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 Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 12:56 am
Winter's malice still clung to the air, even as spring dews landed liltingly on new buds. With the slow change in weather came first blossoms, blooming allergies, and a wanton desire in Schatzie to explore all of the outdoors. Birds sang, squirrels pattered about, and Alois was in a fouler mood for all of it. He knew the change of seasons entailed small children playing baseball, visiting parks, and spending far more hours outdoors where he suffered the very displeasure of encountering them. They would ambush his dog, he knew, and Schatzie would put up with their shenanigans steadfastly, but neither particularly treasured the cretins.
But, perhaps what irked him most was encountering the brilliantly sunny attitudes of the parents accompanying these kids, and all the fellow dog owners that felt far more talkative now that the weather started to improve. Embarking on a walk with his dog hardly demanded that he talk to others, and often he kept very obvious headphones on for this very reason.
So as Alois entered the dog park, walked down the drifting green slopes with his canine companion, he blasted his most recent Sopor Aeternus acquisition through his ears. The occasional mouth moved in his periphery and he hardly spared the stranger a glance. One tried to wave him down and received a very obvious brush-off. Meanwhile, Schatzie attempted to foil his plans by investigating strangers, prompting Alois to call him back, and the pair meandered about in an antagonistic tango. Occasionally they jogged, which led the pair further toward the outskirts of the dog park where fewer of the extrovert types lingered, and there he paused with interest.
A dead bird caught his eye, where it lay not far from one of the old wrought-iron benches. Unfortunately, a stranger stood with his heel catching some of its feathers. Schatzie didn't care; the dog barreled up to the redhead without a second thought and turned his attention toward the carrion underfoot. Schatzie loosed his characteristic German Shepherd grunt and began pawing at the bird to free it from its entrapment.
"Hej," Alois called haltingly. "Move your foot. I want that." A finger jabbed downward at the dead crow.shibrogane sorry it's crappy and rambling hard to concentrate through all the fart videos they keep playing at werk
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Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 10:15 pm
Aleksy tended to let Laika do her thing. She was a good dog, a trustworthy dog, the kind of dog who could run off-leash and cause no problems where it was legal to do so. He used his time at the dog park to chill out and ignore people, and after a while the other regulars even tended to let him do his thing. With half an eye on Laika, he was taking a photograph of a nearby tree; it showed the distinctive signs of ganoderma infection, which could get dangerous for the dogs, and... ...and then a dog barged into him. Aleksy almost went sprawling, but caught himself on an off foot. "It appears your dog wants it more," said Aleksy sourly. Laika trotted over, ears raised jauntily like she expected this to preface a game. Her tug-of-war rope dangled freely from her jaws, and Aleksy sighed. "You're the taxidermist," he said, narrowing his eyes at the stranger. "A... something." Not Alex, surely. Aleksy would remember that. Al... what was it?
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 1:30 pm
Alois shrugged as he looked at the stranger. Green eyes strayed to the 'camera' in hand. It didn't look cheap; he recognized it as an iPhone, though he knew not which model. The phones always touted clear pictures, and he wondered briefly if professional photographers ever defaulted to their phones in a quick pinch. Was he a horticulturist, then? A hobbyist? A photographer whose DSLR camera battery died?
Mentally Isaiah dismissed the thought; he didn't want to know this man any more than the next one.
Even if he did, apparently, know of Alois. The statement received a pair of blinks as Alois froze in surprise. A moment passed, and he retired his rucksack to the floor. "Yes, I am. I am surprised you knew; I've not been here long." His hand disappeared into the bag, and out came two blue nitrile gloves and a quart-size double-zippered bag. He donned the gloves with practice and cracked the bag open, turning it inside-out with his hand inside. A crouch, a whispered gib, and soon Alois seized the dead bird in the bag. It barely fit, but that didn't matter - it wasn't going to grow any more.
As he straightened, he snapped the bag shut with meticulous fingers meeting in the middle. "Alois Scholz. You don't want to shake my hand." He spoke matter-of-factly, as if already brushing away the shivers of human contact. He glanced to his dog, who happily trotted around the stranger's dog for ritual butt-sniffing. Aus, he screamed at the dog mentally. Schatzie wouldn't budge; instead he tried to engage in tug-of-war play.
Alois' narrow window to ditch-and-run soon closed. He had to talk. he had to provide awkward, shitty, thoughtless conversation while his dog indulged himself in dog-plus-dog action. Why. Alois' countenance grew thin-lipped shortly before he withdrew a slightly-bent cigarette and lit up with a quick excuse me. "Are you a horticulturist?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 1:55 pm
Alois! Aleksy could even remember thinking what an odd name, like he could talk, since his starbucks cups always said 'Alexi' or 'Alexei' anyway. God. What the s**t. "I hardly want to shake anyone's hands," said Aleksy, rolling his eyes. "We gossiped about you at the Chamber of Commerce when you filed for your commercial zoning. Aleksy Yurievich Spektor." He added his name as a second-thought. Laika was, unfortunately, also a gregarious dog. She was all too glad to share her rope toy with a stranger, even if the dog was twice her size. That was even being generous to Laika, Aleksy judged. She held still long enough for Alois's dog to get a grip on the other end of the rope and then it was off to the dog races, Laika's little terrier legs straining in the dirt to yank it back. Dogs were ******** awesome. Weird, but awesome. "I'm a florist," said Aleksy. "This tree has the start of a ganoderma infection. I don't care if it falls on humans, but it might fall on a dog and that would be a tragedy." He pointed to the fruiting structures already rising from between the tree's roots. "This is oak, so ganoderma applanatum will rot out the heartwood and branches will fall." He snapped one more photo. "The city parks department should be informed," he said, "before there's any negative effect on local wildlife." That done, he tucked his phone away and looked to Laika again. She seemed to be having a good time, as dogs measured it. "It can also cause tumors in birds that consume it. That one may only be good for bones."
