~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Jayde~

Not long after I arrived at David’s house. It was almost as rundown as the place I lived in. However, where the condition of my apartment complex was the owner’s fault, Dave’s house was his own. He said he inhaled inherited it from his father, and it was paid before he only needed to take care of the maintenance utilities and taxes. Yeah, that would be nice. I always felt a touch envious towards his situation.

“Lucky Bastard.” Was my normal quiet comment on the state of his living arrangements whenever they came up.

His lawn was rife with weeds and the bushes next to the house looked like they hadn’t been trimmed in a decade. Tall wooden fence in the back, nothing left of it in the front yard. It was rotted and looked like a stiff breeze would knock it over. One very tall and healthy evergreen grew in the backyard and spread its branches protectively over the rear of the house.

The only odd thing about all of Dave’s greenery was that regardless of its untamed appearance was that it was always vibrant and healthy. No matter of rain, shine, or drought. His water bill was probably nasty during those parts of the year.

The domicile was another matter. As much as the overgrowth of plant life thrived the house was decrepit and probably one inspection away from being condemned. An old brick cottage with a shingle roof. Many were cracked and moldy due to the Seattle damp. One o the windows still had a small hole in it from a rowdy party last year that David still had not repaired. The paint on the window trim was peeled, showing the wood underneath and the porch was a bit soft on one side. None of us really hung out outside his house though so I guess the front didn’t matter. David did keep things cleaner inside and the power worked fine, so it was a teenager’s heaven for gaming and killing time.

Since the front door was ajar, as usual, I decided to call out instead of knocking.

“Hey guys, you there?”

I could slap myself on the forehead. Of course they were, I could hear the videogame and David grousing about something or other.

“Hey Suzi, quit hogging the Princess.” Dave’s gruff voice complained from within.

Since neither answered I poked my head inside.

As usual, Suzi was dressed however she wanted to dress. Meaning completely up to her and convention be damned. She had on her leather jacket from earlier in the week but instead of skater gear she wore a pink cutoff t-shirt and bedazzled jeans combo. Her costume hair was blonde and styled into a pair of pigtails that were jauntily high on her head. She looked like a psychotic bubblegum teen and if I guessed right there was a baseball bat nearby to complete the outfit.

I thought she was going for Harley from DC, except that the hair was a lot more poofy and wasn’t died in any way, plus her makeup was pink, blue, and glittery rather than running mascara on pale white.

Almost a complete counterpoint to the crazed bimbo attire my friend David looked as I have always seen him. Tall with a good build and broad shoulders. Average looks leaning towards handsome with ragged hair that looked rakish on him. His jawline was square without being over defined with a symmetrical quality I could only dream of having myself. I could easily imagine him working at an Abercrombie and Fitch counter. Not quite good enough to be a model, but far beyond my own quality of mousy plainness.

David’s choice of clothes was usually best described as grunge meets hipster meets ‘I don’t give a rat’s fat ass.’ All in all with his darker Caucasian skin tone and deep brown hair he could blend in or stand out in just about any crowd at his own command.

Well, except maybe Japan. He would be Big in Japan. Even sitting down, anyone with half a brain could tell he was taller than six feet.

Both of my friends were sitting on one of Dave’s two oversized and very threadbare couches. The kind that you’d find out back behind a thrift store in the rejection pile. Good enough shape to attempt to donate but not good enough to accept. In front of one of them was an older model but still very large flat panel TV. Somewhere in the mid fifty inch range I think.

They were playing the latest, or perhaps the second to latest, Super Smash Brothers Battle Party something or other game. It was hard to keep track of them as they released them so frequently. The latest match seemed to be loading.

“If that’s Jayde ignoring the fact he can come in at any time again I am going to lower his friendship level.” David didn’t even bother to look over as he gruffly ribbed me.

Suzi glanced at David briefly before glancing back at the screen. “Jayde! Get in here. Jeez you act like such a kicked puppy sometimes.” That last was muttered under her breath but was still loud enough for me to hear.

Walking in I guessed that I was blushing again from the rising heat in my face. I really wished I didn’t blush so easily. It didn’t help that Suzi, as usually, looked very good and that she had just called me a puppy.

“Ok Jayde, that means your friend card is revoked. It has been downgraded to an acquaintance card.” David seemed to be in a mood today. More broody than usual, and that was saying something.

“Don’t mind him Jayde.” Suzi piped in as their battle began. “He’s just being pissy because he’s getting his butt kicked by a princess.”

“Some princess.” He muttered attempting to defend against a nasty combo that Suzi let loose. Once his character was brutally blasted away Dave tossed his control down in a huff. He finally looked over, scowl on face. I think he was always scowling, or brooding, or sulking. The only other expressions I seemed to see on his face was a particularly evil grin he sported when he was playing a prank or was up to something. However he was always around to hang with or play games with. Which was probably why so many people thought he was cool.

