Na Po Wri Mo #2: Plus 1237
Wow, it's a good thing that permission-to-redacted is in full effect with this NaPoWriMo thing. Couldn't resist turning the Rapture on its head, though, because reversals can be fun. Honestly there was going to be porn in here, but worldbuilding, as often happens, ran away with me. If you want tomorrow to be just porn picking up where this leaves off, sing out in the comments.
The organ music swelled as he waved his hands, intoning wildly, red light playing over his face, teeth bared. The circle carved into the ground glowed, candles around it flickering in the wind, and the ground shook briefly. Guttural words reached through the air, and his sleeves fell back as he raised his arms and howled to the arched ceiling, calling. A mighty flash answered his voice, a sizzling noise and a thump following it.
Alces peered forward, then rocked back on his heels and pumped his arm.
"Yes!"
A firm hand patted him on the shoulder. "Good job. Having witnessed successful summoning of your first human, I promote you to Journeyman in the Fraternal Order of the Second Circle, and order you to take the day off. Have fun."
The red-and-black husky nodded firmly as his mentor departed, grinning all over and slipping out of his ritualist's robe and into the plain kilt and harness of everyday work.
"Hey," came a confused voice. "What's goin' on?"
Alces strutted over, pushing open the creaking fenceless gate around the ritual circle. He leaned down, offering a hand to the pale, nude, redheaded human sitting on the floor. She stared at his paw, then repeated herself.
"What's going on?"
"I'm gonna just blow you off on that question since it's hard to answer. C'mon, let's get you into something comfortable, huh?"
She rolled her eyes, but took his paw anyhow and rose with a huff. She looked him up and down, swaying as he patted her shoulder. The demonic husky towered over her, licking his lips with a suspiciously long black, forked tongue.
"So I'm supposed to guess from the horns and your classy-ass Pantone choices that you're some kind of demon?"
"Hey, you're doin' great. C'mon."
He cajoled her along the still-glowing path, one hand on her back as she stumbled along.
"No, seriously, Hell or what?"
"Or what."
He tipped the organist and the janitorial organism, counting out glowing tokens, then grinned down at his pet.
"Seriously, 'or what.' Used to be Hell, though. So you're close."
"How close?"
He pushed open the heavy door, letting orangey light spill onto her face from outside.
"Really close."
The city stretched away bottom and top, buildings hanging casually from the sky and swaying lightly amid massive chasms, brass walls, obsidian streets, and redwood-thick rusty chains connecting swaying pillars of urban overgrowth. She gaped, then looked over at him. He grinned as he led her along the path around the column that the spiral road wound about. The cobblestones were warm and faintly slick under her feet.
"Okay, so, Hell, kinda got it. So, dead or not?"
"Gone but not dead. There'll probably be a nice funeral for you, eventually."
She waved in agitation. "Well, what the fuck, then?"
"Look on the bright side: you're special!"
"How special?"
"You're in what-we're-gonna-call-Hell and you're not dead."
"That doesn't sound like such a great deal."
"Because we like you and want to party."
"That sounds even worse."
"Because you are one of a vanishingly small fraction of humans who have the right combination of brain chemistry and upbringing to sincerely believe in Hell and to also think hey that sounds kinda cool."
"Please do not tell me my mother was right."
As the streets turned rough, the enormous husky casually scooped up his companion and carried her.
"Probably wasn't right. There used to be a big ol' epistemological-metaphysical-whatever conflict. And then everyone who really cared about it disappeared all at once, just vanished, zap. So pretty much what's left is people who know how to have fun. There've been a few wandering types who tell us that Heaven's mostly the same way."
"Wow. Okay. Why couldn't I get in there, then?"
"We won the coin toss."
"Are you serious?"
He licked her face. "More often than not. Seriously, we can't summon specific people, just classes of people. Why would we want to summon people who flip out, go catatonic, start lecturing us about Carl Sagan, stuff like that? Much rather have someone who says 'okay I'm in the Metal Dimension, fine,' and copes with it. There aren't that many of you."
She looked around, drumming her fingers on his shoulder as he carried her. Skeletal flocks dipped and navigated among the columns, screeching in an unfamiliar key. A spidery mechanism the size of an office building slowly crawled between two, tiny figures climbing over and around it. The wall to the left was rough granite with veins of obsidian, gleaming in the sunset-toned light. The source of the light seemed to always peek around pillars, but never shine directly. Craning her neck, she looked towards the edge of the road, but top and bottom stretched away without end.
