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Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:52 pm
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"Oh. Well." He didn't bother to hide his pleasant surprise, nodding once in response to Odal's thanks. "I understand. And thank you as well. For holding everything together. It was very impressive." As much as he had wished he could have minimized his uncertainty during the whole thing, it had all gone remarkably well once the Burning Man had been neutralized. He wasn't lying. It had been impressive and far beyond his own immediate comprehension.
He paused at Odal's question. It was all he had come for, but all that he wanted? Probably not. Chester wanted quite a lot.
"Actually, I was curious about fetchhood in general, but I don't know how personal of a topic that is. I don't know anything, really, except that you serve nobility and are no longer technically alive." He shook his head, briefly raising a hand from where they were crossed in front of him to idly wave in dismissal. "But like I said, if it's too personal, I can head back upstairs."
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Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2017 12:43 am
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"Hmm, well, that's not really all there is to being a fetch," said Odal, "and in most cases actually we don't particularly have much to do with nobility unless we want to. We keep things going around here, but there's really no need for... hm, laundry, or other such trivialities. There's only about fifteen or twenty of us at a go... less, now, since recent tithes have been quite vicious." Odal seemed troubled by that, a frown creasing his brow.
He shrugged. "I spend quite a lot of time with the new fetches. Many of them are traumatized and unhappy once they lose their trials, you know, and need a shoulder to lean on. I never approved of becoming a fetch being a punishment... We had a different name in the old days, you know."
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Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2017 11:09 am
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"Purpose? I don't know if there was one." Odal half-smirked. "But no, there's nothing of this that's intended to be a punishment. If anything, Silk and I viewed our changed status as a reward. We went so deep into magical study that our human bodies gave out, and the magic we love now sustains us. We're part of it, it's a part of us, and because of that we are capable of more dangerous experiments. It's not for everyone, but neither is a medium-rare steak, or a life as a stockbroker, or a dark beer."
He sighed. "But many people are horrified by the concept, and the Court needed someone to support it. Silk and I were happy to oblige, but we didn't anticipate the Charter turning us into cautionary tales and punishments. I certainly wouldn't have signed the damn thing if I knew what it was going to do to Melany or to us. It goes to show you, intention and foreknowledge is everything when it comes to the arts. Never do something because someone says you have to, Chester, that's my best advice."
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Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:51 pm
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It almost hurt, hearing Odal say he had been an engineer, but Chester couldn't decide if that was because he himself had failed at his pursuit of that title, or because he wanted forever too. Hundreds of thousands of lifetimes in which to do magic. He might have rejected becoming nobility, owning a person and being looked to for leadership, but immortality by itself didn't sound half bad. Of course, there was the corpsiness for most people. And the effective end of his time in the mundane world. And, well, he'd probably be lonely these days too. Most of all, he didn't like the idea of making that choice. It was one thing to love magic so much that you accidentally became it, and quite another to seek the end so deliberately.
"It was a good name and an enviable career. But I understand why this is better. Thank you for speaking with me."
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