75 Godiva, Friday

[vdistinctive]

So. Hardison and Parker were officially going to be moving in. The first rush of "yes, please, be where I can keep an eye on you and make sure you're not turning into creepy zombie versions (or alien bug versions, or any other kind of creepy versions) of yourselves" had worn off, and Eliot was starting to realize what that actually meant, logistically. The house couldn't just be his place, anymore. He had to make sure that they had the space to make it their own, too. It wasn't as if Eliot's house was small, but, well. He'd been living there for coming up on three years now. It had stuff in it.

So today, Eliot was cleaning house. He'd cleared out the dining room (never used, they always ate in the kitchen, so that'd be great as, like, an office or study or something) and was now tackling the basement.

Which would be how a box full of bear traps ended up on his front stoop.

He had no idea what he was going to do with those.

[open!]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

"Moves in, huh?" Kanan, stop it with the little grin there. "Had enough of living alone, huh?"

So much was made clear, here. Or, all least, so much of the housekeeping was. Kanan stepped inside, followed shortly behind by the dog.

"... I've seen worse."

Given the places Kanan had stayed, this was not actually a helpful statement.

[vdistinctive]

A slightly doofy smile made its way across Eliot's face, and he banished it with effort. "Just makes sense, man, my place is bigger'n theirs and splittin' time between here and there just gets tiring." He gave Kanan a raised eyebrow as they got to the living room, now overtaken almost entirely by boxes. "Weren't you raised on a cargo ship or somethin'?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Actually," Kanan said, stepping into the living room and taking a look around at the boxes. "I was raised in a temple."

Which almost made this sound like high praise after all, didn't it?

"That said, I'm more used to freighter cargo holds these days than anything else. I might as well have been raised in one." He gestured around at the boxes. "This is pretty cozy. I'm sure they'll love it."

Brat.

[vdistinctive]

"You're hilarious, kid." Eliot might have put a little extra emphasis on the 'kid' there. He wanted this place to be perfect for his people. It was a tiny bit stressful! "S'pose you wouldn't recognize what three years of livin' someplace looks like."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan gave a little snort at that, watching Stance closely as the pup started sniffing around. If there was anything he could get his nose caught in, he wanted to avoid having to tackle his dog a second time today.

"I'm only starting to get my head around what a few months of living someplace looks like. Apparently it comes with a dog. Nobody told me it came with a dog."

But such was life.

"And judging by the animal traps and the surveillance equipment, three years of living here is its own special creature anyway."

[vdistinctive]

"Reasonably certain those don't come standard." They were what happened when a curse cranked your paranoia up past eleven. "But I wouldn't be surprised if most folks around here had somethin' bizzare sittin' in a box on a shelf somewhere."

[uncertain_dume]

"You know, now I'm going to have to start asking around. 'Strangest thing you have in your home thanks to Fandom Island and why the hell you're still keeping it.'"

Because for Kanan, the dog was still the weirdest part. But then, he was about to bring home a couple of boxes of bear traps, so maybe he was going to have to reconsider his position on strange things to keep around the home.

[vdistinctive]

"Could definitely be interesting," Eliot agreed. "Also -- terrifying." He really didn't want to know what sorts of souvenirs his neighbors might be keeping. He sifted through the boxes, looking for the surveillance equipment.

Seriously, how had he accumulated all this crap?

"What'd your answer be?"

[uncertain_dume]

"You mean, besides the rainbow spotted dog? Or Cecil?" Cecil was special in his own right. Cecil was also the reason Kanan had been sleeping on his own sofa for months, now. Kanan shrugged his shoulders. "I'm really not much for collecting souvenirs. I have a bottle of ryncol I've been holding on to for emergencies. I suppose that counts."

What sort of emergencies required a bottle of Krogan ale that could make a man vomit purple was anybody's best guess, mind.

[vdistinctive]

"Stance? He ain't weird at all." Val popped up from between a few boxes to bark an agreement. "Cecil. He's the kid who always glares at me."

