Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2016 21:41:37 -0400
From: Milford Slabaugh <tommyhawk1@aol.com>
Subject: Pursuing Happiness

			    PURSUING HAPPINESS
			   By Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM
		      WWW.TOMMYHAWKSFANTASYWORLD.COM

     Overhead, two gryphons were making slow, lazy circles in the
sky. Perhaps they were mating, or sparring for a mate, or just enjoying the
feel of flying. Jebbett, black-haired and white-bodied, muscled and lightly
tanned with so many summer suns such as this upon his body, watched them as
he lay nude on the edge of the small forest spring they had found. In the
spring, Marev was splashing about, washing himself and cooling himself in
the heat of the day. They had found the spring on their journey and as the
day had been hot and getting hotter, it was well worth taking a half-hour's
break from their journey to enjoy the cool spring. Jebbett watched the
gryphons, their golden wings shining in the sun over their bronze-colored
lion-like bodies, and as he watched them, his eyes slowly closed and he was
sliding gently, quietly, into a dream state that....
     An arc of cold water splashed over his stomach and he startled awake,
yelped in dismay. "Marev!"
     Marev's easy laughter taunted him. "You were getting too warm!"
     "I'll warm you up!" Jebbett grinned and rolled over and onto his feet
and lifting himself up only slightly upwards on all fours, sprang like a
frog into the spring and on top of Marev. The two rolled around in the
waters, yelling and wrestling and dunking each other and when they tired,
both men got out of the water and lay side by side on the rock where
Jebbett had lain, letting the sun dry them.
     Jebbett didn't let himself get drowsy again, the first time had been a
fluke. He had a mission after all. "We should resume our hunt." he told
Marev. "The cellephite was seen here a week ago, you know the cellephite
never lingers in one place for long."
     "We will find it." Marev assured him. "If not this time, we will
wander until we find where it lingers again." These two had been searching
for the cellephite for almost two years now, and this was the second summer
of their travels. Southward in the colder weather, northward in the warmer
seasons, they followed the birds in search of that one bird, the beautiful
sky-colored cellephite, also called by some "the bluebird of happiness,"
the magical being that, if caught and kept in a cage, would bring good
fortune and luck to its owner. Some creatures were magical, but the
cellephite would bring magic to everyone and everything nearby.
     But the cellephite, being a bird, would migrate with the seasons and
never stayed one place for very long. Where some birds migrate in a mass
and a hurry, the cellephite flew only short distances and extended its
migration to the entire year, and it was this cycle that Jebbett and Marev
were trying to match, to learn, to mimick and overtake the cellephite and
take it for their own. It was Jebbett's fondest dream, to capture a
cellephite and put it in a cage in his father's shop. He'd inherit that
shop one day soon and a cellephite's magic would make the shop profitable
enough to make Jebbett a wealthy, wealthy man!
     Why Marev had come along with Jebbett, Jebbett didn't know and didn't
care. He was a longtime friend and they'd done many things together as
children, and now as adults, Marev remained his constant companion. It was
wonderful to have a friend to share his travels with, and in wild woods,
one would sit awake and watch while the other slept. In tamer fields such
as this, they would share their bedroll, safe and secure in each other's
arms.
     Dressed again, they renewed their search of these woods. The
cellephite had been seen by a little girl in a village nearby less than six
days ago, she had run home and told her parents, but when they'd come back,
the cellephite had been gone. The peasants had been superstitious and
stopped their search (the cellephite that didn't want to be caught would
bring bad luck, they thought), but they had told their tale in the taverns
and Jebbett and Marev had visited the tavern the day before and, told of
the cellephite, had set out eagerly to try again to win their fortune.
     Jebbett held the net while Marev quested about in front of him, ready
to round a likely bush or copse of trees and flush out the birds from it
upon a call, and Jebbett would lurk ready to cast the net high and
fast. Jebbett like watching Marev as he moved, the tall,fair, brown-haired
man was a supple and sleek as a whippet, and his lithe, slim body moved
agile as a leopard over the brush and into the thicket that....
     A burst of blue, pale, beatiful blue, flew out of a bush close beside
Jebbett and he cast his net over it without thinking. Was it the
cellephite? Could it be...truly be...the bluebird of happiness?
     It was, it was! The beautiful creature wasn't truly a bird, it merely
had wings and was of the same size as a bird, but upon closer inspection,
the body was too slim and long for a bird, it was more humanoid, though it
had no arms, just those majestically pale blue wings, which matched the
pale blue body. It screeched forlornly, but Jebbett was heartless, he
pulled from his pack the small cage he had carried for so long and
carefully reached in and plucked the small creature from the net, holding
its wings close to its body so it would not injure itself in struggles, and
placed it within the cage and clasped it carefully shut. The cellephite
perched upon the central stick in the cage and chirped mournfully.
