Speedy walked in from the kitchen, sponge in wing.
"Funny, I didn't know this place had reopened for business... 'cuz seriously, this SINK looks like it hasn't been cleaned in AGES, and nothing is getting served until this oven is cleaned, oh dear, I'm afraid of how that oven looks... oh, and can someone get me an expresso please?"
And with that, she returned to the kitchen to continue cleaning.

Coffee-maker be a dear
And make Speedy an espresso now and here.

Tora picks up a mug, fills it with espresso, adds whipped cream and chocolate power on top and shouts, "Speedy your espresso is ready! And the coffee-maker now has an espresso-maker setting!"

Marae watches as Tora delivers the espresso. Hmmm... that chcolate power sure looks good...

While no one else is looking, Marae dips a spoon into the container of chocolate power and takes out a bit to taste.

She looks at the bit she took out.

Hmmm... that's not really enough for a decent taste. She dips the spoon back in and gets a larger bit, looks at it, and decides that's probably not enough, either.

On the third dip, she thinks she has enough chocolate power to try. She pops the spoonful into her mouth.

There is a crackle and *poof* sound, and she vanishes amidst a shower of cocoa powder... or at least, she seems to vanish...

Urdu, sensing something different, looks over at the bar and notices Marae is no longer there, and turns to Toz...

"Wasn't Marae just over there?"

"I think so. Maybe she went into the kitchen?" says Toz.

"I don't know. I think I would have noticed. We aren't going to have to go looking for her again are we?"

"I hope not. Nothing but trouble I say."

"Yup. Nothing but trouble..."

...and Urdu goes back to munching on an onion ring...

A moment later, Marae pops back into view, but there is something a bit... different about her...

Zarnic woke from the sound of pounding ... pounding who can that be at this god-awful hour? Grabing something to wear, he opened the door to be greeted by a short fat man waving a newspaper.

"Did you read? Huh?" Cho turned the pages while he entered and failed to notice his friend was only half dressed.

"What? Read what? Cho ... it's hardly daylight!" Or so Zarnic thought.

"It's after 12 ... besides I thought you would want to know."

"Know what, Cho? Forget about the paper, just tell me"

"It says here that the Town Council is over and Age 233 is still there."

"What? Cho, you will have to excuse me ... have to go." Leaving his friend standing there, Zarnic rushed to his room to pack. He was eager to see his old friends and visit his home-away-from-home again.

Marae brushes the cocoa powder out of her hair and looks around. Everyone is busy doing whatever it is that they do at the Age 233, so she sits at a table and proceeds to do likewise. Every now and then she looks up at the door, half-expecting it to open and someone interesting to come through it. Like... Zarnic, perhaps. She hasn't seen the old knight in ever so long, and she does miss him.

She sighs, and sends warm thoughts his way.

********

As Zarnic prepares for his departure, a mug of hot cocoa suddenly appears in his hand... as if by magic...

Two mogs suddenly appear, grab onto the suddenly reappearing Toz, and all three suddenly disappear to where ever it was that Toz had suddenly disappeared to, suddenly reappeared from, suddenly came or ceased to be, or whatever other suddenness may have occured.

Meanwhile, a third mog, who looks much like he intends to stay, carries an armful of Martian potatoes into the kitchen with an evil glint in his eyes.

Urdu watches as the mog heads toward the kitchen, and instictively clamps a hand over the top of his drink, one of the potatoes having tried to reach for it on the way by.

Tora crawls into her gypsy tent, and shuffles around for her pack of tarot cards. After finding them she comes out and sits at a table. And shuffles.

"It's October and halloween is just around the corner. I could use some practice with tarot reading - anyone want their cards read?"

"Why, yes, Tora," says Marae, approaching her table. "I would like a reading, and the question I have to ask is... why do I feel ... I dunno... different?"

in a different Age

Zarnic was about to set his suitcase on the bed when he heard sounds from outside. The owner of that noise was 'Cho who was on his way into town when, noticing activity coming from a house he thought was vacant, he decided to investigate. Upon opening the door Zarnic easily spotted 'Cho approaching the porch.

