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Jared nee Terrence Tidbit
I'm finishing Jared's introduction to Matarael, and I wrote this bit out of sequence because I needed to write it before I forget it.
He found himself asking, "If you really are an angel... How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"
Matarael raised his eyebrows at the question, as if to say, that's the best you can do. He answered dryly, "First of all, the proper question is on the POINT of a NEEDLE. That makes a lot more sense. Secondly, there are many ways I could answer. I could take the pretentious mystical route and tell you that this entire planet is little more than a needle in the eye of God, or I could take the dense asshole route and tell you that first you would need to find them all very thick-soled shoes. But the real answer to that question is that it's the wrong question. Better to ask, 'How many angels WOULD dance on the point of a needle?'"
Then there was silence for a moment. "So... how many angels WOULD dance on the point of a needle?"
"No more than forty, ever, in any given temporal place at any given temporal time," the huge man said frankly. "Michael's word. With a minimum of ten warriors, flaming swords and all, stationed around the perimeter. It's a matter of security, you see. It'd be a fine thing if the entire population of Heaven were dancing around on a needle point and a demon or a reasonably-sized dog wandered up and accidentally stepped on all of us. Frankly, you probably won't find more than forty angels willing to dance on the point of a needle for your entertainment anyway."
For some reason, that answer made Terrence feel infinitely better.
He found himself asking, "If you really are an angel... How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"
Matarael raised his eyebrows at the question, as if to say, that's the best you can do. He answered dryly, "First of all, the proper question is on the POINT of a NEEDLE. That makes a lot more sense. Secondly, there are many ways I could answer. I could take the pretentious mystical route and tell you that this entire planet is little more than a needle in the eye of God, or I could take the dense asshole route and tell you that first you would need to find them all very thick-soled shoes. But the real answer to that question is that it's the wrong question. Better to ask, 'How many angels WOULD dance on the point of a needle?'"
Then there was silence for a moment. "So... how many angels WOULD dance on the point of a needle?"
"No more than forty, ever, in any given temporal place at any given temporal time," the huge man said frankly. "Michael's word. With a minimum of ten warriors, flaming swords and all, stationed around the perimeter. It's a matter of security, you see. It'd be a fine thing if the entire population of Heaven were dancing around on a needle point and a demon or a reasonably-sized dog wandered up and accidentally stepped on all of us. Frankly, you probably won't find more than forty angels willing to dance on the point of a needle for your entertainment anyway."
For some reason, that answer made Terrence feel infinitely better.
::even though the behindness in non_plot is overwhelming::
I LOVE THEM SO MUCH AAH THEY"RE AWESOME WRITE MOROOORE!!!!!11111one
...Yes. Anyway, what that's attempting to convey is that I think the practical humor in this is wonderfully executed. Matarael seems incredibly pragmatic, not prone to dreaming or wishing. Which, I suppose would make sense given that he's an angel. Angels... well, they kind of have everything, assuming an idealist's picture of heaven. They can be happy forever, so what more do they have to dream about? Thus, I think you moved to the logical conclusion that they'd be realists.
So, I reviewed prematurely. Haha!