     "Don't worry, little cellephite." Jebbett told it. "This cage is only
until I can get you home, and there you will have a large, golden cage with
all the best grains and plenty of clean water and you'll never be cold or
blown about in a storm again."
     Marev came up then and said, "Okay, let's get to the clutch of elms
over there, I think I saw a flash of blue over there and...." And then
Marev saw the cellephite in Jebbett's travel-cage and he stopped dead in
mid-speech.
     "Marev, my friend, our journey is over." Jebbett said in triumph. "We
can go home now."
     He looked at his prize again and then up at Marev, and his smile
slipped. Why wasn't Marev smiling. "Home?" Marev said.
     "Sure, we have the cellephite now. I just take this back to Father's
shop and he can retire, happy, knowing that I'll make all the money we'll
need for the rest of our lives. So few shopkeepers have that assurance, you
know, between the markets and plagues and wars, you live your life on the
edge, but with this cellephite, that'll never happen to my store."
     "Yes." Marev agreed. "Your store." He gave a sigh. "Well, then, yes,
let's go back home."
     "Your father and brothers will be glad to have you back on the farm as
well, I'll bet."
     "Yes, yes, the farm." Marev had moved well ahead of Jebbett. Odd, he
usually chose to walk right by Jebbett's side. His voice sounded odd as
well. If Jebbett didn't know better, he would swear the man was biting back
tears!
     Marev was silent for some time, and when he finally did come back to
walk alongside Jebbett, he remained quiet and talked only a little. The
mournful cries of the cellephite in its cage was their only
companionship. Jebbett felt that for a creature that would bring good luck,
it was off to a very poor start.
     They traveled as always until nightfall and made their camp the same
as usual. Marev was a bit more talkative and Jebbett made a few tentative
efforts to find out why Marev was so somber, but Marev would never rise to
the bait and talk. He filled the void himself with talk about the good
fortune the shop would bring and what he would do with the money, and how
his life would change with the good fortune. "No more tramping about in the
woods like this, chasing after a dream and a hope, and living on odd jobs
in between our searches. Won't that be wonderful, Marev?"
     "Yes. Wonderful." Marev got up. "I need to water the fields. Back in a
moment."
     "Good night, Marev." Jebbett laid back on the bedroll and
wondered. What was wrong with Marev, anyhow? Their long trek was over,
Marev ought to be cheering instead of morose!
     A small sound to one side, then the cellephite was chirping in
alarm. "Hush, foul thing, quiet!" came the whisper in the darkness.
     Jebbett sat upright and looked. The cellephite! Marev had the cage
with the cellephite and had the cage opened. The cellephite, too frightened
to fly out, was cowering in the corner of the cage and Marev was cursing
and reaching in for it!
     "Marev! Marev, what are you doing?" Jebbett cried out.
     Marev turned to look at Jebbett and the guilt was clear upon his
face. "I...I was worried about the cellephite." He said, stumbling in his
lie. "I saw the cage was open and it was trying to get out, so I grabbed
the cage and caught it and put it back in." The last words kind of slid out
rather than being spoken, like a clock winding down.
     "I...see." Jebbett didn't press it. "Thank you for recapturing it. Now
let's get to bed."
     Marev moved over quietly and was silent for a time. "Jebbett?"
     "Yes."
     "I'm sorry."
     "It's all right." Jebbett didn't ask why Marev was apologizing, he
knew. "It's been a rough time for both of us. Now come to bed."
     "Yes." Marev's voice was stronger, now that he knew Jebbett bore him
no ill will for his actions. "A hot night."
     "Yes, it is." Jebbett agreed. "Going to be a very hot summer."
     "Yes." Marev said. "I think I'll sleep without my outer clothing
tonight."
     "And why not?" Jebbett smiled. "This is a night to celebrate. The end
of the quest. We should feel free to do whatever we like."
     "Whatever we like." agreed Marev. "In that case, I intend to sleep
with no clothing at all, as I would at home."
     "The night is hot enough to make that a wonderful idea." Jebbett sat
up and began to pull his own shirt off.