"See? You're doing fine." He leaned down for a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"Okay." She took a deep breath. "Okay. What now?"
"Well, gotta be straight with you. I summoned you, so I get to keep you. Pretty much bride-raiding."
She smirked. "Oh, so I belong to you?"
"Yup."
A rattling carriage passed them, flaming steeds pulling it, a multi-umlauted name on the side and a drum kit strapped to the back. Turning away, Alces shielded her from a bit of debris flying from it. She prodded the side of his neck.
"How's my retirement plan?"
"You don't have one because you're not going to die."
She smirked. "Well why didn't you list that among our assets in the first place?"
He beamed. "See, you'll do fine here. You'd have hated it before. Would've bored you out of your skull with Litanies of Corruption, Unholy Matrimony, Black Mass, and all that hooey."
She nodded slowly. "Okay then. But you basically kidnapped me, I think that drops this out of 'marriage.'"
"I can call you a pet if you'd rather." He shifted, tickled under her chin, and raised his voice. "My little kitten?"
An abrupt squirm and blush.
"Oh hey, that was cute."
"Shuddup." A quiet grin behind the rejecting word, though.
"Kiiiiiiiiiitttttty girl."
"Oh my god!"
"Are you a gooooood kitty?"
She slapped his face lightly, palms open as she giggled. He laughed with her, then leaned in and slurped along her chest, tongue extending ludicrously as it slithered around her breasts. A startled squeak came from her as he snickered again.
"Well, if I didn't know what I was gonna do with you before, now I do."
She held his ears firmly. "You aren't gettin' no easy pet. I am all sass."
She nodded solemnly and got a grin back from him.
"Fine by me. Look at me: you think I like bossing around kittygirls?"
"Got a pair of ears for me, huh?"
"I can do better." The husky waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
" - oh yeah, hell, huh. I bet you can."
"Yup. I'm serious about the pet thing, but with that attitude of yours and a couple of centuries to learn the ropes here, it'll just be, you know, a thing between us."
"I can deal with that."
He stepped out onto a pier extending into the air from the column, snapping at the clockwork attendant. It skittered away into a silo, then rose attached to a zeppelin framework.
"I thought you might."
Feeding the clockwork cab more glowing tokens, he stepped aboard and held her against his chest, relaxing as it took them away through the steaming sky.
Total November word count: 2116
The organ music swelled as he waved his hands, intoning wildly, red light playing over his face, teeth bared. The circle carved into the ground glowed, candles around it flickering in the wind, and the ground shook briefly. Guttural words reached through the air, and his sleeves fell back as he raised his arms and howled to the arched ceiling, calling. A mighty flash answered his voice, a sizzling noise and a thump following it.
Alces peered forward, then rocked back on his heels and pumped his arm.
"Yes!"
A firm hand patted him on the shoulder. "Good job. Having witnessed successful summoning of your first human, I promote you to Journeyman in the Fraternal Order of the Second Circle, and order you to take the day off. Have fun."
The red-and-black husky nodded firmly as his mentor departed, grinning all over and slipping out of his ritualist's robe and into the plain kilt and harness of everyday work.
"Hey," came a confused voice. "What's goin' on?"
Alces strutted over, pushing open the creaking fenceless gate around the ritual circle. He leaned down, offering a hand to the pale, nude, redheaded human sitting on the floor. She stared at his paw, then repeated herself.
"What's going on?"
"I'm gonna just blow you off on that question since it's hard to answer. C'mon, let's get you into something comfortable, huh?"
She rolled her eyes, but took his paw anyhow and rose with a huff. She looked him up and down, swaying as he patted her shoulder. The demonic husky towered over her, licking his lips with a suspiciously long black, forked tongue.
"So I'm supposed to guess from the horns and your classy-ass Pantone choices that you're some kind of demon?"
"Hey, you're doin' great. C'mon."
He cajoled her along the still-glowing path, one hand on her back as she stumbled along.
"No, seriously, Hell or what?"
"Or what."
He tipped the organist and the janitorial organism, counting out glowing tokens, then grinned down at his pet.
"Seriously, 'or what.' Used to be Hell, though. So you're close."
"How close?"
He pushed open the heavy door, letting orangey light spill onto her face from outside.
"Really close."
