Hmm, this after the Christmas Concert post... did you accidentally bring the wrong number of children home with you?
There's no direct link to the prompt here, but the indirect link is that Fabian has seriously overlooked the relationships between the people he's currently asking questions of....
Overlooked Fabian hadn't expected Sebastian Framer, the many-lettered mage, to be waiting outside his office when he arrived at the New Imperial Museum on Monday morning. He accepted he was slightly later than people might have expected the Director to be, but that was because it was raining again and the taxis were claiming that they were overstretched and understaffed. Which was the common cry of just about every business in the Empire, so whether Fabian sympathised or not, he was still annoyed.
"You've got my book," said Sebastian. He glared at Fabian. "I told you you could only have it until today." Fabian elbowed him aside slightly more than he needed to so that he could get at the door and unlock it. As he opened it, he heard Cass. "There you are! I've been looking for you! Where were you hiding this time?" "This time?" said Fabian, turning around in the doorway. "I've come for my book," said the Maestro, who was shuffling up the corridor from the opposite direction to Cass, who was striding meaningfully towards Fabian. Sebastian's head turned at those words, and his eyes lit up at the sight of the Maestro. "My book!" he said forcefully, moving down the corridor to intercept the older man. Cass took advantage of this to step into the space and force Fabian backwards into his office. "I wrote over seventy-five percent of that book!" "And I took down the bloody Umber Hulk in the first place. What would 'your' book be without that, hey? Just a collection of idle speculation, that's what!" "You didn't do it alone!" "I need to talk to you," said Cass marching into Fabian's office and sitting down in the guest chair. She stared up at him, her ice-blue eyes glittering in the morning sunlight that slanted through the windows and illuminated the floorboards. "I need my book back!" Sebastian forced his way through the door before Fabian could close it on the arguing men. "My book!" roared the Maestro and Fabian didn't even bother trying to close the door on him. He bumped into Fabian as Fabian tried to close the door behind him -- three people seemed like plenty for one meeting, and possibly the entire morning -- and then shuffled to the guest chair and looked at Cass. "Age before beauty," he said, and it almost didn't sound like a snarl. "Women before children," she responded with a calmness that made Fabian shiver. "
My book!" yelled Sebastian who was far too close to Fabian's ear for that level of noise, and Fabian flinched away from him. He seized the book from the table and opened it, seemingly checking for damage. "My book! You're a third-rate hack and a miserable excuse for a mage. They only let you in to keep their numbers up." "You're a dusty old bone-thief who wouldn't know an historical artefact if you dropped on it your foot and broke them both!" "Weren't there two copies of that book on Friday?" said Cass, neatly dropping her words into the argument so that both men had to listen to her. "Thief!" yelled Sebastian immediately while the Maestro snatched the book from his hand. Fabian's eyes rolled reflexively in his head and he set his satchel down on his desk to get the other copy of the book out. "This is mine!" shouted the Maestro triumphantly. His eyes gleamed with the delight of victory and he waved the book in the air. "Hah, now who's the thief you filthy little mind-crawler?" "Here's the other copy," said Fabian holding it out. It was snatched from his hand by Sebastian like a hungry dog snatching at offered meat. "He took my copy home to read though, bone-botherer!" "Because yours is so tatty and stained that he knew you wouldn't notice any further dirt adhering to it!" " Are your meetings always this... loud?" said Cass, raising her voice to be heard over the shouting. Fabian shook his head and, as the two men seemed to have run out of insults to trade for a few seconds, decided he may as well go all in.
"How often do we send artefacts to the Halls of Sunset?" he asked.
Greg - honestly, not sure what inspired this prompt.
Rather enjoyed the insults going back and forth, for all the childishness of the argument. I think 'mind-crawler' might but 'bone-botherer' is pretty great too.
3 comments:
Hmm, this after the Christmas Concert post... did you accidentally bring the wrong number of children home with you?
There's no direct link to the prompt here, but the indirect link is that Fabian has seriously overlooked the relationships between the people he's currently asking questions of....
Overlooked
Fabian hadn't expected Sebastian Framer, the many-lettered mage, to be waiting outside his office when he arrived at the New Imperial Museum on Monday morning. He accepted he was slightly later than people might have expected the Director to be, but that was because it was raining again and the taxis were claiming that they were overstretched and understaffed. Which was the common cry of just about every business in the Empire, so whether Fabian sympathised or not, he was still annoyed.
"You've got my book," said Sebastian. He glared at Fabian. "I told you you could only have it until today."
Fabian elbowed him aside slightly more than he needed to so that he could get at the door and unlock it. As he opened it, he heard Cass.
"There you are! I've been looking for you! Where were you hiding this time?"
"This time?" said Fabian, turning around in the doorway.
"I've come for my book," said the Maestro, who was shuffling up the corridor from the opposite direction to Cass, who was striding meaningfully towards Fabian. Sebastian's head turned at those words, and his eyes lit up at the sight of the Maestro.
"My book!" he said forcefully, moving down the corridor to intercept the older man. Cass took advantage of this to step into the space and force Fabian backwards into his office. "I wrote over seventy-five percent of that book!"
"And I took down the bloody Umber Hulk in the first place. What would 'your' book be without that, hey? Just a collection of idle speculation, that's what!"
"You didn't do it alone!"
"I need to talk to you," said Cass marching into Fabian's office and sitting down in the guest chair. She stared up at him, her ice-blue eyes glittering in the morning sunlight that slanted through the windows and illuminated the floorboards.
"I need my book back!" Sebastian forced his way through the door before Fabian could close it on the arguing men.
"My book!" roared the Maestro and Fabian didn't even bother trying to close the door on him. He bumped into Fabian as Fabian tried to close the door behind him -- three people seemed like plenty for one meeting, and possibly the entire morning -- and then shuffled to the guest chair and looked at Cass. "Age before beauty," he said, and it almost didn't sound like a snarl.
"Women before children," she responded with a calmness that made Fabian shiver. "
My book!" yelled Sebastian who was far too close to Fabian's ear for that level of noise, and Fabian flinched away from him. He seized the book from the table and opened it, seemingly checking for damage.
"My book! You're a third-rate hack and a miserable excuse for a mage. They only let you in to keep their numbers up."
"You're a dusty old bone-thief who wouldn't know an historical artefact if you dropped on it your foot and broke them both!"
"Weren't there two copies of that book on Friday?" said Cass, neatly dropping her words into the argument so that both men had to listen to her.
"Thief!" yelled Sebastian immediately while the Maestro snatched the book from his hand. Fabian's eyes rolled reflexively in his head and he set his satchel down on his desk to get the other copy of the book out.
"This is mine!" shouted the Maestro triumphantly. His eyes gleamed with the delight of victory and he waved the book in the air. "Hah, now who's the thief you filthy little mind-crawler?"
"Here's the other copy," said Fabian holding it out. It was snatched from his hand by Sebastian like a hungry dog snatching at offered meat.
"He took my copy home to read though, bone-botherer!"
"Because yours is so tatty and stained that he knew you wouldn't notice any further dirt adhering to it!" "
Are your meetings always this... loud?" said Cass, raising her voice to be heard over the shouting. Fabian shook his head and, as the two men seemed to have run out of insults to trade for a few seconds, decided he may as well go all in.
"How often do we send artefacts to the Halls of Sunset?" he asked.
Greg - honestly, not sure what inspired this prompt.
Rather enjoyed the insults going back and forth, for all the childishness of the argument. I think 'mind-crawler' might but 'bone-botherer' is pretty great too.
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