     These old friends had slept together for many years, and had slept
naked on innumerable occasions, but always on those nights their
association had been of friendly camaraderie and trust and nothing more. It
was certainly nothing more than that which Jebbett expected. Marev slid out
of his clothes and his pale body ghostly-beautiful in the moonlight,
climbed in beside Jebbett. The bedroll was small, they'd always had to
sleep up against each other. On this night, Jebbett squirmed over and
turned onto his side toward Marev, Marev did the same, facing him. His face
held an unutterable sadness upon it. "What ails your heart?" Jebbett
inquired.
     Marev did not answer, just shook his head.
     "You don't have to go back to the farm upon our return. My good
fortune will let me keep others about me, you can stay with me in my home
any time you wish, for as long as you wish."
     "It isn't that." Marev said.
     "Then what?" But Marev again shook his head and Jebbett saw a tear
drift out of one eye and over his nose bridge. His own heart broke at
seeing his friend in such distress and Jebbett reached up one hand and
pressed it against Marev's cheek. Marev turned his head under the hand and
his lips found Jebbett's palm and kissed it softly.
     Jebbett's hand slid over Marev's neck and down his shoulder, over and
onto his back, his other hand came up underneath and beneath Marev's neck
and Marev's arms encircled Jebbett and the two men kissed, for the first
time in their long, long, long friendship.
     And the cellephite began to sing. A small, soft melody, it was like a
large piece of soft woolen blanket that lay upon the entire scene, and it
covered the two men in their impending passion. As they kissed, their arms
tightened more and their bodies touched, and Jebbett felt Marev's manhood
touch his stomach beneath the navel and the heat and hardness of it told
him all he needed to know. But then, his own organ was the same, a solid
pillar of desire that smeared a smudge of crystal-clear, liquid delight
upon Marev's abdomen.
     Marev moaned and began to rub against Jebbett, his cock making hot
circles upon Jebbett's lower stomach. The same motions was grinding his own
dong against Marev's body, Jebbett grunted and began to rub himself,
accentuating the pressure and the speed by moving in counterpoint. The
rubbing of his dong was sending a constant wave of passion through his body
and Jebbett moaned and gasped, "And are we to rut against each other and
spray our seed like a pair of newly birthed puppies spray their water?"
     "Uhhhh, uhhh!" Marev grunted. "I would do more than this, much more,
but would not press you for more than you are ready for."
     Jebbett reached down with his hand and said, "We can start with
something we enjoyed much as children." He grasped Marev's prong and
stroked it and felt Marev's hand gripping his own. And the cellephite's
music continued to wrap them snugly in its constantly moving folds of
fluid-like melody.
     They pumped each other and Marev sighed and said, "Would that we had
never stopped this."
     "We thought we had outgrown it."
     "Nay." Marev said. "Say instead that you thought so."
     Jebbett hesitated, for this was true. "I did not mean to deprive you
then."
     "I recovered from it some, then mourned it anew when I learned what
else there was I could do with another man in bed."
     "You have this knowledge?" Jebbett gasped for his desire was growing
steadily. "Would you pray be so kind as to share this with me."
     "It would be my greatest pleasure." Marev told him and squirmed his
body down under the bedroll. It was necessary for him to quit the majority
of the bedroll and only his head and shoulders were underneath. But that
put his mouth down near Jebbett's manhood and, oh my Goddess! Jebbett
moaned with a sound normally reserved for one's death agony! Marev had
taken Jebbett's prick into his mouth and the motions he was now using upon
the enraged organ was nothing short of explosively delightful! "Ohhh, oh,
ahhhh, ahhhhhh!" He groaned. His climax was surging toward him like an
outraged bull charges the matador, only this one wasn't to be distracted by
the red cape!
     Hold off, hold off! Jebbett begged his body, I don't want to explode
in his mouth! Not now, not yet!
     But his orgasm was inexorable and began to worm itself into his body,
a glowing force that spread from his cock outwards and upwards, using his
spine as if it were the King's highway.
     What to do, what to do? He looked over at Marev's body and Marev had
moved his lower body onto one side so that he could masturbate
himself. Jebbett saw that slim, pale pud gleaming at the top like it was
tipped with a diamond and suddenly he knew what he could do.
     He squirmed around in a hurry and as Marev struggled to keep hold on
Jebbett, and Jebbett had his own face at Marev's crotch and he captured
Marev's pud at the same time Marev recaptured his.
     He had never considered how to orally stimulate another man's penis,
but he'd had Marev's magical mouth moving on his own and it was only a case
of matching that experience. Getting his mouth filled with saliva, he began
to ply his mouth up and down the shaft and was gratified to hear Marev moan
the way he had been doing. But Marev started in on Jebbett again and it
became a race of sorts. Could he bring Marev to climax before his own
assaulted his senses.
