PH: Hey, Lamia!
AE: {Oh, hello Arethusa!}
PH: Hee, Hee! Why do you always sound so sur?rised?
PH: Is it because of the slee?-dust s?ores ?ut out by Errour's daily book ?ile?
AE: {Well, I do not live in the expectation of being addressed by you! Nor would I wish to. This way it is always a pleasant surprise. >>:) }
AE: {I should think that you would advocate such an attitude! Otherwise, why... It would become...}
AE: {...Boring. >>:p }
PH: Oh, no. I don't think you really understand what I find boring at all!
PH: Which is ...
PH: ... ?robably ...
PH: ... for the best.
PH: It isn't really a state of mind to share with either friend OR foe!
PH: It is the worst of states.
PH: Even worse than com?lete rage!
PH: Which is to say, a lack of sur?rise isn't necessarily ...
PH: ... boring, dull, tedious, yawnworthy, unworthy of notice, a bli? on the radar ...
PH: I su??ose it's all ...
PH: ... a matter of how ...
PH: ... you ?lay it. >:)
PH: Sorry about disa??earing so ... com?letely ... the other day!
AE: {Oh, that is all right. I understand your relationship with your lusus must be exceptionally demanding!}
PH: >:P My lusus had nothing to do with my disa??earance! At least, not THAT time. Croc?o? has been slee?ing for days, now. He won't wake u?!
AE: {Oh -- why did you disappear, then? And that seems like it might almost be cause for concern -- unless you fed him an extremely large meal?}
PH: It's ... serene, without him always ...
PH: ... on the move, ?rowling just out of my line of vision ...
PH: ... smiling ...
PH: ... or wee?ing, as the case might be.
PH: And hungry.
AE: {I imagine it must be...}
PH: I like it. It's too bad I don't have many neighbors left!
PH: I'd use the o??ortunity to ?ut out a challenge. >:)
AE: {What kind of challenge?}
PH: A fun challenge! "Hear ye, hear ye, denizens of the mountains, the indigo-blooded ?ur?le-blushing terror (although I don't believe I've been that terrifying!) is now...
PH: ...for the very first time ever ...
PH: ...all alone, her ?en uninked, her guardian unmoving ...
PH: ... her highblooded treasure ri?e for the stealing, or taking!"
AE: {...Your... Treasure?}
AE: {Er --}
-- plotHooked [PH] changed their mood to CHUMMY --
PH: Ahahahahahaha, oh, Lamia, not a fic style treasure >:P
AE: {Arethusa, do you ... INTEND for that phrasing to echo some of the more ... Lascivious(1) postings sometimes found in the Capitol?}
AE: {(1)A word which here means absolutely filthy.}
PH: No, of course not! Unless, I su??ose ...
PH: ... a hint of suggestion, of indecent and ?otentially wanton inclinations ...
PH: ... would be a big motivator. >:P
PH: Sadly, I have hardly any neighbors at all.
AE: {Yes, so you have said. But what is this treasure of which you speak?}
PH: I su??ose I will never know if it's easier to subjuggulate without a gigantic Alternian crocodile slithering u? behind one.
AE: {I ... See. Do I have it a-right that there is no treasure, and that you would be subjuggulating on the basis that someone has arrived to steal from you, even though the treasure is not, in fact, there?}
PH: Oh, no! Where would be the fun in that?
AE: {In the subjuggulating, I expect.}
PH: It would be the worst kind of cheating.
PH: I have ?lenty of really cool stuff.PH: >:\ No, subjuggulating isn't fun to just DO. It's only fun ...
PH: ... well, it's only fun, the fun only LASTS ...
PH: ... and is satisfying, you know, dee? down, all the way in the base of your bone nook ...
PH: ... sort of, this really delicious heat that curdles through your blood?
PH: Turns it into quicksilver?
PH: When you ...
