Re: Petty Squabble [ROUND 2] [Acidity City]
05-31-2012, 03:33 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.
Observatory saw everything that happened out in the city. From her tower, she knew that the messenger and the cat-face were poking at the new statue, that Nancy's atypical chess tactics were near to winning her a second match, and that Dice was giving the die-man a thorough talking-to. It was all laid plain for her to see, and it didn't matter that she couldn't hear any of what they were saying.
And no, she didn't know how to read lips. Lip-reading was for cheats, and she wasn't about to sink that low. Other gods could have their sound, but that wasn't her domain, and she wasn't about to try to weasel her way in.
She had her dignity, after all.
Well, most of the time. Having a mortal's hand pass through her shoulder wasn't terribly dignified, to be sure, and neither was jumping several feet into the air in shock when it happened.
She hated to make the effort to look inside her own temple, but apparently her Cult had been slacking again, so she didn't have much of a choice. Wrinkling up her nose, she turned her gaze inward.
The girl she saw could've passed for a member of her Cult. On the young side, certainly, but bordering on the age when she would blossom into a lively young woman and, by the goddess' judgement, become quite a font of gossip.
The girl began to speak, but Observatory, quite incapable of hearing, just flicked a hand and turned her gaze back to the outside world. Across the room, a bell rocked back and forth, its tolling to be heard only by those of the Cult of Hearsay.
-
Alison made her way back down the stairs, disappointed and slightly confused. She'd hoped for something more than an immediate dismissal and a weird silent bell, but-
Her thoughts were interrupted by a group of cloaked figures waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. There were fourteen or fifteen of them, their faces obscured by the hoods of the big, grey cloaks they all wore, and they were all facing directly at her.
"Um," she said, not exactly sure how to react. "Hi?"
"Child, please." One of the hooded figures, apparently a woman, stepped forward. She wobbled a bit as she moved, rolling her shoulders and going almost as far sideways as she did ahead. "The Goddess told us you were here, and I can see why."
Something clicked in Alison's head. "You could hear that bell?", she guessed.
A rustle of whispers passed through the assembled cultists.
"That's right," the apparent leader said, nodding her head. The rest of the assembled group nodded along with her. "When our Goddess calls, only those of us she's chosen can hear it."
"So, what," Alison said, running through the possibilities in her head and hitting on the most likely, "you came to get rid of me, is that it?"
The group chuckled.
"No, nothing like that." A set of teeth reflected out from under the hood- the ringleader was smiling. "She wants us to offer you the chance to join us, dear."
-
In an absolutely shocking turn of events no one could possibly have seen coming, after a few minutes of expounding on Envoy's boringness and his miracles of being boring in the past, Carnea had gotten bored. The messenger wasn't the best of audiences, and the goddess only had so much material to work with.
It didn't take long for her to start wandering off, going on and on, ostensibly to Vespim but really just to herself, and she'd barely made it a block from where Envoy had been set before she spotted Alison.
"Ah, look, the Goddess of Numbers! How's, uh... number things?"
The messenger narrowed his eyes at Alison and the nice new grey robe she was wearing. "And what's a goddess of your stature doing in a cult, worshipping another deity?"
"Well, uh..." The girl cast about for something, and soon, an idea came to her. "A census! It's been more than ten years since the last one, and the census is supposed to be done every ten years."
Carnea didn't know what it was that Alison was on about, but the messenger seemed to buy it, so she figured she probably shouldn't push. "Good, excellent! I'm sure many worshippers will flock to see it when it's done!"
"...Of course, yes," Alison responded, getting the feeling that maybe Carnea had a bit of a screw loose. "Anyway, uh, in order to ask Observatory the census questions, I apparently have to commune with her Cult. She communicates by manifesting as a grey-cloaked person in this group and spreads a rumour..." She trailed off. Carnea had lost interest already and appeared to be ready to move along, so Alison decided to wrap up early with a nice, strong "...So yeah."
Jumping on the opportunity, the Goddess of Doorknobs and Locks said, "Well, that's wonderful! Vespim here and I really need to be off now, though, so farewell for now!"
Alison didn't even get a chance to say goodbye back before Carnea was gone, the messenger following behind.