     Marev's groans were more intense than ever, when Jebbett's own ecstasy
overwhelmed him. He moaned around Marev's cock and his eyes exploded with
blue and red fireworks while his brain reeled and sloshed about in his
skull, captivated by the most extreme joy he'd ever experienced in his
life. This was more than the sexual release he'd gained from his own hands
in the night, more than the few dalliances with paid women in cheap inns,
this was something...magical.
     The cellephite's song must be doing this to him, he dimly managed to
think while his brain was wracked with climax, while his cock poured its
juices into Marev's suctioning mouth, for Marev was drinking him as fast as
he could produce it, as a calf does its mother's milk. It must be that the
cellephite had enchanted their bodies, enhanced their lovemaking,
enraptured his senses with the climax.
     And as his own orgasm concluded, Marev began to groan urgently and
Jebbett, who had been about to release the cock to breathe, understood and
held on determinedly. He would not give Marev less than he'd been given, he
would not, though his brain screamed for air and his body for oxygen.
     And Marev's ejaculation sprayed into his mouth with a force that
nearly stung his tonsils with their power. Jebbett clung desperately and
swallowed, feeling the thick fluid as it gushed into his mouth, and then
slid greasily down his tongue and into his gullet, and then more and more
and more followed that path, and he gulped, gulped, gulped, and then it was
over and Marev was done, his hips still thrusting at Jebbett but soon that,
too, stopped and Marev slumped backwards and Jebbett let the dong fall from
his lips and he went onto his own back and the two men lay there, mostly
out of their bedroll, two exhausted lumps of manflesh drained of their
essences and sweaty from their labors. Oh, for that cooling spring once
again right now, Jebbett thought languidly.
     Marev moved over and around and his face came up to Jebbett's. "Thank
you, my dearest friend." His kiss on Jebbett's lips was not ardent, it was
more like the signature one makes upon a delivery, when the package is
already in possession. A confirmation of receipt. And, as if the cellephite
agreed, it quieted and the entire night was still and dark and somehow less
rich than before.
     "I could do no less for you, dear Marev." Jebbett assured him. "You
have been my constant companion for so long, I cannot imagine life without
you any longer."
     "Nor I you." Marev said and kissed him again. "Now that our quest is
at an end, I...I don't know what to do with myself, even. I had lived only
for this hunt, and the times we had to come. I cannot believe still that it
is over."
     And Jebbett knew then why Marev had tried to free the
cellephite. "Well, there is still the trip home to make." he said. "That I
guess will take us a week or so." They had wandered quite near their home
valley in the weeks before, the fact now took on a depressing aspect to it.
     "Yes, we will have that." Marev said and Jebbett could see him putting
on a brave face for Jebbett. "We will make that time an eternity, then."
     "An eternity." Jebbett agreed. And with that, they returned to their
bedroll and Marev fell soundly asleep in Jebbett's arms. Jebbett himself
slept but wakened a good hour before sunrise. Marev had rolled onto his
other side in the night, freeing Jebbett from his clutch. Jebbett arose
quietly and performed an essential task, then micturated and returned to
the bedroll. Marev roused somewhat, enough to turn back and wrap himself
around Jebbett once more, and the two slept again.
     Jebbett awakened to a cry of dismay from Marev. "It is gone. It is
gone!"
     "What is?"
     "The cellephite! It is gone from its cage!" Marev lifted the small
cage. "The latch is still closed. It must have fled by magic."
     "Yes, it must have." Jebbett agreed. "Well, then, we must renew our
search. Mayhaps it is that only the cellephite may choose to stay with its
captor. When we find the next one, we shall see if we can persuade it by
means other than forced captivity."
     Marev looked at Jebbett in growing surprise and a smile rose on his
face to match the dawning sun. "Yes, yes, that must be it. Well, then, the
search begins again."
     "But it will be a more pleasant search now that we know each other
better." Jebbett said. "Now, let us strike camp and see what we can learn
from the elders of the next village about this."
     "Yes, the search will be more pleasant." Marev said after a
time. "Perhaps the cellephite did grant us the happiness we sought after
all."
     "Perhaps." Jebbett agreed. "Or perhaps for you and me, happiness lies
not in the finding of the cellephite, but in the chase."
     "I think you are right." Marev said. "And perhaps instead of striking
our camp immediately, we should wait here a day or two and see if the
cellephite will return."
     "We can do that." Jebbett agreed and turned around. The bedroll
beckoned anew and with it, all the happiness that lay within.

				  THE END
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		      WWW.TOMMYHAWKSFANTASYWORLD.COM