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 Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:47 pm
Last post: Quote: “Ah..” Anthony flustered, finding that it was a decision he would have to make now and fast. He stood up, shaking the table and watched the man rise and get ready to leave. “Well, Yes. If it’s not too much trouble.” He said, looking about his person as he found the money and paid for his drinks. “I mean, I would hate to impose.” He found his map case and grabbed it, snapping it upon the ring at his chest to secure it and looks around for his small bag that he came with for the trip. “ I could pay you for what I would have for the inn.” He added, not looking at Qliph as he grabbed his bag. His eyes shot to the table and he grabbed his wine, taking on last drink to finish it off and cringed a bit afterwards. Wine was not something you swallowed fast and he was not typically a straight shot drinker. It was almost insulting to drink wine this way, but it would have been worse to waste it, even a poor vintage as this. Rising, he placed his seat aside and tucked it back under the table. His eyes glanced over to take in the bar and he felt an inward relief at leaving it. Water. Everywhere. He was glad, for once, that he didn't quite wear boots. But his feet were just about as wet as if someone filled boots with water. At least it was easier to dry feet than Boots and socks, as well as feet. Koshka didn't like water. Cat's didn't like water. Qliph was an odd man in more ways. He liked the Rain. The water! Of all things! But it made him feel good after working. The cold rushed through his body and it felt cleansing. He opened the door quickly, to his house though. It was getting heavier, the rain, and he didn't know if Anthony liked the rain as much as he did. The lock opened with a metallic 'c***k!' sound, and the wooden door creaked open. "No need to pay me," he finally replied. He payed more attention to the weather than to Anthony for a while. "Company is payment enough..."
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:16 pm
Anthony appeared and it was clear at the moment that he stuck to his long streak of being average. He hated water. It seeped through his entire body, cut straight through his small form, and drenched every part of him. His clothes where heavy with water, his Salig imported lace shirt was nearly transparent from the rain, and his expression was that of pure loathing at the weather. His ears where down, drops dripping from the tips of his now messy hair, and his tail was limp on the ground, dead weight that had decided to give up halfway through the rush here and was now being dragged about, leaving a snail trail of water.
Stepping in, he breathed deep, chest heaving as he held both arms out and felt the water slid through them. He certainly looked nothing like the clean, well-maintained lad that had been at the bar, tidy, dry, and crisp in appearance. If anything, he made Qliph look better. Breathing deep, he caught his breath. Running was also something he didn’t do often. He would have paid for a steam carriage but it seemed all of them were busy taking other people and it would have been pointless to waste time flagging one down in the rain and become further drenched when the mechanic didn’t live far.
Stepping in, he made a curt nod to Qliph as a thank you once more for being invited, face flushed from running and the cool rain. “No. I must insist. I wouldn’t feel in the right if I didn’t pay you for your hospitality.” He said, looking about, not knowing where he could stand at and drip without making a mess. The mapmaker grabbed his tail and held onto it with a dainty grip to keep it off the floor.
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:30 pm
He locked the door back up and slid off his helmet.The top of his head was still dry. His braid was wet, though. Swiftly, he took the black lace at the end that kept it together. The mechanic ran clawed fingers through the matted braid. The braid untwisted itself and laid wet on Qliph's shoulders and back. It had a slight wave to it.
"No. I don't need your money, anyway. I don't like receiving 'gifts'. Hospitality for Company is a good deal I find!" he said, happily. picking up his own limp tail and squeezing the water out of it. The bandage around a section of it was messy. He cut it off with a knife that was on the table to reveal a bad burn from a torch. It didn't seem to bother him.
"You don't need to keep you tail off the floor. I doubt this floors cares if it's wet or not, anymore."
His clothing was soaked as well. He had less clothing on than Anthony. He almost felt sorry for him. Qliph refrained from removing his shirt, though. It would make him feel..weird.. and it would probably make Anthony feel the same.
"Do you.. want a towel or something to eat?" He asked, leaning against the wall, pulling his shirt from under his belt and then squeezing out the water from the ends.
"Oh!" He said suddenly, turning to a small narrow staircase. "Tantan! We have a visitor!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:54 pm
Anthony wasn’t going to push the topic of payment. If anything, he would buy a gift for the mechanic as a thank you and have it sent to him later. He could always pay for dinner at some time. Deciding to leave it at that, he looked about and slowly set his map case and his bag down on the floor, watering a few drops travel down the sides and onto the floor to start creating it’s own puddle. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his handkerchief and found a corner that was still dry and started to dry off his face before drying off the back of his neck.
