Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Again I'm left to wonder if the tone of Year 2 is different from Year 1. Perhaps a darker feel? Eh, maybe not so much yet.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
Air Chakra

"Next?" Daphne asked, as Saffa, Abby, and Faerie came to see what was going on. GH was pouting, though it was hard to say if he was pouting like because he genuinely was, or just playing a part expected of him.

"The Air Chakra," Cloak said. "It is located in the heart. It deals with love and is blocked by grief."

"I haven't any --"

"You haven't allowed yourself to feel it," Cloak said, sagely. "You, very much like myself, ran from it. You need to permit yourself to feel grief. It is okay to feel, Daphne. Every sentient beings -- and I wager most nonsentient creatures -- can feel. It's what you do with the emotions which dictate their destructive potential, whether for good or for evil."

She said nothing.

"Allow you yourself to feel," Cloak intoned.

She did. Tears flowed from her eye, and Cloak waited a prudent time before continuing, "You have indeed felt a great loss. But love is a form of energy, which the Star Sapphires actually weaponized, in a way. But I digress. Anyway, your parents' love for you has not left this world. It still lingers inside of your heart, and as it does, they will not be forgotten."

She took a deep breath, and felt even lighter after she exhaled. She wiped away the tears that had fallen.

"You have opened your Air Chakra," Cloak said.

***

"Enough of this," Shanker said, moving toward the entrance way threshold.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gaz said, latching onto his wrist with a surprisingly vice-like grip. "You're not going to interrupt her from opening those chakrams, or whatever they're call, are you?!"

"How can you defend her, you traitorous wench?!" Shanker roared.

"She is a teenager!"

"She is a murderer, Gaz!!"

"I'll have you know, I have heard of the vampire facility that she  . . . uh, cleared out." Gaz said. "It was filled with the most villainous, most amoral pieces of scum in the tri-state area. As well as vampires that were still harbored an undying devotion to Madre de Vampyra."

"Your point?" Shanker said, trying to wrench his wrist from Gaz said.

"My point?" Gaz repeated, aghast. "Has your bigoted hatred of Slayers blinded you so much? Has forced you to see the world in a monochromatic way? Why are you refusing to acknowledge the shades of gray in this situation."

"You don't understand." Shanker spat angrily.

"I understand more than you think," Gaz countered.

[guitarhero01234]

Damn, way to give me the feels right after work. Also, was that a Phineas and Ferb reference?

[Cloak]

What reference?

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:
Sound Chakra

"Which one's next?" She asked as Yarin had decided to join them to see what all the hullabaloo was about.

"The fifth in the chain is the Sound Chakra, located in the throat. It deals with truth and is blocked by lies. The ones we tell ourselves." Cloak said.

Daphne was silent for longer than before, as she considered.

"I'm," she said, feeling almost too self-aware, "I'm expendable. If I die, I will just be replaced by the next Slayer in line, with no one to remember, care about, miss, or mourn me."

Cloak waited a bit before speaking himself. He knew this feeling, this belief well. It came back to his mother again. He had felt so downtrodden, so worthless (which she didn't hesitate to remind him when he could complete a task to her impossible standards, or some plan of hers backfired), so useless (again, as Ursa constantly reminded him when she was irritable or tipsy) thst he honestly believed that no one would miss him if he were gone. He had come to believe that he was such a burden on everyone's lives, that he honestly questioned whether they genuinely cared about his well-being or if it was all a farce.

And it turns out, Daphne felt the same way. But hopefully it was not because her mother negatively reinforced those beliefs. Cloak wouldn't have wished that kind of abuse and misery upon his worst enemy. It was just enough that he managed to escape toxic environment.

"But you are not," Cloak said, firmly, perhaps not choosing his words as carefully as he should. "You are a valued person, you have every right to exist. You are not expendable. You would be missed. You uncle cares about you. You would be missed. Do not allow yourself to be swayed from that truth."

Daphne took a deep breath. She exhaled as she felt her burden lift.

"Great job, Daphne," Cloak said. "You've opened your Sound Chakra."

