primrosella | Quest 115

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Quest 115

[Accidental Voice Post]

[The device switches on amidst a shuffle of cloth, presumably by accident--as though, perhaps, it is being kept in a pocket, out of sight, and its owner has jostled it by mistake.]

Don't look don't look don't look don't look--

[The whispered words keep time with the faint clicking of footsteps.]

There's nothing there, it's fine, it's fine, don't look, don't look, there's nothing there, just keep going one step at a time, don't look, don't look, oh, drat these boots! Don't look, there's nothing there, don't look--

[Somewhere nearby, gears grind and electricity crackles. A strangled sort of cry escapes before she can restrain it, and when she begins to speak again, it's with renewed, frantic vigor.]

No, no, no, there's nothing, it's fine, it's fine, there's nothing there, don't look, one step at a time, one and one and one and one, it's fine, it's all right, just get home, it's fine, it's fine--!

[The sound of machinery returns, louder now, clanking and rattling and grinding. Too close--this time, her fear wins out, and her scream is filled with revulsion.]

Get away!

[And now there is scuffling, shuffling, and the distinctive gasping of someone running, stumbling, and running again, as though her life depends on it.]

[OOC: It's mentioned a couple times in the King's Quest Companion that people from Daventry have a deep, universal loathing for technology. Of course, seeing as how the Daventry definition of "technology" means gears and cogs and clockwork stuff...yeah, Rosella's not having a good day. She's been fighting to keep her freaking out under control all day, but between the steampunk atmosphere and her wardrobe modification, it finally got the better of her.

All responses are assumed to be voice, and action for

not_so_smooth and

bombylious.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sam gave Rosella a look that was halfway between puzzled and horrified. Sam couldn't even comprehend carrying a dead fish around in his pocket for 5 minutes.

"You are really, really weird," he told her. "Seriously. But the computers, they're about the size of a tennis ball or smaller, and you think of an object. Then it has 21 questions to ask you about the object, then it tries to guess what the object is."

"It was alive when I caught it!" Rosella protested, wrinkling her nose. "I was going to eat it. But I ended up giving it to a bird instead."

She frowned, trying to wrap her head around the thought of playing a guessing game with a computer. "What sorts of questions will it ask, though? With only twenty-one to use, they must be good questions..."

"And the bird probably had something in it's mouth you needed it to drop?" Sam asked. It seemed like the sort of thing that would happen to Rosella.

"They are good questions. You can play it with people too. Pick an object that we both know and I'll see if I can get it in 21 questions."

"Did I tell you this story already?" she asked, surprised. "Yes, it did, it dropped a whistle that called a dolphin that helped me get back to shore."

Well, all right, a game sounded like fun. And in any case, it would certainly help to keep her mind off--no, no, she wasn't going to think about what was out there. A game would be good. "Ummm...all right, I have one."

"I- I don't even know what to say to that," Sam said, literally somewhat speechless. What were the odds? Seriously, he needed to find out the odds of that happening.

The first questions in the game were always easiest. "Is it bigger than a bread box? Wait, you probably don't know what that is. Is it bigger than a loaf of bread?"

Rosella shrugged a little, not thinking much of it. After all, all things considered, the bird and the whistle were some of the least absurd things about that whole quest.

She thought a minute, picturing the two side by side. "It...well, yes, I suppose it is."

Alright, she supposed it was, which maybe meant it wasn't much bigger than a loaf of bread? Well, he could ask another size related question later if he had to.

"It is some type of animal?" he asked.

An animal? That was an easier question to come up with an answer for. "No, it's not."

Well, that was a quick answer, so definitely not an animal.

"Is it something you'd find in most kitchens?" he asked.

Well, "most kitchens" was a relative term. But either way, it didn't make a difference.

"Er, no, I'd doubt that," she answered.

Sam thought for a moment longer. He thought me might take a wild guess.

"Is it a magic wand?" he asked.

"A magic wand isn't bigger than a loaf of bread, silly!" she protested, elbowing him good-naturedly. "Unless you have a very different idea of a magic wand than I do."

"It could be!" he protested right back. "If you're just considering length, it might sometimes be. Fine that's three questions? Number four is; would this object be found in my world?"

"You're just being ridiculous." Rosella shifted a little, settling in a little more comfortably and adjusting the blanket around her. "And yes, it would."

"I am absolutely being ridiculous!" he exclaimed, still sounding like he was protesting. "Alright, would you find this object in most homes?"

Her initial response was to stick out her tongue at him, but then after a minute she diverted her attention to the question at hand. In most homes? It was certainly in theirs, back at the Warehouse, but that didn't mean...hmm.

"Am I allowed to say I don't know?" she replied tentatively. "I...think it might? I'm not entirely sure what's common for most homes in your world, so..."

Sam scratched his head and puzzled over that.

"Yeah, you can say you don't know," Sam said. "Five, is it something you or I use at least 4 times a week?"

Rosella tipped her head back a little, her lips moving slightly as she counted a mental tally to herself. "Er, I don't know about four or more, but it's used often, yes."

Sam thought about that some too. That definitely narrowed things down. This was a lot easier when it was with someone you knew really well.

"Six, does it require electricity to run?" he asked.

Only six questions in and Sam already seemed to be getting close. Rosella wondered if it was just that he was asking very good questions, or if all games of this nature went so quickly.

"No, none of...um. None of that," she said, trying to keep her mind from wandering back to the unnatural crackling noises that had been haunting her all day.

Okay, so it wasn't powered at all, so that narrowed it down. Now he just had to think through all the stuff they owned that they didn't have to plug in.

"Seven, is it bigger than two loaves of bread?"

"End to end, or on top of each other?" she asked, considering.

"Oh, I guess that's really not a clear question," he said. "I was thinking side by side, actually."

"Ummm. It's about the size of--oh, well, no, that'd give it away. Er." Rosella's brow furrowed in thought as she tried to imagine something of comparable size.

"About...perhaps about the size of a pizza box? I think that's...close."

Sam pictured a pizza box in his mind and tried to think of all the things that were about that size.

"Question eight, is it made of plastic?" he asked.

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