004 :: Text

[hulkbusted]

Crowdsourcing this one since I haven't found the answer myself.

My mother was a tree and a needle, as well as being who she was. My father was lightning and a thread. Who am I?

[ooc: Someone might be a tad retributive, in a very low-key way, about someone else's intrusive interest in his lack of a sex life. ]

Comments

[hulkbusted]

I don't know how to determine what belongs in the zoo here and what belongs in an apartment.

[hexuality]

Well, you can't very well keep a dinosaur in an apartment, can you? Or a sphinx, really, but I'd imagine they're a little less destructive.

Me, I've got three cats, an owl, and a Pygmy Puff. Enough of a handful, I reckon.

[hulkbusted]

I meant as a renter. What's a pygmy puff?

[hexuality]

Erm.

[She is... not sure she follows. So. Moving on!]

It's exactly what it sounds like. He's just a little ball of fur. Likes to roll around and squeak and purr, which I realise is a bit odd for a ball of fur, but Arnold's very sweet. And purple.

[hulkbusted]

[He's used to that.]

That's... we don't have those where I'm from. I'm pretty sure I'd know if we did, because everyone would want one.

[hexuality]

My brothers sort of invented them for their joke shop. Well, I suppose bred them would be more accurate. We've got these things called Puffskeins in my world and Arnold's a miniature version of that.

[hulkbusted]

It sounds like something I saw in an old science fiction series when I was a kid. I'm kind of a dog guy myself.

[hexuality]

I like all sorts of animals, really. I suppose that's what happens when you grow up in the countryside.

[hulkbusted]

Probably. Is that how you ended up with an owl too?

[hexuality]

He was a friend's who went home. Owls are great for sending letters, too, not just as pets.

[hulkbusted]

Okay, you got me there. I have never heard of owls a substitute for snail mail. You're messing with me, right?

[hexuality]

D'you really think I'd make up a thing like owl post?

And what's "snail mail"? Sounds even more impractical than owls—which, mind you, aren't impractical at all.

[hulkbusted]

One of these days I'm going to suspend disbelief on something completely implausible because "anything's possible in this place" and it's going to be such a heap of BS that I'm going to be really embarrassed.

Snail mail is just a way of describing traditional postage delivery methods instead of using electronic communications.

[hexuality]

Well, I might joke around, but not about the normal stuff like owls.

Oh, with those postmen blokes, right? And stamps. How many d'you actually need on a letter, by the way?

[hulkbusted]

Owls as mail carriers aren't normal for me.

Yes, with the postmen and stamps and ecological wastefulness and all that. As for how many stamps you need, it depends on a few things. The cost of mailing something goes up from time to time, so if you have a 35 cent stamp and the cost has gone up to 37, you'll need a two cent stamp or two one cent stamps to bring it up to full postage. And then you have to pay more if it's a non-standard size or weighs too much.

[hexuality]

Mum sent a letter through the post office in the village, once, and she covered the whole envelope in stamps.

[hulkbusted]

[have a small surprised laugh for that image]

I hope it got where it was supposed to go.

[hexuality]

Oh, it did. That's not common, I suppose, having that many stamps.

[hulkbusted]

I'm going to guess that it's not, but the postal service would rather be overpaid than underpaid.

[hexuality]

Yeah, true enough. Shame no one writes proper letters anymore, though.

[hulkbusted]

There are people who would argue that there's more written correspondence now than ever before. It just doesn't require pen and paper.

[hexuality]

I'd never used anything with electricity until I came to the City, so it's only ever pen and paper back home. Well, quills and parchment, anyway.

[hulkbusted]

And owls and brooms. [just remember you ate shawarma with a norse god and go with it, Bruce]

Your world's very different from what I'm used to. I wouldn't fit there at all.

[hexuality]

Maybe not half of it. The non-magical half's no different from this, with computers and batteries and things.

[hulkbusted]

Is it split that evenly?