Subj:	 [ffml] [HD] A new day dawning
Date:	01-03-09 18:19:44 EST
From:	larathia@mcs.net (Larathia)
Reply-to:	ffml@yahoogroups.com
To:	ffml@yahoogroups.com, hilliondynasty@egroups.com

The light of dawn was more than enough to rouse Aelis-Re from slumber. Long
gone were the days when he could sleep with light persistently shining in
his face.

It didn't mean he'd had enough sleep, though.  The snake punctures on his
legs, while bandaged and tended as well as he was able, were extremely
uncomfortable. And having another ...well, he couldn't be a world-walker,
perhaps a dimension-shifter... land in his camp screaming hadn't
contributed to his beauty rest. All in all, the cheery morning sun felt
vaguely insulting.

He looked over to where his new companion had finally managed to sleep.  He
hadn't worshipped any gods in ages, and he was beginning to wonder if they
were getting annoyed with him for his lack of subservience. It certainly
seemed like *someone* was out to annoy him and make his life hell. This was
supposed to have been a simple mission; find an avariel girl and guard her
for a while. Now his wife was a prisoner of both a malevolent power and her
own memories, the avariel girl could be damn near anywhere, and in the
meantime *he* was off gallivanting around the globe with a kid that should
just be starting college while there were huge snake-made holes in his legs.

Somebody Up There was having a grand old time with this, he was sure.

His stomach growled, loudly enough for him to hear it. That put him in mind
of the Adamantoise-bits he still had in his saddlebags. He certainly wasn't
going to try hunting with bandaged legs, or try to take Aaron with him
until he had a good idea of his skills. Stiffly, he limped over to The Bear
and rummaged around for the dried meat. Tasteless, but it would keep him
from starving.

He set up the laptop while he gnawed on it, to see if Larathia had anything
in the archives that would cover this latest string of events.

[Archive Entry: Prime Material Plane
  Prime Material Plane is also known as the Mortal Realm. All Prime planes
touch the Astral and Ethereal planes. There are an infinite number of
Alternate Primes, each differing in some degree from the others. Ref:
Crystal Spheres, Seromath, Moogle World, Mutant Earth]

Well, *that* wasn't much help. To travel the Astral one usually had to go
out of body, and he wanted to take his body with him. And to travel the
Ethereal one needed magic, which he didn't have. But it did at least hold
out some hope that he could get home one day. Pity there was no mention of
how you told all the different Primes apart. Just for something to do, he
checked the references on the Astral and Ethereal Planes.

He heard a disgusted groan and looked up; Aaron had apparently woken
himself up by putting his hand in cold snake bits. It didn't make Aelis-Re
smile, but it did make him feel better. If the Gods were having fun with
someone else, they might leave him alone for a while.

" 'Morning," he said, to make sure Aaron didn't try going back to sleep.
"Hope you like dried turtle." He tossed the bag of dried Adamantoise over.

"I have no idea," said his companion, eying the strips of dried meat with a
look of dread. After staring at them for a bit, he apparently decided it
was marginally better than starving, and started to gnaw on a strip.

Aelis-Re went back to his reading until it was plain that Aaron had
finished his breakfast. Then he stood up, and tested the flexibility of his
legs in the bandages. He'd be able to handle the basics, at least. When he
warmed up, the stiffness would probably fade some.

Aelis-Re reached across the frame of the Bear and pulled out his katana,
handing it hilt-first to Aaron. Somewhat to his surprise, Aaron seemed to
recognize the style. Since the katana was a replica of Connor MacLeod's
sword in the Highlander movies, Aelis-Re made a mental note to include
questions about Aaron's home reality in later conversations. But for now,
there were more important things to do. He walked over to where Zephyr was
stuck in the ground and pulled it out, cleaning the blue-ish metal of dirt.

"Time to practice," he said, and noted Aaron's unhappy look. Aelis-Re tried
a simple swing.

Instead of a parry, Aaron's response was to yelp a startled "Hey!" and
dodge out of the way. "Look, I don't really know how to use this, all
right?" he said.  "I'm hoping the sword we're going for will make up for
that."

Aelis-Re was not especially surprised. "And exactly how were you planning
on staying alive until then?"

