milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Ted's in a booth. He's got a Dorothy Sayers mystery in one hand, and a pint of Guinness in another hand. A fresh pack of Chesterfields waits for him.

An absent smile crosses his face; he's always liked Gaudy Night.

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Ted nods. "That's what Sayers has to say about it, anyhow. Later on."

River looks back at him. A little sidelong; she turned her head away, too.

"Eddie told me to ask you about a duel."

River brightens a little.

"Caught it. Before it fell. It would have gotten muddy."

"So you won, then? And if you did...who did you duel?"

"Roland," she says tranquilly. "You never turned the page."

"I've read it six times," says Ted absently. "You dueled Roland? Why?"

"Six is a significant number on some planets. Two and three are factors." A brief, reflective pause. "On some planets they juggle geese. His plan wouldn't have worked. So I won."

Ted rides over the rest of it. "What was he planning?"

Though he's thinking, somewhere: geese?

Ted should talk to Wash. He could get lessons.

"To win." Duh. "Can't cry off. Once the trial starts. But he's not a doctor. No training in therapy."

Ted looks at River sharply.

"No. You can't cry off, once the trial starts. He gave Jake a chance."

Pause.

Slowly: "You duelled Roland. And you won."

River smiles, small and happy.

"So you're a gunslinger."

In contrast, Ted's face is tight. So's his voice.

River looks at him uncertainly.

"And are you carrying a gun?"

He closes the book without marking his page.

She shakes her head.

"Not until she gets better. We agreed. The voices in your head. They, they make it change and you can't look."

"At least there's that." Ted sighs.

Fuck.

And then a thought occurs to him -- a small voice at the back of his head. Which came first?

"River? Has he had you fire a gun?"

River blinks at him.

"Chicken came first. But it was an egg then."

He feels like throwing things.

A Breaker...who's a gunslinger.

"Which came first, River? Could you shoot, first? Or could you tell what people were thinking first?"

River looks away again.

She doesn't answer.

Ted smokes.

Eddie's probably laughing aobut this.

Only he's not. Figures. He probably knew Ted would be upset.

It's just a mess.

The voice at the back of his mind, again: You could always just not come back.

River's face disappears from the top of the booth.

Ted looks startled. "River?"

A pause.

"Didn't go away."

It's not quite muttered, but close.

There's silence for a while on Ted's side.

Then:

"I had an argument with Eddie last night."