I'm a little late with this, due mostly to yesterday being a public holiday and me getting caught up with other stuff, but I think I'm here before you're ready to comment on it :)
Keepsakes We compromised for the moment: we tied handfuls of torn grass to one of the sticks we'd used as torches earlier and lit that from Ben's cigar. It gave us perhaps 5 minutes of smokey yellow light, but it was better than no light. I stood in the doorway holding it, while Jimmy bounded over the door, one-handed, and looked around. After a moment he took the torch off me and looked a bit closer. Then he and the torch disappeared, and then reappeared again. "Two rooms," he said. "No stairs, no other door, so the upper floors are accessed some other way." "Hmmph," was Ben's response to that, and I sort of agreed with him. We'd seen no external flights of stairs so far on our wander through the city, and if they were coated in gold leaf that would have worn away underfoot a long time ago, so they should stand out. "Back room is empty," said Jimmy. "Dusty, thick enough that my footprints look like they're in snow. Heavy dust too, doesn't lift much off of the floor when you kick it. And what we have in here looks like... fish bones." He passed me what did indeed look like a fish skeleton. I frowned, turning it over in my hand, and then walked away to try and find a good patch of sunlight to stand in and look at it better. It was only as I looked around at the shadowed street, and then up at the sky that I noticed that what had been deep, crystal-blue skies earlier were now purpling and darkening as evening approached. Still, in the better light I could see what the torch had hidden: the fish-skeleton was made of delicate gold wire and tiny, bright fragments of crystal. "See anything better?" Ben was always quick on the uptake. "Fancy fish," I said. "They seem to eat gold and crystals; I think we should definitely take all of these as keepsakes." Ben laughed, and Jimmy vanished back into the shop. "Another problem," I continued, "is that it seems to be nearly evening." That got a sharp look from Ben; the nights come on fast in this part of the world, and so far all we knew is that there seemed to be no-one here during the day-time. What happened at night was still unknown, and therefore potentially deadly. "Let's have a look for a way upstairs then," he said. "And... pick up anything we can use for firewood. Jimmy! Are there tables in that shop?" "Not really," said Jimmy, climbing back out. "Stone shelves that look like they're part of the construction of the walls. No furniture." "Whoever lived here didn't like sitting down?" mused Ben. "Or someone else already burned it for firewood," I said. "But if it was gold-plated or set with jewels then maybe it was just looted." "There are so many thieves in the world," said Jimmy plaintively, and look a little surprised when Ben and I both started laughing fit to split our sides.
2 comments:
I'm a little late with this, due mostly to yesterday being a public holiday and me getting caught up with other stuff, but I think I'm here before you're ready to comment on it :)
Keepsakes
We compromised for the moment: we tied handfuls of torn grass to one of the sticks we'd used as torches earlier and lit that from Ben's cigar. It gave us perhaps 5 minutes of smokey yellow light, but it was better than no light. I stood in the doorway holding it, while Jimmy bounded over the door, one-handed, and looked around. After a moment he took the torch off me and looked a bit closer. Then he and the torch disappeared, and then reappeared again.
"Two rooms," he said. "No stairs, no other door, so the upper floors are accessed some other way."
"Hmmph," was Ben's response to that, and I sort of agreed with him. We'd seen no external flights of stairs so far on our wander through the city, and if they were coated in gold leaf that would have worn away underfoot a long time ago, so they should stand out.
"Back room is empty," said Jimmy. "Dusty, thick enough that my footprints look like they're in snow. Heavy dust too, doesn't lift much off of the floor when you kick it. And what we have in here looks like... fish bones." He passed me what did indeed look like a fish skeleton. I frowned, turning it over in my hand, and then walked away to try and find a good patch of sunlight to stand in and look at it better. It was only as I looked around at the shadowed street, and then up at the sky that I noticed that what had been deep, crystal-blue skies earlier were now purpling and darkening as evening approached. Still, in the better light I could see what the torch had hidden: the fish-skeleton was made of delicate gold wire and tiny, bright fragments of crystal.
"See anything better?" Ben was always quick on the uptake.
"Fancy fish," I said. "They seem to eat gold and crystals; I think we should definitely take all of these as keepsakes." Ben laughed, and Jimmy vanished back into the shop. "Another problem," I continued, "is that it seems to be nearly evening."
That got a sharp look from Ben; the nights come on fast in this part of the world, and so far all we knew is that there seemed to be no-one here during the day-time. What happened at night was still unknown, and therefore potentially deadly.
"Let's have a look for a way upstairs then," he said. "And... pick up anything we can use for firewood. Jimmy! Are there tables in that shop?"
"Not really," said Jimmy, climbing back out. "Stone shelves that look like they're part of the construction of the walls. No furniture."
"Whoever lived here didn't like sitting down?" mused Ben.
"Or someone else already burned it for firewood," I said. "But if it was gold-plated or set with jewels then maybe it was just looted."
"There are so many thieves in the world," said Jimmy plaintively, and look a little surprised when Ben and I both started laughing fit to split our sides.
Greg - ah, that explains it. Though I did have to select the next prompt without reading this first, which I don't think is a bad thing.
That's an interesting, fishy discovery. I'm curious to see where they spend the night, and how that goes for them...
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