The Ballad of Bob, Finale
“Ow.”
“How you holding up?”
“Feel like a train wreck.”
“Could be worse. I guess that’s your girl, huh?”
“Was. Now, she’s never going to speak to me again, and I don’t even know why.”
“….”
Bob was now seated on a bench outside, nursing a shiner. Dinner, needless to say had been ruined by the tussle, and Gertrude and Guido had decided to head back home, her special night now turned into an utter disaster. Gwen told her parents she’d take care of her older brother and that she’d be by in the morning to explain everything.
“Look, Gunther, or Bob, or whatever…. I’m going to go over to the store and get an ice pack for you. Then we’re going to drive back to your apartment and I think we need to talk, big brother. This…this isn’t you. I don’t know what you meant to do, but…this isn’t you. Not whatever you’re trying to be. What was so wrong about being yourself?”
“Because I was dull and boring. Because ‘Gunther’ is dull and boring.”
“Well, I think…Giselle? That’s what you said her name was? I think Giselle was sweet on Gunther. And she has no idea who you are.” Gwen sighed. “I think you really need to think about that, because who you’re being right now? Just a phony. And the Gunther, or Bob, or whatever, I know could never could stand a phony.” With that, she walked off, trying to find the closest drugstore.
Bob sat there for a few minutes, not really sure of what to do now. His parents were pissed at him. His sister was disappointed in him. And Giselle? Well, the shiner she’d given him still hurt, and that was likely the last contact he’d ever have from her again. And what had he gotten out of all of it? Nothing. He sighed. He’d gotten a sign from The Great Galactic Gryphon that this was what he was supposed to do. Had he been wrong? Or was he meant to be the example that others were to live by, the Icarus that fell to earth for his hubris?
He leaned over, slumping. Becoming Bob had just cost him everything.
“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” Bob looked up and saw an old man standing there. The elderly gentleman spoke with an English accent, had long iron-gray hair tied back in a ponytail and wore a suit that seemed well out of place for the nightlife here in the Square.
“Please,” Bob gestured to the seat next to him. “Have a seat, sir.”
“My thanks. I’m afraid my body can’t quite keep up the way it used to,” the gentleman said as he gingerly placed himself on the bench. “In my youth, I was somewhat wild. But now? Well, there’s a reason people such as I eventually retire, if they have any sense. We can’t keep going forever, no matter how eternal my generation thinks itself to be. One day, it’s a full audience in Wembley, the next it’s my garden in West Sussex.”
The gryphon caught the accent as well as the location references. “British? So what brings you here?”
“You, sir, are a gryphon, are you not? I could very well ask you the same,” the man said, a twinkle in his eye. “But since you asked first: I’m in town because the EMP museum is doing a retrospective of the work of my old band. I wanted to sit it out, but my nephew insisted I come out of hiding, one last time for the fans. Personally, I’m surprised anyone remembers my work nowadays since new stars have taken over. But I suppose folks like Chuck Berry and Lonnie Donnegan once said that about me, and someday Midnight Moondust or the chaps with HUFSTOMPR will make the same comments about those who come after them.”
Bob guessed that was his cue to speak. Sitting back up, he said, “Well, I’m sitting here nursing a black eye while my sister went off to get me an icepack. Was planning to throw a birthday party for my mother – we all live in town – but things got out of hand.”
“I can see that,” the old man said, also taking note of the gryphon’s dress. “From what I know of your kind – and forgive me, for I don’t know much – your species is rather staid and plain, aren’t you?”
“Well, not all of us. Gordon Grindclaws, for example, is a heavy-metal guitarist for We Hate You All. And Garrett Glimmerdown is a professional videogame player.” Bob sighed. “But as for me? I’m just a programmer for Microsoft.”
“I’m presuming that pirate attire isn’t commonplace here.”
“Not hardly. But I….” He chuckled. “No, best not say that. You’d probably laugh.”
“I used to be a rock star, young man. That’s laughable in itself at times. You might be interested to know that I made a hit song out of talking about the time I first kissed a girl…and then fainted. And it’s all true, and the whole world knows about it. So your embarrassment can hardly be considered damning.”
