Chapter Text
Lyra kicked a rock as she walked, trying to channel all of her frustration into her foot. Work was terrible; there were too many stupid customers with stupid demands.
With another kick she imagined the rock hitting that lady with too much makeup right in the eye. Another kick was aimed at the little brat that stuck everything in his mouth. Another kick was for the old man who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Steadily she kicked the rock all the way to her apartment, letting her frustration go with every kick. Still a little miffed she pulled out her keys to let herself in when she heard a deep, throaty laugh. “Looks like someone got you mighty ticked off!” A short man with a long braided mustache was sitting on one of the ground floor patios connected to each apartment, a bottle of beer in hand, “Tough day at work, eh Lyra?”
Lyra smirked, “Oh, you know, just some idiots who want stuff for free. The usual,” she nodded to the beer, “that isn’t the same beer form this morning, is it Oghren?”
Oghren chuckled and lifted the beer, “Of course not! It’s my anniversary!”
“I see. Well, have fun with that!” Lyra shook her head laughing and walked inside. She should have known from the strong slur in his voice that he had been drinking all day. She never met his wife, but she heard the stories he would tell about the arguments they would have over the silliest things. She had died a few years before and despite his jolly demeanor, it was obvious he still missed her.
Lyra unlocked the door and was immediately knocked to the ground by a giant mastiff. Whining the dog licked her face, slobber and dog breath assaulting her face. “Tank! Get off of me!” With much effort Lyra was able to shove the dog away and sit up, noticing her roommate Morrigan watching in amusement.
“I think he missed you,” she said with a grin. She was sitting on the couch with her arms stretched out across the back, looking like a super model.
“Yeah, I can tell!” Lyra stood up and wiped away the slobber and brushed off her uniform. Now she would have to throw it in the washer before work in the morning.
“Is everything alright in there?” A voice called out from around the corner that led to the kitchen.
“Everything’s fine, Leliana! No need to worry!” Lyra replied and closed the door. Tank tried to jump up on her again, but this time she was prepared and was able to fend him off. Until she sat on the opposite couch that is. The moment she sat down she was buried by pounds of fur and muscle, effectively losing the ability to breathe.
“Dang it Tank, get OFF!” Lyra shoved the dog off, who then sat down in front of her with a pleading grin.
“Rough day at work?” Morrigan asked nonchalantly.
“How can you tell? Was is my cheery demeanor??” The thought of what happened at work brought back all of her anger and she clenched her fists tightly.
“Oh dear, what happened?” Leliana entered the room and sat down next to Morrigan, absently drying her hands with a dish towel.
Lyra sighed and patted Tank on the head. “A lot happened. Something must be in the water because it seemed like everyone was extra stupid today. I had this one lady ask if we had any dog food. I told her no because we are a CLOTHING STORE but of course she wouldn’t listen! I finally had to have a manager deal with her before I broke something.”
Morrigan sighed, “Sounds like she needed to get her eyes and hearing checked!”
Leliana shook her head, “the poor thing was just confused. Was your manager able to help her?”
Lyra shrugged. “I don’t know. It happened near the end of my shift so I didn’t have a chance to find out.” Lyra swung her legs up and laid across the couch, her limbs sprawled out everywhere. “But I’m so hungry right now, lunch seemed like hours ago! What’s for dinner?”
Leliana winced slightly, “Well, we don’t really have anything to cook with right now...”
Morrigan examined her nails with a bored expression. “The stove exploded.”
Lyra bolted upright, startling Tank. “What?! What happened??”
Leliana stared pointedly at Morrigan, “Someone decided to experiment with some herbs and the stove caught fire.”
“It’s not my fault!” Morrigan snapped back, “That thing was so old it was bound to happen! It just happened to me instead of you.”
Lyra laid back down in defeat and Tank took that as an invitation to join her on the couch at her legs. “What did Wynne have to say?”
“She said that since the fire didn’t damage anything else we don’t have to worry too much about the costs,” Leliana replied, “luckily she happened to have a spare stove we can use until we can get a new one, but it won’t be installed until tomorrow.”
“That helps, I guess.” Lyra groaned as she started mentally figuring out her budget. If the three of them pooled in their money it shouldn’t be too difficult, but she would have to figure out the exact numbers later. Right now she was too brain dead to think too hard about numbers. “So what are we going to do about dinner then?”
The three of them pondered for a moment (or at least two of them did, Morrigan was busy fixing her nails) when Leliana broke the silence, “what about pizza? We could have it delivered so that we don’t have to worry about cooking anything.”
Lyra grinned at this, “yeah, that would work! And I know just where to order from!” After some wriggling to free her legs she darted to her room to grab her laptop. After returning and booting it up she grinned slyly at her roommates. “Alister just started working at Dominos last week.”
Leliana clasped her hands together. “Ooh yes! We should definitely give him some practice!”
Morrigan continued to work on her nails, but Lyra could see a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. “I’m sure Tank would love to see him.”
Lyra chuckled. She was pretty sure that Morrigan just wanted to see Alistair in his uniform and mock him. That was usually what happened whenever the two of them were near each other.
The laptop had finished starting up so Lyra opened the internet and went to the Dominos website. The three of them quickly decided on what they wanted; hand-tossed black olive, chicken, spinach and extra cheese for Morrigan, thin crust Hawaiian for Liliana (which resulted in a snide comment from Morrigan), and a regular vegetarian for Lyra. After submitting the order, the delivery details page popped up, which included an option to give specific instructions to the driver.
“Oh!” Leliana pipped up excitedly, “We should make Alistair do something ridiculous when he gets here!”
Morrigan grinned wickedly at that. “Oh yes, that would be quite entertaining! But what, exactly?”
“We don’t want to traumatize the poor man!” Lyra interjected, although the idea was very tempting. A different idea popped into her head and she started typing. This would be more harmless and it would give them something to tease him about.
“What are you typing?” Leliana asked with a hint of suspicion.
In answer Lyra turned the laptop around and showed them what was written: Send your cutest driver.
They all busted up laughing and the request was sent. Now all they had to do was wait.
Lyra decided to investigate the stove damage while they waited. The stove had been removed by the fire department already, but the evidence was still there. The smell of burnt grease and smoke still lingered in the air despite Leliana’s attempts of cleaning up, and there was a hint of smoke on the wall. Luckily it could be fixed with a fresh coat of paint, but it would have to be dealt with at a later date.
Satisfied that her bank account wasn’t going to be hurt too much Lyra took a quick shower and put on a clean pair of sweats and an old t-shirt. Back in the living room the three of them chatted for a bit while waiting for their food.
Tank heard the main door before they did and bolted for the door, panting heavily. “Looks like he’s here!” Lyra laughed and reached the door just as there was a light knock and opened it.
What she was about to say died on her lips. This definitely wasn’t Alistair.