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Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Sitting by firelight in wingchairs that they didn’t quite fit into were three very tall manshaped creatures of a grotesque graybrown textured like avocado skin. They’re sitting very still as if deep in thought and looking into the fire where each of them sees something a little bit different. They were so used to oneanother’s company they barely noticed oneanother there, and jolted out of a sleeplike state one after another when the creaky door swung open and a startling creature came through and sat crosslegged on an ottoman off to the side, its head moving between the three of them and the fire at speeds so incredible it seemed to see all at once. The three long ones averted their gazes awkwardly scanning the carpet
Sorry, said Oscillator
Then after a minute of silence aside from the crackling of the fire it said again, sorry, for disturbing them supposedly, and then turned its head in a fifth direction towards a light moaning in the corner inside of a basket and it said
What is that
We,
Longone looked at his two companions as if remembering just then who they were and what ‘we’ had done
We found a mandrake root in the yard and put it in our basket (the other two looked pleased). I don’t know anything about what it’s doing right now. I’m not sure if the other two know
The other two shook their heads
Oscillator rose and went to the basket and carried it back to set on the ground and as soon as he did a toddler crawled from it towards the long slender foot of Longthree who shook his foot uncomfortably
I don’t know what that is, he said
We should name it then, to be sure, said Longone
Name it what
How about Agequick
Why
Because of how quickly its aging. Look, it’s a child already.
It was a child already indeed. Some hair had sprouted and many of its teeth as well and its huge shining eyes regarded the four of them wickedly so that Oscillator jittered nervously and the rest looked quite disconcerted and Longtwo bowed his head in an attempt to pretend the creature didn’t exist there
I think that its hungry, said Longthree
But the rest were silent for a while and they watched the creature aging quickly in their midst and crying for food. None of them seemed to know what to do and Oscillator began pacing and the fire crackled on
At long last Longtwo said, I have an idea. I have something for it
Let’s s-s-s-ee then-en, frantically said Oscillator, where where
Longtwo tapped his bulbous head. In here. As he said this Longthree was already rising from his chair and taking one gigantic step to his friend and Longone was rocking back and forth in place like a slow pendulum as if that was the role he played in the ordeal. Once Longthree was standing behind Longtwo’s wingchair he put his hands on the head of the other and felt around for a seam, and once he found one he pried at it until he could peel away a section of the soft headshell and take out the idea. It looked like the sort of idea a teenager would eat, so he held it out to what was now a teenager and the teenager snatched it from Longthree’s withered hand and popped it into its scowling face
As it digested the idea the face became more solemn and the teenager sat down as an adult on the carpet in deep meditation
There was much more silence and crackling of fire. Oscillator still was very nervous but his three friends were growing to like the adult somewhat, it was larger and worried them less then. It had a round sweaty face that glistened in the firelight so that it looked like a sequen and Longthree nearly told the other two of his idea to name it Sequenface but remembered that they had already named it Agequick and fell back into silence
You’ve been doing very well lately, Longone told Agequick, and Longthree looked his way to see who was speaking, then remembered his friend and gave a small wave and a smile which Longone ignored. Longthree thought he caught Oscillator returning a friendly gaze but his flurry of movement made it hard to tell
Longtwo was looking deep into the fire, the flap of his head hanging down and nearly brushing his shoulder. He wore a vexed expression and seemed to be losing himself in the depth of flame. He was muttering something that sounded like, I… need… to… find… when… I… get… the… chance… if… that… ever… is… to…. be……
The rhythmic crackle and soft muttering were broken by a sound like hooooh from the elder who was then collapsed on the carpet clutching where its heart was. None of the others understood this because none of them had hearts of their own and so they continued to sit as if all were well as Agequick promptly died of heart palpitations moaning and sputtering
About ten minutes passed before Longone said, I miss Agequick
Why, asked Longtwo
Agequick has died, explained Longthree
Ah, said Longtwo
Some more silence
What do we do now, Longone asked
Oscillator regarded all three at once intensely and said, it it it it’s only r-r-r-ight if we g-g-g-ive it it it a p-p-p-p-proper funeral-ul-ul-ul
