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 Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 10:56 pm
Despite having lived in Ashdown for about a half year now, Shun still couldn't quite bring himself to call it 'home'. There was always something about this place, and it wasn't necessarily its magical half, that made him feel out of place. Maybe he was just too much of a big city guy. Back at home, he had kept some pets before. Maybe it would do to give himself some sort of anchor in this place. If only for helping keep his sanity with everything that was going on. Things had been a little more harsh, more stressful, as of late as well. A pressure that was building up, and he honestly didn't think he was quite adequate enough as he was to hold up to it. And so here he was, in one of the local petshops, looking to see what sorts of cages they had in stock for small mammals. He had no intentions of buying the actual critter today. The detective needed to make sure he had a proper setup ready first. He already had a rough idea of where he could place it within his apartment. It was just a matter of finding the right stuff for the right price.
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 11:27 pm
Thorne was laying on the floor of the pet shop when Shun entered.
It wasn't an entirely graceful display of regal prowess. In fact, it was rather hilarious to behold. But Thorne had spent enough time in and out of this particular pet shop that the owners and workers knew him now. Millie was spoiled by everything he could afford her (which was everything, considering his a*****e fathers dying will) and as a side effect, he could come here whenever he wanted and at least one person would recognize his face.
They'd recently gotten a litter of kittens too, and while Thorne had come with the intent of simply picking up some cat food, he'd stayed to be immersed in the comfort of cats.
He had one of the larger residents of the pet shop on his chest, a great maine coon, and was rumbling a song to the warbling noise of a radio somewhere else. He only looked up when someone came in.
"Oh," he said, blinking, his mouth falling into a crooked smile, "Hey there. Shopping for a new companion, detective?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 6:50 am
Shun just stopped and stared at the figure on the floor once he had entered the shop. There was Thorne, in a stark contrast to the regal manner he had held himself on the other side, looking up at him with a cat on his chest. He really wasn't sure what to make of this. The owners and employees of the shop didn't seem to pay him much mind. "Eventually, yes. I need to get some things set up first at my place," he replied with a furrowed brow. He hesitated before asking, "Thorne... what are you doing?"A part of him wasn't sure that he really wanted to know.
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 12:34 am
"Contemplating my life choices," Thorne says, and his head drops back to the floor. He runs a smoothing hand over the maine coon and sighs, a soft breath of air that makes his chest rise and fall heavily. "I was here to buy cat food, but sad enough that I stayed for the kittens."
Thorne rumbles softly, glances at Shun again.
With great effort, he sits up and keeps the cat in his lap.
"What kind of pet are you looking into?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 6:31 am
"Kittens?"Shun tilted his head, still staring at the guy on the ground. The way Thorne had put it made it seem like he drowned his sorrows out with cats. Or something. "A rat, actually," he answered, "I had kept one in the past before. Clever little things that make for decent companions when they are not being a pest."As he said this, he glanced over in the general direction of where the small animals and their supplies seemed to be kept.
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 3:50 pm
"They're extraordinarily helpful," Thorne said and sighed, staring at Shun with a curious expression on his face, not quite his usual, but much less the person he was in Other Ashdown.
"I had gerbils once," Thorne said amicably, "but never rats. Actually, they weren't mine, but by the laws of roommate-dom, I co-owned. What made you want one?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 4:26 pm
Shun gave a sort of impassive shrug. "Figured something like that might be good for me. s**t gets... heavy sometimes," he uttered. It was one way of putting it. It was kind of hard to disappoint or fail a pet. Their needs and expectations were... simpler, to say in the least.
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 4:41 pm
"Understandable," Thorne said with a laugh, and picked himself up off of the floor. He held the cat until it climbed onto his shoulders, draping itself across them like a scarf.
"I was considering getting a dog for awhile," Thorne said thoughtfully, smiling at Shun, "But Mare somehow filled that role. Well, she's more like the daughter I never asked for. I'm trying to reteach her calculus in my spare time and it's awful."
He rubbed the maine coons head and said, "Is there anything I can help with?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 5:36 pm
"A dog could be nice, but I have neither the time nor space to keep one, unfortunately."His brow furrowed a bit at the mention of Mare. Yes, he supposed that she seemed to be just about as loyal as a dog, from what little he knew of her. "That sounds... like quite a pain in the a**," he muttered. The idea of practically having a kid like that, sort of horrified him. He would make a completely and utterly awful father, he felt. "That depends. I do not suppose you happen to know any good cages for rats, would you?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 6:52 pm
"They're like children," Thorne retorts mildly. "I'd love one, but Other Ashdown is like a second job, chore, and demand all at once."
