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Subject: {ASSM} Marie's Solstice 05/14 Marie Part Three (new, unfinished) TBD
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Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:10:02 -0400
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Marie's Solstice 05/14 Marie Part Three (new, unfinished)
---

I had my head down, and was dozing, when I heard someone call me.

"Hey, Big Girl.  Easy there.  It's ok, it's only me.  Just turn your
head a little, and you'll see me, and what I have.  You like roses?
Most mares do, so I bet you do, too."

I brought my head up, sniffed carefully, and gently ate the roses I
was offered.

"See?  I know it's a little silly, but I even made sure all the thorns
were gone."

He reached, and when his hand touched my forehead, the memories
returned with a rush.  "Ted?"

"Easy, Marie.  You back, finally?"

"Yes.  You don't look too good.  Anything I can do to make you feel
better?"

"You look worse."

"I do?"

"Yeah.  You still trust me?"

"Yes.  I don't trust myself, any more.  I really, really fucked us
over, didn't I?"

"Shh...  Had to happen.  I...  I've been unfaithful."

"Lib?"

"Yes."

"Good.  I hoped it would happen."

"Yeah.  She made sure I knew how you felt about that."

Then, finally, my mind woke up.  "What time is it?"

"About three AM."

"Cameras?"

"Better or worse, Marie.  No hiding."

"Ok.  Before I let myself go mare, in my head, I had an insight."

"Important?"

"Yeah.  Very important, to us, personally."

"Oh?"

"Uh huh.  Lib told me that Vix thinks of her and I as complete
equals."

"I'm not surprised."

"I wasn't, either.  But, buried in that, was a personal message, to me
and you."

"There is?"

"Yes.  Lib is completely unblocked, right?"

"She mentioned that.  Yes."

"Good.  I checked, and so am I."

"That's important to us?"

"Sure is.  Means I don't have to keep fucking us over, by staying
linear, and letting the Bardic stuff be more important than our
relationship.  Ted, if you want to pick a place, I'll take us there,
and we can take as long as we need, to...  Make sure *I* don't blow it
like that again, for a long, long, time."

"I thought we aren't supposed to time shift until after we graduated,
or something."

"That's what I thought, too, but...  Fuck this Bard crap.  We go
somewhere in time, we can be a real couple, without needing to let
this shit get in our way.  I've decided you're more important to me
than making sure the world does what it's supposed to."

He nodded slightly.  "It will still be here, waiting."

"Sure, which is my point.  We can take all the time we need to figure
out what we want to do about that, *after* we take time for *us*.  You
in?"

"Can we take Lib with us?"

"Should I ask for your reasons?"

"No."

"You want her, and she agrees, no problem."

"I'll call her and find out."

Suddenly Lib appeared next to Ted, and then she went dog.  "Sis, get
your head down here, so I can nuzzle you.  Ted, put a hand on my head,
and think about where you want to go."

He did, she did, and suddenly we were all standing in an open field.
There were trees in the distance, and it was early morning.

Lib pulled away and sneezed her amusement.  "Ok.  I'm going to go
explore."

I lifted my head and looked around.  "When, and where?"

"I told Lib to take us to the family farm, before there were people
here."

"Ok.  You have any idea about what she thought was funny?"

He surprised me by blushing.  "Yes."

"Be nice to know how you two scored on me, other than you getting her
to shift us, so I wouldn't break my word."

"Umm...  You really don't know?"

"No."

"Well...  Lib said you've been so busy, you must not have noticed it.
The Singing Palomino is in estrus."

"Uhhh...  Crap, and all that.  I thought all the euphoria and stuff
was because I'm married and all that normal stuff.  Lib do any
explaining?"

"Some.  During the afterglow.  Soo...  That explains why you were
so...Monique?"

"Yeah.  Makes you feel any better, Lib can be worse.  We don't know
the reason it hits her more than it does me.  Sorry, Ted.  Wish I'd
remembered to mention that.  Doesn't make all that crazy flirting,
right."

"I'm mostly ok with it, Marie.  I should have figured it out.  I've
seen mares do that stuff to get the stallion she really wants, all
excited so he eventually drives the others away and mates with her.  I
wasn't expecting to need to do that crap with you, ya know?"

"Ted?  Are you ready to tell me what fucked you up, if it wasn't my
flirting like I was in heat and wanted to get fucked by anyone who had
balls big enough to ask?"

He sighed, and something in it made me really study him.  That was
when I realized I'd been so intent on my misery and other stuff, that
I hadn't noticed his new guitar was slung over his back.

I stopped and shifted back to myself, then caught up with him and
touched his arm.  "Hey, Cowboy.  Sorry I pushed.  Sing to me."

"Sing?"

"Sure.  You got your guitar, and I'll assume you have your harmonica,
because I think you'd forget to get dressed, before you'd leave it at
home.  So...  It's only me and Lib, and you love both of us.  We
already know what your main talent is, so...  Oh.  Shit.  There I go
again.  Never mind.  You're a singing cowboy, Ted.  Serendade your
wife.  Tell me how you feel, with your music, and if you're angry, or
hurt, or whatevever, I need to know, ok?"

He flinched,  then glanced at me before he grabbed his guitar.  He was
idly tuning it when he sighed.  "Know what pissed me off?  You nailed
how I was feeling, then casually told the world and expected Mark to
use that in a show.  That country bumpkin stuff hurt, Marie.  Never
expected you to be that casual about someone's feelings.  Hear it a
lot after people find out where I'm from.  It's not a joke to me and
Julie, ya know?"

"So...  Shit.  I'm sorry, Ted.  Real sorry.  I let my enthusiasm do my
thinking for me.  Could have used better words, too.  Plus, our family
is used to that sort of casual honesty when we're relaxing.  Anything
I can do, to work on an apology, other than making sure I tell Mark to
come up with something else for a show?

"Oh.  I guess I need to apologise to Julie, too?"

"I don't know what you can do to make me feel better about it, right
now.  You didn't make Julie look like an uneducated idiot, so maybe
she's ok with it.  I'll let you know when I figure out what you can
do.  A lot of it was probably the stuff from being in heat, right?
Just like a guy and doing your thinking with your cunt?"

"Yeah.  Usually, I notice and deliberately stay mare as much as
possible, so it's over with pretty quick.  Don't get around people,
either, because I know how I get."

He strummed a discordant chord and sighed.  "Ok.  Stupid question. Lib
said at least she can lick herself off when it happens, and that seems
to help.  What about you?"

"No clue.  Never thought about having someone get me off, to get rid
of the edge when I'm human.  Always thought of it as something I'll
have to live with the rest of my life, just like my regular periods."

"Umm...  Julie and I have talked about that stuff.  Since you shift
back and forth, and it sounds like the time you spend as a mare
affects things, does it work that way for the real you?"

"Thank whoever you want, for a big blessing.  No.  I keep a diary, and
so far, I'm regular, with real small variations sometimes, that I
think are caused by stress."

He looked at me and smiled.  "So...  You be ok with me setting up some
alarms on my phone, after you tell me the next time you expect to
start your period?"

I blushed, then got serious.  "Thanks, Ted.  Maybe my stallion teased
me into an early one.  I was due to start in the next few days.  When
they hit me at the same time...  I get horny.  Umm...  *Real* horny."

"I'm not ready to make love to a mare, Marie."

"Wasn't going to ask."

"Thanks."

We walked in silence for a while, and I was content to let him pick
the directions we headed.

Eventually he focused, and started playing his guitar, without
singing.

He hit me with all of it..  His shock, hurt, confusion, even the pain
I'd caused him.  I knew I'd earned every note, so I kept silent and
when he glanced at me to see how I felt, I usually nodded slightly and
gestured for him to keep going.

Sometimes Lib showed up.  She watched him briefly, then nodded her
head slightly before she vanished again.

Each time it happened, his playing got a lighter, and slightly
cheerier tone to it.

It hurt, to hear him get better for my sister, instead of me.

Eventually he put his guitar away and moved until we were next to each
other, then he surprised me by putting his arm around my waist.  "You
feel better?"

"Me?  What about you?"

"Yeah.  I'm better.  Thanks for listening.  About you?"

"I don't know.  Hurts, to know that Lib was able to help you, and I
wasn't.  Didn't have a clue, so I decided to let you get better with
her help."

"I wanted you to hurt, the way I did.  Stupid stuff like that, at
first.  Once Lib told me you were hurting that bad, she kept an eye on
us, and told me when I was doing stuff to make you feel better.  I...
I don't know exactly how I did it, Marie, but I used my power with the
music, to help us both.  All Lib did was tell me when it was time to
make us both feel a little bit better than we were, until..."

He stopped talking, and I realized we were headed for some trees.
"Until what?"

"Until she figured we're both ready to settle in the shade so we can
enjoy each other's company again."

"Again?  This will be the first time we've been together and able to
relax without knowing the world is watching."

"Yeah.  Point.  You mind if Lib stays bitch and joins us?"

"No.  I told you we've shared before.  Sure, she's always been
herself, but sometimes, I think for her, it doesn't matter what form
she's in, any more."

"What about you?"

"I don't think it's the same.  More like going mare is a way of
dressing special, to go out.  Being Monique...  Julie was right, but
she wasn't, too.  Monique really has been a way for me to be the me I
would have been, if I hadn't learned how to do the stuff with power,
but she's also been...  That, plus that part of me that's always been
a show off."

Ted picked a tree, settled so he was leaning against it, then I
stretched out so my head was on his thigh and I could look up at him.

