Cake & Departures

[kaolinandbone]

The present pile shrinks away to nothing, and as the last gifts are being opened, a massive white cake comes in the double-doors, so large that it takes four of the automatons to carry it and almost loses icing on the top sill of the door.

Lioncourt looks up from her present pile, and blinks.

"Oh, the cake!"

A sudden frown comes over her face, then she closes her eyes...

With a flash of light, an equally-massive cake suddenly occupies most of the present table, its spindly legs groaning under the weight of the platter as well as the unwrapped presents. Notably, this one is chocolate-brown.

With a flick of her hands, streams of porcelain leap up from amid the dirt of the garden, quickly forming into an additional table for the automatons to place their own heavy load onto. Unlike the wooden table for the gifts, it doesn't creak when the cake's deposited onto it.

"Sorry for the delay, everyone: these gifts have been so unexpectedly interesting that I've been delaying your opportunity to have cake! The one my servants just brought in is vanilla, a delicacy on my world: the one occupying the gift table is, ah, whatever wonderful flavour Esthfora's candies are. Both of them are excellent, but I must admit that the Esthfora cake is probably better. While I finish with the last few presents, please feel free to ask the servants for your desired flavor."

Comments

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[antiprojectionist]

"Rocks are fascinating things, you know."

A purple-haired man sidles sideways into the conversation, a ratty labcoat dangling loosely from his shoulders.

"You get a new appreciation for simple things you can hold in your hand after a few years in a world built out of metaphors."

He pulls a lumpy rock out of his labcoat pocket, and offers it to the green-skinned woman, fingernail digging into a small crevice.

"Have a look. They call these geodes where I come from, which I find annoying because that means 'earth-things'. You would think they could be a little more creative."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[calledtoventure]

"Oooh. I actually recommend you try to break that one open; geodes are very pretty on the inside."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[antiprojectionist]

Dr. Realist nods in agreement with Ahrotahn.

"Unfortunately, I seem to not be carrying a hammer at the moment." He shrugs.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[botanical_engineer]

She puts the other rocks in a small stack next to her cake, and pries at this new rock with both hands.

"What are they like? In what way are they pretty?"

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[calledtoventure]

"I don't think you'll be able to open it with your hands like that, unless you're much stronger than I am. You might try hitting it very hard with another rock, or dropping it from high up onto a hard surface. —The hard surface is likely to also be damaged, if you do that.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait to see what it looks like for yourself?"

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[antiprojectionist]

"Best to show you, I think."

Dr. Realist taps a nearby automaton on the shoulder.

"You wouldn't happen to have a hammer, would you? We need this geode opened."

He points to the rock in Botanical Engineer's hands.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[botanical_engineer]

She pulls at it a bit more, then stops.

"Yes, I think I can not open this by hand. I do not want to break any of these rocks, except this one, which might be pretty."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[kaolinandbone]

Dr Realist's porcelain automaton extends a hand for the rock.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[botanical_engineer]

Kyeskei hands the rock over.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[kaolinandbone]

The automaton's porcelain nails slip into the fine crack, and with a single sharp tug, the geode splits in half, revealing glittering amethyst crystals all along its inner walls.

The automaton bows as it hands the separated halves back to Kyeskei.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[botanical_engineer]

"You were right. This is pretty! Thank you! Would you like anything in return?"

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[calledtoventure]

Ahrotahn grins.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[antiprojectionist]

Dr. Realist shrugs... then rubs his chin.

"Well, I don't really want to go back to my Plane of Mystical Mumbo-Jumbo, so... If you're offering, would you be willing to have me share a Gate?"

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[calledtoventure]

"You're certainly welcome to come back to D'ni, though I can't promise it's entirely free of mystical mumbo-jumbo. But it generally seems more... sane, straightforward, than the 45th-worlders."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[antiprojectionist]

Dr. Realist tilts his head.

"... Do you have physics?"

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[calledtoventure]

"...Yes. I had not quite realized the 45th world was quite that—" she waves her hand vaguely. "We have physics."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[antiprojectionist]

"Then yes, you are acceptably sane. I would prefer a world without magic at all, but you are much better than my current living situation."

He nods, making his stringy purple hair sway back and forth unsteadily.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[botanical_engineer]

"You would be welcome and safe in my world, although you would stand out. My world has magic, but it is fairly well organized, and we definitely have physics."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[antiprojectionist]

"Thank you for the offer, but... I've had enough of strangenesses. Being surrounded by green people all day sounds somewhat less comfortable than sharing a universe with similarly flesh-toned sentients."

He bites his lip.

"... That came out more racist-sounding than I intended. Speciesist? In any case, apologies, I don't mean to offend."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[botanical_engineer]

"You are forgiven. Your discomfort is obviously not common at home, so it does not have much emotional impact."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[antiprojectionist]

Dr. Realist runs a hand through his hair.

"Still, my apologies anyway. Living with incarnated metaphors tends to... atrophy your manners. Or rather, have you develop inappropriate ones. The entities in the forty-fifth world tend to be rather annoyed by directness, so just being able to converse sensibly is a pleasure."

He sighs.

"I've heard a dry 'I see you are a comedian' far too many times."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[calledtoventure]

"Well, you are welcome in D'ni regardless. I can't promise that everyone will have an infinite tolerance for alien manners, but what I've seen so far is, aside from the momentary racism, seemingly normal enough. And I wouldn't turn away a refugee even if you were much more... rough around the edges."

She considers for a moment. "People might comment on your hair. But they'll probably just assume it's dyed. A bit countercultural, but not alien."

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[antiprojectionist]

Dr. Realist holds up a lock of his hair and looks at it.

"Oh, yes. It is rather purple, isn't it? It used to be brown; I guess I've just gotten used to it being this color."

He grins sheepishly.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[calledtoventure]

Ahrotahn nibbles at her cake.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[calledtoventure]

Something interesting seems to be happening over there. Ahrotahn goes to watch.