aterat | [Closed] Carving And Cuddling

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[Closed] Carving And Cuddling

Who; Rhy Maresh, Llewllyn Watts
What; Carving pumpkins and trying to talk self out of getting a rabbit ~~and failing~~
Where; Their Home
When; October 14th (forward dated)
Warnings; N/A

Fall was, in Rhy's experience, a time of festivals. There was the harvest festival early in the fall, celebrating the wonderful foods and works of the Arnesian people. There was of course the brewer's festival, where those who specialized in ales and lagers and beers shared the first tastes of the creations that had been laid in before to ferment (Rhy particularly loved that celebration). And, of course, in November there would be the celebration nearest and dearest to Rhy's own heart: his own birthday. Yes, it might seem vain to others, but Rhy had been focused for years on turning his birthday into a week long party for commoners to celebrate during with no cost to them, because he saw how rarely they got to enjoy their own contributions to the nation.

None of it had anything to do with the fall festivities he'd heard of from Llewellyn's world. Strange that Gray London's world would have things so very different, though he supposed that it had to do with the fact that his love's world had things like religion and science and machines. Clearly with all of that you needed good decorations.

Which was why Rhy was here now, in their recently finished kitchen, spreading out old cloths they could clean later, and setting large orange gourds on top of it. He was even lying out knives for the process. All of this was being done while he kept glancing to the side at a book he has borrowed on his latest topic of research: Rabbits.

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"Ah, this has to do with your practices related to death," Rhy noted, voice thoughtful. His people were so much more flippant with that than most. Though for memory of it, his hand raised to his chest where the scars of his death, and the marks of his brother's magical working, still linger.

"We shall make a few then, to make our home more comfortable for you, love."

Though he doesn't much understand the whole practice behind it, his lover wants it, and thus it matters to him.

"Oh Pretzel is so very very much a dog, even if he is not a hound such as my father would find appropriate. But he is so very placid. Perhaps that is from his origin."

The Sphere was indeed a very strange place after all.

"Rabbits are cute..."

“Yes, although it’s not thought of in that sense much these days.” Llewellyn had been a little more fond of the slightly whimsical, artistic aspect of pumpkin carving more than anything. Still, the thought behind Rhy’s agreement was appreciated. “Most of the time it’s small parties, and uh- something new that’s been taking off has been children dressing up and going from one door to another. Although I haven’t seen many doing it yet, given I was in a boarding house and not an actual home in a neighborhood. My boss did, though.” They’d gotten pranked, which was honestly more amusing to Llewellyn than anything.

Smiling a little, “He is, and yet he seems very confused by that at times.” So very like and sometimes unlike, it was curious… But he was theirs, and terribly sweet, so Llewellyn adored him regardless. The detective had to nod at the observation, though. “Alex and I discussed that possibility once… It seemed likely enough based upon him and some of the other animals that were there.”

And there it was, a little evidence that he had been right about his husband’s wish for a rabbit. “They are quite cute, and seem to make good companions if the ones I’ve been around are anything to go by.”

"Indeed?" Rhy asked. He hadn't realized people had considered it enough to discuss it.

Still, he does want to wax poetic about rabbits.

"They have the cutest little noses."

“Mmhm… We spoke on it a little more extensively during that uh- unfortunate situation with the domes.” Not that he liked to think about that particular point in time, it had not been pleasant for anyone.

“We considered that, given animals weren’t normally found there in a natural environment, that the sphere may have created them specifically for those who they were given to based upon memories or the needs of the recipient.” And while he hadn’t wanted it pointed out, he knew it was a good point. Pretzel had mysteriously appeared out of the blue and been… more or less what the detective needed at the time. An overly friendly creature with a peaceful mindset that tended to get along with him and everyone around him that he had come to like himself. It had been before he was seeing Rhy, and he’d been… dealing with some things. So Pretzel had been a therapeutic presence.

He chuckled a little at the comment, “I have noticed that, Lancelot’s seems to twitch rather sweetly at times too. And they’re quite soft, too.” He added, keeping the conversation going to see if it helped the idea along.

Oh. Then. Rhy shuddered to remember it, to remember questing to ask his questions. Still, it's rather interesting. The fast young man had something that was slow. The investigator had a dog that could seek by scent. Very interesting.

"Soft is a positive. So soft and cuddly."

