3rd Floor Common Room | Friday Afternoon

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

It'd been a quiet week.

That wasn't a complaint. That meant he hadn't turned into some tiny version of himself, hadn't turned into an old man and hadn't had to deal with any dead relatives. Typically, quiet bored him but, sometimes, he'd take it. Chainsaw seemed content with the quiet too since she'd burrowed against the worn material of his jeans and was unusually silent.

It wouldn't take much to set her off, Ronan knew, but he'd take her quiet for now. Absently, he stroked a finger against her head, back and forth, like he'd done so many times before. The television was on but Ronan wasn't really paying that much attention to it.

Instead, he was chewing on the leather wristbands, thoughts elsewhere. Thoughts on the Pig, on Gansey, on Adam and Noah and Declan, on Matthew, and on why he continued to sit here and do nothing while his mother withered away and he was kept away from the Barns.

If he'd been at home, he'd have gone out and found booze, found trouble. Here, he was watching television with his bird. Ronan snarled and rolled his eyes. He'd need to do something about this.

And soon.

[Open]

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[not_every_mage]

A smallish tuxedo cat with no owner in sight scurried into the common room, where it bristled at the sight of Chainsaw. He could tell from the raven belonged with the person it was sitting on that it wasn't for him to hunt, but that in itself wasn't right. Birds like that weren't supposed to be inside, and they certainly weren't supposed to be pets.

"Mrowl," Lachlan said, indignantly.

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

"Go away," Ronan said flatly, fixing the cat with a glare. "I've got no food and I don't like cats."

Chainsaw remained calm for the moment though Ronan could feel her shifting around a bit more than she had been.

[not_every_mage]

Well, Lachlan didn't want food anyhow. (Unless raven was on the menu, and honestly he liked his eyes and internal organs right where they were too much to try for that.) He settled back on his haunches and began licking his paws to wash himself with infinitesimal gestures.

For a cat, he had a fairly respectable glare of his own.

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

Chainsaw wasn't about to get up from her position to go peck anyone either. She was too comfortable and had bigger fish to fry than a cat. But, she'd keep an eye on him.

Ronan shook his head and turned his attention back to the television, the fat forgotten for the moment.

[not_every_mage]

After quite a while of absolutely nothing going on, Anders finally realized a)his door was open and b)Lachlan wasn't in any of his usual spots. It didn't take much detective work at all to check the common room first.

"Lachlan," he said, kneeling by the cat. "I'm so glad to find you. But if you wanted to watch TV, you could have told me. Don't run off like that."

Then, to Ronan, and with far less interest: "He wasn't bothering your bird, was he?"

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

"No." Chainsaw had steadily stared at Lachlan but had done little else. "He'd be missing eyes if she'd been bothered."

Was Chainsaw that mean? Ronan wasn't telling.

"He talks to you?" Ronan asked after a second of silence.

[not_every_mage]

"No. Well -- wait, he did once," Anders corrected himself. "I made a wish and it's a very long story. But normally, no. But he has very expressive eyes."

Which Lachlan was screwing up indignantly right then, as if to say he would not have been the one to come out of a fight missing eyes.

"Why, does the raven talk?"

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

"No because she's a raven," he said like it was stupid to even suggest as much. And if Chainsaw did start talking, Ronan would chalk it up to something going on with the greywaren thing rather than the island.

"She makes bird noises," he added. "When she feels like it."

[not_every_mage]

Anders didn't like it much when people implied he was stupid; it brought out his sarcastic side.

"Bird noises," he repeated, in a tone of voice that was almost certainly going to get him punched someday. "Oooh. I'm impressed."

[dwarvenswagger]

"Is that the only entertainment around here?" Thorin asked, frowning at the television.

Though at least there weren't vegans on it.

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

"No, but it's the easiest one to find if you don't want to exert yourself too much," Ronan told him, glancing over. "There something in particular you're looking for?"

Ronan could recommend a few bars on the mainland and some spots where good street races took place.

[dwarvenswagger]

But he'd already swore he'd never get as hungover as last time! And did you want him to flip a car? Did you?

"Not that I could say," Thorin replied, perking up once he spotted the raven with Ronan. "You have company."

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

"Chainsaw," he said, nodding down to his bird. "She's a raven and she's mine."

And she was entirely made of dreams.

"Never seen one before?"

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin had to roll his eyes at that. "Yes, I have seen ravens before. The ones that live near my home are used as messengers."

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

"Messengers?" Ronan glanced down at Chainsaw. "What kind of messages do they bring?"

[dwarvenswagger]

"Some carry notes tied around their legs," Thorin replied. "But some are smart enough to repeat your messages. If they're not too long. They can be a bit annoyed about that."

[thegreywaren.livejournal.com]

"Repeat the messages?" he echoed, raising an eyebrow. "Your ravens talk?"

[dwarvenswagger]

"Some of them. Carc, the leader of their little flock can carry on a conversation."

If you were part of Thorin's family. And possible offered food to sweeten him up.

[not_every_mage]

"I have my cat," Anders advised, with a quick smile at Thorin. "He's entertaining."

[dwarvenswagger]

"He's a cat," Thorin replied. "Shouldn't he be hunting vermin?"

[not_every_mage]

"He should," Anders agreed. "But there aren't enough mice here for him to get any. Sometimes we go outside and he chases beetles just to stay in practice."

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin peered down at the cat like he was judging it's life choices. "It's such a small thing."

SAID THE DWARF.

[not_every_mage]

Anders made an indignant sputter. "Lachlan, don't listen to him," he advised the cat, then turned to Thorin again.

"Is not. How big is a cat supposed to be?"

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin shrugged at that. "We don't keep cats in Erebor. I've only seen them in the cities of men."

Meaning here and Dale. Stop making it sound like you're well traveled, Thorin.

[not_every_mage]

"Oh, do you have nugs instead?" Anders asked. "Our dwarves do at home. Funny little things. Not too bad to eat if you're hungry, though."

The nugs. Not the dwarves.