Conversation Five
Celestia held the dustpan in place with magic as Mag swept Funyuns into it. The thieves had trashed the place.
“I would think you'd be angrier,” said Celestia. She had assumed her human disguise again.
“One thing I've learned about this job is that people turn feral the moment they walk into a convenience store,” said Mag. “If I started shouting every time someone acted like an animal in here, I'd never stop.”
Celestia emptied the dustpan into the plastic trash bin next to her. “Has this place ever been robbed before?”
“Not while I've been working here, but I think it's happened at least once. Okay, I think this aisle is good. What's in the next one?”
Celestia peered around around the corner of the next aisle. “Quite a lot of melted ice cream. It's mostly dried now.”
“Okay, time for the mop. Isn't that also the aisle they dumped the oil in?”
Celestia took another look. “Yes, over on the other end. Shall we use a towel for that part?”
“Could you do that, please? There are paper towels under the counter.”
“Of course,” said Celestia. She walked over to the lake of car oil at the end of aisle three while rummaging blindly with her magic through the shelves beneath the register. She found the roll of paper towels—a particularly large and thick brand of paper towels Mag regularly ordered from an industrial supply website because, as Mag had told Celestia, customers were animals—floated them over, and pulled off a sheet. Mag walked out the back door to get hot water from the bathroom, remembered that the thieves had stolen the keys to every door in the building including the bathrooms, and instead moved to the spigot against the back wall. She mixed up a bucket of soapy water, grabbed the mop, and went back in.
“Could you also pass me my putty knife?” said Mag. After another rummage, Celestia floated it over.
“Thanks.” Mag dipped the putty knife in the soapy water and got to scraping up ice cream. Celestia finished sopping up the oil and began gathering the empty wrappers strewn everywhere.
Mag remembered something. “Oh, you know what happened that was sort of like this? That time a pack of coyotes got in at night. They ate everything, puked it back up, and left. Less actual property damage and they didn't run off with my keys, but on the other hand, I had to clean it up by myself. Thanks, by the way.”
“I'm hardly going to stand around and watch someone else clean up a mess like this all on her own,” said Celestia, picking up shards of glass from the broken freezer door.
“You're royalty, though,” said Mag.
“Yes, this is novel for me. I've helped with disaster relief before, righting fallen trees and performing large scale counterspells and moving boulders from roads, that sort of thing, but I don't often clean a floor.”
“You're enjoying this, aren't you?”
“I thought it would be insensitive to say so, but yes,” said Celestia. She picked up and threw away the empty ice cream tubs all over the floor, and hummed a tune as she did it.
Mag shook her head. Celestia was wonderful, beautiful, as unquenchable as the sun, and as perfect as Mary Poppins, and Mag, to her own surprise, appreciated the company. But at the same time, Mag was beginning to understand why the ugly stepsisters hated Cinderella.
“Did you say coyotes?” said Celestia.
“Yeah, coyotes.”
“It's interesting. We had that species of animal in Equestria,” said Celestia.
“Why are our worlds so similar? Same language, same animals. Is it like that with all the worlds?”
“Most worlds have a number of things in common with each other, but not usually to this extent, no. I had to search for quite some time to find a world with so many similarities. Are you going to use that mop?”
“Right after I finish scraping up this ice cream,” said Mag. “You were looking for a world like yours, then?”
“I had hoped to find a world with inhabitants who understood magic on the same level my people do, so that they might help me determine what has happened to my world. Unfortunately your people seem to be mostly blind to the aether, and, so far as I've seen, you don't even detect it. On the other hoof, your grasp of nearly every other science beggars belief, so I'm expecting to find great help here. More importantly, I made a new friend.” She smiled and winked at Mag. “Yes, on the whole, this is a good place to set up.”
“What do you need to set up?”
“If you're just going to sit there, couldn't you let me use the mop?” said Celestia.
“I'm gonna use it as soon as I finish scraping,” said Mag. “If you want to clean up the rest of the oil, you could just use paper towels and dish soap. That might work better anyway.”
“We'll see, I suppose,” said Celestia. “To answer your question, I need to set up a laboratory. I'll know more about what I need by the end of today.”
“Why, what happens at the end of today?”
