application for Duncan Shriek, from Jeff VanderMeer's novels of Ambergris.

Nov 01, 2009 21:05

In the Sorting Room, a rug lay upon the floor, and under the rug, something began to thump and shift ( Read more... )

laura palmer, damien thorn, aayla secura, application, chairman kaga, the scout, duncan shriek, alan grant

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Comments 99

wh0_kill3d_m3 November 2 2009, 07:11:07 UTC
"How can you be dead in a sense?" Laura asked. "Were you a ghost?"

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duncan_shriek November 2 2009, 07:19:18 UTC
"No." The simplest answer was probably the best. "Do you fear ghosts?"

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wh0_kill3d_m3 November 2 2009, 07:22:14 UTC
"Some ghosts I fear, yeah. Maybe not all." Laura tilted her head to look more closely at him. "In what sense were you dead, then?"

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duncan_shriek November 3 2009, 05:24:57 UTC
He gave the pretty girl a lopsided smile. "Do I have to answer that?" An undertone of something not quite pleading. "The people I thought had written that document, that application, would have known what I meant. I wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise."

A fall from a great height. The desert fortress.

"I'm not what I once was. It's harder to kill me in such a way that I stay dead." Not as hard as killing a gray cap, though.

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curlybrain November 3 2009, 04:02:10 UTC
Hermione read the application with a small frown. "Why should I want mushrooms?" she asked. "Are they the halucenogenic variety? Because, as a member of the school's faculty, I cannot in good conscience endorse drug use." Clearly, Hermione had not talked very much to Professor Kusuriyuri.

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duncan_shriek November 3 2009, 04:41:33 UTC
"Congratulations on such an early rise to success in academia. On your way to a long and prosperous tenure, I hope." Duncan could be very polite. "I don't happen to be seeking anyone's endorsement, but your point is well taken."

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curlybrain November 3 2009, 04:44:53 UTC
"Thank you." Hermione always enjoyed recognition of her academic abilities, and so she stopped frowning, allowing herself a quick, pleased smile. "Thank you," she said. "I certainly hope my career is long." The smile faded. "So... what do the mushrooms do, exactly? You never answered the question."

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duncan_shriek November 3 2009, 05:12:26 UTC
"That's a different question than the one you asked," Duncan pointed out. "You asked why you should want them and whether they were hallucinogenic. Those are easier questions to answer than the question of what the mushrooms actually do." He pulled a wry face. "The mushrooms I offered in the application, I offered because I can't think why anyone would want any of the others I have. Are they hallucinogenic? Well, yes. The effect of those particular mushrooms could be described as mildly hallucinogenic, but I think that term has associations that would be misleading. They're not the kind of thing a person might take to expand the horizons of consciousness or liven up a party. More a sedative than a hallucinogen. There are other kinds of mushrooms that serve other purposes, and it'd be highly unfortunate if anyone ate them. Some are weapons. It's a mistake to think of fungus as food or drug and nothing more."

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gutentaghopclop November 5 2009, 13:36:12 UTC
Franz, having recently acquired a flying carpet at Rihana Sayar's Sorting, burst into the room at eye level for the guest of honor.

"Pardon, mein herr, but has du seen Vinston? He iss vhite pigeon. Is needing of me to find him!"

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duncan_shriek November 9 2009, 06:17:56 UTC
Duncan blinked at the flying intruder.

"No?"

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ugly_old_hat December 17 2009, 02:28:16 UTC
The hat perched jauntily on Duncan's head as a house elf entered, bearing a large slice of cheese and mushroom pizza on a plate.

"Pizza?" the hat inquired politely. "It's all right if you eat in front of me. Bringing happiness to all of my little minions at Hogwarts warms the very cockles of my heart."

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duncan_shriek December 17 2009, 03:05:28 UTC
Actually, Duncan had no qualms about eating mushrooms. They made for excellent sustenance.

"So many mushrooms for so many purposes," he observed as he helped himself to the oddly messy slice of foodstuff. "Er, is there a kind of utensil for this kind of flatbread?" The cheese was sliding off.

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ugly_old_hat December 18 2009, 00:19:54 UTC
"Oh, yes, mushrooms are quite versatile," the hat said, adopting a knowledgeable air. At Duncan's request for eating utinsels, the house elves thoughtfully provided him a small plastic-wrapped package containing a napkin and a spork.

"So..." drawled the hat presently, "Can mushrooms be used in biological warfare?"

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duncan_shriek December 23 2009, 21:40:04 UTC
Duncan's beard appeared to be absorbing a stray clot of pizza sauce. His beard was, perhaps, not entirely human hair, nor entirely inert.

"Biological warfare, certainly, much to my city's detriment. Drugs as well, to keep the population docile, or to inflame them into riots if the gray caps find that useful, as at the Festival of the Freshwater Squid. There're few things some fungus or other can't do. I understand I'm supposed to bribe you."

He'd fumbled with the plastic package as he spoke, and finally managed to rip a hole in the end with one jagged fingernail. The napkin thereby extracted he used not on his face but on his hands. His care was pointless, given the grimy state of his coat, but he seemed to want no tomato sauce in the inward pockets of said coat, and it was from one of those pockets that he extracted a packet of mushrooms for the Hat.

"Would this do? If hats don't partake of hallucinogens, I imagine it'd fetch a good price from people who do."

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Ravenclaw ugly_old_hat December 26 2009, 03:40:53 UTC
Your bribe has been accepted!
Welcome to Ravenclaw!

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