"Er," said Aaron. "I was going to try hiding behind you...?"

Aelis-Re shook his head in disbelief. He wondered if Larathia would be able
to stop laughing once he told her about this; she'd always said he
attracted followers. He sighed. "What were you, before you came here?"

"Um, I wrote stories, and I'm in a band..."

Oh, Larathia was going to *love* this.  He blinked. A *band*....that might
work. It would take a long time for this guy to learn it well enough for
local elves to recognize it and come after him, but by then Aelis-Re was
devoutly hoping he'd be well out of here. If Aaron understood music, he
could understand the bladesong. And it was the style Aelis-Re knew best,
even if in this lifetime he couldn't carry a tune that was killed and
nailed to his back.

He stepped back. "Basics," he said. "Follow my steps and do exactly what I
do. We'll head out of here at noon, and you can rest then."

Aaron nodded uncertainly. At least it didn't sound like he'd have to dodge
the gunblade again. For the rest of the morning, Aelis-Re would clap out a
drum rhythm and then demonstrate a corresponding maneuver with his
gunblade. He gave no indication whether Aaron followed the movement
correctly other than to frown or growl at errors, but all in all his new
student didn't do too badly.

Aelis-Re wasn't going to bother about teaching Aaron how to kill things
just yet. The important first step was to get him used to moving in the
proper rhythms with the blade in hand and positioned correctly. At some
point, the movements would click into place in Aaron's mind during a
battle, and he'd be bladesinging. At the current rate of progress, that
would be some years away and hopefully they'd have the magic sword by then.
It was only the first day; there was no real way to judge how long the
process would take. In the meantime, it gave Aelis-Re an excuse to go
through the Bear's CD collection to find his own favorite music to put on
the laptop. He felt like listening to Meat Loaf today.



Larathia


Subj:	 [ffml] [HD] They don't teach this at Columbia College!
Date:	01-03-11 00:18:06 EST
From:	raumkatze2@aol.com
Reply-to:	ffml@yahoogroups.com
To:	ffml@yahoogroups.com, hilliondynasty@egroups.com

Aaron was surprised how quickly he picked up on the Bladesong techniques that 
Scott was teaching him.  He made a lot of mistakes, but still, for his first 
time he was not doing half-bad.  And the Meatloaf CD that Scott was playing 
made it fun.  It was comforting for Aaron to hear something from his home 
world.

Though as he was reminded of his home, he imagined his mother's reaction to 
his disappearence.  He wanted to get home as soon as possible, mostly for 
this reason.  She got freaked out when he stayed out late in Chicago.  He 
could only imagine what she would feel like to find him missing without a 
trace.  He tried not to dwell on this too much, since right now there was 
nothing he could do about it.

He tried to focus on the techniques he was learning.  As far as he could 
tell, Scott was impressed with his progress.  That is, as he kept practicing, 
he heard less and less disapproving grunts coming from Scott's direction.  
But despite this progress, Aaron was unsure about actually applying these 
techniques in a real battle.  If he actually had to fight for his life, he 
wasn't sure whether what he had learned of Bladesong could save his life.  
But he figured that learning it would be better than not learning it.

They kept training until what felt to Aaron like midafternoon, at which point 
they took a break to rest and eat some more turtle meat, at Aaron's request.  
After that, they started right where they had left off.

As they continued, Aaron wondered what season it was here, or if seasons even 
existed here.  It was not very cold, hot, dry, or damp.  He would have 
checked the leaves on the trees, but any trees that might have existed nearby 
had been destroyed when the forest was leveled... was it by Gray?  He wasn't 
sure.

Eventually, when it felt like it must be late in the afternoon, Aaron asked 
Scott if they could call it a day.  Scott agreed, though Aaron wasn't sure 
whether Scott had been ready to stop yet.  Scott didn't say much, and it was 
hard to read his face.  And after the conversation earlier, Aaron was 
hesitant to start a conversation with him, lest something slip out of his 
mouth that might offend Scott.  Aaron wished he had appeared nearer to a more 
friendly character, like Pyxie.  Perhaps he would get to meet her sometime.  
Aaron wondered if she would have sex with him.  She did talk about sex a lot, 
but in the posts that Pyxie wrote, there was never any actual sex going on.  
Either way, Aaron thought, it would be an absolute trip to hang around with 
her.  But right now, he had other matters to attend to.

