|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- PECULIAR LATHER--CUP 11--"TAN VENOM" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Peculiar Lather  ||  -------> (Cup SRpl011, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Tanner was looking around at the variety of gods and mortals milling about the place. He suddenly felt extremely good about himself, and thought it was really cool that he was hanging out with a goddess. They got to the coffee bar and Fluffy ordered two full-strength Tan Venoms. The attendant produced the beverages posthaste and placed them on the counter. The cups were white Styrofoam with a blue Supbam Hotel logo on the sides. Fluffy took them both, and then handed one to Tanner. "Careful--it's hot." she said. "Okay." They walked over to a cozy little open lounge which had scattered tables surrounded by sofas, went over to a sofa, and sat down. "So how do you like Cellar Sixteen?" Fluffy asked. "It's tremendous--like all the other places here." "So you like Agoopish." "Yeah. Yes. Definitely. It's the greatest place I've ever been, by far. Totally belgrade." "You simply must tell me how you found your way here--I'd love to hear about it." "Well," Tanner said, putting his cup down on the table. "It was basically just that a friend of someone we know had a dream about this electrical station, about crawling through it and stuff, and we heard that some people tried it and all sorts of weirdie things happened. So we--me and my two friends--were waiting for a ride from my father, but we had a couple hours to wait, so we went along the rails and then found ourselves over a huge canyon, and then we got to, I think, the outskirts of the City." "The hinterland." "Yeah. So anyway, we explored a little bit, and we eventually wound up in an underground mall--on the Cellar Four level I think." "Yeah, I know the one you mean." "And we went into a movie theater, and that's where we met Janine and a couple other goddesses. Janine asked me to the dance, and another one said that if we just arrived, we should split up for at least six hours, to help invigorate our intermingling energies or something." "Who told you this?" "A goddess. I think her name was 'El Flacto' something." "El Flactor Floor?" "Yeah that's it." "Oh her. She probably knows what she's talking about. She's into the whole hinterland thing, you know." "What do you mean by hinterland?" "Oh, you know--the outlying areas. Where you can find your way to Earth. Only, gods can't go through alone--we get all dizzy and disoriented out there--we need mortals to lead us through. And even with a guide, it's a bit of a harrowing experience." "So you can only go to Earth with a mortal as a guide?" "Yeah. So most of us avoid Earth because it's a bit of an ego deflater to be so helpless." "I see. And the normal people in the City--they can't make it either?" "Nope. The denizens have a mental block or something about Earth--and even if forced to go, they have the same disorientation as gods. They're pretty useless, except as cheap labor." "Well that's pretty good to have." "Yeah, but if you think about it, most of what they do is to support their own population. We certainly wouldn't need this many to meet the requirements of the god and mortal populations." "Well you could deport them. Or genocide them." "Yeah, that's the way. You must have a pretty severe view of us deities." "Ah, just kidding, y'know." "Yeah... It just seems these denizens are getting too full of themselves these days. They lack a basic level of respect for the deity community. I mean, I know you hear a lot about equality and stuff, but in the end, we ARE gods, and they're--well--they're denizens." "Yeah." "So when do you have to meet your friends?" "Uh," Tanner said, looking at his digital watch. "I guess in a couple of hours. I'm gonna meet them by that fountain." "That fountain? Tanner, there are thousands of fountains in the City--which one do you mean?" "The one near that movie theater in the mall off Cellar Four, I think." "Yeah, I know the one you mean." Fluffy said. "Are there really thousands of fountains in Agoopish, as opposed to like hundreds?" "Yup. That's an interesting feature of Agoopish--all the fountains." "When were they all built?" "Oh, I don't know. Over the centuries. Whatever." "How long has this City been here?" "Oh, since the dawn of time of course." "Hmm..." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----