OOM: The Princess Bride with Autor

[sunbaked_baker]

The shortening days of November mean that 'evening' starts early in Milliways.

"Here we go," Rae says with good cheer, cradling a big bowl of popcorn in her arms as she holds open the door to her room, to let Autor bring the drinks in. "I think we're set."

Comments

[herr_bookman]

"And he was planning to strangle Buttercup to start a war with Guilder," Autor points out, scoffing. "There's no doubt in my mind that he'll try to start a war with them in some other way. At least Count Rugen's dead. He was the true villain of the piece. Inigo had to search deep inside himself when he thought he'd lost in order to overcome the Count, and that's the measure of a true climax."

[sunbaked_baker]

"The conflict between Inigo and Count Rugen was a lot more satisfying," Rae agrees, nodding.

"The prince's plan involving Buttercup just seems so... convoluted. Like he was really setting himself up to lose. If he really wanted, he could have found a much easier way to construct a pretext for war. If he wanted to be king as well, he'd just have to pay someone in the crowd to shoot his father dead, then after the guards arrest the person, he could declare that they've discovered it was a Guilder spy. And boom, ready-made war."

[herr_bookman]

"Wars do come pretty easily after assassinations," Autor says, shifting on the bed.

[sunbaked_baker]

"It just kind of snowballs from there," she nods. Rae had read some things about wars in different versions of Earth. There was one where... oh skegging damn - that's the war Autor's worried about. The one he's moving to Milliways to avoid. She'd forgotten. Great going, Seddon. Rae seeks to hide her grimace in taking a sip of her tea... only to remember that her teacup is already empty. No help there. What can she...?

"Oh! Hey, Autor," she says, remembering something. She sets her empty cup down and scoots to the edge of the bed to stand up. "I have something for you."

[herr_bookman]

Autor perks up, setting his empty teacup aside. "Oh? What is it, Rae?" he says, tilting his head at her.

[sunbaked_baker]

She goes to her bedside table and removes a couple of small velvet pouches from the drawer. "...Do you remember that week where... everyone wasn't themselves? Not like Cubefall or one of the holidays, I mean. It's hard to explain. Everyone was themselves, only different. It wasn't necessarily a physical change. The same people as usual came in... only they weren't the same people."


"...I'm probably not making sense."

[herr_bookman]

"I don't, but if it's part of Milliways' usual weirdness, that's understandable," Autor says, eyeing the velvet pouches with great interest. "Not the same people sounds like a tough week to be part of."

[sunbaked_baker]

"It wasn't a tough week to go through, but it was a tough week to have gone through, if you follow," Rae remarks, mouth twisting a little as she tries to figure out how to explain. "Everyone was... different, for a week, and then returned to normal. With vague memories of being someone else."

She winces, and tries again.

"The 'me' that came to Milliways that week wasn't 'me,' Rae Seddon, coffeehouse baker and cinnamon roll queen," she explains. "The 'me' that came to Milliways that week was the 'me' that might have been, had my father gotten custody of me when my parents split up, and if my father's family hadn't disappeared before the Wars. That... version of me wasn't Rae Seddon, daughter of Charlie and Sadie Seddon, but..." the name is still difficult to say out loud, "...Raven Blaise, daughter of Onyx Blaise, of the Blaise family of magic handlers."

"...she had never been a baker. She was just finishing her ward-smithing apprenticeship."

[herr_bookman]

"Stars and garters," Autor says, his eyes widening. "That's incredible. And so you were left with vague memories of how to make wards?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Yes, though I wouldn't trust myself to try," she admits, with a slight grin. "I've not had her training."

"That week, though, she knew... other versions of the Kattegat Vikings. They came in that week as bikers. And I guess any version of me is going to like bikers," she chuckles, looking down at the things in her hands. "Raven had made them wards as gifts, to keep them safe on the road. Wards for safety against crash injuries and for seeing things clearly."

"Found two extra when I came back to my room the next week," Rae adds with a slight smile, and holds out the two small pouches to him. "And I wondered if you might like to have them."

Just in case, she doesn't say.

[herr_bookman]

"Oh, wow," Autor says, gingerly taking the pouches. He throws his arms around her. "Thank you, Rae! That's very thoughtful of you. How do they work? Do I need to feed them at all?"

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae hugs him back, tightly. Even though she knows he is moving to Milliways, beyond the reach of war, she can feel tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. She refuses to let them show. "You're welcome - you're always welcome."

Reluctantly, she lets him go. "The, um, the flat one - if you take them out of the pouches, you'll see - the flat metal one is an anti-crushed-by-flying-metal ward. It's designed to lie along the sole of one's boot. The little metal loop with the signs etched in it - in the other pouch - is a seeing-things-clearly charm. It... well, does what it sounds like it does."

[herr_bookman]

"Neat," Autor says cheerfully, already opening up the pouch with the anti-crushed-by-flying-metal ward, and toeing off his shoe. "That's fantastic. I always like beneficial magic, so thank you! I'll have to find a way to keep these on me always."

He places the ward inside his boot and slips it back on. "How will I know when they're working?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Um... you might feel them," Rae motions vaguely to her head. His good cheer wrests a smile from her. "Sometimes, with wards, you can feel them paying attention. Like a light, background buzz in your mind."

"The seeing-things-clearly ward is designed to be worn as a necklace pendant, or hanging from... whatever piece of clothing you might want to hang it from."

She knows Raven designed it to hang from helmet straps, but she didn't feel like mentioning those right now.

[herr_bookman]

"Interesting," Autor says, inclining his head. "Well, I'll find a use for these someday, I'm sure. Who knows, they might save my life someday. I appreciate this, Rae, I really do. Thank you."

[sunbaked_baker]

"You are always welcome, Autor. While I'd much rather your life not need saving, no one ever gets a say in that," Rae says, hugging him again, on impulse. "Like any wards, these are for 'just in case they're needed,' with the hope that they won't ever be needed."

If she isn't there to keep him safe, the wards and her hopes are all she can send with him.