video;

[nosympathy]

[Xhex is standing, holding the device pointed at a rather brightly colored and very large egg.]

So the last time something like this showed up in the City, we were all given the option of trades...anyone want to lay bets on what happens this time?

Comments

[mortemscintilla]

Something terrible, I'm assuming.

[ Did you call for a little voice of doom? ]

[nosympathy]

Possibly, the way things tend to go around here it wouldn't be much of a surprise.

[mortemscintilla]

Even so, I hope you're not planning to keep that egg. All that's festively-colored isn't always ...festive.

[nosympathy]

I've learned that well enough even before turning up here.

[mortemscintilla]

[ So has he. ]

I wonder what's in those things. I've seen a few people try to eat them. But the results weren't pretty.

[nosympathy]

Well these aren't gold like the last ones, so it looks like they really are just eggs but I wouldn't try eating one. Not all eggs are tasty.

[mortemscintilla]

Especially if it turns out there's a stillborn monster in there.

[ Li stop you're being morbid. ]

[nosympathy]

[Okay you're weird and she has experience with weird.]

Stillborn implies it was born not unhatched.

[mortemscintilla]

I'm aware of the semantics, but people still use the term for eggs.

[ He scratches his head sheepishly. ] Have you ever heard of balut? It's a delicacy in SouthEast Asia. A duck egg that's allowed to mature until it's almost ready to hatch. Then it's just boiled like a normal egg and eaten, even though there's a tiny bird inside.

It's referred to as a 'stillborn treat.' [ Thank you for creeping everyone out, Li. ]

[nosympathy]

[Not creeped but serious grossed out.]

I'll try and remember to never order that, thanks.

[mortemscintilla]

It's not as bizarre as some other things I've seen people pass for food. Like caterpillar fungus and fruit-bat stew.

[ A wince, ] Still, I try to keep an an open mind. What's disgusting for someone is just a regular dinner for another.

[nosympathy]

That I understand so no judging, just no eating.

[mortemscintilla]

[ He glances carefully around, before adding, sotto voce, ] Er... please don't take this the wrong way, but. Do you like food with a little blood in it? Like blood sausage or extra-rare steak?

[nosympathy]

[From grossed out to laughing, thanks Li.]

No, I prefer my meat cooked completely thank you. Animal blood, as well as human, is not on my list of snacks.

[mortemscintilla]

[ He colors up, ducking his head. ]

Oh. Well. Not that there's anything wrong if you do. I'm partial to blood-pudding myself. [ An uneasy pause. ] Does it taste different? Regular blood compared to, well, the vampire blood you take to survive?

[nosympathy]

It's like drinking water when you want milk. It's too thin and not as filling.

[mortemscintilla]

[ He mulls this over. ]

I guess that's a good way to put it. [ doot doot ] I wonder if there's such a thing as a vampire with the blood equivalent of lactose intolerance.

[ Hnngh. Goddammit Li. Just. Shut up. ]

[nosympathy]

[Dude...]

Well humans shouldn't actually drink milk since they weren't created to consume it. We were created to drink from each another's veins.

[mortemscintilla]

You have a point there. [ He offers an apologetic half-bow. ] I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get personal. I've just. Never spoken to a vampire before.

[ Carmine's price, drinking the blood of children, was a different matter entirely. ]

[nosympathy]

Never actually talked about it before with anyone so...It's alright.

[mortemscintilla]

Oh. Is it [ he tries to phrase it delicately ] a point of contention where you're from, maybe? [ Certainly, no civilians spoke of Contractors or Dolls in his homeworld, either. Not unless they wanted PANDORA to descend on them like the wrath of god, and erase their memories. ]

[nosympathy]

Most humans don't know about us, the ones that do aren't human any more. We're at war, more or less, with them.

[mortemscintilla]

I see. [ Now doesn't that sound familiar? ] It sounds like a pretty volatile place to live in.

[nosympathy]

Not really, we're the only ones that know about the war. The humans are blissfully ignorant.

[mortemscintilla]

[ They usually are. Until something rips the lid off the aforementioned secrecy in a disastrous way. ]

Really? How do you keep something so violent on the down-low? [ What a silly question, Li. If human beings were so observant, there wouldn't be half as many messes dotted in history. ]

[nosympathy]

People die every day. [And unless you know the dead you don't care about them.]

It's easy enough to get rid of a body if you know how. And it's not like a large scale, blowing up buildings war more the separate and destroy kind.

[mortemscintilla]

A war behind the scenes, huh?

[ He pretends to mull this over. ]

Sounds like it's been carrying on for a while.

[nosympathy]

As long as I remember. Probably since the race was created.

[Sibling rivalry and jealousy sucks.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ He maintains Li's gormless facade, but lets a bit of that scalpel's precision cut through, remarking, ]

That sounds almost like a feud, Miss Xhex.

[nosympathy]

[Luckily for Hei they aren't close enough for her to try and pick up anything from him so the questions seem harmless enough.]

One way to put it. Someone wasn't very happy the way things happened.

[not_like_the_rest]

[WELL, hello twin that talks about odd things.]

10 on giant omelets.

[nosympathy]

[Well isn't that just weird as all fuck.]

That's a given for some around here since these aren't gold like the last batch.

[not_like_the_rest]

[All fucked up as hell, yep.]

I guess the odds are in my favor then. [That would be funny in Panem, okay?]

What's the game maker's name? Feel like I'm looking in a fucking mirror.

[nosympathy]

You haven't played the odds in the City before have you? You'd be close betting on any other thing happening as well...even a plague of frogs at this point.

You must be new...[and not from home since she'd have picked up on another symphath in the area] that would be the Deities, or so they say.

[not_like_the_rest]

Yeah, new works.

I was talking about getting the bet takers name, yours. [beat] What the fuck are deities?

[nosympathy]

Xhex. And normally they're gods or goddesses. Can't say if that's true or not with the ones here, but they're the ones in charge.

[not_like_the_rest]

[Nods.] Right. I'm Johanna. [She still has no idea what those are, but she won't be saying that.]

So, you've been here a while?

[nosympathy]

Almost six months now.

[not_like_the_rest]

Huh. Any quick tips? [Emphasis on quick.]

[nosympathy]

Find a roommate or a pet. The ticking gets really annoying otherwise.

[not_like_the_rest]

Shit. [She was hoping that was just from the blast messing up her ears.]

[nosympathy]

Yeah.

[not_like_the_rest]

There a way I can contact you if other shit happens?

[nosympathy]

Not sure why you'd need to, but this always works.

[not_like_the_rest]

You're just the first person that I don't feel like setting on fire. Feel special. [She grins.]