PH: ... Subjuggulate with a ?lan. With a story. With an e?ic swell. Something more than, "Oh, hey. *SubJuggulate ?ower!*"
PH: I mean, that's okay, but it's kind of... Crude. It's too easy. It's ... I don't like it. >:P
AE: {I would like to say I understand, but I suspect you are speaking of things which it is not in my blood to fully be able to grasp. That said, I am fully prepared to believe that just about everything in life is improvable by the addition of story.}
AE: {Is it usual for Crocpop to sleep for days on end? Also you didn't say why you vanished the other day.}
PH: Let me ?ut it this way. Grithe Dulfer? HE fancies himself quite the Subjuggulator. The way he does it? You'd walk into a room. He'd get HUGE ...
PH: ... VAST, become this BLACK, DOMINATING ?RESENCE ...
PH: ... and smile and smile and smile ...
PH: ... stride over to whoever he was Subjuggulating ...
PH: ... and ?unch them.
PH: Then he'd laugh.
PH: Boring.
PH: Bluh, bluh, blood, bluh.
PH: No! It's not usual at all! >:) I disa??eared because of the whales -- did you think that was just some random word I ty?ed???
AE: {You seemed to be in great distress -- it was difficult to grasp what precisely was happening.}
PH: That ?robably would have been an excellent time to attem?t to use your ?ower.
AE: {Indeed. I shall strive to remember that it is all right to violate your privacy in such moments.}
PH: >:)
AE: {So... Did you harvest a whale to feed to your Lusus? Orphan a sea-troll, perhaps?}
PH: Hmm, sort of?
PH: There were three whale lusii -- the flying kind?
PH: They were gliding along the river.
PH: They were huuuuuuge!
AE: {Oh, how incredible! I have always longed to see one!}
PH: They were beautifu?l!!! Absolutely, com?letely breathtaking!!!!!!!
PH: Er, but also rather wrathful.
PH: And Croc?o? ate them.
AE: {Oof. I imagine he must be very sleepy after such a meal. Could you see if they had riders?}
AE: {Perhaps Crocpop did not orphan a sea-troll so much as consume a few whole!}
PH: I did! >:) I used my extra s?ecial s?yglass!
PH: And...
PH: ... as it ha??ens ...
PH: ... there WERE a cou?le of riders.
PH: They did not make it.
PH: One was f?lun?g into the woods!
PH: By its own lusus!
PH: "It" -- I should say "her"!
PH: And I did not see any movement afterward.
PH: The other was swallowed.
PH: And now Croc?o? is slee?ing. >:)
AE: {...Arethusa...}
AE: {Is it... Not possible that there is a sea-troll lurking in your woods? Hungry for revenge? Spying an opportunity now that your lusus is asleep?}
PH: I don't actually think they were seatrolls!
PH: And I su??ose it IS ?ossible. That would be extremely interesting! >:)
PH: But I really don't think there's a vengeance-driven troll in the dark, snarl-full woods, injured, alone, and ?ossibly afraid now that her guardian is devoured
PH: ?artly because "snarl-full" is not just a ?retty way to say the trees are twisty
PH: Lamia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey. Hey, hey. Heyyy. Lamia!
PH: How are YOU?
AE: {At this present moment, trying to find a tactful and articulate way of expressing my concern for your safety without seeming to doubt your ability to defend yourself. It is proving difficult, so I am afraid I shall abandon the attempt.}
AE: {Other than that, I am all right. I have been... Thoughtful.}
PH: The attem?t is well-abandoned, much like some ?articularly boring shi?s.
PH: Oh really? Full of thoughts, and yet ...
PH: ... none of them s?ill over into musings?
AE: {I am wary of speaking of these particular thoughts to you, Arethusa.}
AE: {For fear that I shall see them reflected back to me in the perfect mirror of your pen's own inking!}
PH: Awwwwwwwwww, I thought you liked my ?en's own inking.
AE: {I do! Very, very much!}
PH: Then why would you fear your reflection in ink?
PH: >:P It isn't as if you've never showed up before
AE: {Indeed, Arethusa. Indeed.}
AE: {I find that such appearances are more tolerable when they are conjured up wholesale from your fertile imagination, rather than fed by circumstantial fodder.}
AE: {For example, the illicit liaison with that wicked sea-troll? Tolerable.}
PH: >:|
AE: {The auspisticizing between Omnisti and Ezreki? ...Less tolerable.}
PH: Oh, I see.
