WHO: Ellis + OTA WHAT: Homecoming WHEN: Guardian WHERE: Kirkwall NOTES: Thread collection. Closed and open starters in the comments. Holler if you want something bespoke or drop in a wildcard, I'll roll with it.
Bastien is kind. Or Bastien is clever. Or both. He poses a question that needles and tugs at some deep, private uncertainty and couches it in some easy sort of humor. It's an attempt to make it easier on Ellis, maybe.
Ellis says nothing. A shadow of a smile comes in answer, because he is not unaware that Bastien has something funny, not necessarily about Wardens but about Ellis specifically. But the question itself—
Looking away from Bastien, he leans forward to set his elbows on his knees. Rubs a hand over his face, palm pressed hard over his mouth while he dredges about for an answer and comes up with nothing but uncertainty, and a messy tangle of feeling that won't resolve into words. Ellis is hardly certain he cares to give all of it up, regardless.
Ruadh sits up completely, pretense of nap abandoned in favor of more focused watchfulness in reaction to the shift in tone. The regal affect somewhere marred by the jaw-cracking yawn that follows, but that can hardly be avoided.
Bastien watches him without subtlety, until he takes that silence as an answer in itself and nods. Ellis gets a break from his attention as he turns it on Ruadh again. An endeared little smile for the yawn.
"I have never really known a mabari before," he says. "It is hard to imagine any dog being smarter than Whiskey."
There are others who would have pressed the point. Ellis knows he hasn't given an answer, and that the absence of one is not reassuring. But Bastien shifts away from it, and Ellis follows, looking towards the great beast occupying the space before them.
"It's not a fair comparison."
Not fair to Whiskey, who is a fine dog. (All the dogs Ellis has met are fine dogs.)
"With any luck, he'll have a chance to demonstrate his skills for you."
Considering they are actively involved in a war, the odds are good.
"Ruadh," comes low, and is answered by a second, smaller yawn before Ruadh stretches and rolls up, proceeds to sniff the air in Bastien's direction.
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no subject
Ellis says nothing. A shadow of a smile comes in answer, because he is not unaware that Bastien has something funny, not necessarily about Wardens but about Ellis specifically. But the question itself—
Looking away from Bastien, he leans forward to set his elbows on his knees. Rubs a hand over his face, palm pressed hard over his mouth while he dredges about for an answer and comes up with nothing but uncertainty, and a messy tangle of feeling that won't resolve into words. Ellis is hardly certain he cares to give all of it up, regardless.
Ruadh sits up completely, pretense of nap abandoned in favor of more focused watchfulness in reaction to the shift in tone. The regal affect somewhere marred by the jaw-cracking yawn that follows, but that can hardly be avoided.
no subject
"I have never really known a mabari before," he says. "It is hard to imagine any dog being smarter than Whiskey."
That's the love talking.
no subject
There are others who would have pressed the point. Ellis knows he hasn't given an answer, and that the absence of one is not reassuring. But Bastien shifts away from it, and Ellis follows, looking towards the great beast occupying the space before them.
"It's not a fair comparison."
Not fair to Whiskey, who is a fine dog. (All the dogs Ellis has met are fine dogs.)
"With any luck, he'll have a chance to demonstrate his skills for you."
Considering they are actively involved in a war, the odds are good.
"Ruadh," comes low, and is answered by a second, smaller yawn before Ruadh stretches and rolls up, proceeds to sniff the air in Bastien's direction.