He stroked my face a for awhile, then he idly wound my hair around his
fingers and just...

Did the silly lover stuff I'd always dreamed would happen to me,
someday.

Lib showed up and settled with her chin on his other thigh, and Ted
used his other hand to pet her head.  "I should have kept walking with
Tom, last night."

Lib kept quiet, so I grabbed his hand and stilled it.  "Guess he was
helping?"

"Yeah.  He said something weird, that made sense.  Too much sense, and
that...  Twisted my head quite a bit."

"Go on."

"You ever wonder if it's normal for guys to get involved with two
serious relationships at the same time?  Maybe monogamy isn't right
for most of us?"

"Never thougth about it before."

"You haven't?  Sounds weird, considering how comfortable you and Lib
are, with sharing."

"Never thought about how the guy felt, other than asking first.  Never
met a guy that wasn't willing to have two girls at the same time.
Always figured it was hormones."

"Maybe.  No, likely, right now.  Look at Tom and his grrls.  Or
Merlin, Vix, and Kay.  It's like three people makes the relationship
strong enough to last...  Forever."

"Don't know, Ted.  Lib?"

"Don't know, Sis.  Ted's more comfortable with me as a bitch, so I'll
stay like this until he wants me in some other shape.  That three
stuff sounds possible, but I'm pretty sure that I'll be just like you
once I link with my life mate, and want him for myself, at first."

I sighed.  "Pay attention and make sure you don't fuck him over, like
I did Ted.  I thought I'd driven him away and that...  Hurt.  I was
ready to walk away from all of it."

She sighed.  "It's the damn Zeitgeist, you guys.  Vix and Kay gave me
a lot of stuff while they were teaching me how to be a flying unicorn.
I think Kay knew more than she admitted, because she told me I should
pass a lot of it on as soon as I could, without letting the world
know."

Ted shifted slightly, so I let him take over.  "Kay's a seer, right?"

"Yes."

"So she and Vix must have been up to something serious, when they took
you wherever they took you?"

"Stonehenge.  Yeah.  Marie added the piece I needed, to get my head
the rest of the way around what they did to me.  So much is happening,
that Vix is near *her* limits, and they were doing something about it,
so she doesn't overload in the middle of all this."

"So...  I shouldn't feel bad about losing it and wanting to run and
hide for awhile?"

"Definitely not.  If you can name *one* guy, who could have all that
shit happen to *him*, and not go apeshit long before you did, you're a
better judge of people than I am, because I don't think either of our
brothers, or Mark, could have handled being as in the middle as you've
been."

"Thanks, Lib.  Means a lot.  Never looked at it like that.  All I knew
was that Marie...  Is my wife, and she'd just...  Taken over and
wasn't consutling to see how I felt."

Lib lifted her head, to look at him, I guess, then she turned it and
sneezed softly before she put it back on his thigh.

"Tom get a chance to tell you about how the Zeitgeist likes to work
when someone is new to the job?"

"Fuck them over?  Yeah.  He was still trying to explain it when I
decided I'd heard enough and wanted some time to think about it."

"I think it's like a stress test.  Happens before the shit gets really
deep, so he knows our limits."

"This isn't deep?!"

"Nope.  I gotta admit it's never happened to me, so I don't know
what's out there waiting for me.  Thing is, you didn't break.  Sure,
you bent, but...  You're still here, and you and Marie are working
damn hard, to get it behind you, ya know?"

He sighed and stayed silent for a long time, while he went back to
petting both of us.

Finally he sighed and spoke softly.  "Looks like she's out of it."

I laughed.  "She's a bitch.  Goes to sleep whenever she feels
relaxed."

"I noticed.  Thanks for not pushing.  One reason she's bitch, is
because I asked her to stay that way until I was ready to have her
around as herself."

"Oh?"

"Uh huh.  See...  Like I told you, I've been raised old fashioned. One
on one, when it comes to the serious stuff.  This way, it's you and I,
with a real smart dog as a pet.  Gives me a chance to sneak up on the
way I feel about her."

"So...  Someday?"

"Yes.  Oh, I'd be able to fuck her again, but my head says that's not
right, because I really do love her as more than a casual fuck buddy.
I just need time to figure out how to handle it all.  I always figured
that once I fell in love and got married, I wouldn't feel the same way
about anyone else."

"Too much, too soon?"

"Yeah."

"Ok."

I managed to reach and lightly stroke Lib's head.  "I'm not asking for
details about what happened between you two.  It's pretty obvious that
whatever it was, it left you two with a serious connection between
your hearts, and the feelings that come from some shared afterglow.
I'm glad, for both of you  Sounds shitty, but since it happened, I
know it was something that had to happen.  The Zeitgeist works that
way, a lot.  We don't have to like it, but generally, after the fact,
we get time to come to terms with it, before the shit hits us again."

"This sort of stuff is going to keep happening?"

"Yeah, but not very often.  Some of that stuff it sounds like Tom
didn't have time to tell you.  We're pretty specialized tools, so once
the Zeitgeist is done making us, we usually only get used for what we
were designed for.  Most of the time, we can be ourselves and live
pretty ordinary lives."

"That isn't what Tom told me.  He said that once we're hand picked,
everything we do is job related."

"He's right.  Thing is, most of the time our job involves us living
our lives as we want.  It's that living the life and leading by
example.  We're human, and yeah, we have some stuff we have to keep in
mind because we're Bards, but the rest of it really is being able to
relax and be ourselves."

"Huh.  Be nice, if I knew who I am."

"You still trust me?"

"Yeah, Marie.  Strange as it sounds, I can't imagine not trusting you,
even after you've done something that fucked me over."

"Makes you feel better, I expected you to stick around and see if we
could work past it.  Never allowed for the differences in the ways we
were raised.  I'm not used to being around a guy who was raised to
hold it in and not open up.  That thing you did when Lib helped you to
bed, and you said she's softer than I am, hurt a Hell of a lot, even
though I knew it was the truth."

"What?!  I knew I was out of it last night, but I don't remember
saying that.  I *never* thought I'd do anything to hurt you like
that!"

"You were zoned, and we both knew it.  Lib was helping you, and you
said she was just like me, only softer.  Freaked us both, but it was
right, so I didn't make an issue of it.  Only mentioned it now,
because it has to be in the open, if we're going to stay honest with
each other."

"Shit.  And you think I was right?"

"I do."

"Well, I don't.  You're more impulsive than she is, I think, but that
has nothing to do with how 'hard' either of you is.  I really said
that?"

"Yes."

"I need to learn how to pick my words better."

"You going to explain it?"

"Give me a few minutes so I can make sure I use the right words, this
time."

I laughed.  "As long as you need, remember?  Time doesn't matter to
us, any more."

"Are you really as comfortable with that as you sound?"

"No.  That reminds me that there's another aspect to this, that I was
told will take me a long time to get comfortable with."

"Oh?"

"Yes.  We only have to eat and stuff like that, if we really want to.
Tom calls it being manifested energy, just like Mahika and other
elementals are.  Another part of that is that we can be hurt, but we
can't be killed.  Worst that can happen is that we'll be forced to go
back to linear time, and once we're back, we'll be over whatever
happened, except for what we remember."

"What happens if we forget we're not in linear time?"

"Not sure, except we'd be functionally immortal."

"That's weird.  Sounds like we could stay here and live past the death
of our real bodies, but we wouldn't die until we returned to them, and
lived our real lives."

I laughed.  "I don't have a clue.  I think that's the advanced course
or something.  Either that, or nobody has...  Tried it, yet.

"You duck something?"

"In a way.  Just a strange thought, that if someone tried it, and it
worked, the rest of us wouldn't know they'd done it, until they
suddenly showed up after they died.  Everyone else I know who can time
travel, is also immortal in linear time, so that makes me think
someone who isn't immortal, wouldn't be able to live past the death of
their real body, even if they were able to overlap."

"You're making my head hurt."

"Sorry.  I'll shut up and let you think."

I felt Lib move, and when I looked at her, she smiled.  "I was awake,
sort of.  I know we don't need it, but I'm feeling good about life,
and I want to share that over a cookfire, later.  So, I'm going to go
hunting.  Must be something around here, somewhere, that would taste
good after it's been over an open flame."

I thought about it, then grinned.  "Kay get to you?" 

"A little.  See you when I get back."

She got up, stretched, then I guess she was feeling a little perverse,
because she flagged Ted before she ran off and got lost in the grass.

He was still blushing when I checked out his face.  "She got you,
huh?"

"At least she's not in heat, yet."

"Oh.  I wasn't paying attention.  Am I, as a mare?"

"Definitely.  I think they call it 'pungent', don't they?"

"Nobody has mentioned that, so I can't tell you.  I notice it because
it messes with my emotions quite a bit."

"I hope you don't get upset when I say living in non linear time is
really, really, strange.  Seems like it should all work, or not.
Instead, it's a mix."

"I know.  Be nice, if I could turn that off sometimes, just like I
control my fertility."

"Since you taught me how to control mine, it shouldn't be  a problem,
right?"

"As long as one of us thinks about it, it won't be."

"Point.  That stuff you said when you were making those suggestions to
Mark.  Had to be more than helping him get started, right?"

"Sounds like you want to mix our professional lives into our personal
ones."

"Got no choice, since I want to talk about how we both managed to fuck
up without realizing it was happening, until it was too late."

I winced and he touched my face lightly.  "Relax.  I'll get used to
it.  At least we can make time to deal with things, instead of letting
them happen, then try to fix the results."

I sighed.  "Yeah, now.

