Ridiculust Ch. 14

"It's cancer, isn't it?" asked Roger flatly, going pale and stepping back a few paces.

"Stage V pancreatic cancer," Alice replied, leaning on Agnes for support. Roger and Jeannie looked at each other, and the pain registered with the others. "How am I even able to be upright with all this pain?" she asked rhetorically. "I'm doped to the eyeballs, of course. When several of our contacts and colleagues told us that you were most likely The Healer Archetype, I thought that you would be my only chance for a cure. Can you help me?"

"It was pancreatic cancer that would have killed me, had my body not died in a car crash," Jeannie said softly. The memories of that dreadful night and the days that followed hit Roger like a baseball bat between the eyes and his aura flared bright enough to make the others cover their eyes.

"Jeannie, oh my love," he said in a choking voice. Her aura flared in turn, and merged with his. "Can I cure it? Yes I can, sir," he said, ignoring Alice's gender for the sake of the pun. Beams of light shot from both hands to her feet, then slowly moved up her body, and in so doing seemed to draw blue and green energy from the ground underneath up along with them. Each black spot that they touched vanished, causing her to twitch slightly. John and Agnes quickly grabbed each of her arms to steady her. Jeannie held Roger by his shoulders and her shared power seemed to amplify his for the minute that it took to reach the top of Alice's head. She was glowing with blue and green, which faded quickly.

"That was the weirdest feeling ever," said Alice as the other two gently lowered her to the ground. "But I feel no pain, and strangely refreshed. Thank you, Roger, thank you from the bottom of my heart." She was able to stand up, and crushed first John and then Agnes in bear hugs.

"I want something to eat now," said Roger. "I am famished!" The Chinese food truck was partially visible in the distance. "Come with us and we can chat over a snack. Those ladies in the truck make great food!" He took Jeannie's hand and they began the walk.

"We know," Agnes replied as they joined Roger and Jeannie. "They're friends of ours, cater to some of our events, and were with us outside the restaurant."

"Such a small world," Jeannie mused, "and such a large fan club you have, Roger." To their surprise, he blushed and looked bewildered. "But what did you mean by 'The Healer Archetype'?"

"Well," said Agnes hesitantly, seeing that John and Alice were foisting this on her, "there is really no way to explain this without sounding like a total crank, but we are part of a small group that is interested in the reincarnation of souls." Roger and Jeannie nodded, remembering what Sarah had told them earlier. "The general consensus is that there are souls of varying ages, but there must be some that are very old but have not yet passed on to whatever the next stage of existence is."

"If I get some of General Tso's chicken, do I have to give it back?" Roger asked the person behind the counter, who happened to be Wan Kee. She rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Always the same joke," she complained. "One General Tso," she said to Ming Lu.

"Maybe if he said it Tso low that you didn't hear it that would help," suggested John.

"Gaah, not you too!" Alice groaned, punching his shoulder to try to silence the cackles. "Jeannie, does he corrupt everyone he comes in contact with?"

"I should start off with something light, since I haven't had anything to eat since I was reincorporated," Jeannie replied. "I'll have a wonton soup, please, since I'm his wonton woman." Alice rolled her eyes and threw up her hands, while Agnes ordered two egg rolls.

"It isn't corruption," Roger complained through a mouthful of chicken and rice. "Oh, this is good! It's a love of the language combined with a sense of fun..."

"Silliness," corrected Jeannie, ignoring his scowl.

"And that dopamine hit you get when you pull one off, right John? You felt it, didn't you?" A fist-bump was offered and accepted, and Alice, surrendering to the inevitable, ordered three spring rolls. It was only about 4:30 and she wasn't all that hungry yet, despite the magical cure she'd received.

"So, you are the Healer Archetype?" Wan Kee asked Roger as payments were settled.

"Well, Agnes was just starting to explain the concept when we got here," said Jeannie pointedly, "but it seems that he is indeed a healer." She took a tentative sip of the soup and swallowed it and, when her body didn't rebel at it, took a healthy swig.

"Just don't tell the College of Physicians and Surgeons about me," he mumbled.

