The exercise:
Write about something that is: interminable.
Man, that was a long day at work. Not looking forward to polishing up the meeting minutes tomorrow.
I did ask my boss if I could leave them for my replacement to do but she didn't seem too keen on the idea...
2 comments:
Heh, I like your plan to leave it for the next guy :) But I know if I were your boss I'd be pointing out that you were there for the meeting so you 'understand' the minutes better than anyone new would so.... Still, this is the last time you'll have to do it, so maybe you can sneak an Easter Egg in there as a leaving gift? Circular footnotes, or perhaps a reference to the tooth fairy?
Interminable
Rystin reset the figurines, noting that the Maestro had cleverly set them up so that they would perform but not actually do anything, and retrieved the Staff of Five Elements from the stasis container. He hesitated for a moment before the figurines, and then sighed.
"We have to replace the Staff," he said, "so I think it's best to leave the figurines like this so that I can open the stasis cylinder quickly. But... I might forget where the Maestro put them, and I bet he won't."
Fabian took a sheet of paper from the stack of paperwork, turned it over to check that it was blank, and handed it to Rystin. "Write it down," he said. "Worst case we shove this bit of paper in the stack of paperwork. If the Maestro ever finds it he'll puzzle over it interminably, because why would anyone write down the wrong configuration of the figurines?"
Rystin nodded slowly and started making notes on the paper.
"I was going to suggest a magical recording," said Dread. "But your way is probably safer and less effort."
"Sometimes the crudest tools perform the best," said Fabian and then took a minute wondering if he'd insulted himself somehow by saying that.
The walk to the Halls of Sunset took about five minutes and Fabian, who was delegated to carry the Staff, was rather glad that it looked a lot like a walking stick. There were few people around, and fewer as they got close to the Halls as it was getting dark and there was no entry to the Halls anyway. When they walked up the imposing flight of stone steps and under the first columns into the portico at the entrance there was no-one at all in sight.
"How does this work then?" said Fabian. Now that they were there and the doors were in front of them he was feeling oddly cold and nervous. It felt like he was breaking into somewhere he'd been told not to go. "Do I just wave it?" He gestured, half-heartedly, with the Staff and then stared at it: it felt suddenly much heavier and harder to move.
"No," said Dread, who was also looking at the Staff with curiosity. "But it has reacted to being here."
"Not exactly," said Rystin, who was looking around them. "There's a whole energy field here -- but it wasn't here as we approached. It's reacting to the Staff, the Halls are outputting it, I think."
"What does that mean?" Fabian didn't mean to snap but the chill and his nerves were getting to him.
Rystin laid a calming hand on his shoulder. "You're getting the effects of the energy field," he said, "because you're holding the Staff. You probably feel cold, because it's a chilling field. But it's sort of... reading you. I think it's deciding if you're entitled to use the Staff as a key."
"What?" Fabian tried to let go of the Staff but it clung somehow to his hand and was too heavy for him to shake loose. "I can't let go!"
There was a click and the chill suddenly vanished and the doors in front of them gently opened a crack. A swirl of dust blew through the crack and a moment later there was a musty dry smell.
"Well done, Director," said Dread with a hint of a smile on his face. "It looks like the Halls of Sunset still recognises your office as having the right to enter."
"Did you know this?" asked Fabian, aghast.
Greg - hah. Well, one more meeting on my own, then probably two meetings together with the new hire with the second one having me be mostly hands off. Hopefully.
That's a clever way of keeping the Maestro off their scent, I think.
And at last we get to see inside the Halls! Very, very excited for this next bit.
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