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 2:18 pm
"I imagine the whole town knows that I totaled my car on a deer, then. That deer, by the way, is for sale. Assuming you know someone with obnoxious wealth and a shitty sense of high art." Crossing his arms, he glanced to the dogs. Shatzie looked enthused, as expected - he got along easily with other dogs that housed no overt desires for dominance, and Aleksy's dog seemed the accepting sort. Undoubtedly they would be stuck talking to each other for some time.
At least, 'stuck' was the word until Aleksy opened his mouth and something intelligent fell out. Alois could not stifle the burgeoning smile, though he obscured it somewhat with a well-placed hand. "Interesting. So the wood rots, falls off, and then... I assume the fungus spreads on the breeze?" He paused, cigarette in hand, to look over the great oak tree. Branches yawned outward lazily, with the new buds of spring first forming on its twigs, and the great ridges of mushroom spanned out from the trunk. "It looks like a desk." The wood looked healthy enough to remain standing through their conversation.
A pity, Alois thought to himself. I could use a sudden death right now. Dealing with an interesting person is worse than dealing with a dull person.
"If the bird's tumescent, it'll be worth more. Rogue taxidermy doubles as a curiosity. If nothing else, I have materials for jewelry." He took another drag and watched the smoke billow out from his nose before it dissipated into the clear air. This town smelled cleaner than his last, which wasn't surprising - a metropolis grew veins of auto fare and breathed pollution.
"But," he started around the cigarette, "if the city parks department gets involved, I'll have to put it in the freezer for a while. I imagine they may want evidence of an impact to speed up any excision of a tree. Bureaucracy is ever a ******** class="quote">shibrogane
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 2:24 pm
"All I have to tell them is that dogs may attempt to eat it and become ill," said Aleksy with a gesture. "It is in the dog park. Anywhere else I would agree with you." Aleksy sighed. "Deer are a hazard in this area," he said. "Geese, too. And they ever ticket for willful endangerment, so perhaps don't spread that too much around." He turned his back on the tree, facing his conversational partner again. His face abruptly shuttered closed, shark-black eyes narrowing. "Let me be invasive for a moment and ask you: have you had odd dreams lately? About this town, but cold and empty."
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 3:12 pm
But you were interesting. Why did you have to turn out crazy?
For the moment, the playing dogs were forgotten. Alois maintained eye contact with Aleksy, unfazed by the american tradition, with his cigarette slowly burning away in his hand. He considered the question - he decided, then, that he would take it seriously, if only as a courtesy to the intelligence that the man displayed about his craft - and sifted memories for dreams past. When he spoke again, his words were slow in constant consideration. "It's not unusual to me to have solitary dreams. There are many places where I've been the only person around. With this town, it's been once. I only remember because it was raining - it never rains in my dreams.
"I don't know if that really answers your question."
He hissed then, as a sharp pain boiled between his fingers. He dropped his cigarette abruptly, having burnt down to his flesh, and ground it into the grass. He remained with his foot over it and peeled off the glove that half-melted between index and middle fingers. The trance, or moment, or whatever it was between them seemed to vanish then.
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 3:19 pm
Aleksy nodded. That explained... a lot of things, mostly about the strange specters that seemed to trail Alois, peering at him with interest in their empty avian eye-sockets. Like crows. Aleksy tracked one of them that broke off from the flock, watching it fade like so much smoke before it got too far from the pale young man. Laika's bark, laughing and joyful, broke him from his reverie. "They'll have to look at the other trees before deciding what to do, of course," said Aleksy. "Ganoderma can be spotted by taking a soil sample. Is your hand alright?"
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 9:23 am
Alois muttered mostly to himself, a snarl on his face as he looked down at the damage. „It’ll be fine.“ The skin pinked where the hot ash brushed it. „It’s just an annoyance when I’m flossing a bird shut.“ Naturally he burned himself on a work area, so he might be reminded of it an endless number of times in the future. Life made a point of being difficult.
Somewhere near, Schatzie spoke in his usual lilting voice. He needn’t words for interest, excitement, happiness. Funny how you never hear those phrases anyway. When was the last time I said I’m happy?
Probably the last time that I was happy.
He knew he had what he needed, that sticking around was a moot point when he made more money and less aggrivations by simply departing now, but… „Before I leave, how did you end up in a town like this? And why stay? It’s sketchy in the way the neighborhoods of Saarland got when you approached the eastern border.“
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