Disclaimer: I own nothing that isn't mine.
AN: Sorry about the somewhat deleyed chapter. State testing is coming up next week for me, so don't expect a quick update. I might have a filler chapter ready though.
Petalwing- Hehe. So now I must tell everyone to notify me if their on vacation so I can't update if they are. :D
Eeyore- Eep! I'm glad you do. :3
Onix Mage- Lol. Cute? As in, the pairing or the chapter? Either way, thanks!
Dalamar Nightson- As much as I look forward to your reviews (no lie!), don't worry about it! A missing review isn't going to kill me... I think... Thanks, I'm glad you like the drawings!
Evenstar02- An idiot? Heh heh, Solunari takes after his father, Paladine, a.k.a. Fizban.. You can probably assume the rest. :P
Chapter four "The Toaster"
"Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind."
-Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man.
oOo
Dalamar was at a lost for words. He watched his master hug the gully dwarf with a sort of creepy… affection. This was too weird. Apparently, she wasn't an experiment. He looked at the bizarre object the creature had thrown at him. It had two slots on top and knob on the side. And a cool little springy thing that went down, then popped back up. The knob had two words on both sides of it. One read 'high' and the other read 'low'. Dalamar pinched himself. It wasn't a dream. He even went so far as to poke Raistlin to see if he was an illusion. The Archmage didn't take any noticed to his apprentice, he was too busy talking to Bupu. Dalamar backed away, feeling the oddest feeling (besides disgust for this strange pair). His spine was tingling for some reason and he felt alerted.
The dark elf glanced about without turning his head. Something was going on, but his couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then it hit him. Not… literally though. Dalamar knew he had recognize this sensation. It was magic… but a different kind. This was nothing compared to his Shalafi!
He closed his eyes and concentrated, blocking out the sounds of Raistlin and Bupu's chatter. Dense waves of power radiated around him. It was hard to focus on. The source of the magic was in this room, it was near…
It was floating right next to him.
Dalamar opened his eyes and found himself face to face with a fairy. It looked back at Dalamar with a surprised, but polite smile. A pink and purple wand flashed in his eyes.
Was that fairy a guy... in a dress? Oh gods, it-
He blinked. The Fairy was gone. The elf shook his head, dazed. He had seen something, but what?
"Dalamar!"
The dark elf turned quickly, dropping the rectangular- squarish- thing down. It landed on the thick carpet with a dull thud.
"Shalafi, I sense something strange-"
"This is a friend of mine. Her name is Bupu," Raistlin interrupted with a private smile that made Dalamar stop right in his tracks. It was the sort of smile that couldn't be missed and could roused a great deal of uneasy suspicion. "And Bupu, this is my apprentice-"
"Dalamar the Dark Elf," Bupu finished solemnly. The two mages looked at her, surprised. She shrugged, "I know name from pretty lady."
"Oh… uh, yes. Hello Bupu," Dalamar replied dutifully, then narrowed his eyes, "Wait. How did you get through the grove?"
"Man in black robe take me," she said, her own little eyes were narrowed, although it looked to Dalamar that she was squinting. There's a difference. Squinting looked retarded.
Dalamar glanced at Raistlin, who was nodding.
"I did not hear the bell-"
"No need to interrogate her, apprentice," the human mage hissed warningly, "She's a friend of mine." Raistlin's eyes seemed glazed over. Dalamar arched a brow. He bowed his head respectfully and stepped back.
"Forgive me, master," he said in oiled tones, "Might I suggest that you two talk privately somewhere else? My quarters are hardly satisfactory for such a joyous occasion."
Raistlin nodded, "Come, little one, we will talk in my study." Taking Bupu by the hand, the mage walked off with the happy gully dwarf in tow.
As soon as Raistlin was well out of sight, Dalamar peered around his room and quietly shut the door. He wrinkled his nose. Ugh, stupid gully dwarf. The elf edged towards the center of the room.
"Alright, I know you're here. Show yourself!"
Nothing happened.
Dalamar tried another tactic, "Did Par-Salian send you?"
Silence.
"Where are you?"
An overripe tomato could've made more noise.
"There's no use hiding."
Shhh… you can almost hear the vain about to burst from Dalamar's forehead…
The vain exploded. Theoretically speaking, otherwise there wouldn't be a Dalamar anymore.
"What did you do to Raistlin! Who is this gully dwarf? What's going to happen? WHAT the HELL is this? !" Dalamar kicked viciously at the white… box-thing. It rattled discontently at the mistreatment. "By Nuitari, tell me!"
"It's called a toaster," said a miserable little voice, "A kitchen appliance that is used for toasting by exposure to electrically heated wire coils." The voice paused. "You put your waffles in it," it added meekly.
Dalamar jumped three feet into the air. He twisted around, turning to where the voice was coming from. His bed was the ideal hiding spot. Dalamar tore open the covers and blankets. He lifted his pillows and threw them off.
"Who are you?" he cried, "Why do you sound so familiar?"
