Reuben Cabot: 4/13/97, Part II
Dog wasn't there. My world came crashing down around me.
Dog had been my familiar, but more than that, my companion, for the past year and a half. In that time, he had been my solace in grief, my comrade in joy, and my partner in love, or something very like it. Now, I was faced with his likeness, but it wasn't him. Rather, it was a mockery.
I could feel now that his presence in my mind, which I had grown used to, even depended on, was gone. I felt abandoned, and very, very alone. I knelt beside him by the fireplace and said, "Dog, please talk to me. Please." I could feel the tears running down my face. I didn't care. The one being in this, and many other, worlds that had cared for me was gone.
Renee crouched beside me and patted me on the back. "What is it, Reuben? What's wrong?"
"Dog's gone," I sobbed. Behind us, I heard some sort of conversation going on, but I was oblivious to everything except Dog, now stretched out on the carpet and sleeping quietly.
"Gone? What do you mean? He's right here."
"That's his shell. It's not him. He just isn't there."
Renee looked puzzled for a minute, then looked back to me. "What happened to him?"
A voice called from over my shoulder, "He's been doing far too well." I ignored it.
Renee stood up and went over to talk tot he others, who seemed to be conversing with an old man. I didn't care. I kept reaching out to Dog with my mind, as one would push repeatedly at a sore tooth. I never got any response.
After a time, the others started to leave the room. For the first time, Dog stirred, and he got up to follow them out. I followed Dog, hoping against hope that he would suddenly recover and all of this would be a grand joke. I didn't believe that, though.
We entered a theater of some sort. Even though we had all walked in the same door, Renee, Cab, Dog, and I walked out the door into the theater audience, and Eric, Kevin, Walk All Paths, and Kasee walked out onto the stage. Dog lay down at Renee's feet, and I sat down next to him, continuing to stroke his back and trying to reach out to him. Those on stage were doing something, but I didn't care - all of my attention was on Dog.
When they stopped talking on stage, they came down into the audience and everyone walked to the back of the auditorium. Kevin opened the doors there and everyone walked out, Dog following, and me following Dog.
As Dog crossed the threshold, he immediately shifted to human form, the tall black man that I have come to know so well - without a stitch of clothing. I ran forward and hugged him, and he hugged me back. He looked confused.
"Dog, what is it? Where were you?"
He looked perturbed. He said in a low voice into my ear, "I can't shift."
I whispered back, "Don't worry. You're here. That's all that matters." I gave him a final hug and stepped back. The rest of the group was studiously looking elsewhere. Cab made a small "ahem" sound and pointed to her clothes.
"Oh! Sorry about that, guys. Renee, can you whip up some pants or something for Dog?"
Renee concentrated for a moment, then appeared surprised when a pair of Levi's appeared in her hands. "That was easy!"
Dog put on the pants and we took a closer look around us. We were in, for lack of a better term, the Garden of Eden. Lush forests surrounded us, though there was no sign of any other life. We walked to a small clearing, and Kevin said, "This would be a good place to make camp."
I confess, I wasn't much help. While everyone ran around gathering wood and clearing branches, Dog and I sat off to the side and talked quietly.
"What happened to you?" I asked
"It was the strangest thing. We were in that damned balloon, then we were jerked up, and suddenly - I was a dog. Not acting like a dog, or anything, I was a dog. I would have been frightened, or angry, or puzzled, but it didn't occur to me. I was just a dog."
He shivered, and I pulled him closer. He snuggled up to me.
I stroked his hair. "I've never been so scared in my life, you know."
He sat up a little and turned to me. "I won't always be here for you, you know."
I nodded. "I know. But if you must leave, at least say goodbye."
I wiped a tear from my eye and, to my surprise, he took my chin in his hand and kissed me. Then he kissed my cheek. Then he nibbled on my ear. I laughed and jumped on him. We rolled a bit, until I was lying on the ground, and he was on top, pinning me and grinning.
"Well, what should I do with you now?" he said with a leer.
"Um, Reuben, Dog?"
Renee was standing a few yards away, looking embarrassed. "I'm going to see if I can make up some dinner. Do you want any?"
Dog and I quickly stood up, nearly falling over one another. "Um, er, no thanks."
As she walked away, I turned to Dog. "Well, that certainly spoils the mood. Let's wander back over there."
We walked back to where the others were eating what looked like beef of some sort. I really wasn't hungry, so I sat down nearby, Dog lying in the grass next to me, and meditated. I was trying to get a feel for this place, and maybe find some quintessence. Less than five minutes had gone by when I suddenly sat up straight. I felt as if I had grabbed an electrical wire and was storing the energy within me. I had never held this much quintessence, and never had I obtained it so easily. It felt wonderful!
I jumped up, and Dog looked at me in surprise. "Aren't you the bouncy one, now."
"You don't know the half of it," I said with a grin. "Come on."
We walked over to where everyone was eating and said that Dog and I were going to look around the place a bit. Cab gave me a knowing look, but I ignored her.
We walked a ways off until we were hidden from the others by a clump of hydrangeas. I grabbed Dog's hand and he said, "Wha-" The rest of his words were muffled as I kissed him.
I looked at Dog sideways. *Hmmm. D'ya think…?*
Dog looked after the garou and the mage walking through the woods. *Naaaahh.*
We sat talking quietly for few hours. The quiet was broken by a cry from the woods where Cab and Walks All Paths had walked. I ran out to meet the two figures stumbling from the trees. Both were feeling blindly, as if they couldn't see, which didn't make sense in the perpetual half-light here. I looked at Cab's life pattern and realized that it was as if someone had gone in and rewired her brain. What a mess! It was no wonder that she couldn't see. I was amazed she could hear me. Dog and I lead the two back to camp and sat them down.
This seemed like a problem for someone who was more familiar with the mind than I was. I walked over to where the others were sleeping and gently shook Kevin awake. He opened her eyes and said, "Reuben? Are you there? I can't see you!"
Oh crap. I woke Renee, and she was similarly affected. The only thing I could think of was to try to put the patterns back where they should be. I reached out to Renee and tried to grasp her pattern, to shift the strands back to their rightful places. As I touched her pattern, I felt something almost like a virus enter me - a disturbance in my pattern which progressed through my hand, leaving the pattern behind it warped and twisted.
I could feel the virus traveling up my hand and into my arm. Thinking quickly, I did the only thing I could think of - burn it out. I grabbed some of my remaining quintessence, enough to burn the virus but not kill me, I hoped, and threw it down my arm.
The pain was more than intense, it encompassed everything I could see, hear, or know. I screamed as the power blew through my arm and arced out to the ground in a burst of fire.