A Journey Cross-Country To Smack David Eddings

[gone_byebye]

The door opens from Milliways onto a truck stop somewhere in southeastern Oregon. More specifically, onto the farthest edge of the truck stop's parking lot, away from the gas pumps and the smokers and everything else that goes on outside a truck stop's main buildings. Ray made a point of finding the hardest-to-spot location to access Milliways for this. "Here we are, guys," he calls over his shoulder. "We've still got a long way to go before we reach Mr. Eddings' house."

Comments

[golden-acorns.livejournal.com]

Ce'Nedra can't help tittering a little. Ray sounds so abashed over such a silly thing.

(She'd laugh at Garion - has laughed at Garion - over comparatively silly things, as well.)

"I'm sure it will be very entertaining," she assures him, looking no end of deviously amused.

She's going to make a show of how entertained she is later on, too, unless Garion puts a stop to her first.

... possibly it's dangerous to go on long trips with Ce'Nedra for reasons that have nothing at all to do with bodily harm.

[gone_byebye]

Is there any way whatsoever that Ray can apologize to Optimus for what's going to wind up happening between here and there, without making matters that much worse?



.... probably not.

[wellthrownstone.livejournal.com]

"Ray? Optimus? Do you know anything else about him? About this Mr. Eddings? Other than what's at the end of the books, I mean?"

Ce'Nedra is angry, but Garion is...

Well, he'd read through the books and while he'd been livid initially, now he's just thinking about it. The Voice had said that every story must be told, but those books had been told from his point of view, other than the two the man had outright stolen from his Aunt Pol and his Grandfather. And once again, almost like clockwork, it came around to

Why me?

[golden-acorns.livejournal.com]

Ce'Nedra's gaze flicks up and holds steadily on Ray almost immediately upon the words hitting air; she does not interject, however, as she wants to hear what Ray can tell them about Mr. Eddings as well, and goes back to reading her book just as quick as she stopped, though only half as attentive to the details of Rodrigo's mad affection for Maureen as she was earlier (so: not very attentive to her reading material at all, then).

There's something to be said for knowing as much as you can about a man before you meet him, after all. No reason not to be prepared!

(This thought, coupled with a choice moment in the first third of the book, makes her smile.)

[gone_byebye]

Oh thank God. That's easier.

"I tried reading some of his other books in the shop," Ray says. "I wasn't very impressed by High Hunt, and The Losers just lost me after about a page and a half. I know he's supposed to have another series or two set in other worlds entirely, but I couldn't find any of those to look at. I've never heard of him otherwise."

[facile-fivefold.livejournal.com]

"The photosphere's average temperature is 5800 kelvin," Jhalak contributes absently.

[gone_byebye]

Ray just smiles at that and reaches up to scritch whatever appropriate part of Jhalak is nearest. Scientific curiosity in the young is a lovely thing.

[autocommander.livejournal.com]

Optimus motors on. His voice can be lightly heard over the sound of the engine - not bothersome or really obvious, but if you listen you can hear it:

"Oooooooh, I'm driving my life away
Lookin' for a better way, for me
Oooooooh, I'm driving my life away
Lookin' for a sunny day..."

...it IS a 'truck driving' song. Why not?

[gone_byebye]

Why not, indeed. Beats romance novelizing, that's for sure.

---

Eventually the miles roll away enough to match up with Google Maps' last instructions to "turn RIGHT (500 yds.)", and the Eddings householding appears in the distance. Ray gulps a little and glances over at the other passengers. "Well," he says, "hope you're all ready."

[golden-acorns.livejournal.com]

Ce'Nedra looks up from her romance novel, raising her eyebrows just slightly to indicate she'd heard Ray's announcement.

---
Several minutes earlier - possibly longer ago than that - she'd started amusing herself by going "Oh!" and "Oh my!" and "... isn't that interesting," at various parts of the story that frankly weren't all that interesting, purely to see the effect these comments had on her husband. Ideally, they made him shift uncomfortably and give his wife odd looks every so often when he thought she couldn't see him doing so (she could).

Ray probably enjoyed that. For definitions of "enjoy" that have no correlation to the normal human use of the word.
---

As she nods and rises to her feet, she makes a suspicious shifting movement in her seat that no one who might catch her doing so could be blamed for wishing fervently that they had checked her for any potential sharp objects before they'd arrived at the Eddings household.

She sets her book to the side of her seat, smiling with quiet, gentle dignity and probably immediately setting off about half the warning bells Garion has available for signaling "imminent catastrophe" in his brain. (The other half, naturally, are the ones that go off when it's the Orb going "hm." at something in that way where it means an Adventure might be sort of necessary. It's a very good thing Garion has developed this kind of warning system in his brain.)

"I'm ready," she says, with complete confidence.

... this is going to go so well.

[facile-fivefold.livejournal.com]

"Jhalak ready," it says, turning the page in its encyclopedia. "Ready stay with Ray."

Okay, so it's a little shaky on prepositions. Give it a break, here.

[gone_byebye]

Ray reaches up to pet Jhalak's nearest available leg reassuringly and looks to Garion.

The front door is, after all, right there.

[wellthrownstone.livejournal.com]

He looks at the door for himself, breathing in, almost as nervous as when he'd first stepped off of Faldor's farm and onto the adventure that was his life...

And knocks on the door.