“Some place to hang my jacket to dry would be nice. I don’t want it dripping everywhere and it’s doing me no good now.” He said, placing the handkerchief in his back pocket and slowly peeling off his jacket. Underneath, there was a short vest that made the long sleeves of his jacket and also a sort of crossed harness that was used to hold the map case he used. He started to unclip the harness and pull the sleeves free so that he was down to his thin, laced shirt. Folding them across a bended arm so they could drip on his arm until he found a place to put them. He leaned down to place the harness with a nosy clack onto his bag. It was a lot of work carting everything about, but he grew use to the routine.
His eyes traveled up when Qliph called out to someone and his tail, now alive with curiosity, perked up from the ground. “Do you live with someone else?” He asked.
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:04 pm
"Yes! Well Sort of!" He cheered happily, his tail was still a little water logged, it looked funny when it swayed. "Tantan.. Is my pet!"
And fair enough, a fairly large Sun Tanned Panda crawled down the stairs. ((I'm colouring her now)) She was a little pudgy and a little slow. But she was old, too. "She's been my only company since my parents left me here. She's the reason my past doesn't bother me as much as it should." He pet her on the head. She shook off the water that dripped off his arm onto her fur.
Qliph turned towards Anthony, letting the animal sniff at the new body. "Those? You shouldn't worry about then getting water of the floor; But there's a coat rack in the next room. You can hang them there if you'd like...
"I'll be right back," He said, turning and going up the narrow, wooden, creaky stairs. The little, fat panda stayed put on the floor in front of Anthony.
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:23 pm
He had to resist the urge to step back when he spotted the red panda and he remained still as it made it’s slow decent from the stairs. Watching it, he looked up and gave a little pleading look as Qliph left him. Swallowing hard, he looked down at Tantan. Anthony’s family never had pets. There was never any room and his mother had once had a ferret that had died when he was young. She couldn’t deal with replacing it and decided that the household didn’t need any pets (which only resulted in him being coddles more). He never was around anything bigger than a small fish or mouse and he hadn’t felt comfortable enough to even touch those. The red panda was something bigger than a fish.
Looking at it, he gave it a weak smile. “Good Tantan.” He said, watching the pet as it blinked at him a few times. He wondered why it was looking at him and decided to slowly step back. After a few steps, he turned and left the room to go put up his things. He spotted the coat rack and placed his vest and jacket on the hooks, well away from the other coats so they would not transfer the water. Done, he walked back into the previous room, raking his hands through his damp hair to get it to some semblance of what it once was. He stopped when he spotted the red panda exactly where he left it.
Anthony paused in combing his hair and dropped his hands. “There’s a good panda.” He said, giving a small smile. It wasn’t too terrible bad. Just like Pastor Wilkin’s Cocker Spaniel, though with less curls and that ridicous bow. That wasn’t to say he was going to go near it.
He looked up the stairs to where Qliph vanished.
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:40 pm
((( You spelt her name wrong razz It's Tantan. Tan twice (: That s'okay!)))
Qliph returned moments later with dry pants and a towel around his shoulders and one dry, folded neatly in his hand.. His hair seemed a little dryer and there was a new bandage around his tail. He didn't wear a shirt. Qliph often found shirts troublesome. But without one, various scars from being somewhat a novice at his job stood out over tanned skin.
He handed the clean, dry towel to Anthony. "There's more towels if you need it." He said calmly, petting the red panda again. He cocked an eye brow at the older man. "are you afraid of her?" He chuckled, "She's almost kinder than a mouse!"
Tantan rubbed against his leg, then creeped towards the wet company and started her investigation. She started sniffing at his feet.
"She won't bite," he said reassuringly, rubbing the fluffy towel over his hair again, "The only thing you should worry about her is her lethal farts after a meal!"
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:01 pm
His mind was wandered, as did his eyes. He expected Qliph to come back down fully dressed, but he seemed very different when he returned. Longer hair, now rebellious as it cascades around his face, framing it nicely as it broke completely free of it’s braid and was now lightening in color from being wet. His tail had a fresh bandaid, clean and crisp as his tail fluffed from being dried, dancing behind the mechanic. Most notable was the scars that tattooed his body, nicks and scraps from mistakes and practice that resulted in a finer understanding of his craft at the expense of a few battle scars.
