No I can’t, I just tried on the back of this stamp & it just didn’t work out.

Cutting was not as bad as he imagined. Not even the river of gods lazily seeping out of the wounds interrupted relief.

That’s all.

In South Korea a national delicacy is liver of dogs….......oh dear, that went wrong then.

The river of gods was eerily quiet. The water moved imperceptibly past the mammoth ancient trees that lifted their dark, lifeless crowns over a hundred meters above the surface. The trees, though dead for millennia, still had a presence that had drawn our small company across the width of this galaxy in search of fortune and, I hoped, something much more valuable, if the rumors of their death had been, in the words of that ancient comedian, much exaggerated.

I see idols floating down a river for some ceremony in India. They make paper statues and paper boats for their gods, then put them in the river with candles. The gods twinkle the night away. It is a magical feeling and a good night for love, they say.

If one goes up the river of gods without a paddle, thou shalt not return.

it is strangely difficult. not sure why.

I dove head first, with complete abandon, into the River of the Gods.

I’m not entirely sure about this, not exactly certain what happened next, my memory is a little cloud because I was knocked unconscious for a minute or two, pretty sure about that, but I what happened was that when I dove in, I landed right smack dab on the head of one of the gods, who was asleep at the time; it startled him awake, he jerked his head up and he flipped me right up out of the water, with his head, and back onto the shore, with solid, resounding, thump.

I do remember the landing, at least.

No broken bones, no serious injuries… I was very lucky, I think, considering, but I won’t be doing that again, no way.

LOL. I think @Symbeline has left the building. That, or someone needs to refresh her memory on what the word “quick” means.:-)

Quick! Move out, men!

At this order, the men quickly continued towards their destination. Their boots thumped on the metal floor, but it was a noise not without order. They knew which side their bread was buttered on, and all were fierce fighters. Men. Without. Fear.

But one of them, looking out into the blackness of space, saw her…the Big Sister. A giant skeleton made of flashing silver with one, bright red eye that stared with hatred…and then the figure disappeared, as if swimming away in the darkness.

It’s coming for us…

’‘Hey man, there’s some motherfucker out there!’’

’‘And we have a job to do out here! Your orders are to secure the airlock and get this escape in gear! You remember Star Station X-7, dontcha boy??’’

’‘No…’’

’‘Don’t fuck wit me, soldier! If that thing comes for us, you know what to do! Fill its ass up! It can be done, you’ve seen it!’’

Ryan was a strong and brave young man, and he knew that his superior was a just and fair man, but he was always scared of him…but right now, he was terrified of the Big Sister. He knows they can die, indeed he saw it himself…but those fuckin’ things man, they climb and jump and fly through the air, throwing fire, ice and lightning at you…he just wanted to get the hell out of here.

Ryan remembered his old man, who kicked the bucket years ago due to a stroke…he remembered something he told him as a kid, which he never understood…until now.

Ya know sunny booooah…ya can’t be makin no durn gorshe blasted omelet widoot bustin up sum chicken abortions, bro! Ya know dat, boa?! Yer mummy an I ur dang proud yo skinny ass, ya know dat booooaaah? But ye keep playin dem dang videay games an readin all dat infernal gobloodeegook frum dat dere unholy fellar Stephan Kang, ye know wassa gaun appen ta yo ass, boooaaah?

Ye gaun ass up the river of gawds, by gawd! Ain’t no big daddies an little sisters up dat horny she dawg ta save j00, boooaaaah! A man wants to make a livin’ he gotta make sum sarrr crifices ye geetit? But ye ask fer too much than Gawd’s given ye, ye end up in da river o dem gawds, booah!

Ryan enlisted in the army at 18…at first he did as his old fashioned father wished…but he eventually perused his dreams of becoming a UFO hunter. Now he was in a special secret military force that hunts down UFO’s. But now he saw the river of the gods. What his old man was talking about. HE was being hunted. His superior made it look like an everyday thing…but that crazy old dude was just better at hiding his fear. He asked for too much, too many things that a man should not know. He saw what was in the river of gods, and wished he had left it alone.

Big Sister Little Sister, ye played too much Bioshock come back hither, don’t fall…

Oh right. Thanks for snapping me back in line there @lillycoyote, I kinda forgot this was supposed to be just a quick answer. Sometimes I have fun lol.

But now we won’t know the end!

Gursh danrg eet yall, dun fall in da freakin’ rivaaaah!

@Symbeline LOL. Somebody’s got to keep you in line. :-)

You better finish it! I didn’t mean to kill your creativity and crush your spirit. Now I feel bad.

And also, now I have Little Sister in my head, but that’s not such a bad thing.

’This,’ she laughed, ‘Is what we call the River of the Gods.’

When I showed the photograph of the moat around our factory area to friends abroad, people would be drawn in by its green foilage and its tranquil waters. What the photograph could not show, however, was the terrible stench that came from the river. Such was the contradictions of factory life – glossy promises, rotten management.

Sigh. I think I was thinking of a quick beginning of a story. But now it is clear that @Symbeline has to finish the story, or we will have to hunt her down and feed her to the river of gods.

The River of Gods meandered slowly towards the Lake of Goddesses ; – )

@Kardamom Lol. And then they had little godlet streams!

@wundayatta We’ll be right back after these commercials!