"Ok.  So...  If you had been the Journeyman, with the rest of us as
your apprentices, and you had to do something that got all of us and
the audience involved, while keeping it to something that was within
our skills, what sort of show would you have come up with on the spur
of the moment?"

"If I had all your skills, and you only knew what I knew?"

"Yeah.  Add that you knew you had to get us out of the habit of being
impulsive.  It was past time to get serious, and get us thinking about
what we were doing, instead of treating it like a big party."

"I have a bunch of talented amatuers, and somehow, I need to make them
into instant professionals?"

"Or, at least, keep it so they don't get so discouraged they quit. You
need us, Ted, and you know it, but you can't add that pressure to our
thinking, yet."

"Lib said something about a cusp."

"Sandy's pretty sure it's a major one, and that ALL of us are the lead
in for the main act.  I didn't know that, at the Mall.  Only thing I
had was that I have to consciously think of the effect I'm having on
local and world opinions of power handlers and shape shifters, every
time I'm in public.  It was a lot easier to do, when I was The Singing
Palomino, and nobody knew it was me."

He nodded.  "Yeah.  Part of it is obvious.  Whatever it is, it needs
to give Mark a chance to convince himself he's just as much a Bard as
the rest of us, in spite of him not having a lot of the stuff he will
eventually learn.  Whatever I come up with...  Yeah.  Ok, I can see it
now.  You told him what he had to work with, then got out of his way
and let him create the show, instead of trying to do his job for him.
This time, he can be...  A playwright, instead of improvising.  He's
damn good, Marie, but...  Yeah.  If he has time to think about it, and
know who he's writing each part for...  Sneaky, Marie.  That bit about
the inept unicorn wasn't for Lib, was it?  It was for Mark, so he
could make mistakes and not feel guilty."

"It was for both of them.  I never thought we'd be able to time slide
to give ourselves a chance to come to terms with all of it."

"You did mention we might do it for the shows."

I winced.  "Ok.  Got me, and I should have realized that as soon as I
knew things were way out of my experience, it was time to call Vix and
ask for her advice.  If I had, maybe I wouldn't have done the stuff
that...  You know."

"Like they say, shit happens, and for us, we need to internalize that
when it happens that fast, we'd better go with the flow, because it's
a good bet *none* of us know the full picture."

"That's a real good way to think about it, Ted.  There's another
aspect that takes getting used to.  You saw part of it when Kay and
Merlin did that stuff with Excalibur."

"Oh?"

"Yes.  When you're being used by the Zeitgeist, everything you do
makes obvious sense, so you don't realize everyone else can't follow
your thinking.  You called me impulsive, and I am.  I think I'm
supposed to be, because it makes me go along when I'm being used.
That's the first time I've been used, and...  I didn't feel used, Ted.
It's only now that I have time to think about what happened, that I
know that wasn't really me doing a lot of that stuff.  I know better
ways to say that stuff, and that what I did with those guys at the
mall hurt you, but at the time it was...  Fun, and it felt right, so I
did it."

He idly worked my hair again, then he sighed.  "So...  Sometimes I
hate *not* being that dumb hick.  You think the Zeitgeist picks us for
something in our personalities, so when he needs to, he can emphasize
that instead of forcing us to do something against our basic nature?"

"Makes sense.  Any idea what you got picked for?"

"Isn't it obvious by now?"

"Not to me.  Guess I'm too close to the problem to see it."

"Ok.  You sing, which means you use words to get people to understand
stuff.  You talk to their emotions and heads at the same time.  I know
it's more complicated, but that's my best guess right now."

"Ok.  Keep going."

"Mark gets people to see things, so he can show them stuff that they
may never experience any other way, kind of like going to a movie,
except the movie is interactive."

"What about Julie?"

"What she already does.  She makes people aware of the connections
they have, and how important they are in everyday life."

"That leaves you."

"I know.  Scares me, Marie, because I think it makes me the most
powerful of all of us, and I *need* to have it under control before we
go back."

"Well, Lib and I will do our best to help you."

"I make people feel, Marie.  I do it directly, without any need for it
being translated, like it has to be when you guys do it.  If I feel
happy, they feel happy.  Sad, sad.  I can get people to feel anything
I want to, and...  If you're right, someday I'm going to be used to
turn people's emotions on, or off, and I won't be able to stop it from
happening."

"Shit.  No wonder you were zoned last night."

"Yeah.  It was bad then, because I was already freaked from you
telling me to stop making love to my harmonica, because all the women
in the area were getting off from it.  You had 'the look', Marie, and
so did Sis.  Scary, to know I'd put it there just by breathing into my
harmonica.  What would have happened if I'd actually played
something?"

I giggled and he stared at me.  "Gods, Ted!  I wanted you to!  I
almost orgasmed, and a lot of me wanted to go the rest of the way.  If
we'd been alone, I would have told you to keep going."

"Oh.  Like what I did to Lib, but a lot better?"

"Lots and lots better.  I didn't check out the guys, so I don't know
if they felt anything."

"I didn't check them out, but I never do.  All I was doing was
appreciating how good the new mouth organ is, and dreaming about what
I could do with it."

"Lots, Ted, Lots, and a big part of being a Bard is learning how to
control that stuff so it happens only when you want it to."

"Good, because after that happened, I realized that being able to
pretty much do whatever I felt like doing to people...  Got real in
way it hadn't been."

"So...  You afraid you might start a riot?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we had help keeping one from starting, so maybe that's what
we'll be used for, someday.  I hate to say it this way, but for us,
there's a lot of truth in that stuff about learning to enjoy being
raped.  About all we can do is accept that whatever it is, when it's
over, we'll be able to live with doing it, because if we'd been asked
to do it, we would have agreed."

"If we would have agreed, it wouldn't be rape, would it?"

"I don't know a better way to say it.  Tom thinks that sometimes
things have to happen so fast, the Zeitgeist doesn't have time to be
gentle and let us figure it out on our own.  Me, I think that he's a
lot like us, and either doesn't see it coming until the last minute,
or..."

I giggled and waved at the field.  "Maybe he's lazy and impulsive."

"Leaves things to the last minute, or doesn't deal with them until
he's forced to, like that running joke you have about Lib being lazy?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for distracting me.  It helped."

"Wasn't planned."

"Made it better, and I helped.  That stuff about you being softer must
have been my emotions talking."

"Rather have you honest, and hurting me, than lying because you think
it will help."

"Yeah.  Good point.  Anyway, you and Lib are pretty focused on what
you see as your life's work, and that makes you seem a lot harder than
you are.  I should have seen how painful it must have been for you to
admit you're just another plain girl next door, at heart, and that the
stuff you do as a Bard, is written into the job."

"Thanks, Ted.  Means a lot, that you can see the real me, in spite of
everything else."

"Welcome.  So calling you harder like that must have been because of
how you grabbed our lives and made them tools without consulting with
any of us.  In a way, we'd already agreed to let that happen, because
we agreed to be Bards, right?"

"Maybe.  Normally, apprentices aren't as high profile as you guys are.
I should have expressed it differently.  Another thing I should have
done is opened with something that emphasized I wanted a feel good
romance, or something else that made everything positive, and that if
it was going to be funny, it should be the kind of funny that isn't at
someone's expense.  What you guys got to hear was the kind of casual
stuff that should be kept in private, instead of said in public."

"Verbal shorthand?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I should have been paying more attention to the context, and
something Vix said before she went home from the BBQ."

"You just lost me."

"She said that someday I'm going to have to do to her, what Lib does
to you, to keep your head straight."

"Ok...  And like you and Julie already do for each other?"

"Yes.  I guess you don't see it?"

"No."

"Huh.  Some of it's husband and wife stuff, but the other is the same
thing Vix wants.  If I'm supposed to keep her straight, it makes sense
that I need to do it for *any* Bard, who is at any rank, right?"

"Oh.  That.  I'm so used to thinking that way, I never thought you
wouldn't know it."

"I should have got in your face when I first had questions, right?
Instead I went along, because I was raised to keep my head down, and
you acted like you had a clue, when...  You lost sight of how what you
were doing was affecting the people closest to you.  You thought about
everyone but us, didn't you?"

I closed my eyes and actually whimpered,  "Damn, Ted.  You're right.
Then Lib comes along and makes a special effort to ask you, before she
does anything.  Anybody would seem softer than me, at that point."

"Uh huh.  You back, now?"

"Yeah, and hurting.  Power corrupts, Ted.  Does it so you never
notice, when you're on the inside.  Thanks for bringing me back."

"What?  Where'd that come from.  You were being used, right?  Can't be
that.  It was something else that did it."

"You got a weird way of seeing it.  If it wasn't that power stuff,
what was it?"

"Something you couldn't avoid.  Didn't you tell me something about the
only time Bards can be irresponsible with power?"

"I did.  I'm human, so that doesn't apply."

"Shit, Marie.  Guess I need a bigger hammer to get you to see it. When
The Singing Palomino is in estrus, she fucks you over emotionally,
even when you're human, and you admitted you can't block it."

"Shit!  If he had balls for me to kick, I wouldn't hesitate to try and
put them up his throat.  He hit me with all of it at once.  The power
corrupts stuff, the lack of control during estrus and...  He fucking
used that because...  Oh...  Damn..."

"You going Bard on me?"

"Yeah.  Big time.  He's using all of us, not just me.  I suppose he
let most of it hit me, so you guys wouldn't freak.  Hell of a way to
let me know he trusts me.  That isn't what has me worried, now.
Suddenly, I can forgive him, a little."

