#am i also imagining macaroni crushing on/pining after farriwen?

[hufflepirate]

I have a killer headache but can’t fall asleep to nap it off, so I’ve just been lying here thinking about Buddy and Macaroni Samsonite? Ty Liam and Travis for my LIFE but anyway:

Buddy and Mac settling in for the night and Mac falling asleep on top of Buddy with his little bone-clad arms wrapped around as much of Buddy’s back/shoulders as possible. If you look at his face in the firelight it’s kind of sweet, relaxed and drooling slightly, but all the spikes cast weird shadows and when you look from a distance he just looks ominous, like he could roll over and stab Buddy in a flash. (He won’t.)

Buddy’s a bi-romantic/pan-romantic ace send tweet.

Usually Buddy only picks Mac up by the scruff of the neck when he’s in danger, but after they join the Derrington brigade he occasionally does it on Tary’s orders when Mac’s being particularly aggressive. It does not make him less feral, though he does eventually stop kicking and flailing and let Buddy cuddle him up into a calm-down hug, which he inevitably endures looking like a wet and grumpy house cat.

The fight that takes Farriwen down is in rough terrain that Buddy moves through like it’s nothing, and when she falls, Mac shrieks in his ear to bring Farriwen to him, fast. Buddy does, his big hands picking her up gently and depositing her into the chariot on his back. He grunts in pain as sharp teeth sink into his side, where he left an opening trying to be gentle with Farriwen, but Mac’s already climbing around inside the chariot, getting his hands on Farriwen’s face to bring her back up again, and Hazel throws a quick healing word at Buddy instead, smiling at all three of them. Buddy smiles back. Hazel is pretty.

Buddy always wants to hear a story when they all bed down for the night while camping. Mac pretends it’s dumb and he doesn’t, but eventually all storytellers find themselves staring into two rapt pairs of eyes as Mac leans toward them so far he almost falls off of Buddy and Buddy nods and listens and makes little surprised noises and doesn’t realize Mac’s about to slip.

Damian designed all her own tattoos and when she tells Buddy this he’s fascinated. “You make the pictures?” She says she does and it’s easy and his eyes get even wider and she finds herself, unexpectedly, a little bit in love. Her sketchbook is way too small for him to use, but the next time they get back to Deastock, she acquires some very large canvases and some paint and they set up a little studio together. Buddy’s not very good at realism, but he’s enthusiastic and his work has charm and Mac insists on hanging the portrait Buddy did of him up in their room even though it’s the first thing he’s ever painted and didn’t come out quite right. (Damian will never, ever, ever admit how much she treasures her own portrait and if someone ever worked it out, she’d definitely have to stab them.)

Once Buddy’s had a little more practice, Mac starts letting him design some new tattoos for him. Buddy insists that all of them be of pretty things, but Buddy’s definition of “pretty” is broad enough to encompass all the tough, gritty stuff he likes, anyway. He does end up with a very delicate floral one half-inspired by Farriwen’s wind patterns on the back of his neck, but he can hide that behind his collar and his hair, so that’s alright.

Buddy doesn’t get to design Damian’s new back piece when she decides to get one, but he “helps” with all the sketches by gasping and telling her they’re pretty and then grunting and drawing additions on his own copy on his canvas. She takes some, but not all, of his suggestions.

Everyone laughs when The Owlbear flubs an attempt at stealth and Buddy asks, innocent and concerned, if he wants to hide in the chariot, but once the offer’s been made, Mac finds himself sharing the space fairly often. Sort of. The Owlbear prefers crouching on the outside of the chariot, one arm locked on to the side as he leans out and lets the wind blow his cape dramatically.

The Owlbear CAN do a lot of damage by hunkering down in the chariot and then leaping out with his arms outstretched in the silhouette of (he thinks) an Owlbear and stabbing whoever he lands on.

Sometimes Mac has to share chariot space just because someone else is tired or injured or ill. The rocking, swaying motion as Buddy walks is soothing. Once, Tary commented that it was “cute” that Mac and Hazel had ended up all cuddled up and napping up there while she recovered from being quite badly stabbed. Mac bit him and Buddy had to drag him off their boss before he could get his claws in.

(It was cute, though. Damian has sketches. It was also cute when Mac ended up cuddled against Farriwen in a similar situation. Buddy’s the one who drew him asleep with Damian and with The Owlbear, though. Damian hid both drawings so Mac wouldn’t feel betrayed.)

Mac picks up a level of monk shit from Farriwen, but it’s so distressing for Buddy when he jumps down into the thick of things that he doesn’t get to use it as much as he’d hoped. He could, of course, but he’s not a monster. (And he can’t punch fire yet, so what’s the point? Sacred flame works fine.)