"Um, Scott," Aaron said.

Scott looked up from his computer.

"Where were you, um, where do you think we should sleep tonight?"

"Where do you think we should?" Scott replied.

Aaron wanted to go to a town.  He felt very uncomfortable here for various 
reasons.  For one, he had worked up a sweat swinging that sword around all 
day, and he felt very self-concious and somewhat embarrased about his body 
oder.  For another thing, any time he had to urinate, his only option was to 
take a short walk away form Scott and do it out in the open.  Around this 
time, he was just starting to feel the urge to poop, and he wasn't sure how 
he would handle that situation out here.

"We're near Nikeah, right?" he said, "Could we go back there, I mean, we 
could stay at the Inn, get something to eat, get cleaned up, maybe buy some 
supplies, if you want, and it's a port city, so we could take a boat to 
Wangland, or whereever you want to go.  Or maybe we could rent a chocobo or 
something, I don't know."  

"Alright," said Scott.

"Er, could we take your bike?" said Aaron.

"Sure, unless you'd rather walk."

Aaron blushed.  Scott shut down his laptop, and put it away.  Then he got on 
the motorcycle, and motioned Aaron to follow suit.  Aaron got on behind 
Scott, and wondered what he should be holding on to.  He could put his arms 
around Scott's chest, but he wasn't sure how Scott would take that.  The only 
other thing he could think of was Scott's hips, but he would definately take 
that the wrong way.  As he thought about this, the bike suddenly lurched 
forward, and Aaron quickly grabbed ahold of Scott, and held on until they got 
there.

"There's the inn," Aaron said, as soon as he spotted it, "let's go there."

Scott parked the bike in an alley and accompanied Aaron to the Inn.

They got a room, which Aaron ashamedly was not able to help pay for.  Once 
they got there, Aaron used the bathroom, and then flopped down on the bed.  
Earlier, during the sword lessons, Aaron thought about the conversations he 
might have with Scott about his home world, and about the Moogle War and 
Hillion Dynasty stories, but the combination of insufficient sleep from the 
previous night and the exhausting all-day workout he had just had, all he 
wanted to do right now was sleep.  Even if this wasn't home, it felt a lot 
more home-like than sleeping out in the cold.  It only took him a few minutes 
to fall asleep, which was unusual for him.

 * * *

Subj:	 [ffml] [HD] The Nightmare Ended?
Date:	01-03-10 21:39:24 EST
From:	larathia@mcs.net (Larathia)
Reply-to:	ffml@yahoogroups.com
To:	hilliondynasty@egroups.com, ffml@yahoogroups.com

It was the middle of the night in the middle of winter. New Year's Eve, as 
if that made a difference. It certainly didn't to the dozen hill giants 
Larathia was desperately attempting to battle. She had gotten word that 
this band had slain some of her Border Guard patrol, who were trained to 
handle anything up to a herd of rampaging red dragons. But this little band 
had gotten under their guard, and now every one of the giants' helmets were 
decorated with the dismembered wings of her fallen patrol.

It had been Elessar she called then, knowing that giants who preyed on 
elves were a fitting target for the skills of a bladesinger. He had located 
their lair for her, and they had gone out just the two of them. Ten of her 
Border Guard had already died. She would handle this group herself - well, 
just herself and Elessar. If every avariel had their skills, Variel would 
be the strongest nation on earth.

She began her assault with a volley of magical attacks; she used gale force 
winds to throw the first giant back on his fellows, injuring all of them. 
While they were stunned, Elessar seemed to be dancing a merry jig on their 
bodies, his feet moving too fast to see as he dodged their dazed 
retaliations. When the game of tag had gone on long enough, Elessar neatly 
ran them through. Larathia chose to back him up with her arrows, usually 
through the eyes of her targets.

Pity giants were so mind-bogglingly stupid that arrows through the brain 
only wounded them. She noted with some surprise that a giant had risen and 
was going to drop a boulder-sized rock on Elessar's head. She raised her bow -

and the whole scene faded. There was no lair, no giants, she held no bow. 
Around her there was nothing.

