(no subject)

[sythyry]

Assault on the Nendrai [21 Chirreb 4261]

A Sleeth, a Zi Ri, and a nendrai walk into a bar and ...

No, it's not the start of a a joke. There was a little problem in Threeze -- and by "little" I specifically mean "little" -- and Floosh and I had decided that Vae might as well be the one to solve it. Kaim-Su insisted that Seeks-No-Distant-Love come along, but she's still moping, so she required Rhedwy into coming with us instead. (I am unclear on exactly how that works.)

But Floosh didn't want Vae to go to Threeze. (For monsters reading: Threeze isn't a city, so it's not doorwaying for monsters to go there. But the residents don't generally encourage it.) So we had to meet Riverred at St. Andawhale's Tavern in St. Andawhale.

I have learned somewhat more how to appreciate Orren since I saw her last. It doesn't help. She's still dented-in and ugly. She still drips blood out of the corner of her left eye. She's still willful and determined. She put herself in charge of the cooking project when Floosh isn't around -- not the cooking, she can't do that, but the administration. Someone has to take her around to the farmers and such, 'cause she really can't travel on roads on her own. But the someone is Allu, who was named Chompramirthian when I was there last, and Allu wouldn't be much help in the kitchen.

(That sounds bad, but it's not. Allu is doesn't like cooking very much and isn't very good at it, is all.)

In any case, there are Orren -- even Orren whose hands have been many places on my body -- whom I do not find appealing. This may surprise many people, but it is quite true.

We didn't look nearly as alarming as we were. Vae looked like an Orren girl, because she does that sometimes for her own reasons and she does it reasonably well. I looked like an Orren girl, because I do that sometimes for my own reasons ... well, my boyfriend's own reasons ... and I do it reasonably well. Rhedwy looked like a Sleeth, so people were a touch scared anyways, but not as much as they would have been if they knew what Vae was.

Why We Had To Do This

The ovens in Threeze were too small for the amount of cooking that Floooooosh was going to have her family and assistants do there. For some reason, that tiny fishing village isn't really equipped to make luxury pastry breakfast boxes for all of Oorah Thrassen ... unaccountable, really.

The first thought was to make some makeshift ovens, probably by digging caves in a hillside and putting fires in them or something. Floosh didn't like that idea very much 'cause the heat might come out uneven without lots of Ruloc Pyrador, which is always messy.

Me:"But we have this really good Mutoc Locador specialist on the project already. Vae could probably make the ovens big enough to bake Oorah Thrassen, much less the cakes for it."

Flooosh:"I don't particularly want Vae in Threeze."

So we had Riverred bring bits of the oven to Vae, so that Vae could cast a slightly fancier spell on them from far away. Locador is good for that, if it's not going through city walls or something. It wasn't a hard thing to do, by Vae's standards. Someday, I imagine, I'll be good enough to cast that spell. Glikkonen might be able to spont it, for all I know, and surely zie could weave it or cast it.

The Aftermath

And that was that, as far as the oven was concerned. We spent more time getting there (two-thirds of an hour from my door to the Halflight Gate to meet Vae, a ninth of an hour arranging disguises, a ninth of an hour having The Conversation (I lost count at 28, some time ago) in advance so I wouldn't have to do it while I was there, one tailtap to take us to St. Andawhale) than we did fixing the oven (a third of an hour to chat with Riverred, five tailtaps to deal with the five ovens).

Of course, everyone in St. Andawhale noticed five huge Locador spells being cast in quick succession in the room. Everyone (who were a dozen or so elderly retired Rassimel and Herethroy countryfolk) turned and stared at us.

Rhedwy peered back at the everyone with that hideous blank Sleeth expression, and remarked in a loud voice, "This is the good plan. I cannot eat the whole body of the whole victim, even if I am very hungry. The remains can be remained in a pocket universe, for nobody to find ever."

People stopped looking at us, at least. Most of them left the room over the next ninth of an hour.

Me:"We shall have to tip very well."

Rhedwy:"Why? They leave of their own choice. We do not threaten them!"

Vae:"What do you mean, Sythyry? 'Tip' means 'tilt', more or less, doesn't it?" [In the original: "'Tip' means 'scoop', more or less, doesn't it?" -bb]

Me:"'Tip' means 'chflekcy'" Which it does, not that I really like knowing it.

Vae:"Oh! Certainly!"

Riverred:"'Checky'?"

Me:"She taught me another language, by brute force." I had to explain the story.

Riverred looked suitably horrified, which I suppose is good. She assaulted Vae, which I suppose is not so good. Here is a schematic diagram of the assault:

Riverred's Assault	Vae's Counter
How dare you?	I didn't know it was going to be a bad thing.
But ... mind magic!	There's no other way to learn a language.
You could have just translated!	I didn't think of that.
You're not very smart, are you?	I don't know ... probably not.
You don't know the first thing about living in decent society.	Sythyry's trying to teach me though ... it's not going very well.
Primes are destined to control the whole Tree	I can't even control half my own mind.
You really shouldn't be here.	I probably shouldn't be anywhere.