“Ahh..Huh.” he said, mind traveling onto other things before he perked up and took the towel to dry his hair and cover his face. Gawking was defiantly NOT gentlemen behavior. It seemed he was making a terrible sort of mess out of that today. He waited for a faint blush to leave him before he removed the towel from his face. He continued to rub one side of his face before cleaning his chipped ear, he looked down as Tantan sniffed his shoes. He hesitated moving.
“Ah, it’s just I haven’t had any pets before and I haven’t been around any large animals. You should see me around a dog.” He said, giving a nervous laugh as he looked down at the panda. “I’ll take your advice about the ‘after meals’ thing.” He said, taking the towel to clean his nicked ear before working on the other one.
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:21 pm
Qliph snickered. "Do you want me to put a shirt on?" he asked with a grin, almost mocking Anthony (haha almost called him Timmothy..). The towel rested on the top of his head. He wore it almost like a hat. The fluffy brown ears were still quite wet. Qliph didn't seem bothered to actually dry them. They still dripped every so often, but a dramatic difference from when they first came out of the rain.
Tantan made satisfied growling noise and hopped onto a nearby chair, wanting to join the men's conversation.
"Tantan is my first and only pet. She's old enough to pass on, soon, and I will be devastated when she does." he scratched her behind the ears, "But she's here now and I must cherish that." He gave a heart felt smile. His "hat" got heavy with dampness on one side and fell off it's perch on his head. He ignored it for a while, making cooing noises at his old friend before picking it up and throwing it in the basket with his shirt. He stretched.
"Dogs? I ain't a dog person. Or a cat person. I prefer more exotic pets. I'm not sure if I'm a bird person, though. Do you scream and run like a little girl at the sight of a dog?" He chuckled, pulling stray strands of beach brown hair behind a fluffy ear.
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:40 pm
Anthony pursed his lips and looked sideways at a nearby table. "No. I do not scream like a girl." He huffed, pouting at this."I....just don't do well with animals. They don't seem to very much like me." More so, they liked to bite him, or chase him. THAT's when he 'screamed like a little girl', or so his sister said, being an expert on such sounds to be able to confirm them. He dried one side of his head, resulting in drier hair but now the ends where curling in ward, and turned is arms to clean the other side, rubbing them against his head.
He looked down at Tantan and watched Qliph pet her. "Still, I use to think I'd like to have had a pet when I was younger. For rainy days like this. Still, I guess it's something you have to be. A pet person. I've never had any sort of luck with them. I tend to get scratched or bitten, so you can understand my hesitation." he said, and considering the red panda, he didn't know if the exotic pet was likely to take off a finger. He cherished those.
He grabbed his tail and started to dry it off now, knowing it would probably fluff up to that of a frizzy mess, but it had to be done. "How did you get such an exotic pet? I have't seen too many red pandas up close and the only time was in the lap of an aristocrate." He said, not intending to offen Qliph, but knowing that dogs and cats were more typical for most people.
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:52 pm
"Tch, " was Qliph's sharp reply to Anthony's answer. "That's when you flick them in the nose and ignore them for a while." He stopped petting the red panda. The panda was very cat like in behavior. It jumped off the chair onto soft padded feet and wobbled towards Anthony and set it's rump down on his shoes and sat there, looking up at him with big dark eyes.
"Well, you don't have t' worry about her. She seems to like you... she likes every body. " Qliph looked out the rather large window at the gloomy weather. He felt sorry, on days like these, for pets who lived tied up on a chain outside with neglectful owners. Even the dogs and cats. While still looking out the rather large window, he smiled.
"My parents.. were aristocrats. That's another turn off for people. They don't believe me when I say it. But at least, when they left me here, they were nice enough to let me keep her. I don't share they're last name, though. "Verchet" is the name of the old folks who adopted me ."
((( I apologize for posting so fast, also. It must seem like I don't put effort behind my words....)))
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:32 pm
“Verchet…” Anthony rolled the last name on his tongue, trying to kindle some idea of where he had heard the name. Verchet. Verchet. He couldn’t be 100% sure if he knew the name or if it was just familiar to one of the other names of aristocratic families he knew. Heck. It could have just been similar to one of the customers who frequented the shop or that lovely girl who sold supplies every other Thursday.
