[01 - Video] Arrival

Oct 20, 2011 18:01

[The video flicks on and Tammy is blinking in confusion at the journal. At the sight of the video on the page her eyes widen.]

Oh shi-

[The feed cuts off abruptly.

Roughly twenty minutes later, the video starts again. This time she's clearly expecting it. And in the background you can see she's now outside.

Her tone drips sarcasm. It reeks of sarcasm. ( Read more... )

*claudia donnovan, *zeke, video log, event, comment log, *bartimaeus, *bobby drake

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[Text] likesfootnotes October 21 2011, 03:18:50 UTC
Dear Tammerella,

There are thousands of altars built for mere novels. 4 Whether the endeavour benefits you really isn't the question. This is about devoting yourself to what is obviously a higher being.

Avoid weeping too intimately with the pumpkin as it would be a shame if it bonked you on the head when it turned into a carriage at midnight. 5

Superiorily,
Your Diary

P.S. I've been there, done that, and wore the t-shirt while dancing around as a hippo. There's no point in doing it again when I could turn the tables and have a human do it for me.

4 - Christianity is the best example zealots prancing about the world's backyard and erecting churches by the dozen. You can also see the temple addiction in certain Asian cultures, a handful of pagan pursuits, and the followers of the sacred trend Hot Topic.

5 - Human sources claim that the fairytale goes the other way around, but we spirits, as usual, have the full story. In this case, the fair maiden was trying to steal a carriage and had a djinni put a shroud on it to make it look like a pumpkin. Silly girl had time-locked her summon and the smart fellow moved with all the speed of frozen molasses. Midnight came around and suddenly she was caught red-handed with a carriage when he disappeared. She fled , leaving a single shoe behind as evidence. The authorities caught her within a week and the only royalty Cinderella met with was the King's justice.

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[Text] needsnobottle October 21 2011, 03:49:45 UTC
Diary,

That was kind of my point in saying that it worked for some people, but look where it got them. Christians are battle happy, Asian cultures have been co-opted by the terminally stupid, and Hot Topic basically just serves as evidence of this.

And please. If this pumpkin is going to turn into anything, it'll be the girl carved into it. Because that would be the logical result, right? I'll hold my breath for that.

Turning blue,
Tammy

P.S. Must've been a pretty big t-shirt, to fit on a hippo. Don't suppose I can find that video online, huh?

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[Text] likesfootnotes October 21 2011, 15:53:09 UTC
Dear Soon-To-Be-Expired-From-Asphyxiation,

The fault therein is that none of them worship the correct higher power. Consider your actions to be setting the finest of examples to the ignorant masses. You'd be amiss to forget that saying about the only way to do something right. 6

And what backwards, non-existent world do you come from where pumpkins animate into humans? They tend to be carved posthumously and in honour of a certain scheming fellow named Jack. 7

Scoffingly,
Your Diary

P.S. Nothing existed to record it, as there were no cameras three thousand years ago and certainly no line to place them on. 8

6 - Disregard the one that mentions djinni being the only way to do anything right. We regularly surpass the skills of humans, imps, and foliots, but that does not mean we like doing it.

7 - Lore goes that he tricked the devil and the devil got back at him. As with many human tales, they have it wrong. I'm sure you can connect the dots here.

8 - There have been three separate occasions where another djinni has attempted to follow in my footsteps, but they invariably fail. There is a certain skill in being as creative as I am and few others possess it.

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[Text] needsnobottle October 21 2011, 21:04:53 UTC
Djinni,

You are the last thing in the world I would worship.

[And the following is written in a scratchy text of indeterminate language--indeterminate to anyone that doesn't know it, anyway. Sup Bart.]For someone so old, you are failing at the finer points of sarcasm. Not spent a lot of time inside of a human?

[And back to English!]

The backwards world I come from hardly matters, since apparently it never existed in the first place.

But that said, I never bothered to learn pumpkin lore. I was more interested in the baked pumpkin seeds that the season heralded.

May your lamp ever be rubbed while you're in the bathtub,
Tammy

P.S. I would have thought trivial things like that wouldn't have stopped someone of you insurmountable talents.

[That other language!]That's sarcasm.

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[Text] likesfootnotes October 22 2011, 17:28:10 UTC
[Bartimaeus reads the response three or four times before he deigns to reply, first to the extinct script. The fact that it's extinct does not ping on his radar, but what can you expect from a spirit that lapses into Aramaic when he's not paying attention?]

What a depraved and disgusting suggestion! Were it even possible, I can assure you that I would be the last djinni in line for such a torment. Having physical form causes me ache enough without making it permanent.

[With a shudder to the text, he shifts seamlessly into English to match the remaining statements; the Diary guise is dropped, lost in how aghast he is at that suggestion.]

There, there. Nothing wrong with the dissolution of an entire world and the realisation that it was nothing more than a construct in your mind. Try not to cry too much, or it'll blot up your penmanship.

And very little stops me, but I've no interest in recording myself. Any record of me is a matter of inconvenience, you see. I'd rather all traces be destroyed, but magicians have a certain tenacity with regards to hoarding knowledge.

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[Text] needsnobottle October 22 2011, 22:51:50 UTC
[Here comes that extinct text again.]

Depraved and disgusting? I see. Where or when you come from, human habitation is not a requirement. How do you feed yourself then?

[English, and Tammy is only too happy to drop that diary nonsense. It was fun at first but frankly the horse is dead, it's time to give it a proper burial and move on.]

If my heartbreak over taking the red pill overcomes me I've got tissues. Or my sleeve.

Magicians, huh? Can't say I've come across too many of those. Not in real life, anyway. Or what I assumed was real life. And if you don't want them to have the knowledge, why give it to them in the first place?

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[Text] likesfootnotes November 4 2011, 03:08:29 UTC
The same way any reasonable djinni would. 9

Your knowledge is remarkably insightful, for sheer ignorance. You speak of humans, and then act as nothing more than one. Having a bit of a personality disorder issue, are we?

9 - As you have all the education of a particularly ungifted rock, I will elaborate. Imps and foliots are the standard fare, but I have been known to ingest the occasional djinni or human.

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Re: [Text] needsnobottle November 4 2011, 04:46:30 UTC
Imps have been dead for centuries, and are disgusting besides.

A bit of a disorder would be an understatement, believe me. But I try and ignore it.

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[Text] likesfootnotes November 5 2011, 15:13:09 UTC
[Bartimaeus is launching back into the diary mode in order to address these dual dysfunctional creatures. In this form of response, he can include more insults for his dollar, you see.]

Dear Terrible Taste,

There's a natural invalidity to your statement by the simple fact that you think residing in a human is a perfectly acceptable pastime. Don't be insulted, 10 but I can hardly trust the tastes of an insult to djinnikind.

Sincerely,
Doing It Right For 5,000 Years

~

Dear Voices In My Head,

Have you ever thought about dismissing it? A few short words and the problem would be done. 11

Condescendingly,
The Voice of Reason

10 - Actually: Do take insult. There's no point in wasting a good dig.

11 - It's remarkable how few magicians take that advice to heart. Think of all the blood pressure issues they could be free of if they but let me idle in the Other Place.

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[Text] needsnobottle November 6 2011, 06:23:01 UTC
[Tammy outright refuses to take part in these shenanigans any further. Keep your lousy dollar.]

Just a few simple words, huh? And what words might thos--why would I take insult from a creature who clearly doesn't know the first thing about proper human possession? Stop filling this head with lies.--e be?

[That interruption pisses Tammy off far more than she's letting on.]

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