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“Playing with your food?” Karlach said. “Be careful, that might be Halsin. You could wind up with a few hundred pounds of angry druid in your lap.”
Astarion didn’t look up from the large fluffy gray cat. The dear creature had walked over and curled up in his lap like it was the finest cat bed. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. To me that sounds like a lovely way to pass the evening. Besides, it’s not Halsin.”
“How do you know?” She asked.
“You’ve woken the perfect little creature.” Astarion gently pet the furry head that popped up. His fur was impossibly soft. “Halsin is… huge. We asked him to become a spider to jump through a crack in the wall and he turned into practically a horse sized nightmare creature and jumped on top of the house. Then he went through a hole in the roof. If Halsin has a cat form it would be a giant panther or something along those lines. Kobolds would be like tiny mice to him.” Astarion grinned at the mental image of a giant sleek wildshaped Halsin clearing out a den.
The cat stretched and for a second Astarion worried that he’d walk away as lightly as he’d come. Astarion had been so charmed by a cat choosing him, a vampire, as a worthy place of rest. He wasn’t ready to see him walk away, giant fluffy tail waving in the breeze. Then the cat resettled in his lap and started to nuzzle his chest. Astarion felt his heart melt. Perhaps a sun-warmed vampire was nearly as good as living creature to a cat. He could feel the cat’s purr. He gently skritched the cat’s chin and the purr grew louder.
“Actually, Karlach, can you be a dear and see if you can find Halsin or Tav. I want them to ask what sort of treat he’d like best.”
“He likes honey,” Tav said, walking up from behind him.
“Honey? That’s an odd thing for a cat to… oh…” His face fell as Karlach grinned and punched the air in triumph. The cat leapt down, walked a few feet away and, sure enough, in a swirl of lights, there was Halsin siting in the dirt.
“I was right!” Karlach said. She clapped her hands in joy.
“What’s going on here? Halsin, were you deceiving our Astarion?” Tav asked.
Halsin laughed. “No, I swear. There are just odd smells and tunnels near the camp and I wanted to check them out, make sure we were safe. When I got back to camp I saw him sitting there. I didn’t even think about it, I just curled up and went to sleep.”
“Halsin was fine.” Astarion stood and pointed dramatically at Karlach. “She accused me of playing with my food.”
Tav frowned. “You do play with your food. I should know.”
“You are missing the point entirely, she thought I might harm Whiskers!” He said.
“Whiskers?” Karlach said. “You mean Halsin, that was totally Halsin! Wait, you’d already named him?”
“Now we know it’s Halsin, all I knew at the time was that I had the sweetest creature imaginable in my lap and I was right.” Astarion drew himself up defensively.
Halsin stood up and looked from Astarion to Karlach and back again, face caught between amusement and worry. Tav folded his arms and just watched.
“He may shift into a cat form, but you are a cat, I swear,” Karlach said.
“What? That doesn’t even make sense,” Astarion said.
Karlach stuck her tongue out at him. Astarion hissed, and then realized exactly what he’d done. Karlach had baited him into that response and he’d fallen for it. A look of horror spread across his face.
“See? I was right! Right again!” Karlach laughed.
“No, no, that’s cheating.”
“Fangs, you’re not winning this one. You can’t turn this around.”
“You underestimate my ability to live in complete and utter denial of having lost!”
“Okay, you’ve got me there.” Karlach put her hands up in surrender.
“See, you admit it, I’ve got you there. I win. Maybe we can get along after all.” He crossed his arms and looked away as Karlach cracked up.
“Gale’s done with dinner, you lot,” Tav said. “C’mon.”
Halsin walked up to Astarion as they headed for the campfire. “I’m sorry. It took me a second to wake up and realize what was going on.”
“You were tired, it’s fine,” Astarion said. “Tomorrow let me see all your forms. I just assume everything about you is… large.” Astarion kissed him and Halsin fell into his usual easy smile.
They started walking again, but then Karlach punched his arm. He turned to look at her in confusion.
“Is this how you get people’s attention? Instead of using words?” Astarion said.
“With friends, yeah, I’m glad we’re friends,” she said.
Astarion smiled, he couldn’t help it. “I’ve met some extra-ordinary people on this… mess, adventure, ongoing shitshow, whatever it is you want to call it. The circumstances might be horrific, but the company is wonderful.”
Karlach nodded slightly, “But you were a bit put out that cat was Halsin, weren’t you?”
Astarion frowned. He didn’t like being obvious and someone calling attention to it was worse. “It’s fine, it’s just like I like cats and they don’t like me, usually. Cats like warm things and I’m not. I thought maybe since I was out in the daylight, I’d been warmed enough by the sun to be acceptable. I can’t really complain, though.” He took a breath to expand on that thought, but Karlach cut in.
“I could superheat you and see what happens?” She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers.
“What? No!”
“C’mon Fangs, it’ll be a fun experiment. What could possibly go wrong… that Withers couldn’t fix?”
“I take it back, I am trapped with lunatics. My fate cruelly bound to yours.”
Karlach snorted. “You love us and you know it.” Astarion groaned and they walked together to the campfire for the evening.