(Untitled)

[cursedrider]

Johnny...is in a bit of a mood.

Which is why he's got a portable DVD player with white ear-buds. He's actually deep in thought and not paying attention to the movie.

Passersby will witness unmitigated gore. It's the original Hills have Eyes movie

Comments

[alorn_bear]

"So! Totally sorry about having to run off and leave last time, but- oooh, that's gonna sting," says Belar, looking at the screen. "Ow."

[cursedrider]

Johnny, is totally absorbed in the story when the "Ow." comes outta nowhere, "...Whut?"

Johnny....has completely forgotten.

[alorn_bear]

"Sorry. Watching over your shoulder. You know, the last time I saw anything like this was... oh, gosh. Southern Cthol Murgos. The Raveners were on the move and it was just nasty."

[cursedrider]

There is a man on fire. It's a Wes Craven Film.

Johnny winces before turning the DVD player off, "Raveners sound like a bad horror movie title. That bad?"

[alorn_bear]

"Well, they eat the dead," says Belar. "Mostly the dead. They're not always fussy as long as it's not moving too much. I think they were what happened when Torak and Issa consulted on the scavenger question too long and Issa got his ideas wrong."

[cursedrider]

Johnny pales.

"......These guys....ate their dead and then some. S'not for shit like that though. It's...entertainment here."

[alorn_bear]

"Well, bleah," says Belar. "The Karands might've been demon worshippers but it wasn't like they were exactly prone to having plays about the exploits of Agrinja the Wonder Demon and his Ravening Horde of Flesh-Rending Imps... 'course, they weren't very big on plays to begin with, but you get the idea."

[cursedrider]

Johnny visibly flinches at the mention of demons, "...Where's an imp beneath a demon? S'greater then one or less then one?"

[alorn_bear]

"Lesser. Size is an indication of rank in the Hell that Dad had to lock out of our universe, and imps aren't a whole lot taller than a guy's knee. Agrinja's usually depicted in a form about... ooh, eight or nine feet tall. Way too many teeth, a couple too many eyes, claws, that kind of thing."

[cursedrider]

Idly, Johnny wonders what Mephistopheles would look like. Then he wonders if there's such a thing as imps.

At this point, Zarathos laughs inside his head and Johnny grips at the table edge, "...So you really are a god." Hot damn.

[alorn_bear]

"Yeah," says Belar. "The youngest of seven for a good twelve thousand years. I've got a little brother now, though. Oh, and hi."

That latter is directed at Zarathos, though it's difficult to say how that can be told. There's even a cheerful little wave.

"Your universe's totally not my jurisdiction, so I can do that without getting anybody in trouble."

[cursedrider]

Johnny looks terrified, "-You-"

Of course he does. This guy's a god. He's probably psychic or something.

Johnny studies his hands for a moment, "You know about our universe?"
His voice takes on an eerie tone as he asks, "What do you make of it?"

[alorn_bear]

"You guys have an interesting set-up. We're a lot more purpose-oriented where I come from- the Universe's been divided against itself for longer than anybody but me and my dad and my brothers can remember, and we only just got it back on the course of its original purpose. Yours is a lot more... hi, no destiny, just a vague general sort of purpose, and a buttload of free will. Not that we don't have free will in mine, it's just that there's so much less guidance for you guys when you're lost. It's kind of weird."

Then he adds, to Zarathos, "For the record, where I come from Hell is a totally different universe with different laws and purposes. My father UL locked it out of our Universe and bound the King of Hell into his own universe long before anything else of my world was made. The only way demons get in is if they're deliberately summoned, and even my whackjob brother Torak knew that was bad mojo."

[cursedrider]

Johnny does not know what to make of this pronouncement, "...So you guys don't have priests and stuff?"

Zarathos is mulling around in Johnny's head, something that makes him sit down rather suddenly and pale considerably.

[alorn_bear]

"Oh, no, we've got priests," Belar says. "But unless you're in Sendaria? It's one priest, one god. I mean, I've got priests, my brother Nedra has priests, my brother Chaldan has priests, we've all got priests. The Ulgos worship Dad, so they've got enough holy men to choke the entire Algarian horse herd, and Torak used to have the Grolims but he sort of caught a bad case of Garion and died of flaming sword of destiny poisoning."

[cursedrider]

Johnny is on the verge of asking something very naughty and inappropriate, but Zarathos has questions first.

Johnny has to fight to keep the rasp out of his voice now, "....A world with different realms for different gods?"

...Now there's an idea.