(no subject)

[onceaviking]

Eric slams the door behind him - and realizes that he is again at Milliways.

It wasn't his intention, but he could use the break. Oh could he ever.
He heads to the fireplace and settles down in a chair, more than willing to take a break before heading to Bon Temps to pick up Bill Compton and take him to meet The Magister.

Comments

[witchfinder_general]

"Augh, do you have to!"

That is Father Harman, sitting at a table with a cup of tea, jumping when the door slams.

[onceaviking]

Eric glares at him.

"Yes," he says. "I do."

[witchfinder_general]

"Oh, it's you," Father Harman says. "Of course you have to. God forbid you should behave like a civilised person for once."

He sighs.

"Apart from where you're not a person in the first place, and not civilised because you're a medieval Viking."

[onceaviking]

Eric ignores the personal and the generalized vampire insult in favor of complaining about the slight to what was once his people.

"We were not uncivilized!"

[witchfinder_general]

"Granted, you probably knew how to make swords," Father Harman says. "Everything else, you just stole."

[onceaviking]

"We made art," Eric snarls. "We had poetry that reveled that of the Greeks and Romans. We made ships fit to cross the open sea. We had the knowledge to navigate them and unlike the Britons we washed!"

[witchfinder_general]

"Unfortunately, you couldn't write, so the only bits of your poetry that survives is what they wrote down in Iceland after converting to Christianity," Father Harman points out. "The rest of your art -- well. A certain primitive appeal, but civilisation looks different."

[onceaviking]

"Poetry should not be written down. It only lives in the telling," Eric retorts.
It seems like he actually has well-formed opinions on this particular topic.

[witchfinder_general]

"Which is the attitude of a primitive people," Father Harman points out.

[onceaviking]

"Which is the attitude of people who actually respects poetry!" Eric grinds out.

[witchfinder_general]

"The attitude of a people who don't get what books are for," Father Harman retorts.

[onceaviking]

"Because the work copying things out by hand was too time consuming with too little to show for it," Eric replies, sounding positively annoyed.

"Unless one was a fat monk in a rich monetary."



{ooc: bedtime for me}

[witchfinder_general]

"Because your people were too primitive to divide labour throughout the whole of society far enough to allow for specialised scholars and scribes who did nothing else," Father Harman says.

[inspector_blueeyes]

David looks up from his seat at the bar. "Impressively dramatic entrance, Mr Northman." He notes quietly. "You have rather a gift for that."

[onceaviking]

Eric glares - and then he visibly tries to relax.

"The night has been - taxing so far," he says. Forced neutrally.

[inspector_blueeyes]

The glare has no effect on David. Not tonight anyway. He cocks an eyebrow at Eric's forced control. "Then it's fortunate the door brought you here. I pity whomever has taxed you so."

[onceaviking]

"Oh, there are several," Eric grinds out.
"Some of whom are even more vexing now that they are truly dead."

[inspector_blueeyes]

David raises a eyebrow slightly higher. "I take it they have been dealt with through legal channels?"

[onceaviking]

Eric smiles at him.

"That," he says, "would be me."

[inspector_blueeyes]

David leans in a little, looking Eric in the eyes. "And you're content you've executed your duties to the best of your abilities?"

[onceaviking]

"I've certainly done my best to maximize the derived benefits," Eric answers.
"One of the cases will be closed later tonight. I am not the judge, so it is out of my hands."

[inspector_blueeyes]

"It sounds like you take your job very seriously." David being David doesn't quite phrase it as a question.

"Your system of law sounds very complex."

[onceaviking]

Eric shrugs.
"Not really. It was devised by people from simpler times. But new means of transport and communication have made it possible to make things a little more complex."

[inspector_blueeyes]

"Not easier? I have found the ability to share information between areas instantly very helpful."

[onceaviking]

"Levels of authority."
He smiles at the private joke. He is not going to go into detail that might explain why he finds that funny.

"In the old days, I would have run my area as I wanted to. Now, there are at least three levels above me. "
As long as they don't bother him, he doesn't actively mind.