"The Archetypes are very old souls who tend to find themselves in the same or similar occupations in each life they have," Ming answered, joining Wan at the window. "If we were to do a past life reading on you, we'd find that you have been a doctor, nurse, shaman, and so on. Some Archetypes cross paths relatively frequently, like the Warrior and the Healer, the Engineer, and the Administrator. Others, like the Musician and the Sorcerer, infrequently cross paths with the others."

"They would work well together because their skills are complementary," Roger agreed. "Warriors need Healers to keep them alive, Engineers to build them stuff, and Administrators to make sure they don't run out of supplies part way through the campaign."

"Are these verified observations of people known to be these Archetypes, or just a lot of speculation and arguments over wine and cheese?" Jeannie asked cynically. "How would you even know if somebody was an Archetype?" The others hemmed and hawed and wouldn't meet her steely gaze.

"Wine and cheese and speculation may have been involved," Agnes replied uncomfortably, "but much to my astonishment, it appears that we may be right."

"Yeah, right," said Alice through a mouth full of spring roll. "When we get back, you'll be in the thick of it speculating on how many of them are in town right now!"

"And we really should get going. I'm sure Alice could do with a rest before the big party here tonight. Oh, and how do we stop seeing auras? This is very distracting," said John.

"Try saying 'auricle' again," suggested Roger. They did, and by the way they were blinking, he could see that it had worked. "I think I've set up an on-off switch in your brains."

"Mostly off for him," snickered Agnes, "given that he thinks merlot isn't pretentious."

"There is nothing wrong with a good merlot!" he retorted. "Unlike the Reisling you say is so great, but isn't any better than repackaged paint thinner!" They walked away towards the park's entrance, bickering happily, while Alice paused and turned.

"Your aura is the most beautiful I've seen," she said to Jeannie, "not that I've seen too many. If this Archetype idea really is true, I'd put money on your being the Sorcerer."

"Well, she certainly cast a spell on my heart," Roger replied, batting his eyelashes and getting a poke from her in return.

"Always with the sweet talk," she smiled, like the proverbial ray of sunshine. "Have something more to eat and a good rest and we'll see you later tonight. Then you'll be able to see all sorts of different auras to compare mine to."

"And thank you very much, Roger," she said, giving him a very warm look with startlingly green eyes. "I know that there's no way I can ever repay you for saving my life."

"Pay it forward, then," he replied. "Do something good for someone else. But given that I was able to do for you what I couldn't do for Jeannie, I'd call us even. Thank you." They briefly embraced and she left to catch up to the other two, who had stopped when they'd realized that she wasn't with them.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Roger asked. He was standing under the window of the food truck, and he'd noticed Ming waving her hands over his head.

"Trying to find your halo," she replied with a smirk. "I'm Ming Liu, by the way. My partner in crime is Wan Kee." Wan smiled and waved at them.

"OW!" Roger complained, rubbing his shoulder where Jeannie had preemptively punched him.

"Don't even THINK about making a pun on her name! God knows what horror you would unleash!" Roger put his hands on his hips, scowled and pouted, making them all giggle.

"I was about to say that Sarah did the same thing to me a couple of days ago," he continued. "Is a good man that hard to find?" The three women looked at each other and nodded.

"There are lots of good men out there, but you seem to have taken it to the next level," said Wan as a gentle breeze wafted the scents of flowers and cut grass to them.

"I'm no saint. I've done lots of things that I truly regret and wish that I could undo," he replied, looking at Jeannie. "As I've aged, I'd like to think that I've become less of an asshole."

"Once the kids got older and the money situation got better, you did manage to," she replied. He hung his head ashamedly. "But," she continued, holding his head with her hands and gently kissing his nose, "I knew that you were not an asshole at heart, but only seriously stressed about trying to make ends meet and keeping things together. I knew who you really were, and are."

"When we married," Roger said slowly, looking into her eyes and seeing the silver, gold, and white aura intensifying around her, "I promised that I would love you until death do us part. But you died. When death parted us, I was technically released from my promise, but in my heart I never released myself. I never stopped loving you, and then I found out that you never really died. So death has not parted us after all." He paused. "You ... still love me, right?"

"Of course I do, Roger. More than ever. Now, take me to the grove and make love to me."