Which is not a reason to get an animal

It’s not, but Llewellyn would point out it could be counted as one of several deciding factors if someone desired a pet that was both soft and cuddly. “And these seem rather varied as animals go, more so than I had realized before now. Perhaps while we work, you could tell me more about the kind you’ve been learning about?” He asked, carefully scooping the insides of the pumpkin out and dropping them in a bowl next to him, once the top was off the pumpkin.

"Oh," Rhy said, smiling at the very idea. "Alright then. But you have to show me how you intend to clean out this gunky thing."

Because he was definitely watching his husband with large, and worried, eyes.

“Excellent. I’m rather curious to hear what you know on the subject.” Llewellyn responded with a smile, before he finally noted the slight worry in both his husband’s expression and tone. Ah, this was probably one of the slightly concerning aspects of the job. It wasn’t hard, not really, but… It was messy. “Hmm… So uh- basically, what I’m doing now is about the extent of cleaning it out.”

Reaching for one of the large metal spoons he’d grabbed from the kitchen drawer, he held it up. “That said, scraping at it with this will make it a little easier to loosen everything up.” He offered a wry smile, tilting his head slightly. “Then we deposit it all in the bowl to keep the mess from spreading much.” The detective paused though, glancing at Rhy’s expression again. “I could also do this part of it for both of them, and we can proceed with carving together.”

Rhy definitely looked... uncomfortable with the idea of getting his hands into all the goop that Llewellyn had revealed. Sometimes his coddled and pampered noble background came through. This was clearly one of those times.

"I could agree to that arrangement of things."

Luckily, Llewellyn had at least thought about such a possibility in advanced. He hadn’t been about to just assume that Rhy wouldn’t want to try, and taken the choice from him entirely… But he had a feeling if given the choice that this particular point to their joint project would go as such, so he had been prepared for both possibilities. “Then let us begin. I’ll work on cleaning these out and you can educate me on the subject of the variety of rabbits you’re looking into.” He responded with a light smile, pulling the other pumpkin over to work on after the current one was empty and scraped clean.

"Alright then."

He moves to the book and opens it up.

"So there is something called Flemish Giant rabbits. They would get larger than even Pretzel by quite a bit. They are apparently very gentle, and were raised for meat."

Llewellyn smiled, listening with interest as he continued to clean the gunk out of their pumpkins without much fuss. Sometimes reaching for the spoon to scrape and disconnect more of the filling from the inside. “I didn’t realize rabbits could get that large? Though that they’re gentle does sound like they might be a good fit as well.” Something calm and agreeable to the company (and probably cuddles by default).

"Perhaps. Though there's these super soft, fluffy ones. Fluffy like a long hair cat. Those are supposed to be sweet. They're called Angora rabbits, and they are the source of the fibers for cashmere."

And yes, fibers makes Rhy very interested and amused.

“So you did learn what those are called.” He tilted his head with interest. He had never really known about this variety himself until Rhy had brought up the idea. “Then I suppose that would be rather fitting considering your creativity?” Rhy would never cease to impress his husband with the clothes he made and the designs he came up with, and he didn’t doubt that would continue if Rhy had a chance to learn to knit as well.

That said, he had to voice his curiosity on the subject of using rabbits as a source for fibers. Tilting his head to look down into the current pumpkin to see if it was clean enough to move on to the next, he continued. “How does one harvest fiber from a rabbit, I wonder? Is it uh- like sheering sheep?”

"I heard of it from the lovely young woman Haru," Rhy admitted. She had suggested she could teach Rhy to knit of course. But he knew that he wanted to keep that to himself until he was at least mediocre at it.

"I don't know that it's sheering. It might be more like brushing them?"

Llewellyn nodded, his spotty memory refreshed on the mentions of her earlier. So she had known that the rabbits in questions were called angora, she really did seem like a clever young woman who had rather interesting areas of knowledge… Llewellyn would probably be a little sad for his husband to be keeping the learning to knit secret, although he could understand if Rhy wanted the chance to get better at it at first and improve his confidence. Even if he would try to be encouraging, sometimes perhaps he could be a little much with that encouragement.

The detective finally moved on to cleaning out the next pumpkin while he contemplated the idea. “Hmm… I suppose that does sound more likely for rabbit fur with the right kind of brush?” It was still a rather mysterious process to Llewellyn, of course, but he was interested.