-- aspirantExegesist [AE] changed their mood to RELAXED --
AE: {Why don't you tell me about your alleged Kismesis?}
AE: {Spied from afar?}
PH: ?erha?s because I am now des?ondent (1)
PH: A word here which means ...
PH: ...somewhat...
PH: forlorn.
AE: {Oh dear! Whyever?}
PH: Oh, whoo?s. I didn't echo your quirk ?ro?erly!!!!!!
AE: {It is all right. An echo does not retain all the detail of its originating sound. >>:) }
PH: Bluh
AE: {Are you upset because I do not always enjoy appearing in your fiction?}
PH: No
PH: >:) Objections from trolls less wise in the ways of Quadrant Navigating
PH: ... are all ?ar for the course.
PH: >:P
AE: {And your ships must naturally steer that course.}
PH: MmHmm!
AE: {Wherefore, then, are you despondent and/or forlorn?}
PH: Let's not talk about des?ondency
PH: It's a de?ressing subject!
PH: You wanted to know about a ?ossible Kismesis, s?ied from afar? >:) Does that mean ...
PH: ... it now occurs to you ...
PH: ... to wonder if such a ?lottwist has ha??ened to take ?lace?
AE: {It does indeed.}
PH: Well, good!!!
PH: You should stay shar?, Lamia.
PH: An exegesist who assumes is an exegesist who misses valuable secrets and im?lications buried dee? in the text, im?lications which could very well illuminate other tantalizing morsels of knowledge..
PH: in such a way as to make chiarroscurro seem ...
PH: ?ositively ... multifaceted!!
PH: >:)
PH: Alas!!!! ALACK!!!!!!!?!?!?!
PH: I?
PH: Am as com?letely chaste when it comes to the blackest, most lightless of desires, the most ?ossessive, dusking of all hatreds...
PH: ...As I was last Swee?, anyway.
AE: {Ah! So the plot remains as untwisted as a Caegarian road for the time being.}
PH: >:) I've never shi??ed myself!
PH: I wouldn't know wheeeere to begin!
AE: {Haha!}
AE: {Would you like...}
AE: {...some...}
AE: {....suggestions? >>:? }
PH: Why ...
PH: ...I don't KNOW, Lamia. Have you considered this subject ...
PH: ... Before?
PH: Would they be ...
PH: ... suggestions ...
PH: ... that are based on CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE ...
PH: or culled wholesale from your...
PH: ... intoxicating! imagination?
PH: >':)
AE: {Why, imagination, of course. I have certainly not met nor heard of anyone worthy of being your Kismesis, Arethusa.}
PH: You can't see? But the back of my hand is to my forehead; I am languishing!
AE: {Oh dear! }
AE: {Poor Arethusa Apellof -- too good by FAR for the cullable crowds who dare not approach within three circles of her hive!}
AE: {No.}
AE: {For her, there must be someone truly splendid.}
AE: {Truly adversarial!}
PH: Hee. Lamia.
AE: {Mm?}
-- plotHooked [PH] ceased pestering aspirantExegesist [AE] at 22:48 --
-- plotHooked [PH] began pestering aspirantExegesist [AE] at 23:03 --
PH: Whew! Sorry about that!!!!!!!!
PH: Croc ?o? rolled over!
PH: And crushed my grubrouter D:<
PH: The behemoth ... stirrs...
PH: ... a sign ...
PH: ... a sigil ...
PH: ... of the end times!
PH: To Arethusa's Exquisite Rum?us Extravaganzaing, and I have hardly done anything. Boo, silly guardians.
PH: What was the name of that Troll? The one with the Romantical Court?
AE: {Pierix?}
PH: No, NO! Hmm. Dra?!t!!!?!!! I am not the best at remembering fact??!?!!?!
PH: Ah well. I was only going to say ...
PH: >:)
PH: ... let the Court of the Quadrants be in session and the floor o?en for s?eculation and ...
PH: ... only the most TITILLATING ...
PH: ... of sus?icions ...
PH: ... judgments ...
PH: ... jollities ...
PH: ... and ...
PH: ho?es.
