UnseenMaiden
We are but shadows
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2008
- Posts
- 3,688
(just for funsies... it's been lurking around in my archives for a good few months and I just discovered it again..as always pm me if you're interested)
"Right. Right. Cause that totally makes sense."
Sarcasm laid heavy on her tongue because of the absolute drivel of the story she'd just skimmed through. Sighing, she rolled her eyes at the book, before placing it back on the shelf. She'd been at this job too long. The owners wouldn't even see a disturbance in the dust that coated the cherry wood and green cloth-bound books. Which was a shame. She hated it when people neglected their things, especially pieces that were this rare. Of course considering what she usually dealt with, that particular tome was brand-spanking new. Not that her carefulness would matter overly much. Time was frozen for her and not even the most astute of souls would be alerted to her presence.
"Ah, Julia, I thought I had seen your line coming in here. This is rather fortuitous. I was beginning to think I would have to resort to a messenger."
She knew who it was, before she looked over her shoulder and grinned. Death. She didn't know him by any other name than his position and, of course, as she was still technically mortal, he knew hers no matter. They'd officially met about a decade ago, shortly after she acquired this odd job. She didn't really know if he looked different to others, but to her, he had always appeared as nothing more than a kindly old man with a bit of weariness in his eyes.
"Just a moment, I'm almost done with my business."
Facing the front once again, she realized that Death was moving around the room, but didn't pay him any mind. Unlike herself, he could not put matters off for days on end. People would die with or without him and all the world needed was a backlog of souls just rotting away in their bodies. Not that she'd ever seen such a thing, but she'd heard about it, through him and their few chats. In fact, over the past ten years, they'd only spoken about fifty separate times and even then, only about half of those conversations were in person. Still she considered him her only friend in their line of work, especially since the most she'd seen of the others was bumping heads with Eros one early winter's dawn some three and a half years ago. Using the bookcase as leverage, she climbed up to the top, some twenty feet from the once plush carpeted floor, and groped around for a moment, before securing her hand around something. It was a clock, one that seemed to be made out of ivory, but she really didn't know enough about that stuff to say for sure. It was definitely pretty though.
"All right, here we go."
Reaching into the back pocket of her jeans, she pulled out a small book. It was bound in black leather and always felt warm to the touch, though she kind of felt that was because of her own body heat, but the black didn't reflect light at all and the pages were always a crisp, clean white, no matter what she did to them. Flipping open to a random page, she whispered something, while pressing the clock into it's vellum surface before snapping the book shut. This was her job. She had to do whatever was necessary to set a story to rights again. This time it had just been nothing more than returning an object that had taken it upon itself to walk away. Minutes later, she set her feet on the carpet once more after climbing down. It was a disadvantage, she thought, having to do this job with nothing but the bare-minimum of abilities. Not that she was complaining. It was the price she paid for staying mortal, for staying with her family and friends.
"So what'd you have to tell me so urgently?"
She'd embraced her friend as she always did, even as he waved the victim of a stroke onto the next life. It had startled him the first time and she was fairly sure it still did, but she couldn't help it. Julia had always been one to hug others and Death always seemed like the grandfather she never had for some reason. Of course if she told him that, he'd probably laugh and mention that he was far, far older than her grandfather had ever thought of being. Either way, his words were urgent, she knew that. He had all of time after all and there was very little that couldn't wait another day or year to say. Smiling affectionately at her worried face, he pinched one of her cheeks as she pulled away, before pulling something out of his coat.
"I simply wanted to hand you this and to say goodbye. Over ten thousand years and they have finally seen fit to replace me. See that things are explained properly to him. When I was instated, they left me floundering for decades without so much as a how do you do. Anyways, goodbye Julia Darlene Baxter. You will make a splendid companion."
There was so much she wanted to ask and say, but he only bent down and kissed her cheek as she gaped at him. Then he walked through a wall and was gone. She had just enough sense to leave the apartment before time started up once again around her. Startled screams came from inside as her cell began to ring. Pulling it out, she automatically began to walk away from the scene of death, only half listening to her mother as she was asked about how things were going with Lucius.
The funny thing was, she had made up Lucius years ago when she'd grown just a little too tired of her mother assuming things about her character because she was dateless. It wasn't like she could just come out and say that she spent her days and nights weaving in and out of what was currently known as reality. Now her relationship with Lucius had grown into some sort of epic love story in her mother's eyes, as Julia had the horrible habit of borrowing scenarios from soap operas in their on-again off-again romance.
Sighing at her mother's complaints about not yet meeting the illustrious mystery man, she pressed the mute button on her phone, before finally looking at what Death had placed in her hand. It was a rather sturdy, silver-leafed business card with black raised script along one side.
To the Librarian,
I, the anthropomorphic representation of death, cordially invite you to one Mr. Salis' demise and subsequent commission at 1:30:45 pm Central time, February 26th, 2013 AD, Delaware Square, Harrisburg, England.
With warmest regards from Death, formerly known as Mors.
