Re: Petty Squabble [ROUND 2] [Acidity City]
10-24-2011, 12:47 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
”But what does it do?” Carnea asked, and Alison found herself in the position of explaining things to a goddess. Some would do without it, but she found it almost empowering.
She shrugged as casually as she could. “It’s just a phone. You talk to people with it.”
“There are beings in there?” The goddess glanced doubtfully at the small object. They would have to be really tiny people, or somehow the mortals have managed to free themselves of spatial laws.
“No, you talk to people on the other line.”
“The other what?”
“You talk to someone who has a phone.”
“You talk to yourself?”
“No, when you call yourself you get voicemail.” Alison managed to see how absolutely confused Carnea was despite her having the barest essentials of facial features. “Okay, forget about voicemail.”
“But—“
“No, it’s not important.”
Carnea let the interruption pass but struggled with the idea of ‘forgetting’ before locking the information of ‘voicemail’ away in a mental vault. It seemed an absolute waste of infor—wait, what was she thinking about?
Alison was talking again. “So this is a phone, and other people have phones, and you can talk to those other people because they have phones. The phones call each other. And you call a specific phone by using their phone numbers, because every phone has a different phone number, and when you use that phone number, then you call that phone and then you talk to whoever has that phone.”
It was a rather good explanation, and as in depth as a teenager could go without losing interest in the subject. Carnea was left with only one question. She couldn’t help but feel it would be seen as a foolish question, but then, you didn’t get to know as much as she did without asking foolish questions now and again.
“What’s a number?”
Alison stared blankly.
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All around, lethargic gods stirred. Their people had long been inactive and, likewise, so had they. But there was something in the air, something exciting moving about. Something new that set their metaphorical tits atittering.
People. New people!
Not believers, not yet, but they will be, by god, they will be, or else die. And then new believers meant more power to the pantheon and though it would not be much, it was enough to excite the various deities and much speculation went on. Maybe we can grow. Maybe we can restore this city as it were. Maybe we can even expand beyond how we were.
They had to convert them immediately. As fast as possible.
But there was the problem of new gods…
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carnea was still struggling to grasp the idea of a phone, which apparently was akin to a gostak yelling something to another gostak from two completely different hills. But what she did eventually grasp was that the phone was her ticket to escaping this dreadful affair and then maybe having a stern chat with the Charlwhatever.
“Can you call someone right now?”
She was too excited for Alison to refuse. Imagine, being fascinating to a goddess! She was scrolling down her contacts when Carnea seemed to tense.
“Oh, darn.” The goddess glanced over her shoulder. “Sorry, I have to take this. Wait here.” And she disappeared.
Alison blinked and vaguely felt that there was something ironic about this, but she wasn’t entirely sure what. But before she could explore this thought further, Carnea reappeared, looking slightly nervous and interrupting her train of thought.
“Wha—“
“No talking, call someone quick,” she muttered, whipping her head around everywhere.
She picked a number at random, but her phone was then suddenly plucked out of her hands.
“Now, now, after getting everybody all excited, we don’t want you to run out on us!”
Alison looked up. There, floating right above her, was a young boy who spoke with impish maturity and smiled with worryingly sharp teeth. He was also scantily clad.
Alison looked back down again, but not without saying, “Hey! Give that—“
“Shush,” Carnea snapped, and Alison found her mouth stuck shut. “Who’re you?”
The small boy twirled the phone in his fingers. “Just a messenger. I’m just keeping an eye on you.”
Carnea seemed to calm down, but still did not let Alison talk. With a grandiose stretch of her arms, she said, “Oh, come, you know how rude it is to take a young lady’s belongings, don’t you?”
The messenger shrugged. “Manners sometimes have to be sacrificed for the sake of a game. And I won’t give this back until I’m sure you won’t use this thing to back out of your proposition.”
‘Proposition’ was a heavy-sounding word and Alison was not sure she liked it. But she still couldn’t say a thing.
