Timewaster's Guide Archive

Writing Prompt: Dialogue

That was a fun exercise. Here's my attempt.

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"One thousand forty-one, one thousand forty-two, one thousand forty-three-"

"It breathed. Its chest just moved; I saw it."

"Dammit, Roy, you made me lose count. Now we have to start all over again. Hand me another syringe."

"It's breathing. It's not dead. We gotta get out of here…n-n-not safe."

"Every damn time we come out here you-"

"The claw just twitched! Please Joss; I'm telling you it's-"

"It's postmortem reflex. Happens sometimes. Watch the thermometer, kid; body temp is 119 degrees and dropping steadily. There's no way it's living with a body temp that low."

"No. It's alive. We just stunned it. It's gonna jump up, tear us to smithereens, it's gonna…eat us."

"For the last time, there's nothing left - just a burned out husk. The pupils are non-responsive. Look."

"ARGH! Don't touch its eyes! What the hell's wrong with you?"

"That' s it. I'm done. You hear that Captain? I'm finished. Get him another line of work."

"You can't do that; I've got a family. Harvesting pays the best and you know it."

"Then stop freaking out over every twitch. You're driving me crazy."

"But it moved, Joss. I'm not making it up. That. Thing. Moved."

"Look, I don't want to be out here any more than you do, but we have to get this done. It's important."

"Let's go find another one. There's always another one. Please, Joss…"

"I just need 120 seconds, Roy. We'll draw the spinal fluid then we'll get back where it's safe, and we won't have to come back for two months. Can you do that?  Can you give me 120 seconds? Now, hand me the syringe, and we'll get back to work."

"J-Joss?"

"I said hand me the damn syringe."

"JOSS!"

This looks like a good place to ask people to be on the lookout for the word 'derethi' while reading WoK. I'm pretty sure I came across it somewhere and stared at it for a good long time before deciding to move on to other things. Could be nothing.

Chapter 57. Hoid mentions Derethil.

Not sure if it was mentioned.

You notice how they treat warriors as the lowest of the low?  By taking up a Shardblade as a Stone Shaman who had retrieved one that was lost of the Shin people, he because Truthless.  The most destructive of all warriors and the lowest of them.

I think Szeth was given the Shardblade by his people. At least King Taravangian says so in the "Recorded in Blood" chapter; he says, " Given that monstrosity of a Shardblade by your people, cast out and absolved of any sin your masters might require of you"

The "lowest of the low" line sticks with me. I keep wondering if someone who was considered the lowest of the low could be so highly trained as a warrior. Warriors don't seem to be revered in Shin; would the Shin go to the trouble of creating highly skilled warriors who are no better than slaves? Or was Szeth's training part of being a stone shaman? Szeth says "Even without a Shardblade, he was dangerous, infused with Stormlight and trained in kammar" (Recorded in Blood chapter). What is kammar? Is that a method of fighting?

I'm wondering if being Truthless could be a Shin cultural issue more than a spren/Herald/Oath breaking type thing.

In the Rysn chapter, Vstim mentions that he acquired Szeth by way of Thresh/the farmer. Vstim tells Rysn that the farmer's warriors are "the lowliest men like slaves" and they are "traded between houses by way of little stones that signify ownership". He says, "any man who picks up a weapon must join them and be treated the same."  In another chapter, it was mentioned that the Shin gave Szeth the Shardblade and sent him out into the world.

Maybe Szeth was the farmer's slave and aspired to a higher social status, or maybe he picked up a weapon under some circumstance and refused to be treated like the other warriors? This could also fit if he was high born and picked up a weapon, but refused to be treated like a slave. In refusing a weapon, he was punished with carrying the Shardblade.

I don't know. I even looked up the word truthless to see if that would yield any clues. I found the following meanings: devoid of truth, dishonest; spurious  (of illegitimate birth - maybe there's something here?); corresponding to something without having its genuine qualities; falsified or erroneously attributed; deceitful nature or quality.

I'm probably way off, but maybe being Truthless means something along these lines.