"Yeah?  Give me a reason to."

"Sure.  Sandy and her thinking we're at some sort of major cusp, with
us being the lead in people that are preparing the world for something
major like a cultural shift, or global attitude change."

"What are we?  Test cases?"

"Ummm...  I think it's more than that.  Nobody knows who it's going to
be, but whoever it is, they're going to get hammered in ways that make
what just happened to us seem trivial, I bet."

"That sucks, but I know life can be a lot harder than what we've lived
through, so far."

"Yeah.  I think we're being...  Groomed, trained, whatever you want to
call it, to be part of the support for whoever is coming."

"Support?  What the fuck can we do?  We lost it once already.  I sure
wouldn't want to stress us more, any time soon."

"We didn't lose it Ted.  Sure, we all got pretty fucked up in our
heads, and *almost* broke, but none of us broke completely.  I bet
when the time comes, this person is going to need people they can
depend on, to wade in while they *know* how tough it can get.  Plus,
they'll need people they know can relate to what they've been through,
to put them back together."

"Pretty serious stuff, Marie."

"I know.  We've got as long as we need, to get our heads around it
before we go back.  Maybe I'm full of it, and one of us will figure
out how the pieces really fit together."

"I think it fits.  Sounds like a more intense version of what happened
with me and Connie, when I asked her to keep my head straight.  Makes
sense to work up to something like that, instead of trying it cold."

He suddenly stiffened, then spoke so softly I had to strain to hear
him.  "Oh.  Duh.  That's what Tom was trying to tell me!"

"Was I supposed to hear that?"

"Yeah.  I was bitching about how fucked over I felt, when he asked me
a question I thought had nothing to do with it.  'If a tool could
feel, would it enjoy being tempered?' I thought it was a dumb thing to
ask, because tools don't feel anything."

I winced.  "And we keep talking about all of us being tools.  I'm
still sorry about what I did, Ted.  The Zeitgeist is damn chincy with
things, if he's willing to use me to help temper you guys, while he's
tempering me."

Ted sighed, then stroked my face and laughed.  "Well, I guess that
means you must be harder than the rest of us in some way.  I still
think that overall, you're softer than Libby."

"You have a way to explain that, yet?"

"Maybe.  First, you're both focused on a bigger picture than most of
the world can see.  Someday, I'll have my own version of that vision,
so it doesn't matter.  What stands out to me, is that while neither
one of you shies away from doing what has to be done, if you know how
to do it, Lib jumps in and does it, while you tend to back off and get
more input, to make sure you haven't missed any options that would be
better.  That makes you softer, because most of the time you don't
assume you have the only solution that will work."

"So you think this time was some sort of special case?"

"Yes.  Now that we know it can happen, we can pay better attention,
and hopefully, prevent it from happening again.  Besides..."

He shocked me when he grinned.  "Unless they have to be rebuilt,
nobody retempers a tool that's been declared fit for what it was
designed to do, right?"

"Umm...  I don't know if you're insane for coming up with that, or I
am, for thinking you're right."

I rolled to my knees and started stripping.  "Come on, Cowboy.  We've
talked enough.  Let's do and feel, for awhile."

He watched me, and when I looked up, he smiled slightly.  "Do I need
to keep my boots on?"

"Ted, I don't care, as long as I can feel your naked body against me
while we make love to each other."

"Right.  Boots off."

I moaned suddenly and Ted stopped stripping.  "What's wrong?"

"I have to make a confession now, so it doesn't fuck us up later."

"Sounds serious.  I thought we had it all out of the way."

"So did I, for a few minutes.  First, did Lib tell you I have to be
all those people?"

"If she did, I was too zoned to remember it."

"Ok.  First of all, everyone thinks I'm the first fully Terran bard."

"Right.  We covered that already."

"Sorry.  I don't want to miss any of this.  Because I'm officially the
first, I have to be like some sort of universal Bard who can do it
all.  Sucks, but I'm setting the example everyone has to live up to,
or beat.  Stupid, but it's been a fact of my life ever since Vix took
me on."

"Makes sense.  Sucks, though, and it's really, really, stupid.  Lots
of extra pressure, right?"

"Yeah.  Wouldn't be there on Rabelaisia.  Plus...  It's way, way
worse, because I'm the first non Rabelaisian Vix has ever tapped as a
personal apprentice."

"Shit.  We have guilds and stuff, too.  When someone gets tapped like
that...  Yeah, their life sucks, no matter how good they are...  Oh,
shit.  Can't be a coincidence that we met and all that.  Passing on
the heritage and all that crap...  Yeah.  Lib tell you I was pretty
zoned when she helped me get undressed and into bed?"

"Yes.  She said you mumbled something about 'he must have known'.  Can
we put that on hold until I confess?  I'm afraid if I don't finish
this, I'll be too scared to go through it again."

"Ok.  Don't let me forget to tell you about it, because it's something
that really fucked with my head last night.  Anyway...  There's more
than you needing to be the ultimate Bard?"

"Yes.  That Bard stuff is obvious, even though it fucks with my
personal and professional lives.  The other thing...  Is personal, and
it just proves I really fucked up.  It's more of that estrus triggered
stuff."

"I guess I'm ready."

"Don't bet on it.  Remember asking me how I helped stop those muggers,
and you wanted me to tell you later?"

"Vaguely."

"It was how I distracted them, Ted.  I was unfaithful before you were,
and I didn't realize it until later."

"That's...  Weird.  How?"

"Remember how I fondled you with power?"

"Yeesss..."

"Right.  Let me tell you all of it, before you go ballistic on me.
First, after the fact, I think it was something that had to happen,
for Julie's sake."

"I don't see the connection, yet."

"I didn't either, until I had time in the back yard, to think about
all the ways I fucked us over."

"No wonder you looked like shit."

"Yeah.  Ok.  No more ducking.  Sandy and I spotted those muggers
almost at the same time.  I don't know why, but they focused on me for
some reason.  I called Sandy off, because I had something I wanted to
try out, to see if I could use it to distract them from bothering us.
What I did, was figure out where their dicks were, and used power to
jerk them off, until they forgot about us.  I really freaked when
Sandy told me that what I had done made them realize they were bi,
instead of het, and they decided that since they were already well
hidden, they'd get physical about it.

"Ted, I freaked, because Sandy made it sound like I'm some sort of
weird universal emotional catalyst that gets people to learn stuff
about themselves.  She laughed that off, and called me a Bard who has
a sense of humor that is as bad as Vix's at her worst.

"Anyway, it was later, that I realized I'd let my craziness make me
forget something like that was being unfaithful, in a real serious
way.  Tell you the truth, I was more worried about you, because when
you asked me...  I didn't need to see your aura to know things were
really, really fucked up between us.  I thought we'd sort it out after
we got home, but Lib met us and things changed."

He finally sighed.  "Done and there's nothing we can do about it. Glad
I didn't know when my head was fucked up.  That mean I have the same
option, or are we going to back off and use more conventional ways to
stop people?"

"Can we table it until we both know we have our heads right?  We
aren't rushed any more."

He looked at me in a way that told me I'd made a mistake, so I sighed.
"Sorry, Ted.  We come from different worlds, and my thinking isn't as
human as it should be.  I wasn't ducking.  You can handle problems
*any* way you feel they have to be handled, and I'll back you up.  If
I have any problems with it, as me, or as a Bard, I'd lke to be able
to get them open as soon as possible, after we know the original
problem is taken care of.  I'll stop being creative, and do the normal
stuff when I have to stop someone in a hurry."

"Thanks.  I'll do the same thing, unless we consult.  Easy, now that
we can time slide, right?"

"Yeah.  That *will* get rid of a lot of the pressure."

I shivered and sighed.  "One more thing, for now.  Tom tried to tell
me how it works, when you get used.  Runaway train.  Deer in the
headlights.  Non thinking impulsiveness to the max.  Rampant ego.
Inside, you *know* you're doing what has to be done, and it's right,
but there's no time to explain it."

I looked at nothing in the distance and shivered again.  "It's the
kind of mental rape a woman fears, Ted, because it happens so fast
there's no time to really know it's happening, then, when it's over,
it all catches up with you.  I don't know what makes the Zeitgeist do
it that way, the first time he uses someone.  That stuff you said
about being uppity?  I think I know how you feel, but it isn't that.
It's more like...  Maybe he grabs whatever is handy, instead of taking
the time to get a real hammer, when he needs one.  Sucks, but I did
say I'd do the job.  If it fucks up my personal life so it can't be
fixed...

"Sorry, Ted.  I'm a Bard, and sometimes shit happens.  In the bigger
picture, I agreed to help the world reach a goal.  I didn't say I was
going to be selfish, or think about myself first."

He pulled me into a hug and held on until I stopped shivering.  "I
didn't walk away, Marie.  Never thought about it.  I just wanted some
time to think, and for us, instead of the world.  Tom was working on
me, but... I should have kept talking to him, until the stuff he was
telling me sank in.  I was programmed to put my wife ahead of myself.
I couldn't tell you no."

After I nodded slightly, he sighed again.  "Ok.  Let's ignore the fact
I'm tired of not being able to see the same big picture you do,
because by the time we get past this, I'll be able to see at least as
much as you do, ok?"

"Yes, Honey."

"Thanks, Love.  Hey, Marie?"

"What?"

"You want to take that break, before you hear what I need to say? Your
head's really messed up, if you forgot we kind of decided that all
this shit has been some sort of crazy way of tempering us so we don't
break, later."