***

"Do you now?" Shanker said. "You didn't see how ruthless Slayers are!"

"I see you making gross generalizations!" Gaz countered.

"They killed your blood brother! Don't you care?!"

"I've never even met him!" Gaz countered skillfully. "How am I supposed to care about someone that I don't know a single thing about, other than the fact he was my 'blood brother'! I don't know if he even existed! I don't know if he's nothing but a ploy by you to manipulate me into hating Slayers for no adequately explained reason!"

"'No adequately --' I told you! That was a perfectly acceptable explanation!" Shanker disputed.

"No, it wasn't!" Gaz said. "You you being narrow-minded! You giving yourself complete and total tunnel vision on this issue. You refuse to consider any possibilities that conflict with your intial belief!"

"No!" Shanker shot back. "You are too open-minded. You allow yourself to be decieved easily and without any resistance!"

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:
Light Chakra

"Which one is next?" Daphne said.

"The Light Chakra, located in the center of the forehead." Cloao said. "It deals with insight and is blocked by illusion."

"Illusion?" Daphne inquired.

"Such as the illusion that the world is monochromatic," Cloak said, voice steady and calm, "the world is not as black and white as others would have you believe."

"I . . . I don't understand."

"There are those that refuse to believe that the 'other' is anything but evil," Cloak said, "this is black and white thinking. All sentient beings are capable of thinking for themselves, making their own decisions. Everyone has a past, one that shaped them into what they are today. And by seperating them as the 'other' and refusing to see them as anything but a monster, refusing to understand their motives, understand their feelings and thoughts, it is the epitome of black and white thinking."

"I've . . . I've done that."

"We all have, Daphne, at one point or another in our lives."

"Who did you -- I'm sorry." she said, changing direction midsentence, afraid she may have offended the Realm Walker.

"He like to call himself grandoise names like Apocalypse or Armaggedon, but I gave him the name that stuck, " Cloak said, deciding on full disclosure. "I called him Abomination. I believed him to be evil. I didn't really know anything about him, other than he was a playground bully in adult form. But the more we conflicted, the more I saw myself in him. I realized there was more to him then my preconceptions."

"What happened to him?"

"He was in service to a woman who held no scruples and only loosest sense of morality imaginable." Cloak replied. "He started to question his loyalty to her. He eventually turned against her and, in response, she killed him without a second thought or remorse."

She wore a look of surprise.

"Just because there are gray areas, it doesn't mean that white or black are nonexistent," Cloak said, calmly and genially.

[redtailedsaffa]

Shanker needs a slap right about now.

[Cloak]

Hmmm . . . anyway, new book ideas!

• Book DCCCLXIX: "Leatherhead Lonely" -- Leatherhead is lonely, as there isn't any other humanoid crocodiles for him to relate to. Meanwhile, another RAFian gets a ward.
• Book DCCCLXX: "Characteristic Chaos" -- A witch steals characteristics from people and then turns around and extorts her victims who want them back.
• Book DCCCLXXI: "Stranded at Sea" -- Noelle and Saffa are stranded on a mostly ocean, uncharted world. They have to acquire several morphs to survive.

There. Don't think I rehashed anything.

[spoiler]Book 871 brings the morph count -- that is to say, how many different morphs they have accessible to them -- of Saffa and Noelle to 24 and 20 respectively.[/spoiler]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:
Last Chakra, Unopened

"Next?"

"There is no next," Cloak said.

"Wait, Cloak," Saffa said. "What about the Thought Chakra?"

"What's the Thought Chakra?" Daphne asked.

Cloak sighed deeply, "It's the one chakra that I never sought to open."

"But why?" GH asked.

"It deals with pure cosmic energy, and is blocked by earthly attachments." Cloak elaborated.

"You don't want to give up earthly attachments?" Yarin asked.

"You know that they don't truly disappear, right?" Saffa inquired.

"There's more to it than that," Faerie said, shrewdly. "If you opened it, you would be given full access and control over your powers, right?"

"I do not know," Cloak said. "I do not want to know."