O.K. said one of them but Oscillator did not catch which one exactly
Does everybody remember Da, Longone asked, regarding the other two who nodded yes
Do you two happen to recall how we put him in a boat and Lox shot the burning arrow into it and it burned up on the lake
The others nodded
It was very nice, said Longthree
It made me feel much better about his passing, said Longtwo
Da I don’t remember Da who is Da, Oscillator wanted to know
It doesn’t matter that you don’t remember Da, said Longone. He was very dear to us (he counted with his pointer finger) three here
Um
What is it, Longone looked around for the source of the um
Don’t you think that Agequick looks rather damp, I just mean that maybe he won’t burn very well
Well I think you may be right, Longthree
Oscillator was whimpering a bit. He seemed upset at not being able to burn the body in a boat
There is a fan in the basement, said Longtwo. If we blow air over the body it will become as dry as a cracker. The others nodded and looked at Oscillator and Oscillator looked at them all at once and also nodded enthusiastically or else oscillated vertically
They found the basement very dry already like a pharaoh’s tomb, a dark expanse where the walls could not be seen in the distance where the brightness of a lamp Longone had brought along and set on the floor faded. The fan was great and seemed to have a giggling nefarious personality to it, squatting in the middle of the floor (if there was a middle) and saying fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’f
After setting down his oil lamp, Longone went and stood on the other side of the fan for some reason and watched through the spinning blades as Longtwo and Longthree held the limp body up into the wind unsure of what else to do. They were quite awkward and Oscillator seemed made nervous by the basement atmosphere
They waited a while for the creature in their hands to dry but it didn’t seem to work and so after exchanging bewildered glances, Longtwo and Three and Oscillator went upstairs to drag the corpse to the lake and Longone stayed and looked at the fan a while longer like a strange flailing shadow amidst the movement of the blades and the flickering of the oil lamp. He swallowed dustily and cracked his knuckles staring off into space, and his pinky finger came off so he put it in his waistcoat pocket and headed after the others
Set along the beach the three figures stood from tall to tallest like a drawing in a dinosaur book scaling humans next to dinosaurs where the dinosaurs and the humans have melded into a medium of shape and texture. They were going to shoot a flaming arrow into the boat anyways but Oscillator was shaking too much and the three of them were too clumsy and afraid of weaponry. So they pushed the boat out and just watched it float out out across the lake
I’m going to miss Sequenface, said Longthree
Who is Sequenface, asked Longone
I meant Agequick
They looked out towards the boat and then at eachother, then back at the boat and then down the beach towards a figure who was coming towards them along the flat sand and wore a billowing robe or else was billowing smoke for they couldn’t tell in the dim light of the sun sinking into the lake and sizzling out, but they were curious, and so the four of them walked down along the flat sand themselves to go meet the new arrival

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Sitting by firelight in wingchairs that they didn’t quite fit into were three very tall manshaped creatures of a grotesque graybrown textured like avocado skin. They’re sitting very still as if deep in thought and looking into the fire where each of them sees something a little bit different. They were so used to oneanother’s company they barely noticed oneanother there, and jolted out of a sleeplike state one after another when the creaky door swung open and a startling creature came through and sat crosslegged on an ottoman off to the side, its head moving between the three of them and the fire at speeds so incredible it seemed to see all at once. The three long ones averted their gazes awkwardly scanning the carpet
Sorry, said Oscillator
Then after a minute of silence aside from the crackling of the fire it said again, sorry, for disturbing them supposedly, and then turned its head in a fifth direction towards a light moaning in the corner inside of a basket and it said
What is that
We,
Longone looked at his two companions as if remembering just then who they were and what ‘we’ had done
We found a mandrake root in the yard and put it in our basket (the other two looked pleased). I don’t know anything about what it’s doing right now. I’m not sure if the other two know
The other two shook their heads
Oscillator rose and went to the basket and carried it back to set on the ground and as soon as he did a toddler crawled from it towards the long slender foot of Longthree who shook his foot uncomfortably
I don’t know what that is, he said
We should name it then, to be sure, said Longone
Name it what
How about Agequick
Why
Because of how quickly its aging. Look, it’s a child already.