I thought about it, hard, then shook my head.  "Since we're started
and all that, if you're up to it, I'd like to get it all out of the
way, so we can move on.  That's a personal thing, not because I'm a
Bard."

"Ok.  You going to tell me how that stuff you did to the muggers
relates to Julie?"

"Remember when I asked if anyone had been doing stuff to keep track of
what was going on around us?"

"Yes.  She said she noticed a couple people with a strong sexual
connection."

"Right.  They were the muggers.  She didn't notice them when they were
thinking about robbing us, so it was like a test, to see what her
threshold of awareness is.  Once I tell her what was really going on,
it will be like what Lib did with you.  She'll know she can do it, so
all she has to worry about is the practice."

"Marie?  That sounds a lot like justification after the fact."

"I know.  I suppose it is, in a way.  You have the pieces.  Guess I'd
better help you fit them together.  First, nothing, absolutely
*nothing* that happens to us is a coincidence.  It had to happen, even
if we can't figure out why."

"Sounds like what Tom was trying to get me to see, that once we agree
to do the job, everything is job related."

"Yep.  Now, the...  Part that sucks.  If something bad happens to us,
no matter how bad it fucked up our lives, it must have benefited
someone else at least as much.  It's balance, Ted, and...  If you
think of it like that, we're the pivot sometimes, which means we get
ALL of it at the same time.  Joy and pain at once, but since we tend
to focus on only one part, we don't realize it until it's over."

"Which means...  Are you saying that when something real intense
happens to one of us, someday we'll get the opposite, just as
intensely?"

"No.  There will be times when we get what you can think of as a
bonus, for being good at our jobs.  Or...  He really is damn sorry
when he's fucked up, so his apologies can get intense.  The good stuff
happens far more often than the bad stuff, so when you try to add it
up, the normal 'pay', plus the perks, make the job worth doing.

"I said rape, but...  Sometimes, it's a shitty, fucked up job, and all
you can do is endure whatever happens, because you gave your word, and
once it's over, you'll never have to do it again, because you know
that it all had to happen, to do the job right the first time.  Only
complaint I really have, is that I wish he'd learn how to ask, instead
of just grabbing people and flailing away."

Ted studied me a long time, then he sighed.  "Marie?  I'd call you
crazy, but you're so damn serene about it, that I have to believe you
really are that comfortable with it all."

"You are, too, Ted, you just haven't fully realized it consciously."

"I am?!"

"Sure.  You nailed everything that justifies putting up with all the
shit and stuff, when you told your dad that for a Bard, everyone in
the world, is one of their children.  Thing is, for the three of us,
there's something more."

"More?"

"Yes.  There's a special name for tools that are under the direct
control of the Zeitgeist.  You and I, and probably Lib, are Avatars,
Ted.  That means every living thing on Earth, is one of our children.
*That* is the big picture we're expected to keep in mind."

"That's it?!"

"Yes."

"Gotta be a catch, if it sounds that easy."

"Couple of them, that I know of.  We're not allowed to act on the
petty stuff that we know about, unless it's a normal part of being a
Bard.  Mostly, we'll be so busy with our real jobs, that stuff will be
things we deal with casually, as part of the main job."

"You've managed to avoid telling me what the main job is."

"Tom and the grrls are special, so folks don't see them as real
people.  That's why we got tapped, Ted.  We're a bunch of kids, and
we're growing up, and into our adult lives, as fully Terran power
handlers.  With the Rabelaisians here full time, it's time for the
power handlers of the world to come out of the closet, so we can show
everyone we're people, just like they are."

He stared at me, then shook his head slightly, before he looked
around.  After he got back to me, he sighed.  "That's it?  We're first
out of the closet, and all we have to do is be ourselves?"

"Yep.  Circumstances make us special, of course, because somebody has
to be first, but other than that...  We can be as normal as possible,
all things considered."

"So we gotta be special, so everyone else can be ordinary?"

"Exactly."

"Awesome.  That just made all this other shit mean something to me, so
I can live with it."

He seemed to remember he wasn't completly naked yet, so he finished
stripping, lay down, then invited me over so we could wrap each other
up.

"Thanks, Marie.  That makes it a lot easier for me to deal with what
I'm going to tell you."

"I'm listening."

"Thanks.  I guess it's obvious that people in my family have always
been musicians, singers, or both.  Julie and I grew up with that, and
while most of the women and girls sing and dance, few of them get
serious about playing anything other than tambourines and stuff.  Just
the way it is, and as far as I know, nobody thought about questioning
how come it was always like that.

"It was the same way for the guys, and I was normal about it, so I
learned to sing by the time I could walk, I guess.  Dad gave me a toy
banjo, but all I ever did was pick at it and beat on it.  Instead, I
was fascinated by my uncle Nathan, and how he could do so much with
his mouth organ.  He gave me one of those real small toy ones, and I
drove everyone crazy with it, I guess.  Finally, uncle Nathan gave me
a bigger one, showed me a few things, and I learned how to do more
than inprovise stuff on it.

"I don't remember how old I was when 'it' started, but I must have
been pretty young, because it was on my ninth birthday that he made a
ceremony out of giving me that old mouth organ."

He went silent for awhile, so I waited until I was sure he wasn't
coming back soon before I nudged him.  "Ted?  Made it real special?"

"Yeah.  Wasn't really much, now that I look back.  It was pretty
simple.  'Theodore, When this was given to me, I was told I'd know
when I met the next person who should use it.  Someday, you'll get to
pass it on.  Don't worry about it right now.  Be a long time before
you decide to give it away.'  Then he sorta smiled weird.  'It's a
special one, and it will help you play a lot better.'

Ted laughed softly.  "It did help me play better, but it was because I
got even more serious, and practiced more, so my uncle would be proud
of me."

"Sounds like your uncle was a pretty smart man."

"Yeah.  He was impressive, too, because while my dad just stood there
and played, mostly, uncle Nathan was obviously enjoying himself, and
he expected us to help him out, by having fun, too.  He'd dance jigs,
and move around and get in funny positions sometimes and just keep
playing.  Once in awhile he'd twirl his harmonica in the middle of a
song, and never miss a note.  He was a showman, Marie, and he used to
let any of us kids join him, no matter how good or bad we were.

"It wasn't until we moved here and I had net access, that I found out
he'd toured as a pro when he was young.  I was searching for something
to do with mouth organs when I stumbled on a picture of him holding up
*my* harmonica.  The article mentioned how it had been in the family
for generations, and was always passed on to someone who could play it
the way it was meant to be played, and that someday, he'd know when it
was right to give it to someone in the next generation."

He sighed.  "Marie, I wasn't any better than a lot of kids.  Worse
than quite a few, since I'm being honest about it.  Yet, he picked me,
and now...

"Here I am."

He rolled away and dug in his pants.  When he rolled back, he was
holding both of his mouth organs.  He put them together and studied
them for a long time.  "You know, they really don't look all that
different."

He played a few notes on his old one, and nothing happened.  He
swapped, played tha same notes on the new one and I shivered.  "My
God!  Can't you feel the difference?"

"Huh?  No....  Are you ok?"

"I'm *fine*.  Too fine.  I don't get it, Ted.  Neither of those is the
original.  Both of them are back home, in your pocket.  Yet...  Same
notes, same feelings, I assume, and...  Remember that stuff you talked
about, when you were picking your guitar?"

"Yes."

"Good.  It's like that mouth organ is part of your soul, somehow...
Oh.  Sure.  Duh.  Phil has been letting you play it once in awhile,
right?"

"Yeah.  I don't do it very often."

"Probably a damn good thing.  Do you remember if you were the first
one to play it?"

"Oh, yeah.  Definitely.  I had to play my heart out on mine, before
Phil let me handle it."

"We need to consult with Vix after we get back, because I have this
crazy idea that somehow, you imprinted that thing.  Stuff can absorb
impressions of things that happen around them.  Unfortunately, I
haven't learned how to read all of them, yet."

He looked at me, then at the mouth organs.  "So you're saying that the
only person who would be able to get people to really feel things with
my old one, would be whoever it was that first used it?"

"I'm not sure, Ted.  Maybe if your feelings were the same as theirs
were, it would come close.  After all, you did make me and Lib zone
with it."

He winced.  "And that entire block and all the animals in the area.
So...  Somehow it's keyed to love?"

"I know it sounds stupid.  Umm...  I can't see any lines of power, so,
if you're willing, I'd like to try an experiment."

"I gotta know."

"Ok.  Use the old one to tell me how upset you were."

"Are you sure?  You were pretty messed up while I was using the
guitar."

"We gotta know, Ted.  Just do a few notes, like an opening."

He did, and then he waited.

I thought about it.  "I could feel something, but it was...  Not
vague, just enough that I could tell the real stuff was worse."

"Ok.  Now, you want me to use the new one?"

"Shit, Ted.  Let's think about this before we get in too deep.  We
already know you can turn on every female who can hear you play it. If
you can make me feel the way you felt, with just as much intensity..."

I shuddered.  "No.  Forget it.  Unless you want to make love to us,
don't even think about playing it while we're here.  We need Vix, Kay,
and maybe the whole crew, to set up some very heavy shields so you can
be isolated, and then the rest of us can sort of listen and feel while
the shields are slowly reduced."

He looked at me, and finally nodded before he put it back in its case
and handed it to me.  "Seal it somehow.  Make it so I can't get it
open unless you're there, because I know I'm going to want to play it,
eventually."

"Ted?  It's not the real one.  If I were to destroy it, the original
is still going to be ok when we go back."

