” Scufflemöss asked. “The more the merrier. We could definitely use a bass player.” Dingo chimed. “Sure, I can jam. Let’s hit the road, and Rock n’ Roll.” Daddy Cat smirked. |
Part 19:
Flurpis felt the asphalt stop rumbling before he heard the tires pull up next to him; “Hey could you get out of the road?” He turned in the direction of the voice, “yeah yo... oh...” the voice stopped short and another said, “Cool, buttholes for eyes.” Flurpis hadn’t met anyone aside from his parent’s, so it was time to test out his people skills. “Anophthalmia, that’s what mama used to call it.” Flurpis said with a heavy southern drawl. “It’s when you’re born missing both your eyes.” “Bu... buttholes.” Said the voice again. “Nice to meet y’all, I’m Flurpis.” He said stretching out his hand. “Brother, you are about 10 feet too far from us in the wrong direction for a handshake,” said the first voice, “Got a last name there? Slurpis?” “What’s a last name?” Flurpis said while rotating his body clockwise to try and face the voices. “Poor thing is blind and stupid, walk towards my voice kid,” the first voice chuckled, “my name is Daddy Cat, but you can call me DC. The one frantically trying to undo his seatbelt is Scufflemöss, the guy who hasn’t said a word since we rolled up is Dingo.” “Nice to meet you all, beautiful day out isn’t it?” Flurpis said with his hands outstretched taking his time to make careful steps towards DC’s voice. “Buttholes” Scufflemöss said again. “Yea, beautiful day, except that dark cloud in the distance, it’s probably going to start pissing rain any minute, wanna ride?” Daddy Cat replied. “A ride? What’s that?” Flurpis said with a smile, he was still very new to terminology not found in the Bible his parents would force him to read. “Scufflemöss will you help our visually challenged friend out? Get him into the car?” DC suggested. “Buttholes...” Scufflemöss finally undid his seat belt and climbed out of the Space Camaro, he led Flurpis to the backseat and strapped him, patting him on the shoulder. “Buttholes...” Scufflemöss returned to his own seat. “Where you heading, Plurpus?” Said DC “It’s Flurpis, and I just ran away from home, so anywhere.” Flurpis responded. “Well, you can ride with us until this storm passes. We’re heading out to Lewisburg.” DC said. “Buttholes.” Scufflemöss said and the Camaro started moving. |
Part 20:
Zopi kept an eye on the Troll and his companion from the roof as they chased the large furry creature down the alley. He wanted to see if the Troll would act with compassion like he had when Zopi was freed. He recounted his time in the circus; being free to do whatever he liked for the past month, was both exhilarating and frightening. In the circus, he was guaranteed at least one meal a day, but in the city if Zopi didn’t busk, Zopi didn’t eat; and with no cage to live in he was constantly exposed to the elements. Freedom had its perks though, and Zopi was hoping that the Troll could allow him more freedom. Zopi snapped back to the scene below, The pair had cornered the cat, but It didn’t look like they were fighting; and after some time they began walking away, together. Zopi stuck to the roof’s ledge, but followed the group down the alley again. They arrived at a dumpster, then from out of nowhere, a red car appeared; this sight nearly made Zopi slip off the ledge. Now he was more curious than ever, he decided this would be the time, he was going to meet them. He looked around for a way down; a fire escape on the far ledge. Zopi sprung into action, he made for the fire escape just as he heard a *thunk thunk, thunk*. He climbed down as quickly as he could to street level and sprinted down the alleyway, determined to get to the group; but when he rounded the corner he didn’t find them, just the red car pulling away and heading down the alleyway from away him. Another missed meeting, Zopi was left feeling distraught and alone again. But something inside him was pulling him to follow that red car, and just like how he survived on his own this long, Zopi would find a way to follow that red car... |
Part 21:
The past few weeks had been a strange journey for the Shaman; Dingo had gone from sharing his life with the only person that mattered to him, to chopping wood alone to keep the fire going, to riding in the passenger seat of a Space Camaro driven by a bipedal alien cat and a Forest Troll in the back seat sing Safety Dance at the top of his lungs. Even for a Shaman, this life was getting weird. As they sped down the empty country road, Dingo watched his reflection in the window, made more visible by the dark storm clouds forming outside. He thought about his child, abducted by an evil spirit; why was it his child, why was his life being turned upside down because of someone else’s accident. The bitterness in Dingo’s heart swirled like the dark clouds outside. The Dingo longed for the peace of the forest and only the happiness that a child can bring to their father. He sighed deeply and let his eyes wander about the cabin of Daddy Cat's Space Camaro; the blinking lights and screens of the foreign vessel were so unnatural and cold, a far cry from the old stucco walls of his forest hut. Dingo was brought back to reality by Daddy Cat. “What’s that up ahead?” “Slow down, maybe they need ride? It look like rain is coming.” Scufflemöss chimed in, DC brought the vehicle to a halt. And just when Dingo thought he had seen it all, his eyes met the empty sockets of a new traveling companion... |
Part 22
Daddy Cat was beginning to become more concerned about the dark clouds following them in the distance; they reminded him of THAT day. In fact, the anniversary was coming up. DC, on one of his trips to Earth, became stranded after returning from a pizza stop in Nashville. He had just sat down to a steaming slice of cheese when Daddy Cat noticed a dark cloud swirling towards his ship suspended in orbit just outside of Earth’s atmosphere. He couldn’t help but notice how fast it was coming at him as well, so he took precaution and strapped himself into the cockpit, he attempted to engage the afterburner on the ship to avoid the incoming ebone cloud; he was too late, the bellowing mass of smoke made impact with his engines, DC’s Satellite was “dead in the water”, his engines shredded beyond repair. Seeing the clouds forming now, didn’t sit well for DC, he hoped that they were normal rain clouds, but kept an eye on them in the rear view mirror. |
