Hmm, I wonder if I'm missing something here? Man vs machine, then a conference, and a promise: are you reliving the start of the Steam Age, by any chance? :)
The promise “I quite like dwarves,” said War. “Siegmund had a collection of them, as I recall. Before my time really, it was Grandad who set them free, and I think it was his Grandad that got them off Siegmund in the first place. Traded them for a golden ring, which was definitely a bargain even back then.” “That’s slavery,” said Scuffles, sounded slightly upset. He scuffed his feet on the ground, noticing that ground water welled up in the divots he left behind. “I’m… I’m not sure how I feel about that actually. Conflicted. In a literal sense.” “Well yes,” said War. “There are lots of scuffles break out over slavery, but the only time I really got involved was in the American Civil War.” “So how am I supposed to feel about it?” War sighed and turned away. “Don’t mind him,” said Pestilence. “He just doesn’t remember what it’s like to be youn—” “I DO TOO!” “—young. You’re supposed to be balanced on this; we all have aspects of our nature that we have to just balance out. If I get all enthusiastic about inflicting fungal blights on humans because it’s funny to watch them turn into shambling mounds then they’re going to go on the offensive and they’ll launch a war against Pestilence and then he and I,” he gestured slightly rudely towards War, who had kept his back to them, “won’t be able to play Exploding Kittens with each other any more. So I balance it out: I plague them, I plague the plants, I plague animals and if I get it right the busybodies keep running after the new one without every really sorting out the old ones.” “Oh,” said Scuffles. “So… I don’t have to like slavery, but I have to accept that it’s a part of my essential nature?” “Exac—” “EXACTLY! Why did it take you so long to think of that?” War turned back round, his face twisting as emotions of relief, pleasure and annoyance visibly fought for territory. He looked like he was trying to win a gurning championship, and Scuffles only relaxed when it looked like annoyance had won, as that seemed to be War’s ground-state anyway.” “You could try telling him the basics sometime, sis,” said a familiar voice, and War’s fists clenched. Famine stepped around him. “And you might have left a forwarding address, fam,” he said. “Last time we all together we practically had the promise of a TDF all-you-can-eat fish barbecue on the shores of a nice lake, and now you’re here standing on top of a major cave-system in Northern Spain that some people believe stretches all the way to Zaragoza. Has me dead, sis.” War’s fist spun towards Famine’s head without any other part of War moving, and Famine turned sideways, somehow seeming to disappear at though he were only two-dimensional, letting War’s fist sail harmlessly through the air. “Careful there, Thor,“ said Famine, reappearing as though turning back. “And that goes for all of us, actually. There’s a lot of pent-up power below us and it’s leaking.” War and Pestilence both took on thousand-yard stares for a moment, and then Scuffles tried it too, reaching out with other senses to look at the world around him. His first try just produced a heat-map on infra-red radiation, and while he wasn’t surprised to see Hilda so bright and white she was like a tiny supernova, the chill emanating from Famine did startle him. Residual, said Famine’s voice inside his head. It clings after you visit Death’s abode. Look this way. Scuffles didn’t have words to describe what he did then, but what he saw was Ezcaray bleached out, desaturated, and a blaze of colour fountaining upwards into the sky, spraying sparks in all directions. “Wow,” he said. “Careless,” said Pestilence. “There are amateurs.” “Or it’s another trap,” said Famine. “Let me tell you about Mercy.”
Greg - not that I'm aware. These things do tend to sneak up on oneself, though.
Man, this story keeps getting better and better. I wonder... is it still on track to be shorter than Derby's extended tale, or have you gotten yourself caught up in the telling? :)
2 comments:
Hmm, I wonder if I'm missing something here? Man vs machine, then a conference, and a promise: are you reliving the start of the Steam Age, by any chance? :)
The promise
“I quite like dwarves,” said War. “Siegmund had a collection of them, as I recall. Before my time really, it was Grandad who set them free, and I think it was his Grandad that got them off Siegmund in the first place. Traded them for a golden ring, which was definitely a bargain even back then.”
“That’s slavery,” said Scuffles, sounded slightly upset. He scuffed his feet on the ground, noticing that ground water welled up in the divots he left behind. “I’m… I’m not sure how I feel about that actually. Conflicted. In a literal sense.”
“Well yes,” said War. “There are lots of scuffles break out over slavery, but the only time I really got involved was in the American Civil War.”
“So how am I supposed to feel about it?”
War sighed and turned away.
“Don’t mind him,” said Pestilence. “He just doesn’t remember what it’s like to be youn—”
“I DO TOO!”
“—young. You’re supposed to be balanced on this; we all have aspects of our nature that we have to just balance out. If I get all enthusiastic about inflicting fungal blights on humans because it’s funny to watch them turn into shambling mounds then they’re going to go on the offensive and they’ll launch a war against Pestilence and then he and I,” he gestured slightly rudely towards War, who had kept his back to them, “won’t be able to play Exploding Kittens with each other any more. So I balance it out: I plague them, I plague the plants, I plague animals and if I get it right the busybodies keep running after the new one without every really sorting out the old ones.”
“Oh,” said Scuffles. “So… I don’t have to like slavery, but I have to accept that it’s a part of my essential nature?”
“Exac—”
“EXACTLY! Why did it take you so long to think of that?” War turned back round, his face twisting as emotions of relief, pleasure and annoyance visibly fought for territory. He looked like he was trying to win a gurning championship, and Scuffles only relaxed when it looked like annoyance had won, as that seemed to be War’s ground-state anyway.”
“You could try telling him the basics sometime, sis,” said a familiar voice, and War’s fists clenched. Famine stepped around him.
“And you might have left a forwarding address, fam,” he said. “Last time we all together we practically had the promise of a TDF all-you-can-eat fish barbecue on the shores of a nice lake, and now you’re here standing on top of a major cave-system in Northern Spain that some people believe stretches all the way to Zaragoza. Has me dead, sis.”
War’s fist spun towards Famine’s head without any other part of War moving, and Famine turned sideways, somehow seeming to disappear at though he were only two-dimensional, letting War’s fist sail harmlessly through the air.
“Careful there, Thor,“ said Famine, reappearing as though turning back. “And that goes for all of us, actually. There’s a lot of pent-up power below us and it’s leaking.”
War and Pestilence both took on thousand-yard stares for a moment, and then Scuffles tried it too, reaching out with other senses to look at the world around him. His first try just produced a heat-map on infra-red radiation, and while he wasn’t surprised to see Hilda so bright and white she was like a tiny supernova, the chill emanating from Famine did startle him. Residual, said Famine’s voice inside his head. It clings after you visit Death’s abode. Look this way. Scuffles didn’t have words to describe what he did then, but what he saw was Ezcaray bleached out, desaturated, and a blaze of colour fountaining upwards into the sky, spraying sparks in all directions.
“Wow,” he said.
“Careless,” said Pestilence. “There are amateurs.”
“Or it’s another trap,” said Famine. “Let me tell you about Mercy.”
Greg - not that I'm aware. These things do tend to sneak up on oneself, though.
Man, this story keeps getting better and better. I wonder... is it still on track to be shorter than Derby's extended tale, or have you gotten yourself caught up in the telling? :)
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