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 Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:09 pm
As he traveled through Durem, Blade had passed by the little shop a number of times. Never before had he set foot within, however. He didn't have much desire to get a pet, so there wasn't much reason for it. Though as of late, the place had come to his attention, seeing as a few acquaintances had gotten some critters for themselves there. They raved on how it had a large variety of pets and spoke of how mysterious and odd the owner of the store was.
But that wasn't the only thing that piqued his interest. One of these contacts head ended up dead not long after she bought something there. Apparently she was found dead with a starving chupacabra. Now... chupacabra aren't exactly found around these parts, and those weren't exactly the type of things one would find at a Petsmart, so it made him curious on what this store was really like.
While he didn't really want a pet for himself, he figured he could at least take a look around. There never was any harm in browsing after all.
The moment he opened the door, the scent of burning inscents hit him. It didn't smell bad, but it wasn't exactly what he was expecting. Inside were a number of animals, ones that were typically found at petshops at least. But aside from that, the place had a number of oriental decor, which was at least interesting to find in a place like this.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:02 pm
poke was starting to wonder exactly what this place was about...
She had gotten up as usual, fed herself (and bonsai, for that matter), decided to go for a stroll and passed a newspaper stand which read that a lady had been killed by a chupacabra. She didn't even know those th existed!
Well now, her curiosity was peaked, so she continued her walk towards the little Chinatown shop. Perhaps she would be able to see some of her old friends there. And maybe she could find out more information.
Upon reaching the shop, she noticed that someone was already walking in. When she walked inside, and was also assaulted by the various incense, she recognized the person as blade. "Hey! what are you doing here?" she asked.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:31 pm
After looking around a little more, Blade soon noticed that the owner wasn't anywhere within his sight. The guy must be in the back or something along those lines. Then, hearing the door open behind him, he glanced behind and saw a familiar face walk on in. He wasn't expecting seeing anyone he knew, but it was a pleasant surprise at least.
"Oh hey Poke!" he greeted with a light wave, "I'm just checking this place out. I've been hearing quite a bit about it in the past few weeks; just wanted to see what all the fuss was about."
For now he left out the whole bit on the chupacabra story. Considering he didn't see anything remotely strange about the animals here, he figured his old contact had gotten the thing somewhere else. The atmosphere of the shop was a little odd, but aside from that, it just seemed like a normal local petstore.
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 8:24 pm
"yeah, I've been hearing a heap of rumors as well.." poke glanced about, but couldn't see anyone else there, aside from a few hanging cages and the usual smells. In truth, the place looked the same as it always had.
"I'm finding it hard to believe that the count would sell a chupracarbra to someone..." poke mumbled, walking over to one of the cages and poking it
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 8:32 pm
So Poke had heard about that incident as well, though he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. It was quite a story, and not one that obscure for the most part. Nodding grimly, he peered into one of the cages which hosted a few parakeets.
"Yeeaah... I don't really see anything in here that suggests he sells out of the ordinary animals. Though, I guess technically a chupacabra should only be dangerous to livestock... but it sounded like whoever had it didn't feed it or something."
Shaking his head to himself, he tried to remember if there were any other details, but they were foggy to him at the moment.
"She probably got it somewhere else.. maybe the black market or something along those lines.."
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:47 am
Soon after Blade had said the last few words, the door to the shop slammed opened, causing several of the animals inside to freak out momentarily.
"WHERE THE HELL IS THE COUNT!" boomed the voice as the person stormed on in. To say that the guy looked furious was certainly an understatement. He looked around the shop, finding no signs of the man he wanted to speak with. Instead there were two others, one being vaguely familiar to him.
"Have you seen the Count at all? I need to speak with him," he said as practically a growl.
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 9:58 pm
poke wasn't expecting someone else to pop into the shop, so her reaction was much the same as the animals. And, he was looking royally pissed off to boot.
"ahh...no...we haven't seen him yet...." poke started out, wondering if this guy was gonna start throwing punches if he didn't get the answer her wanted. "But I'm sure he's..about?" It was then she wondered if the count was really here. Mabye he was out?
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:14 pm
His territory, his shop, and they were going in-- for what? Hadn't Count closed temporarily to go pick something up? Dorian scratched at his nose with a thumbnail, tail ticking back and forth with one part interest, one part irritation. He must have forgotten the sign again-- or maybe he was inside in the back. Dorian had been out most of the day. Oh well, wasn't his business what they were going in for, considering it was business they weren't going to get... and so long as he got something out of them before they went out, everything would be hunky-dory with him. The feline hopped into the street and jaywalked back to the shop, hands deep in the pockets of his sweater; he pulled the hood over his head when he threw the door open, keeping it open with a foot.
WHERE THE HELL IS THE COUNT!
Well, hallo! Did he walk into an argument? His ears fell beneath his hood, eyes flashing across to the third human, face almost immediately crumpling with annoyance. Ignoring him, Dorian pushed past the three and bee-lined to the table, galoshes squeaking. He snatched up a beignet from the sweets tray, shoving half into his mouth as he turned to look them all up and down.
"Count ain't here," he said simply, smacking his lips and thumbing his nose. He leaned down to kick his boots off. "Gimme five bucks and I can tell you where he went, though."