The city stretched away bottom and top, buildings hanging casually from the sky and swaying lightly amid massive chasms, brass walls, obsidian streets, and redwood-thick rusty chains connecting swaying pillars of urban overgrowth. She gaped, then looked over at him. He grinned as he led her along the path around the column that the spiral road wound about. The cobblestones were warm and faintly slick under her feet.
"Okay, so, Hell, kinda got it. So, dead or not?"
"Gone but not dead. There'll probably be a nice funeral for you, eventually."
She waved in agitation. "Well, what the fuck, then?"
"Look on the bright side: you're special!"
"How special?"
"You're in what-we're-gonna-call-Hell and you're not dead."
"That doesn't sound like such a great deal."
"Because we like you and want to party."
"That sounds even worse."
"Because you are one of a vanishingly small fraction of humans who have the right combination of brain chemistry and upbringing to sincerely believe in Hell and to also think hey that sounds kinda cool."
"Please do not tell me my mother was right."
As the streets turned rough, the enormous husky casually scooped up his companion and carried her.
"Probably wasn't right. There used to be a big ol' epistemological-metaphysical-whatever conflict. And then everyone who really cared about it disappeared all at once, just vanished, zap. So pretty much what's left is people who know how to have fun. There've been a few wandering types who tell us that Heaven's mostly the same way."
"Wow. Okay. Why couldn't I get in there, then?"
"We won the coin toss."
"Are you serious?"
He licked her face. "More often than not. Seriously, we can't summon specific people, just classes of people. Why would we want to summon people who flip out, go catatonic, start lecturing us about Carl Sagan, stuff like that? Much rather have someone who says 'okay I'm in the Metal Dimension, fine,' and copes with it. There aren't that many of you."
She looked around, drumming her fingers on his shoulder as he carried her. Skeletal flocks dipped and navigated among the columns, screeching in an unfamiliar key. A spidery mechanism the size of an office building slowly crawled between two, tiny figures climbing over and around it. The wall to the left was rough granite with veins of obsidian, gleaming in the sunset-toned light. The source of the light seemed to always peek around pillars, but never shine directly. Craning her neck, she looked towards the edge of the road, but top and bottom stretched away without end.
"See? You're doing fine." He leaned down for a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"Okay." She took a deep breath. "Okay. What now?"
"Well, gotta be straight with you. I summoned you, so I get to keep you. Pretty much bride-raiding."
She smirked. "Oh, so I belong to you?"
"Yup."
A rattling carriage passed them, flaming steeds pulling it, a multi-umlauted name on the side and a drum kit strapped to the back. Turning away, Alces shielded her from a bit of debris flying from it. She prodded the side of his neck.
"How's my retirement plan?"
"You don't have one because you're not going to die."
She smirked. "Well why didn't you list that among our assets in the first place?"
He beamed. "See, you'll do fine here. You'd have hated it before. Would've bored you out of your skull with Litanies of Corruption, Unholy Matrimony, Black Mass, and all that hooey."
She nodded slowly. "Okay then. But you basically kidnapped me, I think that drops this out of 'marriage.'"
"I can call you a pet if you'd rather." He shifted, tickled under her chin, and raised his voice. "My little kitten?"
An abrupt squirm and blush.
"Oh hey, that was cute."
"Shuddup." A quiet grin behind the rejecting word, though.
"Kiiiiiiiiiitttttty girl."
"Oh my god!"
"Are you a gooooood kitty?"
She slapped his face lightly, palms open as she giggled. He laughed with her, then leaned in and slurped along her chest, tongue extending ludicrously as it slithered around her breasts. A startled squeak came from her as he snickered again.
"Well, if I didn't know what I was gonna do with you before, now I do."
She held his ears firmly. "You aren't gettin' no easy pet. I am all sass."
She nodded solemnly and got a grin back from him.
"Fine by me. Look at me: you think I like bossing around kittygirls?"
"Got a pair of ears for me, huh?"
"I can do better." The husky waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
" - oh yeah, hell, huh. I bet you can."
"Yup. I'm serious about the pet thing, but with that attitude of yours and a couple of centuries to learn the ropes here, it'll just be, you know, a thing between us."
"I can deal with that."
He stepped out onto a pier extending into the air from the column, snapping at the clockwork attendant. It skittered away into a silo, then rose attached to a zeppelin framework.
"I thought you might."
Feeding the clockwork cab more glowing tokens, he stepped aboard and held her against his chest, relaxing as it took them away through the steaming sky.
Total November word count: 2116