|| -------- -- -----  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 16--"VIOLENT EVAN" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Peculiar Lather  ||  -------> (Cup SRpl016, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Tanner looked confused. "So whatta you say Tanner? Would you like to go to their meeting?" Fluffy asked him. "Uh, sure. I'd really like to. But--when is it?" "Oh, next week at some point." Mem said. "Okay." Tanner said "But I can't guarantee I'll even be here, in Agoopish." "See," Fluffy said, "Tanner hasn't exactly worked out an easy way to get back and forth. And Tanner, I assume you still have to go to school?" "Yeah, I guess so, but I'd drop out in a second if I could get a job around here or something." Fluffy smiled. "Tanner, I'm sure you'll work something out when you've been fully educated in the ways of the Agoopi mortal." she said. "Well I'm off. Nice to meet you Tanner." Mem said as he held out his hand. Tanner got up and shook Mem's hand. Mem's grip was very strong, and it hurt Tanner's hand a little, but he tried to hide the pain. "Good to meet you, uh, too." Tanner said, nodding. "Farewell folks." Mem said, and he limped off toward the elevators. The remaining four sat in silence for several moments. "Well Tanner," Thread said, "I hope me and Fisher can get together before the next meeting with you and your friends, to hear some more about your game." "Sure." Tanner said. "Did I see Dealowl over at your meeting?" Fluffy asked Little Fisher. Fisher signed and Thread translated--"Why yes. He seems to have acquired an interest in games of late. Of course he has some ulterior motive, though none of us can fathom it." "Who's Dealowl?" Tanner asked. Thread answered. "He's this owl god who does all sorts of stuff for people--so long as he gets a good deal for himself in the process." "Huh." Tanner uttered. "So," Fluffy said, "whattaya say we show Tanner around Cellar Sixteen, girls?" "Sounds good to me." said Little Red Thread. Little Fisher nodded casually. Fluffy got up and stretched. "Let's go look at the balcony first." Fluffy suggested. Tanner got up, and they all started moving toward the center of the Cellar, Thread floating and Fisher scrambling along behind them. They got to the center of the floor, where there was an octagonal balcony, about 30 feet across, looking down into the floor below, Cellar Seventeen. Cellar Seventeen was a huge space, extremely dark, with a ceiling height much greater than that of C-16. Looking down, the four could see lights of various colors moving around, but couldn't make out much else. Also, cold air was blasting up through the opening. "That's Cellar Seventeen, Tanner." Fluffy said. "It's a weird place--like a perpetual chill nighttime. A lot of plotting goes on down there." "Cool." Tanner said. "More like cold." Thread said. "Too cold for me." Tanner nodded. "Are all the cellars different?" Tanner asked. "Well," Fluffy said, "around here, like from Fifteen to Nineteen, it gets pretty weird, but the others aren't quite as diverse." "Huh." Tanner said. "And over there, you can see the subway platform. That's one of the deeper subway lines, but with connections, it can take you just about anywhere in the City." Fluffy said. "Excellent!" Tanner said. "That's so cool how it comes through here like that." Fluffy led them on, across a bridge over a little artificial river and waterfall and waterwheel, and came to one of the walls of the Cellar, facing a window about six feet wide and four feet tall. Inside, there was apparently a three-dimensional diorama, such as one might see in a museum. It was nighttime and raining hard with lightning piercing the sky in the background. The landscape was dark and marshy, and hills could be seen in the distance. The rain and thunder were just barely audible. Near the window was a miniature hippopotamus, about the size of a raccoon. "What the hell is this, Fluffy?" Tanner asked, dumbfounded. "This is a pretty weird thing, Tanner." Fluffy said. "It's sort of a portal looking into another universe--a sideuniverse, if you will. That hippo in there, that's Violent Evan, God of Rainfall. Ages ago, he was experimenting in extreme areas of the occult, and wound up trapping himself in this little universe of his own creation. It was all the greatest occult minds of Supbam could do to create this viewportal, which follows Evan around this little world. "My god." Tanner said. Thread laughed. "Tanner, every new arrival to Agoopish uses that phrase at least once, but if you think about it, a more appropriate expletive would be 'my goodness', if you see what I mean." "Huh?" Tanner said, then "Oh--I see. 'My god' is a bit too ambiguous in a city of gods, I guess. 'My goodness' it will be. So--my goodness--this is unbelievable, this portal." "Yeah." Fluffy said "And what's even weirder is that Evan eats swamp vegetation and then vomits this black stuff--wait a second--it looks like he's about to vomit now..." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----