Post by Nathan Saniti on Jul 1, 2014 22:08:32 GMT -5
(Author's note: I have ran this by Kelli's handler for approval, just so all is well.)
The Dark Arcana – Chapter 17: The Star
Mrs. O’Hare, wife of Nathan’s furry friend hippitied her hop into their miniscule, yet cozy living room, where Tarrant was busy scouring the worlds inhabited by all the talent of PCW using his handy-dandy world-scouring Acer Mark 42 with Intel Pentium Gesundheit processor. Nathan relied upon him to keep up on the goings-on behind the curtain, so to speak, just in case any of the potential opponents be set against him. As a matter of curiosity, he decided to have a peek at his best friend’s love interest, Kelli Starr’s world. What he saw both confused and frightened him. His eye grew wide with disbelief. Harriette witnessed his expression change.
“What?” she questioned. “What is it?”
“This…” he spouted, pointing at the screen before him. A contemporarily dressed, stunningly beautiful woman with layered, cool toned ash blonde hair and icey slate blue eyes was arguing with someone obviously of her employ. “I’m not sure who this ‘Iska’ gal is and what she’s doing in Kelli’s world, but she has some kind of vendetta against Nathan. I need to investigate this. And warn him.”
“Warn him? Whatever for?”
“She has some kind of tie to Kelli. If she drives a wedge between Nathan and Kelli, it could break his heart.”
Mrs. O’Hare scratched her fluffy head. “I don’t think I understand the urgency. Nathan is a grown man. He can handle his own issues.”
“Let me put it like this then; if a bullet to the derriere does enough damage to cause an alternate, sadistic, and evil version of him on this plane, what do you think a severely broken heart will do to him? The last time that happened…”
Tarrant’s wife gasped, her eyes as big as little rabbit-sized saucers. “The Dark Arcana?”
“Yawp.” Tarrant put on his waistcoat in a frantic pace.
“Where are you going?”
“To see Nathan.” He slapped his head with both paws in indecision. “Or Nova Pharmaceuticals. I’m not sure.”
“Tarrant Beauregard O’Hare, you best be careful. I’m in no mood to be a widow with seventeen children.”
Tarrant rushed over and pecked her lovingly on the cheek. “I’ll be my usual stealthy self, my dear.” He shook his head. “My god. I sound just like Nathan now.” The pair chattered with laughter, a much needed break to the tension of the situation, as he bolted out the door.
********
Nathan and Kelli continued their tour of the scrumptious Candy World, this time on a boat that didn’t look too unlike the chocolate-carved Viking replica from the original motion picture “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” The only thing missing was an edible version of Gene Wilder or Oompa Loompas, a fact that Kelli herself laughingly remarked over. Nathan smiled a gentile smile, one he hasn’t worn in many lonely years. He lifted his hand to gently brush her fuscia colored hair, but stopped himself.
“May I?” he queried, a hint of worried caution on his face.
Kelli gently wiped the worry away, returning a reassuring grin of her own. “Silly man, you don’t need to be so shy.” She carefully placed his hand aside her face.
Nathan tensed with excitement as she sighed at his touch. Slowly he toyed with her hair as they sat on the bench seats in the boat drifting lazily in a chocolate river. His hand cautiously drifted lightly over her pin-up styled mane so as to not ruffle it too much. Over her forehead, his stroke led to the cheek facing opposite the near one. He drew her in, very nearly pressing his lips to hers. Just before making contact, he reluctantly leaned away. A sour, disappointed look etched Kelli’s face.
“Why did you pull away?” she asked the hurt in her eyes almost too much for Nathan to bear.
“My dear,” he sighed heavily, her nearly tearful eyes weighing heavy upon his heart, “I simply must take this very slowly. I have millennia of ‘training’ as a gentleman.” Then he got a mischievous look on his face. Jerking a thumb down the river, he grinned wildly. “There’s also this… HANG ON, MY DEAR!”
The brackish liquid roiled and churned suddenly like rapids on the Colorado River. The boat jerked and creaked as Kelli’s eyes brightened with childish anticipation. The liquid confection began to roar loudly and seemed to end suddenly in the horizon. Kelli began to get a bit concerned, but Nathan seemed unshaken, which put her at ease. The boat pitched upwards briefly before listing sharply down at the bow. The pair white-knuckled the sides of the boat, screaming gleefully as they descended down the chute. It twisted, they turned. It zigged, they zagged, why it even looped a loop. (It’s not easy getting chocolate to loop-a-loop, much less a boat along with it.) Finally, the impromptu carnival ride emptied out into a veritable chocolate bay, and not a horrifying slideshow of horrific images was seen the entire time. The boat spun sedately in the water until the inertia of the ride had worn off.
“That was almost as exciting as the prospect of teaming with you once again, my dearest Miss Starr.”
Kelli blushed a bit as the boat navigated itself to a dock, pulling up alongside flawlessly without so much as a bump to the port side. “Do you think we have a chance against Andy D and that new guy…” She snapped her fingers, trying to remember. “Derek something.”
“Yes. Mr. Cosmos, though he professes his intention to aide Mr. D are valid, I have my doubts that he is TRULY in this contest to assist anyone more than himself.” Nathan disembarked the craft, giving Kelli a helping hand to the dock. “To put it more in the vernacular, he’s put more screws to Mr. D than a carpenter to a cabinet. I have a feeling this contest will be no different. The only new aspect is that Mr. Cosmos has nowhere to hide his shenanegans.”
A somber look fell over Kelli. “I almost feel sorry for Andy.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. First he loses several friends in that accident, and now he’s being paired with a guy who is just… not helping.”
“My dear, Mr. D has nothing to fret for his friends,” Nathan spoke matter-of-factly. “Death only hurts the survivors, not the victims. Those people have been reassigned their next lives by now, I’m sure. As the cliché goes, ‘They are in a better place.’”
“And our opponents?”
“You are the trump card, my sweet.” Nathan cupped her chin, pulling her close once again. “You have given me the brightest gift any Starr could possibly give.”
Kelli neither shied away nor pushed forward, awaiting the rest of the conversation. “Which is?”
“Hope. Overwhelming, lovely, delicious hope.” If love could truly be turned into fireworks, this, their first kiss would send off a display that would negate any ever seen during the Fourth of July. Since confections are messy when they explode, we shall leave you, dear readers, with the ingredients to formulate your own sweet image.
