Friday, January 16, 2015

Page 951

Hector’s memory of that meeting was foggy at best. Garovel had translated it for him, since they had been speaking in Valgan, but Hector did recall that odd feeling Garovel was talking about now, like the air was slightly thicker. It wasn’t until later that Garovel had explained how very powerful souls could affect the physical atmosphere. And while he was certainly grateful that Lord Abbas had permanently soul-strengthened Haqq’s shield, Hector was not in any hurry to encounter someone like that a second time--especially now, after witnessing what Xuan and Melchor could do.

Chergoa and Garovel continued speaking, but Garovel spared a private moment for Hector. ‘You should express your gratitude to Dimas for saving our asses.’

Much as he would have liked to remain silent, Hector knew the reaper was right, so after taking a moment to gather his courage, he went for it. “Uh, um, Lord Dimas, uh... thank you for your help earlier. Darktide would’ve definitely, er... I mean, if you hadn’t... uh... Y-you and Lord Salvador saved us. So... er...”

The man’s expression was as unreadable as ever. “...Think nothing of it. Rather, I should be thanking you for protecting Duvoss and my idiot uncle.”

“Ah, uh... heh...” Hector thought better of wading into that territory and instead chose to change the subject. “Are you, um... aren’t you tired? From using pan-forma, I mean?”

“I use pan-moc,” Dimas corrected.

“Oh. Right.”

“...But yes, I am exhausted.”

“You... uh... you don’t really look like it.”

“I will not be sleeping until Xuan is awake.”

I will, though,’ said Iziol. ‘In fact, I think I’ll do that right now. Pardon my snoring.

Hector exchanged looks with Dimas. “Can reapers actually snore?”

“No. Iziol was attempting to tell a joke. He is not very good at them.”

Hey. I... I’m... I’m mediocre at them, at least.

Dimas met Hector’s gaze and just shook his head with silent honesty.

Here, let me tell a real joke,’ said Iziol.

And for the first time, Hector saw Dimas lose composure as a haggard expression flashed across his face.

Two clowns walk into a bar. The bartender says to them, “Hey, none of your funny business in here!”

Then there was dead silence. Even Chergoa and Garovel had stopped bickering.

Well?’ said Iziol. ‘What did you think?

Hector had still been waiting for the punchline. “Uh--er, that was... um. Wow.”

Dimas was less kind. “That was possibly the worst joke I’ve ever heard in my life.”

17 comments:

  1. There will be a second page today. In about twelve-ish hours. Then I'll be all caught up on pages for January again.

    As for the final donation bonus day, I'll push that to Monday instead of trying to cram it into today. Then I'll finally be all caught up on donations, too! :D

    And for those of you who might not have seen my comment yesterday, please vote for TZK over at Top Web Fiction. Thanks for reading, folks.

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  2. Hmm, read this over twice and I didn't find any mistakes. Good going there, Frost.

    Hector thinking bout how Abbas' soul made him reminded me that I'd wanted to comment on when Zeff met Sanko. The feeling people get around servants with powerful souls reminds me of the manga Bleach and how extremely powerful characters can stomp lesser characters without even laying a finger on them, just focusing their Reiatsu (Spirit Pressure). In fact, a few terms in Bleach are in this story. As a Bleach lover (old school Bleach, at least) I find that kinda awesome.

    Iziol has my pity for whenever (if ever) Reese gets a hold of him...

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  3. Who else actually did laugh a bit it Iziol's joke?

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  4. I did. But only because it was so bad.

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  5. Don't you mean... Two optimistic?

    (I have bad jokes... also. Damn it.)

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  6. I'd say the guy died in front of the mic, but...

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  7. I giggled a the bit afterwards. The gruesome twosome will shut up... to wince in unison and morn the passing of poor wit.

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  8. Another of my posts on the Abilities page got eaten by the spam filter. Is there any way you could switch that page over to the Disqus system?

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  9. I would have thought a reaper could tell there was no soul to the joke, it's dead, buried and turned to dust already. Even the Q"what's brown and sticky"? A "a stick" - is a better joke.
    There are lots of bad jokes but Some are so bad they are good and others are just dead on delivery.
    For a good writer that had to be a low point.

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  10. I'll look into it another time. Can't promise anything, though.

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  11. That might explain why I laughed. I often find I've never heard jokes that people say have been done to death, although I generally can tell that I shouldn't bother telling them. I still think Chuck Norris Facts are funny too.

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  12. Me, but I'm not sure if that was because of the joke itself or just how funny it is that Iziol is about as good at being funny as he is at being vulgar. I know I actually did like Chergoa's one about the kleptomaniac.

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  13. Yeah have to agree there

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  14. A good punchline sneaks up on you. Iziol's did a little, because I wasn't expecting it to come so early.

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