Jasper was feeling his lack of screen time was criminal, straight criminal I tell you. How's an honest merchant like him supposed to build up a reputation without some sweet feats?

It wasn't right.

"Here's your taco, sir."

The man checked the bag, and handed him some money.

"No tip?"

"... yeah I'll give ya a tip all right... get a better job!" and slammed the door in his face. He could hear the muffled hahahaha'ing - This was the third time he had heard this one today, it didn't seem like any of his customers ever got tired of it.

Jasper sighed, a side of himself he rarely showed other people. Nobody ain't wanna give no money to some sadsack!

But things.. were getting a little tight, here in the intel business. Something about the world gettin' even screwier than it used to be. Jasper tried to connect some rumors to build a trail, but came up with nuthin'.

His gut said it had to have something to do with that temple full of nutters that showed up recently out of nowhere. But his gut said lots of things.

It's not like there aren't dozens of cults that pop up and disappear in any given Summer.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Jasper allowed himself just a couple more seconds of pity and introspection, before getting a move on. These tacos weren't gonna deliver themselves.

----------------------------------------

"What if I told you, the world was an inverted sphere trapped in a riddle?"

For some reason, the chief caretaker at the damn kids' daycare was this old kooky geezer with a long white beard, suddenly. This was new - he was a recent hire.

Salamance wasn't sure he liked him. But his brother seemed enthralled.

"Soon, children, we'll all be elevated to see the truth and become one with the moon."

"Is there a zoo on the moon?"

The old man blinked his eyes, before his internal flowchart told him what the correct answer was.

"Yes, there are plenty of them. And these are true zoos, not the pale reflections we have here in this false world."

"Do they have hippos!"

"Yes."

"Do they have kangaroos!"

"Yes."

"Haha, I made that up. There's no such thing as kangaroos!"

The old man thought a moment.

"Oh yes, that's right." Apparently the geezer's brain had spent so much time in a fantasy world full of bullshit that doesn't exist, that he had forgotten that kangaroos are mythological creatures.