“Seriously, sir, I’d hate to waste your time.”
“Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick….”
“Well,” Bob said, “if you insist….” He thought of how best to proceed. He also thought that the old man’s singing voice, combined with the lyric he just sang sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place where he’d heard it before. “I was born as Gunther Greatheights. Born originally in Eyrie City, Griphonica, but we moved to Seattle when I was seven. I grew up as a responsible but boring gryphon: I might have had a future, but no pretty little gryphoness to call my own. And then I met her.”
“Her?”
“Giselle. Took my heart away, made me go weak in the knees. But…she has a boyfriend, I guess an on- and off- one. And I thought that all she wanted was friendship from me, though I wanted more. So I promised myself to change my ways, change my name and change my style, just so I could win her heart.”
“Changed your name?”
He nodded. “Yup, changed it a few days ago. Now I’m legally Robert Smith.”
“I have it on good authority that’s an excellent name,” the old man said, nodding sagely before continuing. “Forgive me if I find that shocking. Don’t gryphons traditionally keep to G names?”
“We do, but...I had a sign that I needed to change my name, and besides, Robert sounds much better than Gunther, don’t you think?”
There was a chuckle. “I’ll admit, it does. Go on.”
“Well, I felt that after my name change, I needed to do more with my life. I went and changed my wardrobe, fluffed and dyed my crestfeathers, then tried to be a new kind of gryphon. But it turns out that everyone I know thinks I’m just faking it, and Giselle? She’s the one that gave me the black eye – she thought I was two-timing her for some reason I don’t understand.”
“Well, how does your clothing make you feel? Rakish? Debonair?” The old man looked at them once more. “Perhaps like you want to sail on the HMS Victory in support of Admiral Nelson? A pirate ship, far away?”
Bob shook his head. “I thought they made me look great. But I think all they did was feed into a lie.”
The man grinned. “Then I think you’ve learned the crux of your problem. When I started in my trade, I was true to myself, found an original path I could follow. Once I became famous, dozens of others attempted to imitate me in various half-baked attempts at fame and fortune. Some were successful, some weren’t. But the ones that were took the basis of what I’d made and created something new.
“It seems to me that you didn’t want to be Gunther, but that’s who you are. You wanted to be a Robert Smith, but instead of being that, you only pretended to be one. Maybe – and this is just my supposition, mind – you were meant to be a Gunther named Robert Smith instead of a Gunther just playing at being one?”
“I don’t understand.”
“This girl of yours. Who does she want?”
“I thought she’d want a Robert. But…maybe I was wrong. But I can’t go back to being Gunther. Gunther was staid, boring. Gunther was unimaginative.”
“Or maybe Gunther was dependable and reliable and always there,” the man replied. “Sometimes creative and spontaneous are just nice ways of saying someone’s a liar or capricious. Maybe it’s Gunther who you should really be.”
Bob listened to those words…and knew the man was right. He also knew he could never be Gunther again. “But that door’s closed to me. State requires me to keep my new name for at least three years.”
“Then maybe you should give thought about being a Robert that’s just like Gunther, only a little bit different. After all, there’s no rule saying that you have to go to the way you were…but there’s no rule saying that you must continue down the disastrous road you’ve chosen: lost in a forest all alone. Think about it and find the path that is truly you regardless of what you call yourself. I’m sure it will be there.” The man stared to someone in the distance, and smiled. “Ah, there’s my nephew. Time for me to go, I’m afraid. But I wish you the best of luck on your decision, Mr. Smith.”
“Thanks. You’ve given me a lot to think about, Mister….?”
The man grinned impishly as his nephew came up. “Do you have any of those spare tickets left for Wednesday’s event?”
The nephew nodded curiously. “Sure,” he replied, fishing out a pair. “But why d—”
The old man grabbed them and handed them to Bob. “I expect to see you – the real you – there with your ladyfriend, sharp.”
