cursed by the chaos

ii

Daron awoke the next morning to sunlight streaming through his window. It was most likely midday, since he'd gone to bed quite late and had a tendency to sleep long. He got out of bed and walked into the kitchen, looking for something to eat. Upon opening the fridge he discovered the chocolate cake there, staring at it for a few moments before the events of the previous night came back to him and he froze. Quickly glancing out the window, he once again noted that it was sunny and breathed a sigh of relief. He took the cake out of the fridge with the intention of slicing it and nearly dropped it, letting out a high-pitched scream. "Oh my fucking god!"

Shavo stood there with a dissociated look on his face. Behind him rose two large, bat-shaped wings with red and orange scales all over them. "Please tell me I'm just extremely high," he said, exhausted.

"Dude, what the fuck happened?" Daron set the cake on the counter so he wouldn't drop it.

Shavo gave him an annoyed look. "What do you think happened? Do you not remember our little trip to the graveyard last night?"

He was incredulous. "That... that was real?"

"Of course it was real, dumbass; I was high and even I remember," said Shavo, rolling his eyes. "You're lucky it's sunny outside right now, but it's supposed to rain later today, so you better watch yourself."

Daron frowned. "Are you twisting my nipples?"

Shavo stared at him for a moment before a snort left him, realizing the pun in his sentence. "I wasn't, but now that you point that out, that's kinda funny. Heh."

"Listen, just let me eat something and then we can talk," said Daron. "I don't want to lose my vision in the middle of trying to slice a damn cake."

Shavo left him to that, and when he had a slice of cake on a plate he sat down over on the couch next to the bassist. "Okay, so let's review. What exactly did we get ourselves into?"

"You mean what did you get us into," the other man corrected, his annoyance still there, "because you dragged my stoned ass into a fucking cemetery at ten at night. I didn't sign up for any of this, lest you forget."

The guitarist sighed. "Okay, dude, I'm sorry. At least your vision is intact at all times of the day."

"I don't really have the energy to be super angry with you, so let's get on with solving this." He tried to shift in such a way so that he could lean back against the couch without pinning his wings down. "I've already spit acidic venom all over my shirt, and the venom disintegrated the fabric in three seconds flat." He gestured to the small holes in his shirt. "I can somewhat control that, but the venom tastes terrible."

"Did she ever tell us how to undo the curses?" Daron asked.

"No; I dragged you out of the cemetery before you could make any more comments that would worsen our situation, and I'm not entirely sure she got to everything she wanted to say," Shavo answered him. "She looked like the type of person to leave us with some prophecy and then disappear into that tomb she was sitting on, so I was predicting that kind of situation."

The shorter man began shoveling cake into his mouth, covering his mouth with his hand so he wouldn't project pieces of cake everywhere when he spoke. "I half-expected her to drag us into that thing. I had a hunch that that's where she was buried. Or maybe it held some other type of significance to her."

"May I ask why you decided to eat the cake that you found randomly frosted upon returning home from a creepy trip to the graveyard?" Shavo asked suddenly.

Daron looked down at his platter as if the slice of cake would give him answers. "Do you know how long I spent making that thing? I'm not going to not eat it."

"Yeah, but you didn't frost it," Shavo pointed out.

He hesitated a moment longer, thinking, and then he shrugged. "It tastes fine, dude."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Okay. So you're eating the creepy cake. If you start tripping later don't blame me."

Daron chose not to respond to that. "What if we go back there to ask her how to undo the curses?" When Shavo gave him a look that could combust steel, he said, "What other option do we have? Do you think the answer will just descend from the heavens and land in my slice of cake? Work with me here. I know I got us into this but you're under a curse, too."

Yet after further discussion they came up with nothing, and they remained at a crossroads. Sure as shit, the rain came down in mid-afternoon, and Shavo heard a loud crash from somewhere in the house and frustrated cursing. "Daron?" he called. "You alright?"

"It's raining!" Daron shouted in return, which was explanation enough.

Upon going to find him and investigating the scene, Shavo discovered that the loud crash had been Daron bumping into his dresser and falling on his ass on the hardwood floor. The taller man led him by the elbow down the hallway and into the living room, where he could keep an eye on him. Daron was too scared to move, so he just stayed put for the time being. "Shavo?"

"Yeah?"

"How long is the rain supposed to last?"

"Maybe into the morning? I don't know," he answered.

Daron cursed. "Well that's just fine and dandy."

"Dude, you're the one–"

"Make another comment like that and I will beat your ass."

"Good luck finding me."

"Don't test me. You snore in your sleep. I can use echolocation."

"You're gonna beat me up while I'm sleeping?"

"You wanna find out?"

Shavo, as it turned out, did not want to find out, and he backed off, recalling that since it was raining, theoretically that made it overcast, since the rainclouds obscured the sky, effectively triggering the other half of Daron's curse. He ordered takeout, since he didn't feel like cooking (and Daron was clearly in no state to). After dinner, Daron stumbled down the hallway into his music room, and by some miracle he grabbed one of his acoustic guitars off the wall and began to play it. He made a few mistakes here and there, but it was soothing with the rain pounding on the roof and windows, and before long, Shavo drifted off into la la land.