justscribing | The City

[She just kind of looks at him for a long minute, like the idea of people's hobbies or troubles not being related to their line of work is in some way a foreign concept, or possibly like he's just grown a second head.]

For the record, I am keeping count — I've answered three of your questions so far, and you're dodging every one of mine. Which I find curious, because it's usually the other way around.

[She sips her coffee, momentarily breaking the consistency of her gaze.]

Why are you interested in curses?

[Alhaitham just stares back through that long minute, like he can physically see the wheels in her head turning.

Okay, so, possibly a workaholic. The concept of hobbies should not require that long of a pause to consider.]

You're keeping count, huh? [More interesting is her claim that it's usually the other way around.] Curiosity. It's the most relevant to me between the two texts as far as something that I could end up dealing with one day. If you have the book then you must come from a place where creatures that have the capacity to place curses are well known.

Or because writing is my job, and knowing everything is my hobby.

[It's sarcasm, but the light kind — more directed at herself than at him. She sips at her coffee again, making no move to go digging around in the bag that still hangs at her side even where she's sitting in the chair, but it's apparent just from the weight of the way it hangs that there's something fairly bulky in there.]

Curse-avoidance was a fairly lucrative field in my previous employment. Also curse-crafting; two sides of the same coin. I had one witch come looking for help with crafting a curse that only the girl she was sweet on would be eligible to break. You'd be surprised how niche people's reasons can be for that sort of thing, really.

[A witch had wanted a curse that only the one she loved could break. There's a Mondstadt fairy tale of a sleeping princess who would only wake from True Love's kiss. There's a garden that Alhaitham had once been woken in by Kaveh's lips.

His gaze slips to the bag, then back to Ghost.]

Is the ability to cast curses innate to most people where you're from, or the power of a select few?

That depends on how you define "where I'm from". Would that be where I was born, where I grew up, or where I wrote the book? All three are different answers from each other.

[She sets her coffee cup down on the table, fingers splayed to hold the round lid from every side at once, and spins it idly so it makes rapid rattling circles on the edge of its lower circumference, using the weight of the liquid still inside for momentum.]

"I have no idea", "The latter, from a certain point of view", and "The latter, point of view irrelevant", if you're wondering.

[It's an answer to a question that expands upon not the nature of Ghost's home, but of Ghost herself. Alhaitham wonders, briefly, if she meant to let so much slip in between the words. That she did not grow up where she was born, and she did not write the book where she grew up. That she knows less of her place of birth than the other two.]

Ah, you wrote this book. [That she didn't carry the advice of another expert in her line of work, she is the expert.] Based on the last one, are you among those capable of casting curses?

I did. Which is why I'm not particularly stingy about loaning it out. It's not as though there's anything in there that I don't already know.

[She shrugs a little.]

We would need to define a few of your terms of art before I could meaningfully answer that. It depends on what you mean by capable, and what you mean by casting.

[All right, he can pinpoint it further.] Can you curse somebody and it'll work?

[The technicalities are irrelevant. He just wants to know if the end result is at all functional.]

No.

[She says, easy and without hesitation.]

That's another question I've answered, by the way. One more for the count.

[Alhaitham shrugs. He's a man who likes to know. Whether he would share in turn has always been a separate matter.] I have another: when do you plan to pull out that book?

I would say sometime between when you start to pony up answers yourself, and when I finish my coffee and leave. So half of that interval is fairly flexible, I'd say.

[She spins her coffee cup again, as if for good measure.]

What is your field of study?

So if I decide I don't care to answer the question you'll revoke your offer? [The quirk of his brow at the end of an inquiry.]

Linguistics.

Show me where in the terms of the agreement it says I can't set conditions on my specific performance. Or, since this doesn't have to be strictly business, maybe I'd just prefer to give my books to an acquaintance rather than a stranger.

[Linguistics, though. That would certainly add up. Particularly with why he'd feel drawn to a book entitled something like Exact Words.]

Do you speak a variety of languages, then, or just study them?