"Yeah, a brush sounds nice. Could just have the little thing right in your lap and brush it and get to pet a soft bunny," Rhy said, smiling to himself as he imagined it.

THen he sighed.

"My parents weren't a fan of having pets."

“I believe that would be quite soothing for both you and the rabbit, hm?” Llewellyn rather liked the mental image himself. It was really quite adorable and cozy. Especially in the evenings in where they were enjoying each other’s company, reading or working on their own projects in the den and chatting about their day to fill the silence between. The addition of another fluffy creature to fill the space with joy was something that he rather hoped to see.

Especially as Rhy continued. “No? Mm… That is a pity. I admit I didn’t quite understand the benefit before Pretzel was given to me… But they are such lovely company, and a comfort at times.” Well, his husband could enjoy one of his own now, as well as Pretzel’s company.

"It could be," Rhy said, thoughtfully. And perhaps a touch longingly. But he absolutely wasn't going to suggest it for himself. Even if he wanted to. No, they didn't need another pet, right?

"A comfort indeed. I'm glad you have Pretzel for when you're working too. Your work seems so stressful at times."

Scooping out the last of the guts from the second pumpkin, he scraped the insides a bit to make sure was cleaned out and considered his husband’s tone thoughtfully. It was clear how enamored with the idea Rhy was, and the fact that he wasn’t quite suggesting it despite Llewellyn’s suggestion that they indeed could and should see about bringing another pet for their family had him speaking up lightly. “It could, and mm… I like the thought of it. These angora rabbits sound like an excellent companion. Perhaps we should see what more we can learn about them and where we might find one.” If non-existent in this world, well… There was always Raimon.

The comment gets a small, thoughtful hum. “I suppose it can be… Not as bad here as it was back in my world, I admit. But to have him around certainly helps when things slip towards stressful. He’s good company and help now that he’s gotten better at tracking.” That said, he carefully leans over to press a light kiss to his husband’s cheek, careful to not get pumpkin everywhere. “But I also should mention that it’s a comfort to come home and see the two of you at the end of each day, as well.”

It was nicer than going home to an empty room at the boarding house, after all. So if he could grow their little family and give Rhy something he hadn’t had back in his own world like a pet? The detective wanted to do that for him.

That seemed encouraging. Rhy looked to him, trying to process it all. But a little cuddly and snuggly friend just for him seemed... nice. Especially since that, now that Pretzel was better trained, he made such an important companion to Llewellyn's work.

"It's a comfort to have you there too, to be in your heart."

Still, he's considering it.

"So, are you done with the cleaning?"

Llewellyn smiled at that. “I’m glad to hear it, my love.” And he did love to know that his husband felt that way. Knowing it in his heart or not, it warmed him to hear it. He can still see his husband was deep in thought on the subject of rabbits, though, so he continued to carry the thread of conversation along. “Perhaps we shall have to see what more there is to learn about these particular rabbits.” He added, knowing that it might help to encourage Rhy’s idea if he felt more confident in the care of them.

The question gets a small nod though, as he turned the best side of one of the pumpkins to face his husband. “Indeed! I uh- believe we’re at the point that we can begin the carving.” He gestured at the hollowed-out gourd. “So what we’ll do now is decide what to put on the front. Usually some kind of expression or face? Some people are quite good at it and make them fairly detailed… But I admit I’m still a bit basic and unrefined when I design one, so they tend towards being more simplistic?”

"Perhaps we will," Rhy agreed. And he really was tempted. Better not to think on it too heavily before he just lets himself move on to the carving.

Because there is carving to do.

"So I imagine they are supposed to get eyes and a mouth at the least.

Llewellyn smiled. He could hear it in Rhy’s voice that he was tempted… They would just have to keep working on it over time, perhaps. Maybe by spring they would have things sorted. Yes, that might be quite lovely for them.

“Indeed!” He responded, though, concerning the pumpkin. “I admit I’ve had a hard time with the uh- eyes in the past. But yes, eyes, mouth, sometimes a nose… But mostly it’s meant to be creative fun, to design it however you think might be nice. We’ll put a candle in it at the end, and in the evenings it casts a bit of a glow.”

"A candle? Wouldn't that cook the pumpkin?" he asks, frowning as he considers the idea. But he needs to try this.

Then he's considering the face.

"Circles are probably hard. Maybe... triangle eyes?"

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