Havelock Vetinari :: mid-2005 timewarp AU :: Milliways

[oneman_onevote]

Havelock still has no idea what this place is, why he keeps opening doors and finding it there waiting, and why he doesn't do the sensible thing and turn around again every time

Comments

[puckishly]

If anything, Puck finds the book more threatening than the knife had been.

The fae aren't really what you'd call big readers.

Still, when all is done, this fellow is only a mortal man, and surely no great taxation as a foe. Puck sidles invisibly and curiously closer.

[oneman_onevote]

Indeed, Havelock looks almost relaxed, to the casual viewer. He has stretched his legs out idly, one hand rests loosely over the arm of his chair, and his gaze is fixed firmly on the page in almost total absorption.*

Only the occasional turn of a page prompts him to move.

* Naturally, the 'almost' is there for a reason.

[puckishly]

Watching mortals has long been a hobby of his-- at work, at play, traveling through the woods-- and is, at this point, something he does nearly without thought. It's a pleasant distraction from thoughts of what's to come.

(Oberon has never been to Milliways, but he does know of its existence. Puck told him himself, in happier times.

He wonders how far the king will seek him out, and who of the court shall be sent to do the job.

Or if he'll simply wait.)

In the meantime, he creeps a little nearer to the mortal's chair, approaching it from the side. Strange-- though perhaps to be expected: at this distance, he does not seem carved from stone at all.

[oneman_onevote]

It is an excellent book.

Havelock understands the theory now, but a little attention paid to the fine detail never hurts - particularly as he rather suspect he will have to destroy this copy, to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.* He does dislike wasting anything interesting.

He flicks to the next page, smoothing the paper unconsciously as he considers the next point. It is a good one - but how does it apply to an urban environment?

* Read: any but his.

[puckishly]

Puck could really bide here all the afternoon-- he is a strange one-- but the trouble of being invisible in a bar staffed by rats is that even when they can't see you, they can frequently smell you.

A creature with a tray pauses to sniff at him. Puck glowers.

[oneman_onevote]

Havelock stills a moment.

The rats are so businesslike, always in motion, that one stopped alone in the midle of the floor strikes him as strange. He watches it a moment, considering.

But nothing else strikes him as wrong, and he turns back to the page after a moment or two, content to leave a small anomaly be.

[puckishly]

Well, ha! This mortal is clearly not as with it as Puck had supposed. They are all terrible fools.

As the mortal eyes the rat and then returns to his study, Puck lets out a sniggering giggle that sets the waitrat scurrying off.

.... Hold on.

[oneman_onevote]

Hmm.

Havelock does not move, but slowly closes the book.

[puckishly]

That puts Puck out of his good humor.

You'd think he'd have the grace to jump in his seat.

"Good day, goodly cypher," he mutters, slipping grudgingly into view.

[oneman_onevote]

Ah.

That... actually makes sense.

For once.

"Good day," Havelock says, willingly enough, though he eyes Puck just a little too sharply for it to be casual. "A clever trick you have there."

[puckishly]

He smiles.

"Had I wished a trick, you should not have seen me at all."

[oneman_onevote]

"I do not doubt it."

No. Certainly not that.

It might explain why Havelock has rapidly slid back to the stonelike demeanor of their previous encounter.

[puckishly]

That irritates Puck, actually. He's seen the mortal now when he thought himself alone; any tricks are clearly on his part. If one is going to dissemble, one ought to do it well.

"I see you are a scholar," he observes, with an arch of his eyebrows. He hasn't yet deigned to move from his spot on the floor, and is therefore sprawled by Havelock's chair so that everybody else has to go round him.

[oneman_onevote]

"Indeed," Havelock says mildly.

He may be a cold-blooded killer, but at least he's thorough about it?

[puckishly]

The fairy's smile sharpens, though it is not directed at Havelock exactly but slides off to the side.

"Do you not find that strange?"

[oneman_onevote]

"Scholarship?"

Mostly, he finds it relaxing.