for the fun of FAIR PLAY

-- plotHooked
 [PH]
 began pestering aspirantExegesist
 [AE]
 at 2:57 --


PH: ?ssssst.

PH: Laaaamia.

PH: ?st. ?st. ?st.

AE: {Oh, hello Arethusa!}

AE: {You seem ... Secretive!}

AE: {{Should I whisper?}}

PH: I am ?racticing my cautious behavior today, I su??ose

PH: You never know what malcontented schemers

PH: ...the shadows ...

PH: ...will disclose!

PH: If the shadows are ... sneaky enough! Close enough! Dark enough to hide the realllllllllly

PH: savage...

PH: ... then sometimes they never disclose.

PH: Not until it's too late.

PH: Not until you find yourself torn into ?arts and strewn, blood slo??ing in ?uddles

AE: {Why Arethusa, that was practically poetry!}

PH: SOME trolls are so ?lotty, and not in a good way!

PH: Danger everywhere!

PH: And danger is best ?oetical.

PH: Hee, Hee.

PH: Wellllll, Lamia?

AE: {Indeed. Bad plots, like trolls, abound. Yes, Arethusa?}

PH: What are you doing? >:P That was me, giving you an o??ortunity to share your concerns.

PH: To let them FLY

PH: free as a crowbeast!

PH: As a fairy!

PH: A giant wriggler-devouring bat!

PH: Etcetera.

AE: {I ... Do not want to tell you what I am doing.}

AE: {For fear that you will accuse me, once again, of Nagging.}

AE: {And then Nagging will be the thing that I am doing.}

AE: {And that is a thing which I do not wish to be seen as doing.}

PH: ... Are you editing my latest Cha?ter.

AE: {Actually no!}

PH: For ?unctuation mistakes and grammatical errors.

PH: GOOD.

PH: Wait, then what are you doing????????

AE: {I usually leave tasks of such immensity for the evening.}

AE: {I ... Arethusa, I am sitting here in forlorn torment awaiting more stories from you!}

AE: {Admittedly my waiting has taken the form of drawing up a chart of possible ships in which you might possibly be indulging.}

AE: {ACH, I did not MEAN to be so REPETITIVE there!}

AE: {Although I suppose -- ah, yes, if you read that as a slightly wry emphasising of "possible" then it is all right and may stand as intentional.}

AE: {The record may remain unstruck.}

PH: Awwwwwwwwwww......

PH: I can think of nothing better than a chart for to navigate one's shi?s through the turbulent waters of fandumbs!!

PH: Charting the delicate balance between all the Quadrants is hard!

AE: {Indeed it is.}

AE: {Arethusa?}

PH: Mmmm?

PH: Yessssssss?

AE: {You know, we speak a great deal -- a very, very great deal -- of our respective and oftentimes mutual ships.}

PH: >:D Yes!!

AE: {However, we never really speak of ... Our own quandrantical aspirations.}

AE: {Would it be very far beyond the pale for me to inquire as to whether or not you have any?}

PH: Why ...

PH: ... I don't know, Lamia.

PH: ARE you asking in a ...

PH: "very far BEYOND the pale" fashion?

AE: {I strive very hard to remain within the pale, Arethusa.}

AE: {...BY WHICH I MEAN NOTHING EXCEPT THE WORD AS IT IS WRITTEN!}

PH: It a??ears to be written in a context ...

PH: ... which, well ...

AE: {NOT ITS -- HOMONYMICAL -- oh furthest gods WHAT has ERROUR gotten up to please excuse me!}

PH: ... I believe we both know what manner of fics might be written !


-- aspirantExegesist
 [AE]
 ceased pestering plotHooked
 [PH]
 at 3:35 --

PH: !


-- aspirantExegesist
 [AE]
began pestering plotHooked
 [PH]
 at 3:36 --


AE: {Er, forgive me for that abrupt abscondment.}

AE: {Errour was... Choking. On some books. As she does. It was necessary that I intervene.}

PH: I'm sure it was, Lamia

PH: >:)

AE: {So... How is your fic coming along?}

AE: {Anything new for me to ... Interpret?}

PH: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Laaaaaamia!!!!!

PH: You don't have to do this >:)

PH: But ... as a matter of fact ...

AE: {((If this is one of your patented HOPESPLODE moments I will NEVER FORGIVE YOU.))}

AE: {Not least because that is a TERRIBLE portmanteau.}

PH: GAS?.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!??!!?!?!!? Ho?es?lode? ME?

PH: When have I eeeeeever

PH: ...ho?es?loded?

AE: {Please do not get distracted from the urgent matter at hand!}

AE: {As a matter of fact WHAT, Arethusa!}

PH: ?lease ex?lain your accusation! >;) ?erha?s I'll ...

PH: Remember?

PH: What I was going to say

PH: Before I was interru?ted!

PH: ?

