Username: tehexile Any background information: MC = still dead. Excerpt:
“Listen, kid, I'm real sorry about this, but I've got two hundred customers waiting for me back on the bank and there's only so long I can drag out rowing a boat before I'm just plain stopping, and I get yelled at for that,” he said, pausing to move the black rook to capture Scribe's white pawn, “No matter how tight the game's getting.”
“Its okay,” Scribe said dully, “Sorry.”
“Its okay. You're a good chess partner, by the way. Well practiced for your age, and you don't whine at me every five minutes to give you your soul back.”
“Thanks.”
“You should stop worrying so much. You're pretty innocent, as they come. Trust me, the Boss has seen worse. She won't be interested in a late library book or some boring lecture you fell asleep in.”
“You don't understand,” he said, “I'm in big trouble with them. Not because of sins or anything. Because I... kind of got too involved. I ended up throwing a spanner in their works. I didn't mean to. I was just doing what I thought was right.”
“If its nothing to do with the weight of your soul, they can't judge your for it. That's the law,” said the ferryman, “And they're sticklers for the law. The Infernal Bureau is huge. You'll be judged by someone who isn't involved in the other case. I can't say what'll happen to your soul with regards to your other case, I'm not a lawyer, but I do know it'll be completely unrelated to your death.”
“I... there's something I wanted to do. When I was alive. It was kind of urgent.”
“Isn't it always?” he sighed, “Trust me, you don't want to go down the whole 'restless spirit' route. You'll end up Undead. Being Undead isn't fun. Check, by the way.”
Scribe frowned and surveyed the board, running through the possible moves and their likely consequences in his mind, “I think this case is a little different to normal.”
“More spanners?” guessed Charon.
“Well, more works, but I had really hoped there wouldn't be spanners involved.”
“If you like, I can try and get you in the good queue. I know people who know people.”
“I... don't know if I should.”
“Don't worry about me. I'm not going to lose my job any day this aeon. Nobody else in the Office wants to get the hem of their robes wet.”
“I meant, I don't know if I should be running away,” he said, “I think I shouldn't ever have been just trying to ignore the fact that all this was going on. I thought that it was all too high level for me, that the world where bureaucrats with more power than Gods had arguments that lasted hundreds of years couldn't have anything to do with a Library apprentice, and that all the decisions would be made way over my head, and that they wouldn't listen to me anyway. I thought that... I guess I didn't think I was going to die. You don't, when you're a child.”
He laughed at that, “You have no idea!”
“But I am involved in it all, aren't I? I can't just get out of it if I pretend its not there. I have these abilities, and I know what's going on, and I can fix the world. So I should. Fix the world, I mean. And if I want to be seen as an equal to them, I need to go and face them head on!”
“So, you're staying with us for the rest of the journey after all?That's nice,” he said, “Checkmate.”
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-11-24 06:07 pm (UTC)Any background information: MC = still dead.
Excerpt:
“Listen, kid, I'm real sorry about this, but I've got two hundred customers waiting for me back on the bank and there's only so long I can drag out rowing a boat before I'm just plain stopping, and I get yelled at for that,” he said, pausing to move the black rook to capture Scribe's white pawn, “No matter how tight the game's getting.”
“Its okay,” Scribe said dully, “Sorry.”
“Its okay. You're a good chess partner, by the way. Well practiced for your age, and you don't whine at me every five minutes to give you your soul back.”
“Thanks.”
“You should stop worrying so much. You're pretty innocent, as they come. Trust me, the Boss has seen worse. She won't be interested in a late library book or some boring lecture you fell asleep in.”
“You don't understand,” he said, “I'm in big trouble with them. Not because of sins or anything. Because I... kind of got too involved. I ended up throwing a spanner in their works. I didn't mean to. I was just doing what I thought was right.”
“If its nothing to do with the weight of your soul, they can't judge your for it. That's the law,” said the ferryman, “And they're sticklers for the law. The Infernal Bureau is huge. You'll be judged by someone who isn't involved in the other case. I can't say what'll happen to your soul with regards to your other case, I'm not a lawyer, but I do know it'll be completely unrelated to your death.”
“I... there's something I wanted to do. When I was alive. It was kind of urgent.”
“Isn't it always?” he sighed, “Trust me, you don't want to go down the whole 'restless spirit' route. You'll end up Undead. Being Undead isn't fun. Check, by the way.”
Scribe frowned and surveyed the board, running through the possible moves and their likely consequences in his mind, “I think this case is a little different to normal.”
“More spanners?” guessed Charon.
“Well, more works, but I had really hoped there wouldn't be spanners involved.”
“If you like, I can try and get you in the good queue. I know people who know people.”
“I... don't know if I should.”
“Don't worry about me. I'm not going to lose my job any day this aeon. Nobody else in the Office wants to get the hem of their robes wet.”
“I meant, I don't know if I should be running away,” he said, “I think I shouldn't ever have been just trying to ignore the fact that all this was going on. I thought that it was all too high level for me, that the world where bureaucrats with more power than Gods had arguments that lasted hundreds of years couldn't have anything to do with a Library apprentice, and that all the decisions would be made way over my head, and that they wouldn't listen to me anyway. I thought that... I guess I didn't think I was going to die. You don't, when you're a child.”
He laughed at that, “You have no idea!”
“But I am involved in it all, aren't I? I can't just get out of it if I pretend its not there. I have these abilities, and I know what's going on, and I can fix the world. So I should. Fix the world, I mean. And if I want to be seen as an equal to them, I need to go and face them head on!”
“So, you're staying with us for the rest of the journey after all?That's nice,” he said, “Checkmate.”