It wasn’t a concern now. If anything, the family was terrible for leaving one of their own behind. “That’s surprising. To think someone of such high standing would abandon one of their own children to this lot. It’s not someone a aristocratic family should do and defiantly something undeserving of such a social standing.” He said, wondering if he should talk to the constable about the entire thing and see if they could investigate such a matter. Anthony’s family had their own connections and he had yet to find any reason to exercise them aside from getting a place to sleep at here and there when he was traveling.
His eyes rested to the panda at his feet and he slowly bended down, slowly reaching out and placing his hand upon her head. “You certainly prove to show that you have had a very hard and surprising background. It’s miracle and a true testament that you managed to pull through and then work towards a career. You’re very impressive, Mister Verchet.” He said as smiled.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:48 pm
"..Thanks.." He said, turning to sit in a wooden chair. "Would you like to sit? More comfy than standin'!" He crossed his legs and brought his tail to a rest on his lap.
"Shucks..," he said, "Don't call me Mr.Verchet. It sounds lame and boring. Qliph.. Just Qliph. Sounds so much better."
The man rolled his head on his shoulders and a few cracks and pops ensued. "Ahh," His hand dove for the pocket of his new pair of pants - dry pants- and pulled out a strip of cloth. He grabbed it with pointed teeth and his hands pulled his wavy hair together. With a single hand, he held it there, and with the other, he retrieved the cloth from his mouth. The cloth was wound around thick hair and tied into a bow.
He stretched, with a few more pops, and leaned on a hand that was held up with an elbow on a rough looking table. "So what are-"
A flash of lightening and a roar of thunder cut the lights and made one cuddly panda into a very frightened one. She let out a surprised yelp and made her way under the old, patched up, dusty couch in the next room.
The patter of rain now substituted for a gentle 'whir' background noise. Qliph didn't mind at all. He was used to having things taken away from him.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:12 pm
((Sorry that I'm not helping with the conversation. He'll talk more once he's clean and dry.))
Anthony watched Tantan race off for sanctuary from the storm. He had only received a small touch of her soft and worn fur, but he felt a bit courageous in that small exploit and felt that, if the time came again, he might venture to pet more animals. Rising, he resumed twisting his tail inside the towel, the white tip poking out and now looking like a Persian puff.
“Sorry, you where saying?” He said, looking to Qliph who had been interrupted by the storm. Thinking, his ears perked up and he went over to kneel down at his bag, opening up the brass claps and working through to find a set of clothes to change into. It would be a while and he didn’t feel comfortable sitting anywhere when he was soaken. He couldn’t risk getting a cold and face his family’s unsavory doctor.
He brought out another shirt, white, and a pair of pants. He planned to wear them tomorrow but would have to make due wearing them now. He would find a cleaner tomorrow and get his old clothes washed. Rising with the clothes, he looked at Qliph. “Pardon, but where is the washroom?” He said, a bit lost in thought to notice he hadn’t paid attention to what might be said.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:26 pm
(((that's alright :3 I'll try to add a little detail to make up for lost conversing I guess...)))
Qliph groaned. "You don't need to be so formal, man...," But in return pointed to a dirty door in a narrow hallway that opened up to the narrow staircase. The door had a small brass sign and on it was etched a figure in the pose of the famous statue, "The Thinker", on the toilet. The small figure had a tail, as well.
While Anthony was doing what he needed to do, Qliph stood and hunted down his trustful companion. He fell to his knees and managed to beckon her out from under the couch, giving her a treat; A small piece of bamboo he grabbed off the counter, in return.
With some effort, he picked up his pudgy, old pet and carried her into the kitchen area in front of the door where he and Anthony had stood, wet. The chair made a loud creak and a pop when he, and the panda, sat upon it.
Tantan was now content, and not as frightened. The storm started to ease, as well. They both sat there, on that old chair. The Koshka looking out the window as if in a trance with a blank stare, petting his furry friend. The panda lying on it's owners lap. Welcoming it's owners hand on her head. Her eyes were closed.
They both listened to the sound of rain, waiting for their new friend to return from the depths of the foul needs-to-be-cleaned bathroom...
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