theattic | PSL: A COUPLE OF MISFITS

"Oh, man, gumbo. I haven't had that in so long." Maurice sighed and watched the water boil. "I don't know about you, but I'd just go with the cake anyway."

He grinned over at her.

"I know how that is. For a while all I could do was spaghetti."

"What if you got tired of chocolate?" She replied, a smile on her face. This was clearly a serious debate. Or maybe not. She shook her head, folding her legs underneath her. "I think his main problem is that he doesn't try hard enough to learn anything else. Sorrel is so stubborn. Maybe when I see him again, I'll show him how to make spaghetti." She grinned at the idea, though she's not sure how long that will be. Years? A lifetime?

"I don't know if we have noodles. Maybe."

"Beleth, you can't get tired of chocolate." Maurice turned to wave the spoon at her. "You do that. You kick his culinary ass and show him what for! Just remember to actually put garlic in the sauce you make for him. You living people can't seem to get enough of the stuff."

"You think you won't, and then you do, and nothing is the same. The world becomes a darker place that day." She said, solemnly, giving a very serious nod. This is some deep stuff they're talking about.

His comment on Sorrel elicits a laugh, and she just shakes her head. "Maybe, some day. If I can." She pauses, staring off as she thinks about this possibility. "If I go back to my world, maybe. But then I won't remember anything. Spaghetti and all." There's a long moment of silence that follows, before she turns back to Maurice.

"Do you have siblings?"

"I'll believe it when I see it!"

He could have made a dark comment about how blood was turning into something like that. A dull and coppery necessity rather than some new and exciting experience. But that was not in the cards for tonight. Tonight he had to stay on task!

And that lasted about five seconds because she went and asked him a question, turning his game right back around on him. THAT CRAFTY ELF.

"Yeah, three actually. I'm the baby."

Beleth has +5 ranks in 'divert conversation'. Maurice is going to have to TRY HARDER. Or roll a 20.

"You have three older siblings? Wow. What's it like...? Is it always busy at your house?" She leaned forward, eyebrows going up. She'd thought that having a twin was enough trouble to keep track of, but being the fourth? "Did you all have the same friends, or did you have different friends? I mean--Me and Sorrel were always together, so all our friends were mostly the same. Until I left, I guess."

"It was when we were kids. They're all moved out, married--except for Ike. We only really see each other around the holidays. Sam brings her kids by to see Mom pretty often though."

Maurice stirred the sauce as his memories came back. He made it a point to try and forget whatever life he'd left behind because the one he was leading now took up so much of his attention. He didn't have much space to spare.

"We didn't."

"That's one good thing about living in clans. We're all around, constantly. You're living with your entire family...unless someone gets transferred or bonded into another clan. Usually, that only happens during arlathvhen--That's when all the Dalish clans gather together to meet. But it only happens once a decade."

Pause. Unlike Maurice, she had all these constantly at the tip of her tongue. She wondered if that was a good thing--If she was trying to live in a world that she was no longer a part of. She wasn't very good at being out and about in the community, certainly. She decides to move on, just in case Maurice didn't appreciate her telling him how much better the Dalish were at everything, and promptly just starts talking about the first thing that falls out of her mouth.

"I kind of thought that, before I became Inquisitor, I'd get bonded off to a Keeper, or First. I've got a strong mage bloodline, so if I bonded with a mage, it's a good chance we'd have mage children." She says it casually, like she's just sharing a funny fact about her life. "It's how my dad bonded to my mom. He's not a mage, but he had a strong bloodline. I always figured if it happened, I could probably try to get into a clan that didn't have a First, and convince them to let Sorrel come and be First for their clan." She tapped her fingers on the table, glancing off.

"It'd be nice, really. Getting to transfer clans with him. But--being Inquisitor changed plans, obviously, and now, I'm in a completely different world than my clan, so." Shrug shrug.

Maurice was content to listen. He didn't really know what a First was or a Keeper...but he didn't dare ask what they were because he was interested in hearing about her. Beleth. He did worry about this bonding business. Did they not get to pick? He remembered her talking about being herded around. Maybe those shem people were using her people as some kind of stock to get the best results.

It made him shudder. He fought those feelings off and offered up a laugh.

"I can't imagine havin' magic kids. I used t'baby sit for Sam and regular old kids are enough of a handful."

It's complicated and it's technically optional. But Beleth knew if her mother decided it, she'd follow along because that's what she did.

