Petty Squabble [ROUND 3] [Goldhenge]

Petty Squabble [ROUND 3] [Goldhenge]
Re: Petty Squabble [ROUND 2] [Acidity City]
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.

Really, at least all the other hallucinations were humanoid. This…catty…floaty thing didn’t even have any legs. The other thing was a little better, though there was the fact that he was floating too.

He considered the notion that the both of them didn’t actually exist. But didn’t the cat thing shake his hand? He felt that quite clearly. Maybe that was an illusion too, but it was talking to him, which…maybe wasn’t an illusion.

She kept talking about him to the other floating being. He scrunched up his face in thought. There was a chain around her neck…a lock…she was floating…

He snapped his fingers. “A spirit!”

The ghosts looked at him oddly. “What? Sorry about him, I’ve been told that he doesn’t really have a firm grasp on reality…haha…”

Why would a spirit know him though? He was a demon hunter, not a ghost hunter. So then perhaps this ghost was haunting him…for…some reason. Had he wronged anybody? Perhaps…killed anybody…? He…well, he always tried to never kill a human, if he could…but…

…Well, there was that one thief. Parsley hadn’t meant to kill her…she just…happened to fall out the window when he hit her with a breadbolt. And…well, she died.

Was this thief haunting him now? Why now? He was busy. Couldn’t she see that, or did illusions also spread to the dead?

Whatever the thief was blabbering about to her friend, he finally cut her off. “Can’t ye leave me be for now? Or d’ye want me t’ lay yer soul t’ rest?”

Carnea stared down at him for a long while. “…Yes, entirely delusional. Look,” she whispered, drawing closer, “I’m only asking you to do a bit of work, so the gods of this place don’t end up doing something silly like completely destroying us all. It’s only courteous, being in their domain, that we go along with their demands. That being a grand old pantheon-to-pantheon brawl. So, Parsley, why don’t you go spreading around a bit of gospel, hmm? Start making yourself out to be a god. God of Bread, considering what you can do. I’m sure these natives would appreciate some food. Just don’t contradict me, and I’m sure everything will work out. Hm?”

Parsley stared into the catty visage of the ghost. And then he decided to disregard everything she had just said. It was entirely unimportant. At least it seemed she wasn’t haunting him.

“…I’ll keep that in mind,” he said drily. “But if ye ‘scuse me, I need t’ get into this cave. There’s a holy artifact – “

Carnea’s eyes sparkled, and she turned to the messenger. “A holy artifact?”

The messenger shrugged. “Not that I know of.”

She turned back to Parsley. “Oh, come now. Such a thing would be so simple to open!”

What, she was going to try lockpicking it? Didn’t she realize she was dead? And she couldn’t lockpick it anyways. “Tha’s not actually a door – “

She opened it. He didn’t see how she did, but she did. He stared only for a moment, then nodded his head at her curtly before rushing in.

“Hold up, we’ll follow!” she called out, drifting leisurely behind. “Come now, holy artifacts are hard to find! You could use all the help you can get, no?”

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It absolutely irritated her to have to stick with the dense demon hunter, but he had insisted. That usually didn’t mean much, of course. But there was an image to keep up. If her fellow contestants were to look like gods, she should start treating them as such. Gods were at least 90% belief, anyways, or something like that. Belief could be generated in the oddest of ways, even if nobody was looking.

The messenger followed too, of course. She turned to him as the three of them sped down corridors, and started a nice, private, godly conversation. “So, messenger, do you have a name?”

The messenger shrugged. “Sure I do. Many. But I don’t need to tell any of them to you, do I?”

“Mm,” she replied. “Names such as Vespim, Selachii, The Caller, Tu – “

“Stop that,” he snapped. “You just cheated, didn’t you?”

“I merely unlocked some information about you, and it lay open for me. I get impatient when one does not adhere to simple manners.”

“Right, I get the point,” he grumbled. “Even so, you didn’t have to go invading my privacy or anything…you can just call me Vespim, I suppose.”

“And just so that we are properly introduced, I’m Carnea.” She held out her hand and he glanced at it suspiciously.

“What’re you doing that for?”

She lowered it slightly. “I’m just being polite. A good handshake is a good greeting, especially if you must stalk me this entire time.”

“Sure, but a great, grand goddess making nice with a messenger?”

Carnea shrugged. “I find making friends with messengers is a very good thing to do. Then they don’t tamper with your messages.”

He answered with a wry smirk and shook her hand, managing not to skewer himself on her claws. “Yeah, that’s true. But you’re not even part of my pantheon, miss. Not gonna help you much with messages, and if you’re trying to trick me or bribe me or get on my good side and seduce me, it ain’t gonna work.”

It was a Very Good Thing, at least depending on your perspective, that Carnea did not have much of a face, for she would have a horrible one for poker. But since she didn’t, she had no need to attempt to hide a smirk that couldn’t exist. “Now, why would you ever accuse me of that?”

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Re: Petty Squabble [ROUND 2] [Acidity City] - by MalkyTop - 03-07-2012, 02:27 AM