"The Sorcerer and the Healer. What magic they will make together?" said Wan as the two of them moved quickly, hand in hand, back towards the grove that was calling them so strongly. She was distracted by some chittering. She looked down and saw four plump raccoons and one half-grown fox sitting in a semicircle around the window, staring intently at the pile of food containers that was on the ample ledge around the window, which could be removed and stored inside before the truck was put in motion.

"You lot are fat enough to be getting ready for hibernation!" scolded Ming, wagging her finger good-naturedly at the raccoons, who were clearly trying to look innocent. "And you are in bad company," she added to the fox. "Those four characters are furry piglets with masks who mooch shamelessly and seem to live on these containers." The fox yipped and the second raccoon from the left trilled something that seemed to mean "Enough with the lecture, lady, hand them over."

"Oh, fine," sighed Wan, tossing the containers onto the ground in front of the critters. Each grabbed one in its mouth and they scurried off to a nearby clump of bushes. "Let's see what they think of Number One Hot Sauce," she added with a snicker. A few minutes later, as they were serving a man and a woman, they all heard a screech of pain and one of the raccoons tore out of the bushes, heading for the river where it headed south from where it bent around the grove.

"Those furballs can really move quickly when they want to," Ming commented as they watched its rapidly retreating form. More screeches quickly followed as the other three charged desperately after the first one. Then the fox trotted out, licking its chops. It sat down, gave its right ear a vigorous scratch, got up, looked at the truck, gave a little nod of acknowledgement, and ran south with a flick of its tail.

"It looks like the fox was smarter," said the man with a grin as he and the woman walked off.

"Which of these trees needs a boost the most?" Jeannie asked a little breathlessly as she and Roger arrived in the grove, which was strangely empty given the number of people wandering around the park. They could hear distant noises from the sound system of the stage, amongst the soothing sounds of the breeze blowing through the twelve magnificent trees that stood in a circle, roughly equidistant from each other. "Maybe I should see my auricle." Roger muttered something similar, and they both looked around. The trees all had auras that were unsurprisingly various shades of green and brown, but they also each had another colour as well.

"We would have a hard time hiding from anyone who can see auras," he said, looking at himself and her. "We're as bright as searchlights." He looked at the willow by the river. "The willow's aura is strong. Man, that's a beautiful shade of blue!"

"The silver maple here is also looking strong." Its aura had a yellow component, similar to the colour its leaves got in autumn. "The poplar across the way looks OK, though I'd like to know how the big branch there got to be such a nice healthy colour." Roger tried to look innocent. "And don't try to give me a story. I can see how your aura gets all twisty when you're trying to talk your way out of something!" Busted, he sighed as she moved in and put her arms around him.

"Trina found me here after I'd somehow teleported myself out of Julia's when everything blew. She sneakily got me to say a pun that rejuvenated me and, as we quickly noticed, Little Lazarus." At her quirked eyebrow, he said "My cock now has been named because of the way it rises from the dead." Jeannie snickered and kissed him gently on the lips.

"I think he's rising now," she purred, shamelessly groping the half-hard organ. Roger could feel her rock-hard nipples pressing into his chest, along with some electrical stimulation from them.

"Anyway, she said that she had to add it to her collection, or words to that effect, and next thing I knew I was on my back with her very masterfully riding me." His hands were clasping the cheeks of her soft and shapely ass as she ground her crotch into him. He could feel the heat through his shorts that were barely restraining his rigid, glowing cock. "Here, this pine tree's aura is looking a little sickly. I think I dreamed once of making love under a pine tree. Probably you were responsible for that," he added.

"Then let's make that dream a reality," she replied, lying on the soft grass under the tree. "You don't need those shorts now." Roger nodded and pulled them and his underwear off in one smooth motion. His cock was horizontal and glowing brightly in quickly shifting patterns of green, yellow, and turquoise. "It looks like you're ready," she said with a wicked grin as she hiked up her white dress to reveal that she'd been going commando. The curls of her untrimmed brown bush were damp with desire, and she was glowing brightly. "Make love to me, Roger Matheson."

"Your wish is my command, Jeannie Matheson," he replied hoarsely, getting on his knees between her legs and rubbing the folds of her hot, wet pussy with his right index finger. "It seems like you are ready, too. It's time for Little Lazarus to pay a house call." He smiled as he lowered himself onto her, and they wiggled and shifted until he was properly positioned and he thrust in to the hilt in one stroke.