"Are you that afraid of it?"

"I'm not afraid of it, Ted.  I'm terrified of what might happen when
you play it around me.  You'd have absolute control of my emotions,
and there'd be nothing I could do.  We've already proved you can play
it and I won't remember what we did.  Once is luck.  Let's not push,
ok?"

"And I'd be able to do the same thing to Lib, again.  Will you let me
link, so I can see how you do it?"

"Sure.  It's gonna hurt, emotionally."

"Better that, than using it to really fuck us up, right?"

"Your point."

I studied it before I sighed.  "Touch my forehead.  That way, if it
gets too painful, you can break the link."

He made the link, and I took the time to figure out what I wanted to
do.  "Ted?  You be ok if I make it into something else?  I was
thinking of making one of those split lover's medailions, so we'd have
a reminder that we don't always jump into things and totally fuck it
up for us."

"Would we be able to take it back with us?"

"Not directly.  We could leave it somewhere, then go get it in linear
time."

He laughed.  "So Lib could bury it somewhere, then place slide, dig it
up, and bring it to us?"

"Yeah.  That should work."

"Make it three pieces, instead of two."

"Romantic."

"Country boy,  Can't be anything else."

"Damn, Ted.  You scored again."

"We keeping count?"

"Never."

"Good.  Do it."

"Umm...  Hold it, Ted.  I'm having second thoughts."

"Oh?"

"Yes.  Definitely.  Check me on this.  If we're manifested energy, the
stuff we have with us, like our clothing, and your harmonica, must be
manifested energy, too."

"I guess that's true."

"Let's assume it is, and see if I'm thinking, for a change, or being
paranoid.  Excalibur is manifested energy."

"Definitely."

"Ok.  When Kay changed it to the Medallion of Truth, she changed how
Excalibur looked, but it was still able to do what it was designed
for."

"Yeah...  Oh.  Destroy that thing, Marie, then we'll bury the remains
or something...  Can you change it back to raw energy?"

"I'll have to do it a little bit at a time.  I'm not good enough to
handle the power released if I tried to do it all at once."

"What about Lib?"

"Have to ask her when she gets back."

"Can you shield it so nothing I can do would make it do...  Whatever?"

"Yeah.  Good thought.  Ok...  One lump, coming up."

When I was done, I had a small object in my hand, that looked like the
stuff you get out of a fireplace.  I shielded it, then handed it to
Ted.  "I'm not being nuts.  Just blow at it and think about making
love to me."

He did, and I felt something that was a lot less than with his usual
harmonica, so I figured I'd done it right.  "Ok.  Somehing was there,
but it was a lot less than what you did to me that first evening, so
I'm pretty sure we don't have to worry."

He surprised me by glaring at it, then he laughed.  "Sorry.  I
couldn't focus enough to do anything serious.  No way I can 'make
love' to a...  Klinker."

"Klnker?"

"Yeah.  Reminds me of the lumped together ashes I'd get out of the
wood stove we used for heat during the winter."

I stared, then laughed with him.  "Crazy.  We think alike.  That's
what it reminded me of, too, but it's what we get from the fireplace,
not a stove.  I couldn't remember the right word for it."

He handed it back.  "Ok.  Put it away, I guess."

I started to reach for my purse, when I realized I didn't have one.
Instead I set it on my clothing and went back to studyng Ted.  "This
is...  Odd.  Do you realize we've made love to each other, and given
each other baths and stuff, but we haven't been naked together and
just taken the time to take each other in?"

"We...  You're right.  Hey!  You know how to swim?"

"Sure."

He looked around, then pointed sort of northeast.  "We go that way a
few miles, there might be a creek with a couple of deep spots.  Feel
like skinny dipping with me?"

"And since we're both naked, we can take turns lagging so we can check
each other out?"

"Busted."

"All for it.  We don't need clothes, so let's leave it all here,
except for your old harmonica and the guitar.  Don't worry.  I'll put
a shield around it all, so critters won't be able to do anything with
it."

"What about Lib?"

"Silly.  She has a nose that works fine, and I guarantee she knows
what we smell like, by now."

I waited until he was nice and red all over, then I grinned.  "Nice
blush.  Can you make it redder?"

It got a real dark red, then he laughed.  "For my wife, yes."

It was my turn to blush.

We eventually recovered, and I was thinking about getting up, when I
realized I was...  Damn horny, but not ready to get fucked.  "Ted?
Just lie there, and...  Let me see if I can make up for those
handjobs."

His dick twitched, so I knew he was interested.  "Yeah?  Sounds like
you have something in mind?"

"Of course.  Let's see if I can be impulsive, and smart at the same
time."

"You're ducking."

I worked my way over until I could get my face near his crotch, then I
inhaled through my nose.  "Yep.  You're Ted.  Easier to tell, when I'm
a mare, during a head hug, ya know?  Anyway, if you think that was
ducking, it was only until I could do..."

I swallowed his dick.  {{This.  I don't think I'm real good at this.
but I bet it won't matter, if I can do this the way I want to...}}

I created a sort of liner in my mouth, that was made of power, then I
linked it to my head and started doing all the usual blowjob stuff.

He arched into my mouth.  "Jeezus, Marie!"

{{Got it right!  Good!}}

"Ahhhh....  You ever do this with another guy, right now, I'm going to
be *seriously* jealous, and *pissed*!"

{{I can't.  No other guys around, Just Lib, so relax and enjoy.}}

"We'll talk about it later...  Yeah!  Go!  Go!"

I guess it was the relief that we were still a couple, that helped us
relax into me sucking him off.

I wanted to make sure he knew I was sorry for being so stupid, too,
and...  For me, anyway, I knew there wasn't an audience, so I could
really be myself for Ted, finally.

Anyway, I was having so much fun I missed the signs, and wound up with
his semen choking me, spurting from my nose, and dripping from my
mouth.

After he finished, I came off and grinned at him.  "Fun, huh?"

He grinned back.  "Must have been that stuff you did with power.  I've
had some good ones, but that one...  It was the best.  Hey, wish we
had a camera.  You look like one of those sluts in the pictures a lot
of guys jack off to."

"Thanks.  Nice, to let go.  I'll be your slut, from now on, ok?"

"You are absolutely crazy, Marie."

"Yep!  First time I've been in love, horny as a mink, and with a guy
who I can be myself with."

 I licked my lips and got what I could, then deliberately used my hand
to spread the rest of his semen all over my face.  "I've always wanted
to find out if semen is a good skin conditioner."

He shook his head.  "Be like a mud pack, once it dries."

"Hey, maybe it will work as an insect repellent, until I wash it off
in that stream."

"Yep.  You're crazy.  So am I, because I want to return the favor
somehow.  Get up here and sit on my face, ok?"

I giggled.  "You going to try and add some power to your tongue so you
can get real deep?"

"Not this time.  I was figuring I could try turning one of my fingers
into a long dildo, so I could move it around and...  Ummph!"

He had to shut up, because I 'd moved so I was over his face, then
lowered myself until he'd had to reach and stop me.

"No talking.  Do it...   AHHHH!!!"

When I recovered from the jolt of pleasure, I fought for breath and
managed to gasp out my question.  "What are you *doing*?!"

He shoved at me to get me off his face, I guess.  "Power gloves.
Didn't know if I could do it.  Sort of made my sexual energy go from
my dick and balls until it surrounded my hands and fingers like
gloves.  Like it?"

He moved his hands over me and I shivered from the sensations.
"Yeah...  I like it.  A LOT!"

"Good!  This is payback for those handjobs those guys got..."

He brushed his thumb over my clit real light, but it didn't matter,
because the power went through it and I felt like he'd managed to
trigger every good feeling at once...

And before I could say anything about it, I orgasmed, and kept
orgasming, and kept orgasming and...

For the first time in my life, I passed out, in the middle of an
orgasm.

* * *

I woke up to the sensations of a long tongue washing my face. "Umm...
Didn't Ted tell you I wanted to leave that stuff there until I could
wash it off?"

"He did.  I can tell you one thing, though, it's not an insect
repellent.  More like an attractant.  He's been busy keeping the flies
away while you were asleep, and wanted a break."

"Ohhh...  I wasn't sleeping.  I passed out in the middle of a lot of
multiples.  Happened so fast I never thought about trying to count
them.  You done, yet?"

"Guess so.  I cheated and went human so I could make a carry sack and
clean what I caught, before I went bitch and brought it back.  Ted
built a fire circle for us, then I lit the fire.  He's keeping an eye
on the food until I can go back."

I stretched, then opened my eyes after her aura moved away.  When I
found Ted, he was watching me and grinning.  "We're even."

"Umm...  If you say so.  Don't do that in linear time, unless I don't
have to do anything right away.  How long have I been out?"

"Hours, I guess.  Sun's almost down."

"Oh.  Hey, Lib?  How about a shield to keep us warm?  I'm still pretty
hazy, and I know I can't focus."

She sneezed at me.  "I'm busy.  Have Ted help you over so you can
settle next to the fire and do something without power, for a change."

"Evil woman."

"Yep.  Been busy, too.  Went  linear and talked to Chrys.  She's going
to take Mark and Julie nonlinear until they're full journeymen."

That was news I'd been sort of expecting, but the surprise didn't do
more than  get me to reach languidly for Ted's hand when he held it
out.  "Fine.  Worry about the details later.  A LOT later.  Help me up
so I can stagger over and watch Lib do something useful."

She sneezed again.  "I see you haven't forgotten how to be sarcastic.
Was starting to wonder if you were a changed woman, after Ted worked
you over."