“Honestly, I wasn’t—“
“I mean, after the last time you ran away—“
“—left to consult my associates--”
“—We just want to make sure you’ll keep to your side of the bargain,” the messenger finished as though he had never been interrupted.
Carnea hmmm’d and haww’d and finally said, “Alright, so I was going to try to escape, but for a different reason I’d rather not get into. But I promise I won’t now, so can you hand it back to my fellow goddess please?” This one at least elicited a muffled ‘What?!’ from Alison, because unless she was mistaken, Carnea had just waved over to her direction at that last part.
“I don’t trust promises unless they’re a binding promise,” he replied, somehow managing to sound both cheerful and disdainful at the same time. “Swear on Gukumatz’s heart.”
Carnea sighed. “I swear on Gukumatz’s heart that I will not leave before I construct my pantheon for the grand game we are about to have.”
It seemed to satisfy the messenger and he tossed the phone back to Alison. A few seconds later, almost as an afterthought. Carnea also unlocked her mouth. She was about to very calmly ask Carnea to never do that again and what the hell was going on anyways, but then the two divine beings were talking once more and her mouth clamped shut instinctively as though she were in the company of two adults talking business.
“So, out of curiosity, how long is it until the, ah, ‘the Colop eclipses the Lum’?”
“I don’t really pay attention to time. That’s someone else’s job. But if I had to guess, perhaps…five or six hours?”
There was a short silence.
“Don’t think I didn’t see that,” said the messenger reproachfully, and Carnea sighed and let the moons move again.
“Well, we better get started. Alison,” she said seriously. “You must find some natives and impress them with your…numbers. I’ll have to go and…build my pantheon.”
“What?” Alison asked, for it was a legitimate question.
“And I’ll come with you to make sure you don’t try anything funny,” the messenger added. “But don’t think I’m not keeping an eye on you too, miss.”
Carnea stifled a sigh. “Right. Make sure to act like a true Goddess of, uh, Numbers. Oh, yes, be sure to put in a good word for Carnea, won’t you?” And with that out of the way, the two deities flew off and left Alison on her own.
Alison stood and watched the two fly away.
“How am I gonna find some dumb natives?” she wondered.
”But what does it do?” Carnea asked, and Alison found herself in the position of explaining things to a goddess. Some would do without it, but she found it almost empowering.
She shrugged as casually as she could. “It’s just a phone. You talk to people with it.”
“There are beings in there?” The goddess glanced doubtfully at the small object. They would have to be really tiny people, or somehow the mortals have managed to free themselves of spatial laws.
“No, you talk to people on the other line.”
“The other what?”
“You talk to someone who has a phone.”
“You talk to yourself?”
“No, when you call yourself you get voicemail.” Alison managed to see how absolutely confused Carnea was despite her having the barest essentials of facial features. “Okay, forget about voicemail.”
“But—“
“No, it’s not important.”
Carnea let the interruption pass but struggled with the idea of ‘forgetting’ before locking the information of ‘voicemail’ away in a mental vault. It seemed an absolute waste of infor—wait, what was she thinking about?
Alison was talking again. “So this is a phone, and other people have phones, and you can talk to those other people because they have phones. The phones call each other. And you call a specific phone by using their phone numbers, because every phone has a different phone number, and when you use that phone number, then you call that phone and then you talk to whoever has that phone.”
It was a rather good explanation, and as in depth as a teenager could go without losing interest in the subject. Carnea was left with only one question. She couldn’t help but feel it would be seen as a foolish question, but then, you didn’t get to know as much as she did without asking foolish questions now and again.
“What’s a number?”
Alison stared blankly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All around, lethargic gods stirred. Their people had long been inactive and, likewise, so had they. But there was something in the air, something exciting moving about. Something new that set their metaphorical tits atittering.
People. New people!
Not believers, not yet, but they will be, by god, they will be, or else die. And then new believers meant more power to the pantheon and though it would not be much, it was enough to excite the various deities and much speculation went on. Maybe we can grow. Maybe we can restore this city as it were. Maybe we can even expand beyond how we were.
They had to convert them immediately. As fast as possible.