"Oh Goddess, that feels so good!" she hissed in his ear as he began gently moving in and out. "I can feel everything on that wonderful cock of yours! Little is not the right word for Lazarus!"

"You're squeezing me tight enough to," he replied. "Just like when you're about to come really hard." She nodded, eyes wide, breathing harder and harder, looking up at his face. "You can feel the current from my cock tickling your clitoris, and I'll bet it's driving you crazy." She was bucking and he was thrusting hard with soft sucking noises, just barely in control of himself. "But you don't want to come first so that I can say I won, don't you? Maybe I won't come at all and I'll fuck you for two orgasms."

"Oh, you're coming all right. I can feel how hard you are, how hot you are! And I'm pouring energy into that cock that would destroy any other. You're coming, mister, and you're coming now!" She grabbed his head and pulled it down so that their mouths connected and tongues invaded each other. Their arms wrapped tight around each other and her legs wrapped around him as he found his cock gripped so hard that he couldn't move. Their auras had completely merged and their colours were swirling about wildly as they came. "Aaah!" Jeannie felt Roger's cum splash deep inside her, followed by a blast of energy that shorted out every muscle in her body. She in turn blew a huge surge through his body and felt him go rigid as his muscles shorted out.

"When you were gone, I always pined for you," Roger whispered, twitching over with his right arm to touch the tree trunk. When she managed to put her left hand on the trunk, the second wave of their orgasms struck, but this time their combined energies surged into the trunk instead of each other with the sound of a gale roaring through a forest, and their third and final wave caused the entire top of the tree, large cracks in the trunk and branches, and all of the branch tips to erupt with her gold, silver, and white colours, followed by his yellow, green, and mostly turquoise colours that closed the seams and cracks and healed them up. Roger's body took the brunt of the shower of debris, pine cones, and ash from blasted fungus and rotted wood that had exploded in flame as it was blown out of the tree.

"We're going to have to get decent before people come over to investigate," Jeannie muttered as Roger rolled off her and managed to sit up. His fitfully glowing, deflated cock glistened wetly with their combined juices, which were also drooling from her abused pussy, whose glow was rapidly fading. He managed to get his shorts and underwear on and helped her to sit up and lean her back against the tree trunk as she covered her exposed crotch with her dress, but kept her bare ass on the ground so that evidence of their lovemaking could leak out into the ground without staining anything.

"This is the same dress that you were wearing in my dreams when I was pursuing you through the Eaton Centre," he remarked after getting a closer look at it. "How on Earth did you manage to find one just like it?"

"Strangely enough, it was in Julia's closet. She hadn't worn it for years and gave it to me. She and Sarah had bought the same one on a whim, but Sarah was the only one to wear hers. We're close to the same size and it fits very well." She paused and they looked around the grove, but strangely there were no people coming to investigate the fireworks they'd created. The grove was still empty except for them, the breezes, and the light from the lowering sun. "You never finished your story of your encounter with Trina."

"Oh, right, heh-heh," Roger replied, snickering at her attempt at a stern expression. "You are remarkably difficult to derail when you want something!" His effort at a winning smile and batting his eyelashes got nowhere, as usual. "Well, I was channeling a lot of energy from whatever source is in here into her, and after the second energy shot from my orgasm, she flew off and landed next to me. My third shot went wild and hit the poplar's branch. It must have done some good."

"I think I'm ready to go, now, but I'm all sticky and gross and need to clean up."

"Well, if I tell you one of my clean jokes, will that help?" A small ball of energy shot from his right hand and hit her crotch, and Jeannie suddenly found herself on her feet with a squeal.

"You and your puns! Really!" she said, looking down at her husband with a scowl. "But, thanks. I feel clean, but now I'm hungry again. We should get something to eat before the big show tonight." She helped Roger get up, and they both stood, swaying slightly, beneath the big pine tree. Roger placed a hand on the rough bark and said in his soothing voice,

"Well, tree, I can't hear or understand you, but it looks like your aura is strong and healthy now, and I hope that you live long and prosper. We will see to healing the rest of your ... colleagues, a little later tonight." They walked a little unsteadily through the grove towards the main entrance of the park.