Since this prompt seems to have nothing to do with yesterday's prompt... ah, wait. In despair at having to listen to Glee, you dug out a copy of Ghostbusters and gave that to Max and Miles to watch instead? :)
The Gatekeeper Dread's response came the next morning when the pasta was just a pleasant memory. Fabian's tablet pinged, and a new message appeared on it. "Surely you don't have a mind-flayer running around the Museum?" Taking it as an invitation to call Fabian tapped on the tablet and let it make the connection. "Do you?" Dread's voice, made slightly tinny by the tablet's speaker, still sounded laconic. "No," said Fabian. A thought struck him. "Although the Maestro does keep calling that mage, Framer, an illithid. I think it's just childish insults though." "You'd know if he was actually an illithid," said Dread. "Those things look like someone put an octopus on their head." "Seriously?" "Mm-hm. They're a puzzle; there's either some kind of convergent evolution gone on to get them a largely mammalian, human-or-elf-like body and that head, or someone in the past tried to hybridise an octopus and a human and got the illithid. Neither theory seems particularly credible but no-one really wants to believe that someone found the magic to merge two different creatures together like that, so we all pretend it's a bizarre evolutionary coincidence." "I had no idea," said Fabian. He found himself fascinated despite the faint note of revulsion in Dread's voice. "Where would I find a picture of these things then?" Dread laughed. "Textbooks on magical creatures," he said. "Or you could take a wander in the Imperial Art Gallery. There's a whole section in the Natural History wing devoted to 'scenes of nature' that showcases illithids, umber hulks, beholders, the Gatekeeper, and all the rest." "I shall," said Fabian. "That sounds amazing!" "But to get to your question," said Dread, "why are you asking?" "Huh?" "It's oddly specific, is all," said Dread. "I mean, you don't even know what an illithid looks like, and you're asking if one ever got intelligent enough to get free. How do you find that question when you don't really know what you're talking about?" "Ah." Fabian explained about the lecture and how the question had popped into his head while he was listening to it, and Dread sighed very gently. "Well," he said. "Well. I suppose that's a logical question to ask. The thing is... remember I mentioned the Gatekeeper just?" "Yes," said Fabian, who didn't. "There is -- there was an internment camp for a while. This isn't ancient history, it's not that far back in Imperial terms and it's something the Empire finds embarrassing, ok?" "Ok." "And the illithids were used as guards in there, and the Gatekeeper was used to make sure they didn't get out. So the short answer to your question is, No, that's not happened. At least, not in recorded history. The slightly longer answer is, No, precautions were taken. And the detailed answer to your question would involve explaining what the Gatekeeper is, where it came from, and why that's not done any more and would probably get you into trouble with the Minister of Directorates and me in trouble with the Archmage." "The Empire's full of secrets," said Fabian, thinking aloud more than talking to Dread. "Oh yes," said Dread. "It's like a treasure chest in that regard. Or maybe a mimic."
2 comments:
Since this prompt seems to have nothing to do with yesterday's prompt... ah, wait. In despair at having to listen to Glee, you dug out a copy of Ghostbusters and gave that to Max and Miles to watch instead? :)
The Gatekeeper
Dread's response came the next morning when the pasta was just a pleasant memory. Fabian's tablet pinged, and a new message appeared on it. "Surely you don't have a mind-flayer running around the Museum?" Taking it as an invitation to call Fabian tapped on the tablet and let it make the connection.
"Do you?" Dread's voice, made slightly tinny by the tablet's speaker, still sounded laconic.
"No," said Fabian. A thought struck him. "Although the Maestro does keep calling that mage, Framer, an illithid. I think it's just childish insults though."
"You'd know if he was actually an illithid," said Dread. "Those things look like someone put an octopus on their head."
"Seriously?"
"Mm-hm. They're a puzzle; there's either some kind of convergent evolution gone on to get them a largely mammalian, human-or-elf-like body and that head, or someone in the past tried to hybridise an octopus and a human and got the illithid. Neither theory seems particularly credible but no-one really wants to believe that someone found the magic to merge two different creatures together like that, so we all pretend it's a bizarre evolutionary coincidence."
"I had no idea," said Fabian. He found himself fascinated despite the faint note of revulsion in Dread's voice. "Where would I find a picture of these things then?"
Dread laughed. "Textbooks on magical creatures," he said. "Or you could take a wander in the Imperial Art Gallery. There's a whole section in the Natural History wing devoted to 'scenes of nature' that showcases illithids, umber hulks, beholders, the Gatekeeper, and all the rest."
"I shall," said Fabian. "That sounds amazing!"
"But to get to your question," said Dread, "why are you asking?"
"Huh?"
"It's oddly specific, is all," said Dread. "I mean, you don't even know what an illithid looks like, and you're asking if one ever got intelligent enough to get free. How do you find that question when you don't really know what you're talking about?"
"Ah." Fabian explained about the lecture and how the question had popped into his head while he was listening to it, and Dread sighed very gently.
"Well," he said. "Well. I suppose that's a logical question to ask. The thing is... remember I mentioned the Gatekeeper just?"
"Yes," said Fabian, who didn't.
"There is -- there was an internment camp for a while. This isn't ancient history, it's not that far back in Imperial terms and it's something the Empire finds embarrassing, ok?"
"Ok."
"And the illithids were used as guards in there, and the Gatekeeper was used to make sure they didn't get out. So the short answer to your question is, No, that's not happened. At least, not in recorded history. The slightly longer answer is, No, precautions were taken. And the detailed answer to your question would involve explaining what the Gatekeeper is, where it came from, and why that's not done any more and would probably get you into trouble with the Minister of Directorates and me in trouble with the Archmage."
"The Empire's full of secrets," said Fabian, thinking aloud more than talking to Dread.
"Oh yes," said Dread. "It's like a treasure chest in that regard. Or maybe a mimic."
Greg - your guesses at prompt inspiration are, as usual, almost as entertaining as your take on the prompts themselves...
Hmm. Fascinating conversation between these two, as always. Secrets being revealed layer by layer. I wonder where it will end?
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