* * *

Fruit
by afrai

* * *

"I wouldn't have told them," said Rincewind. "You didn't have to run off with me like that."

The pineapple maintained a stubborn silence.

"I didn't tell them the last time," said Rincewind. "Why would I do it now?"

The pineapple didn't say anything, but it managed to imply that Rincewind might have a million reasons to tell them or he might not. He probably did. It wasn't any of the pineapple's business. It was just looking after itself. Nothing personal.

"Well, all right, I don't deny I wish you were human sometimes," Rincewind admitted. "It hasn't been the same since your change."

It wasn't the pineapple's fault.

"It's me, it's not you," said Rincewind. "Well, actually, it is you. I just can't bring myself to, you know, with someth -- body who's not human. Sorry."

The pineapple continued saying nothing.

"Don't look at me like that," snapped Rincewind. "I get enough of that from the Luggage. I think it's my own business who I choose to, you know, with. Gods, you're always the same!"

The pineapple imploded with an ah-choo! and proved Rincewind wrong by turning into a furry reddish-brown snake. It coiled around Rincewind. "All right, just this once then," he said. "But we're through. Really. I told you."

The Librarian grinned in his sleep, and curled a little closer.

discworld | fanfiction | mail