It was a child already indeed. Some hair had sprouted and many of its teeth as well and its huge shining eyes regarded the four of them wickedly so that Oscillator jittered nervously and the rest looked quite disconcerted and Longtwo bowed his head in an attempt to pretend the creature didn’t exist there
I think that its hungry, said Longthree
But the rest were silent for a while and they watched the creature aging quickly in their midst and crying for food. None of them seemed to know what to do and Oscillator began pacing and the fire crackled on
At long last Longtwo said, I have an idea. I have something for it
Let’s s-s-s-ee then-en, frantically said Oscillator, where where
Longtwo tapped his bulbous head. In here. As he said this Longthree was already rising from his chair and taking one gigantic step to his friend and Longone was rocking back and forth in place like a slow pendulum as if that was the role he played in the ordeal. Once Longthree was standing behind Longtwo’s wingchair he put his hands on the head of the other and felt around for a seam, and once he found one he pried at it until he could peel away a section of the soft headshell and take out the idea. It looked like the sort of idea a teenager would eat, so he held it out to what was now a teenager and the teenager snatched it from Longthree’s withered hand and popped it into its scowling face
As it digested the idea the face became more solemn and the teenager sat down as an adult on the carpet in deep meditation
There was much more silence and crackling of fire. Oscillator still was very nervous but his three friends were growing to like the adult somewhat, it was larger and worried them less then. It had a round sweaty face that glistened in the firelight so that it looked like a sequen and Longthree nearly told the other two of his idea to name it Sequenface but remembered that they had already named it Agequick and fell back into silence
You’ve been doing very well lately, Longone told Agequick, and Longthree looked his way to see who was speaking, then remembered his friend and gave a small wave and a smile which Longone ignored. Longthree thought he caught Oscillator returning a friendly gaze but his flurry of movement made it hard to tell
Longtwo was looking deep into the fire, the flap of his head hanging down and nearly brushing his shoulder. He wore a vexed expression and seemed to be losing himself in the depth of flame. He was muttering something that sounded like, I… need… to… find… when… I… get… the… chance… if… that… ever… is… to…. be……
The rhythmic crackle and soft muttering were broken by a sound like hooooh from the elder who was then collapsed on the carpet clutching where its heart was. None of the others understood this because none of them had hearts of their own and so they continued to sit as if all were well as Agequick promptly died of heart palpitations moaning and sputtering
About ten minutes passed before Longone said, I miss Agequick
Why, asked Longtwo
Agequick has died, explained Longthree
Ah, said Longtwo
Some more silence
What do we do now, Longone asked
Oscillator regarded all three at once intensely and said, it it it it’s only r-r-r-ight if we g-g-g-ive it it it a p-p-p-p-proper funeral-ul-ul-ul
O.K. said one of them but Oscillator did not catch which one exactly
Does everybody remember Da, Longone asked, regarding the other two who nodded yes
Do you two happen to recall how we put him in a boat and Lox shot the burning arrow into it and it burned up on the lake
The others nodded
It was very nice, said Longthree
It made me feel much better about his passing, said Longtwo
Da I don’t remember Da who is Da, Oscillator wanted to know
It doesn’t matter that you don’t remember Da, said Longone. He was very dear to us (he counted with his pointer finger) three here
Um
What is it, Longone looked around for the source of the um
Don’t you think that Agequick looks rather damp, I just mean that maybe he won’t burn very well
Well I think you may be right, Longthree
Oscillator was whimpering a bit. He seemed upset at not being able to burn the body in a boat
There is a fan in the basement, said Longtwo. If we blow air over the body it will become as dry as a cracker. The others nodded and looked at Oscillator and Oscillator looked at them all at once and also nodded enthusiastically or else oscillated vertically
They found the basement very dry already like a pharaoh’s tomb, a dark expanse where the walls could not be seen in the distance where the brightness of a lamp Longone had brought along and set on the floor faded. The fan was great and seemed to have a giggling nefarious personality to it, squatting in the middle of the floor (if there was a middle) and saying fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’fr’f
After setting down his oil lamp, Longone went and stood on the other side of the fan for some reason and watched through the spinning blades as Longtwo and Longthree held the limp body up into the wind unsure of what else to do. They were quite awkward and Oscillator seemed made nervous by the basement atmosphere
They waited a while for the creature in their hands to dry but it didn’t seem to work and so after exchanging bewildered glances, Longtwo and Three and Oscillator went upstairs to drag the corpse to the lake and Longone stayed and looked at the fan a while longer like a strange flailing shadow amidst the movement of the blades and the flickering of the oil lamp. He swallowed dustily and cracked his knuckles staring off into space, and his pinky finger came off so he put it in his waistcoat pocket and headed after the others
Set along the beach the three figures stood from tall to tallest like a drawing in a dinosaur book scaling humans next to dinosaurs where the dinosaurs and the humans have melded into a medium of shape and texture. They were going to shoot a flaming arrow into the boat anyways but Oscillator was shaking too much and the three of them were too clumsy and afraid of weaponry. So they pushed the boat out and just watched it float out out across the lake
I’m going to miss Sequenface, said Longthree
Who is Sequenface, asked Longone
I meant Agequick
They looked out towards the boat and then at eachother, then back at the boat and then down the beach towards a figure who was coming towards them along the flat sand and wore a billowing robe or else was billowing smoke for they couldn’t tell in the dim light of the sun sinking into the lake and sizzling out, but they were curious, and so the four of them walked down along the flat sand themselves to go meet the new arrival