As Tibbs walked up to the group gathered around the campfire, Ninurta studied him because something about the diminutive man was a bit off. He seemed lost in thought, and you could almost hear the gears cranking. Muckles handed Tibbs a plate of the prairie delicacy of beans and bacon, which Tibbs acknowledged with a deferential hum, lost in thought as he was. Rather than tucking into the grub as the rest were doing, Tibbs stared at the plate and pushed bits around it with his spoon, wondering how best to broach the subject of the mini-quest he felt sure they would soon have to embark upon.
Ninurta gave him a few minutes, but Tibbs showed no sign of spilling what was on his mind, which was unlike the robed mini-mage. After the few minutes to collect himself was up for Tibbs, the gunslinger spoke around a mouthful of food. "Whut's on yer mind, Tibbs? If you was to think any harder, I swear steam would fly out yer ears." Tibbs snapped his head up, looking like a deer in the headlights, still unsure how to respond, how to bring up the subject. Ninurta gave him a moment to respond, and when it was apparent he was not going to, Nin continued in a lighter vein with "are ye gonna eat that grub, or wait fer it to try eatin' you?"
Muckles gave the lean man a withering glare, misreading the comment as a slight against her culinary arts. Not much got past Ninurta, and he caught that look out of the corner of his eye, immediately assessing the cause of it, and continued as if he'd never stopped by saying "I'ts pure ambrosia, I tell ya. Yer gonna kick yerself in the mornin' if you don't at least give it a nip to know what yore missin'". Muckles, not quite sure if Ninurta was still disparaging her cooking , attempting to make amends, or being genuine, went back to eating, to see how it would unfold before passing final judgement.
At length Tibbs started eating, if only to delay the inevitable discussion coming, and to buy time to decide how to best approach it. He found Ninurta was right, and as prairie fare goes, the food was superb - but he already knew that it would be. His wife was no slouch in the kitchen, as he continually discovered over and over again.
Finally, as he was digging into his second helping - and Ninurta was wolfing down his third plate - the gunman figured that four plates or so might convince the Witch of Carbiox that his comments were in no way disparaging so that she might not poison him at his next meal - the little wizard initiated the conversation. I've been thinking" he started "that in order to preserve the integrity of the time lines we will have to replace Forrestal in order to save him." Ninurta's head shot up at that, for he had been thinking the same thing, but he didn't interrupt the little bearded muti-man. "To that end" Tibbs continued, "I conducted a search of the timelines and have settled upon a suitable candidate." Ninurta kept scooping, chewing, and swallowing, waiting on Tibbs to spill it. Some times, you just had to give the little man a bit of time to reach the heart of a matter.
"Now we know" Tibbs pushed onward, "that 'Forrestal' died in what some think was an assassination, but others feel was a suicide. The salient point here is that he died, and so shall his replacement have to do." Ninurta grunted and Muckles just kept eating as if Tibbs had mentioned that it might rain in the morning. Neither cared that the doppelganger had to die, and Ninurta was only mildly concerned that it not fowl another time line to maintain this one. The death itself was immaterial. Everyone dies, eventually... except himself, he thought with a twinge.
Tibbs cleared his throat and pushed onward. "What my device discovered is that there is a character in history who is a precise double for Forrestal" and here he paused for comment. None was forthcoming, so he moved onward. "The double is not some obscure person that no one ever heard of a hundred years after his death" another pause, still no comments, so he blurted it out - "It's Jack the Ripper".
That drew attention.
Ninurta looked up with a gaping mouth, not entirely cleared of beans and bacon. Mucklebones snapped her head towards Tibbs, looking like she expected him to sprout an extra head at any moment. Only Boy in a Dress spoke, and that was only to say "he was quite the lady-killer, wasn't he?" which drew a disapproving glance from Tibbs, which BIAD summarily ignored, waiting on an answer.
"Not in the generally accepted sense of the term, but he DID end the lives of several ladies..."
At which point Ninurta spoke, with a widening grin to finish Tibbs' sentence with "... before he mysteriously disappeared from history! Tibbs, yer a friggin' genius - I think ye've picked a winner here... as long as he looks enough like Forrestal..."
"Oh, I assure you Ninurta, Jack the Ripper is a dead ringer for Forrestal." The comment - and the play on words - was not lost on the gunman, neither was Tibbs' disaproving scowl at the language Ninurta employed in describing Tibbs' alleged mental acumen.
"Of course he's a friggin' genius" Muckles chimed in, adding "ah don't pick nothin' but the best!" and she beamed at her husband as if she had found a diamond under a rock. Mucklebones ignored Tibbs' glare of disapproval at her repetition of Ninurta's precise accolade.
Ninurta deferentially reached his plate towards Muckles for a fourth helping, and wiped his hands on his jeans as she refilled the plate. The mood had lightened, and it was time for planning. "Now, whut we're gonna need to do" Ninurta said as he stretched a cramping leg out "is to git to jus' the right time, after he'd killed his last victim an' jus' before he intended to kill the next - which'll never git kilt thanks to us an' none the wiser of it, and snatch his crazy ass offen the streets of London, an' into oblivion." A wolfish grin spread across the gunman's face as he said "This's muh kind of 'intervenin' '. Ah don' mind puttin' an end to the likes of that one, and lord knows how many of the London's finest strumpets we're gonna save in the process of savin' Forrestal." The grin got a bit wider, and he mentioned that "Strumpets is some of muh favorite folk!"
