Post by Talon Windwaltz on Aug 13, 2009 13:48:47 GMT -5
Talon was on one of his rare walks down to the town of Drakborough today, though this time it was not for the occasional drink at Joker's or simply a chance to enjoy the afternoon breeze. The Headmaster on a mission. Some might venture a guess that it was the most important adventure he'd ever embarked on.
The Headmaster turned the corner to Chang's Enchanted Pets, formerly, or also, a Chinese Restaurant. He knew that Sylph moonlighted here, so he figured his quest would be in good hands at this specific pet store. Talon stood in the doorway in his red robes, glancing around the room at all the animals present. He felt the room grow just a bit stuffier from the presence of so many creatures.
One Eagle in particular had focused its eye on him from the moment he walked in the door and wouldn't stop staring at him. Talon smiled at it, and tried to look at the other creatures - puppies barking at him, strange exotic birds tweeting their strange songs - but his attention always returned to that one bird, which was still looking at him.
Talon really hoped whoever was running the place, Sylph or Mr. Chang, would show up soon.
Well, it was a weekend, so it was Sylph. As the bell jingled merrily above the cheery green door the tall violet haired witch stepped through the beaded curtain at the back of the shop, but her eyes were cast downward at something that she was examining in her hands, and she was muttering at it. Whatever it was, it was small enough to be hidden among her fingers, but, if Talon happened to be looking closely, he might have been able to discern a flash of gold.
Without looking up from whatever it was she was pouring over, Sylph walked slowly over to the counter and flung herself into the chair that sat behind it. Only once there did she glance upward, at first only for a instant, but on recognising the customer did a double take and quickly stood up again, dropping the gold thing into her pocket as she did so.
"Alright, boss?" she said casually by way of greeting, flicking her shoulder length locks out of her eyes. "What brings you to this neck of the woods?"
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Aug 13, 2009 16:10:28 GMT -5
Talon had been paying far too much attention to the peculiar aquiline that found the Headmaster so utterly fascinating to possibly look at what Sylph was holding. For that matter, it wasn't even until she'd acknowledged his presence that he was snapped out of his thoughts. The wizard turned to look at Sylph, who looked far less regal but just as imposing as a shop worker, and smiled.
"Yes, good, it's a wonderful day," said Talon in response, nodding his head as he did so, "but, hm, you see...I'm looking for something. A pet...well, not for me, it's a gift...and I was wondering if perhaps you had any cats?"
"Cats?" Sylph blinked comically. "Of course we've got cats. This is a pet shop, you know, Talon. Would be a bit of a letdown if we didn't stock cats. But." She gestured toward a pen near the front window, which was full of multicoloured balls of fur, and which seemed to be emitting a strange kind of buzzing sound.
“Cats are so… ordinary. These here are kneazles. Tame ones, mind,” she added swiftly, knowing that ordinarily purebred kneazles were a little, well, wild. “They’re not about to go for the face or anything. Bit finicky when it comes to accepting people, but other than that they’re fine. Go ahead,” she said encouragingly, walking over to the pen herself. “Take a closer look.”
The kneazles were the size of regular kittens and in general shape were pretty similar to look at. There were, however, a fair few differences that gave them away as not-quite-cats. Each had the beginnings of a mane, as well as a long tail that was tufted at the end. There was also the matter of their fur. Rather than the usual tabby, tortoiseshell and so on, Sylph had managed to procure only animals which resembled actual big cats. Her own favourite was the bright gold one with the black rosettes – the jaguar – but there were also panthers, dark versions of the jaguar with black on black rosettes, tigers, snow leopards and lions, among others. Sylph lifted out one of the lion types, which had a coat that was sandy golden brown in colour with darker shades around the mane and tail. It started purring immediately.
“Try this little guy out,” she said, offering the kitten to Talon. “I’m pretty sure that you’re trustworthy – or rather, that the person you’re giving this to will be trustworthy.” A knowing smile slowly spread across her lips at this. "That certain special someone, I’m guessing, hmm?" A cheeky glint entered her eye, but she didn't push her luck - Talon was still her weekday boss, after all.
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Aug 13, 2009 18:08:02 GMT -5
Talon watched with interest as Sylph led him over to the kneazle pen, where the tiny magical felines were emitting all manners of feeble roars and mewls and other noises. The Headmaster's eyes lit up as he saw all the tiny creatures together. "They're perfect," Talon said the moment he saw a tiny little lion stumbling around proudly.
The Headmaster had never considered kneazles as a gift. He knew about them, yes. Back during his school days, old Professor Barches - the poor woman - had done a class on them. However, despite exceeding the expectations of many teachers, he had never done too well in Care of Magical Creatures and therefore had forgotten that kneazles could be tamed without first breeding them to other cats.
Oh yes, and old Professor Barches had her legs ripped off by a dragon in the next class, so that didn't exactly encourage him to fully embrace the course.
Sylph lifted the little lion Talon had seen before up out of the cage and extended it to him. The Headmaster gave a watery smile as he took the little kitten into his arms. The creature immediately melted his heart. The tiny creature purred and pawed at him, trying to climb around on his arms and explore. "Oh he's so cute! He'll be perfect, I'm sure," Talon said to Sylph, his eyes beaming like a little boy. Still, he had been put rather on the spot by the Deputy Headmistress.
