what in the longdark spitting-pit is that

[inourhead]

This was a bad idea this was a bad idea this was a bad idea.

Holly runs as fast as she can but the demon's faster. She has no idea where Lightning's gotten to; maybe he found a tree to climb. She on the other hand has been diverted into a treeless hill and she's careening down a slope, trying very hard not to trip.

And the demon's gaining on her.

She's never seen anything like it and neither has Crystal; maybe Book knows what it is but Book's asleep. It's mostly mouth - it looks like a cross between a floorlength mirror of a mouth and a snake to propel the mouth along.

And Holly's not fast enough.

The mouth catches her.





But it doesn't hurt.

Where are we?

----


with Minus (kappa)

with Mark (kappa)

with Max (Benedict)

in Terraria (kappa)

with Emma (Marri)

with Erin (Rockeye)

Comments

[follow_the_leader]

"Maybe it's a title...?" Emma suggests helplessly. "Like, Sohng is like Prime, and Room Pyay is her name?"

[joy_in_laughter]

Jenny just shrugs and shakes her head. "Jenny!" she repeats firmly.

[inourhead]

Whatever-her-name-is struggles with the first syllable of Jenny's name, finally settles on calling her "Ni" with an apologetic look on her face, manages "Alli" with only slight mangling of the first vowel, and has comparable luck with "Emma". Having established that she's connected names to faces, she then says, "Emma roooom...?" expectantly.

[follow_the_leader]

"Well, I officially declare the word 'room' to be 'and'," Emma sighs. "But I still have no idea what she wants. My last name doesn't make sense here, right?"

[cry_me_a]

"Seems like," Alli confirms. "Nickname, maybe? You said that was 'and', right? Like she wants another name, wherever we'd get that from.

[joy_in_laughter]

"She's going to think you're ignoring herrrrr," Jenny hums to them.

[follow_the_leader]

"Well, I don't know what to tell her," Emma points out. "Um. I can try this, I guess." She points at herself again. "Emma." Then she says, "room," and shakes her head, and repeats it. "Emma."

[inourhead]

This appears to make sense to the girl, but be very surprising. Then she starts giggling. "Emma!"

[cry_me_a]

"Seriously, you cannot just hand this girl to the court," Alli reminds Emma. "We now have one word and our names in common. What would they even do with her? What if they deport her? ...what if they deport her to Soche-Tas?"

[follow_the_leader]

"...ugh," Emma says. "She looks a little old for that, but still. Ugh. Okay, fine, I'll find her a place here. What about the servant's wing? The south half is empty, so proooobably no one would run into her."

[joy_in_laughter]

Jenny giggles. "Don't ask us, it's your house."

[follow_the_leader]

Emma loftily ignores that. "Well, I have no idea how to explain this on the basis of 'names and the word and'," she says contemplatively, "so, explanation can wait, let's go find her a room."

She beckons the strange girl after her. The servant's wing isn't nearly as close as the library, but it's reasonably straightforward to find, since Emma was using the servant's stairs to meet her friends in the first place. (They're easier to sneak down when running pantry raids.)

The southern half of the servant's wing is, as promised, deserted. The rooms are all fairly utilitarian and identical, each with a tiny cot, a chest of drawers and a stool with no immediately apparent purpose. Emma's not that familiar with them, but after opening a few doors she verifies they're none of them that different and gives up.

"Okay, they're all the same, good enough. Do you want to stay here?" she says to the girl, knowing she can't understand but feeling weird not saying anything. "Um, hmm." She gestures at the bag, and mimes putting it on a set of drawers. Then she points to 'Sohng and Pyay' and then to the floor. "Stay?"

[inourhead]

She looks around the room, tilts her head, puts her bag on the set of drawers, detaches the mouse cage and puts it next to said bag, opens the little cage door and pokes the mice, seems encouraged by the way they yawn and roll over, and shuts the cage.

[joy_in_laughter]

"Okay, fine, that's sorta cute."

[follow_the_leader]

Well, now she has no idea what to do. So, Emma falls back on her usual default: languages. "Soooo. Okay, um. Pointing at things, I guess?" She starts to point to the chest of drawers, thinks better of it because there are at least three words she can think of that would work, and points at the bag instead. "Bag."

[inourhead]

Sohng-and-Pyay (or whatever that means) does her best to pronounce "bag", and other concrete objects. She seems to have a pretty good memory for them.

[follow_the_leader]

It being a fairly empty room, Emma runs out of things to point out rather promptly. Then she casts about for new ideas. "Um. Food, I guess? That was part of the original plan, right, Jenny? You didn't just come over to be like Surprise I Brought Alli?"

[joy_in_laughter]

"Alli and dessert is definitely superior to Alli and no dessert," Jenny says blithely. "And I already said. There's blueberry pie, it's important."

[cry_me_a]

"Trust me, we wouldn't dream of coming between you and your sugar."

[follow_the_leader]

"Why am I doing all the sign language and looking ridiculous," Emma mutters, but she goes through a pantomime of "follow us, you, eat," for the benefit of Sohng-and-Pyay.

[inourhead]

Sohng-and-Pyay follows!

[follow_the_leader]

The kitchen is what Emma's mother would call "clean but not neat." Everything's been cleaned after dinner, but some of the oddly shaped dishes that don't lend themselves easily to hand drying are still laid out on mats on free surfaces to dry overnight. Emma picks her way through the kitchen to retrieve plates and forks for everyone while Jenny produces the pie. Alli, as is her wont, mostly does nothing, but she does at least scrounge them up stools.

[inourhead]

Sohng-and-Pyay looks around at things - and spies a set of crystal cups and plates. She goes up to them and taps them. "Sohng," she says.

[follow_the_leader]

Emma looks at her in confusion. "Uh..." This is about her name? She points at the cup. "Cup." Then at the plate. "Plate." And holds out her porcelain plate, which is not yet em-pied. "Plate."

[inourhead]

She frowns, then picks up the nearest fork, and one of the cups, and -

Now the fork is made of crystal and the cup is made of silver.

"Sohng," she says, waving the fork.