Order and Chaos

What's more relaxing than an unexpected appearance by MILTON (the beloved family cat)

The obvious answer popped into my mind. Humans were always calmer in the presence of a feline, and as the new God of Comfort, naturally I would be even more comforting. Not that I saw a need to reveal my new identity; given Mary's encounter with the previous Felus, there was far too much risk that something might go wrong.

So, I suddenly manifested myself near Mary and Commun, where I would surely calm their nerves.

"Oh, look," Commun said suddenly. "A cat. It's adorable, isn't it?"

"Huh, looks just like Milton," Mary said. "Our cat Milton, I mean. Not my stupid half-brother..."

Suddenly, Mary didn't look very relaxed.

"Milton," she growled. "He's had weeks to scheme some way to take the throne."

"Probably months, actually," Commun piped in. "Though it's hard to say, the days are hard to keep track of. I don't think there have been 1,030 of them, though."

"Well, we can't let him get away with that. I have to address the gods as a queen. So we'll have to get the army and march on the castle to make sure they know I'm in charge now."

"Will you at least put the fingerpaint on first?" Commun sighed. "There's too much at stake not to."

But Mary had already rushed up the mountains, and Commun simply ran after her.

Omg i got tricked

I just sat there, trying to process how my plan had failed so thoroughly. I knew Mary and her brother didn't get on well, and I knew I shared a name with him. I should have been able to predict this reaction, yet somehow I hadn't. At first, I wondered if I had been confused by all the realities I had simultaneously observed. But then, when I tried to recall just how it was I had come to the idea of manifesting before her in the first place, I was struck by a startling revelation.

I had been tricked.

The wool had been pulled over my eyes. I had been double dealt and played for a fool. Whether I had been swindled or misled, bamboozled or hoodwinked, the fact remained that I had been taken in and taken for a ride. Someone had deceived me, defrauded me, and deluded me by giving me this idea. I believed that I was trying to achieve one thing, but instead I had done the opposite. It was this outcome that I had achieved instead of the goal that I thought I was accomplishing. The reason for this was that I had been caught and thrown by a hoax.

Whether I felt flabbergasted by how I'd been flimflammed or dumbfounded by how I'd been duped, rocked by how I'd been rooked or confounded by how I'd been conned, now that I'd been outwitted into thwarting my own plans, I had to admit that I had been set up and had one put over on me.

But who could be responsible for this nefarious act of trickery? And what was I to do about it now?