The girl sighed and put her hood up.
"Now," she said, making her voice as indistinct as she could, just like the Cult had said was important, "has anyone heard anything about a, uh... a sort of metal man?"
"I hear another cult put a man made all of metal on a pedestal a little ways north of here," one cultist said, trying just as hard as Alison to make her voice indistinguishable.
"Someone told me a man wearing metal was heading towards Observatory's tower just recently," another provided.
"Did anyone else hear what the square-headed metal man was doing with Dice and a couple of kids?"
-
Eventually, Alison figured the cult had answered her questions, so she gave them an excuse and headed off, ditching the cloak and heading north. She came across him almost immediately, and though she didn't see any evidence of lipstick on the robot's faceish place from a supposed "torrid affair," the rest of the information seemed to be accurate.
"Um," she said, a little bit of shyness creeping into her. She wasn't normally the sort to get all nervous, but Envoy was rather tall and broad, and being on a pedestal and wearing a sharp suit didn't help matters. He looked fairly intimidating, and Alison had to put forward all of her effort just to not stare at the ground, mumble something, and hurry away.
But really, the robot had, sort of, y'know, saved her whole family's life. He was... kind of cool, when it got down to it.
Unfortunately, before she could get past the conquering-her-awkwardness stage, the robot suddenly shot off into the sky, the rockets in its feet hot enough to drive the girl back a step.
"Um." That time, it was a bit more conclusive. It wasn't "I probably have something to say, just let me get it ready here," no, it was "I don't have a response for what just happened." After a moment, she turned to go, maybe head back to Observatory's tower and-
Nope, apparently not. Apparently the local fates weren't interested in her having an idea of what to do next, as they seemed to think just then was a good time for Observatory's tower to explode, its domed top shattering and sending bits flying far enough that Alison was even hit by a few pebbles.
The girl sighed, frustrated. Fine, she thought, I guess I'll go- wait. Maybe I, uh... Maybe I should just sit tight for a few minutes, just in case whatever I try next expl...
She hurried off, giving the ground she'd been standing on a nervous look over her shoulder as she went.
Observatory saw everything that happened out in the city. From her tower, she knew that the messenger and the cat-face were poking at the new statue, that Nancy's atypical chess tactics were near to winning her a second match, and that Dice was giving the die-man a thorough talking-to. It was all laid plain for her to see, and it didn't matter that she couldn't hear any of what they were saying.
And no, she didn't know how to read lips. Lip-reading was for cheats, and she wasn't about to sink that low. Other gods could have their sound, but that wasn't her domain, and she wasn't about to try to weasel her way in.
She had her dignity, after all.
Well, most of the time. Having a mortal's hand pass through her shoulder wasn't terribly dignified, to be sure, and neither was jumping several feet into the air in shock when it happened.
She hated to make the effort to look inside her own temple, but apparently her Cult had been slacking again, so she didn't have much of a choice. Wrinkling up her nose, she turned her gaze inward.
The girl she saw could've passed for a member of her Cult. On the young side, certainly, but bordering on the age when she would blossom into a lively young woman and, by the goddess' judgement, become quite a font of gossip.
The girl began to speak, but Observatory, quite incapable of hearing, just flicked a hand and turned her gaze back to the outside world. Across the room, a bell rocked back and forth, its tolling to be heard only by those of the Cult of Hearsay.
-
Alison made her way back down the stairs, disappointed and slightly confused. She'd hoped for something more than an immediate dismissal and a weird silent bell, but-
Her thoughts were interrupted by a group of cloaked figures waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. There were fourteen or fifteen of them, their faces obscured by the hoods of the big, grey cloaks they all wore, and they were all facing directly at her.
"Um," she said, not exactly sure how to react. "Hi?"
"Child, please." One of the hooded figures, apparently a woman, stepped forward. She wobbled a bit as she moved, rolling her shoulders and going almost as far sideways as she did ahead. "The Goddess told us you were here, and I can see why."
Something clicked in Alison's head. "You could hear that bell?", she guessed.
A rustle of whispers passed through the assembled cultists.
