Botober 27: Pastamancer
Oct. 27th, 2020 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alfvaenThis one links to two of the earlier stories. I guess I'm just building up my supporting cast now. Almost makes me wish I had a plot to go with them or something. Today's prompts are:
Pastamancer
Augustina the Pastamancer let loose her minions in a whirlwind of activity, knowing she had left cleanup too late. She had spaghetti manatees vacuuming the carpet, linguine squids scrubbing the walls, rotini fans clearing smoke out of the air, and she still had to wash the dishes herself. She shooed houseflies off a slice of bread and tossed it into the compost bin. She sincerely hoped nobody showed up early.
Which was, of course, the cue for a gateway to appear in the cleared area in the foyer. She wished she had dared not to open the gap until closer to meeting time, but from previous experience she knew that was more of an invitation to mockery than just a messy dwelling was. Hurriedly she closer the doors to the worst rooms and performed some last-minute wardrobe adjustment in hopes that a little cleavage would be a sufficient distraction.
Luckily it was Shems the Terrormonger who stepped out of the gateway. He was just the sort to be distracted, but not the sort to actually get skeezy about it. He gallantly kissed her hand, unable to avert his gaze. "Uh, hi, Augustina. I hope I'm not too early."
"It's fine," she said as airily as she could manage. She had been taken aback the first time she met the Terrormonger, at how mild-mannered and kindly he was. But she supposed it made sense. She treated pasta as a tool to be used, a focus for her powers, which meant that she could hardly ever bring herself to, you know, eat it or anything. Shems's attitude toward the emotion of fear was much the same--something to avoided unless actually working. She had a sudden image of Shems frantically cleaning his tower before a meeting, scaring the dirt out of the carpet and stains off the walls.
Shems was willing to be diverted out onto the balcony, where he exclaimed over her spherecat Wilson, curled up into a ball in midair. He uncurled enough to submit to some tentative petting before spinning back into a globe. "So cute," Shems said. "I'd love to get one of those, but, you know." He'd explained that to her before too; he got on best with small, easily scared creatures like rodents, who didn't coexist well with cats.
In the back of her mind she sensed a reduction in tension, as her pasta creatures neared the completion of their tasks. She relaxed, gently herding them into the compost as they finished and lost their vitality. She'd have to make a lot of dough tomorrow to start on replacing them. But at least she could lead Shems back into her actual living room, now spotless and inviting. Which, of course, meant that another gateway was about to open. She absently suppressed her cleavage again, which was a good thing, as here, of course, was that sleazy Cadeo the Arithmancer. She pasted a fake smile onto her face as she greeted him, and left him to talk to Shems while she got out the snacks.
- Things: spherecat
- Concepts: Terror Monger
- Advanced: A vacuuming spaghetti manatee
- Terrible: Houseflies on a slice of bread
Pastamancer
Augustina the Pastamancer let loose her minions in a whirlwind of activity, knowing she had left cleanup too late. She had spaghetti manatees vacuuming the carpet, linguine squids scrubbing the walls, rotini fans clearing smoke out of the air, and she still had to wash the dishes herself. She shooed houseflies off a slice of bread and tossed it into the compost bin. She sincerely hoped nobody showed up early.
Which was, of course, the cue for a gateway to appear in the cleared area in the foyer. She wished she had dared not to open the gap until closer to meeting time, but from previous experience she knew that was more of an invitation to mockery than just a messy dwelling was. Hurriedly she closer the doors to the worst rooms and performed some last-minute wardrobe adjustment in hopes that a little cleavage would be a sufficient distraction.
Luckily it was Shems the Terrormonger who stepped out of the gateway. He was just the sort to be distracted, but not the sort to actually get skeezy about it. He gallantly kissed her hand, unable to avert his gaze. "Uh, hi, Augustina. I hope I'm not too early."
"It's fine," she said as airily as she could manage. She had been taken aback the first time she met the Terrormonger, at how mild-mannered and kindly he was. But she supposed it made sense. She treated pasta as a tool to be used, a focus for her powers, which meant that she could hardly ever bring herself to, you know, eat it or anything. Shems's attitude toward the emotion of fear was much the same--something to avoided unless actually working. She had a sudden image of Shems frantically cleaning his tower before a meeting, scaring the dirt out of the carpet and stains off the walls.
Shems was willing to be diverted out onto the balcony, where he exclaimed over her spherecat Wilson, curled up into a ball in midair. He uncurled enough to submit to some tentative petting before spinning back into a globe. "So cute," Shems said. "I'd love to get one of those, but, you know." He'd explained that to her before too; he got on best with small, easily scared creatures like rodents, who didn't coexist well with cats.
In the back of her mind she sensed a reduction in tension, as her pasta creatures neared the completion of their tasks. She relaxed, gently herding them into the compost as they finished and lost their vitality. She'd have to make a lot of dough tomorrow to start on replacing them. But at least she could lead Shems back into her actual living room, now spotless and inviting. Which, of course, meant that another gateway was about to open. She absently suppressed her cleavage again, which was a good thing, as here, of course, was that sleazy Cadeo the Arithmancer. She pasted a fake smile onto her face as she greeted him, and left him to talk to Shems while she got out the snacks.
