(Untitled)

[loaded_wolf]

Angua and Sally had been put in the same bedroom. Angua tried to feel good about that. The woman wasn't to know. Anyway, it was nice to get between clean sheets, even if the room had a slightly musty smell. More must, less vampire, she thought; look on the bright side.

In the darkness, she opened one eye.

Someone had moved silently across the room.

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[throw_the_book]

Carrot was a heavy sleeper when sleep was necessary, but when both body and mind felt well-rested, or when some new priority came to light, he proved a rather light waker, actually. None of that grumbling, foggy smacking of the lips or rubbing of the eyes. He was simply asleep one moment, wide awake the next.

So the first thing he did when he saw Angua lying beside him was stroke her sleek, perfect hair* and smile. Because Carrot felt that the touching of the hair definitely took priority over waking her up.

*The ones on her head. He was pleased to find that the ones elsewhere weren't yet long enough for petting.

[loaded_wolf]

Angua smiled in her sleep and unconsciously moved closer. It was familiar, and safe, and she'd missed it, sleeping alone in the Waynsbury house.

Right, she had been alone, because Carrot was left in charge of the Watch.*

She rolled over to face him, a sleepy if confused smile on her face. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

* A fact which Angua was a little sympathic of, seeing as these were, well, Carrot's people they were investigating. Sort of.

[throw_the_book]

"I live here," Carrot said simply, and though a smile was hardly unusual for the captain, it wasn't the sort of smile others would ever see. Smoothing the hair from her shoulder, he took note of the especially thin strap and then took further interest in where it lead.

It'd been a long time since he'd seen -- or actively had any interest in seeing -- a camisole. Fingering the strap he said, "Did you get a good night's sleep? If not, you really ought to sleep some more. Today might be a bit exhausting for you."

[loaded_wolf]

"You live with the Waynsburys?" Angua teased, her smile becoming a grin. She brought a hand up to his neck, pulling his face close. "I got plenty of sleep." She kissed him, a brief good morning kiss, and snuggled closer. Fine, so Carrot was here all of a sudden, she was used to him doing remarkable things. "Do you think Mister Vimes and the rest are up yet?"

[throw_the_book]

Honestly, Carrot had meant to correct her, encourage her to have a look around at the hut that certainly did not belong to the Waynsburys. But then there was kissing, and, again, it'd been a long time. He warmed, cleared his throat, and drew her in that much closer, arm draped along the small of her back.

A camisole. Such fascinatingly smooth fabric. "Oh? Oh, yes, I imagine they should be by now," he said after glancing at the ray of sunlight peeking through the window. Yes, it did seem about that time. "Young Sam does seem to keep odd hours. Must be tiring for Lady Sybil. Angua..." he started, and then fell into a dopey sort of smile just because she was there to answer.

[loaded_wolf]

"Carrot," Angua replied, kissing the corner of his mouth. She smiled up at him, a secret, warm smile reserved for times like this. It was hard to let her guard down while on duty, and they were on duty a lot.

It was only when she looked past one of his broad shoulders that she realized she wasn't in the room she'd fallen asleep in at all. Her eyebrows drew together and she turned in Carrot's embrace to get a better look at her surroundings.

"Carrot," she repeated. "...Where are we?"

[throw_the_book]

Carrot was, admittedly, briefly dismayed when she turned away, but all at once his priorities snapped back into line. "Well..." he began, sitting up enough so that the large expanse of muscular back rested against the pillow.

"You did say the Waynsburys, didn't you, Angua?" he let a crinkle find the middle of his brow, looking as though thinking quite hard on the matter. "Oh dear, not Lady Berenice in Koom...?"

Well, when he thought about it, it could have been much worse.

[loaded_wolf]

Angua sat up, too, frowning a distinctly displeased frown. "You knew we were going there," she said, trying not to sound as confused as she felt.

[throw_the_book]

"Oh, yes," Carrot clarified after a moment, unable to stop himself from threading his fingers through her hair just a teensy bit more. After all, Carrot's actions were always atmosphere-appropriate.

And there was nothing more appropriate than besotted affection while in bed with your lady friend. "I remember," he nodded. "That was quite some time ago, although I expect it was only yesterday for you. Well, you're no longer in Koom," he explained. "You're on an island where I've been stranded for a fair amount of time."

[loaded_wolf]

Angua stared blankly at Carrot for what was a very long moment.

"...What?"

[throw_the_book]

Carrot cleared his throat and returned her stare, although his was quite bright-eyed and sweet.

As per usual. "Yes, sorry. I will one day have a better explanation but I am fairly certain the wizards aren't at fault," he stretched out his shoulder muscles, rolling a light crick out of them. "It's all very fascinating, really. We're not longer on the Disc but there are quite a few Ankh-Morporkians about the place."

[loaded_wolf]

"And you've been here for a long time?" Angua asked, her voice uncertain. "I just saw you yesterday morning before I left..."

[throw_the_book]

"Oh, I don't doubt that," Carrot encouragingly agreed, and it truly was a wonder that he managed to restrict his affections to something appropriate for a general audience despite the presence of the camisole.

And the bedsheets. "Nearly nine months to the day," he continued, not at all weary. "Time works differently on this island, but the people do the best they can. We're all here against our will and there seems to be no way of getting off the island, you see. But, really, it's only a small drawback when you consider all there is to learn from living here."

[loaded_wolf]

"Okay," Angua started to say, at a loss. Nine months in this place, some island. Despite trying to wrap her mind around what Carrot was telling her, because she knew he wouldn't lie, she noticed how he was noticing her pajamas. But there was something else she had to know. "Is there a reason I can't smell anything?"

[throw_the_book]

"Ah," Carrot said. And then, "Technically," he carefully began remembering rather vividly their conversation(s) while in the sprawling snowy woods of Uberwald, "on the island you no longer have certain key aspects of a werewolf."

He smiled uncertainly, his brow rising rather high and the corners of his mouth seemingly pulling upwards and downwards all at once.

[loaded_wolf]

Angua froze. Carrot didn't lie, he wouldn't about something like this, and that's what truly worried her.

"Why? What aspects?" she demanded, pulling herself up into a sitting position, her eyes hard and focused completely on his.