Silberfuchs
This too shall pass.
Beckton breathed out consciously as they approached the end of the bombe racks and risked a look back at Newkirk, who was twirling his wand restlessly. It described complex arcs of revolution and counter-revolution as it span, but gave no hint of the magic pent up within.
Yorck was waiting for them at the door to the Director's office. She was young, for a sorceress, standing proudly in classically-styled robes of sapphire blue so rich that the material seemed to remain motionless when she moved. Three lines ran from collar to shoulder and straight down her sleeves: two of golden thread and one, centred, of scarlet.
She spoke first. Her accent bore a touch of English academic but was otherwise completely unremarkable.
"Silver Fox. How do you do."
"Yorck. How do you do."
The two wizards bowed to each other at the same time, as if mirror images of each other. Yorck's robes swayed with her movements but never touched the floor in an impressive display of perfect tailoring.
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Comments (8 so far!)
HSAR
Yorck's codename for Newkirk indicates that her system is substantially different to the one we have seen so far. What significance this has is not stated.
Operation Silberfuchs was the overall operational codename for the series of German operations in the Arctic Circle, encompassing both of the previously mentioned operations Rentier and Platinfuchs.
- #3954 Posted 6 years ago
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Robert Quick
I feel like you lost the tension of the potential ambush. I'm not saying you needed to have the equivalent of a horror movie's false jump scare where the tension is relieved by having a car run out the alley or something but you had build up to this moment by having the characters be concerned, so much so that Beckton was afraid of losing his shit a story or two ago. There are several possible routes to go before this particular moment--from having someone shoot first (especially if both sides are worried about an attack although I'm not sure what Yorck's state of mind is at the moment. Calm serenity in the middle of a war zone is admirable. Maybe her spy training is in full gear.), or having them sneak up on Yorck's silhouette, or have an outside explosion rock them all together. Also, and this might be a Brit thing but the formal propriety seems out of place. Might be fine though. Outside of that I do like the beginning with Newkirk twiddling his wand. That works well.
- #4004 Posted 6 years ago
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HSAR
@RQ: The flow and ebb of tension in this series is absolutely something I'm not happy with; the format is somewhat restrictive in this manner.
However, having blamed my tools like the true phony artist I am, I do say that Yorck's choice not to ambush our protagonists and instead engage a formal introduction is part of her character - that she's rather obsessed by the minutiae of etiquette and doing things formally.
- #4005 Posted 6 years ago
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Robert Quick
Lol, we're not phony artists. Just because we've embraced the site and the restrictions therein, doesn't mean we can't complain now and then that we don't have access to the full piano keys (or whatever metaphor works for you). I found working on stuff with you and others on the last site, that sometimes I didn't take my time because I wanted to get to the "good stuff", and sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn't.
And you're assessment of Yorck's character is fair, I presume.
- #4007 Posted 6 years ago
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Inspired by (sequel to):
Beckton stepped through the fourth row of bombe racks, trying valiantly to ignore the incessant clic…
Platinfuchs- Published 6 years ago and featured 6 years ago.
- Story viewed 12 times and rated 0 times.
All stories on Ficlatté are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. What does this mean?
HSAR
While Newkirk's spells have previously been depicted as having immaterial physical effect even before casting, I suspect that it does not have to be so. Instead, such effects are like wood shavings coming from a carpenter's work - natural outcomes of drawing power from the elemental planes. With additional effort they can be tidied away before they manifest, but normally it's not necessary to do so. Here, where any external sign could be an indication of his intention, Newkirk sees no reason to take risks.
The colour pattern as described here are the colours of Trinity College of the University of Cambridge. What significance this has, is not stated - though primarily this is because Beckton, the point-of-view character, does not recognise them.
Originally Yorck was to have a German accent, but it stands to reason that her English must be excellent if she is a successful undercover agent in an English-speaking country - not to mention having studied at a foreign university.