The Night Before Reaching Town
Three faces were lit up from the orange glow of a fire still burning near midnight. They looked at one another with a nearly emotionless face. Then suddenly the dark skinned female with long pointy ears started to speak in a haunting way.
“So a Dwarf, a Halfling, and an Elf all walked into a bar…” she starts. During the entire story she continued to try to mimic voice inflections at various points. Only part of them were correctly done.
As Dee- Prudence and Andrea listen to Knox speak, they consider each word with an intensity that doesn’t match the context. By the time Knox finishes the story the other two just continue to stare at her with the same unflinching response.
After long moments Andrea finally spoke up. “I don’t get it.”
Knox then turns to Dee and waits a little longer in further expectation.
Dee’s head slumps to the side, and her posture sags from attentive to a slouched melted look. “No I’m sorry, I don’t get it either.’ She continued to shake her head left and right denying Knox any hope.
“Tisk. Sakura said that was the essence of a joke, and our core’s Master Jane finds a good “Joke” great for “Morale Boosts”. So your Morale was not boosted then?”
Dee and Andrea shoock their heads signaling a further rejection.
“Fine, then how should it have been?” Knox leans forward and settles her elboes into her knees.
Andrea promptly chimes in with “well maybe you could have said the dwarf was insulted by the Bar keep, and blugend him to death. That’s kind of funny. All because the bar keep gave’em a watered down beer.”
Dee refutes the conclusion while putting on more of a thinking face. “No, not at all…. It should have been that the elf gave the Halfling chemicals to sneak into all the drinks. So while the dwarf was complaining about the ale, the elf was seducing the bar keep and the halfing tainted the beer with all the chemicals. So when a new round of drinks was bought for the ENTIRE bar to keep everyone happy. Everyone started to melt from the inside out and was puking up blood and everything….”
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“No, no, no…” Knox denied both. “Your missing the entire point of a joke… If it doesn’t make Jane laugh then Sakura is going to get pissed. We need to make the equivalent of a human….” Knox paused and slowly looked over to Sakura cuddling up to Jane.
Dee and Andrea looked that way just a moment later. When all 3 were sure no movement was forthcoming they turned back to each other huddled around the fire.
*eh’hem* “Make the Master of the core… laugh.” Knox finished.
Andrea and Dee let it sink in and sat in a moment of silence before speaking at about the same time.
“I’m not sure I get people humor.” Says Dee
While Andrea suggests. “Maybe you should learn people humor from Jane. Then you can tell a human joke.”
Knox spends a few moments trying to put together the jumbled impressions from Sakura and considers the extra input. A plan comes into shape. The strategy to make Jane laugh could be to get some time alone guarding her. And while they have the time together Knox may comfort Jane with large breasts and ask for some of the best jokes that Jane could think of. Then copying them, along with the correct tone and mannerisms should be easy enough. Maybe Knox can even feel a good amount of this so called humor herself with their connection. After all Jane enjoys seeing humanoids with a shapely chest. It’s so easy a plan it can’t go wrong. And if Sakura isn’t nearby to filter out Jane’s emotions it could be most informative.
Dee notices Knox start to tap her fingers, and picks up on Knox’s mood swing.. In a way that action is reminiscent to when she’s content on a web. “So Knox did you figure out how it’s meant to go?”
“Mmmmm … No …. Not yet. But I think I’ve got something.”
Andrea: “well if you figure it out, would you share it. You wouldn’t leave us out of it would you?”
“Yea.” Says Dee. “I mean come on, no one likes it when the core is unhappy. Sure we’re told to practice this for Jane’s sake. And we need to act like other humans. But isn’t it best if we can appeal directly to Jane. The REAL Master now..”
Andrea adds in, "If we can get more of the human's emotions from Jane, like joy, lust, desire, humor, and love then it will go a long way into pretending to be them. Just promise me if any of us get these, then you have to share it. Ok?"
Dee seeing the potential in this is instantly on board. “Sure that’s the best idea I’ve heard yet.”
Knox feeling like someone stole her idea and made it better agrees a moment later.
As the night passes, the three continue their watch like tireless golems.