Though having his attention wasn’t always a good thing. “Alright Jayde, what’s got your panties in a twist? You’re acting more like a virgin in a whore house than normal.”

“Weird dream. Well, a very very weird dream.” I sat down on the other couch and put my feet up on the coffee table. The game was now back on the character selection screen but neither Dave nor I grabbed a controller.

Suzi had already selected the Princess of course. She put down her controller and made a square of her thumbs and index fingers in the classic ‘Taking a picture’ frame. I could see one of her brilliant blue eyes through the box. “Jayde, if you get any more awkward I am sooo gonna put you into a comic.”

I only groaned in reaction. Sometimes Suzi was like this and I could only ride it out.

David on the other hand laughed. Low and throaty, somewhat like a predator on the hunt. He always like a good jab or put down.

“So, weird dream?”

“Yeah, can’t seem to shake it either.” I replied with a nod.

“And?” Suzi made a come on hand motion.

“Well….” Now I felt silly and a bit more embarrassed than earlier.

“Spill it Princess.”

Suzi looked back at Dave with his last comment then back at me. “Is that it? You dreamt you were a princess?”

I sat up on the couch, probably flushed a couple shades of puce at this point. “Damn it you two.”

“Ok Mr. Acquaintance card. Want to earn you friend card back? Then please elaborate.” He paused for effect, “Were you a good princess or a bad princess?”

I’m pretty sure I could fry an egg on my face right now. Trust David to get in a cutting jab when I am already flustered by Suzi. It wasn’t that what he said was too much worse, but for some reason when it came from him it sounded much worse.

Which left me trying to sputter my way through another inept reply. Poorly.

“I think you should let Jayde play the Princess. Seems to be more his speed.”

Suzi made a face at David, tongue out and eyes crossed. “There’s multiple Princess’s in this game. I think Jayde should take the other one and then you’ll have two Princess’s kicking your ass.”

“Please, enough with the princess jokes.” I finally got out. “Weird dreams are bad enough, but to be double teamed about being a princess….”

As soon as I finished speaking I mentally kicked myself in the ass. Talk about giving Dave a loaded gun. So it was to my surprise that he left it alone and Suzi took the bait.

“OH! I knew it!” She squealed leaning forward towards me so rapidly her blonde pigtails whipped from behind to her front. “You’re finally ready to admit it! You secretly ARE a magical pretty princess and here to stop the dreaded evil Zorklings from taking over!”

Huh? I tried to articulate a response to my mischievous imp of a friend only spluttering a couple times before I could speak. “NO! It was just a weird dream.” I calmed down a little. “Nothing else. It just spooked me enough that I keep seeing things out of the corner of my eye and strange things flash in reflections sometimes.”

I looked away from them. Lamely picking up a controller. The room suddenly seemed to have gained an energized charge to it. Enough so that I could almost feel David’s shift of posture and demeanor. I looked up just in time to catch him stand.

“That’s enough for me today.” He turned and left to go into his single bedroom. “I think I’m gonna rest before I get some stuff done tonight.”

His door closed quickly, but not fast enough to cause it to slam.

Suzi looked over at where he had left then back towards me. Her deep sapphire eyes seemed almost as large as the comic pop idol she was dressed to emulate. “Wow, normally he would have a lot more to say.”

“So… what now?”

She shrugged her shoulders and collected the baseball bat I had known she had somewhere nearby. “Take our chances hanging out somewhere else?” I noddd my reply after which she continued to chat on our way outside. “So, about this dream Princess?”

I just groaned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Elsewhere~

In the old granite quarry the members of the Council of Balance congregated once more. This time only the nine. The humans and the glows. Though the location remained the same as before, the center stage now had a rock table hewn out of the granite shelf. It appeared to have grown up from the bedrock it was on. Veins of quarts and even some gold shot through it. Not unlike the veins in an arm or perhaps an oak leaf. The table of granite had an organic feel to it, yet was still hard stone all the same. The ambience brought by the four glowing beings eemed to pulse in time to a slow heartbeat. Their varied colors blending into the quarts of the table so that the crystal pulsed with photonic blood.

One of the glowing beings pulsed a little faster as she addressed the group. “It has become a problem.” Her voice had a buzz to it though no less feminine for that. “One that we should not… No, that we can Not any longer mark up to coincidence.”

Her orange tinted glow was dim, like the dying embers of a fire. Still warm and comforting on a cold day but not something that a smart person would wish to handle.

The bearded speaker of the Council of Balance addressed the others next. “Yes, far too many of our members have disappeared. Many posts stand vacant, locations unobserved, infractions against Balance left unchallenged.”