The gryphon looked at the tickets, and a flash of realization came over his face…as well as the realization of who he was dressed as. Looking up at the old man with a mixture of shame and gratitude, he said, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Glad to hear it. Now then, off we go.” Bob watched the pair wander off into the distance of Pioneer Square, alone in anonymity.
“Gunthe…er, Bob, sorry I’m late!” Gwen shouted from the air as she soared towards a landing. “I ended up having to fly a half-mile to find the nearest open Walgreens. Why on earth the CVS here always closes so damn late I never know.” Handing him the icepack, she asked, “So, feeling better?”
“Maybe. Certainly have a lot to think about,” he said, looking at his sister while covering the injured eye with the ice.
“So, coming back to reality, Gunther?”
“Yes…but not Gunther. For better or worse, I’m Bob now. I just need to figure out who Bob is,” he admitted.
“Well, let’s go back to your place and we’ll pick this up in the morning,” Gwen told him. “Now, let’s just get you home so you can nurse that eyeball, okay?”
Bob woke up the next morning to a very uncomfortable situation, and it wasn’t the fact regarding his black eye: he woke up to find his parents and his sister standing above him. “So, son, I think you owe your mother an apology for last night’s shenanigans.”
He didn’t even argue with that. “Look…everyone: I’m sorry. But I’ve been trying to turn over a new leaf. But I think I may have gone overboard just a little and pushed away Giselle.”
“So that’s the gryphoness you’ve been mooning over,” Guido said with a chuckle. “She’s rather feisty. Personally, I approve.” He paused. “So…what’s with this bit that you changed your name?”
“It’s true. I changed it to Robert Smith…Bob for short.”
Gertrude looked a bit wounded by that. “What was so wrong with Gunther?”
“Mom…Gunther’s a boring name. Gunther’s a name for dweebs and losers.”
“Well, that gryphoness didn’t seem to like Robert Smith much, either. She decked you, then threw you against the table until the bouncers came.”
Bob shook his head. “No, that wasn’t because of my new name. That was because of who I was trying to be. I was trying to be a new person, but instead just ended up being a fake. She liked me for me, not for who I was pretending to be…and I didn’t realize that until it was too late.” A thought came over him. “And I guess now you’re ashamed of me and are going to disown me for my cultural faux pas?”
“Son…yes, you ruined my birthday, I won’t deny that,” Gertrude said, “but it seems you’ve learned from your mistake and are hopefully going to fix that. If you’ve done that much, then that’s more than enough for me.”
“But…I don’t have a G name anymore,” he said.
“So?” Guido looked at his son. “Your point is?”
“But the Guide says….”
Guido sighed. “Son, clearly you haven’t read the Guide, have you? I suppose that’s my fault, not pushing you to do it when you were growing up.” The gryphon elder walked out of the room and then back into the room, carrying a thick hardcover book. Handing it to Bob, he said, “Chapter 7, Quatrain 6 – read it.”
Bob did as bid. “And lo I speak to you of honesty and self-truth: lest your name commit with the seventh and your heart commit with the seventh, so shall you be worthy of the Garden. But lest not you be worthy of the counting of seven, then shall you not be allowed to gavotte within paradise’s demenses.” Looking up from the book, he said, “It’s obvious: I needed to be worthy of the Seventh, to have and keep a name with the seventh letter of the alphabet, the G. I didn’t do that and I’m a sinner and failure in your eyes.”
“Son, what else comes in sevens in the guide?”
“The Grand Goals of Goodness, of course: the main laws we must live by.”
“Don’t you think the Great Guidesgryphon was referring to that when he mentioned committing to the seven and not an arbitrary letter that could mean anything in another language?” Guido closed the book. “You just made the same mistake too many of our kind do – following rules with genuine goodness in your heart. My parents understood it because they truly knew it, which is why they didn’t stick to G names when they gave my sister and I ours.”
“But Dad…your name’s Guido. And Aunt Gina’s obviously starts with a G,” Gwen pointed out.
