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New Year's Fandango

MeddlingMonk

By MeddlingMonk
in The Blue Casket

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MeddlingMonk

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A nameless port town lay on the edge of the Sea of Lament. It wasn’t actually nameless; in fact, it’s name was the only thing distinguishing from most of the other ports along the Sea of Lament. It’s name is simply unimportant. Like all the others it grew up where souls traveling across the Land of the Dead stopped to gather money or courage for the next stage of the journey.

 

The name of a particular bar near the docks is also unimportant. It’s only claim to distinction on this particular night was the giant, orange demon sitting with one lost soul for company at a rough table in a back corner. The mood at that table also differed from the rest of the bar. Where all the others (sailors and women of questionable—if not indictable—virtue, for the most part) were drunken, raucous, and exuberant, that one back table was drunken and moody. The soul was moody, at least. The demon appeared more annoyed than anything else.

 

Both, the soul and the demon, were dressed as sailors. Their clothes were new, but while the demon looked crisp in his, the soul managed to look like a loose sack of bones as he hunched over his pint.

 

The demon frowned a little as he looked as his friend stare into his mug. He gave a sharp sigh. “Jeez, Manny,” he grumbled, “what’d’ya expect to see in there?”

 

The soul stirred a little. “I’m contemplating my future,” he mumbled, mostly sloshing over the middle part of the longest word.

 

“I think that only works with tea,” Glottis said. “And you have to drink it first.”

 

Manny drained his mug and peered at the bottom.

 

“Any better?” Glottis asked.

 

“Nope,” Manny said and got up to go to the bar again. He came back with a refilled mug and dropped back in his chair. He looked into the mug for a second or two, then dunked a pretzel into it. He then stared at the damp pretzel as if unsure what to do with it now.

 

Glottis sighed again and looked at his watch. “About fifteen minutes left,” he said, then took a sip from his pitcher of beer.

 

“Hurrah,” Manny said sullenly and decided to change the beer-soaked pretzel for a dry one and eat it.

 

“What’s eating you, Manny?”

 

Manny paused his chewing to think, then answered, “Pretzel.”

 

“You—” Glottis stopped to shake his head. “C’mon, Manny. It’s New Year’s Eve! Cheer up, will ya? You’re actin’ like you’ve just lost your best friend.”

 

“Cheer up?” Manny asked in a demanding tone. He drained his mug. “Just what the…why should I cheer up about…what?” He pushed back his chair to get a refill.

 

“Stay put,” Glottis said, putting one massive hand on Manny’s arm while filling his mug from his pitcher.

 

“Thanks,” Manny said and drained the mug again. He was on his feet and heading for the bar before Glottis could stop him.

 

He returned unsteadily, mug in one hand and a bottle in the other. Once seated he took a swallow from the mug and then started working on getting the cap off the bottle.

 

“What’s that?” Glottis asked.

 

“Dunno,” Manny answered. “Picked it up when the bartender’s back was turned.” He got the cap off and took a drink. “Scotch,” he said. “Probably.”

 

“Too bad,” Glottis said. “Beer goes better with whiskey.”

 

“Fortunately I’m too tight to care.”

 

“Yeah,” Glottis said. “So are you gonna tell me why you’re drinking for two or what?”

 

“The other one.”

 

“What?”

 

“Yeah, that’s the reason.”

 

Glottis frowned.

 

“I’ll tell you what,” Manny said after a moment. “I’m making up for lost time. Kept holding back the past year. Too busy. Needed to keep a clear head and keep Carla from falling into the sea or something.”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“And I’ll tell you something else. What the hell was I doing with that club? I should’ve been out looking for Meche, right?”

 

“But we were looking, Manny.”

 

“No we weren’t.” Manny took a long drink from the bottle. “We needed to look where Domino found her.”

 

“OK,” Glottis said gamely, “so where was that?”

 

“I don’t know!” Manny snapped. “See what I mean?”

 

“Sure,” Glottis nodded slowly. “I see.”

 

Manny drained his mug and refilled it from the bottle. “Now you tell me why we’re on that damn bucket.”

 

“We’re going after Miss Colomar, remember? She’s on that cruise ship. When we catch up we’ll take her to the end of the road.”

 

“Sure, we will,” Manny said. “To us!” he said, raising the bottle, thought better of it and switched to the mug. “The three musketeers!”

 

“There’s only two of us, Manny,” Glottis said, “even if you are seeing double.”

 

“Nah, you’re big enough for two.”

 

“I resent the understatement,” Glottis said with a grin. He looked at his watch again. “Almost there,” he said. A countdown from ten started somewhere in the bar and Glottis shouted ‘Happy New Year!’ along with the rest. When he looked back at Manny, he saw that he had his head down on the table.

 

“Hey, Manny,” he said, giving him a nudge. Then a rough shake. Manny just snored. Glottis sighed and drained his pitcher. He went to the bar and paid the tab, including the stolen bottle of scotch. He returned to the table and gently slung Manny over his shoulder, made his way through the crowd and out into the cold night air.

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MeddlingMonk

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There's a lot about Lola in the novel. In fact, she's the first person Manny meets after leaving El Marrow. I don't have a take so much as...well, since the game introduces Lola just to sprout her, my aim was to give her as big a part as possible so it'd be a real punch in the gut when she's finally sprouted.

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