His manner of dress was similar to the larger gathering they had prior, still akin to a coffee shop hipster. Now though he had vario8us technological devices on his person including a cellphone in hardshell case on his hip and smartwatch on his wrist. In contract to this he also was entwined with living vines that traced along his limbs, up his torso, and even entangled within his beard.

One of the woman signaled to speak. Dressed in a masculine business suit of dark blue silk her Asianic features hard and sever. Her dark raven hair was shorn close to the scalp. “We have not been able to identify the new Chosen of Balance. Our next generation is in many cases going through their initial Change after accepting the Gifts of Balance. Yet we have too few of us available to find them and shelter them as they grow into their new selves.” Her voice was halting and course, as if unused to speaking.

The first of the glowing beings spoke once more. Now brighter, similar in color but closer to an angry blaze than to a cool ember. “We know it must be the works of either Gaia or Civilization. Not natural effects. Not accidents. There is no other agency that would act to Neutralize the Balance that has held for so many Millenia. We must Act. Not Talk. We need to go out and remove those who would attempt to turn us back to the Chaos of so long ago.” Her energy sharp and discordant. It shifted the feeling of the table, turning it from a gentle stable artifact into something of anger and action. “Too long have the chosen of Gaia and Civilization agitated against the Balance. The very thing put in place by the Great Entities that have granted us all our gifts.”

One of the glowing beings that had yet to speak countered her. The electric blue shifting into a calming ambience to assist in soothing the aggression of her fellow Chosen. “No, first we must take the appropriate steps of investigation. We of Balance must not be the initiators of another war. After all, for all we know it may be normal human organizations who are responsible for this. It has happened in the past, it could happen again.” Her voice turned sad and introspective. “We all remember the unfortunate events in the colony of Massachusetts Bay all those years ago.”

Several of the group repressed shudders of grief and pain. None here could forget the slaughter of a dozen young Magi in training by the fearful people of the time. Most of the youth had only just manifested, not really understanding what they were and how they came to be. Only just gathered together to be properly instructed.

The speaker bowed his head in memory of the tragedy. He looked at the others of the Council. “Then we will task our members to investigate these disappearances. Even if it may leave some area’s uncovered for at time. No direct action is to be taken unless and until there is proof of what is occurring.”

His expression was firm, belying the casual coffee shop anti-establishment looks he sported. His voice cool and would not be out of place in an executive board room or military briefing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Jayde~

Oooomph!

I tried to regain my breath after a rather unspectacular wipe out. Unspectacular in that I just bellyflopped onto the concrete after my skateboard had jetted out from under me. I got up on hands and knees and wished I could afford more than the helmet on my head.

“That’s one way to get over the rail.” Suzi commented as she passed on a set of custom inline skates.

She was decked out in tight shorts, crop top, and skatewear. Including knee, elbow, head, and wrist protection. Not that she needed it. I had already watched her pull a handless side flip off a rail onto a ramp like a pro at the Red Bull X-Treme Games.

In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen Suzi wipe out in years. Like everything else she does she seems to take to it like a fish to water. I was very glad she invited me. Even if it was because it was at the behest of her friend Hernando from the party a few nights ago.

He came to stand next to where I had biffed it. Dressed up similar to how I was. Though whereas I looked like a schmuck in my loose jeans and ratty t-shirt, Hernando looked like a Guchi model out slumming in the skatepark.

I looked up as he reached down to help me up.

“Thanks.” I dusted my sore elbows and legs off.

“Bienvenidos. Siempre que necesites ayuda estare ahi.”

Oh yeah, he also had an annoying tendency to speak to me in Spanish even though I knew that he spoke flawless English. I think he just enjoyed teasing me for some reason.

“Uh.. yeah… Thank you I guess?” I rubbed the back of my head, clueless to what he was saying as usual.

Hernando just grinned one of his model perfect grins. The type of smile that made women go weak in the knees. It was no wonder that Suzi liked to go out with him so much. If I was a girl I’d probably do the same in her shoes…skates… whatever.

He stepped over to his free skates. A pair of square flat boards about six inches to a side with two skateboard wheels inline underneath each. Basically a skateboard cut in two with the middle removed. I had a hard enough time boarding sometimes, but this guy made freeskating look as easy as Suzi made rollerblading. I watched his roll over to the half pipe. The man had skills. Tucking and stepping, popping up one side and speeding down the other. Sometimes on both skates, sometimes on only one.

While he was in a complicated vertical maneuver Suzi rolled up next to me.

“He’s pretty good.” Her tone appreciative.

“I guess.”

Her laughter was light, music to me as it always was. “Guess? Why Jayde, if I didn’t know better I would say that you were Jealous.”

“What?!” I sputtered. Almost dropped my borrowed board. “Of him? No I’m not!”