“There are some things I'd like to check in Equestria. Now that I've had time to rest and think, I've realized there are certain samples I need to collect, certain tests I need to run.”
“We're going dimension-hopping?” said Mag. “Cool!”
“'We?'” said Celestia. She deposited one last soapwater-and-oil-soaked paper towel in the trash, wet a cloth towel in a bucket of clean water, and rinsed the soap from the floor.
Mag braced herself for an argument. “Yeah, 'we.' You want me to sit around and wait for you while you go places no human has ever been?”
Celestia set the “wet floor” sign down where the oil had been and cast around for the next thing to clean. “That's what I'd planned, yes.”
“I have a better plan, and the plan is that you take me with you. And before you tell me it's dangerous, would you say it's more dangerous than the eldest? Because I survived that meeting just fine, and he even scares you.”
“If I had known then what I know now about your eldest, I would have pushed much harder for you to stay behind,” Celestia said sternly.
“And you didn't, and it was horrible, and I'm just dandy all the same,” said Mag. “Come on. Do you really want to fight about this? I don't. I'm not one to complain, and I want you to understand that I don't blame you for any of this, but honestly? Hanging out with you is the one and only good thing about my day so far. Even breakfast sucked, and I was looking forward to that.”
“I certainly can't say much for that wine, at least,” said Celestia. “Well, how about this? For the rest of today, you'll teach me about the human world, and then I'll make the Equestria trip tomorrow instead. The first part of today has been difficult, but we can make something of the rest of it.”
Mag tossed the putty knife into mop bucket and got up. “I'm going to stop being subtle. I was always awful at it anyway. I can't let you go back to Equestria alone because of what it was like for you last time you were there. I realize we just met, but having anyone with you while you're in there would be better than having nobody, right? I'm coming with you.”
And now Mag had embarrassed herself. She bent and fished around in the mop bucket for the putty knife, mostly for something to do other than maintain eye contact. You weren't supposed to come out and say that kind of thing, were you?
Mag glanced up at Celestia and saw a touched expression. “I... wasn't looking forward to that part.”
“Glad we settled that,” said Mag, and mopped the aisle. Her other reason for wanting to come was that she was feeling clingy, but there was no need to mention that.
***
Cleaning the store had taken hours. Celestia and her magic were an immense help, especially when it turned out that she could lock and unlock doors without a key, and, to Mag's amazement, could even fix the broken glass of the freezer door. Now the only problems were the empty register, the stock shortage, and the fact that, while magic could take the place of keys in the short term, sooner or later they would need the real thing. Mag couldn't decide whether it would be better to call a locksmith before or after her boss came back. She would also probably have to call her boss to tell him about all this, and the last thing she wanted to do right now was talk to someone with a legitimate reason to be angry with her.
Mag snapped the register shut. “I changed my mind. I am mad. Messing up some podunk mountain snack shack is childish, but hey, cleaning up after jerks is half my job. Robbing a convenience store is so mundane that I'm a tiny bit disappointed I wasn't there for it, so I could live the cliché and maybe get some pity points from my boss. But running off with the keys? They're threatening to do the same again sometime. What am I supposed to do, camp out in here until we get the locks changed?”
“I wonder if we could catch the thieves,” Celestia said.
“I don't even want to look at them,” said Mag.
“We could take the keys and perhaps the money back, and I wouldn't mind the chance to give them a talking-to,” said Celestia. “We could also call your local constabulary. You have one, I presume?”
“They wouldn't be able to do anything, and anyway, they'd want to catch the thieves, and what if they do? The thieves are probably teenagers. They'd go to juvie, and I wouldn't wish that on anybody. I know what I'm talking about; I spent a couple weeks there.”
“Juvie?” said Celestia.
“Juvenile hall. Jail for kids. And before you ask, no, I'm not a hardened criminal. It was just some stupid teenager stuff.”
“I trust you,” said Celestia. “It confuses and disturbs me that a child can go to jail for a crime that only merits a two week sentence, though. Surely there's a more appropriate punishment.”
Mag stripped open a Slim Jim. “It was going to be 24 hours, but I got in a couple of fights. Does that make it better or worse?”
“I think I don't know enough about your criminal justice system to comment,” said Celestia. “Do you mind if I ask what you did?”
