bakerstreet | PILLOW FORT MEME

"No, it is not a mammal," he accepts the cup and sips. "But you get brownie points for handing me cocoa."

It's almost empty, so he finishes off the cup, stretches, and rolls over to rest prone with his arms folded under his chin.

Roi turns his head and finds himself tempted to sit on the guy's back when Balthazar rolls onto his stomach. And maybe knead his back. Feline, opportunistic instinct. But it'd probably be awkward for Horvath.

"Is it a bird of some kind?"

Hopefully Horvath doesn't notice Roi's glance at Balthazar's rear before he averts his eyes - and tilts his ears back a little. He'll be good, he promises!

"Mmm... I don't suppose that means actual brownies, somewhere down the road?" He sips his own cooling cocoa, settling deeper in the cushions.

"Yes! It's a bird! I think you should both have to figure out what bird." Balthazar wouldn't object to Roi lying across him, or kneading, but he's not sure what Horvath would think.

He's also unaware his rear is being studied, but that may be for the best. "Actual brownies? I guess that could be arranged. Or blondies. Roi can't have the chocolate...we'd have to make two pans."

"Unless the chocolate is carob." But his tail wags like a dog's in excitement. He never really understood the "tail wagging in anger" bit about being a cat.

He thinks of different birds. Red factor canary? The cardinal?

What other birds are red? Certainly not the peacock. Maybe some hawks are reddish? But smaller than a breadbox, so that's out... The wingspan makes a lot of birds a lot bigger....

"Carob isn't the same, but I'd eat either kind, you know. Such is my downfall." He sighs and rests a hand on his stomach. Being big is in his genetics.

"...Is it a cardinal, or are you being trickier than that?" His thoughts and Roi's seem to run along similar lines. At least about the birds.

"Baking sounds like it might be fun," he allows. "And I have ice cream. But you two have to help."

He chuckles at Horvath. "I'm not that tricky. It's a cardinal; you're right, Max. So you have to come up with the next one, unless we're giving it up in favor of desserts."

"I was gonna guess that, or a red factor canary." Roi visibly sulks, feeling competitive rather than angry. His ears tilt to opposite ends, wriggling, and some of the fur on his tail puffing out.

"Although they're kinda orange. They take their colors from things like carrots...."

But... baking? Ice cream? He's thinking about it. Depends on what Horvath wants to do.

"As long as we have desserts later, I don't mind a wait."

"Red canary? I can see yours are going to be difficult to guess." Horvath finishes off his cocoa and sets it aside, turning his gaze to the blanketed ceiling. "Desserts can wait. All right... whose turn is it first? Roi's?"

"I've never heard of a red factor canary, either," Balthazar glances at Roi, interested. "They get their color from food, like flamingos do?"

To Horvath he says, "Roi can have the first turn this time, yes."

"I don't know about flamingos, but foods that supplement the pigment affect the canary. Kind of like... the same thing that turns your face orange if you eat too many carrots over a period of time."

Beat. His ears twitch, and he laughs.

"A friend of mine did that once. His skin was orange! People were wondering if he was jaundiced or something."

In the meantime, he'll happily continue this topic until Horvath comes up with something that he wants them to guess.

Edited 2013-02-11 08:24 (UTC)

"A bird you've never heard of? Can there be such a thing?" He arches a brow at Balthazar.

"Jaundice is usually more yellow... in the trenches during the war-" Horvath cuts himself off abruptly, looking awkward, and rubs the thigh of his bad leg. "Never mind. I think I've got one. Go on, Roi. First guess?"

"I've heard that, about eating carrots. Flamingos are pink because of the carotenoids in the shrimp they eat. Probably the same compound that changes canaries' colors." He's gotten distracted by the conversation, using it as a teaching moment, but Horvath's mention of the war breaks him out of it.

He turns to look at his old friend, rolls onto his side, and reaches over to thump him warmly on the back. He was there, too.

Roi gives Horvath a somewhat solemn expression of his own.

"...Admittedly, some of my knowledge comes from being born in not only a different world entirely from this one, but from a future time, too. For all I know, red canaries won't catch on as they did in my world."

He shrugs slightly, then leans back a bit. "Is it an inanimate object?"

Balthazar gets a quiet, grateful smile for his trouble. It's not a topic he wants to delve into now, but the sympathy is appreciated.

"They're usually yellow, at least where I come from, but the divergent world is noted. I can only hope what I've thought of is familiar where you come from, or this is could all be unfair. Yes, it's an inanimate object."

"That's true. You should tell me what stocks to invest in here." Balthazar grins and nudges Roi's knee with his own, then turns his attention to the game.

"Hmmm. Would it fit in the pillow fort?"

"I don't think you want to invest in cat nip concoctions. It wouldn't do well here. And then you'd have other cats pawing at your feet." He sticks his tongue out at Balthazar. He's pretty sure Balth was joking, but his own serious response is equally on the scope of joking - or so he hopes he's conveyed. And pretending to be jealous, maybe.

Horvath glances around the given space, which might fit another person, but it would get cramped, especially with as much room as his own legs take up. "No, not quite. Not even without us here."

"...What about cats pawing at your feet? I already have that at home."

Balthazar immediately has a new question, but it's Roi's turn, so he bites his tongue (figuratively) and responds to the joke instead. "Hmm, no you already take up most of my day. I don't have time for more students, especially feline ones."

He smiles fondly at Roi, although the reference to him being his student was for Horvath's sake. Their relationship is clear enough to the other Merlinian, but there's no reason to overemphasize it. "Roi hasn't met the girls yet, has he? I wonder if they'd take to him or whether they'd just see him as invading their territory."

He catches the fond smile, and returns it with an adoring smile of his own. "The girls? Well..." Roi isn't sure quite what to make of meeting, well, other cats, obviously. He doesn't see himself as a tom cat, so hopefully they wouldn't take offense.

In any case, inanimate object, won't fit in the pillow fort.... And there's the chance that it won't be from his world.

Roi's ears fold to the sides, and slightly backwards.

"Does it have historical significance?"

Horvath's cats are slightly timid, since he almost never has guests, so they've seen very few people besides him in their lives. How they'd react to any other feline is an unknown factor, too.

Horvath gives a mild little frown at the question, and rubs at his beard briefly. "If it does, I'm unaware of it. That's as close as I can get to yes or no, I'm afraid."

"Okay, does it move about?" Balthazar cuts in with his question eagerly. Roi might find it educational, watching him interact with Horvath. It paints an interesting picture of what he must have been like as a boy and a young man.

As Roi waits for the answer to that question, Roi does observe the two and their interactions. He's happy for them, really - two people from mostly the same world, in each other's shoes, and getting along.

He's glad for the both of them, that they're not alone.

On the other topic, it's unknown if the object has historical significance? How troubling. The answer is, in a way, a non-answer, in terms of "yes" or "no"....

"No. Hang on, that wasn't a fair answer, for Roi's turn... I'm sorry I can't give a better one." He's aware it doesn't quite fit the rules, too, but not sure how to fix that.

"Perhaps you should get an extra question, for that."

PILLOW FORT MEME

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