likesfootnotes | 3rd summon [text]

There doesn't seem to be any understanding of manners on this boat. Twice now I've had people abruptly disconnect on me in the middle of a stirring discussion of how utterly imperfect their grasp of reality¹ or revenge² is.

Did your mothers never teach you it is impolite to hang up on a djinni?

If not that, then someone must have taught you it was unwise, surely.

Though there are beacons of hope amidst the sea of rude. A lupophobic, a well-mannered compulsive talker, and an anti-environmentalists who mocks the sanctity of marriage. ³ They have potential and there are sure to be others.

1 - This involved mock indignation for the sake of magicians. It could hardly be a serious sentiment as it came from an otherwise acceptable young woman. If she truly took offense, then my primary concern becomes the state of sanity that any on this boat possess.

2 - This being a disagreement about vengeance and patience. All I recall is something about claiming to be a God. He could be any magician, as I have known many to make that claim. They all end up the same way: Squished under some afrit or another.

3 - Being an affront to many mainstream religions simply by existing, I have a special place in my essence for anyone else that contravenes the religious norm.

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I am a Charter mage. Keep your presumptions regarding magicians. Given that this is not your world, I doubt that they will serve you well.

But I am not corrupt. Neither am I responsible for summoning any of the creatures aboard this vessel.

On the contrary, were I at home I would be duty-bound to dispose of several of them.

[Of which Bartimaeus may or may not be one. She isn't sure yet.]

They're likely to serve me pretty well. Magicians all over the world are corrupt, no matter the race or era. It's not too hard to presume the same is going to apply for magicians from other worlds. The point is they have powers that other people don't. Every human I've ever known or heard of couldn't resist flaunting their meagre power. ¹

You're saying that you're not a corrupt magician, but one that destroys spirits instead? We're innocent² creatures bound to another's will. It may not be a corrupt lifestyle, but it doesn't exactly paint you as a picture of perfection.

1 - They always forget that they're bullying a being with greater power than they have. That is, until they fudge their incantation or step out of the pentacle. I take great pleasure in educating them about the difference when that happens. The shoe being on the other foot, all that.

2 - The main exception being Faquarl right now, but I blame that on millennia of servitude and being trapped in a flesh body. It can't be good for the sanity.

The ease with which you make presumptions is readily apparent.

I come from a world where necromantic adepts bind dead spirits to their will and loose them upon the living. It is my duty to stop these necromancers and return the Dead to Death. I do not destroy their spirits.

I have no interest in 'flaunting power.' I am merely explaining in the hopes that this is simply a misunderstanding. I would have continued to leave you be entirely, if you had not all but mentioned me by name.

My presumptions have not been inaccurate in the past. ¹ On these grounds I consider it quite acceptable to continue making them.

Binding dead spirits to their will? What an unpleasant concept. The humans I've generally known are unpleasant enough at the first go, it would be quite disgusting to have to deal with them resurrected. I had quite enough with the afrit in Gladstone's bones, thank you.

You're telling me that you're part of a magician's police force? Give me a moment, the idea seems ludicrous where I come from. Magicians don't need their own police -- the most corrupt tend to get destroyed by the rising corrupt. It's a self-policing system that lands the most powerful on top.

1 - When he first summoned me, I presumed John Mandrake had the makings of corruption like any other magician. The kid had promise, I'll give him that, but he still ended up a minister, tricking and betraying spirits when it suited him. It was almost vindictive with me, like he took issue with the hundreds of times I belittled and demeaned him over the summonses. Still think my presumption wrong?

If that is how you define corruption, then it is little wonder you see it everywhere. Anyone would take issue with being constantly belittled or demeaned. How you can expect to gain loyalty from such behaviour, I don't know.

Where I am from, corruption has led only to destruction and anarchy. There is no constabulary. There was my father. Now there is myself and... Few others.

But at least we can agree on one thing; necromancy is rarely pleasant.

There you go, taking the kid's side. Do you understand that he dragged me from my home, locked me within a pentacle, and threatened to unleash countless punishments were I not to comply with his demands? I consider it quite justified to do as I did. ¹

Oh-ho, you must have your hands full then! Ever take a vacation?

1 - The incessant manifestions of Kitty's appearance may have been too much, but that is a matter of opinion. Mine disagrees.

Of course I did not know that. You had not told me so.

And no, unless my abduction aboard this cruise liner counts as such. My father's line of work tended to travel with him. Mine does also.

Did you never consider asking? Being so quick to judge is quite the character flaw.

Pentacle-free living, an absence of old friends. Having to exist physically is a literal drag, but everything else here qualifies as vacation. Make sure you sit back, relax, and enjoy it. ¹

1 - All work and no play comes to mind here. Not very advisable, but don't overindulge either. That just makes you soft.

Edited 2010-06-02 01:23 (UTC)

I suppose you would know.

[Please hold the line, Sabriel is a little confused by the next part. Is he being nice to her?]

Thankyou. I had not, given the circumstances, stopped to appreciate what the ship has to offer.

I am a veritable expert on being a judge, as well as many other things. ¹ You are wise to trust in my experience.

In that respect, you remind me of a certain boy I knew. He worked too hard than was good for him. A cruise like this would do him some good also.

1 - The list is too vast to properly comprehend or make easily available.

A cruise like this certainly. It would be quite pleasant without the abduction, necromancy or mystery.

No day is complete without that, if you ask the right people. ¹

1 - Do I really need to explain that one? Your imagination is probably filling in the gaps as I speak.

No, thank you, I can imagine.

[And that's really all she has to say on that. A necromancer is not a fit standard to judge a day by.]

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