Well, what the hell. If I can say it in pubic on Faibanx, I can say it here as well.
You hoot, "Oh, but anyway, I just heard someone mention the name Palanth."
Blue says, "Isnt that one of the very very few who have NOT been here?"
You hoot, "Um...yeah, I think Palanth left long before Faibanx was made."
You hoot, "But he was on the earlier mailing lists and such."
You hoot, "Please tell me I've told you about Palanth, 'cause it'd take like a year to tell the story again."
Denare rumbles softly, "I think we all know the story, or the abridged version, or an abridged version of the abridged version."
Blue ...
Blue gets a twitchy eyeridge.
You hoot, "I never told you about Palanth, Blue."
You hoot, "Jeez, except maybe for Skant, he's probably the longest story and most material I have from The Golden Age."
Blue sits.
You hoot, "Aw, no! I can't go into all that now! Especially not when I'm sick. Have pity!"
Blue nods.
Blue says, "Was a plick like all of them were?"
Dinosorceror opens his mouth, inhales a bit...
You hoot, "No, he was different from anyone else I met."
You hoot, "But damn you, let me at least give you a teaser."
You hoot, "He's broken in the head more than anyone else I ever met."
You hoot, "You know how you could go by a car crash, and feel empathy for the people involved?"
You hoot, "He can't. His empathy nerves are severed."
You hoot, "He is completely oblivious to what he does to others."
You hoot, "I mean, I dug deep, man. I grilled him. I honestly believe the guy is just broken in the head. It's like...you can't get mad at a retard for spilling the milk if he has no motor control."
You hoot, "I actually could not get mad at Palanth for destroying people's lives because he really is broken inside."
You hoot, "And yes, we're talking fairly serious destruction. Not just using people like Kleenex and hurting feelings. No, we're talking tens of thousands of dollars here."
You hoot, "And that is all I will say now."
Blue nods.
You hoot, "It'll blow your mind who he was involved with all that money with, though."
Blue clapclaps anyway.
Diablo does shifty eyes.
Somewhere on the muck, Gaygoyle has connected.
Blue says, "I only recalled sexy big yellow megadragon, art whoreship, and bad feelings."
Dinosorceror chuckles. "Oh, have you run into Goldycocks, too, Diablo?"
Denare snorts at the name
Diablo says, "I don't think so, but it was a good story."
Denare rumbles softly, "I wanted to chuckle, but I had tea in my mouth."
You hoot, "But...I didn't tell the story."
You hoot, "Goddamn it, am I gonna have to tell the story?"
Diablo says, "Either of Palanth or Skint, yes!"
Blue says, "I dont know."
Diablo will go to his cave and nose rocks around otherwise.
Diablo says, "That's basically what I do all day."
You hoot, "Oh, Palanth is much more interesting. *sighs and coughs up chunks* Okay, gather round, all, for the biggest dirt you've ever heard in The Fandom(tm)."
You hoot, "So this was in the early days."
Diablo stops looking for classic mac games to emulate and sprawls out on his flank.
You hoot, "I still lived at my parent's house, still worked at a defense contractor."
Denare listens in. It's been awhile.
You hoot, "It was in the days when I actually met people in RL and went to cons. Actually, I guess even back then, I didn't go to meet people, they came to my parent's house to meet me."
You hoot, "The first one to ever do that, just show up on my doorstep completely unannounced, was Synge. But that's another tale."
Blue sees an all dreamy flashback border around the screen
You hoot, "In those days, I hung out on FurryMUCK most of every evening, getting under paws whose owner's names are long past in the veil of time."
You hoot, "But one of those paws' owners was Palanth."
Blue says, "(Yet another wellknown name)"
You hoot, "He was as I guess he is now, still a four-footed classical Dragon, name and persona stolen from some D&D book about Krynn, I'm told."
You hoot, "He's a dragon god. He's who I wrote the stories Final Devotion and Further Devotion about."
You hoot, "So he was most often in character on FM. Just a giant dragon god, who didn't like squishing little weesaurs undertoe as much as having little weesaurs undertoe beg and worship him."
Diablo recalls the stories and rumbles happily.
You hoot, "But I still got a few enjoyable RP's and fun times with him. Shit, back in those days, I was passed around underfoot like some sorta bong."
You hoot, "My only personal involvement with Palanth was hanging out on FurryMUCK with 'em, and one time, he drove up from Virginia to visit me in Pennsylvania. He had an old 70's car...shit, what was the vanity plate...it was a shortened version of GOLDDRAGON or something like that."
You hoot, "It was a yellow Pontiac looking affair."
You hoot, "So, in real life, he's a gay guy's wet dream, really. I'm not much gay myself, but I would say he has to have the most attractive package, all in all."
You hoot, "He's not exactly handsome, but not ugly either. However, his looks pale compared to two other features in RL."
