A bat.

[murderbaby]

WHO: Mhavos & Athessa
WHAT: A bat.
WHEN: Harvestmere, like, now.
WHERE: Kirkwall rooftops.
NOTES: A bat.

Apparently, he's working too much.

Since Mhavos has nothing to do but work, he doesn't really see how this is a problem, and suspects what Athessa means is I'm bored, entertain me. After the normal token refusal (he's busy, he has work to do, really, Athessa-) he gives in. In his quiet, selfish heart, he knows he's doing it because he feels flattered at the prospect of being anyone's entertainment of choice, even if he's likely the fourth or fifth candidate she's asked.

They take the ferry out, and as night is falling quickly, Mhavos finds a shadow to fit himself in, and quickly hoofs it up onto a rooftop. He whistles to her, the call of a bird common to Val Royeaux and, hopefully, here. He hated learning birdcalls. He hopes he doesn't have to again.

But, anyway, the meaning is, can you make it up here? Not that they went over signals before. He figures, with her competitive nature, it's implicit.

Comments

[sulahnan]

"So it's both about getting somewhere fast and getting away from someone fast. Got it."

She scans the surrounding area briefly, then points to a taller roof a ways off. A fair few decent jumps between buildings on the way, too. "Let's go to that one. Better view."

[murderbaby]

He grins. "Precisely. And I always found it..." here's a word uncharacteristic of him... "exhilarating."

So, he's grinning.

"I'll race you." And he's off, quick as an arrow.

[sulahnan]

She's off as soon as the word race makes it into the air, though to her dismay they seem to be dead equal in speed for the time being.

Athessa's free-running is much showier than Mhavos', incorporating flourishes and flips where there need not be, but her form and function is well-honed despite her showmanship.

Speed and style, not one or the other.

[murderbaby]

Mhavos is all stealth. No spins or twirls, every movement is efficiency and swiftness. He sticks to every shadow, moving quickly and hidden.

They're neck and neck if they're anything, in this regard evenly matched.

[sulahnan]

When she comes across a ledge just too tall to reach by jumping, she kicks off of one side of a corner, scrambling up the abutting wall to grab hold of the next flat plane. It takes no time to get back up to speed, but she doesn't just want to match with Mhavos, she wants to win.

She pushes herself faster, both out of competitive nature and because there's a gap between this roof and the next that they both will have to jump.

[murderbaby]

Mhavos runs along as well, though he doesn't have nearly the competitive edge of Athessa. He's having fun; his heart is pounding in something other than fear; he has no complaints. He jumps over the ledge with the full intention of seeing her land first and not really caring-

And then something hits him in the face.

He yelps-- where did it come from? Nowhere, apparently-- and grabs for purchase, as he's still in the air. His hands find... fur? And he's falling down along a chorus of high-pitched squeaks Mhavos and whatever he's holding fall into a pile of refuse between the buildings.

[sulahnan]

She doesn't catch sight of whatever hit him before she gets to the edge of the roof, but when she skids to a stop and leans over to assess the state of her friend, she sees...wait, what?

Getting down off of a building happens a lot faster than getting to the top of one, so in no time at all she lands beside the refuse pile and has to stop again, arms akimbo as she takes in the sight of Mhavos wrestling with and clinging to a bat roughly the size of his torso.

"Well hello, new friend!" She greets the animal, reaching down to offer Mhavos a hand and take the bat from him at the same time. "Where did you come from, lil' guy?"

[murderbaby]

The bat contiues to chirrup, and then Mhavos sees its face and goes deathly still. It looks like a demon. He knows, intellectually, it's a bat, but can't there be bat demons? It's huge.

The bat turns to Athessa just as agreeably, and nuzzles its face against her wrist.

Mhavos is still sitting underneath the creature and atop a pile of rubbish. He squeaks as well. "Little?"

[sulahnan]

"Littler than you," she points out, hefting the bat off of Mhavos with two arms under its wings. It latches on briefly, apparently not wanting to let go of his newfound elf perch, but with some coaxing the bat realizes that Athessa is a more willing elf to cling to. It twists around in her arms and attaches itself to the front of Athessa's shirt.

"Awww, it's cute," she coos at it, giving it gentle scritches behind the ears. "You ok?"

That last to Mhavos, because even if the trash broke his fall, he did just fall off a building.

[murderbaby]

He assumes she's talking to the bat.

