milliways lurks

[her_imperial_radiance]

Milliways lurks.

Comments

[prima_sequentem]

"All right, you got me," Libby admits. "Not as such."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Didn't think so. But Mama was very nice about it, yes, as much as she could possibly be."

[prima_sequentem]

"And why's that?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Why was she nice?" Elspeth asks, confused.

[prima_sequentem]

"Well, yes. 'Nice' and 'world conqueror' aren't personality types with a lot of overlap."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"The previous rulers of the world ate people," Elspeth points out. "I think Mama would say that not taking over the world would not have been very nice of her. Especially since her witch power made her the only person immune to their best weapons."

[prima_sequentem]

"Interesting way to put it," says Libby. "Your mother sounds like an interesting woman in general."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"She is," agrees Elspeth. "She doesn't come here much, even though this stuff is great, though." She raises her bubbly golden beverage. "I should bring home a case... assuming the bar'll let me... maybe R&D can work faster with something to reverse-engineer, and it'll be nice for the Golden Day party."

[prima_sequentem]

"As far as I know, the bar is just fine with letting people carry product home," she says. "Although I don't do a lot of it myself. This place tends to catch me at the oddest moments. Halfway out of a cafe, for example."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Is that where it got you today? I found it in my office closet when I wanted a new - um, 2005? - a new... memory chip."

[prima_sequentem]

She laughs. "Technological advances beyond my comprehension, huh?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Yes," says Elspeth apologetically.

[prima_sequentem]

"That's okay. I'm sure I'll get there."

She looks at Elspeth's companion.

"And I don't think I got your name."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Jacob Black," says Jacob.

"He's my wolf," Elspeth says. "I have pamphlets about that too, if you're curious. You can think of him as my bodyguard."

[prima_sequentem]

"'Can think of him as' implies that you aren't," says Libby, still looking curiously at Jacob. "Is there a whole pamphlet's worth of explanation behind that?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I am her bodyguard," Jacob says. "I think the business cards collecting dust in a drawer somewhere have a line that says that."

"But you don't have wolves, his kind I mean, so the rest of the explanation wouldn't make sense," Elspeth says. She digs out and proffers 1B, "Introduction to Werewolves". "Skip to section three unless you're interested in how he can become enormous and furry, and how he's telepathic," she says.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby accepts the pamphlet, and does not skip to section three. Enormous furry telepathy seems like relevant information.

"Huh," she says, and taps the pamphlet with her fingertip. "Who came up with these?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I wrote all the pamphlets, which were my idea," Elspeth says. "Or the original versions, anyway; some of my staff have made updated editions since based on the first ones. And I didn't draw the drawings or take the photos."

[prima_sequentem]

"They're very informative," she says. "Natural talent, or formal training?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I'm a witch. I'm good at being understood," Elspeth said. "Also, I have several millenia's worth of assorted people's memories in my head and some of them were writers."

[prima_sequentem]

"Now that's interesting," says Libby.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I didn't do it on purpose," Elspeth said. "I was nearby when someone sent them to everyone around them to escape being executed. Plenty of people have the same payload."

[prima_sequentem]

"Oh, no, not that part," she says. "Well, that too. But what exactly did you mean by 'good at being understood'?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Oh, that's my witch power. Sort of the theme of it. Provided I'm being honest - to whatever extent I am being honest, really, and to whatever extent I can verify what I'm communicating; it's a sliding scale - I am understood and believed. I can't compel people to believe me if they really don't want to or have some really compelling reason not to. But I'm hard to mishear, or misinterpret. And watch this:" She coughs. "My name is Lisa."

The last sentence sounds dead of vibrance, and shifty, and wrong, though in any other context it wouldn't have been remarkable. The extra quality to her utterances just won't stick to that sentence. Her name is definitely not Lisa.

[prima_sequentem]

"Very interesting," says Libby.