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annathepiperQuiet day today, thankfully; I needed one of those. Started it off with something I was long overdue for: a workout. I keep forgetting that the basic physical activity of a workout is a really good way to try to get stress out of my muscles. I need to remind myself of this more often.
The rest of the morning consisted of random household chore-type activities: laundry, kitty litter, that kind of thing. I went to deposit my paycheck and found it surprisingly warm and gorgeous outside, a good indicator that spring is not far off. I still find this kind of weather in February startling, even after having been in Seattle since 1991.
Bills were paid this afternoon, with some relief for slowly beginning to climb out of the hole dug by last year's huge stint of unemployment in the first half of the year and broken arm in the latter. Changing health insurance providers should help in that area, too. I just hope that when this contract runs out this summer, I won't have another big stint of unemployment after; I'd like to enjoy having a few extra dollars again for a while longer.
And, I wrote. 859 words, which means that between last night's work and tonight's, I made up for not writing on Friday. If I have a few more days like this, I should make up for not writing this past Thursday, too. I did come up with a point of research that I'm going to have to deal with for the second draft, though--and that'll be the kinds of grounds it's reasonable to expect to have around the immediate vicinity of a huge mansion-type house owned by someone extremely wealthy, in a setting akin to the late 1700's. Questions like these I find coming up in my brain when I ask myself stuff like "Okay, so it's the middle of an extremely dark, cold, rainy, and generally icky night, and somebody's just tried to kill the Duke and every guardsman in the place has been ordered out to find the assassin who just somehow managed to survive a fall after being shot. Is the ground going to hold tracks, and if so, how well are a bunch of guardsmen carrying torches who might not necessarily be trained in the fine art of tracking since they're mostly there to beat up intruders who break into the house going to be able to FIND said tracks?"
Written tonight: 859
Chapter 2 total: 3,483
Story total: 14,063
The rest of the morning consisted of random household chore-type activities: laundry, kitty litter, that kind of thing. I went to deposit my paycheck and found it surprisingly warm and gorgeous outside, a good indicator that spring is not far off. I still find this kind of weather in February startling, even after having been in Seattle since 1991.
Bills were paid this afternoon, with some relief for slowly beginning to climb out of the hole dug by last year's huge stint of unemployment in the first half of the year and broken arm in the latter. Changing health insurance providers should help in that area, too. I just hope that when this contract runs out this summer, I won't have another big stint of unemployment after; I'd like to enjoy having a few extra dollars again for a while longer.
And, I wrote. 859 words, which means that between last night's work and tonight's, I made up for not writing on Friday. If I have a few more days like this, I should make up for not writing this past Thursday, too. I did come up with a point of research that I'm going to have to deal with for the second draft, though--and that'll be the kinds of grounds it's reasonable to expect to have around the immediate vicinity of a huge mansion-type house owned by someone extremely wealthy, in a setting akin to the late 1700's. Questions like these I find coming up in my brain when I ask myself stuff like "Okay, so it's the middle of an extremely dark, cold, rainy, and generally icky night, and somebody's just tried to kill the Duke and every guardsman in the place has been ordered out to find the assassin who just somehow managed to survive a fall after being shot. Is the ground going to hold tracks, and if so, how well are a bunch of guardsmen carrying torches who might not necessarily be trained in the fine art of tracking since they're mostly there to beat up intruders who break into the house going to be able to FIND said tracks?"
Written tonight: 859
Chapter 2 total: 3,483
Story total: 14,063
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-23 07:02 am (UTC)The other thing is your fine guardsmen are going to be making lots of tracks themselves.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 09:17 am (UTC)I've already established that the grounds of this Hall are the immaculately-tended, sculpted-gardens sort at least further out from the house, but right around the house in particular is what I'm trying to get a visual handle on. And I've established the foul weather and the time frame. (As of Chapter 1, at any rate!)
It's all a matter of logistics, really, and I just want to make sure that the logistics of what I've set up aren't too goofy!
Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 10:02 am (UTC)If so much as a vine is out of place, somebody gets whipped.
I suppose you could have an disused wing off the back with an out-of-the-way corner where you have one or two invisible weeds growing behind the shrubbery, but that'll get noticed eventually, too (assuming the groundskeeper is doing his job).
Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 10:07 am (UTC)I did have Julian land in shubbery when he fell, too. So when the guards go out to retrieve the presumed body, they'd find the smashed-up gorse, but no dead assassin. "Crap," cry the guards. "Where'd he go?"
At which point, I'd assume that they start making with the fanning out in all directions. Sarah brings up a valid point in her comments below, too--how to buy Julian some time, which is what I need to do here.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-23 09:33 am (UTC)2. at which point, my guess is he'd find water to hide the tracks.
3. Have sniffing dogs around for this?
4. Assassin guy is shot. Is he bleeding?
Oh and yeah. Unemployment sucks. I understand.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 09:46 am (UTC)The ultimate point of all this is that immediately after he is shot, Julian and his partner Rab get around to the backside of the house. This is where Faanshi's locked up, and there's this one tiny window in her cellar. Julian collapses right by that window, Faanshi's magic goes into RED ALERT mode and she is basically compelled by her own power to stick a hand out that window and heal the scary-looking total stranger who's just keeled over there.
The things I need to settle are:
1) Given the circumstances I have set up, is it logistically plausible for Julian's partner to keep close to the house long enough to get back around to the back of it before making a break with his wounded compatriot out into the grounds? I need them to get back there just long enough for them to encounter Faanshi, after which point it's no longer a problem because they can BOTH run like hell.
2) How long it takes anybody to figure out that the guy the Duke shot is not in fact in the place where he should have fallen, and that he's doubled around to the back of the house. I should think that if the guards have half a clue, they'd have somebody searching the immediate vicinity of the house as well as sending guys out into the grounds in all directions; there are a LOT of guards and just one assassin that they know about (they don't know about Julian's partner). Moreover, they think he's wounded, and (reasonably) assume that he can't get very far. So I've got a real tight time frame to work with here, but I need to give Julian enough of a window that he can in fact make it to Faanshi long enough for her to heal him.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-23 09:59 am (UTC)For example: Yes, the Duke has a lot of guards. Will they necessarily know right away to go look for the assassin? Not unless they are told. Was the Duke shot/hurt? If so, they shoot the guy, then look out the window and see him lying there -- they might not go after the assassin right away, thinking him taken care of but go to care for the Duke.
And only start tracking the assassin a few moments later, when they notice their presumably dead assassin has fled. At which point, they will marshal their guards and go get the dogs to track and such.
But it could give them some time to still be near the house without it being totally improbably cause they were being actively searched.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 10:11 am (UTC)And the Duke leaned out the window and shot him as Julian was dropping down the rope he'd had his partner set up for him on the wall. The Duke saw Julian drop--and they're three stories up. So yeah, it's plausible for the Duke to assume that Julian's dead... hrmm.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-23 11:02 am (UTC)Unless the Duke is so paranoid about security that he doesn't allow shrubbery. But then Mrs. Duke is going to be really upset about not getting the Better Homes & Gardens writeup.
Of course, the groundskeepers themselves will ultimately know exactly where Julian went, but that won't be until the next morning when they're going through their rounds and finding the disturbed dirt behind the shrubbery that they'll have to smooth out --- or maybe the next afternoon or the day after if they've had to spend the intervening time patching the lawns that the guardsmen so considerately tore up. How helpful said groundskeepers will be inclined to be after that, let alone what they might feel inspired to mention to the Head of Security, well,... your world.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 11:35 am (UTC)So all I need is to make sure that it's not goofy for Julian to have enough time to stumble across Faanshi's little cellar, get healed, and get away. Just need to make sure that the Duke and/or his guardsmen are occupied long enough to allow for that short window.
(And, in fact, by the next morning the Duke's going to find out anyway, when two cranky Knights of the Hawk show up at the crack of dawn to inform him, "Hi, Your Grace. Not that we don't have the profoundest respect for your lofty personage, but we've detected a huge act of magic on these premises, so we're invoking the authority of the Church to search the place. You don't mind, do you?"
And the Duke will go, .oO (SHIT. They're on to me!) )
Re:
Date: 2004-02-23 09:48 am (UTC)it's raining
Date: 2004-02-23 10:18 am (UTC)Re: it's raining
Date: 2004-02-23 11:36 am (UTC)