Ask, Kanan. You know you want to.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan turned a little grin toward Val, who Stance was trotting over to say hello to without hesitation. Puppy playdate!

"... Cecil always glares at you?"

Yeah, he couldn't leave that question unasked. He didn't have it in him not to.

[vdistinctive]

"He's still pissed at me from this thing a few years ago," Eliot said. "It was one of -- those -- weekends, and I ended hired to kill him. Kid's actually more pissed that I didn't introduce myself before I shot him."

Yep, that was the sort of thing you could say casually around here.

[uncertain_dume]

"That... that sounds like Cecil, yeah," Kanan said, after a moment's pause. "The place he's from is... I'm willing to say it's strange even by Earth standards. It makes for all kinds of interesting moments where I'm left wondering if that's an Earth thing, a Night Vale thing, or just a Cecil thing."

Because... Cecil.

[vdistinctive]

"He used to do the radio," Eliot said. "Would groan every time he said my name. How do you live with that kid?"

It should be noted, Eliot had no idea Cecil was no longer a teenager.

[uncertain_dume]

And Kanan, meanwhile, had no idea that Eliot thought he was one. After all, he was 'kid' himself, more often than not. He was kind of starting to figure anybody under the age of 40 was kid, here.

"It was a fluke," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "He had been sitting around in the park with his luggage and his bird, so I gave him my bed. Figured I wasn't going to be here long, and he would be able to find his own place eventually. That just... didn't happen according to plan either way. The guy means well, though. And he's more or less harmless, even when he's maddening."

[vdistinctive]

"Hang on, have you not had a bed since then?"

Kanan.

[uncertain_dume]

"I've had a couch. What's wrong with the couch?"

This was an actual, legitimate question. Whether it came from a have-not mindset stemming from a Jedi upbringing, a stubbornness that came from sleeping in the dirt during the war, or just being a dumbass who was prone to staying in nightmarish flophouses or just crashing on cantina floors was anybody's best guess, though.

All of the above?

[vdistinctive]

Admittedly, Eliot hadn't spent his twenties sleeping in a bed, either.

"Couches are alright. And I guess you're young enough not to much notice the difference. Still, what're you gonna do if you wanna bring someone home, huh?"

. . . Was Kanan even interested in that sort of thing?

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan was terrible enough at being a Jedi that he was, in fact, very interested in that sort of thing.

"... I've been going to her place," he admitted. "Anyway, there aren't exactly all that many single women on the island who aren't actually a human personification of Death. Things like that."

He'd met one. One woman on the island who was not Death, or a Valkyrie, or spoken for. They had fun.

[vdistinctive]

"Really?" Eliot hadn't exactly been on the market in awhile, himself. "Well damn. Wait, is that Death thing hyperbole?"

Around here, you never knew.

[uncertain_dume]

"Not so far as I can tell," Kanan replied after a pause. "She's pleasant, though. Just... also Death. We talk sometimes. She makes me feel... really damn young."

Ignore that he was young, please.

"So Death doesn't get invited over for anything I wouldn't want a flamingo, a dog, or a roommate crashing in on anyway. Neither does anyone else."

[vdistinctive]

"You are really damn young."

Like Eliot was actually going to ignore that.

"Still, that's a damn trick. It's your apartment, right? Your name's on the lease, you should get a damn bed."

[uncertain_dume]

"This bed thing is really a sticking point for you, huh?"

Yes, Kanan. The bed thing was probably going to be a sticking point for a lot of people. It was kind of your bed.

[vdistinctive]

"It's your bed." Really, Kanan, you grew up the way you did and you hadn't learned to defend your own territory? "If anyone should be crashin' on the couch, it's the kid."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan defended his territory fiercely! His territory just happened to consist of a lightsaber, a holocron, and a blaster.

Oh, and now a dog.

"Wait... I thought I was the kid?"

A beat.

"I mean, unless I'm not the kid anymore. I can live with that, too."