iStones, april 6

[catpiper]

[You know those pressing, intense questions that keep you up in the middle of the night? Well, this is one such moment and anyone unfortunate enough to be awake, or awakened, during these early morning hours will be hit with an extremely important q from a confused girl.]

What's a joke?

[And, a few seconds later-]

How do you 'prank' someone? Is that a treasure? 

Comments

[onegreeneye]

...

[There's an... embarrassingly long pause there as he tries to figure out how to answer that. He's not totally sure when the last time was that he actually laughed? Made faces at people, sure, and maybe a couple involuntary noises that sounded sort of like laughter, if you did the aural equivalent of squinting.

Hmm.]

That's kind of... difficult to explain, honestly. I suppose it helps if something is kind of-- I don't know, unexpected? That tends to be a big part of humor.

[catpiper]

[Unexpected, huh?

Surprises tend to be far from enjoyable in her humble opinion. Anything unexpected is probably bad and she can't see any situation where that would be funny?? Maybe?? She's not sure.

But what she is sure about is that unexpected might make him laugh now? That could solve this bizarre mystery.

So it's dead silent, almost like she's hung up, and then-

Loud, loud clapping.]

Are you smiling? Does that feel like a joke?

[onegreeneye]

[Oh, huh. He guesses she's done--

Until his rock starts clapping, and he almost drops it.]

N-- no, actually. I'm glad you're trying, but that's just, uh, alarming. I suppose there's a little more to it than something being unexpected.

[catpiper]

[This is worse than math!! And spelling!! Combined!! Learning about jokes is so hard.]

Can you tell me a joke? Do you know one?

[onegreeneye]

Uh... a joke, huh.

[Yes, Ginko. That's what this whole conversation has been about. Jokes.

Unfortunately, Ginko isn't a very funny person to begin with, and being asked directly about jokes has rendered it impossible for him to remember any he might happen to know.]

What's... the difference between a tree and a dog?

[catpiper]

Trees eats sunlight and dogs don't!

[She freaking nailed it. Maybe. It's a difference in any case.]

[onegreeneye]

Uh-- y'know, that's close! I was just going to say trees are trees, and dogs are dogs.

[He actually sounds pretty proud of that, this poor man.]

See, in that case, the joke is that you'd think it would be something specific, or a pun - but it's just the fact that they're not the same thing, in itself.

[catpiper]

[This is difficult to wrap her mind around. Somehow she thought it would be simpler, but god summoning rituals are probably meant to be hard.

Anyway, he says that's close and there's a muffled happy little clap on her end. Nice.]

What's the difference between a baller roast and a dope cake?

[onegreeneye]

[Ginko kind of-- snorts. Still probably not quite a laugh, but close.]

Uh, one is baller and the other is dope?

[catpiper]

Yes, that's it! You did it-good job, good job!

[She's so PROUD of him.]

[onegreeneye]

Ah, great. Wasn't sure if I'd be able to, I've never been much good at jokes.

[And also all the jokes being exchanged here are, you know, basically nonsense.]

[catpiper]

I think you're very good.

[She knows a grand total of [none] so in that sense, Ginko is the best.]

Do you know more?

[onegreeneye]

Well, thank you. I'm glad someone does.

[Given that, you know, the reactions he gets most frequently tend to range from "unimpressed" to "concerned for his mental health", which he feels is entirely unfair.]

Uh... [Oh. Hmm. He'd kinda hoped she'd only need one.] Okay. What is... the difference between grass and a tree?

[catpiper]

[That's the problem, Ginko. He thinks she's gonna stop? No. It's only joke time from here on out, until she can gather enough intel to make her own.]

Grass is small?