The Toymaker's Labyrinth (short story): Difference between revisions

The Toymaker's Labyrinth (short story) (view source)

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 In his office in the [[Cupid Homeworld]], [[Department of Assignments]] head [[Taskmaster-523]] is relaxing and reading a comic book when [[Larrikin-1029]] and [[Pessimist-242]] burst in, each outraged to have been assigned a mission with the other. However, he remains deaf to their complaints, threatening to report them to the [[Department of Discipline]], and they are soon forced to head out into [[the Multiverse]] in [[Pessimist's Fog Ship]].
-Though they asked to go to [[Dimension 8696-2537]] as ordered by Taskmastr, they instead rematerialise in [[Workshop of Madame Tarsa|a mysterious giant room]]. Trotting around on the absurdly large wooden floor, Larrikin soon happens upon what appears to be a huge table-leg. Before long, he finds an enormous spool of ribbon lying on the floor and decides to use it to climb up the table-leg, and manages to persuade Pessimist to accompany him. Once they make their way to the table-top, they are confronted with a huge, talking [[Marionette (The Toymaker's Labyrinth)|marionette]], who cheerfully introduces herself as one of the creations of [[Madame Tarsa]]. She explains her size by pointing out that Tarsa does business with all sections of the Multiverse, and that the default size of a humanoid being naturally varies across the infinite spans of worlds. When Larrikin asks if he and Pessimist could meet this Tarsa, the marionette replies that she's already here, as borne out by the fact that the marionette's strings are in fact being pulled by the enormous hand of a “real” woman up above.
+Though they asked to go to [[Dimension 8696-2537]] as ordered by Taskmaster, they instead rematerialise in [[Workshop of Madame Tarsa|a mysterious giant room]]. Trotting around on the absurdly large wooden floor, Larrikin soon happens upon what appears to be a huge table-leg. Before long, he finds an enormous spool of ribbon lying on the floor and decides to use it to climb up the table-leg, and manages to persuade Pessimist to accompany him. Once they make their way to the table-top, they are confronted with a huge, talking [[Marionette (The Toymaker's Labyrinth)|marionette]], who cheerfully introduces herself as one of the creations of [[Madame Tarsa]]. She explains her size by pointing out that Tarsa does business with all sections of the Multiverse, and that the default size of a humanoid being naturally varies across the infinite spans of worlds. When Larrikin asks if he and Pessimist could meet this Tarsa, the marionette replies that she's already here, as borne out by the fact that the marionette's strings are in fact being pulled by the enormous hand of a “real” woman up above.
 Noticing the tiny visitors, Tarsa shrinks herself into a small, coloured ball and lands on the table-top in front of the Cupids, unfurling back into a now human-sized woman. She is quick to unwrap Pessimist from the ribbon into which he'd gotten tangled, and then pops open his back to have a look at his interior mechanisms, being fascinated with what slick automata the two [[Clockwork Cherub]]s are. Intent on getting a closer look, she spins on herself until she shrinks further, and climbs into Pessimist's insides, where she roots around, taking note of the fact that his [[Gemstone Heart]] appears to be an actual lump of coal. She flies out again and cheerfully voices her intent to start manufacturing “toy Cupids” of her own from the same pattern as them. When Pessimist and Larrikin try to stop her by loosing a [[Cupid Arrow]] at her, she simply plucks it out of the air and decides to try and figure out the formula for the [[Love Potion]] so as to make her toys as authentic as possible. Forgetting what kind of a being he's dealing with, Larrikin makes to fistfight Tarsa into submission. She responds by shifting not just in size but in shape too, her limbs extending like a spider's and her fingers lengthening into claws. Larrikin tries to defend himself by hurling the marionette at her; it misses, but breaks an arm as it clatters to the fall. This actually makes Tarsa angry; forthwith, she grabs both Cupids and throws them into [[Madame Tarsa's Toybox|her toy chest]], slamming the lid shut after them.