It was an invitation. She'd never received one before. He must have had to pull a few strings to get her this. Despite everything, she shouldn't waste her friend's gift. Except, her eyes widened as she glanced at her watch, she only had five minutes to keep the appointment. Unmuting her phone, she shouted apologies to her mother before hanging up, already running. It was one of the few gifts she was given, to traverse space so easily, but as death and the commissioning of new workers was not her business, she would not have been able to employ it at all if she didn't hold the invitation in her hand. Despite that, she only arrived just in time to see the car crash, holding a hand over her heart as she gasped for breath.
Time didn't freeze this time and she stared with wide eyes as a single man on a bike tumbled some yards away onto the asphalt. There was no way he was alive. Not with that much blood and the unnatural angle of his neck. People were screaming and, as this seemed to be a shopping area of sorts, sirens quickly filled the air. That had to be him. Definitely him. His was the only soul she had seen as a person and not a bright ball of light, the various times she had been present during Death's work.
He looked confused and scared, not that she could blame him. He was also staring at his hands and as she got closer to where his corpse lay, she could see why. Script, as black as her book, wove itself over his fingers before trailing over his palms and wrists. Julia had never seen the like before on her late friend, but she could pretty much guess what it was for. His commissioning. Hers had been nothing like that. When she had been commissioned, the book had burned her hands with a white-hot intensity that had seemed to last forever at the time. Clapping a hand on the now corporeal, and yet entirely invisible to the rest of the populace, man's shoulder, she smiled kindly at him as he whirled around to face her.
"Mr. Salis, I regret to inform you that you are now Death personified."
Not the most tactful of things to say, but there really was no point in beating around the bush. Plus, it wasn't like she was going to disappear after giving him that information. Her friend, Mors it seemed, had charged her with getting him used to this bizarre world after all. A companion he had called it.
"Ah yes, you probably have a lot of questions and mental breakdowns to get through, so I'll just get the introductions out of the way. I'm..."
"Julia Baxter..... What is this red thread for?"
"Yes that's right. Of course you know that now, I keep for....get..ting."
He'd held up his left hand to show her, her voice trailing off. There around his ring finger was a thread and if she didn't know any better, she would have said it was blood. The red thread of fate. She'd never really seen it before. That was Eros' department, not hers, but she knew about it. Everyone in existence was supposed to have one. So it wasn't unusual at all, except then he grabbed her left hand and held it up as well. The threads were connected. If she had been a different type of woman, she had a feeling that she probably would have fainted of shock. Instead, she just shouted, drawing the stares of nearly everyone around them.
"What?!"
http://tn3-2.deviantart.com/fs28/300W/i/2008/061/4/b/Blond_Bish_by_Liliothe.jpg
Julia Darlene Baxter
26
"Right. Right. Cause that totally makes sense."
Sarcasm laid heavy on her tongue because of the absolute drivel of the story she'd just skimmed through. Sighing, she rolled her eyes at the book, before placing it back on the shelf. She'd been at this job too long. The owners wouldn't even see a disturbance in the dust that coated the cherry wood and green cloth-bound books. Which was a shame. She hated it when people neglected their things, especially pieces that were this rare. Of course considering what she usually dealt with, that particular tome was brand-spanking new. Not that her carefulness would matter overly much. Time was frozen for her and not even the most astute of souls would be alerted to her presence.
"Ah, Julia, I thought I had seen your line coming in here. This is rather fortuitous. I was beginning to think I would have to resort to a messenger."
She knew who it was, before she looked over her shoulder and grinned. Death. She didn't know him by any other name than his position and, of course, as she was still technically mortal, he knew hers no matter. They'd officially met about a decade ago, shortly after she acquired this odd job. She didn't really know if he looked different to others, but to her, he had always appeared as nothing more than a kindly old man with a bit of weariness in his eyes.
"Just a moment, I'm almost done with my business."
Facing the front once again, she realized that Death was moving around the room, but didn't pay him any mind. Unlike herself, he could not put matters off for days on end. People would die with or without him and all the world needed was a backlog of souls just rotting away in their bodies. Not that she'd ever seen such a thing, but she'd heard about it, through him and their few chats. In fact, over the past ten years, they'd only spoken about fifty separate times and even then, only about half of those conversations were in person. Still she considered him her only friend in their line of work, especially since the most she'd seen of the others was bumping heads with Eros one early winter's dawn some three and a half years ago. Using the bookcase as leverage, she climbed up to the top, some twenty feet from the once plush carpeted floor, and groped around for a moment, before securing her hand around something. It was a clock, one that seemed to be made out of ivory, but she really didn't know enough about that stuff to say for sure. It was definitely pretty though.
"All right, here we go."
Reaching into the back pocket of her jeans, she pulled out a small book. It was bound in black leather and always felt warm to the touch, though she kind of felt that was because of her own body heat, but the black didn't reflect light at all and the pages were always a crisp, clean white, no matter what she did to them. Flipping open to a random page, she whispered something, while pressing the clock into it's vellum surface before snapping the book shut. This was her job. She had to do whatever was necessary to set a story to rights again. This time it had just been nothing more than returning an object that had taken it upon itself to walk away. Minutes later, she set her feet on the carpet once more after climbing down. It was a disadvantage, she thought, having to do this job with nothing but the bare-minimum of abilities. Not that she was complaining. It was the price she paid for staying mortal, for staying with her family and friends.