“Ten years ago, I borrowed my parents' car without their permission. They reported it as stolen because they wanted to teach me a lesson. I got pulled over for coming to a rolling stop. The cop found out what happened and took me to the station, I got in a shouting match with the cop, then again with my mom over the phone, and then with my dad in person. Some other cop put his hand on my shoulder from behind and I turned around and decked him—I know, I know—and they sent me to juvie for the night to be 'scared straight.' Want some Doritos?”
“Some what?” said Celestia. Mag tossed her a small bag. “Oh, I see. Thank you. And judging by the empty wrappers we threw away, it opens like—ah, yes.” Celestia crunched a chip and motioned for Mag to continue.
Mag rang up the chips and Slim Jim, but she couldn't make change because there wasn't any in the register, so she wrote herself a sticky note about it and stuck it to the counter. “Anyway, there was this other girl in juvie that hated me on sight. No idea why. That escalated because neither of us knew how to back down, so, long story short, my stay got extended. It wasn't fun, but it could have been worse.”
Celestia nodded sympathetically and ate another chip.
“You aren't appalled at my dark past?”
“That isn't a dark past; that's a difficult adolescence. Goodness, these are salty. May I have something to drink?”
Mag tossed her a water bottle. Celestia opened it without difficulty—apparently they had twist tops in Equestria—and drank a third of it in one go. She set the bottle down on the floor and frowned at her Dorito-dust-stained hand. Mag tossed her the roll of paper towels.
“Thank you,” said Celestia. “As I was saying, I've never come across a culture in which adolescence is easy, and some individuals have it harder than others depending on personality and circumstances.”
“Yeah, well, I was an independent-minded and opinionated teenage girl in an authoritarian family,” said Mag. “They had me memorize every bible verse related to obedience when I was a little kid. I had to wear dresses, never pants, and I was supposed to call my parents 'sir' and 'ma'am.' There were a lot more rules, but maybe you get the picture. At some point I started testing boundaries. Little things. Sarcasm, lying, sitting without crossing my legs. They got mad, I got mad, they punished me, I retaliated, they punished me more, I pushed harder, so did they. We fought every day over every little thing. After a couple of years of this, it got to the point where the cops had to come over a couple times a week to pull us apart, and I loved that, because sometimes it meant I could spend the night in a cell rather than at home. Some of the best rest I got back then was behind bars. Eventually I turned 18, moved to the other side of the country without giving them an address, and just generally cut them out of my life. Oh, for—stop looking all sad. That was the best decision I've ever made.”
“But family—”
“No,” Mag said firmly. “You don't know how ugly it got. You don't know how it felt. Trust me. By the time I left, they were every bit as done with me as I was with them. I think they moved out right after I did, to make sure I couldn't ever come back. This is not one of those stories that ends in a tearful reunion where everyone forgives everyone else. God, will you stop looking at me like that?”
Celestia looked away, but her eyes didn't change.
“Sorry,” said Mag.
Celestia sighed. “I have seen families like that. There are few things I loathe more than the estrangement of a family member, but I understand that sometimes there's no other option.” She looked at Mag again. “You heard what the eldest said to me about my sister, I believe.”
“I remember,” Mag said.
“First, I'd like to say that both my actions and my motivations were completely different from his. The eldest's comparison doesn't apply in the slightest.”
Mag threw the Slim Jim wrapper at the trash can and missed. “You don't even have to say it. I could tell that that was just him being horrible. God, he's so horrible. What is wrong with that guy?”
The wrapper floated the rest of the way into the trash. “Madness, or something like it. The eldest sees everything—the past, the present, all possible futures, and every inch of your entire world in each of those contexts. We all take our cues from our environment, and the eldest's environment as he sees it bears little resemblance to what you or I would recognize as reality. I asked him if there was an alternate world where the murder of his brother was moral, and he said yes. What other strange worlds does he have in his head? Which world does his moral compass come from? What would such a man even value?”
“I don't know if you could call him crazy,” said Mag. “I've met people with brain problems before. You know, people who hear voices and believe weird things. Schizophrenic, that's the word. They weren't like him. Mostly they just seemed scared, and I walked away wishing they didn't have to feel like that. The eldest wasn't scared. He was a di—a jerk the entire time, and on purpose. He liked it when we got mad and he laughed when I freaked out. He was—you know what, no. I'm done thinking about him. It's just too horrible. What were you saying about your sister?”
