Hmm, oddly enough Tuesday's piece ended on a warning, I think, so let's use that as the jumping off point :)
A warning "Don't die twice, got you," I said, shooting Justin a side-long glance. "Given I can't navigate temporally I don't see how I could do that, or avoid doing it if I'm tricked into it somehow." "There is that," he said, sounding completely agreeable. "But it's a standard warning and I am obliged t--" "Wait! Sorry for interrupting, but you just said I have to relive those eighteen minutes myself at some time." Justin looked like he'd just dodged some large person stepping on his foot; he doesn't like being interrupted. None of the Seraphim, Schedim or Timeless Ones do, but the Timeless ones are more polite about it. Though with all this talk of temporal navigation I was starting to wonder if they just allowed it because they knew they could walk to some other point in time and watch karma catching up with me. "Yes?" "That means we're not going back to when we started. But then why don't the memories just catch up with me anyway?" Justin smiled and I got the impression that my interruption had been forgiven. He waved a hand around us, and I realised that we were still in the garden but I had no idea where we'd come in, or where we were. There were some pretty blue flowers growing out of the ground with petals like a peony, and a woody-looking shrub that might have been liquorice. Beyond them were some tall trees with naturally yellow leaves, and on the other side of us was a bed of green herby-looking plants that might have been medicinal. "The garden is a temporal maze," he said. "Which is why we're here, actually, it's to start you with some training." "Training?" I took a step backwards and Justin caught my elbow to stop me stepping off the path. "Yes, you really need to learn to navigate temporally. I'm not going to tell you any more than it will be necessary, because you're going to be made an offer you can't refuse." I thought about that. And then I thought about it some more. "That's a warning, not a threat, right?" "From me, yes. But anyway, your timeline is going to be messed up in here while you learn some stuff where you can't damage anything. Much. Well, in theory you can't, but you're good at finding the exceptions to theories, aren't you?" "I--" "Actually, the current consensus of opinion is that you are, somehow, the collection of all exceptions of the human race embodied in a single place." "What!?" "Anyway, for your first lesson, we're going to play Follow the Leader." And he took a step away from me and vanished. I sighed, making a point to be loud and aggrieved, and waited. When that didn't work I looked around, and wondered where Justin had gone. Clearly he hadn't just walked off along the path... or had he? I had no idea what a temporal direction looked like so maybe if I just walked the way he had it would help. It didn't. A step in any direction not off the path did not reveal Justin or anything new, so I returned to where I was and wondered what to do next. And while I wondered, I noticed suddenly a fragrance, something like the smell of fresh-cut grass. Without really thinking about it I took a step towards the smell and suddenly Justin was stood right next to me again.
2 comments:
Hmm, oddly enough Tuesday's piece ended on a warning, I think, so let's use that as the jumping off point :)
A warning
"Don't die twice, got you," I said, shooting Justin a side-long glance. "Given I can't navigate temporally I don't see how I could do that, or avoid doing it if I'm tricked into it somehow."
"There is that," he said, sounding completely agreeable. "But it's a standard warning and I am obliged t--"
"Wait! Sorry for interrupting, but you just said I have to relive those eighteen minutes myself at some time."
Justin looked like he'd just dodged some large person stepping on his foot; he doesn't like being interrupted. None of the Seraphim, Schedim or Timeless Ones do, but the Timeless ones are more polite about it. Though with all this talk of temporal navigation I was starting to wonder if they just allowed it because they knew they could walk to some other point in time and watch karma catching up with me.
"Yes?"
"That means we're not going back to when we started. But then why don't the memories just catch up with me anyway?"
Justin smiled and I got the impression that my interruption had been forgiven. He waved a hand around us, and I realised that we were still in the garden but I had no idea where we'd come in, or where we were. There were some pretty blue flowers growing out of the ground with petals like a peony, and a woody-looking shrub that might have been liquorice. Beyond them were some tall trees with naturally yellow leaves, and on the other side of us was a bed of green herby-looking plants that might have been medicinal.
"The garden is a temporal maze," he said. "Which is why we're here, actually, it's to start you with some training."
"Training?" I took a step backwards and Justin caught my elbow to stop me stepping off the path.
"Yes, you really need to learn to navigate temporally. I'm not going to tell you any more than it will be necessary, because you're going to be made an offer you can't refuse."
I thought about that. And then I thought about it some more.
"That's a warning, not a threat, right?"
"From me, yes. But anyway, your timeline is going to be messed up in here while you learn some stuff where you can't damage anything. Much. Well, in theory you can't, but you're good at finding the exceptions to theories, aren't you?"
"I--"
"Actually, the current consensus of opinion is that you are, somehow, the collection of all exceptions of the human race embodied in a single place."
"What!?"
"Anyway, for your first lesson, we're going to play Follow the Leader." And he took a step away from me and vanished.
I sighed, making a point to be loud and aggrieved, and waited. When that didn't work I looked around, and wondered where Justin had gone. Clearly he hadn't just walked off along the path... or had he? I had no idea what a temporal direction looked like so maybe if I just walked the way he had it would help.
It didn't. A step in any direction not off the path did not reveal Justin or anything new, so I returned to where I was and wondered what to do next. And while I wondered, I noticed suddenly a fragrance, something like the smell of fresh-cut grass. Without really thinking about it I took a step towards the smell and suddenly Justin was stood right next to me again.
Greg - ah, that's a happy little coincidence!
Ooh, training. This is very exciting. And hopefully not leading our hero towards imminent doom.
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