"So what'd you have to tell me so urgently?"
She'd embraced her friend as she always did, even as he waved the victim of a stroke onto the next life. It had startled him the first time and she was fairly sure it still did, but she couldn't help it. Julia had always been one to hug others and Death always seemed like the grandfather she never had for some reason. Of course if she told him that, he'd probably laugh and mention that he was far, far older than her grandfather had ever thought of being. Either way, his words were urgent, she knew that. He had all of time after all and there was very little that couldn't wait another day or year to say. Smiling affectionately at her worried face, he pinched one of her cheeks as she pulled away, before pulling something out of his coat.
"I simply wanted to hand you this and to say goodbye. Over ten thousand years and they have finally seen fit to replace me. See that things are explained properly to him. When I was instated, they left me floundering for decades without so much as a how do you do. Anyways, goodbye Julia Darlene Baxter. You will make a splendid companion."
There was so much she wanted to ask and say, but he only bent down and kissed her cheek as she gaped at him. Then he walked through a wall and was gone. She had just enough sense to leave the apartment before time started up once again around her. Startled screams came from inside as her cell began to ring. Pulling it out, she automatically began to walk away from the scene of death, only half listening to her mother as she was asked about how things were going with Lucius.
The funny thing was, she had made up Lucius years ago when she'd grown just a little too tired of her mother assuming things about her character because she was dateless. It wasn't like she could just come out and say that she spent her days and nights weaving in and out of what was currently known as reality. Now her relationship with Lucius had grown into some sort of epic love story in her mother's eyes, as Julia had the horrible habit of borrowing scenarios from soap operas in their on-again off-again romance.
Sighing at her mother's complaints about not yet meeting the illustrious mystery man, she pressed the mute button on her phone, before finally looking at what Death had placed in her hand. It was a rather sturdy, silver-leafed business card with black raised script along one side.
To the Librarian,
I, the anthropomorphic representation of death, cordially invite you to one Mr. Salis' demise and subsequent commission at 1:30:45 pm Central time, February 26th, 2013 AD, Delaware Square, Harrisburg, England.
With warmest regards from Death, formerly known as Mors.
It was an invitation. She'd never received one before. He must have had to pull a few strings to get her this. Despite everything, she shouldn't waste her friend's gift. Except, her eyes widened as she glanced at her watch, she only had five minutes to keep the appointment. Unmuting her phone, she shouted apologies to her mother before hanging up, already running. It was one of the few gifts she was given, to traverse space so easily, but as death and the commissioning of new workers was not her business, she would not have been able to employ it at all if she didn't hold the invitation in her hand. Despite that, she only arrived just in time to see the car crash, holding a hand over her heart as she gasped for breath.
Time didn't freeze this time and she stared with wide eyes as a single man on a bike tumbled some yards away onto the asphalt. There was no way he was alive. Not with that much blood and the unnatural angle of his neck. People were screaming and, as this seemed to be a shopping area of sorts, sirens quickly filled the air. That had to be him. Definitely him. His was the only soul she had seen as a person and not a bright ball of light, the various times she had been present during Death's work.
He looked confused and scared, not that she could blame him. He was also staring at his hands and as she got closer to where his corpse lay, she could see why. Script, as black as her book, wove itself over his fingers before trailing over his palms and wrists. Julia had never seen the like before on her late friend, but she could pretty much guess what it was for. His commissioning. Hers had been nothing like that. When she had been commissioned, the book had burned her hands with a white-hot intensity that had seemed to last forever at the time. Clapping a hand on the now corporeal, and yet entirely invisible to the rest of the populace, man's shoulder, she smiled kindly at him as he whirled around to face her.
"Mr. Salis, I regret to inform you that you are now Death personified."
Not the most tactful of things to say, but there really was no point in beating around the bush. Plus, it wasn't like she was going to disappear after giving him that information. Her friend, Mors it seemed, had charged her with getting him used to this bizarre world after all. A companion he had called it.
"Ah yes, you probably have a lot of questions and mental breakdowns to get through, so I'll just get the introductions out of the way. I'm..."
"Julia Baxter..... What is this red thread for?"
"Yes that's right. Of course you know that now, I keep for....get..ting."
He'd held up his left hand to show her, her voice trailing off. There around his ring finger was a thread and if she didn't know any better, she would have said it was blood. The red thread of fate. She'd never really seen it before. That was Eros' department, not hers, but she knew about it. Everyone in existence was supposed to have one. So it wasn't unusual at all, except then he grabbed her left hand and held it up as well. The threads were connected. If she had been a different type of woman, she had a feeling that she probably would have fainted of shock. Instead, she just shouted, drawing the stares of nearly everyone around them.
"What?!"
http://tn3-2.deviantart.com/fs28/300W/i/2008/061/4/b/Blond_Bish_by_Liliothe.jpg
Julia Darlene Baxter
26
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