Fragment of a work in progress

“Do you have a name?” asked Gerta.

“I do,” said the raven.

Gerta waited.

The raven fluffed its beard. “I am the Sound of Mouse Bones Crunching Under the Hooves of God.”

Gerta blinked a few times. “That’s…quite a name.”

“I made it myself,” said the raven, preening. “I stole the very shiniest words and hoarded them all up until they made something worth having. Sound and God were particularly well-guarded. Crunching I found in a squirrel nest, though.”

“May I call you Mousebones?” asked Gerta. “It’s…a lot to say all at once.”

It was hard for a creature with a beak to scowl, but the raven managed, mostly with the skin around its eyes. “I suppose,” it said. “If you must.”

“Mine’s Gerta,” said Gerta.

“There’s your problem right there,” said Mousebones. “Much too short and not enough in it. I don’t know how you expect to become anything more than you are, with a name like that.”