House of Cards Contributions Log

Adventures in Sewing

posted by Ginger at 11:03 PM, December 09, 2003 | Filed under : NPC Dialogs | Comments and Followups

At Karen’s request, I’m posting the dialogue between Random and Martin while Random was sewing up Martin’s wound after the coronation masquerade. This is the part that took place while Folly was out of the room, fetching the gear for the getaway.

“If you jump like that when I’m sewing you up, I can’t guarantee my workmanship. You want the black stitches or the purple ones? Kidding. I don’t have any black thread.”

“Just make sure there’s nothing wiggling in there.”

“This is gonna hurt you more than it does me.”

“Well, at least you’re honest about it. I don’t suppose there’s any local anesthetic?”

“Other than the brandy? Nothing really effective. We’ll try some of it, though. If Corwin hadn’t misplaced them, I’d offer you a bullet to bite.”

“Corwin needs to be more careful where he leaves his stuff. Most of his guns have long since rusted. I have one, with some bullets, but I can’t say how much longer they’d last if I brought them back.”

“Dunno. Dad never did like guns.”

“Grandfather was smart.”

“In Flora’s shadow, they were called ‘the great equalizers’. Equalization is not to our advantage. Although I wouldn’t have minded having a machine pistol at my side earlier this evening.”

“Me either. Especially since someone brainsucked the guard on the Pattern chamber. Between that and how Dara pulled Cambina off, I’m worried.”

“We need to get Brita back. They hold the high cards, but that’ll change. Dara’s already snuck onto the Pattern; this must have been for one of the others. Heh, I wish I’d been there to see the look on their faces.”

“Almost as good as the looks on ours when we got down there the first time. But I didn’t hear about Brita. What happened?”

“Another guy who cut through space like the one with Dara. Don’t know anything about him, just that he grabbed her and left. The redheads left in a hurry. I think they’re not suspects.”

“Shit. Brita’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’s cannier than people give her credit for being. As long as Dara doesn’t kill her outright, I think she’ll do better than a lot of people.”

“Do you want me to tell you what I’m doing back here or just surprise you?”

“Surprise me.” [pause] “Dad, I think we ought to change plans. I think Folly and I ought to go to Paris and she ought to walk the Pattern there. I don’t like running around with her knowing Dara and her cronies are out there. If something goes wrong, she can’t get back here. Plus—”

“No. I don’t think Corwin’s Pattern would be right for her. You two will do fine until I get done with what I’m doing.”

“But, Dad … Oh. I get it. You’re taking the Jewel, aren’t you? You’re gonna go up there. That’s where you want her to walk.”

“I’ve got a plan. It’ll all work out fine.”

“But Dad, what about—”

“Fine. Trust me. Hold still.”

“Ow!”

“Sorry. Tell me about Dara. You, ah. You seem to have picked up a great deal of information about her since last we spoke.”

“Um, yeah. Sorry about that. Grandfather didn’t want me to talk too much about her because he was hoping she and Corwin were gonna get hitched. He wanted her to tell him about Merle.”

“It is nice to occasionally have some proof that Dad had unrealistic expectations.”

“Yeah, he wasn’t so hot in the date-picking department sometimes. Anyway, Dara’s kind of a long story. Probably more than we have time for now, if you want to leave sometime soon.”

“Got a highlights reel? Executive Summary of Things The King Might Want To Know About The Chica Who Tried To Kill Him?”

“She’s a sorceress, a swordswoman trained by someone almost as good as Benedict, and a shapeshifter who can do a passable imitation of anyone she’s seen for a while. Including me. And she has my trump. Oh, and she almost certainly has all the dossiers our other Chaosian *friend* spent five years compiling on everyone in the castle, including Vialle. And you.”

“Lovely. Speaking of Aisling, what set her off? I didn’t come in until the Second Act.”

“Fuck all if I know. It’s been sniffing around me since the army came back. Tried to get Jerod to invite it to poker at Red Mill, hassled Cambina about it, asked Folly questions that put *her* on edge. And it’s on Merlin’s shit list for trying to get him to lie about stuff it didn’t want him to tell us. Jerod and I think it compromised the castle pages somehow; we can’t figure out how it knew about poker otherwise.”

“How big a risk is she?”

“I don’t know yet. It’s been acting suspiciously, but it’s totally inept at covering its tracks. I’ve been back less than two days and I’ve had people volunteering all sorts of stories about it. I haven’t had time to do any digging. Unless it’s *really* good, in which case this is all a smoke screen and we should definitely start worrying.”

“I’d rather not underestimate her, but she made a lot of friends with the Army. This may be the way they make friends and influence people in Chaos.”

[Snort]

“Or maybe she’s sweet on you, lad. Steady on, I’m almost done. Do I need to arrange Etiquette Lessons for Former Spies Who Want To Show Their Inner Reformed Nature, or are you going to educate her?”

“That depends. Are you gonna tell me not to if I am?”

“Nope. Princes get prerogatives.”

“Then, yeah, it’s overdue to learn manners. And I’m a very good teacher.”

“Do what you need to do. You’re the Prince. Martin? I’m glad you told me. I want you to know you can talk to me about…things. And stuff.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“I’ve been meaning to say that for a while, but we’ve both been so busy. I really count on you, you know.”

“Dad?—”

[door opens]

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