You hoot, "His voice. His voice is exactly how you'd imagine his dragon persona sounding."
You hoot, "It's deeper than Darth Vader's."
Blue leans in and listens.
You hoot, "In fact, because of that, I believe it was during his one visit he recorded the deep harmony on my song 'Reunion'. That's Palanth."
You hoot, "He talks that low all the time."
You hoot, "Anyway, that's sexy feature one. Sexy feature two I didn't see, but I'm told he has an enormous cock."
You hoot, "So unless there's someone younger out there, he has to still be the prize to fuck for gay guys at furry cons."
You hoot, "So...let me begin to explain to you how broken he is inside...it's the weirdest thing."
You hoot, "I mean, in short, he really is a dragon god, in RL and online."
You hoot, "I believe...the first person I remember him shacking up with was someone called Drakkon. Now this person was no piece of cake, mind you, but Palanth pretty much used him as a sugar daddy, then I can't recall what triggered the end..."
You hoot, "But Drakkon, already a fair mess of a person, was pretty much used up and shit out."
Blue says, "No pun intended."
Somewhere on the muck, Groundshaker has disconnected.
You hoot, "So then, 'poor waif of a dragon' that Palanth was, he needed financial help, needed to get away from his own parents, apparently."
You hoot, "So guess who his next sugar daddy was."
Denare rumbles softly, "The man(tm)"
Blue says, "K."
Blue says, "Or you."
You hoot, "Oh, no."
You hoot, "I...don't believe I ever offered him any financial assistance."
You hoot, "But dunno, was a long time ago, may have sent him a couple bucks, but he certainly couldn't come live with me. C'mon guys...guess!"
You hoot, "He's a very prominent name."
Blue isnt one to offer when asked.
Denare rumbles softly, "I already know, and do not wish to ruin the mind blown part."
You hoot, "Oh."
Diablo thinks hard, but doesn't remember names much anyway, certainly not appropriate ones.
Blue says, "Then its either The man K, or Ken Sample."
You hoot, "Well, c'mon, Blue and Diablo...."
You hoot, "No, but good guess."
You hoot, "He moves in the same Sample circle, though."
You hoot, "Oh, wait!"
You hoot, "You did guess it."
You hoot, "Kagemushi."
Blue says, "Den gave it away."
You hoot, "The most selfless man in the universe. The guy who runs a con now because...well, that's another story.
"
You hoot, "So Kage, with his own apartment, and being a Doctor of Chemistry and all having a fairly good paying job, takes in the poor gigantic Golden dragon waif."
You hoot, "So, as told to me by Kage, he also brings a backload of financial debt of approximately $15,000-$20,000."
You hoot, "Kage's mother, having free money on her credit cards, is apparently convinced by Kage to have her pay off his debt and then pay him and his mother back as he could."
You hoot, "So Kage gets to have sex with an attractive young man for a nice sum of money."
You hoot, "Kage also buys Palanth lots of nice electronics and toys."
Blue . o O ( toys )
You hoot, "I believe Kage assisted Palanth in getting a job as well."
Blue smacks himself as nobody else does, and goes back to listening.
You hoot, "So, when Kage asked about a reimbursement plan...well, Palanth always had immediate needs that took precedent."
You hoot, "Palanth was buying his own toys with the money he was making."
You hoot, "But eventually, Palanth, through Kage's already substantial network of macro friends, found more attractive fare."
You hoot, "To make a long and painful process of months short, Kage...I don't even think Kage kicked him out. I think Palanth finally got the message that he wasn't very welcome, and moved on to his next sugar daddy."
You hoot, "As I recall, and as Kage told, I don't think more than a grand or two of the debt was ever paid back."
You hoot, "So naturally, having visited Kage many times and considering him a close personal friend AND already realizing that he's the most honest and selfless person I think I'll ever meet in my life, I was fucking insanely pissed."
You hoot, "I grilled associates, then I grilled Palanth."
You hoot, "And so help me God..."
You hoot, "The guy is broken."
You hoot, "After being in The Fandom(tm) for as long as I had been, I've seen lots of manipulators and losers already."
You hoot, "And they all have predicable responses."
You hoot, "But so help me, the guy honestly, honestly didn't see what had happened."
You hoot, "Not even that anything wrong had happened. As far as he was concerned, Kage lost interest in him so he left, was as simple as that."
You hoot, "I tried, again and again, to point it out to him. And...I guess it's hard to believe, guys, but I swear to God the guy is just broken in the head. I could not be mad at him. I actually pitied him."
Diablo says, "How bizarre."
You hoot, "I thought to myself, 'Jesus Christ, when this guy is in his sixties, he's going to have no one left to leech off of and he's going to die alone and confused, wondering what the hell's wrong.' It's honestly like he's mentally deficient."