"Why?" Abby asked, perplexed. "If it would allow you more control over the elements?"

"With greater power, the greater chance of corruption," Cloak said. "The stronger the temptation to misuse the elements would be. It's bad enough thst I am strong enough to bloodbend, breathbend, and mechbend."

Daphne and Jarvis did not understand any of those techniques.

"You're imposing a weakness upon yourself?" Daphne said.

"There should be a limit, a cap, to the amount of.power one being can have," Cloak philosophised. "Unlimited power, corrupts unlimitedly. I'm already powerful enough. I do not seek more, I do not need to."

"Are you a god?" Jarvis asked.

"Do not refer to me as that, please." Cloak said. "I do not want the comparison, nor appreciate, to the Asguardians, Olympians, and the like."

Jarvis seemed confused by this reply.

"But this isn't about me," Cloak said. "It's about you, Daphne. Do you want this chakra opened? I don't know if I could help you with it."

"I feel okay now," she said. Then she made her decision. "I don't think that that will be necessary."

Shes tood up, dusted herself off, and thanked Cloak for his time and help. Then she left with Jarvis.

[Cloak]

New chapter. Last one of this book.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:
The Shanker Slap Fallout

"You slapped me!" Shanker complained. "You actually slapped me!"

"And Imma do again if you don't knock it off, Shanker!" Gaz said, very crossly.

"Knock what off?!" Shanker said. "I'm not betraying my whole kind!"

"There you go with generalizations again!"

"Why is it so damn difficult for you to see a duck for a duck?!"

"What?"

"If it quacks like a duck, if it looks like a duck, then it's a duck!"

"Any reason why Shanker is going on in non sequiturs?" Cloak asked.

"And YOU . . . !" Shanker said, pointing an accusing finger at him. The whole scene was so laughable that Cloak couldn't help but see the likenesses of Shanker and Sokka during their Hundred-Year War.

"What is on about, Gaz?" Cloak asked.

"He's upset that you helped out the Slayer," Gaz said. "Apparently his prior sire was killed by her predecessor, and not her. He seems to have forgotten that little factoid."

He opened his mouth to protest, but could not think of one that he thought accurate protrayed his view. He flapped his mouth rather comically, before he gave a huffy snarl of irritation.

Cloak was unintimidated, and watched this rather placidly.

"Shanker, you can get all huffy you want," Sakki started, "but you can't justify the slaying of a sixteen-year-old girl."

"It's not like she chose this life," Saffa put in. "We did when we became RAFians."

"Tell that Kelran. And  jmnar." Shanker spat. "Or tray!"

"Who?" GH asked.

"Exactly!" Shanker said. "There were countless others who were lost to us long before Rotiart got killed."

With that Shanker moodily stalked away.

***

Malice was working on her next scheme, but she was very careful about it this. She had to find the perfect victim, so she could take the maximum enjoyment, and entertainment from this scheme. She needed to find a human who embodied chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. A difficult task to do in these times.

She wanted to savor the process of turning patience into wrath, into being unmerciful, insufferability, and impatience.

She wanted relish the process of turning charity into avarice, into unwillful, selfishness, cowardice, and greedy.

She wanted to delight in turning diligence into sloth, into unethicality, crookedness, moral weakness, effortlessness, and impersistent.

She wanted to masochistically enjoy turning kindness into envy, into dissatisfaction, disloyalty, dispassionate, and immortality.

She wanted to revel in turning temperance into gluttony, into inhumaneness, injustice, dishonor, and over-indulgence.

She wanted to carouse in turning humility into pride, into cowardice, immodesty, irreverence, and egoism.

She wanted to savor turning chastity into lust, into impurity, foolishness, stupidity, and dishonesty.

And, while she was doing all this, she would be altering her victim physically. How she would do this was only known to the octogenarian Realm Walker.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

BOOK CXII:
LOUSY HOUSING MARKET
CHAPTER ONE:
The RAFian Report

"It's an honor and a privilege, a duty I perform.
With due sense of decorum and with pride!
With deference and great respect very much the norm!
(Plus a hint of sycophancy on the side.)
To lay before my friend all the facts about this Realm,
To fill him in on all the RAFly news."

