This iteration of Erskin falling literally falling apart when he's flustered...falling apart into bats. That is so strangely charming. (Jethro cooing over the bat and its tiny teefs was ridiculous levels of cute.)
I KNOW. discworldian war ducks feels like the appropriate mix of 'stupid as hell' and 'cool'. i'm imagining stairs carved into an ocean cliff, with the mews— kennels for hunting birds— built hanging over the water.
aren't smews roughly the size of a profiterole? i am having trouble imagining them menacing anything bigger than a frog.
wikipedia: "The smew is 38–44 cm (15–17 in) long" as compared to mallard ducks, "50–65 cm (20–26 in) long", compared to peregrine falcons, "body length of 34 to 58 cm (13–23 in)". so, smaller than a lot of ducks, bigger than a peregrine, though peregrines are mostly used to hunt game birds like doves and not attack humans. still, this is discworld, and war ducks are really funny to me. so i love the idea of someone breeding derangedly aggressive little ducks, giving them armor, and setting them loose on the battlefield to peck out people's eyes. then again, the war smews might all be little gryphons, like lusus reggie is. there's tiny dragons, so, maybe tiny gryphons?
I don't even care; "smew mews" is a sensible phrase composed of real words, so this is a good universe.
On the other hand, plumbing IS mentioned in the books, like Teppic noting that djellybabyhoweveryouspellit lacks said plumbing. That might have been more for water and baths?
well, sewers are pretty ancient, as are public toilets that are just a hole opening to the sewer. that's roman empire stuff. but flush toilets are, what, mid 1800's? if they've been invented, though, jethro has one. he's kind of sublimating his assassin's-guild-scholarship-boy urges into home improvement. it works better than cocoa and sing-alongs. :D
Found a few relevant links in a quick search through the wiki. I, on mobile so copy pasting the links http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Sir_Charles_Lavatory http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Guild_of_Plumbers_and_Dunnikindivers http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Cloaca_Maxima
that last link mentions that since the old sewers have been rediscovered, harry king might reopen them. maybe that's happening in jethro and erskin's time, and jethro's high-tech new lavatory device could actually flush somewhere besides the alley soon! as it is, though, he probably makes a point of doing his morning business and THEN draining the bathtub, just so he can open his kitchen window without dying of the fug.
some interesting werewolf info Spoiler: mumble mumble hides goddamn would i ever love to play one of the hypothetical New Problem Trolls but A) rightfully closed RP b) time and the tightness thereof C) y'all're leagues ahead of me in writing-land
> North American wolves have been recorded to respond to European-style howls made by biologists I know what they *meant* but
An excerpt from Dr. Edgar Stevenson's field journal. Dr. Stevenson (Cambridge '62) was the lead researcher in lycanthropic studies through the second half of the twentieth century. "13 May 1997. Logan County, Oklahoma, United States of America. Dismal results today, as has been the case all this week. If the survey continues this poorly the Royal Academy will have my hide when I return to England. 14 May 1997. I convinced Richard and Crispin to give me the morning off. Said my back was acting up. They looked at me askance but took it alright. I've realised that there is only one way forward if I aim to get results on this survey, so I'm taking my chances. I've got one hell of an accent, and this far from the full moon I'm at best going to sound like a human mimicking a wolf, but let's see if I can't get someone to respond. 15 May 1997. That did the trick nicely. Richard and Crispin are well chuffed at the frequent sightings we're having today. I've told them it looks like a pack is moving through the area and that we ought to have several nights of solid data. This is of course utter nonsense but the locals have consented to humour me for the time being. Sigh. Americans."
yep, i tend to make a troll from two influences at first, and jay's were that video and starbuck from galactica