No, that wasn't true. Elessar was here, looking a bit dazed and incredibly 
relieved. She watched as his shape shifted...his six-foot-six frame shrunk 
to only six feet, his features softened somewhat as his tanned skin faded 
to a golden tint and the tatooos faded, and his pale golden hair darkened 
to brown as his violet eyes shifted to a greenish-grey.

"You okay, larathia?" he said.

She blinked, but the sound of her true Name shocked her back to her senses. 
Yes, she *was* Larathia, and this was Aelis-Re as he was now...and she'd 
been a goddamned fool, hadn't she....

She answered him in her favorite way; she gave him a flying hug-tackle, 
almost knocking him off his feet.

"I'll take that as a 'yes', then?"

Larathia looked up at him with a smile in her eyes. "I'm always okay when I 
can play with your nipples," she teased.

Aelis-Re growled, but it lacked real force. "You do know you're a captive, 
right?"

"I'm a what?"

Aelis-Re closed his eyes, and a comfortable couch appeared in the 
nothingness in which they stood. He took a seat. "You're a captive. You 
want the whole story now?"

Larathia summoned her own chaise-lounge to relax on. "I suppose I'd better 
hear it. I'd rather not be too surprised when I wake up."

"You probably will be," warned Aelis-Re. "All I have I've gotten second 
hand. It seems that while you were out, some mysterious power kidnapped 
you. I have no idea what the limit of his power is, but I'm told he's taken 
out lesser gods. He doesn't seem to be a god himself, though. Apparently 
he's taken you captive because he wants the crystal I've been hanging on to 
- the one that brought us here. Seems the thing is very important."

"If it's important, he can't have it," said Larathia flatly. "I doubt he 
can come up with a torture worse than 49,500 years hitting you in the back 
of the head, and I still feel a bit strange. Who's your source of 
information? Are they reliable? Did you find the avariel girl?"

Aelis-Re grimaced. "No, I didn't find the girl but I know where to start 
looking. And my source..." he blew out a long breath. "I think he's telling 
the truth, but you're really not going to believe this."

"Show me." Larathia's voice grew hard.

Aelis-Re closed his eyes, and a three-dimensional image of Aaron appeared 
for a few moments. "That's what he looks like. He's from a parallel 
dimension as nearly as I can guess. He knows this stuff because in his 
world we're characters in a story he helped to write."

Larathia's eyes narrowed as she studied the image. "Is that so," she said 
musingly. "You haven't killed him, have you," she said as a statement.

"No...but he knows our Names," Aelis-Re admitted reluctantly. "I think he's 
been properly scared into not using them aloud."

Larathia remained silent for a few moments, thinking. "Yes, that was the 
wise thing to do," she said at last. "If he knows our Names, he knows a lot 
of things that could be a great help. I can think of a few questions in 
particular that I should like to put to him."

Aelis-Re stared at her. "You think he wrote about our last visit, don't 
you. Or knows about it."

"To put it bluntly, yes. And there are still things about that time I wish 
to know. But that will have to wait until I can meet you again - I don't 
want the answers to be muddled by dream recollection."

"You just can't let the past be, can you?" demanded Aelis-Re. "It's over, 
it's done. After this little trip you've been on I'd think you'd be more 
than willing to let sleeping dragons lie!"

Larathia watched him, completely unafraid of his anger. "I've remembered a 
few things that tell me the truth is most important," she said calmly. "If 
this boy knows the truth, I will get it out of him. You do still know where 
he is, right?"

Aelis-Re sighed. "Actually...was meaning to tell you that. He's after a 
magical sword located in someplace called Wangland, and in exchange for all 
the information I can wring out of him, I'm helping him to get it."

Larathia's eyes went wide for a moment, then she laughed. "You've done it 
again," she gasped through the howls of laughter. "You've found another 
follower! We're alone on a monster-infested planet and you found another 
follower!" She tried to calm herself down, but bursts of giggles kept 
coming out. "No humans anywhere nearby? No problem! My beloved just imports 
them from a handy dimension! Oh, you are *priceless*."

