|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- GOODBYE POPCORN--CUP 49--"GREEN HILLY PARADISE" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Goodbye Popcorn  ||  -------> (Cup SRgp049, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The Creator greeted all thirteen individuals, except for Jerald, who was still unconscious. Daptin was happy the little creep had missed his Wonderful act of Creation--it served him right! And Daptin liked the fact that he could still feel such petty feelings. He didn't want to lose his humanity, and he knew he wouldn't, but his current state of consciousness seemed to dwarf the human in him. Indeed, he could feel and sense, see and hear, smell and taste every nook and cranny of the world he had just Created. And a wonderful place it was. He was even then finalizing the arrangements of everything--and he found it invigorating that he had such a canvas to work on. And it felt so natural--it was effortless--and he wasn't designing things either, he was just sort of directing the way they flowed. He made the area directly around them into a green, hilly paradise, with waterfalls, flowers, streams, lawns, fruit, and all the rest. And in the center of it all, he made a structure, a lovely house, including rooms that would always belong to each of the thirteen--even one for Jerald. And then Daptin became aware of the two trapped in little plastic toy bodies, and he brought them forth and gave them life again and gave them rooms. "Whoah!" Demolish All said as Tickle the Monster and Tavmatey Numblem came into being. "So I made it through after all!" Tavmatey said. Then she looked around. "I guess." Tickle bounded around like a monkey, and was drinking in the first sips of the sensory overload around him. His primitive mind was just beginning to grasp the situation. Daptin approached Tavmatey. "Tavmatey Numblem, I presume?" he said. "Yes." she said shyly, smiling a sly smile and looking up at Daptin with awfully bright eyes. Her voice was hoarse, but adorable. "Tell me about Sleap Drassy." Daptin said. He already knew, but he wanted to hear it from her. "What did you want to know about her?" Tavmatey said in a childish, flirting, impatient manner, her hands clasped behind her back. "Well," Daptin said, taking a step closer. "Out of all the things about Sleap, would you say there's one thing which stands out more than the others?" "You Created this world?" Tavmatey asked, a skeptical look on her face. "Of course." Daptin said. "Well, Sleap makes your powers look like a weak effort, man. She's the one that got the Cup of Coffee--from a place you couldn't even understand." Kesh the Vector turned toward Daptin and Tavmatey. "She invited me to a meeting." Daptin said. "I think I should go and talk to her." "That sounds good." Tavmatey said. "Maybe she can give you some pointers. And for goodness sake, take me with you. I'm dying to get back together with her." "I now see what you meant about knowing me." Daptin said. "A little offshoot in my lifeworld. I remember it now." Tavmatey smiled and twisted back and forth in joy. "I get it." Daptin said. "Your precious Sleap got that Cup for me, didn't she? So I could do this?" "Mmmmmaybe." Tavmatey said. "Because I have something that she hasn't got." "Uh... mmmmmaybe." "Because I was there." "Uh-huh." "I was there at the First Creation." "Bingo." "And she wants something from me--in exchange for this gift." "Yes." "But you don't know what that is." "Uh-uh." Daptin turned around and rubbed his chin. His near omniscience only extended throughout his own Land, and no further. "Wait a minute. I'm getting all this information from you--and you're just one of Sleap's playthings." Tavmatey raised her eyebrows. "She didn't plan this--she saw it coming, and planted you so you'd wind up here." Daptin said. "Cursive and Elaine--are they her playthings too?" "I dunno." "No--there's something else going on. I'm getting this all wrong. Well, thanks for ruining the single most glorious achievement of my life! I create my own Land and because of you I'm wasting my time trying to second guess some super-hyper-ultra-mega-kazillion-powerful entity." "She is that, isn't she?" "She's nothing." Daptin said. "Her sphere of activity is a sublevel, even if it does reach such grand depths, relatively." Tavmatey's eyes narrowed and she became more serious. "Your view of things is clouded by the First Creation. How do you know she isn't operating in That Which Came Before?" "THAT is what's driving her crazy! No matter how deep she gets, she can never get past the First Creation! She cannot penetrate That Which Came Before!" "Says you." "Haha! I knew it!" Tavmatey turned away. "Your thinking is even more clouded by the abundance of youness all around you." she said. "This is your Land. Whatever you want to believe has to be true." Daptin started to take a step toward Tavmatey, then decided not to. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----