Guido looked at his daughter. “Gwen…‘Guido’ is a nickname given to me by my employees, because I like working on Italian cars. My actual name is Reginald. And your aunt goes by Gina instead of Regina because when she married your uncle, he was a hard-core traditionalist like your brother was afraid we were.”
Both Bob and Gwen then asked, “Then what’s with the G names for us?”
Getrude smiled. “I liked your names when I chose them. It was a toss-up between Gunther and Eustace for your brother, and Guinevere and Constance for you.”
“I…see. Well, I can personally live with my name,” Gwen replied. “Big brother? What about you?”
Bob was silent for a while. “I need to be me, but I can’t be the same me anymore.” He looked at his sister. “I could use some help in a new wardrobe.”
She fist-pumped a claw. “Now you’re talking! Get up and get ready – we’re going off to breakfast; after yesterday, I think buying breakfast for everyone is the least you can do. Then, off to the mall!”
“Oh, hey, Giselle, I’m glad I ran into you.” Her boss was at the same café she was having breakfast at, and plopped down into the seat next to her.
“Oh, heya, Marty, what’s up?” She took a sip from her coffee, careful to drink it slowly. In humans, it was a stimulant, but in gryphons, imbibed fast enough it was like liquid cocaine – which is why she drank very slowly…and very decaf.
“Hey, I wanted the chance to talk to you about something work related, but if you’ve got time this morning, we could get it out of the way here in a more casual atmosphere.”
“Sure, I’m all ears,” she said, curious.
“You sure you want to be drinking that?” he asked, looking at the coffee.
“Why?”
“Because what I’m about to tell you might just rock your world, little lady,” he said with a grin. He walked over to the counter and ordered her a green tea. “Trust me, after I’m done, you’ll definitely not want that cup of joe.”
“So, whaddaya think?”
Bob stood in front of the mirror at the local Banana Republic, looking at the clothing in the mirror. A dozen things were going through his mind right now and all of them were very conflicting, but two main thoughts lasered through his mind: he had to really find out who and what he was going to be with his new persona, and he had to make up with Giselle before he lost her for good – assuming there was still time to do that.
“Big brother,” Gwen said, looking critically at the clothing, “why didn’t you ever come here before? The clothing here looks really good on you.”
He looked sheepish. “Uh…because Target’s only two blocks away?”
She cawed. “Look – Target’s good for household goods and stuff like that, but for style, you have to go with something that makes you look good. You have a high five-figure salary, for crying out loud – use it!”
He had to admit, the well-defined slacks and purple polo looked good on him, far better than the loose-fitting stuff he’d worn as Gunther or the stuff he walked into the store with. “Yeah, but I want to use it because it fits me, not anyone’s image of me anymore.”
“Well, what does the image say then?” she said, turning him towards back towards the mirror.
“That…I really screwed things up with Giselle,” he said, deflating.
Gwen saw that and sighed. “I…uh, have a confession to make. She came by your place while you were getting us lunch yesterday. I thought since you really liked her, I was going to make her a little jealous so she could put the moves on you sooner.”
“You did what?” Bob said, incredulous.
A guilty look crossed the gryphoness’ face. “Well…I sorta pretended that I was your girlfriend and challenged her to try to take you from me.”
Bob facepalmed.
Gwen blushed. “Look, I’m really sorry that I—” But she was cut off by Bob’s claw.
He gave her a smile. “You were just looking out for me. Yeah, you made a mistake…but I’ve been making mistakes the past few days. I really didn’t ask Mom or Dad about the idea. I didn’t think about how it would affect you. And I thought that trying to be someone I wasn’t was going to make Giselle fall for me.” He put his arm around her, saying, “So you might have made a mistake…but I made mistakes, with an s at the end.”
She leaned against him. “Now that’s the big brother I know and love,” she said. “So, should we keep trying on some clothing for you?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I think what you picked out fits me better than the other Bob stuff.”
“Still gonna be hard getting used to calling you that.”
“Well, it’s me from now on, so you’ll have to get used to it.” A thought came to mind. “You still don’t have a car, do you?”
“No, not really – and in LA, that’s murder. Granted, I don’t mind flying everywhere, but the Santa Anas screw up my feathers harsh at times.”