I leaned on Ted, and after he eased me down, I watched the fire for
awhile.  "Gods, Lib.  I think he tried to kill me."

"Yeah?  He said what he'd done, sorta.  I think he was holding back.
Said something about power gloves, and petting you."

"Petting.  Heavy petting.  He stroked my clit with power, and  I
*think* he used a finger to fuck me and do the same thing to my
g-spot.  I started orgasming, and they kept hitting me until I passed
out in the middle of a big one.  Ted's going to have to tell us what
happened between then, and you getting back."

"You didn't pass out.  You zoned, I guess."

"Sure felt like I passed out."

"Well, you had multiples, but you kept begging me to keep going, so I
did, until you collapsed on me and I had to shove you off my face. You
were...  Demanding, and got upset when I told you I was to tired to
keep going with my hands."

"Then?"

"You had me lie on my back, you got on my dick, and...  Rode me until
*I* passed out, before you did.  I came out of it just before Lib got
back.  She looked at you, laughed, and told me to let you sleep it
off."

"I think you left something out."

"Couple things.  I *couldn't* get soft, because you did something with
power that kept me hard after I orgasmed.  You also did something to
yourself, so it was like you did during the blowjob.  I *think* you
did something to me so there was power wrapped round my dick, but I
was too far gone to notice, or care, after my first orgasm."

I sighed.  "Oh, great.  I figure how to do all that, and I can't
remember any of it."

Lib sneezed at us.  "You know you can do it, so now it's practice, Big
Sister."

"Thank you, very much.  I suppose you want him to do it to you,
someday?"

"No.  I think I'll remember it's possible, then have my first life
mate do it to me.  Sounds pretty special, and in case you haven't
noticed, You and Ted aren't linked, your fields are merged, just like
Tom and his grrls."

Her matter of fact observation got me to focus on her, instead of keep
savoring my afterglow.  "That sounded a little too casual, for you to
be the sister I've grown up with.  How long were you non linear?"

"Couldn't tell you, because we didn't keep track.  Call it at least
thirty years, and probably a lot more.  It was enough time for them to
give me all of it, and enough time for me to earn a Master's ranking."

"Got it.  I wonder if her 'unreasonable reasons' was a hint that this
would happen?"

"I don't think so.  I just think it was more of her admitting that on
Earth, we have to bow to some of the perceptions, and let's face it,
we're all precocious and it will be awhile before we have the maturity
that should go with what we know how to do.

"I'm not leaving you out, Ted.  You already know how to do stuff it
took us years to learn how to do, and you're coming up with ideas we
never thought of."

He stared into the fire before he spoke.  "Yeah, ok, I guess.  Thanks
for being polite with that 'we'."

"I wasn't being polite.  We kept ourselves isolated most of the time.
Plus, I still have to suffer through all the social and physical stuff
while my body grows up in linear time."

She sat, then spent some time staring at the fire.  "All that
knowledge in my head, and the only time I can use it without asking
someone to turn me on, is in non linear time.  I'm going to be real
happy, when I won't need to beg, to be myself back in linear time."

"Beg?"

"Sorry.  That's the bitch talking.  All those years, and nothing we
did ever let me see the controls that I know are there, somewhere."

"Sucks, Lib."

"Yeah.  I know.  You folks ready to eat?  Rabbit's done cooking. Serve
yourself."

I giggled.  "Now, I know you're my sister.  You're being lazy."

"True, but you have to admit I'm not built right, to be a hostess most
folks would feel comfortable with as a server."

"We're not most folks.  C'mon, Ted.  Lib's head is pretty fucked up,
so let's give her time to figure out who she is and what she wants to
do about it."

We grabbed some of the food, and once we resettled to eat, Lib studied
me.  "Marie?"

I swallowed, then nodded.  "Yes, Liberty Anne?"

"Mind telling me how you did that?"

"Did what?"

"Put your finger my problem.  I have enough life experieince to be our
grand mother, and you just made me feel like you were my mother."

I touched the side of my head.  "Something in here, I guess.
Definitely a mix, in your case.  We've been sharing things since we
were kids, so that was most of it.  Then there's the fact I've been
watching you all the time, while you were an unoficial apprentice.  I
got to know you pretty good because I had to be able to read you so
I'd know when to do stuff.  Some more of it was from being around
Chrys when she's in a similar mood, because she does, sometimes, miss
being around other morphs.  The rest of it was from being a Bard at
the Mall.  All those kids and adults I've been asked to help in some
way.  I got a pretty good handle on how body language can tell what a
person is thinking and feeling."

"Oh, yeah.  Makes sense, now.  Chrys warned me about something, too,
and now, even though I knew it had to happen, it pisses me off."

"Yeah?"

"Same problem you guys, and Mark and Julie are going to have when this
is over.  Worse for me, because I didn't share it with a mate."

"What's that?"

"We did some social stuff, of course, but I finished growing up in a
culture different than the one I should have.  We go back to being
linear, I know way too much, and it's the wrong stuff to help me fit
in with my friends and just be...  A teenager trying to figure out who
she is, and all that stuff."

I thought about it, then shook my head slightly.  "Maybe not."

"Oh?"

"Sure.  Tom and the grrls are so old they lost track, right?"

"Millions of years in non linear time.  Yeah.  So what?"

"So all that experience should make it almost impossible for them to
function, or they'd be real obvious, if they'd lived those years in
linear time.  Sure, get Tom in one of his moods, and you can see it in
his eyes, but he has to be really, really in his past for that to
happen.  Not saying you look like that, but before you fuck your head
up more, try thinking about it like you read a long series of novels,
or whatever.  You do that all the time, and that hasn't really done
more than make you a romantic at heart, right?"

"You think this will be like that?  All that stuff I experienced won't
get in the way of going back to being who I was, before?  Right now, I
feel like trying to get along with all my friends will be like some
sort of weird pedo."

"Don't know, Little Sister.  Only thing I know for sure, is that I
hope you meet your life mate or someone you can get close to in linear
time, real soon."

"We agree on that."

"Uh huh.  One more ting."

"Yeah?"

"Learn from my fuck up.  As soon as you guys know you're life mates,
and you're turned on, both of you go non linear and don't come back
until you both feel you're ready to.  Be best if you stay long enough
that your mental maturity is the same, so you feel like you're with
your equal, and he doesn't feel like he just married an older woman
he'll never be able to match, for experience."

"I get it.  Never thought about how he'd feel, when he finds out I
sorta grew up in my head, before my body did.  Thanks."

"Welcome."

She dipped her head, then created a dog comb.  She looked at it for a
long time, then focused on Ted.  "You up to working all the junk out
of my hair?"

He flinched, then looked at me worriedly, so I smiled and nodded. "She
needs a man's touch, and she needs it now."

"Yeah, I can see that much."

He focused on Lib.  "I've seen my sister like this, Lib.  You want me
to wrap you in a hug like I'll never let go, once we agree I'm done
grooming you?"

She picked up the comb, then walked over and offered it to him.

He took it, looked at it, then at her.  "That's a yes, and you want to
be a real bitch for awhile?"

She nodded her head, then moved so he could start combing her.

He started combing her, and she braced, then closed her eyes and
started the rumbling groan that let us know she was enjoying the
experience.

I finished eating, then, after I wiped my hands with some grass, I
resettled so I could stare at the embers of our fire and let the
drifting sparks take my thoughts wherever they decided to go.

* * *

Movement brought me out of my contemplation, and when I looked, I
realized they'd shifted so Ted could hug Liberty while they were lying
down.

They were facing each other, and...  

Oh.  No wonder she was moody.  She was going into an early heat.

I thought about it some more, sighed, and did something I hadn't done
in over a year.

I went dog and became an Irish Setter bitch, then sneezed.  "Hey,
Guys?"

Ted spoke without looking. "Yeah?"

"I bet some of that stuff Lib is supposed to pass on, involves
teaching you how to shape shift, right, Lib?"

"Sort of.  He's supposed to learn before we go back.  Doesn't matter
who teaches him."

"Good."

"That was pretty damn smug sounding, but there was something else in
it."

"Yeah, Lib.  You might say that.  Your head's fucked up, because
you're going into heat early.  Sound familiar?"

"Damn."

"Uh huh.  I wanted to do it, but that's stupid right now, because Ted
has a better rapport with you, than he does me.  I can't see any point
in fucking with that, so...  Do us all a favor, and start working with
him on learning how to shape shift.  Probably be best if you start him
out as a dog, since you're here to act like a pattern for him."

"What about you?"

"Your nose quit working?"

"What's that have to do...  You've gone bitch!  That's not good, Big
Sister."

Ted shifted so he could look at me.  "You're...  I thought Monique was
beautiful, but now...  God, Marie.  You umm..."

"Yeah, I know.  I'm sexy, but at least I'm not in heat, yet.  Should
be a long time, because I seldom go bitch.  At least a few months, so
I have some control back."

"So what's not good about it?"

Lib touched his cheek with her nose.  "You going to be ok with her
just telling us to work on your shape shifting?"

"Huh?  Maybe.  I thought it was going to be her, because she said
she'd work with me, but...  Yeah, Lib.  We trust each other, but...
I'm still too close, and I don't know how I'd handle it, if we had
some sort of disagreement.  Be easier to take critcism from you,
because I'm not as in love with you, and you haven't hurt me, yet.
Plus there's the apprentice stuff, and I know she has to make that
sort of decision sometimes.  So, it hurts, but I'm pretty sure it's
right."

