closed 🪶 i'm in the end, just what you made me.

[garudas]

Who: Benedikta Harman & others.
Status: Closed.
Where: Around.
What: Catch-all log for November.
Warnings: FFXVI spoilers. Definitely lots of foul language.

[If you would like a closed starter, please feel free to poke me over at my plotting post and we can plot something! 💚]

Comments

[garudas]

[...

....

He looks ridiculous doing that little motion, so what makes him think that Benedikta won't feel absolutely stupid doing it, too? And with this bell?

There's a long pause where she grimaces at it...

......

But then she's lowering it closer to the floor with a sharp groan to give it a testing wiggle first before—]

I won't!

[ramuhs]

[Oh?

It was small, but Ashtail is now perched very close to the edge, tail swaying this way and that as she is so very focused on the mouse. Seeing this, Cid just looks at Benedikta and nods at the cat.

Come on, Benna.

Just another little wiggle.]

[garudas]

[Yes, she sees it, but that doesn't mean she feels any less silly about it. That she would be reduced to wiggling around a toy for a stubborn cat is not something that was on her list of expectations for this place. Ever.

...

....

But fine.

She will move a little closer to where Ashtail is perched and give it another wiggle. And then another...]

I don't understand why she didn't just go for a treat.

[There's a loud thump as Ashtail leaps from where she is... stalking it slowly...]

[ramuhs]

A different battle of wills, perhaps?

[Ashtail continues to slowly stalk the mouse before making for a pounce.]

[garudas]

[And Benedikta moves it away just in time. She's not getting it so easily, but Ashtail doesn't even seem to mind because she's ducking behind the coffee table now and lowering herself as close to the ground as she can while Benedikta moves it around on the other side, only half paying attention, the other half on looking the least absurd as possible.

She's not sure it's working.]

Well, I've won this one.

[It's with a haughty laugh, and Benedikta sees that telltale wiggle of her bum before Ashtail leaps out with a speed that a cat should not have, and she manages to catch the mouse and wrench it free from Benedikta's hand to attack it.]

Hey—!

[ramuhs]

[Cid saw it coming, and just laughs as Ashtail continues to attack and play with the mouse before moving over to him to drop it at his feet, a rather smug look on her face as she stretches up from where she sits, tail curling.]

Think Ash won this round.

[He bends down to give the cat a little scratch under her chin just the way she likes it before taking the stick to have a go at it this time. He's a lot more active with it, making the mouse move this way and that as Ashtail resumes chasing it.]

[garudas]

[Benedikta watches him rather than the cat, and an odd feeling settles in the pit of her stomach at the sight. How domestic—so domestic that it makes her skin crawl as thoughts race to the forefront of her mind. Images that she should not be having. Not now, not ever again.

Images that have her trying to wash down that awful taste with her even worse beer.]

I don't think so.

[A slightly bitter voice as she heads to the kitchen.]

You look like you have it under control anyway.

[ramuhs]

[Uh oh, she's pouting.]

Come now, this is a great way for you two to bond.

[Just going to lure Ash into the kitchen as he follows.]

[garudas]

[And not for the reasons he thinks she is—

She looks back when he follows her to the kitchen, and she snatches the toy out of his hand again. Well, if they are supposed to bond, then she should be the one with it, shouldn't she? Besides, she can't stand looking at him like that—better that she does it, no matter how silly it is.]

I think this is about as good as it's going to get.

[As she tries to lure her up onto the counter to see if she'll make the jump, all while holding on very securely to her beer this time.]

[ramuhs]

[Ashtail has been so focused on the mouse that she doesn't notice the sudden change. Cid, meanwhile, just looks at Benedikta in some surprise before he chuckles and quietly steps back, not wanting to distract either of them as he gives them more space and leans against the other side of the counter. A perfect view to watch Ash nimbly jump up as she continues to stalk the mouse.]

It is your first meeting. She was a bit standoffish to me for a bit, too.

[garudas]

You're sure?

[She raises a brow and brings the toy up over her head, and Ashtail surprisingly goes for it, leaping up on her back legs to try to catch it, but Benedikta is just a touch too fast for her.]

She seems to be all over you now.

[ >:| ]

[ramuhs]

I did say was... But I'm still not so sure. One day she's off on her own, keeping her distance until she wants something, then the next morning I find her curled up against my back.

Bit cute, actually.

[garudas]

[Sounds familiar...

Maybe that's why Benedikta huffs at him.]

And I'm sure you give her exactly what she wants.

[It's mumbled under her breath, though probably loud enough for him to hear as she wiggles the toy in Ash's face again, and allows the cat to catch it briefly before leading her down from the counter and onto the table—a jump that she will need to make if she wants it...

...And she winds herself up for it...]

[ramuhs]

Not all the time. Although I'm more used to dogs, concept is still the same.

[...He just sneaks her an extra treat or two sometimes that's all—

And he'll watch as Ash lines herself up...

WHOOSH!

True to her pedigree, she bolts over like lightning and lands on the table, already stretching out to try and catch that mouse!!]