"Yes, yes, GH," Cloak said with a clipped tone, indicating his iritation, "get on with it!"

"In order that His Cloakiness stands sturdy at the helm,
Aware of all the RAFian's latest views."

"GH . . ."

"Er -- yes, Cloak -- the RAFian report,

You-know-who is going ape, smartgirl remains above it all.
Estelore remembers, though just what I can't recall.
Leatherhead is snapping up fresh offers from the banks
Showed interes in my guitar but I quickly said, "No thanks!"
We haven't counted up the sim kills and the NFS has a hunch
Not everyone invited will be coming back from lunch!
This is the RAFian report.
Gives you the long and the short!
Every grunt, roar and snort!
Not a tale I distort
On the RAFian report!"

"What are you doing, son?" Cloa said, addressing Leatherhead.

"Being sneaky," the young crocodilian mutant replied.

"Let an old pro show you how it's done, then."

GH was too engrossed in his song to notice this exchange. He strummed a few notes on his guitar before singing in a Broadway-style sort of performance.

"Horse has got a beef
About this Pootang's gas.
Terenia has been thwarted
In attempts to get Saffa to save her sass.
Liz is in the pink,
FuBar's chasing solitary birds.
Saffron is theis season's color
Seen in all the herds.
Moving down the rank and file,
To near the bottom rung,
Far too many politicians are
Quite frankly in the dung!"

Cloak spoke to Leatherhead, "Stay low to the ground. Shh, not a sound. Take it slow. One more step, then pounce!"

"Yeah, stay low!" Leatherhead agreed.

"This is the RAFian report!
Gives you the long and the short!
Every grunt, roar and snort!
Not a tale I distort
On the RAFian report!"

"Aaaah!!" GH yelled startled as Leatherhead startled him.

All three sang:

"This is the RAFian report!
Gives you the long and the short!
Every grunt, roar and snort!
Not a tale I distort
On the RAFian report!"

The music stopped and Cloak declared, addressing GH, "You're not getting your cigarettes back."

"Dammit!" came his reply.


Song source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RNYRHiNhtbI

[redtailedsaffa]

I have a feeling Shanker'll be brooding over that for a while.

[Cloak]

Eh, perhaps. Anyway, dunno when I can post tomorrow, assuming the places I have appointments to are still open. And I'll be very busy Tuesday (still a bit nervous about it).

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWO:
Out With the Old

"Well, sir, there's nothing on Earth quite like a bona-fide, House of the Future! What'd I say?" said a man trying to "draft" the RAFians into testing it out. His name was Eric Zachary Velocimortis.

Shorty declared, "House of the Future!"

"What's it called?" Velocimortis questioned.

Estrid announced, "House of the Future!"

"That's right!  House of the Future!" Velocimortis cried out.

The RAFians began to chant: "House of the Future.  Future.  Future."

DinoNothlit inquired, "I heard those things are awfully loud."

"It settles as softly as a cloud."

Azguard asked: "Is there a chance the foundation could bend?"

"Not on your life, my impromptu friend!"

Blue wondered, "What about those poor slobs?"

"They'll be given cushy jobs!"

Demos demanded: "Were you sent here by the devil?"

"No, good sir, I'm on the level."

GH said, as a non sequitur, "The ring came off my pudding can."

"Take my penknife, my good man! Throw up your hands and raise your voice!"

The RAFians shouted, "House of the Future!"

"What's it called?"

The RAFians shouted again, "House of the Future!"

"Once again!"

The RAFians shouted: "House of the Future! House of the Future! House of the Future! House of the Future! HOUSE OF THE FUTURE!!"

"Well," Cloak said, with dry sarcasm. "There's the kiss of death."

"This isn't gonna end well, is it?" Underseen asked rhetorically.

[guitarhero01234]

Day two into gh's non-stop shroom trip and things are not going well . . .

[redtailedsaffa]

What just happened?

Edit: PDF for the last book.

