Monday May 2nd, 2022

The exercise:

Write about: waiting.

2 comments:

Greg said...

Hmm, this sounds like this trading of places has been delayed then?

Waiting
"I don't think the Maestro would have the ability to do that," said Dread. "He's capable, definitely, but his training is... not mage. To be honest, given you've complained about him lying about his age, I suspect he might have had an eclectic training from the early days of the Empire, a bit of everything. So he probably knows how to get it working, but probably doesn't have the practice or the discipline to make it happen."
"That's mostly good news then," said Fabian. He leaned back in his chair and toyed with the cutlery. "I'm nervous, I'll admit to that. I have no idea what's going to be in there, and I don't much like walking into the unknown."
Dread smiled. "I think the waiting doesn't help," he said. "It would be nice if we could finish lunch and go off and do this but the risk is far too high."
"So what are we going to do?" The wine arrived and the glasses were filled and Fabian sipped from his, still wondering how sober his afternoon would be.
"Well, I think too preset a plan is a bad idea." Dread spoke slowly as he thought. "We need flexibility so that whatever we find we can accommodate. And I think we should anticipate this all being a lot slower and probably less interesting than it sounds right now. There might just be a lot of standing around, waiting for one of us to figure something out."
"That sounds almost like fun," said Fabian. "Compared with the alternatives, anyway."
"But to begin with... let's get Rystin to check the charge on the... did you call it an exhibit?"
"Eventually it will be," said Fabian. "Discharged, though, of course."
"Of course. Then when we're good to get in and out, we'll go over as discreetly as we can. Once we're inside... we replan depending on what we find."
"That's a very short plan," said Fabian. "Did we need lunch to discuss that?"
"I needed lunch anyway," said Dread. "And I also wanted to talk to you about what might happen if Rystin turns out to be less reliable than we both think he probably is. Because, and I'm not saying I want to plan contingencies, but failing to do so is almost always a terrible idea."

Marc said...

Greg - hell if I can remember what I was thinking with these prompts. Just one of the many problems with falling behind on comments...

I like Dread's practicality. I also think the wine is his way of keeping Fabian relaxed, but let's not tell Fabian that.