[Re-Introduction: Sir Dinadan]

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

Dinadan awakens, which is already several positive steps ahead of where he thought he'd be this morning (viz. in the void from which there is no awakening, or in the hereafter that he has done nothing particularly to avoid). A giddy thrill of relief washes through him. He cautiously cracks one eye open, and then the other. For a moment, the sunlight's brightness overwhelms him--an aching reminder that he is, somehow, alive.

But as the sunlight becomes bearable, he realizes that he is somehow, impossibly, once again, in Sagramore's cabbages.


"Christ, do you really only have one joke?" he calls to the sky--but he's grinning all the same. A life condemned to cabbages is better than a death condemned to Hell or the void, and given those are the only two options, he'll gladly take the cabbages.

Friends and strangers may find a tall, blond knight minstrel wandering around in Sagramore's borrowed clothes, occasionally strumming his rebec, definitely not touching anything he shouldn't.

Comments

[sagramore]

"Thou art not real," Sagramore says stubbornly, but there's a smile playing on his lips. "Thou art a trick."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Well, I think that's very rude." Szarka is now fully in his lap, kissing his beard, and Dinadan just buries his face in her soft fur. "If this dog were any less fully on top of me, I'd walk off in a huff."

[sagramore]

"I know thou wouldst. Into the horizon, never to be seen again." He approaches.

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"How fortunate for you that I'm pinned."

[sagramore]

"I've never been so fortunate in all my life," softly.

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Thy daughter would love to hear that, I'm sure."

[sagramore]

"Thou'rt crushing my garden. Canst thou not move thine arse?"

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Not with thy dog on top of me!"

[sagramore]

"She's not a big dog. Shift her thyself."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Thy father's so cruel!" he tells Szarka. "He'd have thee get off of my lap for no better reason than to preserve his cabbages! But I'll never force thee out of my lap. Never ever."

[sagramore]

"Then we're at an impasse," with a shake of his head. "Thou wilt have to lie there."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Because thou couldst never give thy well-trained dog a command."

[sagramore]

"Alas," brightly.

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

Just as brightly, "Alack."

Szarka, satisfied that Dinadan is Here and The Same and Loves Her, scoots off his lap to sit at attention, tail wagging. "Betrayed," groans Dinadan, and heaves himself slowly to his feet. "Is there breakfast to be had? Or have I sat on all of it?"

[sagramore]

"I will, in my generosity, grant thee breakfast. Come on."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Magnanimous. I suppose I'll have to find somewhere to stay, too, if I am staying."

[sagramore]

"The big house is full of rooms. Thou wilt easily find something to thy liking. I'd invite thee to stay here, but I don't want thee to get surfeited on me."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Impossible. But with a babe in the house, I'm sure thou wilt treasure every scrap of privacy."

[sagramore]

"If only thou wert the sort of man who would join us, it wouldn't matter."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"Well, now I'm certainly finding my own room."

[sagramore]

"It'll be such a shame not to awaken to thy melodious playing."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"When hast thou ever awakened to my melodious playing?" Dinadan swings into the house, where Laertes is busy at the hot plate making omelettes and bacon.

[timebethine]

"Who's this?" Laertes asks. "Ought I to make another plate?"

[sagramore]

Sagramore lights, in a way he hasn't since Dinadan left for the first time. He sweeps over to Laertes, sliding his arms around his waist. "Another plate, a hundred, anything he wants. Dinadan's staying."

[rebecs_with_the_straps]

"I'm staying," Dinadan agrees, smiling even as he averts his gaze. "But fear not; I'll only eat you out of house and home this once, and then scavenge my meals like everyone else."