The exercise:
Write about: a break.
Because the RDOS Board meets the first and third Thursday of each month, next week will be my first week since starting the job where there won't be either a meeting happening that week or the following week. Which means a break from doing the agenda and the minutes. I'm sure my time will still fill up regardless, but I'm curious to see how it goes.
Also prompt related, tomorrow is the boys' last day of school before spring break. I think they're both in need of it.
3 comments:
I guess you must get these intercalary weeks about four times a year then? It seems like they'll coincide with the five-week months, which I think are most regular. I think they should be a nice change of pace for you!
It is weird to think that we're a quarter of the way through the year already; I can see how the boys might be looking forward to a break from school.
Right, let's see how Rystin is doing after yesterday :)
A break
"Really bad?" said Rystin. "I don't follow."
"How many artificers are there in the city?"
Rystin thought, turning the glass holding his new drink this way and that. "A handful," he said at last. "Maybe three even. There aren't that many artificers to begin with and we spread out amongst all the cities."
"Right," said Dread. "So if anyone stole a Staff of Five Elements then all three, or four, or however many of you, would be in immediate danger as kidnapping you would be the easiest way to keep that Staff charged. And if it were me, I'd probably get all of you, partly in case something goes wrong and one of you dies, and partly to make sure that if I lose the Staff no-one else can charge it."
Rystin's glass spun out of his hand and broke on the floor two metres away; glass fragments arcing up into the air and glittering like the rooftops. He cursed softly, while the nearby waiter cursed more loudly and hurried to get a mop and a dustpan and brush to sweep the glass up.
"Exactly," said Dread. "Look, you're not in danger at the moment, but... if I tell you you are, then--"
"I'll believe you," said Rystin quickly. "But there's not really any likelihood of this Staff being found, right?"
Fabian shrugged. "It's the key to the Halls of Sunset," he said. "And they keep coming up here and there in conversation, which makes me think that someone important wants to get in there. So while ordinarily I'd say that the chances of a something like that turning up unexpectedly were slim to none, at the moment it feels like they're a bit more like fifty-fifty."
"As a bit of a break from bad news though," said Dread, "we were also wondering if you'd like to be on the containment crew?"
There was a pause; partly because another waiter was replacing Rystin's drink with a meaningful stare that suggested he should avoid throwing the glass anywhere this time, and partly because Rystin was clearly having trouble with the change of track for the conversation.
"Me?" he managed at last. Dread grinned.
"We thought you'd probably want to know what was in the stasis chambers," he said. "Since you did help discover them again."
Rystin's eye widened and he glanced between the two men, hope lighting up his face. "Really? You'd let me be there? That's... that's an honour!"
"It's a job," said Fabian. "And Cass, may she one day be consigned to the appropriate hell for bureaucrats, spent at least an hour explaining to me the overtime and dangertime pay rates, so it's well-paying one at that. I'm not sure about an honour. Anything could be in those chambers, and given the things I think the Maestro has hunted in the past, some of them might be quite angry."
"How bad can they really be?" Dread was smiling as though he would have had no trouble hunting alongside the Maestro.
"Well, we have a Phase-beast paw in the inventory," said Fabian, who'd spent all afternoon going through anything and everything the Maestro had added to the Museum, "and no indication of what happened to the rest of it."
Greg - well, there's Christmas break, and then spring break, and then summer holidays. Those are the big chunks of time away from school. Otherwise it's a long weekend every month'ish.
This is a great scene, between the dialogue and the drinks and the waiters and that hint at the end of what might be in store for them next. Well done!
Greg - and yes, they happen whenever there's an 'extra' Thursday in the month. Sorry, my mind strayed, apparently, between reading your comment and responding to it.
Coffee is still working on waking me up.
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