neutral_omens | (no subject)

Time: March 30th, 2001
Status: Public
Setting: Manor door steps
Summary: Sphix enjoys the day by blocking the doorway

The sphinx settled on the Manor doorsteps, tail wrapped around her paws. The day was way too fine to waste down in the dampness and gloom of the basement. It had also been a while since she had done any riddling. A month, perhaps? No, longer than that. Much longer...

A bird dived down from the sky and swept over the yard, soon disappearing from sight again. Sphix lost any lingering interest she had had in keeping track on time and just watched, enjoyed the spring day. The sunlight caressed her feathers, and she stretched her wings towards the warmth. Life was way too hectic these days, she thought. Too busy, with too little time to enjoy the little things, such as sunlight. Or food. Blood and death. Riddles.

It was almost perfect, Sphix thought, an almost perfect spring day. She closed her eyes and went through the thought again in her mind. Yes, nearly perfect. The only way it could get any better was for someone to walk by, in or out of the Manor. She could stop them, then. Ask them a riddle. Just a small one...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With the weather being incredibly nice, it was slightly difficult to see why more people wouldn't be heading outside.

That ~~said~~ thought, the Metatron did think the lion-eagle creature could have found somewhere slightly more out of the way to enjoy the sun in. Weren't there people in the Manor who probably weren't used to such creatures? After first wondering what Adam was thinking, allowing such creatures here. Perhaps it was better than having it simply wandering, though.

He still would have preferred it to be elsewhere on the grounds, though. The Metatron might not have been very familiar with Sphinxes, but danger was easily identifiable. He hoped it could be reasonable, though. The day would be much nicer if there wasn't a quarrel.

He stopped a little way from the Sphinx- just out of reach if she decided to swipe at him. "Excuse me," he said, a slight chill in his words. "You're blocking the doorway."

Well, even if it was reasonably clear that the Sphinx was doing so, no harm in making sure she knew what he was referring to.

"Oh", the sphinx said. She opened her eyes, lazily, stretched her paws and moved just a bit, so that there was no way anyone would get to the door around her. "I am blocking it, am I? Well, of course I am." She smiled, baring her teeth. "What are you going to do about it?"

So it (she, perhaps) was intelligent. And deliberately blocking the doorway. The Metatron considered the options for a moment (fighting he didn't consider for more than a few seconds; he didn't need an argument with Adam over that, nor did he think he would come out of a fight particularly well) and decided that, if he could, attempting to reason with the Sphinx would be best if he wanted to go for the walk he'd planned anytime soon. His lips tightened. "I would ask whether there might be some way by which I could convince you to move, without injury on either side." He'd see what she wanted, and go from there.

"As a matter of fact... yes, there just might be", the sphinx said. "And, because I happen to be on a good mood, I will even tell you what it is."

The sphinx regarded the man - if it was a man; you never knew, with this place - through half-opened eyes.

"The rules are simple", she said. "I will ask you a question, and you will answer it. If the answer is correct, you may go through the door. If, however, you answer wrong..." Her smile got even wider. "Oh, and should you answer right, you will also get no benefits whatsoever, other than getting through that door. Unless, of course, you wish to raise the stakes..."

The Metatron gave the sphinx a rather suspicious look. A question sounded reasonably simple, but stakes involved, from his point of view, things Best Left to the Other Side. He didn't have any particular interest in losing things, for one thing. "I would prefer not to raise the stakes," he said. "Might I have a chance to hear the question?"

"Not a player? A pity." She thought for a moment. "I do have a nice little riddle for you. This is how it goes:

"If there is none in infinity,
yet tiny a is one already,
and if in iota there are two and in alpha three,
then how many in this room must there surely be?"

The sphinx yawned and settled in a comfortable position to wait. "I hope you can write", she said. "That skill will work wonders with this one."

Oh. A riddle. Those hadn't been much in vogue for… well, quite some time, he thought. There had been a vague resurgence a little while back, but his main thought there had been irritation at the way some angels had tried to apply it to their paperwork.

He hadn't exactly paid all that much attention to them when they had been in vogue, though. Some of those who'd wanted to bring his attention to one had, in fact, occasionally needed to write the thing down and thrust it on top on whatever he had been paying attention to before he'd even realised they were trying to give him a riddle.

So the sphinx was hardly endearing herself to the Metatron by, from his point of view, casting doubts on his ability to write. Perhaps they were only mild, but it still irritated him. "I can write," he said, and would have left it if it hadn't struck him that perhaps it was a clue. One piece of paper thrust in front of him had said "LISTEN", after all, and the pronunciation had been important there. So, if writing was important, perhaps it was something about the look of the words.

None in infinity, one in a… If he had been at a desk, he would have been tapping his fingertips by now. It seemed almost to suggest vowels, but there were three 'i's in infinity, and he wasn't quite sure whether people were currently counting 'y' as a vowel or not. Either way, it wasn't vowels.

He didn't get out a piece of paper. Perhaps some people did that sort of thing, but not him. He was perfectly capable of looking at the words without visual aid, thank you, even if that was the important thing. If 'a' was one, 'iota' was two, 'alpha' was three, and 'this room' was unknown, then was was the common factor?

He mulled over it for a little while, turning it over in his head, and, failing to find evidence to the contrary, said, "As the common factor towards the count appears to be that they have letters that are circular, it would appear that there are two in 'this room', since 'this room' has two 'o's." He eyed the sphinx with no small degree of wariness.

Sphix hissed in frustration.

"Why", she said, "that would be correct. Even down to the reason. Excuse me if I'm not applauding."

She pressed her claws against the doorsteps and got up, ever so slowly. "Had you not specified that you wanted something without any injury, I would have given you a scratch. As things are, though", she continued and settled down again, just barely out of the way, "you may pass."

Oh. Well, that was good. He'd been worried for a moment there. It went to show, he supposed.

He nodded to the sphinx politely as he went past. "Most accomodating of you," he said. "I do hope the day doesn't turn too badly; I suppose with any luck this might remain a nice place for basking."

(no subject)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(The answer would be two.)

Re: (The answer would be two.)

Re: (The answer would be two.)

no subject