Room 512, Tuesday Afternoon

[doesnotkneel]

There was a pile of cut grass right below Barry and Edward's window - a large pile. Edward knew this because he was currently sitting on the window sill again, peering down and testing the ledge just below the sill with his foot.

Just curiosity. He still wanted to know whether it'd be possible to scale the wall up and into his room, for utterly innocent purposes that had everything to do with him being bored. See, the thing about Skyrim was that they'd had a lot more pubs and a lot more general-- carousing, and being back here in this building with Barry and his machines...

It was taking him some readjusting.

Figuring out whether he could climb in and out of his own room the short way down was a pleasant distraction from that, if nothing else.

[[ post open, door open ]]

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[not_every_mage]

Between the trip and the pet store's insistence all cats be "neutered" before going home (Anders crossed his legs at the thought), it was Tuesday morning before Anders had a new roommate to show off.

Which, of course, he promptly did. A cat needed to know about his home, after all.

He leaned in at Edward's door and waved the paw of a black-and-white kitten at him. "Edward, this is Lachlan. Lachlan, meet Edward. He might even have some food somewhere."

Lachlan looked unimpressed.

[doesnotkneel]

Edward glanced over his shoulder, being that he was still sitting in the window. "Lachlan?" he echoed. "Ah, you've got yourself a mangy scrounger, then. What alley did you find him in?"

He grinned, pulling his legs back into the room.

[not_every_mage]

"The alley called Everything But the Monkey," Anders admitted. "This" -- he bounced Lachlan a bit to make the point -- "is a high-born shop kitten. I couldn't find any likely strays."

He squinted at Edward's posture. "Were you going to make an escape?"

[doesnotkneel]

"Aye, you had me on the run," Edward said, hopping onto his feet. "Until that high-born kitten of yours gave me pause."

[not_every_mage]

"He's like that," Anders nodded seriously. "He's fierce. Especially when there's Rapunzel's hair or pieces of paper to attack."

[doesnotkneel]

"Rapunzel's enjoying the new rat-catcher, then?" Edward said, taking a couple of steps so he could examine the cat properly.

[not_every_mage]

"She came with me to pick him out," Anders nodded, offering Lachlan for Edward to pet if he wanted. "Her lizard's less impressed, but he'll manage. I think Lachlan knows Pascal's not food."

Lachlan twisted in Anders' hands, as if he wanted to get a betetr look at Edward too.

[doesnotkneel]

"Hello there," Edward said to the cat. Pet him, he didn't, but he reached out and touched the cat playfully on the nose. "Such a fierce thing, you are."

[not_every_mage]

Lachlan mrowed agreeably, then -- seeing no treats in the offering -- squirmed out of Anders' hands to land on the floor.

Anders watched him go, then smirked at Edward. "He seems to be making himself at home, at least."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward snorted. "He's a cat," he said lightly. "Not a situation those can't spin in their own favour, ignoring the rest of us."

He wasn't really a cat person, but he didn't hate them, either.

[not_every_mage]

"They're independent," Anders nodded. "It's one of the best things about them. They aren't always slobbering all over you trying to get you to like them like some dog."

He was a total cat person.

[doesnotkneel]

Edward shrugged. "Nothing wrong with dogs," he said lightly. "They're loyal, and all that. But I like birds more than the lot of them."

[not_every_mage]

"Birds?" Anders asked, squinting at him. "Why birds? Is it just that they taste better?"

[doesnotkneel]

"I grew up on a farm, enough dogs and cats to go around," Edward said. He smiled idly. "Thing is, cats act like they're all high and mighty and independent, but they're still living off our scraps and shelter, aye?"

He glanced towards the wall, where he could still see the shimmer of the cat's form running about nearby. "Birds are free. They'll take what we've got if we're stupid enough to leave it laying around, but they have the entire sky to themselves if they wish it."

[not_every_mage]

That ... was poetry, wasn't it? Anders looked out the window to see if anything was flying about, ignoring Lachlan's explorations for the moment.

"Put it that way and I almost want to be a bird," he noted. "Even with the eating worms."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward had some hidden depths squared away somewhere - though he'd be back to cursing and merriment within a moment.

He chuckled. "I don't know about the eating worms, mate," he said. "But when I was a child I'd ignore the ruckus the cats and dogs were makin' and watch these sly jackdaws outside, doing as they pleased. Good times."

[not_every_mage]

"I was always collecting cats," Anders told him. "Drove my mother mad. I'd keep the runts warm inside my shirts and feed them spoonfuls of milk. She drew the line when I brought a baby nug home."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward let out a laugh at the imagery of Anders looking like a giant ball of cats. "Must've been a picture. But what's a nug?" he said, grinning. "Another type of cat?"

[not_every_mage]

"Little pest of an animal," Anders explained, shaking his head and gesturing to indicate a size barely bigger than a cat. "About so big. Like a shaved cat with a long snout. They must not be common. I had to explain them to Nathan, too."

[doesnotkneel]

"Sounds like a small pig to me, or something of that ilk," Edward opined. "But your home seems both more and less like mine than anything I've seen in this time and place."

[not_every_mage]

"A bit smaller and with ears like a rabbit's, but that's the idea," Anders confirmed. "We even eat it, too, though I can't say it tastes as good as pork."

But then, the nice thing about nug was that it didn't really taste like much of anything. It was all down to the cook's talents.

"And your world sounds like mine, too -- though the magic made Skyrim even closer."

[doesnotkneel]

"Not much of that kickin' about where I'm from," Edward agreed. He sat down on his bed. "Seems strange, to know folk like you and Nathan to whom this magic bit comes so natural."

[not_every_mage]

"You don't have it at all?" Anders checked,trying to imagine it. "Not even potions or wise women or such?"

It would feel ... lonely.

[doesnotkneel]

"There's some superstition, aye, but I don't think I've ever seen a sick man come back from most of it," Edward said.

He tilted his head. He'd been shifting in and out of his senses since he finally figured out how to access them actively, but there was nothing about Anders that glowed and leaped out the way Isabelle's marks did. Just that odd, calming feel of... of blue, of shifts in the wind, vision and scent that his mind parsed as friend.

"How does it feel? The magic?"

[not_every_mage]

"Now there's an interesting question," Anders said, and bent to stroke Lachlan as though the kitten might help him answer. He figured Edward wasn't asking for whatever sarcastic thing he'd come up with off the top of his head.

"It's not like anything, really. It's like running down a hill. Like there's something bigger than you and all you can do is give yourself to it. I get tired, after, but I'm too excited to care." A pause. "Also, its a bit tingly."