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Post by GALE SAGAR on May 21, 2011 0:13:45 GMT -5
It was a quiet night in Gale's pub. Quiet, mainly because he had shut it down for the night. Bolted the doors, blown out most of the lanterns, and drawn himself a bath of sorts.
Well, not so much a bath as a rejuvenation. He had been gasping most of the day. He needed to submerge himself again, or he would die. And as wonderful as death would be, he was not sure it was time to end his suffering. Not yet. Gale stripped down by the basin, hesitated, and sank into the freezing water. The effect was almost immediate. He could feel his legs transform back into a tail, relieving tension from the muscles.
The soothing sensation of water, his native soil as it were, was a balm that no other human resource could offer. His eyes closed, and he let himself lay for a while, his tail twitching and moving. This was an elegant solution to walking down to the docks and diving nude into the water. There people could see him. There people would figure out that one of the local barkeeps was not what he seemed. And he could not have that. That would ruin two years of hard work to cover his tracks, his past.
Under the water, he could still hear his dear Nixie's laughter, her voice…and ultimately screams and pleads for help as the storm had taken her those two years ago. Gale's grip tightened on the sides of the basin. Nixie, what he wouldn't give to bring her back, even for ten minutes…an hour…even once tiny second…
After about half an hour, Gale's head rose from the water, he inhaled deeply, and he wrestled his way out of the basin and onto the floor. It took moments–painful moments–for his legs to return. He redressed himself in his dirty shirt and pants, and then–bucket by bucket–he emptied the basin out in back of the pub.
Once the basin was empty an hour later, he moved it back to where he kept it hidden and unbolted the doors. He ran a hand through his sopping hair as he went about relighting the lanterns and waiting for people to start coming back in.
If anyone asked why he was wet…he had fallen in by the docks. He had been drunk and it had been dark…It was what he always said.
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