Fiction A Debate (Oct-Nov 2022 story comp entry)

[Y'ttar Scaletail]

A Debate

“I’m telling you, Nakai would crush Gor-Rok like an Itzi grub!”

Lim paused in anointing the glyphs with the sacred seed oils to regard his fellow attendant with a sharp look. He lashed his tail angrily.

“Firstly, Zani, this whole discussion is utterly blasphemous. Secondly, Gor-Rok has weathered blows from greater daemons and wyverns. Nakai is strong, very strong, but even he could not move the immovable Gor-Rok.”

Zani snorted at his fellow Skink as he continued to polish the carved stone floor of the temple chamber. “You forget that Nakai is even move unkillable. They say he withstood the plagues of the vile ratmen during the rise of Sotek, plagues that would slay any other Skink, Saurus, or Kroxigor. And before you say it, Nakai has fought hordes of daemons and never faltered or fell. In fact, he was there when the Dark Ones first broke through, isn’t that right, Itl?”

Itl, the oldest of the Skink attendants looked up from his study of what he claimed to be glyph forty-three and fixed the two Skinks with a hard stare from his single eye (the other a milky orb lost to a thornsnake many years ago.) “I think you both should get back on with your work before Master Gr’ttl returns from the morning devotional and finds his chamber woefully unprepared for his reading.” He paused for a long moment before running a claw over his crest in exasperation. “But yes, Nakai was there when the world was young, at least so they say.”

“Well I think Tehenhauin is the best!” Skri declared aloud as he scraped away at the mould clinging to the chamber walls, pausing to look at the others and stick a claw up his nostril. The other three groaned at the smallest (and incidentally the smallest of brains also) of their group.

“We keep telling you,” spoke Zani with a deep sigh, “Tehenhauin is not real. The Slann invented him so the less intelligent Skinks would have someone to believe in and find more motivation to sacrifice the ratmen for Sotek.”

“Who is certainly real, by the way,” added Lim quickly, making the sign of Sotek just in case the serpent god might have been angered by such a suggestion.

“Tehenhauin is real!” Skri declared angrily, “I met him once, he was really nice!”

“No, you were suffering hallucinations from mould poisoning when you tried eating that mould. Mould that you should be scraping instead of talking,” Itl growled. “And that goes for the two of you also.”

The three grumbled and got back to work as hissed chants for the Old Ones crept through the carved window slits into the chamber. The Skink Priest’s morning devotionals were nearing their end. The sun had risen and all across the Temple City the Lustrians were basking in the early warmth of the day.

Itl put down the plaque he had been pretending to study and let out a long sigh.

“Regardless, you three are completely wrong. Kroq-Gar would crush all the others to a fine paste. Easily. And without Grymloq.”

The chamber was quickly filled by the sound of bickering Skinks.

 

[Y'ttar Scaletail]

So...originally I was going to write something completely different about a Skaven assassin battling Oxyotl in the jungles with the reveal of Tzeentch daemons being behind it all to test/distract Oxyotl. However, I managed to lose the file when my computer suddenly crashed and whilst I was able to retrieve parts of it...I just couldn't get back into writing it. It just didn't work.

So instead with time running out I decided to do a bit of a pisstake and recycle my Skink characters from the Unmoving Smile and make them comically debate which Lustrian champion could turn the other into minced meat. It was also an excuse to give the four a bit more character development in a fun little prequel.

In any case, here's what I was able to salvage from the story that never was:

Spoiler

Shuziik crept through the shadows of the trees without a single rustle. Though above the tree canopy the hateful sun did beat down its fury upon the tree tops, below scant shafts of searing light pierced through. Despite the gloom, the Lustrian jungle was vibrant and alive with the calls of birds, lizard, insect, and other beasts. The maws of giant carnivorous plants gaped widely and released their sweet enticing scents to the humid air. Shuziik ignored them, effortlessly slinking and scurrying around the many dangers of the jungles. He paused and flicked his whiskers, tasting the scents and sounds and focussing his senses for his target. To a Skaven, let alone one trained in distant Nippon, mastery of the senses was mastery of self. He would find his target.

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A memory. A crescent moon shone down onto the roughly cobbled street and the stars glistened above like a million tiny candles. The beggar did not seem to notice, his eyes were milky white and very much blind. He sat there against a ruined building, wrapped in a threadbare blanket and a bowl whose contents of alms glistened gently in the moonlight. The young Gutter Runner watched from another building, his red eyes gleaming in the shadows. He had seen his fellow trainees fail against the old human. Whilst the beggar was indeed blind, he could still see with his other senses beyond that of a normal being.

Shuziik grinned. This was one of his final tests and he would pass.

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The target was good. Very good. Far better than normal Skinks or even those that could shift their colours. Oxyotl. The price Pestilens would pay for the Skink’s head was many times the normal fee for one of Eshin’s finest.

A debate
another comedic piece. Based on real events: every group of friends that work together sooner or later will break the monotony of their task, debating who's the strongest one within a certain number of characters, be them fictional (marvel superheroes) or real people (football players).
In the same way, these skinks debate on the most famous lizardmen heroes. The piece is short AND brilliant. As this review (well, at least for the "short" part).

Thank you for the kind words. And yeah, it is very relatable...i'm just normally asked about Horus Heresy and 40K characters by a colleague as i'm more in the know with lore and that.

Fun story about hero top trumps. Something I thought of doing but couldn’t make it work properly. It is good to see it is done very well in this story. The work ambiance looks a bit like every office place (I would imagine) and I love how all is within a greater setting of a Skink Priest having done his morning rituals and then returning.

Many thanks for the praise. As part of a reference to the previous story the four appeared in, it felt right to focus on them as the people in the background doing the thankless jobs, which makes their triumph in the kinda sequel that much better.

A very short piece that is surprisingly very full of character. The little quirks of each character is nicely conveyed. Itl does little work, Zani starts the whole zany debate, Lim is gods fearing and follows a straight lime...I mean line, and Skri skreeees aloud his thoughts which are just all noise and no substance. At least that’s if I really try to read in what the names could be referring to in their characters. (I’ve probably annoyed the author now...*Horrible chittering laughter*)

But yes, this was a very fun and silly piece with a surprising amount of depth despite being a literal ‘my hero is bigger than your hero’. I just wish it had been longer and a little better proofread.

I...huh...you might actually be right...I didn't think about the naming conventions but it kinda fits...erm thanks me!

Story 6, A Debate: I don't know if @Y'ttar Scaletail is a soccer/football fan but this felt like European sport's fans arguing about the GOAT. Maybe a little bit of Superman versus Goku. It felt real and relatable.

I liked it but I couldn't vote for it. This piece didn't really have enough resolution and structure for my taste.

I can confirm that I am not a footie fan. I can admire the ability of sportsmen/women and I can appreciate the rush you get watching a favourite team or nation in a world cup or the like (this year I actually followed parts of the World Cup, if only via text-based updates via the BBC.) I guess this is a bit of that classic death-battle type thing where people will argue if Marvel's Avengers could beat DC's Justice League or a my idol is better than your idol. As a very rushed piece, I made it a silly bit of slie of life. Sides, you know me. I don't tend to resolve things or have much structure. At my core, I much prefer two characters in a room talking. No big resolution or event happens, it often ends as it starts.