"Ah, my friend. You should learn to be more quiet," said Zarnic, with a smile.

"Senior! But ... but, I thought you were off visiting your friends in that other Age." 'Cho couldn't hide his surprise at seeing his mentor so soon.

"I was,'Cho, but after I got to the Age 233 bar it appeared empty, except for a tent in the corner and a noise in the kitchen so I decided to come back. *sigh* Guess this is where I really belong. I'm reminded of a passage from Edar Rice Burroughs' novel At the Earth's Core. He wrote 'Never have I experienced such a journey before or since--even now I oftentimes awake from a deep sleep haunted by the horrid remembrance of that awful experience.' *sigh*" While he unpacked, Zarnic went on to tell 'Cho of his trip and how no one seemed to come around anymore. Unknowing to Zarnic, he had left too soon to see Marae go into the tent to visit with Tora.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zarnic1,

"Okay!" Tora said happily, shuffling her cards. "Different how?"

"I thought that's what you're supposed to tell me?"

"Oh. Right."

*shuffle shuffle shuffle*

Tora began laying out the 10 cards in the Tree of Life pattern. Once she finished, she began flipping the cards over to begin the reading.

Card 1: The Wheel of Fortune, reversed: Exaggerated expectations.
Card 2: Ten of Swords: Unable to have an effect or change influences going on around you. The need to just go along with the flow.
Card 3: Seven of Coins, reversed: Hard work, but approaching your harvesting time.
Card 4: Justice, reversed: Imbalance.
Card 5: Judgment: Powerful transformative energies. Immense pressure.
Card 6: Five of Cups: Disillusionment, if you rely on the commitments of others.
Card 7: The Hierophant, reversed: Stuck in tradition. Unable to keep up with the times.
Card 8: Ten of Cups: Emotional commitments.
Card 9: Queen of Cups, reversed: An emotionally sensitive woman.
Card 10: Six of Swords: Moving on from a negative situation.

"Okay, let's see.... Ah. Um, have you ingested a lot of cocoa powder lately?”

Marae thinks guiltily back to th incident with the espresso machine. “Er, well… I wouldn’t say a lot….”

“Hm… well there’s something in here about some sort of power. And harvesting. Er. You seem to have ingested cocoa power with all that cocoa powder.”

"I what now?" Marae

“That’s right!” Tora warms up to her subject. “Cocoa power! Like powder, but without the d. And now suddenly your digestive system doesn’t know what to do with all that power so you’re feeling funny –“

“I really don’t think it –“

“And it has already begun to manifest!” Tora is really on a roll now. Marae boggles at her. “Yes, you have cocoa power, I see it! But power always comes with a price! This power is uncontrollable and can manifest in the most unexpected chocolate-y ways. It’s approaching your harvesting time, when all your cacao beans will be ready to pick. This however will create great imbalance, what with your arms full, so you should beware of falling from ladders. It would only lead to immense panic, and all that chocolate flowing through you could explode from the pressure of overwrought emotions, leading to disaster!

“Yes, disaster! For your friends would abandon you to chocolate-sauce-ness in favor of eating the chocolate. Thus you will become stuck in the, er, stickiness that comes with chocolate sauce. And of course, melted chocolate hardens into a brick-worthy shell. So there you’ll be highly emotional and stuck in chocolate. Yes, much better to move on and leave the cocoa power behind before it all builds to explosive force. Also, leave off the cocoa powder. That’s meant for the espressos.”

Somewhat shaken, Marae promises not to eat any more cocoa powder, at least for today, and staggers back to the bar to order something without any chocolate in it. Tora smiles proudly at a job well done.

It seems to have escaped Marae’s notice that Tora is dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West for Halloween. Shaman, who has been sitting half-curled and half-draped in a rather impossible way on an upright sign board next to Tora’s table, decides it is time for lunch and hops down to investigate the kitchen.

The sign reads “Halloween Themed Tarot Readings, Free All October!”

This explains a lot.

***********************

This post written by Tora, but with input and inspiration by Marae. Thanks Marae!