"He's not my follower," Aelis-Re growled, "and this isn't funny."

"Oh, of course not," chuckled Larathia. "But you've adopted him, haven't 
you. Going to protect him? Teach him the sword since the computer's pretty 
useless hereabouts?"

Aelis-Re only frowned at that. He had perfectly logical reasons for his 
choices and wasn't about to change his mind. Eventually, his lack of 
response calmed Larathia down.

"Oh, all right," Larathia said. "I'll quit teasing. Though how you manage 
to find a protege when you're in the middle of nowhere..." she raised her 
hand to stop Aelis-Re's grumbling. "Never mind. We've got a few hours till 
dawn, and I've missed you."

"I was here almost every night," Aelis-Re protested logically.

"But I didn't know you half so well then," Larathia riposted. "Certain 
things only get better as time goes on, wouldn't you agree?"

Aelis-Re only smiled. The couch and chaise-lounge disappeared, as more a 
more interesting landscape took shape....


Larathia

* * *

Subj:	 [ffml] [HD] The Nightmare Ended?
From: Spacecat


The next morning, Aaron awoke with a soreness in his muscles and an emtiness 
in his stomach.  I had only then occured to him that he had not eaten the 
previous night.

Scott had just gotten up, and Aaron could detect a slight smirk on his face, 
as if he was in on something that Aaron wasn't privy to.  But then again, 
Aaron got this feeling a lot, about a lot of people.  "Hey, you wanna get 
someth... er, let's get something to eat.  I know a place."

"Okay, after I change."  Scott took the bag he kept his clothing in, and 
stepped into the bathroom.  It occured to Aaron that Scott might have an 
extra change of clothes that he could use.  After Scott emerged, Aaron asked 
him if he had an extra change of clothes for him.  Scott said he did, and 
Aaron thanked him heartily, before Aaron went into the bathroom for a quick 
bath (this inn was not equiped with a showerhead) and a change into the 
clothes that Scott gave him.  Aaron looked at the T-shirt he had been given, 
and chuckled at the diesel locomotive pictured on it.

After leaving the Inn, Aaron became nervous that Scott expected him to know 
where he was going.  Aaron knew that the Underwear Heist Diner was somewhere 
in this town, but he didn't know exactly where.  After a few dead ends and 
wrong turns, the finally got there.  When they got inside, Aaron laughed out 
loud at the murals of underwear on the walls, and the video monitors which 
featured recreations of period newscasts.

They sat down at a table, where a waitress dressed up like Lady Paladin took 
their order.  Aaron ordered pancakes, and Scott ordered french toast.  As 
they ate, it looked to Aaron like there was something on Scott's mind.  Then, 
Scott surprisingly broke the silence.  "So," he said, "Tell me about your 
world, and this... story."


Subj:	 Re: [ffml] [HD] They don't teach this at Columbia College!
Date:	01-03-11 01:38:03 EST
From:	larathia@mcs.net (Larathia)
Reply-to:	ffml@yahoogroups.com
To:	ffml@yahoogroups.com

Aelis-Re was learning many things, but the biggest thing was that while the 
Gods were obviously doing *something* on him, it definitely wasn't smiling. 
Jerking him around like a toy was probably more accurate. But what could 
you do?

The first indication that things weren't going to qualify as a Smooth Sail 
was the trip on the Bear. He'd never had a male passenger before. It was 
pretty rare for him to have a female one either, and that had always been 
Larathia. Apparently Aaron didn't know how things would go either, since 
he'd opted to try holding onto nothing - until Aelis swung the Bear into 
motion. All of a sudden he was being fiercely hugged from behind by a guy 
whose last name he didn't even know. Aelis-Re had dismissed this as a 
knee-jerk reaction to the possibility of falling off a moving bike.

And then there was the Inn. He'd made sure there were two beds; no sense 
being stupid. Thankfully the kid had dropped off to sleep on his own bed 
very quickly, sparing Aelis-Re any necessity of conversation. And that 
night, he learned Larathia was free of the potion.

When he woke, he didn't remember all that much of what Lara had said to 
him...but he did remember her laughing about him gaining 'another 
follower', and being curious as to what his new companion knew. What in 
specific she'd wanted to ask had escaped his recall, though. But just the 
fact that she was now awake meant that she was halfway free of her 
captivity. That brightened his outlook considerably.