But there was the problem of new gods…
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carnea was still struggling to grasp the idea of a phone, which apparently was akin to a gostak yelling something to another gostak from two completely different hills. But what she did eventually grasp was that the phone was her ticket to escaping this dreadful affair and then maybe having a stern chat with the Charlwhatever.
“Can you call someone right now?”
She was too excited for Alison to refuse. Imagine, being fascinating to a goddess! She was scrolling down her contacts when Carnea seemed to tense.
“Oh, darn.” The goddess glanced over her shoulder. “Sorry, I have to take this. Wait here.” And she disappeared.
Alison blinked and vaguely felt that there was something ironic about this, but she wasn’t entirely sure what. But before she could explore this thought further, Carnea reappeared, looking slightly nervous and interrupting her train of thought.
“Wha—“
“No talking, call someone quick,” she muttered, whipping her head around everywhere.
She picked a number at random, but her phone was then suddenly plucked out of her hands.
“Now, now, after getting everybody all excited, we don’t want you to run out on us!”
Alison looked up. There, floating right above her, was a young boy who spoke with impish maturity and smiled with worryingly sharp teeth. He was also scantily clad.
Alison looked back down again, but not without saying, “Hey! Give that—“
“Shush,” Carnea snapped, and Alison found her mouth stuck shut. “Who’re you?”
The small boy twirled the phone in his fingers. “Just a messenger. I’m just keeping an eye on you.”
Carnea seemed to calm down, but still did not let Alison talk. With a grandiose stretch of her arms, she said, “Oh, come, you know how rude it is to take a young lady’s belongings, don’t you?”
The messenger shrugged. “Manners sometimes have to be sacrificed for the sake of a game. And I won’t give this back until I’m sure you won’t use this thing to back out of your proposition.”
‘Proposition’ was a heavy-sounding word and Alison was not sure she liked it. But she still couldn’t say a thing.
“Honestly, I wasn’t—“
“I mean, after the last time you ran away—“
“—left to consult my associates--”
“—We just want to make sure you’ll keep to your side of the bargain,” the messenger finished as though he had never been interrupted.
Carnea hmmm’d and haww’d and finally said, “Alright, so I was going to try to escape, but for a different reason I’d rather not get into. But I promise I won’t now, so can you hand it back to my fellow goddess please?” This one at least elicited a muffled ‘What?!’ from Alison, because unless she was mistaken, Carnea had just waved over to her direction at that last part.
“I don’t trust promises unless they’re a binding promise,” he replied, somehow managing to sound both cheerful and disdainful at the same time. “Swear on Gukumatz’s heart.”
Carnea sighed. “I swear on Gukumatz’s heart that I will not leave before I construct my pantheon for the grand game we are about to have.”
It seemed to satisfy the messenger and he tossed the phone back to Alison. A few seconds later, almost as an afterthought. Carnea also unlocked her mouth. She was about to very calmly ask Carnea to never do that again and what the hell was going on anyways, but then the two divine beings were talking once more and her mouth clamped shut instinctively as though she were in the company of two adults talking business.
“So, out of curiosity, how long is it until the, ah, ‘the Colop eclipses the Lum’?”
“I don’t really pay attention to time. That’s someone else’s job. But if I had to guess, perhaps…five or six hours?”
There was a short silence.
“Don’t think I didn’t see that,” said the messenger reproachfully, and Carnea sighed and let the moons move again.
“Well, we better get started. Alison,” she said seriously. “You must find some natives and impress them with your…numbers. I’ll have to go and…build my pantheon.”
“What?” Alison asked, for it was a legitimate question.
“And I’ll come with you to make sure you don’t try anything funny,” the messenger added. “But don’t think I’m not keeping an eye on you too, miss.”
Carnea stifled a sigh. “Right. Make sure to act like a true Goddess of, uh, Numbers. Oh, yes, be sure to put in a good word for Carnea, won’t you?” And with that out of the way, the two deities flew off and left Alison on her own.
Alison stood and watched the two fly away.
“How am I gonna find some dumb natives?” she wondered.