Day 43: Sun Room, Second Shift

[arc-wrench.livejournal.com]

When the shift changed, HK stayed put. Even after a long night of zombie killing, he had no interest in meatbag fuel, especially after all the discussion of chocolate with that rather strange meatbag. It was just making him crave the stuff even more than he had previously, if that was possible.

Oh, right. He was supposed to be looking for someone who was "VERY LARGE, WITH DARK HAIR." And also seemed to not know what lower-case letters were on the bulletin. As if that would help. He'd seen a likely candidate last shift, but talk of chocolate had distracted him.

Comments

[piggy-king.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear...Raine was quite mad, wasn't she?

"Ah, I'm afraid you don't understand..." Porky said, sheepishly, "It had nothing to do with culture or race or anything like that...anthropologically, they were exactly the same as me. Let me explain in simpler terms...the Magypsies were essentially a race of dumpy, middle-aged men, complete with five-o-clock shadow and male pattern baldness that insisted on wearing lipstick, mascara, and stuff like that. On top of that, they wore the most garish outfits, like...bright pink leotards and feather boas..."

Porky turned to the side and coughed.

"It really has to be seen to be understood completely, I suppose," Porky said, "Again, though, I apologize."

[per-ardua.livejournal.com]

Raine raised her eyebrows slightly; different cultures had different standards of beauty, but that was somewhat odd. "And this was a group consisting only of men? Had any of them been raised that way?" Maybe they had formed a counter-culture of some kind... or just a club.

She was curious why he called them a race, though--if he really meant that, she was especially curious how that worked.

[piggy-king.livejournal.com]

Ah! Raine finally seemed to understand!

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, I suppose..." Porky sighed, "The Magypsies technically don't really have genders, per se, but their forms are about the same as a full-grown male's. To be honest, I'm not really too sure how they work myself...they say that they're women, but they're obviously men...and they live for centuries at a time. They were also most likely the first beings in existence. All that I really know is that they are the...ah, is 'sacred' the right word? Whatever. They are the sacred guardians of the seven needles of Tazmily Island."

[per-ardua.livejournal.com]

...now Raine just wanted to meet this group. Unless they liked dressing up visitors. "It sounds like they may be asexual in the literal sense," she mused, definitely curious. "And if they embody both genders, I can see how they would come to be known as sacred beings.

"Do you know anything more about the needles they guard?"

[piggy-king.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm...you may be right..." Porky murmured. It was true that they appeared to be men, but Porky had never actually checked "under the hood."

...

Oh, God...disturbing mental images flooded Porky's mind and he couldn't help but gag once more. After he had settled his stomach, Porky addressed Raine's question.

"Ah! This is sure to interest you!" Porky said with a grin on his face, "Legend has it that there are seven needles scattered around Tazmily Island, each pinning down a different part of a massive dragon's body. They say that when all seven needles are removed, the dragon will awaken and that its unlimited power will be granted to the one who freed it!"

After explaining the needles to Raine, Porky realized that he was panting and grinning like a maniac. He quickly composed himself and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Of course, that's just an old folk tale, you understand," Porky said, "There aren't many people who actually believe it, you know?"

[per-ardua.livejournal.com]

"Mmm-hmm," Raine said, slightly amused. "How many of these needles did you manage to find, and what happened when you removed them?" The validity of folk tales varied, but sometimes it was to one's advantage when most people had long stopped believing in them.

Of course, that generally no longer applied when actually facing down the guardians of the artifacts you were after!

[piggy-king.livejournal.com]

...Was it really that obvious? Either way, as long as Raine didn't know what Porky had intended to do with the dragon's power...

"Well, I didn't pull all of them..." Porky said, a little gloomily, "Only six of them were actually pulled before I came here. And what's really frustrating is that I was just about to pull the last one before I got whisked away here! Who knows what could have happened while I was gone?!"

"But," Porky said, a little more quietly, "Every time a needle was pulled, I could feel this immense rush of energy come pouring out of the hole where it was held...the ground seemed to shake, and purple gas shot up out of the hole, too! It was truly a sight to behold!"

[per-ardua.livejournal.com]

That did sound like an impressive sight! Still, Raine said, "It might be a good thing that you didn't succeed. My student was supposed to have the honor of becoming the vessel of a goddess; we found out almost too late that it... wasn't quite what we had been told."

And then there was the side effects of acquiring all the summon spirits they were after, but... she'd save that for later.

[piggy-king.livejournal.com]

"Oh?" Porky said, interested now, "A goddess you say? How very intriguing...ah, would you mind telling me how the ritual was performed and what went wrong? I mean, I'm assuming there was a ritual involved. Also, do you know if the student is...here?"

If Porky couldn't have the dragon's power, which was almost certain, given that the Commander had already failed to defeat Lucas once, perhaps there were other ways he could gain vast power...