(no subject)

[sythyry]

In Which I Save The Universe [27 Trandarh 4262]

Loukerax:"Yum, gingery!"

Vae:"And really? Not like ginger should my home smell, for none was the ginger I used in its making."

Loukerax:"Hey, it smells good!"

Vae:"The happiness is on me to hear that, but not like ginger...?"

Me:"I think it's galangal, not ginger."

Loukerax:"Galangal, ginger, what's the difference?"

Vae:"The galangal is more ... " She looked perplexed for a minute, then asked me in the Nice Language, "How do you say 'bdresia' in Ketherian?"

Me:"I have no idea. You'd have to ask a Cani."

Vae:"The yes! The Cani will I get, to show you off the spell I was going to show you off!"

She created a very complicated thing that would sweep across the countryside and make a huge spike on the outer husk of the World Tree universe near each Cani that it found. I didn't follow all the details, and I was using the Eye, but I think that Prof. Gostegg would not be too unhappy with me for figuring it out as well as I did.

Me:"Vae? I don't think that's a good idea."

Vae:[holding the spell]"And why not?"

Me:"It'll make lots of weak spots on the edge of the universe."

Vae:"And why lots?"

Me:"There are lots of Cani around here."

Vae:"Yeek! Yes, lots! The very bad idea!"

She turned the spell into a fresh rainbow. I will count this as me saving the world.

Loukerax:"Oh, nice rainbow. You do know how to decorate a galangal pod. Root. Whatever."

Me:"Vae? Why were you going to show me off that spell?"

Vae:"The other nendrai will I go a-questing for! Peers! Playmates! Boyfriends!"

Loukerax:"Aw, that's sweet."

Me:"Do you think that's a good idea?"

Vae:"And what wrongness could come of it?"

Me:"Well, you might irritate them, by poking them with odd spells."

Vae:"Not such a bad spell is it! The harmless look it has."

Me:"If the subject is looking carefully when it happens to show up. If not, you might annoy someone who doesn't look carefully."

Vae:"... oh ..."

Me:"And you might poke a few holes in the edge of the universe."

Vae:"The just a few of them! The other nendrai would be near them too. If any horrors come, the other nendrai can fight them!"

Me:"Do you think that's a good way to greet another nendrai? 'Here, have a cosmic horror to fight!'" I was only 18/19 sure that that is a bad way. Nendrai can be pretty freaky now and then.

Vae:"Not ... not always a good way."

Me:"And you might induce some other nendrai to come here."

Vae:"The yes! The very yes!"

Oops.

Me:"They'll stomp on your territory. They might take your things!"

Vae:"The not so very yes."

Loukerax:"I'll fight them off!"

Comments

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

So the idea behind the spell was to make a giant arrow pointing at each Nendrai that Vae could see (or something) from a distance, and she chose to use the husk of the world tree as the substance because it's easier for her to work with?

You know, I've heard that some prime cities add specific breeds of monster to the list of species allowed inside their walls -- taptet, mherobump, that sort of thing. If Veshrame added Nendrai to the 'harmless monster' list, I bet Vae would have *lots* of company. You should ask the duke!

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

But, Nendrai are plainly not harmless monsters!

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

They're no worse than sleeth archmages. A hypothetical sleeth archmage would be allowed into the city, wouldn't she?

And they're *much* less dangerous than Flokin. And no one's ever been accused of doorwaying a god.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Keeping Flokin out of the city would, unfortunately, freeze the city solid. (It might not be hard to keep It out, either. They say the fire god is agreeable to many self-destructive requests.)

Nendrai, not so much.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

If you set your city on fire, your enemies won't covet it either.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Not the husk of the World Tree -- "bark" is more accurate -- but of the universe. Freaky Locador stuff for a freaky Locador girl.

[xyzzysqrl]

Does Loukerax get hit in the head a LOT, do you think?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

If he did not, he should have been. I wish I could do it a few times myself.

Loukerax the Strange

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I perceive that Loukerax has a non-standard risk assessment. This is doubtless because he is Gormoror. However, he also has a strange way of deciding who he likes and doesn't like, and I doubt that's a standard Gormoror feature. I mean, didn't he start out hating Vae? And now he's acting ... sort of sweet, in a violent Gormoror-ish way?

No wonder he got along so well with Enziet. I think there's more to being traff than simple sexual attraction. It seems to come bundled with being odd for one's species.

Re: Loukerax the Strange

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

He is Gormoror, and an adventurer.

I would say his sense of risk assessment is mightily skewed.

Re: Loukerax the Strange

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I think there's more to being traff than simple sexual attraction.

The difference between traff and simple sexual attraction is that traff entails love, and simple sexual activity is simply an amusement. Which is why a couple recent events have rattled me somewhat. I am happy to be traff; I am less happy to be a libertine.

Re: Loukerax the Strange

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Okay then ... more than simple sexual attraction and love. Enziet doesn't seem very much at all like an ordinary Cani. Loukerax seemed like a pretty typical Gormoror at first, but the more I see of him, the less typical he seems. Delframber was considerably more socially ept than a normal Ktsoyis. Zi Ri are so rare that I'm not sure anything can be considered "typical" for them en masse, if ~mother's~ occasional appearances and histrionics can be taken into consideration, a case could be made for the digression there as well. There's a pattern here, I think, of variation outside the romantic.

In other words, a traff person would still be traff, and still unusual, even if they weren't acting on their erotic and romantic desires.

Re: Loukerax the Strange

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Now I feel exceedingly suspicious of many of my friends, and of myself.

Re: Loukerax the Strange

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I should perhaps have mentioned that I *like* strange people, and indeed, am often bored by ordinary people.

On the other hand, some of your acquaintances do bear watching ... though that doesn't seem to correlate closely with their being traff. Just with their being in proximity to you.

[zeeth_kyrah]

Apparently, Loukerax seems to think that Doom is fun.

I'd rather be a small pink lizard safely tucked in someone's pocket.

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

I admire Loukerax's gumption, if not his good sense. He's spunky for a guy stuck in a pocket universe with a lunatic.

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

"And you might induce some other nendrai to come here."

Maybe you shouldn't be invoking "Here" in this context. It might get interested.

[rowyn]

Your universe seems awfully fragile if any ol' nendrai can break it just by looking for a Cani! How has it managed to last this long?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Well, not quite that.

The looking part isn't risky at all. Except it's Kennoc, not Mutoc, so Vae has to get Mutoc involved somehow. She was going to make big spikes in the outer surface of the universe to mark the Cani she found. She thought this was a good idea because nendrai (the spell was originally going to look for nendrai) can't see those big spikes without working at it, and they can see most of the other things she was thinking of doing.

It's the making of big spikes on the outer surface of the universe that's the bad idea. 'cause they're weak spots where outside stuff can get in.

And Vae's a lot better with Locador than any nendrai on record. She's this millenium's breed of nendrai, or one of them. Gnarn keeps innovating. Unfortunately.