|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- DEER EXPRESS--CUP 11--"GIMME AN E" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Deer Express  ||  -------> (Cup SRde011, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "Are you okay?" Lemon said, sounding quite unearthly and infernal. "Y-yeah." he said. "I think." She turned around to see if there were any signs of the gray void or the chamber, but there were none. She returned her gaze to the deer guy. "What happened?" she said. "Um, basically I was about to be, uh, killed. So uh, thanks for uh, saving me." "Where is this?" Lemon said as she advanced. She wanted to let the hellpower in her calm down, but she knew there might be more fights in the air. "Huh?" the deer guy said, backing up a little. "Where am I?" "This is the headquarters of Deer Express." he said, then glancing over at the fountain with the letters floating above it, added "I guess you figured that much out already." "No." "Can't read?" "I can read. I just didn't know what it means." "Oh. So--so who are you?" "I'm Lemon. Lucky for you I wandered in here." "Yeah." the deer guy said hesitantly, looking around. "Will they be back?" "Um--eventually. Thing is, there's no way out. So..." "But I got in." "You can go out the same way?" he asked as Lemon stopped a few feet away from him. "I don't think so." she said, looking up at him. The deer guy sighed. "Oh." "So who are you?" she asked. "Me? I'm Courier Arbhay. Until they kill me, that is." "They won't kill you. I'll protect you." He regarded her. "Why?" "Because I've sworn to do good for other people." He nodded. "How do we get out of here?" she said after a few moments of silence. "I--" Arbhay said, shrugging, "--I don't know. I thought I was just gonna die. Get outta here that way." "Hmm." Lemon said as she stared at the letters floating over the fountain. DEER EXPRESS. Each letter was fantastically ornate, covered in patterns, gold and silver inlay, rare woods, and the like. She climbed up onto the fountain and grabbed the S at the end of the word. She had to tug on it a little, but it soon came loose from whatever was holding it suspended in the air. She hopped down and examined the object. "Nice." she said, nodding. Arbhay stepped back. "You can't do that!" he said. "No?" she said, pulling a little piece of yellow cloth from one of her pants pockets. She fiddled with it, and soon it expanded into a large sack. She dropped the S into it. Arbhay looked on in horror as Lemon jumped back onto the fountain and started plucking the rest of the letters out of their places and stashing them in her sack. "Don't do that!" Arbhay yelled as Lemon splashed into the fountain to reach more letters. "Hey!" But she was oblivious, frolicking in the water and stealing cool stuff. She had to jump up to get the letters in DEER. She hung onto each letter for a few moments before it came loose. Soon she was totally drenched with her bulging sack of eleven letters. As she stepped out of the fountain, she heard Arbhay exclaim "Shit!". She jumped off the fountain and wiped the hair and water out of her eyes to see... what? A glowing, androgynous, human-looking person. Beautiful, fragile features, orange and blue robes, massive antlers. Man! The antlers were bigger than her/him! And in one eye, the right, a single teardrop. Lemon felt a terrible lot of power focused on this individual. But she looked at the too-perfect face and was filled with rage. Without thinking, she shot out her fist and punched the stranger straight in the nose, with massive force. The being swayed and fell, its glow diminishing but not vanishing. She looked to Arbhay. He was speechless. "Who was that?" Lemon asked. "God..." Arbhay said hesitantly, taking a guilty peek at the peaceful-looking unconscious entity on the floor. "So?" "I don't know. But we're really in trouble now, Lemon." "Nonsense. I said I'd protect you and I will. Now all we gotta do is find some way outta here." Arbhay looked around nervously. "There is no way out." he said. Then he stared at her sack and added "Except..." "What?" "Those letters--I've heard rumors that they hold devastating secrets. Maybe they can get us out. Gimme an E." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----