“Let's walk down to the lake as I talk,” said Celestia. “I would like to use it again to travel the worlds, as it's easier to use a reflective surface I've passed through before. The trip to Equestria shouldn't take too long now that I know where this world is in relation to mine, so, with luck, we'll be back by lunch. Are you ready to go, or would you like to rest a bit more?”
“I'm ready.” Mag picked up her purse and walked around the counter.
***
“It's beautiful here,” said Celestia, looking up at the sun through the pine needles.
“Yeah, I like the mountains better than the city. I lived in LA a couple months and it was terrible.”
“LA?”
“Los Angeles. A huge city about a hundred miles to the west. It's full of smog and people and there's nowhere to park.”
Celestia gazed west. “A pessimistic answer, but I'd like to see one of your cities.”
“You were going to tell a story,” Mag reminded her.
“Yes, while we walk. Shall we?”
Mag led Celestia down a steep dirt path. At first it was just wide enough for one person, so that Celestia had to follow behind Mag, but it opened up and leveled out after a couple of twists in the trail, letting them walk side by side.
“Can anyone see us, do you think?” said Celestia.
“Well, this trail isn't exactly remote, but I can't see any houses, and I don't think there are that many people who would know about a rough little path that goes from the edge of the less popular side of the lake to the back of a convenience store.”
Celestia let the disguise slip away and breathed deep. “Much better.”
It was strangely easy to forget that Celestia was a pony. As a human she was merely regal, only slightly uncanny, barely angelic at all. There was always that same sense of pressure, but Mag was learning how to deal with it. But then, just when you got used to being around her, she changed back into a glorious pony princess.
“I've stalled long enough. I owe you a story.” Celestia settled into a steady, thoughtful walking pace, the better to think and talk. “I wish I could say it started with the parasite, but really, it started because she was alone. Luna is—was—is the princess of the night. She plays other roles as well, but what's important is that she always performed them at night, and our ponies have always slept through the night. They're afraid of the dark, and the dark is what she is. There was no one for her to talk to and no one to vent at. And I did nothing, because I didn't understand what I was seeing in her. People should not be alone in life, Mag.” She gave Mag a meaningful glance.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”
“Good. Where was I? Right. Now, there is a kind of creature that preys on sentient beings. There's no proper name for it, but it's essentially a conceptual parasite. Each one is different, with different methods of predation and consumption. The one I am speaking of now, which some call Nightmare, preyed on loneliness by fostering jealousy and then making an offer of power in exchange for a say in the host's decisions. After convincing the host she had no one to care for and the only recourse was to punish the world, the parasite would make its sales pitch. If the host accepted the deal, she would find herself steadily growing in magical strength while losing progressively more control over her actions. Eventually she would have all the power in the world, and all the volition of a marionette.”
“'She,' you keep saying. Did it only prey on women?” said Mag.
“I'm not sure. I never allowed it to spread. I only say 'she' because its host was my sister.”
Mag winced. She could see where this was going. “What did you have to do?”
“I couldn't separate them, and someone like Luna is capable of immense destruction even without the parasite. I wanted to search for a way to cure her, but she forced my hoof by not allowing the sun to rise. I fought her, and imprisoned both her and the parasite inside the moon for a thousand years in the hope that I could come up with a plan before her return.”
“And did you? Come up with a plan, I mean?”
“I did. There are greater powers than I, and she and I used to have limited access to one of them, or perhaps I should say six of them. The elements of harmony, they're called. Have you heard the expression 'Omnia vincit amor?'”
Mag scratched the back of her neck in thought. “'Everything,' uh, something, 'love?' Is that 'Love conquers all?' I've heard that. I think someone wrote that in Ancient Greece.”
“That may be where I came across it,” said Celestia.
“I always liked 'Love is as strong as death' better. Love is cool and all, but since when does love beat death? Everything dies. Death always wins. It's like playing rock-paper-scissors-black hole.”
“Perhaps,” said Celestia.
“You used love to beat the demon?”
