gorgonfondness | Vane: Autor's Visit

Vane: Autor's Visit

"Meribia isn't very far from Vane, a decent commute," Mia answers as she pries Scorpius's small hand out of her hair. "As for the sort of job, that's kind of up to you but most of the work I can get for you easily is related to the library."

They've stepped inside a hallway of the Magic Guild Mansion, an oxymoron of ancient arcane history and new paint. Just in front of them and to their left is a guard standing by a door.

"Good evening, Majesty Mia," he greets with a bow. "Have you brought another visitor to the Magic Guild?"

"I have," she replies with a nod. "This is my friend Autor. He'll be staying here in the Magic Guild Mansion for a while."

"Autooooooow," Scorpius coos before jamming his teething ring back into his mouth.

Mia then turns to Autor and explains, "These are my quarters. We'll have to go downstairs to get to where you'll stay. By the way, would you prefer one of our private guestrooms or would you like to see the dormitories?"

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"Master Mel does but I don't know if Kyle would," Mia muses. "But to be honest, I've never seen Master Mel use a sword. He used to carry a double-headed axe in each hand, though he only carries one now."

She shakes her head a little with a laugh.

"I would think they spar even more now that Kyle is Master Mel's son-in-law."

"Hm," Autor says, running his finger along the rim of his glass, "the book didn't mention that. I suppose it stopped updating after a while?"

"Every book has to end somewhere," she answers as their food arrives.

Autor's plate looks like it's got a nice little pile of orange-pink eggs, almost like a mini-croquembouche.

A mini-croquembouche of giga ant eggs.

Autor blinks rapidly, of course. He's not sure why he expected scrambled chicken eggs; they are eating on the moon, after all.

Remembering Mia's words of encouragement from before, he scoops a small, experimental spoonful into his mouth.

"Hrrk," he says, grimacing. Each of the slimy eggs pop on his tongue, ejecting the foulest and most sour liquid he's ever had. Karkat would be pleased.

Experimentation, he concludes, is sometimes foolish.

"No good?" Mia asks with a sympathetic wince.

She's never had giga ant eggs before. From the look of Autor's face, she's not about to start.

"Would you like to share my steak?"

"They're terrible," he manages to croak after finishing his third glass of water. "But I'll eat them." One bite at a time, over a course of a week. "There's no sense in wasting food."

"No, please don't feel obligated," she insists. "I'm sure we can find someone who likes them. There's no sense in punishing yourself."

"Do you happen to know anyone who would like them?" he asks, trying not to think of trolls. "It's not a punishment, per se. I'm just not of a mind to waste things I've ordered."

He sniffs, and doggedly takes another bite. It goes down easier, strangely enough.

"Not off the top of my head but..."

She trails off as Autor continues to eat. Why is she still surprised about him being stubborn?

Her own part of the meal is finished soon and a beastwoman in white robes walks up to them.

"Hey Mia, whacha need?" Jessica greets.

"Evening, Jess. I've a friend who could use a helping hand in the healing department."

".....he must be sick if he's eating giga ant eggs willingly."

If Autor wasn't sick before, he will be soon. He manages a small nod at Jessica, whose face he recognizes from the book.

Half done. Damn.

"Giga ant?" he says, a little surprised. "Ugh. No wonder."

Setting his fork down, he turns to the two women. "I don't mean to impose, but I've a rather nasty set of bite wounds. If there's anything you can do, I'd appreciate it."

"What bit you?" the priestess asks. "Anything poisonous?"

"Oh, no, not at all," Autor says, and then tilts his head. "I was bitten by Monster Book of Monsters, which is just as it sounds.

"This is the third time it has sunken its teeth into me, so I'm fairly certain I would have keeled over by now if it were poisonous."

Jessica nods and looks him over. "This should be easy enough. But wow, I didn't know you bookworms had it so rough."

She gives Mia an aside glance at that. The Guildmaster shrugs sheepishly at her friend.

That done, Jess gets back to work. She clasps her hands together and closes her eyes in concentration, her mouth moving while whispering the spell.

No, the prayer.

She finishes with a slightly more audible, "I ask this in the name of the Goddess."

And just like that, Autor's back in peak physical condition.

Autor sucks a breath in through his teeth. His peak condition has never been very peak, but the puncture wounds on his hand have closed, his leg is no longer stiff, and apparently there was a great deal of unaccounted for tension in his shoulders.

He feels light. Dizzy. It might be the giga ant eggs, but he's choosing to believe otherwise.

"That," he says, blinking, "is a very useful incantation. How might I repay you?"

"I didn't have anything in mind," Jessica comments. "Those of the priesthood usually work for free."

"He's like this," Mia adds."

Autor wrinkles his nose at Mia. He has a brief desire to stick his tongue out, but no. That's different.

"I'm not used to how the priesthood works," he says, "so this is a favor to me. One I'd like to repay."

"Fine," the beastwoman allows. "We'll see how you handle Rachel."

Mia has to cover her mouth to muffle her laughter. Babysitting is one thing but Rachel is another.

Autor nods. "Rachel? I'm assuming she's your daughter?"

"Yep. I'll let you know when I need a night free. Good luck with her."

And with that, Jessica takes her leave.

"You might have to train with Master Mel and Kyle just to handle Rachel," Mia gets out. "She's used to being around strong men."

Autor offers her a flat look. "Ouch," he says, snorting. "Babysitting is an acceptable term of agreement, though I am surprised that she would trust me with her daughter when she hardly knows me, or my capabilities. We've spent two minutes in each other's presence."

He sips his water and dives into his giga ant eggs again. Clearly he's not going to be bored in Vane--he already has a million and one things on his To Do list--but there's also something missing. Not entirely hollow, but certainly empty.

The boy wonders what it is.

"You saw the guards in my home, right? There's more of them in Meribia Mansion, most of them beastmen and all of them very capable."

Mia thinks for a moment.

"Actually, I wonder how many of them might have been part of his crew during his days of piracy?"

"True, but they can't be everywhere at once," he says, and his posture is a blend between concerned and sulky. "If I were an enemy, it'd only take me a second to hurt her. Then again, Jessica probably looked me twice over for threats the second the walked into the room and saw me sitting with you."

He takes another bite of his eggs. His tongue's almost blessedly numb, now. "Anyway, what are our plans after dinner?"

"If you made any motion to hurt Rachel, it would take less than a second for retaliation to set in. She's essentially my niece, you see, and I don't leave any member of my family unprotected. It'd certainly give the guards enough time to finish any threat."

She shakes her head a little as Autor keeps shoveling the food in his mouth.

"Sleep? Sleep would be good. I can show you to the dorms and let you have some time to get settles."

"I don't hurt children," he says, and there's more venom in his voice then there is in the eggs.

Then his posture loosens again. "Food and sleep? Goodness, Mia, it's like you've adopted me as one of your own," he says, trying to tease. "Do all of the women in the bar cluck or just the ones I've met?"

"I trust you don't. But rest assured that Rachel is protected."

She snickers some.

"Just the ones you've met, I imagine."

Vane: Autor's Visit

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