[garudas]

[And she just manages to catch it with Benedikta only half paying attention up until she does make the landing, and she's able to take it right out of her hands. She flops onto the table, rolling around with the mouse in between her teeth, tearing at it and kicking it with her feet as if it were a real prey and she were a large coeurl prepping its dinner.

She'll let her have it.]

You did have that wolf with you for some time, didn't you? Surely not as high maintenance as this one.

[ramuhs]

Torgal? [A small laugh.] Aye, not as fickle as this one, but he was a bit rough at first. Almost took my arm off first time I ran into him.

Still, took to being back with humans quick as you please, especially after Charon found those bones he liked.

[And a bit of a hard knock to the head, but, you know, arm thing.]

But not the first time I took care of dogs before.

[garudas]

[He speaks of this Charon as if Benedikta knows who she is... Who is she, anyway? An old flame? There's a spark of unwanted heat in her chest, and she distracts herself with the toy, tugging on it from Ash's grip so that she can wave it around above her while she rolls on the table, paws up, trying to catch it again.]

I don't recall you ever being around dogs before that.

[Though, she does think he strikes her more as a dog person—part of why him having a cat surprised her so much, among other reasons.]

[ramuhs]

Hmmm, back before I came to Valisthea, though I handled a few even after that.

[There's a far off, nostalgic look in his eyes as he stares down at his half empty glass.]

Hunting dogs, mainly. Some were made to be as aggressive as you can imagine, but others were easier to please.

[garudas]

[She does note that distant look in his eyes—the kind that she's always hated because she never knew how to read it, or how to reach him when he did wear it, hates it even more now given how they left things, but she huffs out with a small laugh instead, masking that uncomfortable shift.]

You always did enjoy hunting, did you?

[With her, at least. They would often go out and hunt for meat together to bring back to Stonhyrr on the quieter days and would steal some for themselves over a fire before returning.

Though, there's something else that bothers her about this, and thanks to that, Ash manages to get a catch on the mouse again.]

You say that as if it was a terrible thing. They say that dogs make good companions.

[ramuhs]

[There's just a moment before he looks back up at her, that unreadable, wry grin on his lips.]

Aye, they do. Sometimes too good...and often times undeserving of their masters.

[His voice seems to trail at the end, the slight furrow of his brow forming before he just shrugs and raises his glass to his lips.]

But they're certainly easier to handle than cats.

[garudas]

[Something in Benedikta's expression softens, only slightly, but it does nonetheless, hearing that. She has never had an animal companion of her own so she wouldn't know, but she can make a few guesses on what that unreadable look means, what that frown says.

She leaves Ash to tear apart the mouse with her teeth and sets her almost-empty glass on the counter, and once he's lowered his, she reaches up and runs her fingers along the lines between his brow, as if she means to smooth out the lines that are there. It's a familiar gesture—one that she would often do when she couldn't understand or parse what he was feeling or how to comfort him. She never was good at that, so these sorts of things were all she could offer, reminding him that he would get wrinkly quicker and be stuck that way if he frowns too deeply.

It's quick, and she backs off the moment her thumb swipes its way across, returning the air to what it was before with a quiet breath of laughter and an arrogant tip of her head.]

What would Ashtail think if you got yourself a dog, too?

[ramuhs]

[There's a slight look of surprise not when she approaches, but when he feels her fingers against his brow. It immediately conjures those old memories, of those times when she would do this when she didn't know what else to do. How long has it been since she's done this...

And he just stands there staring at her for a moment before he finally lets out his own small laugh.]

Throw a fit, likely.

[He then downs the rest of his beer before setting the glass against the counter and crosses his arms, watching the cat dig her teeth and claws into that mouse.]

I'd be more worried about the dog. Would have to be one that is either tolerant enough to not mind whatever she tries to do, or tough enough to put her in her place when pushed too far.

[A light chuckle.]

Or dumb enough to not care and piss her off enough that she stays away on her own.

[garudas]

[She spends a few extra seconds trying to read him first before she's reaching for her beer again, leaning against the counter near him, though not right next to him, and grateful that he didn't say a word about what she'd just done.]

If she learns to stay away on her own, is it really so dumb at all?

[Benedikta casts him a sideways glance at that before finishing up her drink in a single go.]

Only one way to find out. See if that wolfhound can either put up with her or break her.

[As Ashtail remains blissfully ignorant to all of this.]

[ramuhs]

It is if it keeps wanting to play with her.

[But he says that fondly and with an amused grin at the thought. Just some big dog like a golden retriever wanting to play with Ash but she just has none of it and hides up in her tree.]

Not sure how Torgal would handle it. I know Jill got a cat, but that one seemed a lot calmer and more obedient than Ash.

[garudas]

[Hm. That also sounds familiar.]

Why not have her make friends with Shiva's cat, then?

[A dismissive wave of her hand, and Ash looks up from what she's doing, the mouse half hanging out of her mouth. Wait, another cat???]