fandomhigh | Interactive Religion [Tuesday, January 29]

Once again the students met in the Danger Room. The temperature had been cranked up to desert levels of heat, which was convenient since they were in the desert.

"Welcome to Egypt," Biff said with a grin. "Half of you will get to be the oppressed Hebrews, doomed to slavery because of your belief in one god. The other half of you will be Egyptians, very busy building up the greatest civilization in the world at the time, worshiping multiple gods, and oppressing the Hebrews."

He clasped his hands behind his back and paced. "This is one of the pivotal moments in Jewish history. Moses--" he pointed to Seely, "has been asking Pharaoh--" he pointed at Karal, "to let his people go. But the Lord had hardened Pharaoh's heart, as the Lord sometimes does, and despite multiple plagues: rivers turning to blood, lice, flies, diseased animals, locusts, boils, rain of fire, blocking out the sun for three full days, and frogs, the Pharaoh wouldn't let the Lord's chosen people go."

He snorted. "Despite what some angels might have told me, I don't think a rain of barbecued pork would've really changed things. The Lord could've dropped sides of cattle from the sky and Pharaoh wouldn't have budged. Finally, the Lord threatened to kill all of the first born sons, from Pharaoh's on down. He would spare--'pass over'--those doors that had lamb's blood on them."

"And that was enough to get Pharaoh to break. He said 'out you go' to Moses and the Hebrews weren't about to stick around to have him change his mind, so they started hauling themselves, their asses, their kids, and their matzo--flatbread because there wasn't time for dough to rise--and starting heading for the Red Sea."

He pointed at the rig of buckets in a path down the center of the desert. "Since actually drowning you all would be discouraged, we won't be using the real Red Sea. Moses, pick out your Hebrews, each of you grab a donkey--" there were real donkeys, yeah, "and start crossing through the miraculously dry Red Sea." He grinned. "The Lord made a wall of water on one side and on the other, so the Hebrews could pass through the sea unharmed because of course Pharaoh changed his mind. A nation of free labor was walking away!"

He pointed at Karal. "Pharaoh, you give 'em a fifteen minute head start, then take your charioteers--" he handed each of them a pair of coconut halves, "--and go chasing after them."

Pharaoh and the charioteers would be getting a good dousing. Biff was looking forward to it.

"Okay, go!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was very tempting, but he glanced at Biff, adjusted his hat, and shook his head. "I think we need to follow them, Rikku. I suspect this is destined to end in a specific way." With them all getting very wet

"Which makes it more fun to mess with it," she giggled. "Okay, okay, I'll behave. Why can't people come in here on days when no one's using it, anyway? Just ... set the temperature to something nice and hang out at the beach?"

Karal opened his mouth to anser, then shut it, shaking his head. "I have no idea," he admitted. "Glory, it would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"It would be wonderful," she sighed. "I can't stand this cold. It's just wrong."

"You should come to Karse one winter, go up into the mountains. It snows so deep and then drifts so high you can lose a horse in them." He might have been exaggerating slightly. "You didn't have this sort of cold in your world?"

Rikku shuddered. "On Mount Gagazet, they do. The Ronso live there. We had to climb it, to get to Zanarkand? I froze the whole way. I grew up in the desert. Who would want to live in the snow?!"

"It's nice from inside," he said, a little wistfully. "I used to sit in the Temple antechamber in winter, where it was warm and dry, and watch the snow blanket everything. Glory, it was beautiful."

"I can't picture it," she laughed. "Snow being pretty, I mean. We were just ... walking a trail up the side of the mountain, and it was coming down harder, and all I could think of was how much I missed the sand. At least once we got to the summit it warmed up again. Ugh."

"It makes the world look new," he said hesitantly, glancing sideways at her. "As if everything was innocent."

She thought for a few moments before smiling back at him. "When you put it like that, it sounds ... beautiful. Maybe I'll try to look for that, next time. Instead of thinking, ugh, I bet that's all slushy and wet."

Interactive Religion [Tuesday, January 29]

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!

Re: Cross the Red Sea! Egyptians!