《The Bartender at the End of the Universe》Ch 118: Under or Over
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"I mean, at least we know he's okay, right?" Og'drimun floated on his back next to Trizel's head as he spoke. His long ears draped down over the giant man's shoulder.
"Iiiiiitttt cccooouuulllddd hhhaaavvveee bbbeeeennn mmmuuuccchhh wwwooorrrsseee," agreed Bakade.
"He engaged the enemy alone and wanted us to turn around and risk all of our lives to find his body." Trizel said in a huff as he brushed Og'drimun's ears off of his shoulder, only to have them flap back over them as soon as he moved his hand away. He grit his teeth as he looked at the ears, but did nothing else.
"He is fine without his body," Trizel continued. "He does not need to have it, and Death seems able to move around just fine without it."
"I mean, that's a lot to lose," Lulu threw in. "How would you like to lose even just your beefy arms?"
"He chose his path, and he should be the one to deal with his consequences," Trizel snapped. "He was supposed to just observe! That was incredibly foolhardy, and he does not need food, air, or anything else. Without any limbs he can survive just as easily. I would need someone to feed me."
"I mean, no comparison is perfect, is it?" countered Og'drimun as he shook his head, and his ears went flying into Trizel's face before they settled back down on his shoulder again.
"Yyyyooouuu wwwooouuulllddd hhhaaavvveee ffffooouuuggghhhttt hhhiimmm," interjected Bakade, "iiiiffff yyyooouuu wwweeerrreee ttthhheee ooonneee wwhhhooo wwwaaasss ssspppyyyiiiinnnggg."
Sentenza turned his head up. He seemed to be ignoring the others as they continued to discuss Death's arrival and departure after his surveillance job went awry. He put his foot up on a small rock and gingerly put a cigarillo in his mouth before he struck a match on the rock and carefully lit the tobacco product.
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He was in a small square area full of bits of debris. Rusted technology was scattered around several boulders of various sizes, including the one he had his foot up on. Above him the upper floors seems to have been cut away, and it appeared like the room opened up to a blindingly bright sky above.
However, since that sky had no trace of purple, and was instead a mix of yellow light and blue, it had to be fake.
Sentenza rubbed his chin as he looked around. It was almost like a garden in the center of an apartment complex with a straight shot to the sky. Minus all the debris of course. Who knows, maybe at one time it even looked rather nice. But, its placement here made the purpose of this place all the more uncertain.
"That's ridiculous." Scoffed Lulu. "It'd have to be at least seven fingers, with at least one of those being a thumb."
"Ddddooooeeeesss aaa ttthhhuuummmbbb eeevvveeeennnn cccooouuunnnttt aaassss aaaa fffiiiinnngggeeerrr?" asked Bakade. "Iiiiisssnnnn'tttt iiiitttt iiittttsss oooowwwnnnn ttthhhiiinnnggg?"
Og'drimun shook his head, and with each twist, slapped an increasingly angry looking Trizel in the face with his ears. "Let's not go down that rabbit ho..."
"Well, what do you think?" Sentenza cut right through their conversation.
Lulu tapped her chin and shifted her mouth back and forth as she hummed. "Uh, I mean you have ten fingers, right? So it has to be..."
"Not whatever nonsense you're all going on about," Sentenza sighed. "Should we go up, or forward?"
The others caught up to him and looked up to see just what he was talking about.
"Whoa! It's a way out! Nice." laughed Og'drimun as he began to fly up.
"It's not purple," Sentenza mumbled as he shifted his cigarillo from one side of his mouth to the other. "Probably a trap."
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"What did you? WWHHHAAAA!!!" Og'drimun turned to look down, right as a jet-black spear flew past him. It just missed his flapping wings by inches. He cried in surprise before he bolted right back down to the others. The spear disappeared down a dark hallway opposite of where it had flown out.
"Serves you right," snarled Trizel as he clenched his fist.
Sentenza sighed and rubbed his temple as he muttered under his breath, "Man I miss working on my own sometimes..."
"Aw, but then you'd miss our wonderful company!" Lulu cheered as she popped up next to the cowboy and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "I know deep inside you're just one big softy!"
Sentenza raised his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly down towards her. "I thought Pockets was supposed to be the one who told the jokes."
"No need to be so stiff old man!" Lulu laughed as she slapped him on the back.
"Right," Sentenza sighed. "Fine, no more messing around. I saw we go up. We look out for traps but get as high as we can and go from there. With something for sure hunting us, we need to worry about getting to the top as quickly as we can."
"Sssssiiiddd wwwooouuulllddd hhhaaavvveee wwwaaannnttteeeddd tttooo ggoooo fffoooorrrwwwaarrrddd," Bakade brought up.
"And he chose to go off on his own," Trizel declared. "I say getting through here as quickly as possible is our best bet. I doubt we could figure out any sort of technology or magic we ran into anyway."
"Uh, excuse me," snorted Og'drimun. "I can decipher any and all magic!"
Sentenza sighed again as they started to get into yet another argument. "This must be hell," he grumbled.
Lulu winked at him, and he rolled his eyes.
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