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A scientific experiment of the highest order is in progress. One which includes raspberry fudge, brie and crackers, and several different wines. Autor plans to get tipsy today, and he'll do it in style.

He'll also do it with help. Autor endures light ribbing by Sunshine, who has promised to stay with him and make sure he doesn't do anything foolish while even slightly inebriated--a serious concern of his, especially with a sprained ankle. She's keeping to tea today, just in case.

Autor raises a glass, his cheeks already tingling. He swirls the wine, as he has seen done before. Then he holds it up to his nose and takes a deep breath. "Ah, yes. This clean, buttery wine has a heady bouquet with oak notes, and a spicy aroma of vanilla and currant," he says, and takes a sip. "Sadly, it is broad--it has a full body aroma, but lacks any finesse to its taste."

Rae grins, sipping her tea. "Try harder not to sound like you memorized the book, Autor."

[OOC: Two pups, two muns! All threads will come after Rae and Autor's, when the boy is already tipsy.]

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Rae chuckles at his unsteady balance, unable to help herself, and leans to place a fond kiss to his forehead. "You are a worse liar than I am. I can tell it's affecting you even without your unfocused shadows."

"Ohhh my gosh, you can see my shadows! That's right, you totally can! Rae. Rae. You just gave me goosebumps. Here, look," he babbles, raising his arm. And then he giggles, horribly. "Wait! You can't see them through my blazer! What were you thinking? Unless you have x-ray eyes, too. You don't, do you?"

He stares at her, lightheaded and feeling good, and then sits up straight. "Wait! Balthazar! I meant to ask you who the heck he was because he made me answer every question I asked of him and I gave away sooo much, and I told him I'd die for you and he said he would, too, and who the heck is he?"

"Oh gods," Rae laughs, bombarded. "Slow down. No, I don't have x-ray vision. You don't have to worry about that from me. I'm going to get us some muffins. Then we'll talk. Have some water in the meantime, all right?"

She's not about to address people being willing to die for her, not without a bit of time to process that and something more fortifying than tea.

"But water is boooring," Autor says plaintively. Grumbling, he pulls his glass over and starts drinking, just as he's told. But he also sneaks a few sips from his third glass of wine. "Come back to me soon with the muffins."

"I've apparently got to be back quick, or else your experiment in tipsiness will become an education in drunkenness," she says dryly, moving the glass away from him while likewise shifting his notebook closer to him. "Take your notes, writer-man. The difference between an experiment and just drinking to drink is writing stuff down."

"I'll be back," she assures him, and heads over towards the bar.

"Hee! You called me a man," he says, grinning at her. It almost makes up for the fact that she'd stolen his wine glass. Autor has to spend a few moments remembering how his quill works, but once he does, he scribbles furiously, writing out the very scientific Symptoms of Being ~~Typsy~~ Tipsy, as well as a dossier on himself.

Rae comes back soon with a plate of assorted mini-muffins: blueberry, cream cheese, pumpkin, cinnamon-apple, and walnut-raisin. They are rather cute, and only a bite or two in size.

"Here we are," she smiles, setting the plate in the middle of the table. "So what symptoms are you noticing so far?"

"Wait, do I smell pumpkin? You are the best, you know that? The best person I ever knowed. Knew," he gushes. He turns his notes over to her. "See? I am very smart and paying close attention to this note-taking thing, just like you told me, which makes you also smart. I'm so glad we're friends."

"Have known," Rae grins at the tipsy grammarian, accepting his notes. "And yes, you are very smart. I'm glad we're friends, too. Have a pumpkin muffin."

She'll be over here doing her best not to snicker too audibly at the notes.

"Aww, thanks," he says, and delicately pulls off the pumpkin muffin wrapper before taking a bite. "Mm. I really like this. You know what else I really like? Not a what, but a who."

He smiles fondly, and a mellow blush rises to his cheeks. "The cute girl. The pink one."

"The pink girl?" Rae blinks at him, smiling slightly. "What's she like?"

