The Singing - Excerpt 2

"Remember that Spock toy I bought you when we were ten?" Russ asked, lying back on the bonnet. "The one from the Motion Picture when he had the blue uniform with the thing on his belly."

"The thing, one could only assume, was a communicator." Dai addended with a wave and a laugh.

"Of course."

"I never quite got around to getting you that one of Kirk." Dai said quietly.

"I always preferred the uniforms from Wrath of Khan onwards. I liked the way the lapels – "

" – opened up."

"It looked like it was a real uniform, you know? It looked like they were real officers."

"Star Trek Two's the best though." Dai stated, starting to count off his points against his fingers, "The best kind of sci-fi – about, you know, new beginnings. Project Genesis is like an analogy for the whole film. It may as well be the beginning of Trek post the Original Series, but also brilliant because it ties it in the old. Instead of a really vague, enigmatic high concept they made the characters grounded and human."

"'Frankly, I find that... insulting!'" Russ countered gleefully, putting on his best Nimoy drawl.

"Nicely done!" Dai said, sitting up.

**

"Where else has this town got to offer? Nowhere too rough, mind." Alice muttered, "I'm a girl of delicate sensibilities."

Russell laughed. "There's the Annwfn, Coedcae way. It's a Double Dragon pub so the beer's like piss but it should be nice and dingy."

"Annwfn, like the Underworld, Annwfn?" Alice asked.

"Aye." Dai nodded, wondering how she knew.

"Oh. Right. Just so I know what I'm getting myself into."

**

The beings took Vaddi's hand and led him into the bower that waited at the centre of the oasis, a golden path lined with trees that glowed vibrantly. As they moved Vaddi could see the two beings clearly from the corners of his eyes. One male, one female. They were both teasing him with their smiles and the way their eyes shimmered with light.

He felt his resistance melting. This, surely, was rapture. Bliss awaited him at the end of the path, be it death or enlightenment, both or neither. He could not know. But he walked willingly into the light. Refusing guilt. Refusing shame. He gave all of himself without question.

And they laughed, long and cold as the world passed out of order and Vaddi with it.

The Singing - Excerpt 1

Come on post count for November!!!

The tall one passed out of the shadow and into the purple twilight. The air was full of dust and fragments of frozen water that settled in drifts of grey sludge. Finding a clear patch, protected from the winds, the tall one gathered a pile of waste protected by a cage of logs. They watched in wonder as he started a small fire and gaped as the fire grew. They could feel the heat from where they were cowering. So, the legends had not been exaggerations, the tall ones had lived in an age of wonders and they still possessed great magics, even if their majesty had long since dimmed and passed on the wind.

"Can I borrow the tinterweb?" Bryn said, waltzing into Dai's room without so much as a knock. Dai gestured to the chair and went to sit on his bed. Bryn slumped into the computer chair and began typing away leisurely.

"Thought about what you're going to wear?" Bryn inquired, without tearing his eyes away from the screen.

"I didn't think it required thought. I was just going to go like this."

"Yeah. Well."

"Do you think it matters?"

"Yeah. Think about it. What you wear says so much about yourself." Bryn said, turning away from the screen. He liked clothes. "It's like a microcosm of your psychology."

"Really?" Dai said, laden with dryness.

"Yes." Bryn said, frowning. "Really. Think about it. The way I dress tells you that I'm part of a zeitgeist, the in-crowd and that I care about the way I look. The way you dress tells everyone you've got a sickening fondness for Primark."

"Touché." Dai replied, feeling himself sufficiently rebuked.

"So what should I wear?"

"Dress to impress. This is Russ after all. He's almost as shallow as I am."

"You realise this isn't a date. Right?"

"Says who?"

"Says me."

"Well, depends on your definition of 'date', doesn't it." Bryn said, staring once again at the computer screen. Dai sat up, these conversations with his brother always made him uncomfortable. There were times when he was just too precocious for his own good.

"My definition comes laden with romance." Dai stated.

"So does mine. You're saying your relationship with Russ isn't in any way romantic?" Bryn countered, adopting the tone of someone slightly offended by the suspicion of his opinions, "All of my relationships are romantic to a greater or lesser degree. If you aren't at least baseline attracted to your friends then there's something wrong with you."

"Are you sure we live on the same planet?" Dai asked, certain that his brother said things just to seem cool but occasionally expressing something he genuinely meant. Which was scary.

Bryn didn't dignify him with a response and stoutly carried on with what was, presumably, his homework but may well have been MySpace. He was trying to recruit a band, which was proving problematic considering he was extremely picky. If they weren't interested in Refused, The Bronx, Death From Above 1979 and The Smiths (to name but a few), then he wasn't interested. Few people in Bont were interested in those specifics, apart from Nia, but she didn't count because she had questionable moral standards. Well. As far as Dai was concerned anyway.

"Do you remember, when we were younger," Bryn began evenly, "When you, Russ and me went and played up the top fields. You'd both buzz off for twenty minutes, leaving me on my own."

"Oh?" Dai asked reticently, wondering where this line of enquiry was going.

"You know I'd have joined in if I'd thought you'd let me."

Dai, who was sitting down, wondered what to make of this slightly disturbing news. His heart was thundering in his chest and he was literally speechless. The experimental years, as Dai had come to think of them, had been such a formative and private experience he'd always half-assumed nothing similar had happened to anyone else. The idea that his brother not only knew about their little escapades but in a sense, approved left Dai feeling very unsettled.

Bryn stood up from the computer and looked Dai straight in the eye. "Do you want help picking something out or not?"

Dai nodded.