milliways_bar | (no subject)

Hullo, Eddie!

*Tonks beams and walks over*

How's everything?

Eddie beams back. "Everything is entirely copacetic." He wraps the belt around the holster and the whole bundle goes under the bar. "The bossman docked my pay for a little while, but I can live with that easy."

*Tonks suddenly remembers what Bernard told her about the execution by the lake, and pales, slightly*

Well, that's -- that's good.

Eddie notices the reaction. "He toldja, huh?"

Yeah, he did.

*she bites her lip*

"An' you don't like it any better'n he did." Eddie looks down at the bar.

"I didn't argue with Bernard, because, well, he's the boss, but...

Who's the guy Tom Riddle didn't turn into? What's his name?"

Voldemort.

He ties on an apron. "Imagine if Voldemort came here. And he put Bernard in a coma for a month. And when Bernard finally woke up, he didn't remember anything since he left his world--not being the barman, not you, not Sunny, not the angel or the demon. All he had was...echos. The feeling that he had lost something precious to him."

"Then imagine you and all your tet--you and Aziraphael and Crowley--just happened, as fate would have it, to walk out the back door just as you saw Voldemort coming at Bernard again."

*she closes her eyes involuntarily*

I'd want to tear him apart with my bare hands.

Eddie says quietly, "I understand completely Bernard's perspective on this, and I'm not complaining about my punishment. Ijust... thought that might illustrate what went through our heads."

"Ka delivered him into our hands. We didn't toss the gift away."

*she nods slowly*

I can understand it, Eddie. Very well, indeed.

Bernard and I...it's just difficult to have that here, you know? This is our home. Yours too, now.

Eddie nods. "Yeah. And regardless... Bernard is my boss. More than that, he's the dinh of Milliways. It's an old word that means father, leader, king--or smaller stuff like boss or chief, too, the old Gileadians got a lot of work out of their language."

"This is Bernard's territory. And while Roland is my father and...commander, my true dinh when I took this job I made a covenant with Bernard. Trust me, I don't take that lightly."

*Tonks listens intently, and smiles softly at the description of dinh*

That's...wow, Eddie.

*she looks at him admiringly*

You're a good man.

Eddie's smile is embarassed, and almost shy. "I'm a very new part of a very old tradition. I do my best to live up to its principles. I... I been dirty. I like this life better."

*she smiles back, and pats him on the arm*

It suits you. And we're pleased to have you around.

Eddie flushes again. "Thanks."

"You know, I mean it about Bernard. This place is bigger than some cities I saw in Mid-World already, and it gets bigger all the time. And Bernard's the barman, not because he was elected, but because the bar picked him. And everything else follows quite reasonably from that. It's like divine right of kings if God was visibly present and handing out booze."

*Tonks laughs at the mental image of God pulling a pint, and then sobers*

He takes it really seriously. It's a huge responsibility, something I can't even fathom, really, but he loves it.

Eddie nods. "He was born to it, no doubt. As much or more than he was born to be a bomber. The day will come, I think, when people come to him to be married or to settle their disputes. I wonder how he'll take that."

*She grins*

It's already started. A girl named Kestrel asked if Bernard would officiate at her wedding, and Bernard laughed fit to kill when he heard about it.

Bernard's not what you would call a...conventional sort of bloke.

Eddie laughs. "No. But then again, this ain't a conventional sort of place. I think he may be surprised at how good he'll be at it."

Yup. Way he sees it, we're all outlaws here.

And Bernard? Is the ultimate outlaw.

*the pride is clearly evident in her tone and on her face*

Eddie smiles. "It's kind of Zen. He's so much of an outlaw that he's become the law. It'll be interesting to watch what kind of a civilization builds up her in our lifetimes."

If he thinks at all of a city of outlaws he visited once, he keeps it far from his mind. Bernard is not the Ticktock Man.

Yeah, it will. And with new people coming in all the time, learning how the place works...

*she grins*

Never a dull moment.

in Mid-World.

Eddie looks... gobsmacked? yeah. gobsmacked for a moment.

*she tilts her head to the side, brow furrowing slightly*

..All right, Eddie?