He glanced over at Aaron, who was just stirring, and remembered Larathia's 
laughter. He acknowledged to himself that while the current mission was 
probably more or less useless in the larger scheme of things, he had indeed 
'adopted' Aaron and would protect him until he was able to protect himself. 
It wasn't any great altruistic motive that prompted this, or indeed any 
great liking for Aaron or his company. It was simply that Aelis-Re did not 
have it in him to abandon a helpless person to probable death. He'd always 
been that way - it had been what drove him to become a Bladesinger in the 
first place, so long ago, and in many lifetimes it had driven him to become 
a warrior, activist, or mentor. And one of the side effects of this aspect 
of his character was that people tended to latch themselves on to him in 
the subconscious knowledge that he could and would help them.

There was nothing in his character that said he had to like them while 
doing so, though.

Aaron was awake; Scott found this out not by noticing (being as he was lost 
in his own thoughts at the time) but by hearing his companion say, "Hey, 
you wanna get someth... er, let's get something to eat.  I know a place."

Nice to see he'd gotten decisive. There might be enough assertiveness there 
to make him something other than monster food. But Scott was not going 
*anywhere* with his hair in disarray and his clothes rumpled from having to 
sleep in them. However, he *was* hungry. He replied, "Okay, after I 
change," and took his travel bag into the bathroom. Drat. No shower. Trust 
a backward mudball like this one not to have running water. He made do with 
a sink bath. A bathtub would take too long to fill, and he wanted breakfast.

Then Aaron asked him if he had any spare clothes. Of course Aelis-Re had 
spare clothes. He had about a week's worth, neatly packed away. He almost 
asked what Aaron had been thinking not to have some of his own, but then 
recalled the kid had been sucked into this world accidentally. You didn't 
get time to pack in that situation. Inwardly, he sighed. It really bit, 
having a follower. He admitted that yes, he had spare clothes, and got his 
hair dried, combed, and put back in its ponytail while Aaron did whatever 
it was he was doing. His small chuckle at the train T-shirt was rather 
annoying, though, even though Aelis had made sure it was one he wouldn't 
feel too badly about losing. He had a complete set of IRM t-shirts (at 
least of the engine types he liked) and wasn't happy about having to share.

Nikeah had changed a great deal in the thousand or so years since Aelis-Re 
had lived there, and on his previous stay a few days ago he hadn't really 
toured the place. So he let Aaron lead the way, wondering if this was one 
of the places he'd written about. After following him through several turns 
and a few dead ends, Aelis-Re was forced to conclude that geography was not 
something this writer had ever concerned himself with. Then Aaron ducked 
into a doorway that presumably was their destination. Aelis-Re looked up.

Underwear Heist Diner.

Aelis-Re frowned. All that trouble for *this*? The food and service had 
better be top-notch. He was beginning to think that Aaron was either gay or 
seriously yanking his chain. Either way, Aaron was going to be severely 
disappointed. Larathia was going to laugh herself silly tonight, he was 
sure. Bad enough to have another follower...but 'Underwear Heist Diner'? If 
there were the least sign of transvestites in there, Aelis-Re was going to 
be making a beeline for the door.

But Aaron had already gone inside, Scott had *no* idea where the Inn was 
after all the wrong turns, and he was hungry. He got a grip on his 
expression, and followed Aaron inside. The kid was positively enchanted by 
the murals of underwear on the walls. Scott eyed him sharply. This cast the 
whole grab on the motorcycle yesterday in a new and uncomfortable light. He 
could not believe there was a restaurant anywhere in the known universe 
that actually used underwear as a decorative motif.

They sat down at a table, where a waitress dressed up in a very strange 
costume (but at least a fairly modest one considering the locale) took 
their order. At least the food was good. But if this kid was wierd enough 
to find displays of underwear amusing, Aelis-Re held little hope that the 
rest of this adventure would make any sense. It hit him like a bucket of 
cold water that this little pervert had written about this world. It was 
enough to be very worrying; what of the other writers? Was he going to be 
trapped in a world created by a perverted *teen*? He had to know. Casually, 
he said "So. Tell me about your world, and this... story."

