I feel criticised by your choice of prompt now, as the last two prompts *could* be read as commentary on the late events in Lord Derby's tale. It's not too late for you to provide me with that Splat! prompt after all, you know....
Inadequate Samual opened his mouth and closed it again. This continued for several seconds before the King, half-smiling, said "On your feet, man!" Samual's eyes unfocussed momentarily, and then he hauled himself off the couch and into a salute. He swayed slightly, but his eyes focused again and he looked less like he was about to go into shock. "Report," said the King. "I was falling, Sir!" "Falling? Explain, please." The King sat down in his previous armchair, and gazed intently at Samual. To the side Lord Derby and Gray were standing together and talking quietly, pausing now and then to listen to Samual as he described climbing the roof of the Temple, seeing the troops gathering and their unusual athleticism, and then falling. And falling. "And then you landed?" "I... I don't know." Samual's tongue poked a tiny way beyond his lips as he thought about what had happened. "I don't think that's the right way to describe it. I was falling, it was hard to breathe, and then it's like I stopped. Just stopped, no sudden jerk or impact, I just wasn't falling any more. Then the light returned and there was a couch a metre or so below me, and I fell onto that. And bounced. Sir." The light in the room dimmed and seemed more yellow for a couple of seconds, then brightened again. A smell of baked flour, biscuity and warm, drifted through the air. "Did you hear all of that, Derby?" The King's tone wasn't exactly accusatory, but there was a firmness to it. "Thank-you Your Majesty, I heard all of it," said Lord Derby. "I was sure you'd tell me if I were interrupting your listening pleasure-" Samual alone in the room could see the King's face well enough to see it twist into a smirk and then straighten out as fast as the King could manage it, "-and I felt it important to understand what else we'd just seen." Samual's face conveyed his interest, but no-one seemed to be noticing. "At ease," said the King to him, allowing him to sag a little from the Attention posture. "I think I saw four times the trouble. Am I right?" "Sadly," said Lord Derby, with the manner of someone choosing their words with care, "I think that's inadequate. I rather think the trouble we're looking at is exponential." There was a moment, and then, "So, sixteenfold?" "Yes," said Gray. "We've always known that the King in Yellow is powerful, largely incomprehensible, and has a completely alien outlook on things. Now we seem to be being told that there are more like him, and he's at least fighting with them. If there's an army, like Samual says, maybe there's even a war." "Spilling over," said Lord Derby. "To involve us." "Inadequate indeed," mused the King.
Greg - it is indeed *well* too late for that prompt. And I'm glad I resisted the temptation the other day to make use of it, figuring Samual's fate was sealed.
Regardless, I am thrilled to discover I was wrong in that regard. And this scene pleases me greatly.
I mean, other than the implication that a much greater war might be under way than I'd previously thought...
2 comments:
I feel criticised by your choice of prompt now, as the last two prompts *could* be read as commentary on the late events in Lord Derby's tale. It's not too late for you to provide me with that Splat! prompt after all, you know....
Inadequate
Samual opened his mouth and closed it again. This continued for several seconds before the King, half-smiling, said "On your feet, man!" Samual's eyes unfocussed momentarily, and then he hauled himself off the couch and into a salute. He swayed slightly, but his eyes focused again and he looked less like he was about to go into shock.
"Report," said the King.
"I was falling, Sir!"
"Falling? Explain, please." The King sat down in his previous armchair, and gazed intently at Samual. To the side Lord Derby and Gray were standing together and talking quietly, pausing now and then to listen to Samual as he described climbing the roof of the Temple, seeing the troops gathering and their unusual athleticism, and then falling. And falling.
"And then you landed?"
"I... I don't know." Samual's tongue poked a tiny way beyond his lips as he thought about what had happened. "I don't think that's the right way to describe it. I was falling, it was hard to breathe, and then it's like I stopped. Just stopped, no sudden jerk or impact, I just wasn't falling any more. Then the light returned and there was a couch a metre or so below me, and I fell onto that. And bounced. Sir."
The light in the room dimmed and seemed more yellow for a couple of seconds, then brightened again. A smell of baked flour, biscuity and warm, drifted through the air.
"Did you hear all of that, Derby?" The King's tone wasn't exactly accusatory, but there was a firmness to it.
"Thank-you Your Majesty, I heard all of it," said Lord Derby. "I was sure you'd tell me if I were interrupting your listening pleasure-" Samual alone in the room could see the King's face well enough to see it twist into a smirk and then straighten out as fast as the King could manage it, "-and I felt it important to understand what else we'd just seen."
Samual's face conveyed his interest, but no-one seemed to be noticing.
"At ease," said the King to him, allowing him to sag a little from the Attention posture. "I think I saw four times the trouble. Am I right?"
"Sadly," said Lord Derby, with the manner of someone choosing their words with care, "I think that's inadequate. I rather think the trouble we're looking at is exponential."
There was a moment, and then, "So, sixteenfold?"
"Yes," said Gray. "We've always known that the King in Yellow is powerful, largely incomprehensible, and has a completely alien outlook on things. Now we seem to be being told that there are more like him, and he's at least fighting with them. If there's an army, like Samual says, maybe there's even a war."
"Spilling over," said Lord Derby. "To involve us."
"Inadequate indeed," mused the King.
Greg - it is indeed *well* too late for that prompt. And I'm glad I resisted the temptation the other day to make use of it, figuring Samual's fate was sealed.
Regardless, I am thrilled to discover I was wrong in that regard. And this scene pleases me greatly.
I mean, other than the implication that a much greater war might be under way than I'd previously thought...
Post a Comment