Chapter Dos
Twist
A/n: Hehe, well don't we feel special on this 'un? I actually continued it. I didn't have to, oh no, but I did. And I'm on vacation, too. Just because I love you all so much.Feeling guilty now? Good. Onwards.
Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful Terry Pratchett (oooh, thunder outside. Sorry, that was irrelevant) , who tolerates fanfic if we don't pretend to be him. I am not you, sir. Very good. And I'm sorry, in the last chapter I said Reyna did not belong to me. Well, she does. But, the last name Vetinari belongs to Terry Pratchett. Clear? Roger that, we are ready for liftoff.
~
The day tried to dawn in Ankh-Morpork. The sun meandered its way over the horizon and the light followed reluctantly like one of those children with leashes on. Eventually, it poked into the Oblong Office. Lord Vetinari stole a glance out of the window at his glorious, disgusting, mud-encrusted city. And he listened at the alarmed shout as his daughter fell out of bed.
"Bloody hell!" There were several frantic crashes as the war with the bedsheets began and silence when one of the parties involved won. It was unsure at this point.
~
Reyna was not a happy person. It was only 7:00 in the morning and she was awake. Normally this was terrible enough, and being tangled in bedsheets and smelling of the Ankh's unique breed of mud did not help. She tried again to free herself of the linen, and this time managed to free herself of it's murderous grasp. Well, not murderous. But it made a good sentence.
She flopped back onto the bed, now free of it's sheets, and made an attempt to sleep. The light that was just now reaching the back wall of the room was too bright. So she gave up, and headed for the bathroom.
She couldn't quite remember why she had been so happy last night that she hadn't bothered to clean up. Certainly if she had been her normal self she would have jumped in the bath as soon as she got home. And then, as she stuck her head under the water, she remembered.
"Ponder!"
*
The wizards of the Unseen University had had an unusually good night last night. The Project had been coming along nicely and there seemed to be a small civilization of fish flourishing in one of the oceans. And, so far, the little round planet had not turned into a snowball or been struck by a rock. Yes, it seemed as thought this one might work.
Which was why the only thing monitoring the Project right now was Hex and, to an extent, the Bursar. The rest of the wizards were at breakfast. The students were all asleep on the floor.
And Hex was trying to understand something. Amidst the crawling ants and swimming fish and other such things, Hex was thinking about what the Roundworld residents called 'love.' There was a lot of it, and people on the Roundworld seemed to enjoy making more. But, as far as Hex could tell, there was no element involved. No scientific make-up of such thing. And that was the stumbling block.
And Hex had noticed it once here, as well. Last night, that pizza delivery girl had been experiencing the thing called 'love.' So it was not strictly limited to the Roundworld. Perhaps it was contagious, or dangerous. Deep in thought, a quill scratched across a piece of paper.
++What is love?++
"Say hello to Mr. Spoonie!" Came the Bursar's reply, as he played with an abandoned piece of cutlery. And so Hex was left to explore to world of romance alone.
~
Reyna decided it might be nice to let her father know she was alive before she left for the day. He probably was aware, but she had a thought that it was healthy for parents and children to exchange at least a few words a week.
"Good morning, my parent, and I am alive," Reyna said, sticking her head through the door to his office and attempting t close it before he could say anything. No such luck.
"Your mother sent this for you," he replied, sliding a piece of paper across the desk. He hadn't looked up yet. "And before you start anything I didn't read it."
"Thank you," she said shortly, snatching off of the polished surface. " Aren't you going to make sure I'm healty and not horribly deformed?"
He glanced up. "I'm glad to see you survived your encounter with the sheets."
"Dad!"
"What?"
Reyna read through the clacks quickly and sniffed indignantly. "It's as if she doesn't trust me. Like I wouldn't keep up with my schoolwork." Her father snorted. "And she hasn't said anything about you, by the way, so you have no reason to need to read it."
"I wasn't going to. It's your thingy."
"Thingy?" She gave her father a curious glance before she asked him the question that had been irking her all morning. "Do you know a wizard named Ponder?"
"Ponder?" he seemed to think. "Oh, yes, Stibbons. Yes, he was the one who put the people on the moon. Yes, I know Stibbons. Why?"
"Nothing whatsoever," Reyna replied quickly. She wouldn't get away with it for long, perhaps about a week before he father pried it out of her but that was good enough until she figured out a way to say 'I'm madly in love with him' to her father. " I'll be back tonight sometime, don't worry about me, I'm gone like the wind. Whoosh." She ran out of the room. The Patrician merely shook his head and wondered where she'd gotten it from.
~
Ponder looked curiously at the sheet Hex had printed out earlier. There was a great deal of things on it, chemical compositions and such. But then there were these things that seemed to make no sense.
++Chocolate is love?++ Or,
++Eating chocolate is required when falling in love.++
And then there was the oddest yet:
++Oysters = Love++
While it was semi-obvious to Ponder what was going on here, he was more fascinated by what had driven Hex to contemplate love. So there must be something else. Hex was a machine built to calculate complex mathematical equations and derive patterns from chaos. It was also useful in spell-casting and creation. Love did not come into anything anywhere. He shrugged and laid the paper aside, turning to look at the Project. The fish were still there.
TBC, Maybe
A/n: And there you have chapter two. Here is a warning for those of you who really enjoy this story: I am doing it on a whim and it may not get very far. It may be filed away into the Unfinished archives. Maybe not. I do not have a real ending in sight but there is a hint of a *gasp* plot. So we'll see, huh? Until next time, enjoy yourselves.