PH: ??

AE: {You never remember! You ALWAYS DO THIS and then FORGET! And then ask me what you've forgotten!}

PH: ???

AE: {Auuugh!}

AE: {Please, dear, kind Arethusa. Please pretend that you have Mutant Time Powers (exceptionally the province of one of your esteemed place on the hemospectrum) and you are capable of going back in time to the moment before I doubted the sincerity of your following-through. My death by paradox whiplash shall be justly deserved.}

PH: Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!

PH: I was going to say

PH: AS a matter of FACT

PH: which is to say, the o??osite of fiction! A matter of truth, emblazoned in FIRE!

PH: (Not, of course, that fiction isn't full of ... Truth.

PH: Truth that SOME trolls just aren't ready for yet.

PH: >;) )

PH: I do have something new you can read!

PH: I'll u?load it later.

PH: Lamia! Lamia. Laaamia.

PH: You like ...

PH: ... to ?lay, right?

AE: {...oh gods you changed your mood to chummy.}

AE: {Yes, Arethusa. Of course I like to play. Especially with you! You concoct such fanciful scenarios.}

PH: >:) Then I think we should ?lay a game!

PH: A game with many, many twists ...

PH: ... and turns ...

PH: Unders, overs and throughs!

AE: {It is very kind of you to accommodate my enjoyment of things serpentine!}

PH: Then the game we will ?lay will be a game of ...

PH: ... dragonyydid red and obsidian black ...

PH: ... a game of snow pale and volcanic ash ...

PH: .... a game of high drama, of sudden thrills!

PH: Of innocence WRENCHED from BODIES still WARM!

PH: Let us ?lay Cull Wars, Threshecutioner Edition.

AE: {Oh, how very exciting!}

PH: >:) Have you ...

PH: ... read up

PH: on CWTE before?

AE: {I have indeed! Ever since that fleeting reference Ostaro made to the game in your delightful CHIAROSCURAN TALES OF TERROR. But please do lead the way, if you are introducing a variant on the game as traditionally played.}

PH: Oh, yes! Yes indeed! The game as traditionally ?layed is fine, but we can make it better!

PH: Octavi has agreed to ?lay. ?art of the game you'll be on his team, until Iiiiiiii say a certain ?asscode.

PH: Then you will switch back to mine!

PH: Lustris will be on my team until he says a certain ?asscode etc. etc.

AE: {Oh, it is SUCH fun to play at inconsistency from time to time!}

AE: {But only from time to time. And only in jest.}

AE: {Consistency is of extreme importance to authentic record-keeping.}

PH: >: o You mean when you ARE inconsistent, it's only ?lay?????

PH: Oh! I su??ose your inconsistencies are meant as a kind of embroidery to your very scru?ulous records!

PH: Like a GAME!

PH: Like Where's Fuckass In The Candy Red Striped Shirt?

PH: >;)

AE: {Not at all. I am but a fallible troll who ASPIRES to perfect--}

AE: {--are you suggesting that my records contain inconsistencies of which I am not aware?}

PH: Oh, NO, Lamia!

PH: .... well

PH: Wait

PH: If I said 'yes,' would that interfere with your ability to concentrate on the game at hand?

AE: {Besides the ones which I have LET STAND by grudgingly allowing your claims of Poetic License to trump correctness?}

PH: If I said ... 'yes,' WOULD that ...

PH: ... interfere?

PH: With your ability?

PH: To concentrate on the game? At hand?

AE: {That depends. Are you trying to sabotage my concentration on the game at hand?}

PH: Tsk, tsk. If your concentration on the game at hand were to be sabotaged, how would I benefit?

AE: {By timing your sabotage for the moment when I am not on your team, of course! And so, clearly, in order to prevent such scurrilousness, I must simply remain on your team at all times.}

AE: {Foregoing the fun of inconsistency for the fun of FAIR PLAY.}

PH: >':|

AE: {Your mocking eyebrow of skepticism will not avail you against my resolve, Arethusa!}

AE: {Unless... Sigh(1).}

AE: {(1)A word here used as an expression of the action which I have just performed, not as an imperative exhorting you to sigh.}

AE: {Unless you think it best to continue with the game as planned. I always have fun when you make up games, and I should trust your judgment. So, please, Arethusa. Do go on. I shall focus on the game, inconsistencies and all.}

PH: >:) There will be a wild card ?layer.

PH: You will not know who she or he is.

PH: They will have another ?asscode which you WILL know.

PH: If they give you the ?asscode, without question do the o??osite of what they tell you!!!!

PH: Without letting them know that is your intention!

PH: These ?asscodes will be our twist on the game. >;)

PH: You can THINK

PH: of ways around "scurrilousness"

PH: within!

PH: the framework as laid out.

AE: {I shall do my best, Arethusa.}

PH: Then ...

PH: ... Let's do this.