Since you're catching up on comments you mentioned something that reminded me of something else -- I know that for a while the plan was sort of to turn the farm into a full-time business. Has that been postponed till the kids are older now? Or did you decide that's not the direction you wanted to take? As for the prompt... I sincerely hope it's not literal :)
Going out with a bang There were no stairs to the roof so Ernest and Samual had to pull themselves up onto it. Thankfully it was low enough that neither had to jump much to get a grip, and the rough limestone was easy to grip and didn't rip at skin much. There was a sweet smell once they were up there, with something bitter just underlying it. "Honey and lemon?" asked Samual sniffing and wrinkling up his nose. "I get more of a vinegar note," said Ernest. "Like sweet wine on the turn, perhaps?" "I'm more of a beer drinker, Sir," said Samual carefully. In his position he was more likely to serve wine than to drink it, and the butlers and cellar staff would take care to never send up wine that wasn't perfect. "Is this the demon then? Looks like it went out with a bang." Chunks of yellow-purple flesh were scattered across the roof, with the bulk of the meat covering most of a corner. Green-gray mould was starting to spread over some of it, and puddles of yellow ooze still bubbled occasionally here and there. "Do you think solidified mathematics should look like left-over ratatouille?" "Beg pardon, milord?" "Hmph. Demons are, I have assured and shown, an application of mathematics to magic. You somehow create an absence of anything and then insert fuzzy mathematics and get a demon out. But... I feel like when the magic goes away the demon ought to evaporate. Not turn into ratatouille for twenty." "I don't think I understood any of that, milord. I apologise." Lord Derby glanced at Samual with a smile twitching the corner of his lips. "I don't understand it either, Samual, hence my frustration. Elizabeth said our demon sounded like an animal, not a demon, and here we are, looking at mortal remains. Something odd is going on here." "Yes, milord." Samual turned a chunk of demon flesh over with a foot and revealed a blood-shot eye attached by a stringy brown cord to it. "I think this is part of its head, milord." "Waist," said Lord Derby absently. He'd knelt and was gently probing another large chunk of flesh. "Although I think it could produce eyes wherever it wanted them. They were ringing its waist when it was trying to get away from the hunters. Hmm, this is very spongy. And... mathematics probably doesn't smell of anything. You know Samual, I think there's more than one kind of demon." "Is that good, milord?" Lord Derby stood, wiping his hands on his trouser leg. "Maybe?"
Greg - we'd been moving away from farming full time, as it wasn't working out financially. The winters were proving to be too difficult to get through. My getting the cleaning job last summer was the nail in the coffin for me, as there's no reasonable way to do both. And I've been working toward getting on with the town full time for a while now.
As for the prompt... fear not, the public works yard is still standing :)
No, it's a reference to this week. I worked today, which was a stat, so I got paid double time for 10 hours. Then I've got three more 10 hour days. Then I got called in to work a 4 hour shift Friday night, on top of my scheduled 8 hour shift on Saturday. Those last two days should both count as overtime.
Also... it's supposed to be 42 degrees on my final day at public works. So it might be more 'going out with a melt' than a bang...
Hmm, the remains are an intriguing development. I have no idea where things are going here, but I cannot wait to find out!
2 comments:
Since you're catching up on comments you mentioned something that reminded me of something else -- I know that for a while the plan was sort of to turn the farm into a full-time business. Has that been postponed till the kids are older now? Or did you decide that's not the direction you wanted to take?
As for the prompt... I sincerely hope it's not literal :)
Going out with a bang
There were no stairs to the roof so Ernest and Samual had to pull themselves up onto it. Thankfully it was low enough that neither had to jump much to get a grip, and the rough limestone was easy to grip and didn't rip at skin much. There was a sweet smell once they were up there, with something bitter just underlying it.
"Honey and lemon?" asked Samual sniffing and wrinkling up his nose.
"I get more of a vinegar note," said Ernest. "Like sweet wine on the turn, perhaps?"
"I'm more of a beer drinker, Sir," said Samual carefully. In his position he was more likely to serve wine than to drink it, and the butlers and cellar staff would take care to never send up wine that wasn't perfect. "Is this the demon then? Looks like it went out with a bang."
Chunks of yellow-purple flesh were scattered across the roof, with the bulk of the meat covering most of a corner. Green-gray mould was starting to spread over some of it, and puddles of yellow ooze still bubbled occasionally here and there.
"Do you think solidified mathematics should look like left-over ratatouille?"
"Beg pardon, milord?"
"Hmph. Demons are, I have assured and shown, an application of mathematics to magic. You somehow create an absence of anything and then insert fuzzy mathematics and get a demon out. But... I feel like when the magic goes away the demon ought to evaporate. Not turn into ratatouille for twenty."
"I don't think I understood any of that, milord. I apologise."
Lord Derby glanced at Samual with a smile twitching the corner of his lips. "I don't understand it either, Samual, hence my frustration. Elizabeth said our demon sounded like an animal, not a demon, and here we are, looking at mortal remains. Something odd is going on here."
"Yes, milord." Samual turned a chunk of demon flesh over with a foot and revealed a blood-shot eye attached by a stringy brown cord to it. "I think this is part of its head, milord."
"Waist," said Lord Derby absently. He'd knelt and was gently probing another large chunk of flesh. "Although I think it could produce eyes wherever it wanted them. They were ringing its waist when it was trying to get away from the hunters. Hmm, this is very spongy. And... mathematics probably doesn't smell of anything. You know Samual, I think there's more than one kind of demon."
"Is that good, milord?"
Lord Derby stood, wiping his hands on his trouser leg. "Maybe?"
Greg - we'd been moving away from farming full time, as it wasn't working out financially. The winters were proving to be too difficult to get through. My getting the cleaning job last summer was the nail in the coffin for me, as there's no reasonable way to do both. And I've been working toward getting on with the town full time for a while now.
As for the prompt... fear not, the public works yard is still standing :)
No, it's a reference to this week. I worked today, which was a stat, so I got paid double time for 10 hours. Then I've got three more 10 hour days. Then I got called in to work a 4 hour shift Friday night, on top of my scheduled 8 hour shift on Saturday. Those last two days should both count as overtime.
Also... it's supposed to be 42 degrees on my final day at public works. So it might be more 'going out with a melt' than a bang...
Hmm, the remains are an intriguing development. I have no idea where things are going here, but I cannot wait to find out!
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