it's a hell of a scene but there's no story [ closed ]

[counterblows]

Who: Newt + the unwitting residents of islet 4 cottage 3
What: Local scientist passes out! Washington man drags him back to abandoned house. THIS IS A GENERAL HOUSE MINGLE LOG so u can tag around and stuff
When: September...4th? it's backdated
Where: Islet 4, cottage 3
Warnings: Language, probably, but I'll edit if anything comes up!



[So Wash is going to have some explaining to do.]

[He starts by de-armoring, however, because at least then he's not liable to get called Samus anymore. Whoever that is. Feels especially dumb when he's wearing a hoodie that literally says Washington State across the front, but it's also likely to raise fewer questions than his armor.]

[He just straight up threw the guy on Wash's own pallet, because fuck it, he's already drooled on his armor like a dick, so what's one more shred of property damage to his name? Except he doesn't even know his name. That's order of business number one.]

[Order of business number two, probably, is explaining what the fuck is going on when the roommates walk in to realize that their decrepit shack now has a passed-out scientist just...hanging out inside it.]

[It's fine.]

Comments

[tuskenlancer]

I wasn't trying to.

[ She pats the ground, clicking her tongue encouragingly, and the tigerlily steps closer, pushing her head up under CT's outstretched hand. CT smiles, crooning at her in encouragement as she gives her a well-earned scratch behind her ears. ]

She just...sort of adopted me. I guess.

[ She glances up at Wash, eyes bright. ]

I'm keeping her.

[ Not can we. Not please, I promise she's safe. This is not up for debate. ]

[counterblows]

[As if she'd face an argument here and now. As if he'd be the sort of person to protest that a cat is going to be joining this...dysfunctional living situation and all it entails. This cat is part plant. That is, frankly, kind of badass, even if Wash is too much of a killjoy to say it.]

[He stretches out a hand for her to sniff, palm up. Like handling a feral, or a cat that's been living in the stink of mortar-smited foxholes for too many months.]

You name her yet?

[tuskenlancer]

[ She's quiet for a moment, gently stroking the cat's back, watching in restrained delight as she sniffs Wash's outstretched hand and then, with a rumbling purr, pushes her head up against it. ]

Her name is Amitusha.

[counterblows]

[There's no hiding it: the effect on him is immediate and the closest that he gets to delighted. Lifts the corners of his mouth, pinches the edges of his eyes, and he starts to scratch the animal gently behind the ears.]

[Can't ignore that motor-rev purr, the way it tingles down the length of his arm.]

Ami...sorry, I - is that something from Thedas?

[tuskenlancer]

[ She shakes her head. It would've been better, maybe, if she'd known more dwarven names, been able to pick something more appropriate, but... ]

No. Not exactly. But -

[ She buries a hand in the tigerlily's fur, watches at the cat gives Wash's hand a rough, approving lick. ]

It means "writer."

[counterblows]

[Everyone knows it: cats have healing powers. It's impossible to feel like the world's completely against you when you have a cat in the vicinity, to remind you that there are some things the universe has managed to get right.]

Funny name for a cat. [But given that three-fourths of this living arrangement are named after states of a country on Earth, no one here has much room to talk.] Why "writer"?

[tuskenlancer]

[ It's true. Despite their rough start - Wash breaking the news about the Director, then the encounter with Gladio - just having Amitusha around seems to put CT's heart at ease.

She's quiet for a moment, gathering herself, just petting the tigerlily slowly and listening to the steady motor-rumble of her purrs. ]

...Varric.

He's an author. That's how - not how we met, but...I found one of his books. He found me reading it.

It's how...how I really got to know him.

[ Reading his book, watching the people in it - his friends, his world - come to life on the page. That had been the beginning of it all. ]

[counterblows]

[Never asked, did you? Never thought to, or just...assumed she wouldn't want to bring it up. Maybe assumed she would on her own time. Like now.]

[There's never an easy gauge for this sort of thing: what crosses the line between things someone wants to talk about, and what's taking it too far.]

What kind of things did he write about?

[tuskenlancer]

Everything.

[ She'd invited this conversation, naming the cat after Varric, explaining the significance to Wash. It's her fault if it gets too hard to talk about.