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:26 pm
With the guy shouting, Blade grimaced as he quickly glanced around. From what he could tell, some of the creatures weren't all too happy with the noise. And neither was he really. Shaking his head, he was about to follow up on Poke's words but a new face popped onto the scene.
Immediately, the angry man spun about to see a boy standing there and kicking his shoes off. Twitching at the bribe offer, he shook his head rapidly before speaking up.
"Give you five bucks? Just who the hell are you, punk? Do you work here? If not, then I have no business with you."
Raising an eyebrow, the thief watched the glowering man, wondering what it was exactly that had this guy so riled up. In any case, it probably would be a good idea to keep his distance for the time being. There was no telling of the guy would start to thrash around or anything like that. But at least he wasn't yelling anymore.
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:31 pm
nd exactly whatmade you think this guy was ging to pay you Poke wondered while watching the guy come in and grab a
"ooooo!" poke's eyes lit up at the tray of sweets she didn't see before. Glancing at blade and the other guy, she walked over to the trade but didn't take one...yet
"Hey, are these for the count? or are they for anyone to take..." she wasn't about to take anything that belonged to the count
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:40 pm
"They're for people who don't yell, so yeah, help yourself, lady," Dorian grinned around a mouthful of pastry, wiping his face on his sleeve. Licking his finger, he began scraping the powder off of the beignet and eating it separately. He did not answer Ol' Yeller immediately, simply took to staring with unnervingly green eyes-- so very feline of him. Then he crammed the rest of the beignet in his mouth, spreading his hands as if to say 'hey, man.'
"I'm the punk that could find you the Count, is all. N' I can do you one better-- I live here. Count's my uncle," he said, lying quite easily. He glanced at Blade, quirked a brow, and then looked at the other man, fishing bits of pastry from between his teeth the entire time. "Who are you? Hell, who're all of you guys?"
Dorian twisted around to glance at Poke, and hands in his pockets again, rocked back, "There's some tiramisu beneath that plate. Tsukiko was trying to hide it earlier, but she's a bit of a moron...."
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 10:59 pm
Though Poke was interested in the tray of sweets, Blade decided to hold off on that. He wasn't in so much of a mood for sweets at the moment. When the newest stranger spoke up again, he looked back towards the general group while shrugging lightly.
"Me? I'm just a guy stopping by to take a look around is all."
The angry man didn't seem all too impressed with the boy's response. For a moment or two he gave the kid a critical eye as if trying to figure out if this was the truth or not. Either way it really mattered not. Frowning, he grumbled a few things to himself briefly.
"A friend of mine bought a pet from here last week, and now she's DEAD," he started to raise his voice again before fumbling into his pocket and producing a crisp five dollar bill, "So go find that uncle of yours and bring him here. I. WANT. ANSWERS. FROM HIM!"
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:05 pm
"me? I'm with him" she jerked her thumb at blade "we're just looking about. We heard some story about a chupracabra... and whats a...." she paused, looking through the sweets to see some sort of chocolate looking cake that looked...delicious. So, being the female that she was she grinned and picked up and started eating it. "God this tastes great"
Upon learning that the guy's friend had apparently been killed by one of the pets, she found it not very hard to make the logical leap. She looked at the guy, still holding the tiramisu, and smiled nervously. "heh...heh..."
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Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:25 pm
"Th'name's Clint," he said again, lazily, taking the bill and pulling it taut against the scanty light of the shop. Pocketing it, Dorian pulled on his well-practiced somber face, brow wrinkling with empathetic pity. He even slumped his shoulders just so, angling his face downwards.
"Dead? Man, I'm awful sorry to hear that." He rubbed the back of his head, then reached for his boots again, "Now I c'n understand why you're so upset. I'll go get the Count right-quick then. He only went down-- well, I'll go get him for you."
Internally-- deep, way down beneath the lies that tricked himself-- Dorian was laughing. Hysterically. Dead friend? Musta been that woman that bought the chupacabra... musta broken a clause or three, and if that was the case, he'd have to ask the creature about it upon its inevitable return. Unless, of course, the authorities had euthanized it. Dorian bit a curved thumbnail, which only added to the legitimacy of his worry, since now he was worried, as he edged his way to the door. The Count wouldn't be pleased if one of his was dead.
Oh, well! He had a fiver burning in his pocket!
"I'll be right back! Help yourselves in th'meantime. There's tea there, too." And with a brief wave, Dorian dipped out of the shop.
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 7:37 am
Well that certainly explained a few things. It also explained why Blade found something vaguely familiar about the guy. Most likely he had seen him around the victim at some time in the past. After watching Clint head out of the shop, he shook his head to himself before wandering over by Poke to look at a few things in that area in general.
The angry guy let out a huff as the kid took the five and went on out. He better not take too long to retrieve the Count. So as he waited, he began to pace about the shop, occasionally glancing at one a random creature as he passed it up. Before long, he began to speak up again, but this time towards the other two that still remained in the shop for now.
"There's something screwy here I tell you. Do yourselves a favor and leave this place. Or else you might end up dead too! Eyes clawed out by a cat or whatever."
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