"Magical children...usually are, yes. Especially because magic usually manifests for the first time when the child is feeling strong emotions. Like--when my brother Sorrel's magic first manifested." She laughed, shaking her head at the memory. "I used to have really long hair when I was younger, and I never took proper care of it. It was always this big puffy mess. Sorrel and I were heading home from practicing hunting right before sunset one day, and my hair ended up getting stuck on some low-hanging branches. Well, neither of us could get it loose, neither of us had knives, and we were sure every noise we heard was a bunch of wolves coming to eat naughty children who were out past sunset." She ducked her head, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Sorrel wanted to go back to camp and get the adults, but I was crying and begging him not to leave me alone, because as soon as he did, I was sure that would be it. Then we heard some twig or something snap, and we both screamed--And suddenly, Sorrel has fire in his hands and my hair is was burned free. Well, we ran fast as we could to camp after that. Some stories are a lot more destructive--I've heard people catching barns on fire, causing thunderstorms. I knew a girl who manifested her magic really early, when she was a toddler. She was throwing a fit and suddenly, the ground under her is covered in ice."

"Hahaha I know, I've seen that hair!"

The dead man broke into a grin and sent it over his shoulder to where Beleth sat. It was one of his happier memories from the strange age-warping instance that plagued the city a while back. He felt awful about being such a pain in the ass, but it was still nice getting to know more about his friend and see it first-hand.

"Wow, though, man..." What he wanted to ask was 'how do you put a kid like that in time-out' but feared it would come out weird. "I didn't get long hair until college and it was an accident. Have you thought about growing it out again?"

"It was even longer back then. Like..." She held a hand down to her waist. "I should have had it tied back, or something like that. But I hating having my hair tied up." She shook her head with a small laugh, then paused thoughtfully, taking a lock of hair and pulling it in front of her eyes.

"I've been kind of growing it out, since I've come here." She doesn't say that part of it is because she's suddenly surrounded by all these beautiful, perfect Middle Earth elves with amazingly long hair. "It used to be shorter. I could try growing it as long as it used to be, but that'll take a while. Do you think it'd look okay?" She glanced over the Maurice curiously, giving a little tug on her hair.

"I think it'd look nice no matter what you did to it." He felt like it was kind of a cop-out answer, but it was true! He liked her red hair. "Do you miss it? If y'do, you should give it a shot! You can always trim it off if you don't like it."

The dead man tossed his own hair in a showy flip as he went back to tending the sauce. "I never went back to short hair after college. Mine was kinda an accident so you never know what you'll like."

"You're flattering me." Beleth demurred with a small smile, ducking her head. "I guess it couldn't hurt to try growing it out again. I don't know if I really missed it, but I wouldn't mind giving it a try. I'll try to be a little better about tying it back when necessary."

She grinned when he flipped his hair and slipped off the table, walking over to reach and touching his hair gingerly. "I like your long hair, Maurice. I think that it suits you. Are you going to keep growing it out, too? I bet that you could get it even longer than mine."

"Nu uh, I'm tellin' the truth! You've got real pretty hair because--" The rest of you is pretty. That was what he was going to say but he managed to derail himself in something like horror as he realized something. He hardly even heard her question. Of course she was pretty. All his friends were pretty! ITS NOT WEIRD TO TELL SOMEONE THEY'RE PRETTY.

Suddenly she was touching his hair and in the terrifying realization of what he was feeling, all he could do was stammer. "I--uhm. Maybe but. It gets. Curly if its too long. And thats. Probably? I want to. Make it green."

"Because? Because--Oh! I'm sorry." She belatedly remembered that maybe people don't like others randomly putting their grubby hands all over their hair, and quickly pulls her hand away, bobbing her head apologetically. "Sorry, Maurice--But, um. You know, I think you'd look nice with green hair, really."

She leans back, squinting at him as she tries to picture him with green hair. "I've never seen green hair before, but. Why not? It's a pretty color."

He suddenly found himself feeling sorry that she'd pulled her hand away. He wanted her to play with his hair--maybe even braid it. Ooooooh, no, he was so screwed. The feeling had jumped out at him like a tiger. Once the idea had been welcomed back into his life, he had thought it would only happen once. He had his love, it ended, and that was that.

BUT NO. Here it was again. Round two, ready for a throwdown.

"No! It's fine--it's cool! But uh. You know maybe I can find a way to do it here. Th' Emporium might have something."

Speaking of colors, his nose was starting to turn just a little purple.

"The Emporium has everything, I think. It's...a little odd, really. Magical. But I guess that's not really surprising here, is it? Sometimes I think of going there to see if they have more things from my home world, but...I worry that I'll see something I greatly desire and not be able to afford." She stuck her tongue out at the idea, but pulled it back to stare in wonder at Maurice's nose.

"...Are you feeling alright...? Are you getting sick? You look...odd." This is accompanied by a nose boop.

Boop.

"If you want, you can sit down, and I can take care of your, ah. Spa-ghe-tay."

Maurice had opened his mouth to comment on the Emporium but then she called out his amazing chameleon abilities and then she had to go and boop his nose. The color only spread and he was swift to cover his face with both hands.

It was like a reflex--same as getting your knee knocked by a doctor. Or standing behind a horse and getting your head kicked off.

"I'm fine!"

PSL: A COUPLE OF MISFITS

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