He gets up slowly, groaning a little. He doesn't think anything's broken, but it might be bruised. And he's not going to go to the healer if anything is broken, because the only healer he knows is Isaac, and he's not asking the man to check if he broke his arse.

"The thing used to cushion its landing; it's fine. You should be careful; its teeth are huge."

[sulahnan]

"I was talking to you," she says, giving Mhavos a look. But nevertheless, she looks down at the chittering critter clinging to her front. With both hands on its pudgy cheeks, she uses her thumbs to expose the aforementioned teeth, and laughs.

"I don't think we have to worry." Of course, nothing likes having its lips forced back, so the bat moves its head to dislodge Athessa's hands, then proceeds to lick her fingers in the hopes that there's something tasty to be found there.

[murderbaby]

"It seems rather fond of you," Mhavos says, as he pulls the rotting trash still stuck to him off. He hopes these clothes can be salvaged. "Make sure it's not the blood-sucking type."

[sulahnan]

"It's not," she assures, as the bat finds that her fingers are less appetizing than previously thought. "Those huge teeth you saw are for munchin' on fruit."

And then the bat seems to want to go back to its original elf perch, wiggling and trying to extend the little hooked part of its wings without letting go. "Seems to like you, too, Mhav. Where did it even come from? It definitely isn't Fade-touched."

[murderbaby]

"How in the world do you know that?" He says, while walking around to stand at her shoulder (and back a little). The bat chirrups in Mhavos' direction, and he takes a half-step back.

"I think the only creature that knows where it came from is... it." He gestures to the bat. "And it doesn't seem capable of speech." Thank the Maker.

[sulahnan]

As funny as it would be to tell him she doesn't actually know and that she's basing it on the fact that it didn't chomp her fingers off, she decides to be nice.

"This kind of bat is usually itty bitty--" A technical term. "--and they sleep in curled leaves, they're all over the Marches. Same kind of teeth as those, too, and the closest thing to meat they eat is bugs." The bat, while Athessa is giving her lecture on bats, clambers over her shoulder to latch onto her back like a furry rucksack and snuffles in her hair.

"Weird that this guy's got white fur, too. Usually night-time creatures have dark fur, makes it easier to sneak up on prey. So...probably a fruit-eater. No sneaking required."

[murderbaby]

"I really must study up on my knowledge of fauna; this is ridiculous." He peers at the beast, staying carefully out if the creature's reach. "We'll have to give it over to RiftWatch. I don't know what they'll do with a giant bat, but they may have enough fruit to feed it."

[sulahnan]

"Why would we have to give it over?" She makes a face, only partly because the bat's snuffling in her hair tickles something fierce. It's not fade-touched, it's clearly not malicious, and as far as she knows, it's not Riftwatch's purview to handle animal control in the city unless it meets the aforementioned criteria.

[murderbaby]

"Because it's huge," Mhavos says, gesturing to the awful thing. "And- And I've no idea what to do with it."

[sulahnan]

"We either leave it here, or we keep it, but it's not Fadetouched so it's not really Riftwatch's problem outside of who it just body-slammed."

[murderbaby]

"And what, exactly, do you think we should do with it?"

[sulahnan]

"Well, first we should see if there are any others about," she says, reasonably. "Or if anyone is missing a pet. And if those turn up nothing, we keep it, name it, take care of it. A pet, or maybe a mascot!"

[murderbaby]

Mhavos just kinda stares for a second. He knows where this ends. This abomination is no one's pet. Having more than one around is unthinkable. Thus.

"Why would we want to keep it?"

[sulahnan]

"Because it's cute and fluffy and, if there aren't any others, all alone out here." Duh, Mhavos.

[murderbaby]

Arguments like 'Athessa, this is just a huge flying rat' will be met with blithe dismissal, he knows it. Instead, more practical, "how are we going to feed it?"

[sulahnan]

"Scraps from the dining hall, nobody eats the fruit they get fast enough so it goes bad anyway, we can just pilfer the stuff that's too far gone." Next question, please. She's convinced.

[murderbaby]

"I don't think that would be a very healthy..." He sighs, shoulders dropping. "There's no convincing you, is there."

[sulahnan]

Nope! My mind's made up!" She stands up a bit straighter, to exaggerate the whole inch she has on him. "C'mon, let's go see if we can find where it came from, first. Then we can head back and set it up somewhere comfy and dark."