Prompt Post No. 12
Welcome to Round 12 of the Inception Kink Meme.
Prompting System
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“Your largest of your best.”
“Sure about that? My best is very, very good.” Yusuf leaned forward, eager, and Arthur bit back a sigh. The man loved to experiment with liquors - some of his concoctions, which he had tested on Arthur many times, were really foul. And some were literally mind-blowing. But this man didn’t know that, and he nodded at Yusuf.
“Hit me.”
“I will.”
And then Yusuf was gone. Off to mix something. Arthur didn’t bother to hold in his sigh this time, and he glanced away from the man next to him. He didn’t want to have a pointless, stilted conversation with the man, as he was obviously expecting due to the proximity of his seat. Arthur had to think about this…this commission. If it could be called that - it was more of a summons and order, in fact. And Arthur didn’t know whether he would be able to do it. He wasn’t sure that, with only a thin skein of Mal Cobb’s hair, he would be able to Raise her.
Necromancy called for a body. To Raise the dead, one needed a corpse to bring back to life and repair with magic, a place to put the newly summoned soul. Arthur had no body. He did not know where Mal’s body was, and it was likely smashed beyond all recovery, even with his skills, if the rumor of a train accident was true. He had to find a body somehow, one that Cobb would agree to as his wife, though that really seemed unlikely. Maybe…he could create a body? He knew the rudimentary requirements for fashioning an homunculus, though he has not attempted to forge one in years. If he could create a vessel, when he called Mal’s soul back she would have someplace to stay, at least temporarily. He fingered the hair in his pocket, feeling it beginning to knot.
The man next to him leaned over, so close that Arthur could feel the heat of his body against him. He turned a surprised and incredulous glance on him. The man smiled.
“I’ve heard you’re a Necromancer.”
Arthur glanced around, wondering who had told him that - Necromancy wasn’t exactly a respected profession in New Angeles and Arthur had found that only those recommended to him knew about his profession. Since Arthur hadn’t worked in a good while, he found it hard to believe that someone had recommended him. Still, it was possible. He looked back at the man and sat up straight. Just then, Yusuf sidled up and set a violently black drink down in from of the man. Arthur stared at it - its darkness roiled and it seemed to swallow the light around it. Arthur leaned away in the guise of sitting straighter. Yusuf jumped right into the conversation, such as it was.
“Oh, Arthur’s the best Necromancer in the entire city. Believe me. My cat died once, and I asked Arthur to help a month later - now he’s good as new!”
He nodded at the man and pointed to the tabby curled and purring on a shelf besides the bar, and Arthur frowned. Honestly. Yusuf just had to tell everyone about the damned cat. He never seemed to mention his next-door neighbor, who had been dead for a week before Yusuf had found her and asked Arthur to Raise her. Maybe the smell had been too much for Yusuf to bear recalling. Arthur glanced over to a corner and saw the woman, vibrantly alive and chattering with a group of friends, drinking. He smiled to himself.
“What do you want?” he asked, turning back to the man.
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