Hmm, I feel like continuing the story we started with Ghosts, which I hope you don't mind :)
A stretch "What money do you think ghosts carry?" Madame Sosotris was sure she heard a wet, glutinous snigger hastily stifled. "What ghost asks for help with nothing to offer in return?" she countered. "You could haunt someone for me, or cause a diversion while I rob a bank." There was a pause and outside the water churned as a boat went past. A voice, almost lost in the white noise, called out a greeting to someone on the bank and the goose, wherever it was, honked again. "You don't do favours?" The misty patch was getting denser and details were starting to resolve in it. Madame Sosotris formed an opinion: this was probably a male ghost, inasmuch as sex mattered to the dead, and young. That didn't mean they'd died young, only that their internal opinion of their age when they died was young. She'd met a ghost once of a man who'd died at 105 and they'd manifested as a handsome, handsy 30 year old. "No," she said. "Sets a precedent. You do one favour, you stretch one point, and everyone after that starts off trying to prove that they also deserve that stretch or favour. It's like coffee-cake."
"Wait," said the ghost. The mistiness was fading around the edges and bringing a white, translucent man into better focus now. "You rob banks?" "Not any more," said Madame Sosotris with a delighted smile. "These days they're more useful for looking after my money than for liberating other people's. I robbed a casino once too, only they couldn't call it theft. They did bar me for life, and then the next life, which also seemed like a bit of a stretch to me." "Coffee-cake?" said the ghost, who was now practically coalesced. Even Madame Sosotris was having a hard time spotting the places where the light got through where it wouldn't in a real person. "Wait, the casino manager banned you for your next life?" "Is this relevant?" Madame Sosotris sipped her drink and wondered why it made her think of hibiscus. "You wanted something from me, and then we need to sort out a price for it." The goose honked again and Madame Sosotris's fingers itched. She wondered who the bad luck was for. "Right," said the ghost, though his darting eyes suggested that he still wasn't finished with the business of the next life and the coffee-cake. "Right. Well, you can see the future right?" "Many of them," said Madame Sosotris, who's reputation was built on claims that other people hadn't yet managed to falsify. "You want a future where who can reincarnate." "I want to rein-- how did you do that?" Madame Sosotris waved a hand, forgetting that she was holding her drink, and a pink spray of sticky liquid arced through the ghost and splattered on the floor. "Oops! Silly me, forgot about that." She giggled. "It's possible, of course. I want to study the Adelaide Tarot deck. It's kept in the Tower." "Which Tower?" asked the ghost in a tone that suggested he'd already guessed and didn't like the answer. "The Tower of London," said Madame Sosotris as though it wasn't guarded night and day by some of the best motivated guards in the Unreal City.
3 comments:
Hmm, I feel like continuing the story we started with Ghosts, which I hope you don't mind :)
A stretch
"What money do you think ghosts carry?" Madame Sosotris was sure she heard a wet, glutinous snigger hastily stifled.
"What ghost asks for help with nothing to offer in return?" she countered. "You could haunt someone for me, or cause a diversion while I rob a bank."
There was a pause and outside the water churned as a boat went past. A voice, almost lost in the white noise, called out a greeting to someone on the bank and the goose, wherever it was, honked again.
"You don't do favours?" The misty patch was getting denser and details were starting to resolve in it. Madame Sosotris formed an opinion: this was probably a male ghost, inasmuch as sex mattered to the dead, and young. That didn't mean they'd died young, only that their internal opinion of their age when they died was young. She'd met a ghost once of a man who'd died at 105 and they'd manifested as a handsome, handsy 30 year old.
"No," she said. "Sets a precedent. You do one favour, you stretch one point, and everyone after that starts off trying to prove that they also deserve that stretch or favour. It's like coffee-cake."
"Wait," said the ghost. The mistiness was fading around the edges and bringing a white, translucent man into better focus now. "You rob banks?"
"Not any more," said Madame Sosotris with a delighted smile. "These days they're more useful for looking after my money than for liberating other people's. I robbed a casino once too, only they couldn't call it theft. They did bar me for life, and then the next life, which also seemed like a bit of a stretch to me."
"Coffee-cake?" said the ghost, who was now practically coalesced. Even Madame Sosotris was having a hard time spotting the places where the light got through where it wouldn't in a real person. "Wait, the casino manager banned you for your next life?"
"Is this relevant?" Madame Sosotris sipped her drink and wondered why it made her think of hibiscus. "You wanted something from me, and then we need to sort out a price for it."
The goose honked again and Madame Sosotris's fingers itched. She wondered who the bad luck was for.
"Right," said the ghost, though his darting eyes suggested that he still wasn't finished with the business of the next life and the coffee-cake. "Right. Well, you can see the future right?"
"Many of them," said Madame Sosotris, who's reputation was built on claims that other people hadn't yet managed to falsify. "You want a future where who can reincarnate."
"I want to rein-- how did you do that?"
Madame Sosotris waved a hand, forgetting that she was holding her drink, and a pink spray of sticky liquid arced through the ghost and splattered on the floor. "Oops! Silly me, forgot about that." She giggled. "It's possible, of course. I want to study the Adelaide Tarot deck. It's kept in the Tower."
"Which Tower?" asked the ghost in a tone that suggested he'd already guessed and didn't like the answer.
"The Tower of London," said Madame Sosotris as though it wasn't guarded night and day by some of the best motivated guards in the Unreal City.
Greg - I never mind. I continue to not mind. I will still not mind for the next month. So, stop thinking it's a problem :P
Huh, this ghost intrigues me. I'm glad they are materializing a little more. I do wonder if they'll manage to settle on a price though...
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