Needles Versus the Ghouls

A fight broke out in the corner of the room; the ghosts had returned and had not taken kindly to Pine-needles as he bustled about purposefully as usual. 

There were four or five of them that set upon him, and in the scuffle their exact number was hard to tell, because they had the ability to morph into one, which when combined, made them all the stronger.

Over the course of several minutes, if you were clairvoyant enough to see, there was the vision of many contorting odd shapes and sizes, as the ghosts would one minute be surrounding the tempered dwarf, to then combine into one almighty blob of ectoplasmic anger, coating him as it were with themselves, stifling his activity, and then hurling their dark green ectoplasmic snot around the room with exaggerated squeals of triumph.

Rarely are the spirits that remain behind in the earthly realm jovial: they are usually a miserable lot - malcontent, complaining, awkwardly difficult, refusing to repent or reconcile, with an inability to simply move on.

Eve sensed that this dark cloud had descended into her apartment, but with no clear discernment she placed the upset onto Puck, as well as her embarrassment at being caught in the bed of Granoldi.

She was inwardly terrified that he would now take the bear from her. And so for the first time in a long time, an unsubstantiated complaint against Puck himself, arose inside of her.

“I think you should leave” she said as coldly as she could.

Puck appeared to be staring into space, but was just watching the comedy that was Needles versus the Ghouls, waiting for his moment to break up the pummelling that had now moved itself closer to the front door.

A red pilates ball exploded with the tension, and little pieces of rubber shed themselves onto the floral carpet.

Puck began picking up the little pieces, and as he knelt down Eve could see the top of his crown - there was some white hair beginning to wind its way into the gorgeous golden brown curls. She took a step back from him, surprised to think of him in any way as much older than herself.

As he read her mind he recoiled from this thought also. He had never in any way thought of himself as being older, or getting older, ever … but it was to be true within worldly years … his energy levels simply had not been quite the same.

It is interesting that one may be immortal in other Spheres, and yet tire in the physical world - even the highest of spiritual beings have been known to find the physical world and its pressures so very demanding.

He sat down on the couch, and she sat beside him.

“What is your thinking?” she asked.

“It’s become complicated” he said, “when I close my eyes there is but a panorama of sadness from beginning to end. I see the stories of men and how they play out, and whilst there is joy bespeckled amidst the sorrow, the hardship continues.”

Eve misunderstood what was being said, and replied: “You are only one man, and one man can only do so much. Do not be so hard on yourself.”

He sighed a gentle sigh. Her hand pressed onto his wide shoulders but something made her pull it back almost as quickly as it had landed.

Pine-needles had managed to chase the ghostly group out of the apartment. He had discovered that spraying a mist of citrus fruit bothered them terribly, and their evacuation was soon complete. He then took himself down the street and back to the shops to collect more supplies for the pantry.

“Look at me” she said demandingly to Puck.

He did, and all he could see was the girl from the Franciscan forest who had spent her entire past life in the service of others.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series