"Oh, yes, well...you know I felt..." He said, trying to explain himself while still resisting the urge to squeal over the kneazle in his arms, "...how much for him?"
“Eleven galleons,” she replied, her eyebrows slightly raised. ‘Cute’ wasn’t generally a word used by grown men about small furry animals, at least not with that squealing inflection. Still, Talon looked besotted, and she was sure that Rezna would be, too. These kneazles were selling like hot cakes. Sylph had been stocking the critters since she had started working at Chang’s, but this was the first month she had used the unusual colour breeds. Note to self: she thought. Always use pretty cats.
“But,” she added. “I can throw in a collar and a bag of cat food for that price, too.” She paused, about to offer other accessories, but stopped herself, smiling siddenly with genuine warmth. “She’s going to love him,” she said sincerely. “He’ll be a lovely addition to the hospital wing, though, uh, be careful with him around new people – don’t let them get too friendly right away, he might not like them as much as he likes you. Kneazles can spot deceit at fifty paces, and they don’t like it.”
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Aug 14, 2009 3:44:51 GMT -5
Talon suddenly felt the warmth created by this little creature in his arms vanish as the money was brought up. Eleven galleons? Well, it was a not-so-rare but definitely magical creature that he was buying, and a handy and intelligent one at that. The Headmaster figured it'd be better not to haggle over the price and just go with it, but he wasn't entirely certain how much money he actually had.
After all, how did currency work around here, anyhow? Did everyone just automatically have the money they needed?
"That's great, actually," Talon said, realizing his arms were a bit full with the magical feline in his arms, "that they can spot deceit. Heaven knows there's a lot of it around here, but at least we can keep it out of the Hospital Wing. I'll take the deal on the collar and cat food, it'll make her life just a little bit easier for a while...I know she's going to love him, but I just hope he loves her too."
The kneazle purred. "So could you, perhaps, take him so we can make the transactions and such?"
"She will, don't worry," Sylph said, accepting the cat from Talon with a reassuring smile, scooping him up into her arms and then plonking him down on the main counter. As she did this, though, something got tangled or slipped, and the thing she had been looking at earlier slipped out of her shirt pocket, landing with a surprisingly heavy clunk next to the kneazle.
The reaction was immediate. The kneazle sprang backwards, hissing and spitting, its tiny sharp teeth bared. From a kitten it was actually rather ineffectual, almost pathetic, but was obvious how it felt about the ring, for a ring it was.
"Interesting," Sylph muttered, quirking a single dark brow at the feline, which was now swiping its little claws at the item, its plumed tail held rigid. Batting the kitten away, she picked up the ring and, after peering at it for a moment, slipped it back into her pocket. The kitten continued to mew angrily, however, its tiny dark mane raised. Sylph frowned at it for a moment, and then proceeded to bag up the food and collar.
"Better take him, Talon," she said, eying the kneazle curiously. "I think I've angered him."
Post by Talon Windwaltz on Aug 14, 2009 14:54:45 GMT -5
Talon reached into his robes for his money satchel the moment Sylph had taken the kitten away. He reached inside and pulled out a grand total of ten galleons, and then in desperation reached inside to see if he had enough sickles to match up. The result was sixteen sickles, which was still wasn't quite enough, so he counted his knuts until they made up twenty nine.
A relief.
He was snapped out of his money-counting by the hissing of the kitten, who was apparently making quite a fuss over some sort of ring. The Headmaster watched this whole affair, and the Deputy Headmistress's own interest in it, and wondered to himself whether all this was in some fashion connected or whether the cat was simply lusting for a shiny object. Talon shrugged. He wasn't here to solve mysteries, he was here to buy a present.
"Yes, yes of course," Talon said, putting the handful of coins on the counter. Despite the glimmer of these shiny objects, however, the kneazle was not quite as interested in them as it had been with the ring. "There you are," he said, and then picked up the kneazle kitten, who began to purr but still had quite a grumpy expression on his little face as he looked at Sylph.
“I guess it does,” Sylph replied softly, still frowning vaguely at Talon’s new pet. She spoke in such a way that she might not have been referring to the transaction, and this fact was highlighted when she shook herself, as if awaking from another train of thought, and answered a second time.
“Yes, of course it does,” she smiled, this time looking the headmaster straight in the eye. “Unless you want a cat carrier to transport him back to the school – you won’t have to buy it,” she added, eyes twinkling as her gaze fell upon the loose change that was mingled with the galleons. “I can loan you one; it’s no real bother for me to pick it up, after all. Oh – and let me know how Rez likes her new pet, eh? I like to hear about it when Chang’s stock makes a good impression.”
Teagan Offline: This board is full of nostalgia.
Aug 22, 2020 8:39:09 GMT -5
Missing the old MH: gotta say missing when MH and all that was around.
Nov 6, 2019 0:02:30 GMT -5
Willow_lazy: why tf are there 400 posts about adidas
Sept 6, 2018 17:35:57 GMT -5
Azrael: I'm not hard to find, since I'm the only one there who goes by "Azzy", I'm pretty sure. XD
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:41 GMT -5
Azrael: Dunno if anyone still pops by here from time to time, but if any of you mofos do and still feel like gettin' yo nerd on, I've been hanging around this here place a bunch recently: www.roleplayerguild.com/
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:10 GMT -5
Azrael: hold onto your pantaloons
Jul 25, 2016 5:16:43 GMT -5