Chapter 43; Video

[tentacletrainer]

[[Today's video is giving you a lovely shot of the ground from what looks to be a pretty high branch in a tree, two pink shoes attached to pale legs swinging into the frame every now and then.]]

I think one day it would be nice to have a tree house.

[[As a Pidgey fluffs it's wings on a branch nearby, the camera girl moves the shot to it. The bird just stares curiously for a moment before ruffling its feathers a little.]]

Of course, traveling makes it difficult to build and enjoy a tree house, so it's a bit of an impractical desire. But it's a fun idea to entertain.

[[And now the view is of a sleeping Espeon. It is apparently a very lazy day.]]

I actually have a riddle for you, Johto. It's one my mother told me once. "A woman from New York married ten different men from that city, yet she did not break any laws. None of these men died, and she never divorced. How was this possible?"

Comments

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[breedslilacs]

Perfectly correct. I had a feeling this wouldn't be too difficult.

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[doitrockapella]

Drawing attention to the fact that it's a riddle in the first place invites people to be suspicious of every word. Without pointing that out, you'd stand a better chance at fooling people.

The ones who aren't inherently suspicious of every word anyway, of course.

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[breedslilacs]

That may be, but that also wouldn't give those who take words at face value much of a fighting chance.

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[doitrockapella]

When your mother told it to you, did it stump you?

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[breedslilacs]

It did.
It took me a few days and a little research to get it, admittedly.

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[doitrockapella]

How old were you?

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[breedslilacs]

I was eleven.

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[doitrockapella]

That's a good age for encouraging critical thinking skills. And the persistence to keep looking for a solution until you find it.

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[breedslilacs]

...I don't believe I ever thought of it that way.
I had always assumed she'd given me the riddle just to frustrate me.
Though looking at the situation now, that makes a little more sense.

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[doitrockapella]

Just to frustrate you? That's a fairly cynical view to take, isn't it?

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[breedslilacs]

Perhaps, but when everything she does seems to be of the same exact purpose, it's a little difficult not to take such a view.
Especially when you finally return to her with the answer and all she does is take another drink of her martini, pat you on the head and promptly pass out on the couch.

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[doitrockapella]

In other words, not a very rewarding environment.

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[breedslilacs]

Not typically no.

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[doitrockapella]

Still, even bad experiences can be learning experiences. If only because they teach us what to do differently when it's our turn.

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[breedslilacs]

The first thing I plan on doing differently is the drinking.
I don't think I will partake in it at all.

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[doitrockapella]

What about your father?

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[breedslilacs]

As circumstances were he was never around.
At least not around myself and my mother.

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[doitrockapella]

I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been difficult for you.

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[breedslilacs]

I never knew him.
At least not personally.
It's not terribly difficult when you don't know what you should be missing.
Mother and I got along well enough on our own.

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[doitrockapella]

That's true. Family tends to be what we make of it, regardless of what we're told it ought to be.