“I wouldn't use the word 'demon,'” said Celestia. “It's too dignified. It gives the parasite credit that it doesn't deserve. But yes, you could say that. I passed the elements of harmony into the care of six loving ponies. Individually the elements represented virtues, and the ponies lived lives devoted to, well, not always to the demonstration of that virtue, but certainly lives devoted to contemplating what it meant to be generous or kind or loyal. Together the elements and their ponies were a force of harmony and friendship. The elements are the nearest thing to the pure physical embodiment of love I've ever come across, and their power is limitless. They defeated Luna and the Nightmare at the height of their strength, and, when the six new bearers wielded the elements, they destroyed the Nightmare entirely. So, yes, I would say the 'demon' was defeated with love.”
“The demon that wasn't a demon,” said Mag.
“Just so.”
“What were the virtues? Which ones did you get, when you and Luna found them? Or could you both use all six if you wanted?”
“They divided themselves between us,” said Celestia. “ As for my elements, it hardly matters now, I suppose, but I had the elements of kindness, laughter, and generosity. She got loyalty, honesty, and magic. Neither of us really exemplified any of those traits, in hindsight, but I also think our ability to live those ideals was less important than the role they've played in our respective lives, just like the new bearers.” Celestia's face twisted with loss. “A student of mine became the element of magic. She would send me weekly letters on what she had recently learned about friendship, and those letters taught me to love them all. Skies and scars, I miss them so much.”
Mag laid her hand on Celestia's back. “What are their names?”
“Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy. Twilight Sparkle.” Then Celestia said suspiciously, “Is something wrong?”
“No, no, nothing, they're wonderful names,” said Mag. She should have known what to expect, really. This was not a good time to laugh. This was not a good time to laugh. It was vitally important that she not laugh.
“Oh, get it out of your system before you hurt yourself.”
Mag gave up and cackled. “I'm sorry! I can't help it. Your world is pure cane sugar. 'Good morning, Fluttershy!' 'Top of the mornin' to you, Twilight Sparkle.'” The laughter faded and all she was left with was confusion. “What I don't get is how something like your world can be real. In your world, ponies control the weather by pushing clouds around with what, flying steam shovels? Meanwhile, in my world, we have the plague.”
“Don't forget that we also had things like the Nightmare,” said Celestia. “You have computers. You have this forest. And, for all your studied cynicism, you're still willing to concede that love is as strong as death. Where did you learn that, if not in a worthwhile world?”
“You're getting preachier by the second. The lake is close, by the way.”
“I can smell the water,” said Celestia.
“I come down here on my lunch hour once or twice a week. The lake has a good smell to it.”
Celestia smiled. “It does, doesn't it?”
The lake came into view, with its bottle green water and tall grass growing along the shore. It was nearing noon. There were no clouds, and the reflection of the sun burned gold on the water.
“I'm sorry,” said Mag. “I wish I hadn't laughed at your friends' names.”
Celestia turned her nose up theatrically. “It's a nice day, so I'll forgive you if you admit that 'Mag' is a sillier name than the ones you laughed at.”
Mag crossed her arms. “Never. 'Mag' is a completely reasonable name, unlike 'Princess Celestia,' the strangest nonfictional name I've ever heard.”
"Insolence. But I need your help, so this bulrush shall take the punishment in your stead." Celestia bit the head off a nearby cattail crunched it vindictively.
Mag rolled her eyes. "Consider me chastised."
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
964 users online
1,236,330 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Well you just lost me. NEVER go the NMM is parasite route.
Another enjoyable chapter. I enjoy the balance of action and dialogue that you manage to strike.
5583605
But it's practically canon, unless you completely discount the comics...
5584088 I discount the bulk of the comics. heckeven those who like the comics hate that arc. Parasite Weakens Luna as a character. It is far better that Luna created NMM without a parasite.
5584088
It's also something Lauren Faust said on her DA, and I think the show itself makes slightly more sense if Luna was being influenced by something--otherwise, this means Luna spent 1000 years on the moon plotting and biding her time, but completely changed her mind just because she got blasted with friendship magic and then Celestia reached out to her. It certainly wasn't that easy with Discord.
