thecapitol | most of my sweet memories were buried in the sand

Who| cole + OPEN
What| making friends with stray cats + figuring out how food tastes
Where| a random alleyway in the capitol, the tribute center restaurant
When| after the latest arena
Warnings/Notes| none yet

CAPITOL ALLEYWAY.

Everyone can see him. It doesn't matter what he does, because he can feel the weight of their eyes on him. Everyone can see him, and he can't slip away like he used to. Once, the weight of their eyes would have made him panic. But he's a little more used to being seen by now. Varric has been helping him. Instead, he tugs his hat back down over his eyes to obscure his face and makes his way around a city that seems too clean after being in Thedas for so long.

The people here are untouchable. Their thoughts are shrouded from him. He's left with the noise his own mind makes inside of his head, which is different and a little strange. He probably makes a strange sight, crouched at the end of a small alleyway with a loaf of bread in his hands. Murmuring quietly to the stray cats congregated there.

I'm not going to hurt you. You must be hungry.

It's harder to help, without those thoughts at his fingertips. But this is one small way that he can. The cats of Skyhold used to bat their paws at him even when they couldn't see him. These ones approach tentatively, spurred on by his gentle coaxing an the bread in his hands.

He can help the hungry cats. He can help.

TRIBUTE CENTER

He's never had to eat before. Back in the Spire, before he knew what he was, Cole vaguely remembers the feeling of hunger that had appeared only because he'd thought it's what he might feel. He thought he was human, back then. Or -- something else. Something more real, and more substantial than he felt, slipping through the cracks and into the darkness. But he had never actually eaten anything, even back then. He wasn't even really sure that he could.

Now the feeling is back, that odd gnawing sensation. But he doesn't really know what to eat, so he goes to the restaurant at the bottom of the tribute center and orders something at random off the menu. Or, it's more like he closes his eyes and picks at random.

The avoxes make his heart ache. They can't speak, and he can't hear them the way he would have been able to, once. They scurry away from him like scared mice as soon as he tries to speak to them. Leaving him with assorted oddities. Pickles, peanut butter. An apple and fish. Cole bites into a pickle and immediately shudders at the taste.

No, no pickles. No, they're not for him.

Unless he dipped them in peanut butter?

Someone please stop him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gary has had a touch-and-go relationship with domesticated animals. His aunt and uncle wouldn't get him one because the landlord didn't allow anything large and clawed, which excluded most things except for goldfish and small rodents, all of which he attempted. After a most unfortunate mishap with his second-grade class's pet gerbil, those privileges were taken as well. Perhaps he could have entertained himself with the feral cats in Barberton, or the dogs in the park at Leroi Lake, but even they seemed to recognize that Gary Epps was bad news. Or maybe it was something to do with the approach.

'The approach' is the one he's taking now: on seeing the herd of gathering strays around a small figure kneeling in the middle of a lonely alley, Gary tries to sneak up as close as possible, then run into the center of the group with loud whoops of laughter. Helping! He's helping!

The cats scatter as soon as he leaps into the alley, yowling in fright. Leaving Cole there alone in the middle of it all, most of the bread uneaten. They're gone and they might not be back for a while, and they might go hungry in the meanwhile. Cole rises to his feet, and he's angry.

He's angry more often these days, ever since he felt himself becoming more human. Shedding the trappings of being a detached spirit. He wants to hit people more often. Varric was helping him with that, guiding him gently through the process of being human and hurting like one.

"Why did you do that?" he demands, as the last of the cats run for their lives. "They'll go hungry now. I was helping them!"

Gary jogs to a stop, wearing a wide, open-mouthed grin on his face that quite clearly says he has no idea why this guy is so angry. Like an excitable puppy that's just brought a chewed-up slipper to its owner.

"I dunno," he pants with an exaggerated shrug. "It was fun, though! More fun than tossing a bunch of bread at them. What kind of cat eats bread, anyways? Don't they eat, like, mice and stuff?"

This...this is not the point. It's gone completely over Gary's head. But what else is new?

It's a sensitive subject, sort of. Cole has a soft spot for stray animals, those that have been abandoned and kicked to the side. The fact that they tolerate him more here than in Skyhold is just a bonus. He must smell different or something, more like a real boy. His presence doesn't scare them, and he cherishes that and holds it closely to his chest.

"You scared them," he says, crossing his arms against his chest. "You scared them and you didn't have to do that. And now they might not ever come back."

He's trying to rein in his anger. Taking deep breaths is helping, just like Varric taught him.

Cole is going to have many chances to practice patience with Gary, who not only continues to miss the point, but seems to act in continued and flagrant disregard for it. He waves his hand and lets out a dismissive puff of air.

"Nah," Gary insists. "They'll come back! They're just cats. Cats are dumb. They'll forget about the whole thing in like five minutes." Cats, goldfish--they work about the same, don't they? "Come on, look on the bright side! I saved you from wasting all that bread."

He thinks about that for a moment.

"...You gonna eat that?"

most of my sweet memories were buried in the sand

cats pls (also I am so sorry)

gary why!!!!!

s-sob

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