At which point I found it necessary to rescue the poor nendrai. (No, I didn't think I'd ever say that.) She looked like she was about to start crying, and I didn't want to pay for a bloodied-up tablecloth (Riverred just drips on her fur, and wipes her face every once in a while) or drive off the remaining patrons.

Rhedwy, of course, was smirking. A lot.

Comments

[n.livejournal.com]

poor nendrai, indeed.

[redbird]

I trust you did not need to use physical force to rescue the poor nendrai.

I am unsurprised that there are Orren you do not find appealing; within the broad category of people [okay, monsters, but there are no primes in my world] that I find appealing, there are some I am drawn to, some I can enjoy watching, and many with whom I may share conversation or work, but am not at drawn to physically. They may touch me, if appropriate. I am just back from a session of various sorts of healing touch, and while I appreciated the touch, I have no desire to extend it beyond the specific healing context.

[bluedeer.livejournal.com]

Poor Vae. Near as I can tell, she's doing the best she can.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Yes, but she's a monster in prime lands. She can only do so well.

[brennabat.livejournal.com]

Would it be possible for the nedrai to simply imprint Prime values upon herself, using her own mind magic?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I had to ask Prof. Wynge about that. He guessed that she'd find it too unpleasant to contemplate, rather the same way giving up her territory is. She meant it when she said she couldn't control half her mind.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

There have to be ways that she can tweak her mind to everyone's benefit, while still remaining essentially herself, though?

[kistaro]

She meant it when she said she couldn't control half her mind.

But really, can any of us? Can you, if only for an instant as an experiment, think of us as monsters, know that we are monsters, and simultaneously consider us with the same lack of bias one would grant to a prime? Can you talk to Vae and see only commonality, only how both of you have vaguely reptilian heritage? Can you choose to be disintrested in Orren? To hate fire? To see pink polka-dots on a green background being worn as attire on a morbidly obese woman and not have the urge to claw your own eyeballs out? (I found myself in this situation earlier today, and it is more dangeruos here than it might be for you, due to the drastically weaker magical fields here.)

O Zi Ri, I really don't think any of us can lay claim to any more control of our minds than that.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

As a sensible person, no to the first, and no to the second. The Orren and fire experiments are likewise violations of good judgement. The fifth eludes me.

Still, I think I see your point. But my mind was not designed by a malicious goddess intent on making everyone around as miserable as possible, and I hope yours was not, too.

[kistaro]

[[OOC: All things considered, from Sythyry, even a notably peevish "I think I see your point" counts as an accomplishment, right?]]

The beliefs of our world are presently that minds are the accidental creation of completely undirected forces with only one goal, as far as there is a goal at all: to self-propogate. (After all, anything that does so in a successful manner is very likely to make more of itself, and therefore become more common.) This caused our minds to work for survival, and we seem to have accidentally created a culture we can't quite make sense of.

All things considered, the malicious goddess intent on making everyone around as miserable as possible very well might have been a more benevolent caretaker!

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

[[OOC: *grin*! Sythyry's a bit narrow-minded. Getting better, but very slowly.]]

[niss-the-ai.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, many -- possibly even most -- people don't believe that our world is governed by impersonal physical forces, despite the total absence of spell-slinging gods. How common is it in Sythyry's world to be an atheist, considering that at least one god has a whole line of memoirs in print?

[kistaro]

Oh, I wouldn't call it a total absence... just that they generally have other priorities than impressing people on a planet with badly limited magic.

(Hey, this is the hazard of debating metaphysics with a Pagan!)

[fringe-worthy.livejournal.com]

Well, there is a problem with applied Atheism you know.

Either you get expert help, and now have to deal with whomever/whatever won.

Or else, you have to deal with the fact that you may only have so many chances to get it done right.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

It's the seven gods sitting in the sky, or the personal contact with most of 'em, that persuades people that they're real.

There are athiests of sorts, though, who argue that the 7+12 gods aren't truly divine. That's an argument on the definition of divinity, and is a reasonable philosophical point.

[brennabat.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I wonder, too, if forcing Prime values on herself would result in gradual or immediate emotional trauma. The wound to her self-esteem might be significant. Vae would see herself as lower, dangerous and an eternal outcast. The nedrai may become severely depressed or, worse for you, angry at the system -- possibly backlashing. You've seen how she reacted to Riverred's verbal assault, after all. Actually, I wonder if the above trauma will occur more slowly as events like these continue to manifest.

For Vae's emotional security and for the sake of the alliance, Vae may need to feel she is accepted and/or appreciated. Perhaps she needs to be honored, somehow, like any hero that has made mighty contributions to the city. I'd recommend asking your resident nendrai scholar, though. I just pretend at being a nendrai -- my tail only dazzles the occasional humanoid, after all.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Rhedwy is such the good sleeth! Actually, Rhedwy seems to be better at being an intimidating monster than Vae, for the reason that Rhedwy doesn't mind if people are horrified, whereas Vae cares what people think. Or appears to. For selected people.