That said, once again I think I might empathize with AQPonyform. NMM as a Paradise Lost-style Satanic figure is way cooler to me than NMM as Patient Zero. Of course, then we've got the problem that Luna changed back to good, while the Satan of Paradise Lost is what he is because he never will. Flippin' look at this:
"So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,
Farewell remorse; all good to me is lost.
Evil, be thou my good."
AWESOME.
But yeah, I just don't think I can sell an idea like that for NMM. The canon is just a little too far away from that for my own comfort, at least for a story like this. But I still like the flavor of NMM as demonic figure, so I've decided she was possessed and is more or less personally responsible for everything she did anyway.
5584158 I love the comics to pieces and I enjoyed that arc overall.
I'm not treating the comics as canon because they contradict the show in a couple of places, but I do trust their interpretations of the characters.
But regardless, I'm surprised you stuck it out this long. I don't think I'm writing what you're looking for, judging by your reactions to the last few chapters. Fortunately this isn't the only fic on FiMFiction, your character interpretations aren't unpopular, and everyone loves Luna, so naturally she's everywhere. Happy hunting for good fics.
This little piece deserves an awful lot more attention than it's getting.
The basic concept was attention-grabbing enough, Celestia's characterisation is very believable - both from the point of view of the ageless monarch with specific values, and the mother-figure who has just lost everything and is fighting with herself a little over trying to 'adopt', guide, and take care of both Mag and humanity as a whole.
The introduction of the Eldest was an interesting idea which I haven't seen in fimfiction before, and handled well - such characters are difficult to write for, and part of me is wondering whether his actions had a greater purpose. When one can see the inevitable result of every tiny action... the decision to treat them so rudely may only have been a move in a greater game - to their benefit or detriment. Or it could have just been lack of caring.
I love what I've read and recommend searching for some appropriate groups to add it to, so it gets a little more attention :) Looking forward to seeing where this goes!
5584349 I was okay till the last two chapters. the Eldest I think could have been scrapped but it wasn't story breaking to me. The Parasite route is because of what it does to Luna's character. It truly robs her of the meaning of her redemption. Thus THE story killer for me.
5584474 Fair enough! And I should have said it before, but thank you for the critiques. Like I said, happy hunting.
5584496 I do wish you luck with your stories. i wanted the story to succeed and would always suggest changes to the story to in my mind improve it. The parasite is the sole immediate story killer for me. see you around.
I'm really enjoying this story. I love philosophical and snarky conversations. It's the definition of slow though, but something tells me the setting is more an excuse to have these dialogues.
5584546 "Definition of slow." This comment is hilarious because someone called the intro "expedited" when I first posted this story. That commenter must have wished on a monkey's paw for this story to slow down, because, by the gods, that's exactly what happened.
I wish I could say for sure whether this thing is going to speed up at some point or stay exactly the way it's been, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised either way. On the one hand, I have actual physical events planned, and on the other, I already know these people will not be shutting up, at least never for long. Fun fact: I found out yesterday that the word "Mag" is apparently a piece of British slang. To "mag" is to "talk/chatter."
Thanks, though. I'm glad people are enjoying this fic for what it is.
5584393 I've been staring at this glowing review, trying to figure out what to make of it. Really wasn't expecting something like this.
Thanks for the critique, and it's always worth knowing what a reader is thinking at a given point in the story, so thanks for that as well.
I guess I'll go figure out how groups work.
You really have something special here in the works, keep up the good work and I am certainly looking forward to more. It's really nice when I can find a story like this one that actually has me disappointed when I run out of chapters to read.
And yet you couldn't call him by his name.
5584158
You realize that without the parasite the whole MLP story doesn't make sense. It would mean that Luna is some schyzofrenic crazy mare and we know she isn't such. Is someone who isn't murderous crazy person weak character for you? Let's look. Luna loves her ponies but one day she says "They sleep during my night let's murder them" and after 1000 years she is hit with elements of harmony and suddenly she is again friendly. It is evident she was possesed. And from what we saw elements doesn't have brainwashing ability.
Odd friendship this is.
The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski
your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.
-- by Charles Bukowski
5796975 *claps*
Oh pish posh. I've seen trillions of possible outcomes and I'm absolutely... *thinks about himself...* No, I guess that is pretty much accurate.
Meg is...
...
...
Err, uh, give me a moment.
GLORIOUS