Kiev was good, and the board meeting went well. A few decisions were talked about for quite a long time, but they were important so that was appropriate, and I'm happy with the outcome. And it was very nice to be in Ukraine again, with lots of forest, wide open spaces and cool weather :)
Bubbling The argument in the Long Hall had bubbled up, simmered, seethed for a while, threatened to come to a rolling boil, and now had calmed back down to just bubbling again. Death, while fascinated by how well the cooking analogies had worked in the context of Incarnates who either never ate or ate things (mostly worshippers) that were disturbing, was starting to wonder if there was a recipe somewhere he could consult to find how long this would all take. Shadows twisted and bent in the Long Hall as the Incarnates moved around and, in some cases, changed form to better reflect their moods and emotions. In one or two cases the shadows were part, or all, of the Incarnates, so sometimes the shadows did things that had no bearing on the lights in the hall at all, and the musicians up in the gallery were getting a bit jumpy. More and more bad notes were creeping into the music as their concentration fluctuated, and Death found the minor discords and anharmonies oddly appropriate. Cernunnos stretched and swung his antlered head around, clearing a space, and then strolled to a stuffed armchair near the bar and a long way away from Death. What are you hoping to get out of this? he asked Death, his thoughts barely leaving his skull but still collected by the Long Hall and deftly transferred out of sight of other minds. A change in the Accords would be nice, said Death, his thoughts sounding almost cheerful. But it won’t happen. No matter that the old Accords are leaky and modern thoughts are good at finding the holes, no one here has the focus to want to sit down and redo them. And if they hired a lawyer then so would everyone else… And we’d spend the next five hundred years coming to Accords that no-one understands and still have holes in? Probably. Death still sounded oddly cheerful. But whatever is going on with the Infanta – that is what I’m really here for. I like it when everyone plays by the same rules. Why do you care? You’re Death. That’s exactly why I care. I’m not a chess piece. The hubbub of voices, minds and other less obvious forms of communication swelled again, rising like a souffle towards the ceiling. Death waited, wondering if Cernunnos would say anything else, and then a mental image appeared in his mind, sent by the deer-headed God. It was a chessboard, with the Kings replaced by hooded Deaths carrying scythes. Deaths can take any piece, including their own, thought Cernunnos. Instead of check, if a piece attacks a Death then the Death must take it next turn. They still move like Kings though, so a Death can only take another Death if they’re adjacent. If your Death is attacked by more than one piece simultaneously, or is taken by your opponent’s Death, then you lose. Oh, and your own pieces do not attack you, otherwise there’ll be a bloodbath in the ranks from the start. Death chuckled, a sound like skulls rolling down the corridors of an ossuary. I do not think the Incarnates gathered here would welcome two Deaths, he thought back.
2 comments:
Kiev was good, and the board meeting went well. A few decisions were talked about for quite a long time, but they were important so that was appropriate, and I'm happy with the outcome. And it was very nice to be in Ukraine again, with lots of forest, wide open spaces and cool weather :)
Bubbling
The argument in the Long Hall had bubbled up, simmered, seethed for a while, threatened to come to a rolling boil, and now had calmed back down to just bubbling again. Death, while fascinated by how well the cooking analogies had worked in the context of Incarnates who either never ate or ate things (mostly worshippers) that were disturbing, was starting to wonder if there was a recipe somewhere he could consult to find how long this would all take.
Shadows twisted and bent in the Long Hall as the Incarnates moved around and, in some cases, changed form to better reflect their moods and emotions. In one or two cases the shadows were part, or all, of the Incarnates, so sometimes the shadows did things that had no bearing on the lights in the hall at all, and the musicians up in the gallery were getting a bit jumpy. More and more bad notes were creeping into the music as their concentration fluctuated, and Death found the minor discords and anharmonies oddly appropriate.
Cernunnos stretched and swung his antlered head around, clearing a space, and then strolled to a stuffed armchair near the bar and a long way away from Death.
What are you hoping to get out of this? he asked Death, his thoughts barely leaving his skull but still collected by the Long Hall and deftly transferred out of sight of other minds.
A change in the Accords would be nice, said Death, his thoughts sounding almost cheerful. But it won’t happen. No matter that the old Accords are leaky and modern thoughts are good at finding the holes, no one here has the focus to want to sit down and redo them. And if they hired a lawyer then so would everyone else…
And we’d spend the next five hundred years coming to Accords that no-one understands and still have holes in?
Probably. Death still sounded oddly cheerful. But whatever is going on with the Infanta – that is what I’m really here for. I like it when everyone plays by the same rules.
Why do you care? You’re Death.
That’s exactly why I care. I’m not a chess piece.
The hubbub of voices, minds and other less obvious forms of communication swelled again, rising like a souffle towards the ceiling. Death waited, wondering if Cernunnos would say anything else, and then a mental image appeared in his mind, sent by the deer-headed God. It was a chessboard, with the Kings replaced by hooded Deaths carrying scythes. Deaths can take any piece, including their own, thought Cernunnos. Instead of check, if a piece attacks a Death then the Death must take it next turn. They still move like Kings though, so a Death can only take another Death if they’re adjacent. If your Death is attacked by more than one piece simultaneously, or is taken by your opponent’s Death, then you lose. Oh, and your own pieces do not attack you, otherwise there’ll be a bloodbath in the ranks from the start.
Death chuckled, a sound like skulls rolling down the corridors of an ossuary. I do not think the Incarnates gathered here would welcome two Deaths, he thought back.
Greg - happy to hear it :)
I, too, appreciate the cooking analogies :D
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