Better half a tongue than half a brain. If people are going to waste time drudging up insults, at least they could try to come up with something more...
[ He waved a hand, shrugging. ]
Clever? And that's coming from an actual backwater peasant. But, you should take heart, at least a little. It's the mark of a good leader, usually, that you hear the insults people make to you, and think on it. Ignoring them utterly, or worse, seeking reprisal, are usually the hallmarks of a tyrant.
[ Their orders given, he reaches for the wine again, and drinks with the casual laxness of someone who often sought solace in alcohol. Now it's his turn to go faintly awkward, and his fingers fidget, turning the wine glass by minutely nudging its base. ]
Ahhh... yes. When they wish it, at least. But it's... usually wildly less interesting than most people think it would ever be. There are from time to time restless spirits of the dead so twisted by pain or anger that they just become monsters; or fascinating haunts like... like royalty, or important figures.
But most of the time, it's ghosts having the most utterly human domestic disputes you could imagine, which to them are so important they can feel no rest. A wife who doesn't want to be buried with her husband because he was shamefully addicted to card-playing. Or a man who wants to beg for one more day of whoring and drinking and gambling, promising he'll only possess me for a day and a night and no more. Ghost of a sommelier who was so distressed over the wine served at his funeral that he wouldn't stop rattling the windows and doors of his living family 'till they did something to apologize. But of course, most of these spirits can't communicate their issues: all they can do is rattle or break things, cause flashes or cold spots in the air.
no subject
[ He snorted, derisively. ]
Better half a tongue than half a brain. If people are going to waste time drudging up insults, at least they could try to come up with something more...
[ He waved a hand, shrugging. ]
Clever? And that's coming from an actual backwater peasant. But, you should take heart, at least a little. It's the mark of a good leader, usually, that you hear the insults people make to you, and think on it. Ignoring them utterly, or worse, seeking reprisal, are usually the hallmarks of a tyrant.
[ Their orders given, he reaches for the wine again, and drinks with the casual laxness of someone who often sought solace in alcohol. Now it's his turn to go faintly awkward, and his fingers fidget, turning the wine glass by minutely nudging its base. ]
Ahhh... yes. When they wish it, at least. But it's... usually wildly less interesting than most people think it would ever be. There are from time to time restless spirits of the dead so twisted by pain or anger that they just become monsters; or fascinating haunts like... like royalty, or important figures.
But most of the time, it's ghosts having the most utterly human domestic disputes you could imagine, which to them are so important they can feel no rest. A wife who doesn't want to be buried with her husband because he was shamefully addicted to card-playing. Or a man who wants to beg for one more day of whoring and drinking and gambling, promising he'll only possess me for a day and a night and no more. Ghost of a sommelier who was so distressed over the wine served at his funeral that he wouldn't stop rattling the windows and doors of his living family 'till they did something to apologize. But of course, most of these spirits can't communicate their issues: all they can do is rattle or break things, cause flashes or cold spots in the air.