"That's right," the apparent leader said, nodding her head. The rest of the assembled group nodded along with her. "When our Goddess calls, only those of us she's chosen can hear it."
"So, what," Alison said, running through the possibilities in her head and hitting on the most likely, "you came to get rid of me, is that it?"
The group chuckled.
"No, nothing like that." A set of teeth reflected out from under the hood- the ringleader was smiling. "She wants us to offer you the chance to join us, dear."
-
In an absolutely shocking turn of events no one could possibly have seen coming, after a few minutes of expounding on Envoy's boringness and his miracles of being boring in the past, Carnea had gotten bored. The messenger wasn't the best of audiences, and the goddess only had so much material to work with.
It didn't take long for her to start wandering off, going on and on, ostensibly to Vespim but really just to herself, and she'd barely made it a block from where Envoy had been set before she spotted Alison.
"Ah, look, the Goddess of Numbers! How's, uh... number things?"
The messenger narrowed his eyes at Alison and the nice new grey robe she was wearing. "And what's a goddess of your stature doing in a cult, worshipping another deity?"
"Well, uh..." The girl cast about for something, and soon, an idea came to her. "A census! It's been more than ten years since the last one, and the census is supposed to be done every ten years."
Carnea didn't know what it was that Alison was on about, but the messenger seemed to buy it, so she figured she probably shouldn't push. "Good, excellent! I'm sure many worshippers will flock to see it when it's done!"
"...Of course, yes," Alison responded, getting the feeling that maybe Carnea had a bit of a screw loose. "Anyway, uh, in order to ask Observatory the census questions, I apparently have to commune with her Cult. She communicates by manifesting as a grey-cloaked person in this group and spreads a rumour..." She trailed off. Carnea had lost interest already and appeared to be ready to move along, so Alison decided to wrap up early with a nice, strong "...So yeah."
Jumping on the opportunity, the Goddess of Doorknobs and Locks said, "Well, that's wonderful! Vespim here and I really need to be off now, though, so farewell for now!"
Alison didn't even get a chance to say goodbye back before Carnea was gone, the messenger following behind.
The girl sighed and put her hood up.
"Now," she said, making her voice as indistinct as she could, just like the Cult had said was important, "has anyone heard anything about a, uh... a sort of metal man?"
"I hear another cult put a man made all of metal on a pedestal a little ways north of here," one cultist said, trying just as hard as Alison to make her voice indistinguishable.
"Someone told me a man wearing metal was heading towards Observatory's tower just recently," another provided.
"Did anyone else hear what the square-headed metal man was doing with Dice and a couple of kids?"
-
Eventually, Alison figured the cult had answered her questions, so she gave them an excuse and headed off, ditching the cloak and heading north. She came across him almost immediately, and though she didn't see any evidence of lipstick on the robot's faceish place from a supposed "torrid affair," the rest of the information seemed to be accurate.
"Um," she said, a little bit of shyness creeping into her. She wasn't normally the sort to get all nervous, but Envoy was rather tall and broad, and being on a pedestal and wearing a sharp suit didn't help matters. He looked fairly intimidating, and Alison had to put forward all of her effort just to not stare at the ground, mumble something, and hurry away.
But really, the robot had, sort of, y'know, saved her whole family's life. He was... kind of cool, when it got down to it.
Unfortunately, before she could get past the conquering-her-awkwardness stage, the robot suddenly shot off into the sky, the rockets in its feet hot enough to drive the girl back a step.
"Um." That time, it was a bit more conclusive. It wasn't "I probably have something to say, just let me get it ready here," no, it was "I don't have a response for what just happened." After a moment, she turned to go, maybe head back to Observatory's tower and-
Nope, apparently not. Apparently the local fates weren't interested in her having an idea of what to do next, as they seemed to think just then was a good time for Observatory's tower to explode, its domed top shattering and sending bits flying far enough that Alison was even hit by a few pebbles.
The girl sighed, frustrated. Fine, she thought, I guess I'll go- wait. Maybe I, uh... Maybe I should just sit tight for a few minutes, just in case whatever I try next expl...
She hurried off, giving the ground she'd been standing on a nervous look over her shoulder as she went.