The answers he recieved in the ensuing conversation were not overly 
reassuring. By the sound of it, most of the world was written by incredibly 
perverted teenagers. Some of it wasn't, but enough to make Aelis-Re very 
uneasy. Then Aaron offered to tell him about the writer in charge of his 
own life, and Larathia's.

"No," he said, to Aaron's surprise. "I don't want to know. It wouldn't do 
me any good."

"It's not that bad," Aaron protested.

"I think you've got it wrong," Aelis-Re said. "There's stuff in this world 
you don't know about - I've watched you, I *saw* you get lost today. If 
it's your world, your own subconscious should tell you where things are 
even if you haven't written about them. But it doesn't. This world is 
seriously fucked-up, and I'm not going to argue about that - certainly not 
*here* (and he indicated the decor) - but its existence is independent of 
yours, or the other writers, I'm thinking. But we'll know for sure when we 
meet the people you think you made up. If they're still here, still 
existing when you're not there to write for them...that's proof. If they 
disappear, *then* you will tell me about the writer in charge of me. 
Otherwise...it doesn't matter."

The conversation lapsed into silence after that. It wasn't that Aelis-Re 
had no more questions, it was just that he strongly resented the idea of 
being anyone's puppet - and Aaron had assumed that he was the puppet of 
some writer somewhere. And Aaron for his part appeared to be mulling over 
Aelis-Re's argument. Suddenly, the ridiculous decor of the Underwear Diner 
was too much. Aelis-Re paid the tab (again, he understood the necessity) 
and left.

When Aaron emerged, with the anxious-puppy look Aelis-Re was beginning to 
assume was the guy's default expression, Aelis-Re tossed the katana into 
his hands.

"Don't think that just because we're not in the wild you're not going to 
train," he said. "This is your morning routine until I know you've got it. 
If you want music, we go back to the Bear. Otherwise, you're practicing 
right here until noon."

"Back to the Bear, then," was Aaron's immediate response, to Aelis-Re's 
secret relief. He never wanted to see anything as ridiculous as that Diner 
again, and would very definitely object to going to one if it turned out to 
be a chain.

He chose Guns 'n' Roses for the day's music, and began instructing Aaron in 
the first Blade Dance; a mock-duel carefully choreographed between sparring 
partners so that each slash was countered with the correct parry. Done 
quickly, it could fool observers into thinking it was a real duel. Done 
slowly, it served to match strikes and parries. It was a great deal more 
strenuous than the previous day's excercise, but Aelis-Re was not too 
surprised to find that Aaron picked it up quickly - once his initial 
nervousness at having Zephyr coming whizzing at his head passed.

Aelis-Re had begun to think that this world didn't like innocent 
bystanders. It would try to mold anyone new to it into a predetermined 
type; fighter, thief, mage, healer, or some combination. Since Aaron wanted 
a sword, that made him a fighter. And the world picked up that desire and 
probably allowed him to learn much faster than he otherwise might have done.

Aelis-Re had no idea if that were the case, but he held it in mind - always 
pushing the limit to see what Aaron could do. The katana was not a weapon 
of this world, though. It had been manufactured on the Earth of Aelis-Re's 
birth. Aelis-Re could forge Aaron a sword, but wanted to wait until he was 
sure Aaron wouldn't drop it and run for cover in a real fight. Swordmaking 
was strenuous and expensive work, and Aelis-Re was not going to make a 
sword for someone who'd just leave it on the grass.

The clincher would come when Aaron got the magical sword he was after. If 
Aelis-Re's guesses were right, at that time Aaron would find his Limit 
Break. It would be interesting to see what that was. Aelis-Re just hoped it 
wasn't something utterly useless, like running and hiding.

And in the meantime, he could work this boy into utter exhaustion for 
having him hauled into a place called 'Underwear Heist Diner'.

Life didn't always have to suck.


Larathia
========================
Nothing is serious to me
I live with what will be
You can always be a dreamer
So trust your heart
Don't fall apart
You'll see - at your journey's end
You will find a friend
in me.

--The Moody Blues, "Highway"
========================