milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

Gil enters the bar, tray across his arm, apron neatly tied, fur brushed and horns and hooves polished. One makes the best of what one has.

He looks around the room for familiar faces, sees everyone occupied, smiles and begins his usual round of snack distribution. While he does it he thinks of his conversation with Angie and amuses himself by constructing an eightlevel snack dispensing charm with temporal reference to Millitime. He's pretty sure it would work - but why bother?

[Gil helps Sooty catch baby trilobites and fails to respond to flirting thus carefully keeping goat-pr0n out of the Bar - hmmm self-summarisation is easy!]

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Asar-Suti waits a long while before he interrupts Gil at his work.

"Gil?" he says, very softly, after a long while.

"Hmmm? Oh Sooty, I didn't see you there." Gil smiles. "Have you had a nice day?"

"I tried to fish out the trilobite babies, and I talked to Jack - he is still here," Asar-Suti reports.

"Wouldn't they come out?" Gil asks. He looks at the tank frowning. "Aren't they safe with their mothers? I could help if you liked."

"They're not safe, full stop - Mitzi got sick after she ate some. And the mothers don't do much about them. I haven't seen any actually eat the little ones, but creatures like that tend to do," Asar-Suti explains. "And it's getting too crowded in there, if you look closely. I thought I'd put the little ones in a larger tank somewhere in the back area and then decide what to do about them."

He conjures another net for Gil.

Gil thanks him, eyes the net then applies a careful "This is the hottest place in town for baby trilobites" charm to it.

If a few of the big ones swim in they'll be easy enough to pick out with his fingers.

Some adults carry on behaving like spawn long after they've developed a full carapace.

Asar-Suti sees the recalcitrant beasties flocking into the net.

"That is brilliant, Gil - what was that charm? It works a treat!" he marvels, helping to fish out the slightly stupid big walnut-shaped one.

"It's a variation on a charm used in wizarding mousetraps and night clubs. It just makes the net the place to be for a little while. Fun isn't it, and much less effort than chasing the wee beasties around the tank. About how many are there?"

"Clever. Night clubs, huh? There may be a few hundred..." Asar-Suti admits.

"Well shall we assume we've got about half?" Gil says, raising the net to the surface and levelling it off. "We can get another load tomorrow, perhaps? Where shall we put these?"

"Okay, let's take these to the back first, and fish out another batch tomorrow," Asar-Suti agrees. "Let's hid them underneath the tank, on that middle shelf where the more rarely used trilobie food and things are? I hope nobody else is attracted to them, nightclub-fashion."

"The nets? I'll lift the charm once we've finished using them. It's easy enough to reapply." Gil lifts the net out of the tanks and puts it into the receptacle awaiting the babies. "Here you go," he says.

"The others will be really envious they didn't get to come," Asar-Suti jokes. "Can I conjure a tank in some quiet place a bit off the kitchen where these can grow bigger until we decide what to do with them?"

"Hmmm, how about our room? One of Ratty's babies, the little brown one, has expressed an interest in animal keeping. She could help mind them."

"We have room now the infernal espresso machine is gone, too," Asar-Suti agrees. "The little brown one - I know which one you mean. Did she chose a name yet?"

Asar-Suti concentrates for a moment.

"Nah, I better conjure all that water and glass when I can see it," he admits.

"Okay," Gil says. "Can you cope alone or do you want me to help move some furniture around?"

Silly question really. Gods don't need the help of mortals but sometimes, for some reason, they just like it.

"I can cope alone and might consent to do so if we can make a date later where we do something just among the two of us, with me in faun-shape as well, if possible," Asar-Suti grins. "Otherwise, if you will be very busy very long, I'd like your help and company now, please."

Asar-Suti feels that he wants to kiss Gil, but doesn't feel like seeing him flinch back with worry at what the others might say.

"I can deliver these on the way," Gil says, hefting the tray again.

He follows Sooty across the bar, placing snacks where he feels they'll do the most good and through to their room, losing the tray in the kitchen.

"So where shall we put the tank?" he asks.

"I'd suggest there, along the wall, where the espresso machine no longer is, and then a bit further, the tank is bigger," Asar-Suti says. "What do you think?"

He feels a bit worried inside, though; Gil had so totally not reacted ot his flirting.

Suddenly, he feels cold. What if he he asked his faun now 'Do you still love me?' and he would answer 'No' or, even worse, 'Erm, what?'

Gil nods. "That sounds like a plan," he says and begins to clear the space.

Personally he can take or leave trilobites but anything that will make Sooty happy is okay with him.

"Ready when you are," he says.

Asar-Suti draws a long, involved rune, and there is a little table, and a tank with sand and water and a few stalks of kelp in.

"There - now let's pour in the wee beasties," he says, handing Gil the temporary goldfish bowl.

Gil does the honours, carefully using his wand to ensure that the tanks water is the same temperature as the bowl water so the punctuation sized creatures don't get a shock.

Then he puts the bowl down and steps back, slipping his arm around Sooty's waist and looking affectionately from him to his latest pets. Sotty does enjoy having things to take care of.

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