Live and Learn

River shifts uneasily. "I may have... said something."

She looks up over her shoulder at Richard.

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"... Why have I a really bad feelin' 'bout this?" Ace asks, somewhat rhetorically. Honestly. She goes and dies, and people start acting crazy.

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Ryan's with Ace on this one.

"You didn't mention this before," he says tersely, craning his neck a bit so he can look down at River.

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"I just said that -- if she'd hurt Ace, that I'd see her -- ended."

She tries to make her tone light, but it doesn't really work.

"She called me 'goldeneyes'."

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Ace facepalms. It's pretty much the only appropriate answer. Well, that and:

"River, I can't die. Last time I checked, you can. Here, anyway. Only one of us should be threatenin' big bads."

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"Goldeneyes?" How would Blodwen know that?

"If you can't finish them off, you shouldn't be threatening such people either," Ryan chides Ace.

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"Well it hardly matters now," she chides both of them.

"What matters is that you have an enemy who is far more powerful than you had anticipated, and I seem to have put my foot in it. It's hardly the first time. Ace, who is this Raven?"

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"He's my brother. He's also the dumbass who let Blodwen destroy his body. An' he gave me a headache tellin' me this."

...

Wait, was someone here expecting a normal explanation?

"If Coyote isn't helping him, I'm goin' t'beat on her, an' won't that be bloody embarrassin'?"

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Hardly the first time? Should he be expecting this to be a repeating occurrence?

"Does that mean they can't stop this Blodwen, either?" He's assuming Raven's power level is up there, if he can exist without a body.

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River pats Ace's hand and rises, heading off to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

"Raven, and Coyote. They're trickster gods, aren't they?" Sometimes it's nice to have a bit of an academic background. "I know I don't recognise the name Blodwen."

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"She's Welsh, I know that much. Calls everyone 'cariad', which has utterly ruined the word for me. Venomous little bitch." The last travels back towards 'snarl' range, because Ace? Will never, ever be a fan.

"An' don't ever call him a god. He hates it. Really an' truly."

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Blodwen took out a god? Jesus, what chance do they have?

Ryan settles on the edge of one of the chairs, thinking hard.

"She's powerful. I can think of a few people, here, who may be able to help, but. You attacked her, yes? That won't help with Security."

Not that Security usually does much anyway.

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"Security wasn't around, or I'm sure they would have interfered. It's why I brought you here, instead of the Infirmary."

She's busying herself with tea, also thinking hard.

"Ace. Really, who is she? I mean, the more we know about her, the better prepared we can be when she makes her presence known again."

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"I dunno what she is, properly, but she's bad news. Raven can take her, if sufficiently riled. Coyote prolly could too, but she fights like I do. There's a few others too, from her world, though I haven't seen any of them about, lately. The Aes Sedai could probably take her too, in concert, but don't tell Lan I said that, he'd get pissed if he knew I sorta-volunteered his wife an' his ward in that list." She rambles, marking them off on her fingers.

"An' it's just as well y'didn't go to the infirmary. I've no wish t'become their latest pet project, ta. Nynaeve bein' interested is bad enough." She sighs, sitting up a bit and stretching the kinks out of her neck.

"Just... keep clear of her. She tends t'only go for people with a lot of power, or people who's injury will upset those with power. She'll prolly move on t'bigger targets. Like Raven. Again. Or Coyote. Again. Though there's more gods in general in the bar this round, maybe she'll go find a new group t'bother."

Of course, once Ace figures out how to kill her properly, this discussion becomes academic.

Um. Right.

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"I'm all for avoiding her," Ryan says honestly.

Then he turns towards the kitchen to give his mate a pointed look.

"If we can."

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"No argument from me."

She's putting mugs and sugar on a tray, along with the tea pot.

"But I'm not going to skulk around the bar like I was the one that did something wrong."

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"Skulkin's bad for the complexion." Ace notes, innocently.

She leans back against the sofa, and sighs.
"Bloody White Bitch. Doesn't make sense, her comin' back. You'd think she enjoys gettin' her ass handed to her."

Never mind Ace was never, ever the cause of Blodwen getting sent packing. Part of the situation surrounding it, yes. But not the cause.

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"I wasn't going to ask you to," he tells River mildly. This is their home, dammit. You don't just give up on that.

Ryan turns his attention back to Ace.

"What happened the first time?"

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River cocks an eyebrow at Ace. It's a perfectly valid question.

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"She had knitting. Very pretty, or so I'm told, I never saw it m'self. Only problem is, once y'touched it, y'did whatever she wanted. An' mostly she wants power. Destruction gets her off too, no surprise there. She even managed t'nab m'dingbat ex. She tried the trick on Raven, an' that's when she found out all things don't go her way."

And yes, she sounds (rightfully) proud of her (dingbat) brother.

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"Nab him how? Through the knitting or does she have other methods?"

This is asked as he makes a mental note to be leery of touching stranger's property.

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"Spells," River muses. "It's very old magic, or so the legends say. Catching another person's will in the weaving. Or knitting in this case."

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Through the knittin'. The first time, anyway - she's tried more directly physical restraint later on, as well as usin' bait."

Does she smell vaguely sheepish at that last bit?

Why yes she does!

Damn White Bitch.

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He sits back at 'bait' and firmly quiets the little voice in the back of his head that's warned him against getting attached to people.

Too late now, anyway.

"There are ways to break it, though?" This is directed more at River.

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