Iconorific meme for interlock, Discworld, gen

[jamjar]

The Death of Rats pushed the parcel forward, tentatively. "Thank you," Susan said, making no move to touch it.

It squeaked at her and gestured with its scythe.


Susan had a very serviceable voice, a pleasant if unspectacular alto, and excellent rhythm. She could keep time and always, always knew the words, and had a good ear for wrong notes. Furthermore, she had a great deal of experience controlling small children.

This all explained why she loathed being called upon to take part in the annual Hogswatch carol service at the university. As big as the University choir was -and it encompassed several generations of wizards- the choir lacked any natural choirmaster, and had very few sopranos, with the exception of some of the younger students and the Bursar's rather good falsetto. Susan was called upon to fill in the gaps.

"And in the winter, comes the sno-ow..." she sang, bracing herself for the answering bass.

"Ook oook, ook oook."

"So all the children wrap up wa-arm,"

"Ook ook ook ook oook." The Librarian's voice rang out over the other wizards. Although the carol, "Little Children In The Snow (See how Blue Their Fingers Go!)" did not have a solo part, the Librarian clearly felt otherwise and had made his opinion very well known.

"No. It's bad enough that you get the words wrong," she told the Librarian. "And yes, I can tell, especially when it doesn't even scan. The rhythm is all wrong."

"Oook!"

Susan folded her arms and glared at him. "I don't care if apes have natural rhythm. Look this just isn't working. Maybe if we--"

"SQUEAK."

Susan turned around to where the Death of Rats stood, holding a score hopefully. She frowned. The Death of Rats shuffled its feet in a disturbingly bashful way. Susan crossed her arms sceptically. "All right, let's hear it."

It coughed into its bony paw once, unrolled the song and began. "SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEA-EAK..."

Susan gave a reluctant sigh and waved it into the choir stands. The Death of Rats had a surprisingly good soprano.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/]

Hahahaha. Great! It perfectly captures the *feel* of everybody - and makes sense in that particular way in which everything in the Discworld does.

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

Discworld logic! It makes sense, just for a very specific value of "sense".

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

"Little Children In The Snow (See how Blue Their Fingers Go!)" - hee! This is a great little moment of happy in my day - there's no such thing as too discworldy when it's done this well - thank you!

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Just a heads up, but my .mac email is down, so if sent anything to me in past couple of hours, you might need to resend it to jamjar@livejournal.com.

[bravecows.livejournal.com]

SQUEE!

"Little Children In The Snow (See how Blue Their Fingers Go!)"

omg I am ded. Somebody needs to do a CD of Discworld carols. It would be brilliant.

[marici.livejournal.com]

Yay sensible characters in bizarre situations. I can't figure how Susan would get drafted for the choir, but this is exactly how it would go if she did. Thanks!

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

Perfect! (In every way, right down to the carol.)

And my icon has a suggestion for the Librarian.

[brownbetty]

I am so impressed by the way you have actually managed to out-crack Pterry. I am so fond of Susan.

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

I'm sure someone, somewhere, already has.

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

I do have a fondness -bordering on a fetish- for sensible characters in bizarre situations. And if they're competent as well, then that's just me ruined for the day.

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

I can't stop smiling.

*loves*

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

The Librarian would say that he does know the words. It's just that some people can't hear them very clearly.

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

I am so fond of Susan.

Me too!

And I don't think anyone can out-crack Pterry. The man has been on the good stuff since he was in his teens.

*is loved*

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

This icon makes me happy whenever I look at it.

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

Even the Librarian would refrain from telling Susan that she was... in error.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

Eeeeee! :glomps:

[bibliokat.livejournal.com]

Awwwwww, I love it! Susan is one of my favorites. So is the Death of Rats. Well, and the Librarian.

I have a lot of Discworld favorites!

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

*pets the Death of Rats*

More skeletal winter celebration fic!

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

I have a lot of Discworld favorites!

Don't we all.

[amarin-rose.livejournal.com]

I...I don't know these people, but lord do you write them well. *beg* From now, any time I hear Christmas carols I'm going to be hearing a rat squeaking in the background. ^___^

[jamjar.livejournal.com]

They're all from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Susan is Death's (adopted) granddaughter, who suffers from the affliction of being *sensible* and the Death of Rats is... well, you can pretty much guess from the name and the icon.

[amarin-rose.livejournal.com]

If there's a Death of Rats, is there a Death of Cats, and a Death of Bats, and so on? Because if so, it could be funny to have some of the DC characters run into them. No, I did not just fob a plot bunny off on you; no reall. :)

[hyel.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor Susan. :D

[(Anonymous)]

It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.