|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- THE DARK OF COLLEGE--CUP 7--"DAGGERS" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  The Dark of College  ||  -------> (Cup SRdc007, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Very soon, Vartoon and Fathgocken passed a music store, and a god was playing an organ. He was very big and had green-and-white armor on. He was playing a very sappy-sounding song. The two immediately recognized him as a god. They stopped near him, and waited as he continued to play. The song ended about a minute later, and the god turned around. "I am Yim Klocks," the god said in a deep voice. He had long blond hair, a helmet, and a long blond beard and mustache. "You two have something very valuable to me, your 'contract', so to speak, with the Podger-Claise Hand. I would very much like to obtain this contract. I am willing to offer you each a dagger of great power in trade." "Huh?" asked Yark. "Daggers," Yim Klocks said. "Different, yet each a wonder in its own right. I do not mean to judge, but I see so clearly that you will use the imparted invisibility to go into the girls' locker room to jerk off." "What?" Couch said. Yim looked down and rubbed his eyes. "Sorry, sorry," he said, waving his hands. Then he looked up again, staring above the boys' heads. "It's just that you are of that kind and that age that your behavior is very knowable and predictable." Then the god looked at them again. "Daggers," he said. "And you get away, fully, from the sphere of influence of the Hand. Deal?" "Deal," Couch said. "Deal," Yark agreed. "Daggers," Yim said with a smile, reaching into his armor and producing two daggers, handing one to Couch and one to Yark. Then he clapped his hands, a thunderous sound which echoed throughout the mall. "Our deal is done. And let me say, I know that you two are not in your right minds. I know this whole string of events must seem like dream-time. But it is real. You were shocked by that electric security device of Joel's, that is what started all this." Then the god was gone. Couch and Yark looked down at their daggers. Just then, a little train went chugging by. It was a ride for kids, this little train. "Wow, look at that," Couch said. "I remember that ride. Huh. I used to love it." "No way," Yark said. "You liked that? I hated it. My dad used to force me to ride, since my sister liked it so much. I tellya man, I don't like it at all. I don't like trains." "Well I do," Couch said. "I like trains. A lot." The two stood up. "Um," said Yark, "can we just walk around the mall carrying daggers around." "Look," Couch said, looking down at his hand. Yark looked and saw that the dagger was gone. Couch flexed his fingers and the dagger was back. Then he flexed his fingers again and the dagger vanished. "How'd you do that?" Yark asked. "Try it," Couch said, bringing the dagger back. "I don't know how I did it. I just thought of hiding the dagger and I just did it." "Okay," Yark said, waving the dagger back and forth. "No," Couch said, "just think, like, that you wat to put it away. Hide it. Just tell it to hide." "Um..." Yark said, and all of a sudden, his dagger was also gone. Then he brought it back. "Wow, cool." "See? Let's just stash 'em and walk around." "Okay," Yark said. Couch entered a nearby toy store and Yark followed. There was a display of toy animals with little light-up eyes. Couch picked up a rabbit, and Yark picked up a dog. "These are cool," said Yark. "This one's the coolest, the dog." "No way Fathgocken--the rabbit is awesome!" "You wanna buy 'em?" "Nah," Couch said, putting the rabbit back, "we can come back later. I don't want to have to carry a bag around all day." "Maybe we could, y'know, do the dagger thing on 'em?" "Let's not push it, man." "Okay." They continued browsing the toy store. "Hey Couch, look!" Yark said. "I got horns!" Couch turned to see Yark holding two toy trumpets up to his head. "Yeah, great," Couch said, and Yark put the horns away. In the game section, Couch leaned against a wall of boardgames. "You know Fathgocken, my uncle's away, I got all this cash, we got these daggers--I think we should do something cool. I think we should go to the Casino at Hacta Home." "What? We'd never get in. We're too young." Couch then brought his dagger back and touched the blade to his cheek. Instantly, he looked a lot older. No longer did he look fourteen--he looked more like twenty-four. Yark back away. "Hold on a second..." "Try it, dude," Couch said in a new, deeper voice. "No way. This is all too weird. It's gotta be a dream." Couch raised an eyebrow. "No way," Yark repeated. "Think about it," Couch said, "if the daggers can do this, they can do a lot of stuff. By tonight, we'll each have a hotel room at Hacta Home. And we'll each be with a girl." Yark said nothing. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----