Madness is Genuinely Erratic

Whilst persistently looking at Marley, Jet had actually thought that they were having some meaningful telepathic conversation together, and in his own mind it was going very well.

In the meanwhile Goober was trying his hardest to intervene with other ideas like: "best come back another day" and "I should be going now".

Jedi persuasion was not Goober's strongpoint - he was too nice a character to impose his will over any other being really. But it was his task to try his level best to deter Jet from causing harm to Marley, and try he must.

Goober's perceptive powers were very good yet he could not tell what Jet would do next. Madness is genuinely erratic for there is never any real logical reasoning to it at all - there may be patterns you can find, but it is still so incredibly unpredictable.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series 

Payment for Dwarf Services

"You're late" he growled.

"Am I?" asked Puck in a wry, camp tone. While saying this he had put Harvey's clock back half an hour. He asked him to check his phone again. Harvey knew Puck's tricks and was too agitated to find it funny.

"Did you bring all of them?" he asked, still talking as though he loathed Puck's company. The Fey made him nervous, although he never would admit it.

Puck handed Harvey a small neat metallic box - it had no visible lid or latch.

"There are two inside", he said, stepping back a few paces waiting for the roar.

"What-do-ya mean only two?" Harvey spat.
"These two are enough - you can tell them they are the best that I have."

And with that he disappeared without waiting for a thank you - which never would have been given, as Trolls have no manners whatsoever.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series 

Cut from the Same Cloth

Pepper looked perplexed - she also looked stunning. She wore her intensely copper red hair short cropped, with an emerald green tshirt, tight black jeans and tall studded matching suede boots. Iridescent green beetle shells dangled from her golden earrings. Puck glanced at his sister appreciatively - he loved the way she took him seriously - they were cut from the same cloth - and he knew that she felt the gravity of his concerns - he could always trust her.

Pepper's eyes sprang tears with empathetic sadness - she asked, "Puck, what is it this time?" her voice questioned gently ... "You have seen the failure of men before - why is now so very important?"

As she had asked this something of her youthfulness fell away, and momentarily Pepper grew an inch or so taller. She would do this from time to time, gaining the appearance of a strong and learned queen rather than that of the sprite she had seemed to be minutes earlier. Puck had this characteristic too - he could look boyish and gentle, yet when he felt strongly about something his features would become fierce and beyond bargaining with.

Puck read her thoughts on this and said blankly,

"Sis, we are not estranged from the consequences of their ills - we truly are not. I cry for them, I weep for us - is there a difference to be had between crying and weeping?".

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

The Last Few Years of Atlantis

Puck had that sinking feeling when he remembered back to the last few years of Atlantis. It was the saddest of times to recall the Machina who had plundered the etheric world just prior to that magnificent age's downfall. He thought back to the faith both the Mortals and Fey had invested in them, right up until the end.

Fey folk are not autocrats, they are suspicious of repetition - and predominantly light-hearted when in their proper element.

The Machina however, were methodically skilled and deadly serious - they lacked verve and self-awareness, due to eons of conformity. They came from a part of the Cosmos that worshipped an icy sun, and did not belong naturally to the evolution of the earth - it beings and the kingdoms - for which it was comprised. Their sanitised view infected the minds wherever they would settle, and wherever they settled they took control.

And now Puck had evidence of their returning. His lips tightened as tears of anger sprang to his eyes. Standing right in front of a promo poster he read:

"WAR - Come and live the untouchable life now" he winced.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Illuminati of the Internet

The acronym WAR stood for: WORLD AGAINST RECOGNITION.

Forums chattered about the meanings this could have. In a time when facial recognition in the real world became a hot topic, with cameras everywhere - even in supermarkets - facial markers succeeded all other forms of identification; and people detested being filmed. Citizens were encased in security measures that felt stifling. Virtual society offered a rare kind of freedom through its oblique anonymity.

WAR was similar to other fantasy games, yet its platform was occult and in many respects, very real. The graphics intoxicating, with subliminal fills; the chat and messaging was so secure, because it lay outside the usual channels that were government filtered, circumventing the common servers, impenetrable to the security agencies.

WAR was sophisticated and worked.

It recruited thousands and drew in persons from politics, commerce and management. Its high level participants were the new Masons - the Illuminati of the internet - who lived and created their personas online, yet carried them unashamedly and theatrically into the real world too.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series 

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game

WAR had grown overnight to become the gamers' primary virtual world. It was the next generation MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game). Its emphasis at all times was to put its members into the virtual scenes where they could transact every day worldly commerce alongside living out their extraordinary fantasies.

WAR had taken gaming to the 'next level' and overnight collapsed its competitors by bringing down the servers from which they ran. It then went on to win the public's enthusiasm with real life incentives that paid actual money.

Shopping malls interacted with virtual requests - where you could order a pizza from the Zenith Master and it would actually arrive minutes later. Folk could go to their favourite mall, and find their preferred store, walking through virtual aisles, trying on avatar clothes, paying for them with virtual money. All, with a same day delivery. Energy credits bought gamers real life discounts, bringing tangible incentives to the game.

Council meetings were now held within WAR's virtual Civic Halls, and people attended without ever leaving their homes - they could vote from anywhere in the world.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series

Goober & the Ghost-Cat

Goober took his assignment with Jet twenty-four hours around the clock; which still left him another twenty-four back in his own realm to rest in between the worldly days he watched over him.

He never felt himself to be subservient to Puck - he simply loved him as a brother- and if Puck thought something important enough to do, then he thought it too.

Both  followed Jet everywhere. It was a curious sight to watch them - Jet scurried about in his full army greens, always busy with something unless sleeping; whilst Goober (who was taller, and invisible of course) literally stood over him. At their feet the cat held back a few paces behind; who since being suffocated seemed to have nowhere else to go. 

Without being able to see him Jet could still feel the brush of his ghost-fur swipe his shins whenever he sat down, and this unnerved him terribly.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Puck in Hell, Azlander Series