A thought crossed Bob’s face. “Well…after the shopping, let’s get headed to the car dealership. I was thinking about buying a new car anyway, and then I’ll sign the SEAT over to you.”
She looked at him as though he’d grown a second head. “I thought you said you were done with trying to be someone you weren’t.”
“I am – a couple of days ago I was looking at buying a Studebaker Hydra HexTurbo XT.” He saw the look of utter shock on her face. “Yeha, I know, it’s only a two-million dollar car and all. But I’d been thinking about the BMW F20 before all this started. It’s a little more realistic and I rented one when I had to go to Chicago a couple of months ago. Really nice ride.”
“Oooh – we both get cars out of this!” She gave him a giddy smile. “Let’s get going before someone else buys the last F20!”
“Not likely to happen; they’re a fairly common car.”
“True, but the sooner you get it, the sooner I get mine.”
The following day, Giselle passed by Gunther’s desk one last time, now that she wasn’t going to be here anymore. He was a jerk, leading her on, and yet…. She had a hard time thinking about it. It shouldn’t end this way, it really shouldn’t.
“Giselle?” She turned to see Max walking towards her, waving hi as he did. “Hey, what brings you here?”
“I was…I was hoping to talk to Gunther.”
“Who, Bob?”
“Bob?”
Max nodded. “Um, cha. Changed his name last week. That’s why he took two weeks of vacation, so he could finish up all the paperwork and take care of some other things before he came back.”
Like find a way to hide a girlfriend so I wouldn’t know, she mused sadly. “I guess it’s for the best then that I didn’t run into him. You see, today’s my last day on the job here, and so I—”
“Your last day? On a Monday?” Max asked. “I call bull. And believe me, I know about bull.”
She laughed at his pun. “No, seriously – all the stuff from my desk is already in my car. And for what it’s worth, I’m going to miss seeing you and Trevor.” She went over and gave him a quick hug. “Tell Trev my goodbyes, okay? I’ve got to go fill out some paperwork over at the HR office before everything’s officially over.”
“Yeah, sure. See ya,” he said, watching her walk off. The moment she was out of eyeshot, Max practically dived for the phone on Bob’s desk and called Trevor. “Dude, serious red alert time!”
“Thanks again, big brother.” Gwen had already packed her stuff and was getting ready to leave. She originally had intended to stay until Wednesday, but now that she had her own car, she was going to have to ready for the long drive down Interstate 5 to her apartment in Santa Clarita.
“Don’t forget to swing by Mom and Dad’s to say goodbye, since they’re expecting you to still stay for a couple more days,” he pointed out.
“I will, don’t worry,” she promised, though her words were soon drowned out by a Hummer racing into the parking lot. The SUV screeched to a halt as it came to a stop, sliding and catching the attention of everyone in the apartment complex. The window rolled down and Max yelled up to the third floor. “Bob! We got a crisis! Get your ass down here, bro!”
Both gryphons jumped down to the car. “Hey, Max, aren’t you supposed to be at work right now?”
“Dude, not when your ass is on the line, buddy! Giselle’s last day of work is today – she’s apparently bailing town! It’s now or never.” He then looked at his friend’s new style. “By the way, snazzy duds, homes.”
Trevor, in the passenger’s seat, shouted, “Nevermind that right now, Max. Bob, get in!” As Gwen darted to the other side of the Hummer to get in the other side, the human grinned and said, “Hey, Gwen. Long time no see. Still being a babe?”
She grinned; she liked her brother’s flirty friend. “Just too much gryphoness for you as always. Plus, aren’t you married?”
“Story of my life,” he grumbled good-naturedly as the hummer roared into existence, rocketing towards the address that Linda gave him.
Giselle had just packed the suitcase when the knock came at the door. She went by, half-expecting a pissed Gavin to say that he was kicked out of E3 or something. Instead, she found Gunther standing there, dressed far nicer than she’d seen the night before – in fact, the nicest she’d ever seen him dressed, ever – looking like something had just chased him halfway up from Tacoma. Behind him was Trevor and Max, both clearly having followed him.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him; it was tempered a second later by how angry she was at him. “I told you I never wanted to see you again!”
