[open broadcast, during Liminal prompt I]

[protect_and_serve]

Does anyone understand the symbolism of these penguins?

Comments

[thornsofmalkav]

God, I wish. It's driving me nuts.

[breakaleginhalf]

[Gil just sends a memory of a specific vine. It's not helpful but it might get a laugh.]

[protect_and_serve]

These are a little more macabre.

[thornsofmalkav]

[Okay, he'll get a mental chuckle back in return.]

[protect_and_serve]

The ball they're playing with disturbs me.

((wait, how can he see the ball they're playing with? ... If Thorne looks out the window she'll see him on the little planet, standing between the penguins but a long step back, frowning.))

[thornsofmalkav]

Wait, what kind of ball? Also holy shit, Joscelin, did you teleport yourself to play with penguins?

[protect_and_serve]

To explore. I wanted to see if they were an image, or if Liminal Space continued outside the bus.

It's a severed head, though it isn't very realistic.

[thornsofmalkav]

And also coincidentally, to make penguin friends. Huh, if Casper's onto something with his kidlit theories, I wonder if they're meant to be Mr Popper's Penguins.

Also, it looks like your new buddies are playing what is commonly called... the Mesoamerican Ballgame. With one variation called the Mayan Ballgame and that's the one that was in Popol Vuh, with like the story of the Hero Twins.

[protect_and_serve]

Mesoamerica, the Mayans... these are places or nations in the continent south of the United States of America?

This man does not have the skin tone of a Meso-American. He could be a 'white' American, or a D'Angeline, or Alban.

and i will disco you to see if my guess is correct

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah. Where my ancestors came from. Basically a region that encompasses Mexico and Central America, plus the people who used to rule it a long, long time ago.

And... look, Joscelin, can I borrow your senses for a sec? You don't need to send pictures. I can just piggy-back on your eyes. I want to see if I recognize this dude.

Re: and i will disco you to see if my guess is correct

[protect_and_serve]

Of course.

[helborn]

The penguins I'm not sure, but the little planet reminds me of Le Petit Prince. I don't know if anyone else read that...

[protect_and_serve]

I haven't. A French book, not a D'Angeline one?

[helborn]

Yeah. I... well, I tried to read it in French, but despite living in a majority Francophone province my French is still awful.

Anyway part of it involves a very small boy on an extremely small planet - an asteroid, really. Barely bigger than a house. He could move his chair and see sunsets and sunrises over and over again. I think one day he saw almost forty or fifty? And while there weren't strawberry plants there was a rose, and also there was... some sort of plant that threatened to overtake his planet. I remember it was some kind of tree, not which one it is.

... It's a good book. Not too long of a read. I can hand you a copy if you want.

[protect_and_serve]

Yes, I'd like that.

Was anyone beheaded in the book?

[helborn]

I... don't think so?

The bus, by the way, is... I'm pretty sure a reference to a series of children's books that are used to teach science.

[protect_and_serve]

I assume the children's books were also light on decapitations.

[helborn]

... Yes, though there was one point where a kid's head froze entirely into ice. He was fine, because... children's book.

[protect_and_serve]

Of course.

[You can hear his mental sigh.]

The penguins have a severed head that looks as though it might belong in a children's book. Though it isn't a child's head; it has a moustache.

[thornsofmalkav]

If Casper's copy is in English, Alcuin and I can lend you the French version--I bought it for him while he was in his first dungeon.

[protect_and_serve]

Thank you.

I'd like to understand this space first. A hidden severed head is... ominous.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeahhhhh, it can be. Cultural, but ominous. We haven't had any twin boys that like to play ball games really loudly, have we?

[reallymean]

Maybe it's something to do with black-and-white? The rest of the defined space is quite...vibrant.

[protect_and_serve]

The bus is even worse from the outside.

[reallymean]

There's a terrifying thought.