Q&A Session

[needs-socks.livejournal.com]

[Oddly enough, part of the Nexus seems to have morphed into stone walls and wooden doors more befitting of a castle than a Nexus building. Those who investigate the change might discover a cantankerous old gnome of a man sitting in one of those rooms.]

[The Magician of Information, Good Magician Humfrey, is not at all pleased to have been summoned away from his castle in Xanth. Now he's stuck in a drearily Mundane world, and will doubtlessly be pestered with Questions now that his challenges have been dismantled.]

[Maybe he'll be able to re-use some older ones...]

[((Humfrey knows the Answer to any Question someone might have, but he might charge a service for answering it or put pun-related challenges in the way of inquiring minds...))]

Comments

[needs-socks.livejournal.com]

The same way one may have half a mind. Usually a baby gets half its soul from one parent and half from the other. They regrow after awhile, too.

[He frowns a little] My first son was a halfbreed; his mother was a demoness. She'd come across half a soul and hadn't been able to get rid of it until she gave it to Dafrey.

It would take a few years, unless the Demon X(a/n)^th decided to award you with one as a gift. Those are usually Magician-caliber.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

Hah. That sounds nearly familiar. I was born by science, not magic. My brother got the soul, while I was given the leftovers.

[sips at the tea] That's an interesting way of pronunciation.

[needs-socks.livejournal.com]

You certainly have one now. [Humfrey points out, pointedly.] It's made up of parts of several other people's souls, but it's a fully functional soul.

Demons denote their statuses in such ways that mortals cannot comprehend it. We use the closest approximation as we can get.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

That easy to tell, is it. [Liquid is clearly humouring him.] Whose did I steal, then?

[He lolls back in the chair, relaxed and unable to muster the will to fight it] Different men attach the name demon to different things. I've been called one myself. [He takes a certain pride in that.]

[needs-socks.livejournal.com]

It is to those who know what to look for. I am married to a soulless demoness every few months; I have experience.

[He sorts through some more bottles before finding one that apparently held what he wanted. He pops the cork and smoke pours out to coalesce into a mirror. The old Magician addresses the mirror-] Did Liquid Snake steal his soul? [-and the mirror responds by showing a centaur's hindquarters.]

[Correcting Liquid] It wasn't stolen, and I said Demon, not demon. A capital D Demon is much, much more powerful than a little d demon.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

It must be a lovely household.

If there is even any such thing as a soul, I certainly can't lay claim to one. I was created in a laboratory from carefully cultivated materials. I am synthetic. I'm a weapon in the shape of a man, nothing more.

[He waves his hand] Fine, fine. Do they write it for you?

[needs-socks.livejournal.com]

Demonesses can make any man deliriously happy, if they feel like it.

They don't need to write it; the differences are simply understood by the magic of the land.

[Humfrey hardly looks convinced] You remind me of a certain loud-mouthed golem I created who wanted to become real and eventually managed it.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

Another similarity. [grin] So can I.

Naturally, your magic extends to spelling.

[Liquid is silent for a moment.]

[Then he laughs aloud]

A golem! What an excellent word for it. I'd never thought of that one. Yes, I was made with a word written on my forehead: hate.

[needs-socks.livejournal.com]

[That causes the old man to blink, mildly surprised. People just weren't gay in Xanth; maybe it was the magic. He sometimes forgot that Mundania had different rules to the Adult Conspiracy.]

I didn't write anything on Grundy's forehead; that must me a Mundane legend. He needed to learn how to care in order to become real.

[whyamisobritish.livejournal.com]

[It's fun to surprise a man who claims to be nigh omniscient.]

Caring about someone. If only it were so simple.

[needs-socks.livejournal.com]

[Hey, it was mild surprise. Mild.]

[He snorts] Hardly. He didn't care until a bit of reverse wood in the Region of Madness reversed his nature.