Work Text:
"So...what was she like?"
Octavio looked up from the ring of spilled beer on the table to the beer mat he'd been absentmindedly tearing apart before meeting the trickster's eye.
"Soft."
"Most rabbits are soft, mate," Ramya chimed in, taking a swig from her drink. “At least any I’ve seen.”
The runner clicked his tongue piercing against his teeth in thought.
"She was...She had long ears. And...Jeez, I don't know, compadres," he said, his attention returning to the beer mat in his hands. "I don't know why I even brought her up."
A silence fell over the table.
"Do you like animals?" Elliott asked, not quite sure if the subject should be changed or not. "I'm a dog guy. Always wanted to get one."
"That explains the dinners you make us," Ramya quipped, receiving an eye roll in response.
“Doesn’t stop you from eating them.”
"Yeah, I like animals," Octavio continued, interrupting their brewing bickering. "I like dogs too. I wanted a dog when I was a kid. A puppy, actually. But...I got a rabbit instead."
He sat back in his seat, releasing a sigh as he watched the carbonated bubbles rise to the top of his glass.
"I called her Navi. I was kinda disappointed at the time because I wanted a puppy so bad. But...she ended up being pretty cool. I...still miss her sometimes."
"What happened to her?" Elliott probed.
Octavio merely shrugged.
"I don't know, really. I used to take her on all my stunts and then she just sort of...died."
"Bloody hell, I don't blame her! I've seen some of the madness you get up to," Ramya blurted out, gaining her a kick to the side of the foot, under the table from Elliott, despite the daredevil seeming unphased by the remark.
“She was good at it,” Octavio recalled. “She knew not to move at the wrong time.”
“Do you think you’ll ever get another rabbit?”
“Nah. Well...I dunno. Maybe.”
Octavio paused then, looking between his two companions as if he’d said enough.
“Did, uh...either of you have pets growing up?”
“Not really,” the trickster replied, running a hand over his beard. “We found a stray dog once but...it didn’t stick around for too long.”
He brought his glass to his lips, chuckling quietly into his drink.
“The closest thing I had to a pet was a teddy bear.”
“Oh, yeah?” Octavio asked, obviously amused. “What was its name?”
“Bert.”
“Bert?” Ramya snorted.
“What’s...what’s wrong with Bert?” Elliott replied, turning to face her. “Bert Bear. It’s a good name!”
“Sure, mate.”
“Alright, what about you, Miss High and Mighty,” Elliott said, resting both elbows against the table. “What about you? Any ghosts from the past?”
“None that I’d be willing to share before having a few more of these,” the modder replied, taking a long sip from her glass before setting it down with an audible thunk.
“Spoil sport.”
“Well, I coulda been one myself if Big Sister had her way,” Ramya replied, almost too lightheartedly. “Didn’t wanna one up your...dead rabbits and lost teddy bears.”
“Hey, he’s not lost! He’s at my mom’s place...probably.”
“Why don’t we have a toast?” the trickster suggested, raising his glass when he noticed the tone had changed.
“A toast to what?” Ramya asked, looking down into her own drink that was close to empty.
“To uhhh...I don’t know. Stuff from the past?” he replied weakly, tilting his glass towards Octavio. “To Navi. May she...do rabbit stunts in rabbit heaven.”
“And to Bert,” Octavio smirked, causing the modder to laugh while Elliott simply pouted.
“You two are not gonna let me live that one down, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Fine,” the trickster continued, shaking it off. “And to the ghosts of Ramya’s past that we’ll totally get her to spill by the end of the night.”
The group clinked their glasses and drank, before Ramya spoke up, setting her now empty glass on the table.
“Refill me and we’ll see about that, Witt.”
“Oh, you’re on,” Elliott replied with a grin, while he collected their glasses. “And Octavio! You’re gonna have to tell me about how you get a rabbit to do stunts.”
“I’ll think of a couple of good stories, amigo,” the runner replied with a small smile, watching as the trickster walked away towards the bar. “I can probably pull up some old vids too.”
“Sweet.”
He didn’t talk about Navi to a lot of people, but maybe he should start. It would allow her memory to live on; the ghost of the most awesome rabbit to ever grace the Outlands deserved that much.