But that attitude has brought many a man to grief.
.
Ninurta gave him a few minutes, but Tibbs showed no sign of spilling what was on his mind, which was unlike the robed mini-mage. After the few minutes to collect himself was up for Tibbs, the gunslinger spoke around a mouthful of food. "Whut's on yer mind, Tibbs? If you was to think any harder, I swear steam would fly out yer ears." Tibbs snapped his head up, looking like a deer in the headlights, still unsure how to respond, how to bring up the subject. Ninurta gave him a moment to respond, and when it was apparent he was not going to, Nin continued in a lighter vein with "are ye gonna eat that grub, or wait fer it to try eatin' you?"
Muckles gave the lean man a withering glare, misreading the comment as a slight against her culinary arts. Not much got past Ninurta, and he caught that look out of the corner of his eye, immediately assessing the cause of it, and continued as if he'd never stopped by saying "I'ts pure ambrosia, I tell ya. Yer gonna kick yerself in the mornin' if you don't at least give it a nip to know what yore missin'". Muckles, not quite sure if Ninurta was still disparaging her cooking , attempting to make amends, or being genuine, went back to eating, to see how it would unfold before passing final judgement.
At length Tibbs started eating, if only to delay the inevitable discussion coming, and to buy time to decide how to best approach it. He found Ninurta was right, and as prairie fare goes, the food was superb - but he already knew that it would be. His wife was no slouch in the kitchen, as he continually discovered over and over again.
Finally, as he was digging into his second helping - and Ninurta was wolfing down his third plate - the gunman figured that four plates or so might convince the Witch of Carbiox that his comments were in no way disparaging so that she might not poison him at his next meal - the little wizard initiated the conversation. I've been thinking" he started "that in order to preserve the integrity of the time lines we will have to replace Forrestal in order to save him." Ninurta's head shot up at that, for he had been thinking the same thing, but he didn't interrupt the little bearded muti-man. "To that end" Tibbs continued, "I conducted a search of the timelines and have settled upon a suitable candidate." Ninurta kept scooping, chewing, and swallowing, waiting on Tibbs to spill it. Some times, you just had to give the little man a bit of time to reach the heart of a matter.
"Now we know" Tibbs pushed onward, "that 'Forrestal' died in what some think was an assassination, but others feel was a suicide. The salient point here is that he died, and so shall his replacement have to do." Ninurta grunted and Muckles just kept eating as if Tibbs had mentioned that it might rain in the morning. Neither cared that the doppelganger had to die, and Ninurta was only mildly concerned that it not fowl another time line to maintain this one. The death itself was immaterial. Everyone dies, eventually... except himself, he thought with a twinge.
Tibbs cleared his throat and pushed onward. "What my device discovered is that there is a character in history who is a precise double for Forrestal" and here he paused for comment. None was forthcoming, so he moved onward. "The double is not some obscure person that no one ever heard of a hundred years after his death" another pause, still no comments, so he blurted it out - "It's Jack the Ripper".
That drew attention.
Ninurta looked up with a gaping mouth, not entirely cleared of beans and bacon. Mucklebones snapped her head towards Tibbs, looking like she expected him to sprout an extra head at any moment. Only Boy in a Dress spoke, and that was only to say "he was quite the lady-killer, wasn't he?" which drew a disapproving glance from Tibbs, which BIAD summarily ignored, waiting on an answer.
"Not in the generally accepted sense of the term, but he DID end the lives of several ladies..."
At which point Ninurta spoke, with a widening grin to finish Tibbs' sentence with "... before he mysteriously disappeared from history! Tibbs, yer a friggin' genius - I think ye've picked a winner here... as long as he looks enough like Forrestal..."
"Oh, I assure you Ninurta, Jack the Ripper is a dead ringer for Forrestal." The comment - and the play on words - was not lost on the gunman, neither was Tibbs' disaproving scowl at the language Ninurta employed in describing Tibbs' alleged mental acumen.
"Of course he's a friggin' genius" Muckles chimed in, adding "ah don't pick nothin' but the best!" and she beamed at her husband as if she had found a diamond under a rock. Mucklebones ignored Tibbs' glare of disapproval at her repetition of Ninurta's precise accolade.
Ninurta deferentially reached his plate towards Muckles for a fourth helping, and wiped his hands on his jeans as she refilled the plate. The mood had lightened, and it was time for planning. "Now, whut we're gonna need to do" Ninurta said as he stretched a cramping leg out "is to git to jus' the right time, after he'd killed his last victim an' jus' before he intended to kill the next - which'll never git kilt thanks to us an' none the wiser of it, and snatch his crazy ass offen the streets of London, an' into oblivion." A wolfish grin spread across the gunman's face as he said "This's muh kind of 'intervenin' '. Ah don' mind puttin' an end to the likes of that one, and lord knows how many of the London's finest strumpets we're gonna save in the process of savin' Forrestal." The grin got a bit wider, and he mentioned that "Strumpets is some of muh favorite folk!"
But that attitude has brought many a man to grief.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’