(Untitled)

[self_named]

Duo was feeling a little jerked around by the time he was escorted into the impressively columned building that was, apparently, the Ankh-Morpork City Post. How they had tracked him down to the hole Lipwig had pointed him toward (and so kindly paid for), he had no idea, but he'd been greeted in the morning by three officers and a guy that looked

Comments

[forged_hero]

Moist was in a meeting with the Young Stamp Enthusists of Ankh-Morpork, organized by the ever bewildered and pimply Stanley and consisting of smaller, slightly less pimply versions of Stanley. There was a lot of excited staring and an occasional nervous sweat over possible imperfections. One boy in particular had to be taken outside and ducked in the rainwater bin after seeing a Blue Triangle Inversion in person

[self_named]

Duo's eyebrows ticked upward. He pressed the scroll against Moist's chest as he passed the taller man and headed into the office, sizing it up freely.

"They kinda did. That's for you. Nice digs," he said, and flung himself down into Moist's chair before kicking his heels up onto the corner of the desk. He folded his arms behind his head.

[forged_hero]

"Thanks. It came with a hat," he said, nodding to the gold lame hat hanging off a hook by the door. "To what do I owe the honor?" He broke the wax seal with his thumb, thinking that it would have been better if he could open it carefully, in private. You never knew when you'd need the Watch's seal.

"Now I know for certain that the law enforcement branch of this fine city's government is one place that even Vetinari will be hard pressed to land me a job..."

[self_named]

"Well, you'd know more about that then I would, boss," Duo said, tipping his head to one side and watching Moist's reaction to the news that Duo was now effectively his ward, and anything he did, Moist was responsible for. Poor bastard.

"What with me being a stranger 'round these parts, and all."

[forged_hero]

In the Post, there weren't long days and short days; there were days that made a man feel one more flying pink Hippo from utter madness and there were the days that put you past the chaotic storm of madness and into the blissful, dissociated state beyond. It was with a pleasant white static that Moist ascended the stairs to the private rooms just as Ahnk-Morpork began chiming midnight, thinking that perhaps all this day needed was a neon colored pachyderm to round it out.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, swaying gently on his feet. After a moment of blank staring, he dug out his keys and unlatched the door to his rooms. Duo, if he knew him, was not in his assigned room or anywhere else in the building. If he was lucky, he was having a poke about town. It he wasn't, Duo had probably gone down to challenge half the shades to a game of silly buggers for lack of something better to do.

Groaning, he stepped inside. And he'd thought the damn fool bastard found trouble on the Island...

[self_named]

As it happened, Duo was not in his room. Nor was he out actively engaging in trouble. He was, as it happened, finishing climbing up the side of the Post Office and dropping through a window onto the dusty floor boards. He looked up in time to see Moist's door closing.

Duo was dressed primarily in black, had some considerable dirt smudges on his person, and was carrying a large sack over one shoulder, so he basically couldn't have looked any shadier if he tried. He stood and started for his room on delicate footsteps, figuring it for the best if Moist didn't see or find out about what he'd been up to.

Though he had the strangest inclination to talk to the guy.

[forged_hero]

Boots off first, then socks, then slacks. It was the same in any universe, which was slightly comforting. Perhaps that could be the tether that kept him sane. It seemed as good as any other measure, these days.

He missed boxers, he thought with a sigh. When the floor shifted, he lifted his head, found a robe, and slowly stuck his head outside the door.

Right, he thought. Of course, he thought. He should give Duo the golem graveyard and hope that kept him busy.

"I won't ask," he said carefully, a tiny, tired grin pulling at the corner of his mouth, "But..."

He pulled the door slightly more open. "I am never opposed to a good...hypothetical story."

[self_named]

Duo would have looked sheepish, but he figured it for a waste of energy.

"Hypothetically, I just had to rob three different impenetrable fortresses with the help of an orangutan. Want me to elaborate?" he asked, shouldering his own door open and moving across the room to drop the big cloth sack onto the heretofore untouched bed.