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The Gift

Daniel's Storyline, Chapter 4.3

copyright comidacomida 2018

Herne hadn't spent any time taking part in the guessing game so the first note played in the room came from him; it was a clear pluck of a string and it caught my attention, sending a little shiver of excitement up my spine. I was about to have a jam session with a group of Spirits and I couldn't have been more excited.

It didn't take me long to set up my guitar and I plugged everything into place using the equipment that the business supplied. True, I had my own, but why bother bringing it if what they had was high quality and reliable? With that in mind, I looked around at the spirits all readying their own instruments and I realized that I'd never really been in a studio with a group before. "You know what would be fun? I'm going to start with a little melody, and then we'll add another instrument to it, then another, then another until we come up with our own song... just a line or two. Sound good?"

The uncertain expressions on everyone's faces had me worried enough that I paused, but I decided they'd pick up on things soon enough. "Okay then-- here we go!"

I started with a really easy G - D - Em - C chord progression to make sure everyone could get the hang of it. I established a tempo and repeated the chord once, then again, and a third time before looking to Aiden when I started the fourth. "Okay, Aiden... now add something to it and we'll move forward."

The Bat looked down at his keyboard and reached up to rub his ear as I went through and did another chord progression and, as I finished that, his paws went to the keys and, on my next time through he started playing as well. I heard a D chord then an A chord followed by a B-minor, then a G chord. All in all, it was a good addition to my own selection. Smiling, I nodded. "Okay... now how about we add--"

Without letting me finish, Kon stepped right up and began a four chord progression of his own with a D - A - Bm - G. By the time the three of us had begun meshing the sounds together I couldn't help but feel that it was starting to sound familiar. A moment later Aiden started pulsating his base note and, right after that the Fox started singing the lyrics that made me realize that we'd put together an already established song. "See the stone set in your eyes. See the thorn twist in your side..."

Everyone stopped, at which point Talapus, who hadn't even started drumming announced "That was 'With or Without You' by U2."

I sighed. "Yeah... I guess that really isn't an original."

Herne scowled. "I do not think this will work, Daniel."

I waved away the concern. "Nah... it's fine. We just need to give it a few tries to work the kinks out. Okay... let's try again."

Starting us up fresh, I started things off with a fresh chord progression and motioned my head toward the keyboard "Okay, Aiden--- have at it."

The Bat went straight into it with less hesitance the second time. He added a chord in D major using D major, A major, B minor, and G major. Before I could say anything Kon jumped right in and I was surprised when Talapus followed suit. This time it was the Coyote who broke out into song first "Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world..."

The instruments petered off from there and Aiden spoke up. "We just put together 'Don't Stop Believin'' by Journey."

Talapus shrugged. "Well, either way, I sounded good. That's why they call coyotes 'song dogs', just so you know."

Herne shook his head. "Daniel, Spirits are not able to--"

I shoo'ed away his hesitance. "Just give it a chance, Herne. Nobody gets things right on their first try all the time."

Selecting another chord progression I started us off again. "Okay... third time's the charm guys. Go ahead and pick it up when you're ready, Aiden."

The Bat waited a few times through until he added the keyboard to what I was playing. Kon barely waited to start in and immediately started signing the lyrics to John Denver's 'Country Roads'. The music dissolved into nothingness yet again and a series of sighs rose up from around the room.

If the third try wasn't going to work then I was bound to have the fourth try do it. Herne once again offered up some fatalistic objection but I would not be denied; I hadn't had a good jam session since I'd moved to Cherry City and that night was my chance! Starting fresh, I figured we might have better luck if I passed it off to someone else. "Okay, Kon... how about you pick it up this time?"

The Fox immediately joined in, tail swishing as he didn't even bother waiting a bar before starting in with the lyrics to 'Paparazzi' by Lady Gaga. At that point I was starting to feel a little defeated, but I tried to stay positive. "Well, at least all of you have nice singing voices."

Herne butted in, this time a little more aggressively. "Daniel! Spirits cannot create! We do not have that ability."

That got me to pause. "Huh? What do you mean you can't create?"

Surprisingly, the Spirit that seemed to know the least about almost anything spoke up. Aiden stepped away from his keyboard to address my question. "Daniel, Spirits do not have the creative spark that Humans do-- even a Glamour Spirit like me can only ever replicate what Humans have made rather than make something new."

I had a hard time believing him. "What? Nah... you're shitting me."

Kon shrugged. "Well... each Spirit type has a certain degree of leeway when it comes to creation-- I bet if Bat Boy there really tried he could probably manage a new creation inspired by something Humans have already done... and Talapus is incredibly creative when it comes to trickery and misdirection, while--"

The Coyote leaned back in his chair, twirling a drum stick around between his fingers. "True... true..."

Before Kon had a chance to continue I called him on his own information. "Well, what about you Kon? How can Yokai be creative? Maybe we can still figure something out."

Herne's response was accompanied by a no-nonsense scowl. "Yokai can create life, with a Human's help."

That thought blew me away and I was struck dumb for what felt like the longest time. After my brain restarted I tried to puzzle out what the Elk meant. "You can, Kon? You can make new life?"

The Fox shot Herne a dirty look before slowly turning to face me. "Sure, Danny... same as a Human can do. Out of all the Spirits, only Yokai can have offspring."

Although that was strangely unique in its own right it didn't have the same mind-numbing power as what I'd been imagining in my mind. "Oh... wow... that's pretty cool."

We sat in silence for time I didn't bother counting. What had originally started as a night about music and the opportunity to relax by doing some jamming had pretty much self-destructed. After dwelling on that thought for a moment I--