She leaned in close, looked me deep in my eyes before she startled me with a boop to my nose. “Totally.”

I rubbed my nose with a touch of annoyance. “Ok, maybe a little. He really is good.”

“Just that?” Suzi continued her close inspection. “Sure there isn’t anything more?”

“Nope. Nothing.”

“Well if that’s the case, Hernando was wondering if you were doing anything later tonight.”

I looked over at Suzi again, not quite getting what she was hinting at. “Working. Besides I don’t want to interrupt your time together.”

Suzi laughed again. That beautiful sound that always seemed to make my heart skip a beat. “Oh Jayde. Don’t ever change.”

“Huh?” I scratched my head underneath where my helmet ended in confusion.

Hernando had finished his set and was wheeling up to us. “Convidada tertulia?” He looked over at Suzi.

She shook her head, a mirthful and mischievous grin on her face. It made her look kind of like a sexy playful pixie.

“Shame.” He shook his head in reply.

“Care to clue me in?” I inquired.

The two of them smiled at me before Suzi answered. “Maybe some other time. C’mon, let’s see you on the pipe now.”

Great, I get to be the follow up to the guys masterful performance. No time like the present at least. I dropped the board on its wheels and kicked off. I’d at least give as good a showing as I could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Jayde~

Most of the week had passed, and yet that dream still bothered me.

At least I could find solace spending time with Suzi, David, or Byran. As well as at work. Sometimes though I wasn’t able to get away from the Dream.

To get away from ‘Her.’

I wasn’t sure that I was not going insane. She was the only thing that I saw that was out of the ordinary at least.

So to get away from ‘Her’ today I went to the mall a couple miles down from my place. I was sitting across from the Theater doing some people watching.

It was something Bryan and I would do for shiggles and ghits. We would watch them go by and invent storylines for them. Anything from histories and families to odd conversations that they had to be involved in.

Like the couple walking by arm in arm. He was dressed in the latest Manbun McDouche Hipster outfit. Bushy beard trimmed to within an inch of its life and I swore his hands had a better manicure than Suzi. The young woman with him looked like a much harder worker than he was, plus she looked awesome in her dreadlocks.

I would say that he made some serious cash online, probably on some feminist blog site. She was most likely the one who made the real decisions between them.

Once they were out of sight another worthwhile person to comment on walked into view. This one was a tall and skinny androgenous man. Well, I think it was a man. Corn rowed hair ending in beaded braids, poofy peasant’s shirt that was tie died a dark menage of oranges and blues. He was visually loud and quite possibly more gangly than I was…. If that was even possible.

Hrmmm… Collage student majoring in the arts and living off of parent’s money and student loans. Probably an activist of some sort. He’ll be a lawyer for corporations and a major supporter of the establishment that he is currently raging against.

Once he passed I saw across the way to the mirrored glass of the theater. I saw ‘Her’.

Ever since the Dream she was all I saw in the mirror. Only mocking me if I mocked her. Yet I never saw myself any longer. Just ‘Her’ instead.

I no longer went into my bathroom unless absolutely necessary. In fact the lightbulb had gone out a couple days ago and I had yet to bother to replace it. I had a couple of spares, it was just easier not to have any light to see ‘Her’ by.

Was Suzi right in some of her teasing? Was I just suppressing my feminine side so much that she was coming out now to haunt me?

Or was it more to do with life stress?

I didn’t think so, though outside of lack of money my life was pretty stress free.

Of course, I really would like a girlfriend. I knew I didn’t have a hope in hell of dating Suzi, and my last actual date was when I had just turned eighteen. Which ended in some spectacularly clumsy kissing and bad groping. The frustration and humiliation I had felt after that night made me much more hesitant to approach women in general.

At least with Suzi I felt at ease and we seemed to click enough that I could be open with most of my feelings with her. All but the ones that really mattered of course. I was too chick shit for those. Besides I was pretty sure that if she and Hernando didn’t work out that Dave was in her cards as a backup.

He was the epitome of ‘Bad Boy’ after all.

Wow, I think I had a pretty bad expression on my face judging by the ugly scowl that ‘She’ was making at me.

Honestly, even scowling ‘She’ was cute. Very tomboy, and my clothes on her though oversized just seemed to bring out an adorable spunkiness. It’s too bad she was just a figment of my imagination.

“So, would you go out with me?” I quietly said and watched her lips make the identical words out.

“Sure, anytime.” I replied to my reflection, making sure to smile brightly so I could see ‘Her’ radiant smile in return.

“Geez, now I’m flirting with myself.” I murmured to the air looking anywhere but at ‘Her’.

Really wished I could afford a therapist or something right now. I think I am starting to get to myself. Or is it ‘Her’ that is getting to me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End Chapter 05

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