![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
singindemonhqI used to say that I prefer to get Minions by personal recommendation (although I have a private superstition about never employing a Minion who worked for an Operative that died. If he died he probably didn’t have good sense and he ain’t an example that I want to follow.)
Sometimes potential Minions turn up on a Gig. Good dancers, not too much in the way of a voice and likely to take a spell easily. The ones who are naturally immune to the singing mojo won’t do. I do not want to employ someone who can’t be interviewed properly - but they have to be immune to the magic when they’re working or they could spill the Master’s plans to any passing harmoniser.
One of the questions in the job interview is, “do you work well under pressure?” I remember the one who answered, “That depends on what is being pressed” – well, he was a Vellian; you’ve got to expect that kind of thing, especially when they have to give honest answers.
Anyway, It's the Minions who need to be good under pressure. I need the Minions able to think on their feet. Even then, sometimes …
There was a recent Gig where the one who called me had far more money than sense. She read the part about a happy ending and never thought twice about a payment that wouldn’t involve a credit card. Then her fiancé was there for the big finale.
There’s always the moment when the cabinet opens and there’s the smoldering body falling out of it and the big reveal of why it ain’t safe to go summoning my kind of magic for fun. The fiancé didn’t hesitate for a second – he grabbed her arm and dragged her into a run and a jump over the thing as it turned to ash, shouting,
“Jump rogue and heiress leap,
My wife thou art and mine to keep!
Well Oh Kay; I ain’t heard that one for decades – and then it was a different version, in a world a long way from here. Humans have always found ways to get married on the cheap, jumping broomsticks, leaping swords – jumping a fire is a really old one, but when that ceremony takes it carries an additional blessing. I wondered if they knew about that. Well, they’d find out soon enough.
As it was – well, I’m a sucker for a happy ending.
(What do you mean, I’m supposed to answer the question? That was the perfect last line …
Okay then; I’ve survived so far and I guess that means I do well enough under pressure - but I’ve seen those who probably do a lot better.)
I guess I’d better write just a little more. A happy ending is usually just a matter of where you end the story.
I’ve heard that variant of the marriage spell before, more or less, but that was decades ago, on one of those roads that just leads Thataway. Last time the guy changed the words, too; he said, “princess” instead of "whore" (and the marriage didn’t take, not completely; not by my standards.) But the latest hero thought of his potential missus as an “heiress” in the magic-rich Gig ambient. He was an honest rogue in that, at least.
(If he’d used the words of the original spell she’d have made his life hell for it, too. Years of little jabs and whines - and worse. Much worse, especially when she’d had a drink. I knew; I’d spent an hour or two with her already. I knew.
Getting out of it was a happy ending for me, all right!
Why do people always think that a Singer who knows how they feel won’t sense the triumph of someone who thinks they’ve spotted a way out, or the grim, near-suicidal determination of … oh well. )
How do I respond to pressure? I guess it does depend on what the pressure is and where it is. Sometimes, just maybe, it can be better to go with the flow. I just do the best I can and try not to get distrac...
he’d probably make a good Minion, too, if he didn’t get too clever. In a few years he’ll be glad enough of a job that means working away from home …
I don’t know if the Powers will insist on the Firstborn Clause – but I may be seeing that couple again anyway – or one of them.
Muse, “Sweet” the Singing Demon,
Fandom, BTVS
Words, 666!
Sometimes potential Minions turn up on a Gig. Good dancers, not too much in the way of a voice and likely to take a spell easily. The ones who are naturally immune to the singing mojo won’t do. I do not want to employ someone who can’t be interviewed properly - but they have to be immune to the magic when they’re working or they could spill the Master’s plans to any passing harmoniser.
One of the questions in the job interview is, “do you work well under pressure?” I remember the one who answered, “That depends on what is being pressed” – well, he was a Vellian; you’ve got to expect that kind of thing, especially when they have to give honest answers.
Anyway, It's the Minions who need to be good under pressure. I need the Minions able to think on their feet. Even then, sometimes …
There was a recent Gig where the one who called me had far more money than sense. She read the part about a happy ending and never thought twice about a payment that wouldn’t involve a credit card. Then her fiancé was there for the big finale.
There’s always the moment when the cabinet opens and there’s the smoldering body falling out of it and the big reveal of why it ain’t safe to go summoning my kind of magic for fun. The fiancé didn’t hesitate for a second – he grabbed her arm and dragged her into a run and a jump over the thing as it turned to ash, shouting,
“Jump rogue and heiress leap,
My wife thou art and mine to keep!
Well Oh Kay; I ain’t heard that one for decades – and then it was a different version, in a world a long way from here. Humans have always found ways to get married on the cheap, jumping broomsticks, leaping swords – jumping a fire is a really old one, but when that ceremony takes it carries an additional blessing. I wondered if they knew about that. Well, they’d find out soon enough.
As it was – well, I’m a sucker for a happy ending.
(What do you mean, I’m supposed to answer the question? That was the perfect last line …
Okay then; I’ve survived so far and I guess that means I do well enough under pressure - but I’ve seen those who probably do a lot better.)
I guess I’d better write just a little more. A happy ending is usually just a matter of where you end the story.
I’ve heard that variant of the marriage spell before, more or less, but that was decades ago, on one of those roads that just leads Thataway. Last time the guy changed the words, too; he said, “princess” instead of "whore" (and the marriage didn’t take, not completely; not by my standards.) But the latest hero thought of his potential missus as an “heiress” in the magic-rich Gig ambient. He was an honest rogue in that, at least.
(If he’d used the words of the original spell she’d have made his life hell for it, too. Years of little jabs and whines - and worse. Much worse, especially when she’d had a drink. I knew; I’d spent an hour or two with her already. I knew.
Getting out of it was a happy ending for me, all right!
Why do people always think that a Singer who knows how they feel won’t sense the triumph of someone who thinks they’ve spotted a way out, or the grim, near-suicidal determination of … oh well. )
How do I respond to pressure? I guess it does depend on what the pressure is and where it is. Sometimes, just maybe, it can be better to go with the flow. I just do the best I can and try not to get distrac...
he’d probably make a good Minion, too, if he didn’t get too clever. In a few years he’ll be glad enough of a job that means working away from home …
I don’t know if the Powers will insist on the Firstborn Clause – but I may be seeing that couple again anyway – or one of them.
Muse, “Sweet” the Singing Demon,
Fandom, BTVS
Words, 666!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 03:51 pm (UTC)I love this line. It's so very true!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-20 09:45 pm (UTC)