"Ok.  Marie's pretty laid back, and it's not all because she's a
Bard."

"So?"

Lib sighed.  "When she goes bitch, it's because she needs to really
get some distance from something that's been tearing her up inside.
Usually, she's...  Dumping the responsibilities for awhile."

"Yeah?  Some symbolic stuff?"

"Umm...  Let me put it this way.  Her name now, is Atlanta.  Means 'a
huntress'.  I guess the best way to put it, is that she needs to go
kill something, real bad, and silly stuff like what happens in video
games won't cut it, ya know?"

He studied me, and I nodded.  "Yep.  You'll understand it better, once
you've learned how to become some sort of predator.  Ain't no such
thing as morals, ethics, or right and wrong, once I decide to go after
something.  You needed to see me like this someday, Love, because you
need to know that somewhere inside me, lives a killer, and when the
stress is bad enough, it...  Needs to get out and kill something."

I turned away, then looked back at them.  "I'll go get us something
for breakfast."

I heard Lib's voice.  "Like I said, when she's a bitch, it's not good
news."

* * *

After I'd run a couple miles, just to stretch the kinks out, I got
serious, and let myself go pure bitch, with an attitude.  I was
sensible about it, and shielded myself so I wouldn't get hurt, but
that was it.

As far as I was concerned, the next living thing I saw that was bigger
than a mouse, was going to die, if it wasn't a porcupine or a skunk.

As it turned out, it was a ground squirrel I caught away from its
burrow.

It was a quick kill, and I savored it before I left it on the ground
for the scavengers.

It felt good, to be a successful huntress!

Now that the edge of my attitude had been blunted, I decided to just
run and explore my new territory.

It was near dawn when I realized something was hunting me and waiting
for me to enter their ambush, so I slowed my headlong rush, and took
the time to find out what I'd run into.

It was a pack of dogs, and their thoughts told me they'd turned feral
after something had killed the humans they'd lived with.

To them, anything they found in their territory, was food, and I was
in their hunting range.  Worse, so were Ted and Lib.

And I...  I was a huntress.  I was also protecting my pack.  The
decision to attack, and kill, was an easy one.

The battle was a glorious one, and after the few survivors limped
away, I pissed next to one of the bodies, then, filled with pride, I
ambled off in search of something I could kill and take back to my
pack mates for breakfast.

A few miles later I surprised a family group of rabbits, and managed
to kill one of them.

I grabbed it, then, head high, I ran back to my pack.

* * *

Lib spotted me first, and watched me until I dropped the dead rabbit
in front of her.  "Breakfast."

She sneezed.  "So I see.  You're covered in blood.  What happened?"

"Ran into a pack of feral dogs.  Since they figured anything that
lived in their range was food, it was worth my time to convince them
they needed to move somewhere else."

She sighed.  "How many did you kill?"

"No idea, and some who managed to get away will probably die from
their wounds.  I had more important things to do, than track them all
down and do some mercy kills.  For one thing, I was late getting back
with breakfast."

She looked at Ted.  "Get used to it, because once *you* learn how to
let go, you'll be the same way."

"Scary, Liberty."

"Yeah.  Pretty extreme for Marie, but I've been there, so I know that
when it's over, it's over, and a person can live with it."

Then she pointed with her nose.  "Stream's about a mile that way.  You
need a bath.  Ted and I will take our time, and bring all our stuff."

"Got it.  I should be down from the high, by the time you guys show
up."

I turned and trotted in the indicated direction.

* * *

I was still splashing and enjoying my bath when they showed up.

Lib laughed.  "Looks like she's feeling better.  You up to joining her
and working the rest of the blood out of her fur?"

She bent her head until her nose was almost on the ground, then she
sneezed.  "So I like to play, too.  Here's a bottle of biodegrradable
dog shampoo."

By then I was settled on my haunches and watching them.

Ted finally picked it up and looked at it, then sighed.  "Someday, I'm
going to be as casual about being around the two of you.  But, right
now..."

He sighed again and looked at me thoughtfully, and there was something
in his eyes...

That said he'd learned something about himself and it bothered him.

I tilted my head slightly.  "Ted?  Think of it like...  Hell.  I don't
know.  I'm still me, no matter what I look and feel like.  Just try to
remember that all of my alternate bodies are still virgins, and...
Hey, guy!  You got a harem, for variety.  

I sobered suddenly.  "You got more experience than I do, too.  Be
gentle, huh?"

He sighed and joined me in the water.  "Marie?"

"Yeah?"

"Lib became a mare, and helped me become a stallion."

"So?  You figuring out that shape doesn't matter?"

"She said it was ok."

I nudged his hand with my nose.  "Put some of that on my back, then
work it in.  Quit talking, and do.  Sometimes our heads need time to
catch up with our emotions, and we need to...  Focus on something else
while it happens."

"Umm...  Ok.You be ok if I zone?"

"Ted?  You're my human, right now, and you're going to give me a bath,
and tell me with your hands, how much you care for me.  Zoning is
normal, right?"

He suddenly laughed.  "Yeah.  You're right.  Used to happen all the
time, back home."

He worked the soap in, then, lIke I figured he would, he must have
lost himself in the experience as much as I did, because all of a
sudden I was clean, and he was standing there watching me...  And
smiling a little oddly.  "You ok?"

"Umm...  Yeah.  I'm back, now.  Let me wade back to shore, then I'll
shake before..."

"Before what?"

"Can I get you to comb and brush me before I switch to something else?
I could dry myself, but I'm feeling lazy..."

He looked at me for a long time, then he nodded.  "I don't know which
of you is worse when it comes to wanting attention..."

Then he laughed.  "Relax, Love.  Lib taught me how to make a slicker
brush, and a mat cutter for the tangles.  I was hoping you'd ask."

I stared at him, then glared at Lib.  "Somebody knows me too well."

"Yep!  Almost as well as you know me!"

I sneezed at them both, then got out of the water and stood so I
wouldn't get Ted wet when I shook myself.  

Lib was slower than usual, because I'd started shaking when she
suddenly realized she was going to get soaked.  "Hey!!  Don't..."

I turned my head and tilted it slightly.  "You were going to say
something?"

"Nothing.  You shouldn't have wasted time bracing yourself, though.  I
had time to set up a shield."

"Aren't you supposed to be reheating my breakfast or something?"

"It will be ready when you are."

She turned, stepped, and screamed at me when her feet sank until her
chest was in the mud puddle I'd created behind her.  "How dare you?!"

"Easily."

She grumbled a bit, then ran past us and jumped into the water so she
could rinse herself off.

She paddled around a bit, then came back to the shore and carefully
shook herself before she sighed.  "I thought *I* was supposed to be
the sneak."

I flopped on the blanket I'd created, then rolled to my back and
closed my eyes.  "She can wait her turn.  She may be a sneak, but *I*
am supposed to be a Bard.  She knows it, so she has no excuse for not
paying attention, right, Lib?"

"Umm...  Big Sis?"

"Yeah."

"Can we declare a truce for awhile?"

I sighed.  "Sure.  Hi.  I'm Marie, and I'll be graduating at the end
of next semester.    Sorry, about that puddle.  I didn't think you'd
step into it like that."

She came over and settled on her haunches to watch us.  "Hi, Marie.
I'm Liberty Anne.  Lib, or Libby to my friends.  I guess you know that
I've had a lot of things happen to me recently, and I'm still
internalizing them.  Vix can really get intense, can't she?"

"Intense?  She was never that way with me.  Sure, she can focus on
stuff, but   I never felt like she was intense about it.  That's if
you mean 'intense', like she was applying some pressure."

"Pressure?  Yeah.  Enough of it that Kay had to get in her face and
tell her that we had all the time we needed, so she should try to back
off and relax."

"Shit."

"Yeah?  You see something I can't?"

I opened my eyes and watched Ted, then I sighed.  "Sorry, Ted.  Once
you decide you're done grooming me, I'll go back to being myself, and
then I'm going to forget all the power stuff and just be your new
girlfriend and all that, until you're ready to think about learning
more, ok?"

He worked the comb through a tangle, then he nodded slightly.  "I
guess you want me to get in your face when you forget?"

"Both of you, please."

"I'll try."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome.  

Lib sneezed at me.  "You're fast, Sis.  I should have seen that we
were still pushing when we don't need to."

I opened an eye and studied her.  "You can quit worrying about not
fitting in when you go back and stay linear.  Or, did you already?"

"Nahh...  I went back, fast talked Vix into going non linear so we
could talk, then, as soon as we had, I came back."

"Well, at least I'll know what to expect."

"Marie?  That was so damn Bardic, I felt like I was hearing Vix."

"Sorry.  You have all those years, and you're mentally a Master,
right?"

"Restating the obvious."

"Yeah, I know.  Well, I think if you'd picked up that knowledge the
way I have, in linear time, you *would* have figured out that we're
still pushing and thinking in linear terms.  That you didn't, tells me
that you have book learning, mostly, and you'll need a lot of time to
internalize it so it's there for you, the way it is for me.  Now that
you've done it, and I've seen the results, I'm hoping Ted and I can
keep that in mind after we go back to being linear, and we need to
internalize all this."

She thought about it a long time, then sighed.  "Book learning.  Well,
at least I'm going to have lots of company when I screw up, because
you guys are all going to be just as bad, right?"

"Probably.  
======

Author's afterword: There was more to this one but it was lost because
the archive I'm working from wasn't current when I retired.

Sorry, neighbors.  :(
---
End: Marie's Solstice 05/14 Marie Part Three (new, unfinished)

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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