You hoot, "And I think a lack of any sort of empathy is the best way to put it."
Somewhere on the muck, Zilla has connected.
Denare rumbles softly, "He has plenty of empathy. It's just lodged in behind the apathy and cannot get out."
Denare rumbles softly, "Sorry. I'll stay quiet."
You hoot, "But I swear to God, Denare, the guy could not see."
You hoot, "It was like trying to describe colors to someone who's color blind."
Denare rumbles softly, "I know what you mean. I call that the fog of ignorance. It even comes with D&D style stat penalties."
You hoot, "I honestly believe he had no clue."
You hoot, "So based on what I just heard, I think he's still with a fairly lucrative sugar daddy, God knows who, though."
Denare rumbles softly, "Last I heard, he was living with, or at least near Cashew Lou. Another of life's mysteries."
You hoot, "I would say that at this point, he's actually landed a job that's paying him good money for little effort due to sleeping with a superior. And whoever he's with now, has to be like number eleven or so after Kage."
You hoot, "Shit, the poor guy."
You hoot, "It's not like I can warn 'em, though.'"
You hoot, "That giant cock and deep voice...I'm sure it's worth it to them, if only for a few months."
You hoot, "But I honestly cannot be mad at the guy. He's handicapped."
You hoot, "All I can try and do is warn people before him."
You hoot, "I mean, he's certainly a nice enough guy, as long as you keep his interest."
Denare rumbles softly, "What I don't get is that people have to know this, even if by whisper of rumor. And he still gets away with it."
You hoot, "The cock, Denare. The cock."
Blue sometimes thinks there's only so many ressources for making a body's organs of interest big.
Denare rumbles softly, "Fuck that. The list of demons is far longer than it."
Diablo noses Dino for the story.
You hoot, "So there's my Palanth story, which could spin off...let's see. Synge story, Kage stories, Ken Cougar stories."
Blue clapclapclaps!
You hoot, "I wonder what Synge is doing now."
You hoot, "He was such a sweetie."
Diablo says, "It's easy not to realise that there's a lot of history floating around here."
Diablo goes to make dinner.
You hoot, "Wanted to get in my pants in the worst way, too. I'm just not gay enough, though."
## Diablo goes away from keyboard. (AFK)
Denare rumbles softly, "I've talked with Kage. He's admirably kind and generous to the point that he'd give you the shirt off his back if you need it. But he's no fool."
You hoot, "No, he's not."
You hoot, "He was just...geez, hopefully probably...the biggest victim of Goldycocks."
Blue feels he at least was like that too once.
You hoot, "What, like Kage?"
Blue says, "The former."
Denare rumbles softly, "See, I don't care how awesome a person seems. If they're a jerk, I'll have nothing to do with them."
Blue says, "If it makes someone nice happier than me..."
You hoot, "Kage liked to explain that his giving and generous nature was 'penance' for all his dark fantasies, but I don't think so. He's just a fucking saint, pure and simple."
Blue says, "I am likely to optimize the combined happiness, not my own."
You hoot, "At least, he used to be. God, running cons must surely have turned him bitter.
"
Blue says, "Ah, not even."
Denare rumbles softly, "I know this is coming, so here's the pre-emptive buttering up. Dino is the exception. He seems crotchety, and possibly one rocking chair, a few decades, and a cane away from telling people to get off his lawn, but he's real, and he's genuinely nice."
You hoot, "Kage used to work for the Red Cross. When I'd be out on a drive through Philadelphia, he'd pull over for car accidents, and have tools at the ready."
Blue says, "Actaully, for having to be one of the most ancient furries, he's quite a boy I find."
You hoot, "No, goddamn it! I am not genuinely nice!"
Denare rumbles softly, "Accept it.
"
You hoot, "No, I'm really not! I'm selfish as hell!"
Denare rumbles softly, "You sir, are a liar. And that is slander, I have witnesses.
"
Blue says, "And often careless."
You hoot, "Yes, selfish, careless...."
You hoot, "lazy!"
Denare rumbles softly, "Look at all the things you do, and then say that again."
You hoot, "Yeah, I do it for ME!"
You hoot, "I made a mailing list and a web site and a muck so *I* could get sexy toes!"
You hoot, "The whole..."
You hoot, "...the whole idea that it's a place for people to discover they're not alone with their funky desires, well..."
Denare rumbles softly, "You can self depreciate all you like, I've seen the nice. You cannot hide that."
You hoot, "Well, that's just stuff to balance out my selfish desires and oh crap I sound just like Kage now."
Denare smiles
You hoot, "Damn your eyes!"
Denare rumbles softly, "I need more tea. I'll be right back."
You hoot, "I should post this to the forum."
Blue says, "I pondered suggesting that, or a regular Dino story hour, but feared the drama."
You hoot, "Well, that settles it, I'm doing it.
"