#totally okay if u don't wanna continue this thread

[fruitytrollroll]

scratching the walls, running laps, I actually barked out of excitement. ( RUFF, BARK, BARK, RUFF, RUFF, GRRR, GIMME MORE )

Okay okay, one more but that's it, I don't want to spoil anyone's appetite. 😏

u get a pickle cellar excerpt

🥒🪲✨

Prismo leads Scarab to a dim, greenlit cellar, where the air is cool and pleasantly damp. Enormous barrels line the walls, above which are equidistant embedded shelves, packed with orderly lines of gleaming, sealed jars. The faint scent of brine drifts on the air, like Prismo has brought him to a brackish tide cave.

When Scarab had begun his inspection in earnest, he had observed the trash and sundry littered about the Time Room with disdain, and had automatically sneered when he began to imagine how the rest of the Cube might look. But he hadn't expected this.

"Haven't been down here in a while," Prismo idly volunteers, which may go a ways to explaining that discrepancy.

"Is that why it's so much cleaner?" Scarab dryly inquires. He sees no reason to hide his censure.

Prismo smiles sheepishly. "I was about to clean right before you showed up! That's why I closed the doors. Wouldn't wanna sweep any 'shorts' into the bin by accident." He laughs unconvincingly.

The reminder of Prismo's strange verbal slip earlier only serves to convince Scarab of the necessity of this inspection.

"Go on, then," Scarab invites with a gesture of eloquence. "Regale me with your process."

For the first time since Scarab arrived, Prismo actually looks somewhat enthused--though it's a far cry from his usual energy. He must be incredibly hungover.

"Okay, so the cool thing about pickling is that it's totally shelf-stable..."

--

"... And the longer you wait to eat them, the better they taste!"

Scarab hums, lifting one of the jars and examining it under the acidic lights. "I was under the impression that time didn't move forward, as such, in the Time Room."

"Right?" Prismo gushes. "Just a little trick I figured out."

"Do tell," Scarab says, interested despite himself. As frivolous a pastime as this is for the guardian of the entire multiverse's continuity and continued stability, Scarab is aware that sometimes turning one's powers to unexpected purpose can yield discoveries which lend one greater control of over those powers, and greater flexibility in their use. Perhaps that is the appeal of having a hobby, he muses.

And if he is to one day be Wishmaster, then hearing Prismo opine on the nature of his powers will ensure Scarab is adequately prepared to do the job more justice than Prismo ever did.

"As Wishmaster," Prismo ostentatiously begins, "I basically have control over every dimension in the Time Room. Like, I may just be a two-dimensional being, but I can still move the walls, and any inanimate three-dimensional objects in this space."

Or me, Scarab thinks with a thread of unease--though fortunately Prismo can only hold him, not move him.

... As far as he knows.

"Making time pass in the Time Room is as easy as moving a wall, once you figure out how to manipulate the fourth dimension!"

"It's that simple, is it?"

"Well," Prismo says modestly. "It took me a while to get the hang of it. But hey! Who can argue with these results?" He gestures proudly at his crop of jars. "You wanna try some? You seem like a 'hot and spicy' kinda guy to me."

"Hm," says Scarab. Against his better judgment, he's considering it.

Then Prismo heaves a sigh, rather disproportionate to Scarab's answer, in his opinion. The god-auditor turns to look at the Wishmaster askance, and finds him staring at the floor, looking positively downtrodden. Surely he's not that invested in Scarab trying out his pickles?

Scarab almost opens his mouth to ask what in the world is the matter with the Wishmaster, but before he can, Prismo mutters dejectedly, "That's the last time I make an unauthorized universe."

Scarab goes very still.

"... An unauthorized universe?" he softly says.

Prismo's eye widens, and he looks guiltily at his god-auditor guest.

"Ah... crap."

#prohibitedwish #scarab the god auditor #prismo the wishmaster #my fic #this didn't post when i meant it to and that's probably my fault but let's all blame tumblr 🙌