“Listen, Giselle, I can explain everything,” he said.
“Look, you don’t have to explain anything, Gunther—”
“Bob,” a female voice said. “His name is Bob. Or Robert, if you want the technical version.” Giselle looked up and saw Gunther’s – Bob’s? – girlfriend.
“You,” she seethed angrily.
Gwen seemed to deflate. “Look…I’m not what you think I am and I’m sorry I made you think that.” She pointed back to the other gryphon, saying, “I’m his kid sister. I know I look slightly different, but that’s because I tend to take after my mom’s side of the family while he takes after Dad’s.”
“And I should believe this because?” Giselle asked; a second later, Gwen produced her California state driver’s license. “Oh, so you aren’t kidding. Then why did you…you know?”
“Because I was trying to help my big brother. I know he would have done the same for me if the shoe was on the other paw. He’s always been there for me and when he needed me, I wanted to help. I just…didn’t think it was going to go south the way it did.”
“But that doesn’t explain why you lied to me!” Giselle snarled, wheeling on Bob. “Have you been playing false with me all this time or—”
He shook his head. “No. And in fact, up until last Monday I thought that changing myself for you was what I needed to do if I was going to compete against your boyfriend. But after last night, I found that the only lie I’ve ever told you was trying to be someone else when you decked me.” He shrugged. “Look, I know I don’t have a chance against you and your boyfr—”
She looked at him oddly. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“But Gavin—” he started before she broke out in raucous laughter. “Something I said funny?”
She gasp in-between fits of laughter, “Gavin…he’s my younger brother. He lives with me because Mom and Dad got tired of him being a slacker all his life – he’s a professional game tester for Nintendo – and hoped I could do something to straighten him out. Unfortunately, he gets on my nerves as well.” Turning to Gwen, she said, “I suppose I should have realized what you said: Gavin looks a lot like my maternal great-grandfather, so he and I have no resemblance.”
There was an awkward pause as the males present all said “Oh,” at once. This passed though as Giselle asked, “So why did you change yourself Gunther? I…well,” she blushed, and then decided to take a chance. “I would have went out with you if you asked me; I’ve been hoping you would. But the other night…wow, did you look freakish.”
“I know. That’s in the past now.”
“I hope so.” A pause. “Look, I’m still a bit irritated with you, but…I guess dinner with you will make up for it.”
“Dinner and a show? Got some tickets for something going on at the EMP on Wednesday.” He fished the tickets out of his wallet, holding them up.
Trevor noticed them immediately. “Holy fuck – dude, where’d you get these? This has been sold out for a couple of months now!”
He shrugged enigmatically. “Some old man gave them to me. Said he used to be a rock star.”
“Rock star?” Giselle had a curious look on her face, wondering what Gunther…Bob?...was up to now.
“Uh, nevermind. But I wanted to make things right with you before you left.”
“Left? I’m not going anywhere,” she replied.
“Um, didn’t you say that your last day at work was today?” Max asked from the back; in the corner of his eye he could see the tickets Bob was still holding up as well as the bewildered look on Trevor’s face. “Plus, what’s with the bag?”
She grinned. “Oh, the job. Marty told me that DigiPen’s looking for a new instructor on control interface design and that the higher-ups decided they’d pay for an instructor position there. I’ll be teaching there on weekdays. Job pays more and it’s a challenge. So I’ll be working for the Big M still, just not in my current job.” She looked down at the suitcase and grunted, “Oh, and the luggage? It’s my idiot brother’s. He went down to LA for E3 this week; packed his XBox Mobile and NeoGeo Heritage with care, but the moron forgot to take clothing. He just realized it this morning and is too friggin’ cheap to go buy some clothing on his own.” She shook her head and sighed. “Maybe it’s time I kick him out, too.” She paused dramatically, followed by a coquettish look as she told Bob, “Unless you’re looking for a roomie of the female persuasion.”