Autor sighs. "Oh, she's wonderful," he starts, running his thumb across a wineglass' rim. "She makes me dizzy in a good way and I never know what I'm going to say around her, because I get tongue-tied. She's short and adorable and she could probably fit right in my arms, if I held her right."

Then he frowns a little. "I messed up, though. I presumed to know her and I was unpleasant."

Rae tilts her head slightly, curious. "What did you do that was unpleasant?"

Autor purses his lips, thinking. "I didn't know at first, but then she told me. I presumed to know her. I told her that she was kind, and she didn't think she was. I've only met her a few times, so I couldn't have seen that she was kind in that time."

He furrows his brow. "But I'm in trouble elsewhere, too. What if"--and here he whispers--"Punie comes back?"

Rae looks confused. "Saying that someone is kind isn't being unpleasant. It's stating an impression you've gathered from your interactions with the person. It's a compliment. It sounds more like she doesn't know how to take a compliment, rather than that you were unpleasant. You shouldn't worry about it."

"Whether Punie comes back or not is something that is wholly out of your control, and so is not something you should worry about, either."

"Really? Huh," Autor says, considering this with a nod. "I didn't think of it like that. Either of the its. But... But what if I... what if I fall in l-love with the pink one? Would that mean I'm leaving Punie behind, or worse, betraying her?"

He toys with the wineglass. "I mean, I haven't seen her in a year and a half or so, but... is that enough time to move on? To make the assumption that I'll never see her again?"

Rae reflects for a long moment that she is very much the wrong person for him to be asking about the ethics of... well, people tend to think of it as 'cheating.'

She leans forward, taking a breath. "Think of it like this," she says, gently. "Do your feelings for the pink one in any way negate or lessen what you feel for Punie? Is there room in your heart for your feelings for both of them, even if you are holding one as a memory?"

Autor laces his fingers together between his knees, looking quite pale and vulnerable as he thinks, and thinks hard. In the end, he's just a boy, trying to find his feet.

"No," he finally says, glancing up at her. He licks his lips. "My feelings on Miss Kuriyama are new, and small, but they might grow. But even if they do, I don't think I'll ever stop feeling what I feel for Punie." He bows his head, clasping his heart. "Even if... she is just a memory, I still miss her. Oh, I miss her so much."

Autor draws a deep breath. And then he smiles, released of his burden. "Thanks, Rae. You're the best."

"Nah, I'm not," Rae smiles wryly, reaching to ruffle the relieved boy's hair. Because in her heart she'll always be a big sister. "But I know something of what all that's like."

"You mustn't let your feelings for one suffer because of your feelings for the other. They deserve equal care."

Autor catches her wrist gently. He turns her hand over and kisses her palm, smiling. "Thank you for sharing with me. And I'll take care of them, I promise."

He traces her palm. "You always take care of me. Just like I take care of Clara."

Rae blinks at the kiss to her palm, remembering other such kisses that felt like healing balms upon her poisoned, treacherous hands.

It takes all her will to keep from closing her hand and pulling away, as he gently traces the lines of her palm.

"Well, you know," she offers a shade of a wry smile, swallowing. "Someone's got to look after you."

And of course he kisses her palm again, before letting her go. "Yeah, someone does. And don't worry, I'll look after you, too."

He frowns a little. "Except... that that's a lie, because I won't always be here to look after you--there's a draft, you see, for an upcoming war? And I'll probably die in it, and that won't be any fun at all."

Then he perks up again, smiling once more. "But until then, I'll look after you, too, okay?"

No, not okay.

"Draft?" She doesn't smile at him, her shocked gaze searching his face, through the blurred shadows. "Autor. What do you mean?"

...probably die in it, and that won't be any fun at all.

"What war?"

Autor blinks at her. "Oh, hey, that's a secret. I know it but you're not supposed to," he says, shaking his dizzy head. "So, I read about the war here, and I'm pretty sure once time restarts for my town I'll be drafted. It's the big one, the Great War, between allll the countries--and I'm on the losing side. Two million dead in four years from Germany alone. That's where I'm from, you see."

Rae feels cold, feeling this unknown event looming up before them.

"You can't be drafted - you're hardly soldier material, Autor," she says, blinking at him, helplessly.