We're all fine here, and my new OTP

[rthstewart]

We’re all fine here. For the first time since 1995, we did not lose power during a major weather event. Thank you for the good wishes.

Because I could not resist and I now ship Peter and a camel.

Comments

[anastigmatfic]

Asim, of course, kept his own counsel -- much to the consternation of Eustace, who now had to try to handle, all on his own, some sort of secret war between a fractious and frazzled High King and a determined Mary who seemed intent on punishing Peter for some unknown wrongdoing.

Eustace finally asked Asim about it, late one lonely night when the camels clustered around the tents and Mary, kneeling over the campfire, laughed herself into a cramp -- Eustace asked, in his oblivious way, "What is she trying to get him for?"

"The secret you all share," said Asim.

Eustace went very still, before realizing that the spy was watching him, and then tried to laugh it off.

"Fear not. I have no desire to learn anything but what I am willingly told," Asim assured the boy. "But I do also enjoy watching those two match wits with each other."

[rthstewart]

It took Eustace a long moment to collect himself and weigh the response. Asim was not some stranger. He followed in Lucy's light, guided Susan and Edmund, and had pledged fealty to Peter. Asim dreamed of Narnia and he now owned the picture of the Dawn Treader

[autumnia]

This is so fantastic, you know. Love it all!

Later...

"How was Marrakech?" Edmund asked as he watched his brother unpacking his suitcase.

"A lot like Tashbaan, actually." He lifted a shirt from the top of the stack and after taking a step back, shook it to and fro. A cloud of golden dust soared around him before the granules of sand fell to the wooden floor. "It was hot, colourful, and smelled of sun and spices."

"Another similarity between Here and There, I suppose."

Peter paused briefly and set the shirt aside. "Yes, very much so. The Lion's paw reaches everywhere, not just in England. I heartily recommend a visit should the opportunity arise."

"A Calormen that is not, and without Taarkans and Tisrocs following our movements about the city," Edmund said, a small smile forming on his lips. "Are you certain it was not duller than Tashbaan, brother? Marrakech must have been less exciting with its lack of political intrigue and no courtly poetry and maxims being spouted at every corner

[rthstewart]

“So where are you off to next?” Edmund asked, coughing over all the Saharan dust Peter was stirring up.

“Eustace has to present his paper to his committee and Mary needs to settle the remainder of Richard’s estate. After that, they are not in agreement,” Peter said with a shrug. “I do not much care, so long as there are no camels.”

“There was talk of the Kenya colony?” Edmund asked. “Wasn’t Richard’s other wife Kikuyu? I remember Mary saying something about owing his family a visit?”

“If my irresistible attraction to even-toed ungulates persists, I may avoid the Great Rift Valley, and I don’t if there are sufficient reptilian remains in West Africa to entice Eustace unless they can work in a trip to Tendaguru.”

Peter would never mock Mary over the pervasive invasiveness of sand again. It was everywhere. Standing over a dustbin, he shook out a dusty boot. No scorpions, at least. “Sorry,” he said, as Edmund coughed again

[anastigmatfic]

OK, forget Mary/Peter, my new favorite ship is Mary/Eustace :-) I can just see Mary meeting Eustace again after some period of time in which he's done a good bit of growing up. And he's spouting off about lizards and coprolites and evolutionary possibilities all the while completely missing (or misinterpreting) how *excited* Mary is getting about the... um... discussion.

Later, the others begin to notice Eustace's strategic deployment of archeological topics to manage Mary's mood and attention, and come to the conclusion that perhaps he has learned something about human interaction after all.

In particular, he has learned to be sparing and precise about the deployment of conversations on the topic of hips. Richard would be proud.

-H

[rthstewart]

OK, forget Mary/Peter, my new favorite ship is Mary/Eustace :-) You get right on that. Because there are some places even my over worked imagination cannot go, and I think that's one of them. Now Eustace with a hopeless crush on Mary, oh yes, that I can see. And she tries to be very gentle about it and Jill feels just AWFUL about it because she's not all pretty and older and sophisticated and smart and blonde like Mary. And then everyone dies. the end. Leaving Mary and her multi-national staff to raise the next generation of Pevensies from various out of wedlock and otherwise unconventional relationships in a setting that is combination zoo and United Nations youth camp.

[anastigmatfic]

Oh, now that you've made it an unrequited triangle with Jill I like your version better. Except the everyone dying part. Oh wait, that's Lewis. Oh well. And yes, I agree the Eustace, the oblivious yet alluring man of science is... unlikely :-)
-H

[rthstewart]

Eustace, the oblivious yet alluring man of science is... unlikely :-)

Marry me. Oh wait a minute, I perceive some impediments. Never mind. Better yet, come out here and clean my laptop of the Diet Coke I just spit up when I read that. And if we throw Peter into the mix, I suppose it becomes an unrequited love quadrilateral? I think maybe I'll stick to swamp boats, alligators, and camels. Maybe prong-horned antelope develop a similar affection for Peter.

[anastigmatfic]

:-D
BTW, hippos are also even-toed ungulates. Far more comedic potential than antelopes.
-H