[IC][WIP][Arc 1] How I Managed to Quit Worrying and Love The Grief Seed

[Black Aeronaut]

Yep.  Lots of typographical errors.  I've gone back and fixed them, as well as tweaked a few things here and there.  As to the rest...

> “I never imagined you to be so... religious!” said Teletha suddenly.
It always surprises me to find agnostics in settings where there are gods all over the place.  But yeah, human nature, there's gonna be a few of them.

It made sense with Teletha.  Not only is she a woman of science, but I never once see anything that implies she's anything but agnostic.  She's just been rolling with it thus far, but to suddenly find that Ben's a strong believer in the Latter-Day Saint faith, if not a devout member?  Yeah.  Most people would never guess it coming from me because they have this imagery of LDS people being so squeaky-clean thanks to pop culture...

> “These are Valknuts."
A healthy part of a balanced breakfast.

Pffffft!

> “You know that you are a direct descendant of the legendary viking, Sigurd Snake-In-The-Eye.”
Uhm I hate to break this to you, but half the cast is a direct descendant of Sigurd if you are.  If a European person living before 1000 AD has living descendants, then all Europeans are a descendant of this person, because math.  As much as I like the royal blood trope, everyone has both royals and slaves in their ancestry.  (Of course the admixture is different, so you can be more genetically similar to a distant ancestor than others.)  Of course if Sigurd didn't exist in every reality, you can bend this rule.

I had that though too, but then, I think that what we can say is that actually having the genealogical information that backs up claims like these is what makes them stronger in the Metacontinuity.  Sure, it's a claim many people can make.  But how many of them have actually gone out of their way to see if it's a valid one?  It's kinda like the difference between believing and knowing - belief can be broken or weakened, but a solid knowing backed up with incontrovertible evidence?  Another person can tell Ben all kinds of lie about his past, but he knows the truth.

> he said as he quietly entered.
Talking seems like not quietly entering.

Heh.  One of the problems with being Aspie is volume control - as in I often have no indoor voice.  I'll go ahead and make this more clear.

> I will be your personal bounty hunter.
Ooooh! Godwhacker's on the case.

<BugsBunny>Weellll maaaaaayyyyyybeeeeeeee~.</BugsBunny>

> At Fate’s surprised look, Hild smiled.
By this point I had forgotten she was in this scene.

I'll see about fixing that...

> “You brave fool.  My precious, courageous fool on his hill.”
She's really right.  Marked by the top good God, same day makes a deal with the devil.

It's kinda my character's Take That at Odin.  The Allfather won't mind much, though - triumph in the face of death is his thing.

I think it's supposed to be the plural "brujas" rather than the possessive "bruja's."

Yep, lotsa typos...

>  “Be careful now, Benjamin.  They say that one should not come to the attention to their executives...
I think some context is missing here.  Whose executives?  Hell's?

From context, it looks like Hild is the executive.

Which means the line should be "one should not come to the attention of their executives", not "one should not come to the attention to their executives".

Yeah, kinda goofed it up there.

Keep in mind, Ben works for Lord Phantomhive.  And who does Lord Phantomhive ultimately work for?  In the grand scheme of things, Hild is the CEO of the parent company, and Benjamin pretty much just ran into the boardroom with an offer that was hard for Her to pass up.  He is most certainly on the radar now.

As for the contract, I recall we decided somebody would look it over before Ben signed it...

"As our usual go-between to the celestials would no doubt say, this is one Hell of a document." Rob grinned. "But I've gone through the bureaucratese twice, and Kazari treated it like computer code and checked the wording for logic bombs while I was double-checking the meanings of a few obscure terms."

"And?"

"It's exactly what you represented it to be. Hild isn't trying to pull a fast one here."

"So it's okay if I sign it."

Rob's expression went completely neutral. "Only if you're sure that this is what you want to do."

"Okay, what's wrong?"

"You're taking on responsibility for her life, here. Are you ready to be a father?" Before Ben could reply, Rob added, "I can't answer that. Only you can make that call."

Yeah, I got that in the next section, but I'll go ahead and work this in there.  And when Rob asks if Ben is ready to be a father...

"You're taking on responsibility for her life, here. Are you ready to be a father?"

Ben gave Rob a Vulcan Eyebrow so severe that it forestalled any further comment.  Without missing a beat, Ben pulled out a fine-tipped sharpie marker and signed the document with his full, unabbreviated name - a signature that he has only used a few times in his life, one of which was when he signed his contract of enlistment into the Navy.  And then as if that wasn't enough, he took out a lancet - the sort used by diabetics to test their blood glucose level - lanced his thumb, and then pressed it to the document next to his signature.

He then looked to Rob with a crooked grin.  "I've been ready for a long time."