But for now, she's okay. ]

Mostly fiction. Mysteries. Romance. Thrillers.

But he wrote nonfiction, too. About him and his friends, saving the world.

[ She pauses, a faint smile on her face. ]

He wanted to write about me, too.

[counterblows]

[It's hard to be properly upset when you've got a cat. Even if the cat in question is...a tiger-plant hybrid thing, but given that it's either this or cats that can talk, he's fine with it.]

He'd have to cover a lot of territory. You changed a lot of things down the road.

[More than anyone could have recognized.]

[tuskenlancer]

I guess even I didn't know the whole story.

[ And the book had never happened, anyway, which honestly had been fine with CT. For all Varric's insistence that she was just as worthy a literary subject as Hawke, just as much a hero, she'd never been so sure. ]

[counterblows]

[Hell of a story it was, too. Love to be able to figure out a linear timeline for it someday.]

Name of your memoir. [He doesn't quite manage a grin; it's skewed and one-sided and rubbed a little raw. Instead, he glances back down at the tigerlily, scritching just underneath her chin.] Hear that, bud? You're going to be earning your keep around here. First draft of the C.T. biography manuscript on my desk by tomorrow. How's that sound?

[tuskenlancer]

[ It surprises her into a laugh, leaning in to run her hands over the tigerlily's fur alongside Wash. ]

'All This Shit Is Weird.'

[ She murmurs it, an aside mostly to herself, and her smile grows a little softer as she gazes at the tigerlily, then glances back up at Wash. ]

You gonna be editing it?

[counterblows]

Catchy title. Not sure I could pull off the authority.

[The Reds and Blues would say differently, he's sure, but they're not here.]

Maybe with glasses.

[tuskenlancer]

[ CT makes a face, shaking her head adamantly. Glasses hold exactly one overwhelming association for her, and it's not a good one. ]

No glasses.

[counterblows]

[...right.]

[Put it out of your mind. (You squinted at things for months before realizing you didn't have to, because you didn't need glasses.) Forget that you said it. (Pull off the authority. Whose head were you in?)]

Dubiously qualified editor-in-chief Washington it is.

[tuskenlancer]

[ Better. She smiles, and leans down to cuddle with the cat. ]

Just don't be too hard on your newest reporter. She's still pretty green.

[counterblows]

That was terrible.

[Doesn't he just sound torn up about it.]

She warms up quickly. Does she...you know what she needs to eat or anything?

[tuskenlancer]

[ Instead of answering, she moves her hand down to gently slide her fingers over the leaves covering the tigerlily's back half, giving him a sidelong look and a half-smile. ]

What do plants eat, Wash?

[counterblows]

She's only part plant, though. I mean...wait, she photosynthesizes?

[Like, that makes sense? But also - he expected the real answer to be more complicated, somehow?]

[tuskenlancer]

Apparently.

[ CT shrugs. She's not a biologist, but somehow she suspects that even if she were, it wouldn't help much in actually understanding this. So she's just going to accept it. ]

Isn't she amazing?

[counterblows]

You're such a cat person.

[Not that he's going to complain; three guesses as to what kind person Wash himself is.]

That does remind me, though. We've...kind of got someone passed out inside.

[tuskenlancer]

[ CT just hums in vague assent. She's not denying it. She's never thought of herself as a cat person - that's all Wash, and it doesn't take reading classified personnel files to know it - but there's no question that she's in love.

Her attention is momentarily diverted, though, as she looks up at Wash with sudden wariness. ]

...What do you mean, someone?

[counterblows]

I don't know.

[He doesn't know his name. Just that he apparently has a fondness for twenty-first century musicals, if his reaction to the word "Washington" was any indication. Wash at least has the good grace to look appropriately sheepish about this.]

He looked like a mess and basically passed out in the middle of me trying to get him help. I didn't know where else to bring him.

[tuskenlancer]

[ Of course he doesn't know. The allure of her new tigerlily momentarily overshadowed by curiosity, CT glances towards the cottage. ]

Okay...

[ She can deal with this. ]

Do you know...what happened to him? What's wrong?