Wielder of Names 6-117
“Lord Intra,” said Intra’s sparring partner one day, “You are called Lord of Swords. Yet you are a man, and men make poor swordsmen.”
“It is true,” said Intra, for nearly all of the famous sword masters of the day were women and the ya-at, who were three sexed. This tradition was rather long in the bones, and rumored to have been started by a famous vagrant who rarely cut her hair and lived in a barrel. There was popular theater about it, in those days.
“Men are too preoccupied with their swords,” said Lord Intra, “They get distracted.”
“You mistake my meaning,” said Intra’s sparring partner, “What I mean is this: you are a mere man. What can you do to the new gods of the Red City, with their whips of fire and their heavy chariot wheels?”
“I am not concerned with enmity,” said Intra, “I am very skilled in Pankrash Circle Fighting”
“It is true you are very fierce,” conceded his partner, “But my son’s fighting beetle is also very fierce. Could his beetle fell a lion?”
“That depends,” said Intra, “How skilled is the beetle in Pankrash Circle Fighting?”
“Beetles cannot learn Pankrash Circle Fighting, Lord Intra,” said Intra’s attendant, and made a bitter motion.
“Don’t tell the beetle that,” said Intra, who was very skilled at smiling. “If you don’t tell him he will learn it anyway and cut the lion in half with a single blow.”
-The Song of Maybe
HA! One cannot lie if one cannot speak, Nadia. Is that Princess-who-was-Vladok in the rigging? They have the cane/pipe. And is that the bride AL-YIS-UN took the place of to enter the palace of the Blood Flower on the deck?
A hero indeed, is our Rising King. She entered with no allies, and leaves with four. An Ebon devil she bound by her will alone, a sacrifice she saved, my sibling White Chain, and a Blue Demon who was one of the only capable of stealing and holding a Key of Kings.
Not all plans have to be well thought out with weeks of planing in advance, they just need to work.
This, Mother Om, is why you need to get that last Arete point, and overcome the need for words. How poorly you pursue the Great Work. [Mage: The Ascension reference]
listen you to Aristotle
Arete and virtue are excellent.
Eudaimonia is no laughing matter.
One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive.
Immortality couldn’t be easier. You just throw yourself at death and miss…
You mistake flying for immortality. Not that the two aren’t alike. Both are equally unattainabble to those who waver in their conviction.
Seek heaven through paper mache.
French origami.
Our intrepid hero, rescued by Cio, White Chain, Nyave, and Princess Mamoru Moonshine Jagermeister Jack Jack Daniels Timothy Tim Bill Freddy Mercury Blueberry Luna, Esquire.
It would appear that the gang is all here.
She’s got a posse!
It’s Princess Mamoru Moonshine Jagermeister Jack Jack Daniels Timothy Tim Bill Freddy Mercury Blueberry Luna, Esquire!
I really wonder how Princess[+names] managed to stow away on the paper bird. I really wonder why the girl-whose-name-I-won’t-look-up decided to join Cio on the ship. I really wonder how White Chain managed to get halfway aboard.
Princess was depicted as falling into the company of the pursuers. She doubtless feared to enter Mottom’s lair, and, most likely through Cio’s Art, the Teller of Tales enlisted her aid, as one former Ebon to another.
Nyave was doubtless also located through Cio’s Art as the Storyteller sought out her errant Godking. Nyave was doubtless who told Cio that against all odds, She Who Acts With No Thought was already making her way into the city above.
Doubtless, some time passed as Cio dithered, but eventually she enlisted Oskar (note the face upon the bowsprit) to storm the castle dire.
Upon the flight up, an errant Angel plunged from above, and Cio doubtless retrieved the stoney shell bereft of wings, and was thus directed, with haste, to make this amazing intervention in the Nick Of Time.
As all great Tellers of Tales are wont to do.
This seems plain…unless it is completely wrong.
Those who expect dignity in battle seldom receive it.
Those who do not expect dignity in battle don’t receive it either, but there’s something to be said here for low expectations.
It leaves one open to pleasant surprises. For example, I once beheaded a giant and was taken aback when, instead of trying to drown me in its boiling blood or crush me under its falling bulk, it offered me a wish to be granted upon reunion with its body.
The Aeon have nothing to wish for, of course, and so I crushed its head into loose pulp. But still, it was nicer than the alternative.
I have found, many a time, that those who plead for civility, dignity or honour in battle, rarely do so as a true moral complaint, but as a justification for their own brutality and barbarism. Or to hide their own incompetence. Either way: expecting anything in any confrontation leaves you vurnarable to the unexpected
FUCK YES. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
As I foretold, the black flame does something constructive! Arts and crafts! The Mother Demiurge is bested by paper mache!
Princess Mamoru Moonshine Jagermeister Jack Jack Daniels Timothy Tim Bill Freddy Mercury Blueberry Luna, Esquire returns!
Of course she has an entourage, she’s a god now.
Shouldn’t one be in a bosun’s chair to properly be between the devil(s) and the deep blue sea?
Mottom doesn’t look very stopped yet, unfortunately.
Cio really shoulda used her kienzan like she did in Hell 71. Would Mottom have survived? She was successfully muted, afterall.
Mottom isn’t even inconvenienced by Cio’s attack. It’s just the sheer audacity of the act that makes her skip a beat.
When fighting a ancient god, the unexpected is your greatest weapon. Mottom is used to people trying to kill her, but Cio is probably the only one this epoch to tell her to shut up.
Mottom can telekinetically move objects and make plants grow by sheer force of will. I doubt such a parlor trick as that would succeed in killing her even when muted. Hell, for as impressive as Cio’s little trick is, it’s taking all she’s got just to keep Mottom down, hence the torrent of paper soldiers.
A wretched cripple told me this:”A tongue can spit a thousand curses, but the memory of the tongue bows to empty canvas of paper who can spit insults without speaking.”
Demons Slain: 1
Heroes in over their own heads: 5
Masters of the Universe annoyed (To death?): 1
The party’s assembled.
I hate demon boats.
i hope that other demon on the boat is esquire
“God, I hate Mondays,” thought Mottom.
hope that other demon on the boat is esquire
Sticks and stones may break thine bones,
But witches’ koans have outshone Throne.
So if thou’d survive a witch’s conflicts,
Affix a bit betwixt her lips.
It was vines aroud the letters in PERISH? How did I not get that?
Clearly the word is PERISCOPE