I'm aware we don't have any sort of formal contract in regards to your book lending. [He's simply curious abut the thinking behind additional requirements. Ghost is using the book as collateral to force him into a conversation. But Alhaitham is not a man who will be made to do what he doesn't want to.

She's just interesting enough he'll let it continue.] It'd mean very little if I didn't learn to speak the languages I studied. But it's not particularly useful with this place's ability to translate our speech.

I see. You're aware; you're just also not averse to biting the hand that feeds you.

[She sips her coffee.]

What are the practical applications of your work? Do you teach? Translate?

[Alhaitham hums.] I work as the Akademiya's Scribe which means I'm its recordkeeper and manage the archives.

[He's a glorified file clerk. In truth his study has very little to do with his job, which is simplistic enough anyone could have become it. Most wouldn't be as efficient as he is, and anyone as efficient usually puts their sights on much greater ventures that a medium grade office job.]

And you? I could guess what your previous employment is, but I'd rather you just explain it.

Interesting. Archive management is certainly relevant to my interests.

[In more ways than one; she lets that linger a minute before going on.]

The job I was born to do was to write, which in practice was probably more like being an architect than being a scribe. I trained in that most of my life, but when circumstances forced an undesired career change, I became an advocate. I do some legal work, some facilitation, some negotiation, some intermediary efforts. It's a mixed bag.

[It's a little more proactive than his initial guess, but within the same lines: that Ghost is someone's who job is to be an expert in rules and regulations and provide guidance to her clients in navigating them. Negotiation is, after all, simply a set of regulations between a smaller group of people.]

Do you find the work you do fulfilling?

Do you?

[But unlike some of her previous rejoinders, this one she actually carries on to answer regardless.]

I'm not sure if "fulfilling" is quite the word I would use. I don't think I'll ever self-actualize by doing it, for example. But it pays the bills both figuratively and literally, and it's better than a lot of the alternatives. I didn't have many options available to me, when I fell into this particular line of work.

Interesting. [That's actually a curious explanation, given her particular line of work. It's the sort of thing most people would pursue because they want to, simply because of the degree of expertise it requires to get anywhere in the field. Especially if she's self-employed.] Your job requires a level of social and technical skill and a body of knowledge far beyond any manual labor. Is the pay that good?

Hm.

[That gets a dry smile out of her.]

You're a king whose infant daughter is about to be christened. Fuck up the guest list and she might be dead on her sixteenth birthday. What would you be willing to shell out for the services of an expert who can consult on how to make sure it goes off without a hitch?

Anything. [Said simply. There's no need for him to consider his own position on the matter. The feeling is universal. It's love. A father wants to protect his daughter. He wants to see her thrive. No cost could be more than what it would be to keep her safe.

Alhaitham isn't a man with a daughter, or anything like that. He just knows love.]

But I would also ensure that who I consulted was the best. It's no small amount of work on your end to be better than the competition.

I do have something going for me that they don't, however. I'm an established commodity, on the basis of a few unprecedented feats of excellence, and people will almost always favor an established name over an up-and-comer.

[She shrugs a little.]

That's part of the reason why I write the books. People shouldn't be deprived of help just because I'm only one person, and there aren't enough hours in the day.

[That improves her networking, but the thing about a reputation is that your failures can get around just as quickly as your successes if you aren't careful. Ghost doesn't address that her line of work requires significantly more than shuffling papers, for being something she does to "pay the bills".

Putting effort into facilitating others to follow in her footsteps and help themselves, and spread her expertise, is more dedication that "better than the alternatives" begets.

Alhaitham's head tips slightly as he regards her, in this. What he says in place of it:] You've secured your livelihood well then.

I didn't have much other choice. It's not as though I had anyone to help me, and I wouldn't have gotten far on charity anyway. I used the skills I had to make a way for myself.

[And now, at last, she reaches into her bag, producing the promised textbook on curses, which she sets on the table and pushes toward him.]

Kaveh calls me a hero for it. What do you think?

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