-- plotHooked [PH] changed their mood to CHUMMY --
AE: {Hah! Actually, that is excellent timing -- I have recently been introduced to someone who could use some quadrantical advice.}
PH: Oh.... reeeeeeeeeeeeeeealllllllllly?
AE: {Indeed. He is ... Extremely vunerable to hornswoggling, and has not, it seems, received much of an education. I directed him to you as an authority on the subject of quadrants; I hope that is all right.}
PH: Oh, of course it's all right! I love giving quadrantical advice. >:D
PH: Although "extremely vulnerable to hornswoggling, and has not, it seems, received much of an education" ...
PH: ... tragically ...
PH: ... does not hel? me figure out whether or not I already know this troll.
PH: >:P
AE: {Hahaha!}
AE: {His name is Pepeir.}
PH: Lamia, I'm afraid --
PH: in a fashion very close kin to horror!
PH: rather than terror --
PH: that I am, although quite ha??y and able to hel? a ?oor troll in troubles with advice,
PH: a little sur?rised and disa??ointed in YOU. Have you not read my fics?
PH: Have we not su??ed at the same romantical table???
PH: Did he not listen to YOU?
AE: {I did not wish to presume to give advice when my superior was so near at hand!}
PH: You are a qui?atrix, Lamia, but it will not avail you now!
PH: Because that is no excuse >:)
AE: {Eh. I honestly do not feel I have any advice to impart!}
PH: Awwwww, have YOU never felt ...
PH: ... even the slightest ...
PH: ... most miniscule ...
PH: ... of ...
PH: ... flushes?
PH: Surely, you have?!! >:D
AE: {Have you?}
PH: >:)
PH: We aren't talking about me! We're talking about you.
AE: {Is that what we are doing.}
AE: {It seems to me, Arethusa...}
PH: I would like it if that is what we are doing! >:)
AE: {...That in matters of... }
AE: {The QUADRANTS...}
AE: {...Speech ought to be a two-way mobility line. }
PH: I wouldn't dis?ute that, Lamia!
AE: {Arethusa, I... want to confide in you.}
AE: {And I hope that you will do the same. I suppose it is all right if you do not. But I would be glad of the reciprocity(1).}
AE: {(1)A word which here means equal sharing of confidences.}
AE: {I ... Honestly do not know if I have had flushed leanings. I have had ... Feelings, strong ones, of an affectionate and of an offended nature. But I do not know if they are concupiscent, really. Just that they were ... Fleeting. Momentary.}
PH: I don't understand this em?hasis on the concu?iscent quadrant, Lamia. They are ALL, in their way, im?otant and exciting!!!!!!!!!?!?!?!!?!?!
AE: {Impotant? You mean important?}
PH: >:) You're my editor. You tell ME.
AE: {Ah, well, yes, I think that is most likely what you meant. Let the record show the correction.}
AE: {And I certainly agree about all the quadrants being important and ... Exciting.}
AE: {But the concupiscent are the ones most directly linked to our survival!}
AE: {As individuals as well as a species.}
AE: {So I suppose my interest in them is more than purely academic.}
AE: {At any rate, surely that is enough about me? Is it not yet your turn to lay bare some confidences?}
PH: Hmm.
PH: An equal sharing of confidences, yes?
PH: That ...
PH: .... is ...
PH: ... the ty?e of confidences you were thinking would take ?lace ...
PH: ... here ...
PH: ... in ...
PH: ... THE COURT OF QUADRANTS!!!!
PH: Right? >:)
AE: {Say rather the type of confidences I was hoping would take place. I am an aspirant; I suppose hope comes easily to me.}
PH: I would very much dislike being a murderer of ho?e.
PH: Es?ecially if it was this easy.
PH: I ...
PH: Hmm.
PH: >:\
PH: All right. I su??ose this is a thing like ri??ing off a bandage after you've been savaged by a terrorgoose.
PH: ...and the skin is just, you know, beginning ...
PH: ... to heal.
PH: But it still isn't really READY
PH: for the bandage to leave.
PH: Es?ecially if it ha??ens to be a ?retty bandage.
PH: ?ossibly a Troll Mark Wahlburg bandage.