He rubs the maine coons head and sighs out, pulling the cat down into his arms.
"It is," he says, but he sounds resigned to it if nothing else, "Parenting is hard, and I'm parenting someone that grew up in the 1800's. She was sixteen when she was taken. And I don't even know what they taught back back then, or what's filled her mind afterwards."
Thorne puts the maine coon on the counter.
"I could probably help with brands," Thorne says mildly, "My brother has four children, and Ana and Gideon recently decided they wanted to own guinea pigs, so they talked my ear off on all the research they've done for keeping rodents in the house."
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Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 7:07 pm
"The 1800's? s**t... Then again time seems to pass oddly over there. It may not have felt like two centuries for her, necessarily," he muttered, shaking his head. It could explain the somewhat archaic manner she seemed to have. But that could have also been a product of years upon years of conditioning among the noble court. "I certainly do not envy you, in any case."Shun watched the cat on the counter briefly, the nodded to Thorne. "Brands would help. It has been a number of years since I last kept one... I need to do my research all over again as far as that goes."
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:03 pm
"That's when they took her from the real world, our world, at least," Thorne said, glancing at Shun, "I don't know how long it felt like for her. I'm afraid to ask. She..." He rubbed the back of his head. "She became what she was to protect another person. I want to help her - not at the expense of another person, never like that. But... I wish I could just do something."
He smiles crookedly at Shun. "So I'm teaching a sixteen year old trapped in time how to do arithmetic, and she's teaching me Latin, and it's an awful trade off but it works. Don't envy me at all. I wouldn't envy me. Mare is a horrible teacher."
He gestures for Shun to follow him, and starts rattling off the information he's collected in his head over the months spent dealing with his nephews and nieces. He even pointed out preferable bedding brands, types of food and toys, and added mildly at the very end of it, "Gods knows what my nephews will get next, but I'm guessing on a parrot, so if you ever need information on that, I'll patch you through."
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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 6:28 am
"How the hell did she end up like that? Had the court twisted her so?" he asked, furrowing his brow. He didn't have much of an idea of how the fetches came to be. It sounded as though they were once human, though. Something must have gone terribly wrong. "Latin... Well perhaps that language has more uses on the other side than on ours. Just take care to not read any strange books out loud," he said dryly. It might have sounded like a joke to some, but he was dead serious. Shun would not be surprised if there was some sort of grimoire somewhere written in latin that did magical s**t. Once Thorne began to rattle off his knowledge, the detective made a number of mental notes. Not everything pertained to what he was getting, but it was still useful to know. "I doubt I would ever get a parrot. As intelligent as they are, they can be ******** noisy. But uh... thanks, I suppose."
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Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 12:33 am
Thorne looked at Shun, his eyes half-lidded.
"I - " he started, and stopped, wondering. "I'm not sure the entire Court's mechanism yet but... Mare was human once. She was like all of us, once. They preyed upon her, stole her and replaced her just like they did me. But when it came time for her to go back to this world, she chose not to. For her sister, she chose not to."
He did not give Shun the full details - it was a story Mare had told him gently, to soothe away his pain. To teach him a lesson. The vague edges of it spun an overview, but the details were secrets in his chest, granted by her hand.
"I'll promise not to wake the dead, if that's what you're insinuated," Thorne remarked with a laugh. "Books are very dangerous, after all. They have the wildest ideas."
He rumbled as he pawed through a few different display cages. One of the cats came to wind through his feet and he stretched down a hand, giving it the attention it deserved.
"Please don't," Thorne responded, "They're screaming children and they live for thirty years. A rat will be a good pet though. Have you thought of a name yet?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 6:48 am
"That is a bit unsettling... though I have a feeling not all of the fetches are the way they are because of such selfless reasons," he murmured. There were likely other ways it could have gone down. Though, he stared at Thorne for a moment or so. This meant that he and the others who had been taken could have ended up like that. "Yes... they certainly do. And I would not be surprised if there were books over there that held such power."Shun tilted his head as he watched the other man interact with some of the cages and cats. "More than that for some species. They are one hell of a commitment. Not one I am willing or able to make. As for the rat... not yet. I will figure that out after I acquire it. I do not feel there is much sense in naming it before then."
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