A/n: Hehe, well don't we feel special on this 'un? I actually continued it. I didn't have to, oh no, but I did. And I'm on vacation, too. Just because I love you all so much.Feeling guilty now? Good. Onwards.
Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to the wonderful Terry Pratchett (oooh, thunder outside. Sorry, that was irrelevant) , who tolerates fanfic if we don't pretend to be him. I am not you, sir. Very good. And I'm sorry, in the last chapter I said Reyna did not belong to me. Well, she does. But, the last name Vetinari belongs to Terry Pratchett. Clear? Roger that, we are ready for liftoff.
~
The day tried to dawn in Ankh-Morpork. The sun meandered its way over the horizon and the light followed reluctantly like one of those children with leashes on. Eventually, it poked into the Oblong Office. Lord Vetinari stole a glance out of the window at his glorious, disgusting, mud-encrusted city. And he listened at the alarmed shout as his daughter fell out of bed.
"Bloody hell!" There were several frantic crashes as the war with the bedsheets began and silence when one of the parties involved won. It was unsure at this point.
~
Reyna was not a happy person. It was only 7:00 in the morning and she was awake. Normally this was terrible enough, and being tangled in bedsheets and smelling of the Ankh's unique breed of mud did not help. She tried again to free herself of the linen, and this time managed to free herself of it's murderous grasp. Well, not murderous. But it made a good sentence.
She flopped back onto the bed, now free of it's sheets, and made an attempt to sleep. The light that was just now reaching the back wall of the room was too bright. So she gave up, and headed for the bathroom.
She couldn't quite remember why she had been so happy last night that she hadn't bothered to clean up. Certainly if she had been her normal self she would have jumped in the bath as soon as she got home. And then, as she stuck her head under the water, she remembered.
"Ponder!"
*
The wizards of the Unseen University had had an unusually good night last night. The Project had been coming along nicely and there seemed to be a small civilization of fish flourishing in one of the oceans. And, so far, the little round planet had not turned into a snowball or been struck by a rock. Yes, it seemed as thought this one might work.
Which was why the only thing monitoring the Project right now was Hex and, to an extent, the Bursar. The rest of the wizards were at breakfast. The students were all asleep on the floor.
And Hex was trying to understand something. Amidst the crawling ants and swimming fish and other such things, Hex was thinking about what the Roundworld residents called 'love.' There was a lot of it, and people on the Roundworld seemed to enjoy making more. But, as far as Hex could tell, there was no element involved. No scientific make-up of such thing. And that was the stumbling block.
And Hex had noticed it once here, as well. Last night, that pizza delivery girl had been experiencing the thing called 'love.' So it was not strictly limited to the Roundworld. Perhaps it was contagious, or dangerous. Deep in thought, a quill scratched across a piece of paper.
++What is love?++
"Say hello to Mr. Spoonie!" Came the Bursar's reply, as he played with an abandoned piece of cutlery. And so Hex was left to explore to world of romance alone.
~
Reyna decided it might be nice to let her father know she was alive before she left for the day. He probably was aware, but she had a thought that it was healthy for parents and children to exchange at least a few words a week.
"Good morning, my parent, and I am alive," Reyna said, sticking her head through the door to his office and attempting t close it before he could say anything. No such luck.
"Your mother sent this for you," he replied, sliding a piece of paper across the desk. He hadn't looked up yet. "And before you start anything I didn't read it."
"Thank you," she said shortly, snatching off of the polished surface. " Aren't you going to make sure I'm healty and not horribly deformed?"
He glanced up. "I'm glad to see you survived your encounter with the sheets."
"Dad!"
"What?"
Reyna read through the clacks quickly and sniffed indignantly. "It's as if she doesn't trust me. Like I wouldn't keep up with my schoolwork." Her father snorted. "And she hasn't said anything about you, by the way, so you have no reason to need to read it."
"I wasn't going to. It's your thingy."
"Thingy?" She gave her father a curious glance before she asked him the question that had been irking her all morning. "Do you know a wizard named Ponder?"
"Ponder?" he seemed to think. "Oh, yes, Stibbons. Yes, he was the one who put the people on the moon. Yes, I know Stibbons. Why?"
"Nothing whatsoever," Reyna replied quickly. She wouldn't get away with it for long, perhaps about a week before he father pried it out of her but that was good enough until she figured out a way to say 'I'm madly in love with him' to her father. " I'll be back tonight sometime, don't worry about me, I'm gone like the wind. Whoosh." She ran out of the room. The Patrician merely shook his head and wondered where she'd gotten it from.
~
Ponder looked curiously at the sheet Hex had printed out earlier. There was a great deal of things on it, chemical compositions and such. But then there were these things that seemed to make no sense.
++Chocolate is love?++ Or,
++Eating chocolate is required when falling in love.++
And then there was the oddest yet:
++Oysters = Love++
While it was semi-obvious to Ponder what was going on here, he was more fascinated by what had driven Hex to contemplate love. So there must be something else. Hex was a machine built to calculate complex mathematical equations and derive patterns from chaos. It was also useful in spell-casting and creation. Love did not come into anything anywhere. He shrugged and laid the paper aside, turning to look at the Project. The fish were still there.
TBC, Maybe
A/n: And there you have chapter two. Here is a warning for those of you who really enjoy this story: I am doing it on a whim and it may not get very far. It may be filed away into the Unfinished archives. Maybe not. I do not have a real ending in sight but there is a hint of a *gasp* plot. So we'll see, huh? Until next time, enjoy yourselves.