Part 23:
Flurpis’s day just kept getting weirder and weirder; he escaped from home, met some strangers and was now strapped in the back seat of their car going down a dirt road to who knows where. He wondered if it was wise to get in a stranger’s car, but even with his unique blindness he could sense the dark clouds forming outside. Flurpis had never been caught in the rain, he wondered what it would feel like, taste like, how his facial anomaly would react it. Everything was new to Fluris, including something as mundane as rain. When he had gotten into the back seat of the vehicle, he tried his best to survey his surroundings; from what he could tell there was the green one who spoke broken English and had a name just as difficult to understand; the quiet white one up front, Flurpis could feel him glancing back every few minutes; and the driver who kept talking about space, for some reason this grey one made his eye holes itch. The green one and the grey one kept going back and forth about what songs were okay to sing in the car, Emo was definitely off the menu, whatever that was. But more importantly, what was happening outside the car spiked Flurpis senses. Something was coming, he felt it deep inside, like a hand gripping his innards, it made him uneasy, Flurpis tried to bury the feeling and just smile, like his parents always told him to do. |
Part 24:
Zopi took off running after the Space Camaro, he was determined to catch up with them, however his feet were no match for interstellar horsepower. This wouldn’t stop Zopi one bit, he kept running for hours until he was out of the city; all the while dark clouds were forming above him and moving quickly in the direction the vehicle had gone. Zopi was no stranger to being caught in the rain; given he spent most of his life in a cage, the freedom he now had was worth having wet clothing. He thought back to one night at the circus, just after arriving in America; the skies were a bit like they were today. He recalled the way the clouds moved in an almost intelligent pattern, they swirled and twisted while thunder clapped and lightning sizzled. At one point, sitting in his cage in the pouring rain, Zopi thought he saw a face as it flew up into the stratosphere; just for a split second, but he was sure he felt eyes fall on him from above. And now, running beneath these dark clouds waiting for the bottom to drop out, Zopi was expecting to see that same face streak by, illuminated by a flash of lightning. A bolt of lightning struck a tree in the distance, the sound brought Zopi back to reality, He had let his imagination run away with the thought of sentient clouds, but didn’t slow his progress, he was going to catch that Space Camaro and thank the Troll for his freedom; if it was the last thing he did. |
Part 24:
It wasn’t Flurpis’s eyes or lack there of that disturbed The Dingo, it was the energy behind them; and Dingo had felt that same energy before, the day the Spirit kidnapped his child. Dingo could see that Flurpis was human, even with his disfigurement, but something didn’t sit right with him as Flurpis climbed into the back seat of Space Camaro. The Dingo spent years practicing shamanism in solitude, learning to read the energy around him; nature had her own energy signature, the birds and animals had theirs as well, but Flurpis for some reason didn’t have a normal human energy to him. Dingo went into an involuntary trance sitting in the front seat of the Space Camaro, the world fell away and Dingo was alone in his mind. He was looking at himself from the outside, he saw that he was back home in the forest gathering kindling for the fire; then he heard a voice echo through the world, his child was calling to him, the same last words he had heard. He looked across the distance to the Loa Spirit as it swirled like black smoke and swallowed the world, engulfing everything in black. “Hey, Dingo.” Dingo came back to reality, strapped in the Space Camaro. “The exit is coming up soon. You gonna be able to guide me to your hollow?” Daddy Cat asked. Dingo nodded in response and slowly turned his gaze to the back seat where Scufflemöss was attempting to poke Flurpis’s eye holes. There was no mistaking it, the energy was the same. |
Part 26:
Some of you may remember that night, the anniversary is coming up after all. It was an uncomfortably warm evening at The Crying Wolf bar when Scufflemöss walked into the back room for his first performance at Notaroo 2. His nerves were unusually high that night, he had never performed live like this before, he was used to reading kids books online in the safety of his Caretaker’s house; Scufflemöss started to wonder if maybe reading a story is what he should have did instead, but he still set up his equipment and gave the sound guy a nod to cut the lights. He warned his audience beforehand and gave them the words he had learned for protection; teaching magick words to humans was risky, but to summon a Spirit Scufflemöss needed help. “Sukilo Hapiteim.” The room echoed as all in attendance spoken in unison, followed by a series of gunpowder pops, the Loa Spirit emerged and crossed over from the other side. Scufflemöss attempted to banish the spirit, however he was only able to repel it into space, leaving a trail of black smoke as it sailed through the atmosphere. Scufflemöss knew he would eventually have to contend with the Spirt again, when Sad Spaceman announced Notaroo 3, Scufflemöss knew the time had come to lure the Loa back and banish it for “güt”, but this time he wouldn’t face it alone. |