"You're better off not knowing." The voice said sternly. Power was hidden beneath the high pitched sound. "Now get going, Dalamar Argent. This is going to be rough on you. The toaster will help. Take it with you to the lab and keep it near, now there's a good elf…"
Dalamar found himself doing exactly that. He calmly picked up the toaster and headed to the lab. When he got there, he had no idea what he was suppose to do. Looking at the toaster, he pushed down on the springy lever and waited for it to pop back up. The dark elf repeated this process until Raistlin called him up for dinner.
Dinner was going to very, very freaky.
oOo
The soft footsteps of Dalamar quickly went away. The W.U.S.S. Fairy crawled out from underneath the elf's bed. He would have to be careful around Dalamar since he obviously possessed the uncanny ability to see and hear Fairies.
"…still…" The fairy sighed. It was a rare gift, but not unheard of.
The Fairy shook his stiff wings and was about to take off if only he hadn't tripped over his dress. Landing flat on his face, The Fairy uttered few words of profanity and got up. He would never ever in a bajillion years get use to this.
The Fairy glanced casually at his digital watch. Oh gods, he was late! With a hasty wave of his wand, he exploded into a million sparkles.
oOo
The three rulers of Magic was currently having afternoon tea. It was Nuitari's turn as host, so the other two were sitting comfortably on black beanbag chairs in the shape of skulls. The view from Nuitari's moon was rather lovely since it wasn't spoiled by effect of Lunitari's red glow or Solunari's blinding light.
"He's late," Nuitari commented, pacing back and forth. Lunitari sipped her tea, ignoring her bad-tempered cousin and wondering why circles couldn't have edges. Solunari was preoccupied filling his own tea cup with many sugar lumps.
"Why don't we scry on Raistlin, see how he's doing," Solunari suggested. Lunitari coughed loudly and vigorously shook her head, but the damaged was done.
Nuitari frowned, "I rather not." Lunitari relaxed. "Let's see how Dalamar is fairing," he continued.
Lunitari stiffened and Solunari sat stock still. They watched Nuitari cautiously as the dark god placed his hands on a dimly glowing orb. An image shot up and all three of them looked up at the big screen. A hazy picture of Dalamar showed that he was sitting alone with one hand resting on a table to support his head. The other hand was monotonously pushing the toaster with one finger.
"Spring goes up, spring goes down.
Spring goes up, spring goes down.
Spring goes up, spring goes down.
Spring goes up, spring goes down.
Spring goes up, spring goes down…"
The W.U.S.S. Fairy came in, smiling gaily, "Hey guys! I brought my own tea cup." He held up the cup in question. It featured an orange design of a giant marshmallow that said 'Bite me, I'm fluffy'.
"Sorry I'm late, but something came up and I… had… to-" He looked at the orb then at the image of Dalamar in terror.
"Spring goes up, spring goes down.
Spring goes up, spring goes down.
Spring goes up, spring goes down.
Whee-hee… it went up again!
Spring goes up, spring goes down.
Spring goes up, spring goes down…"
Nuitari faced The Fairy, a terrible smile on his pale lips. The Fairy smiled back, only more meek and pathetic.
"Not only did you take my best mage," Nuitari said, using a dangerous tone, "but you gave his apprentice a foreign object from another universe. Are you aware of how much reality you are going to disturb?"
"You wouldn't have complained if it was one of my mages…" Solunari muttered within the depths of his sugarfied tea. Lunitari silently agreed.
"But-…I-" The Fairy began, "It's just a toaster. Reality is going to be whacked anyway so why not-"
Nuitari snatched the Fairy and started squeezing W.U.S.S. like a stress ball. Lunitari stood up lazily. She was momentarily touched by the Fairy for taking the blame of something that she did.
"It was my doing. I gave The Toaster to Dalamar." She placed her cup primly down on the table. Her distant eyes were not so distant anymore.
"You gave him The Toaster!" Both Nuitari and The Fairy went. Lunitari nodded gravely. W.U.S.S. wriggled free and opened his mouth.
"Gentlemen, do you have a problem with that?" The goddess asked sweetly.
W.U.S.S. snapped shut. His lower lip trembled and his face was a little red. He seemed angry, which was a rare emotion for the anxious Fairy. Lunitari's eyes glowed a hazardous magenta. The Fairy swallowed his irritation and nodded slowly.
"There's no problem," he said tightly. He flew to the table and sat down on a mini bean bag that was summoned just for him. The W.U.S.S. Fairy moodily filled his cup with tea and drank it plain.
"There is for me!" Nuitari cut in, his voice unnecessarily loud, "Two of MY mages! I want something in return."
"You may ridicule any of mine and Solunari's mages to get even, Nuitari," said the goddess, ignoring Solunari's gurgle of protest. "Wasn't that the agreement in the first place?"
Nuitari fumed a bit, but eventually nodded. He sat down and grabbed his saucer.
Solunari tilted his head and grinned. "Cheers!" He lifted his cup in a casual toast and drank heartily. The others nodded grimly and drank.
"Spring goes up, spring goes down!
Oh my gosh, there it goes again!
Spring goes up, spring goes down!
Woo!"
Dalamar continued, getting really enthusiastic about it. It seemed to him that after the two hundreth, 'spring goes up, spring goes down', the activity proved amusing. The dark elf was unaware of the four pairs of eyes that watched him…
End Chapter Four
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