PH: I love the Film In WhichTroll Matt Damon And Troll Leonardo DiCaprio Are Two Lowbloods From The Wrong Side of the Hive Who Never Meet Except For Twice But Are Nonetheless Caught In A Kismesis Orbit, And There Are A Number of Thrilling Chases, Murders, Drugfests and Betrayals, Troll Jack Nicholson Is Com?letely Insane And A Com?lete Evil Matermind As Usual But It Is Nonetheless Very Effective And He ?ossibly Wants To Fuck U? Troll Leonardo and Troll Matt's Kismesis Rivalry, Es?ecially As The Rivalry May ?lay A ?art In The Devastation Of His Illegal Em?ire, And There Is Also A Strong And Sassy ?sychologist Caught Between Aus?isticing And Flushing, ?lus A Close Esca?e
PH: Those bandages were limited edition. >:D I love them.
PH: But I su??ose the ?oint ...
PH: ... is not how much I love the movie ...
PH: ... but, yes! I know what it feels like to feel Flushed. ?ersonally, that is. For someone.
PH: Mostly.
PH: And there! >:) Ho?e not destroyed.
AE: {>>:) }
AE: {Thank you, Arethusa.}
AE: {You spoke of bandages, however?}
AE: {Was this a flush that was not returned in kind?}
AE: {I confess it is difficult for me to conceive of that scenario.}
AE: {Because... Well, you are just ... }
AE: {So... Worthy.}
PH: Aww. You ...
PH: ... I'm sure, given the context, can see ...
PH: ... where I'm going to go with this ...
PH: ... are exce?tionally kind.
AE: {It is no kindness to speak the truth. >>:) But... Is it something you would like to speak further about? If it is painful I will not press you on so sore a point.}
PH: Wellllllllllllllll ...
PH: To be ... entirely ...
PH: Honest?
PH: No. I don't want to talk about it with you.
PH: Sorry.
AE: {I understand. That is quite all right.}
PH: Oh, really? Why?
AE: {Why is it all right?}
PH: Why do you understand?
AE: {Oh, perhaps I should have footnoted that.}
AE: {Just a moment.}
AE: {I understand(1). That is quite all right.}
AE: {(1)A word which here means that I am striving to be respectful of your boundaries by not pressing you on an issue which you have decided you prefer not to discuss with me for reasons which must remain your own.}
PH: Hee. That is very ?ro?er of you, Lamia. Not the most INTERESTING course of action, but ?ressing a sore ?oint isn't necessarily the kind of interesting
PH: two civilized trolls, such as we, here in the ...
PH: ... COURT OF QUADRANTS ...
PH: >:)
PH: ...should indulge in.
AE: {Your judgment is, as usual, impeccable! Very well. I have a different question for you, then! Let us... Shift from ONE square in the Court of Quadrants to another, shall we?}
AE: {Tell me, Arethusa...}
AE: {In your IDEAL Auspisticeship.}
PH: ...Mmm?...
AE: {Would you be the mediating party, or one of the mediated upon?}
PH: >:) Totally the mediating ?arty!
AE: {...Really?}
AE: {I confess that is not the answer I was expecting! You are full of surprises.}
PH: Oh, really? ... Ahahahaha, were you ...
PH: ... ?erha?s ...
PH: ... ex?ecting ...
PH: ... one day ...
PH: ... to find yourself in an Auspistice with myself and some Troll fuckass
PH: ... who, naturally ...
PH: ... really DESERVES ...
PH: ... to be ?ummelled ...
PH: ... ?enned into submission! ...
PH: ... etc. etc...
PH: ... as the Mediatrix?
PH: The Mediatrix does seem to be a role one would INITIALLY ?lace you in. >:) What with your talents!!!!!!
AE: {Thank you, Arethusa. That is very flattering, I think.}
AE: {But -- goodgness, I hope not. Horrorterrors forfend that I should ever find myself attemping to restrain your ... Natural impulses.}
PH: My, MY ...
AE: {ACH}
PH: ... Laaaamia ...
PH: You seem so ...
AE: {My keyboard! It is -- }
PH: ... Overcome!
PH: By Ty?os.
PH: Mm, yes. Your "keyboard."
AE: {No! No! Errour just slimed all over my keyboard!}
AE: {I am fgoraged tpoi ahhug }
AE: {!!!!!!!!!!!!}
PH: ... Ew.