Bob, true to himself, stuttered, “I…uh…well…ohboy…..”
“Just curious, though: why Robert? You don’t strike me as the Robert kind.”
He shrugged. “It just seemed like the right thing to do. Although I know I’m going to hear it from a lot of purists.”
Giselle nodded. “Tell me about it: I use my middle name, both because it prevents people asking and because I prefer it to my first name.”
“It’s your middle name?” Trevor asked.
“Oh yeah – I have no idea why my parents named me Muriel.”
Wednesday came and Bob and his new girlfriend were happily sitting by the stage in the EMP Museum. At the other end of the table, Trevor, his wife Natasha, Max and his fillyfriend Guiding Light were sitting. “Okay, Bob,” Trevor said, “Explain to me how you got a table right next to the stage. You know someone here at the EMP?”
“Sorta,” he said, cryptically. In the past couple of days he’d picked up a teasing aspect that neither of his friends knew where it came from…and they couldn’t be happier.
“Isn’t he just mysterious?” Giselle said, leaning into her boyfriend, then craning her neck up to kiss him on the cheek. Bob grinned slightly, finally in his element. He’d ended up being true to himself, getting the girl and realizing that he could do something for her. Yesterday, she called Gavin to tell him she was planning to move in with Bob and that he needed to find a new place to stay; in turn, Gavin strangely enough admitted he’d been a burden to her and would take over the apartment because he needed to shape up; there was this cute gryphoness who worked up north at Bioware that he was trying to get to know better.
“Mysterious, no; a pain in the ass, yes,” Max said, laughing. Light tapped him on the shoulder and frowned at him; cowed, Max shrugged and said, “But anyway, man, spill! How’d you get the tix?”
“Him,” Bob said, pointing to the stage as the old man, hair still tied in a ponytail but wearing clothing similar to what Bob had been wearing a few days prior, came up to him.
“I see you found your true self,” the old man said.
Bob nodded. “I guess I won’t be saying, ‘Why Can’t I Be You?’” In turn the man laughed, then went back to the microphone and picked up his guitar before nodding to his band.
“Thank you all for coming,” the old man addressed the crowd. “My first song goes out to my friend here and his new ladyfriend. May you never hiss like caged tigers and wonder if you couldn’t get closer than this,” he said as he segued into “The Lovecats.”
Everyone at the table then stared, slack-jawed at Bob – including Guiding Light, as she recognized the voice. Half the song went by before Trevor’s wife Tasha asked, “Uh, how did you…?”
Bob grinned. “Hey, we Robert Smiths have gotta stick together,” was all he said.
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Yay, a mention of DigiPen! =D
Can't wait to see the campus when I fly over this December. =x
I can kind of see a tv series out of this. Naw, reality tv is awful.
I seriously hope you work a reference to Bob into the main AAG story.
You know what just happened? iTunes started playing Just Like Heaven. When the singing started, Gmail gave me an alert. This had updated. I love it when something like that happens, don't you? It's like someone's looking out to make me happy.
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Robert Smith ... *google* OOOOOooooohhhh!
Good for you Bob good for you!
Edit: Gaah can't get rid of the nostalgia bug after listening to The Cure. Damn you!
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Actually, a lot of what was shown here has its ultimate response in the main story. Yes, Faust (Faust the alicorn is not the same as Lauren Faust, who does exist on HE in this story but has no ties to MLP) changed the timeline, but did she have the right to? Yes, she did it because Bon-Bon tried to sacrifice herself for Lyra's happiness, but did she have the right? Even now, in the main story, she's meddling in the overall mess, but does she have the right?
And I mentioned Sukhoi because they've had an extraordinary amount of problems lately. Yes, that could happen to any manufacturer, but Sukhoi seems especially cursed at the moment.
hwout next have a continuation of the memories chapter
I woudl liek to see the fallout from raritys pov
Eustace and Muriel needed to find some courage. Dawg.
Man I love this one. Also; "Studebaker Hydra HexTurbo XT"? That is the ridiculous name for a car ever, bravo!