Amusements; or, a Winter Novel

Chapter 10 - The Dark Magician Gratifies My Vanity; the Ego

Chapter 10 - The Dark Magician Gratifies My Vanity; Which Buffs the Knucklehead Ego of Itself

I arrived at my new house, and I bask in its majestic glory as I reflect on the fact that I quite literally live 2 houses close to Hunter and Willow's.

In order to not spoil the surprise to any of the others, I wear the mask I wore in my youth as a teenage supporter of the Beast-Keeping Coven: the traditional eagle(?) or owl in complete brownness, with 2 eye-holes and a mouth-hole, assuming that anyone would stick their dick in the mouth of a slut who wears this kind of mask while on duty as she moans "more; more".

Moving on, I tried to move my stuff to my new abode while also trying - and with good concomitance - to not give away who I am.

Yet I couldn't help but not feel this feeling I just struggled to shrug off. That... I was being watched by forces, perhaps people, who already knew the cat in the bag. Who figured out the puzzle even when I moved the pieces.

"Hey Hunter!" said Gus. "Who do you think is that in the mask?"

"Don't know, Gus." said Hunter. "Seems to me, though, that they're moving in Mrs. Donohue-Franco's old house. The timing feels just... off. To me."

"Not to mention that hairstyle is just too familiar... I guess." said Gus.

"Comb-over with a bandana." said Hunter. "Hey, you wanna try out that trick?"

"Right now?" asked Gus.

"Yeah." said Hunter. "This curiosity is just making me itch too badly."

Then Gus went back to Willow's house and came back to Hunter with a peculiar looking device, which he then hands over to Hunter.

"It's not refined yet, but it's probably one of my favorite tricks." said Gus. "The Illusionist Coven Head calls these 'Exposure Necklaces'. They were discontinued when Belos thought that these small gadgets would give the Coven too much power over surveillance. You know? Because he was a fascistic despot?"

"Yeah, I know." Hunter said. "So... how do these things work?"

"Hold on, let me put it on you." Gus said as he equipped Hunter with this necklace. "You see the crystal, right? Covered up by this fancy embroidery job? Touch that 3 times, and do so while your eyes are closed. And after you do that, as the Coven head said: 'their tricks and mischiefs shall unfold itself.'"

"Rad." said Hunter.

Hunter did exactly what Gus told him to do.

"Close your eyes, touch the crystal 3 times," said Hunter as everything around him began to give off a blue visual effect of some sort: "and your tricks and mischiefs shall unfold itself."

Hunter is just too wry, too uppity, and it is to be supposed, too happy to just have found out this secret.

"What do you see?" asked Hunter.

"Oh," Hunter said: "I see a lot of surprising things. Let's go greet this character."

"Hunter?" asked Gus.

"Just follow my lead, Gus." said Hunter.

As I was moving my complete hoard of shit to my brand-spanking new house which I was too capitalistic about, I was that happy and joyful about that whole affair, I noticed then that Hunter and Gus were moving towards me. Thinking I was simply another neighbor for which to greet at for the sake of moving to this neighborhood, which - in retrospect - was and still is a very nicely furbished, articulate, well-kept, well-maintained and kempt neighborhood, which was a type of neighborhood I was simply not used to, at least, not yet at that time, anyway. In my old place, the vicinity was filled with the noise of Malaysian karaoke and dirty streets, the kind I was used to walking on as it reminded me of the kind of atmosphere I was used to and only too happy to be living in when I was living as a youth in the Boiling Isles.