[Cloak]

Thanks for the PDF!

New chapter.

CHAPTER THREE:
Breaking Physics

"I cannot believe we were suckered into this," Sakki said mulishly.

"He was very persuasive!" Az said, defensively.

"By stealing a song from 'The Simpsons? Gimme a break." Saki countered.

"A break?" Az said, uncharacteristicall y violent. "That can be arranged you know."

"That was not what I meant and you know it," Sakki replied.

"Oh, settle down, you two." Gaz said, bracingly.

"Why was Mr. Velocimortis so insistant that we come to this so-called 'House of the Future'?" Underseen wondered aloud.

"Oh, don't be so suspicious! It's an excuse for a vacation!" GH said, jovially.

"It's a trap," Cloak muttered. "It's gotta be a trap."

"I hate it when he says that!" GH complained.

He was really having too much fun and was being too happy.

"GH, were you in my thread again?" Cloak said, very seriously.

Suddenly, GH wasn't so jovial anymore. "Noooo . . ."

"I can tell that you're lying," Cloak said, teasing very subtly. He knew that GH wasn't lying, but he allowed him to sweat a bit, despite the chill in the air. "You actually fell for that, didn't you?"

"Not cool, Cloak," GH protested.

"We're there," Underseen said.

The building alone was rather unimpressive, though Cloak thought it looked unnecessarily opulent and prohibitively expensive, built to excess. It looked to be a three-story Victorian home with white outdoor paneling and black trim. It couldn't have been any bigger than your average Victorian house.

Cloak could not explain the sudden feeling of dread and consternation he felt, as thry proceeded to the doorstep. Nobody else seemed to sense or be aware of anything, so perhaps he was just being paranoid.

However, he got what he believed to be the answer when he crossed the threshold after GH, and saw that the interior proportions did not match up with the exterior dimensions. The inside was far bigger than the outside.

"This house breaks physics!" Az exclaimed.

"Not really," Cloak said. "I believe Aquilai's TARDIS functions on the same principal."

"Where is Mr. Velocimortis?" Underseen asked, prudently. "He wanted us here so badly. Now he's nowhere to be seen."

"Well, we can always leave if he --"

The door slammed shut suddenly with a snap. And of it's own accord.

"Great. It's gonna be one of those kind of adventures," GH commented.

[redtailedsaffa]

What is this, a horror movie with countdown deaths?

[Cloak]

Well . . . that would be telling, wouldn't it?

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Hall After Hall After Hall . . .

"Maybe it was supposed to do that?" Az said, in a stilted, uncertain manner.

"Az, there's optimism," Sakki said, evenly, "then there's blind optimism."

"I don't like this," Cloak said, his tail thrashing like mad, a clear indicator of his agitation. AHe glanced at the expanse they were in, at the red walla with violet trim. The whole thing screamed trap. Yet they had blundered in of their own foolish volition.

"Calm down, Cloak," Underseen said. "You can just Earthsight our way out of this labyrinth."

"There's no earth in here," Cloak said, turning around while haunched over. He really looked like a caged big cat who is really unaccustomed to being locked up. Though part of that has to do with his Realm Walker sensibilities. Realm Walkers, as a species, are accustomed to coming and going as they please. While he was sure that he could simply Walk out of this Pithole*, he wasn't willing to abandon the other. "No metal either. I can't Airsight or anything like that."

"Um," GH said, "where'd the front door go?"

"What?" Gaz and Sakki said sharply.

The door had evidently melted into the wall behind it. They were trapped in this (so-far) benign Hallway of Horrors.

"Get the feeling that someone doesn't want us to leave?" Gaz asked rhetorically.

"Yeah. Majorly." Cloak said. "But the bigger question is why."

"Maybe they get their rocks off at watching people run around mazes like rats?" GH suggested, unintentionally crass.

"GH!" Gaz admonished.

"What?" he replied, nonplussed.

"I don't think we should stay in one spot," Az said. "There might be a Minotaur or something that's gonna chase us."


*A Realm Walker term for "hellhole".