AE: {polease ersdcuse meert}
AE: {...Arethusa, please forgive that egregious display of vile mistypings.}
AE: {I think I have cleaned my grubtop of the last of her digestive juices.}
PH: No, I shan't. I demand ?enance!
PH: >:\ You certainly ?ut Croc?o?'s ... er, foibles into a certain ?ers?ective.
AE: {Do you! Well. I cannot fault you for such demands. Truly, I cannot yet forgive myself.}
AE: {What Penance would you demand of me?}
PH: I demand a secret.
PH: A secret you are kee?ing.
PH: Offered u?, to me! >:)
PH: The silver ?latter would be nice, but is not necessary.
AE: {...A secret.}
AE: {Hmm.}
AE: {Very well.}
AE: {That is a penance I deem to be in just proportion to the crime.}
AE: {Well -- here it is.}
AE: {But Arethusa, you must promise me that you will keep this secret.}
PH: I did not realize the troll giving ?enance was allowed to make rules.
PH: That doesn't seem very ?enance-y.
AE: {Ah, but there is much precedent. As when, in a duel, it is the CHALLENGED party that chooses the weapons...}
AE: {...So it is that the Penance-giver may place certain restrictions upon the Penance they are giving freely.}
AE: {Do you promise?}
AE: {It is a secret of great power.}
PH: Nooooooooooo need to dredge u? an etiquette book!
PH: I su??ose I ?romise!
AE: {Very well. Here it is.}
AE: {The numerals of the Blind Prophets are, as you know, 413.}
AE: {However.}
AE: {If you hold them up to a mirror and see them reversed, they offer a new number.}
AE: {314. And this number is extremely powerful, Arethusa.}
AE: {It represents an element of the Mathecutioners' most dangerous formula.}
PH: As much as I adore sus?ense, Lamia ...
PH: ... I ho?e this secret is not a swindle.
AE: {It is not. I have researched its workings.}
AE: {You know the story of how Empress Omnessa's Underwater Palace was shivered to its liquid foundations with NO APPARENT CAUSE?}
AE: {The cause, Arethusa... }
AE: {Was the number 3.14.}
AE: {Multiplied and subtracted into Mathecutioner Fortimin's Formula of Hypotenistical Destruction!}
AE: {An invisible force that devastated a whole generation of seatrolls!}
PH: An "invisible force"? Lame!
PH: But I su??ose ... that ... KIND of counts as a secret.
AE: {Scholars have been brooding over what precisely destroyed the Empress' palace for decades of sweeps!}
PH: ?enance ?erformed... I guess.
AE: {YOU are now in possession of a truth known only to myself...}
AE: {And Mathecutioner Fortimin.}
PH: Why are you kee?ing it a secret, dare I ask?
PH: Why not ?ublish, and tell the world!
AE: {This is extremely sensitive information, Arethusa. Mathecutioner Fortimin did not want the powers of that number to ever be used against him.}
AE: {And so he destroyed everything to do with it.}
AE: {...Except that he could not very well destroy... }
AE: {What was written BETWEEN the lines he saw to erase.}
AE: {Such that the in-betweenness shone all the brighter.}
AE: {Also, you'll note that Fortimin is still ... Alive.}
PH: Hmm.
AE: {A publication to do with this number would bring a culling upon me swifter than the flight of the horrorsparrows.}
PH: Welllllllllll, I guuuuuuuuuuuesssssssss it's okay, as far as secrets go.
AE: {You did not specify what KIND of secret you wanted!}
PH: >:) Does it never seem to you ...
PH: ... Lamia ...
PH: ... that an inordinate amount of time is s?ent worrying about being culled or culling?
AE: {Considering that I have not yet been culled, I would say that the amount of time spent on the activity is entirely ordinate.}
PH: Culling this, culling that...
PH: ... bluh, bluh.
PH: Lamia, I'm going to go ex?lore the mountains ...
PH: ... WITHOUT ...
PH: ... worrying about my guardian.
PH: Farewell!
-- plotHooked [PH] ceased pestering aspirantExegesist [AE] at 14:16 --
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