hadriel | 002

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002 | text

[ The regrets in Philip's life are a long list. Usually he's stopped dwelling. This time something haunts him more than- more than it usually does, more than it should. The regret that circles around his head the most is a long story. And what it all boils down to in the end is a very short text: ]

Best way to get a pet around here?

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you dont just get a pet. one is more likely to break into your home someday and just decide to never leave.
at least thats what happened to me.

Explains why I didn't get lucky so far. Didn't bother with a proper place to stay until a few days ago.

[ That he wasn't looking or even thinking about it until this morning might have something to do with it. ]

So what did you get?

it's no guarantee but it sure as hell probably helps.

[At his question, she just sighs to herself and sends a piece of photographic evidence of her most recent housemate she had acquired a few months ago.]

just this thing thats supposed to be a cat or something.

I found my dog, Winter, as a stray. (A thirsty, too thin stray. He's now exceptionally spoiled.)

Just wandering the streets here? Most of the critters I found doing that weren't exactly friendly pet material.

[ At least they seemed likely enough to take a bite out of him that he didn't care to investigate further. ]

He was different. I thought he was like the rest - he must have survived somehow - but he liked human company once it was offered.

(Patience. Talk to them and see what happens.)

Guess I'll try going for a walk, and hope I find something that likes human company better than human flesh.

[ Or his flesh for that matter. Never got around to asking his cannibal pals about the culinary difference. Probably for the better, that. ]

How long ago did you find him?

If you would like company, I would not mind walking with you. (She usually carries a sword with her - one that fits under her skirt(s).) It has been several months.

[ For a second he can't figure out why her offer startles him. Then it sinks in just how little company he's actually been keeping outside the bar since-- Well, since he got here at the very least. Maybe as good a day as any to make an exception. ]

Count me in. Sounds like dogs like you a lot better than they do me. Tell me where you are, I can swing by.

My family has a...connection...to wolves in particular. I had a pet direwolf as a child. (Her poor Lady. But she has had wolves since and she has learned their habits through patience.) I am residing in what was once a second house of healing.

(She gives him the housing number just in case.)

[ Hang on, dire wolf, Canis dirus, very much extinct since after the Late Pleistocene epoch. Well. Now he's definitely curious about meeting her. It's a bit of a distance from where he is skulking around currently, so he tells her he'll make it in fifteen. Tells her he'll see her soon, which--

--he doesn't yet, once he arrives in the vicinity of where he thinks he's supposed to be. Second house of healing, second house of- there, that's the one. He thinks. Philip walks up to it and knocks on the door. And: ]

If you can hear me knocking, then I made it to the right place just now.

(She thought them extinct from Westeros too until her father and brothers encountered a deceased mother laying beside some very alive pups. She had been given Lady soon after and she had raised her by hand and taught her impeccable manners.

Winter whines at the knocking, curious and alert. Sansa lays a hand on his head and opens the door.)

I think you made it safely to your destination. (If he is who she had been talking to.) I'm Sansa Stark and this is Winter. (The dog she had mentioned. He definitely has wolf features, but he is on the small side.)

[ Philip shows up dressed in jeans and a plain grey sweater. One revolver, packed away at his belt, as always. His backpack is only half-full, now that he's recently settled into a place where he can stash his daily scavenging finds. A pickaxe is tied to the backpack. Old habits, and all that. The young woman who opens the door--

The chain digs into his hand, as if there was still a point in holding it now. She kept her red hair in a bun, apparently, a bun that's come loose now. She makes no motion to fix it, let alone to get up. He doesn't want to look anywhere else. Not the back of her lab coat as it stains red, not the puddle that pools red underneath, only her hair, red anyway under the flickering light, where he can pretend that he didn't--

Philip swallows. One regret at a time. He quickly forces a smile.

The young woman who opens the door doesn't look very Late Pleistocene to him, but then, that was never his scientific area of expertise. (He thinks he's seen her before, too. Wonderland. Fairly sure of it. Never caught her name then, because he could've sworn it was- something, something, Elaine Stone? Never mind all that, they obviously didn't get around to a proper introduction then.)

Instead he stretches out his arm for a handshake now.

--Almost talks to her the way he does, and thinks better of it this time. People rarely like it. Philip rarely cares. He wants to do better today. One hand still held out to her he types with the other: ]

Philip. Mute. Very nice to meet you.

And what are you gonna do with it?

[ On most days that's the sort of question that nets a very smart sort of answer. Today it only tightens something in Philip's throat, and he puts the phone down to swallow the knot, before tying his reply. ]

I'm looking for a pet. By definition their purpose really isn't that ambiguous.

It's a little different here. They're harder to come by.

[ Christ, did you sound like an arse just there? To Jo? ]

Seems like it. Haven't come across a divine pet shelther so far. Any advice?

[He definitely did. She's added that to her mental list of what she knows about this weird dude.]

Find a roommate instead?

Most of those tend to frown upon being collared and fed kneeling from bowls, and I'm not sure I'd want to share my place with the ones that are into it.

Dunno, you never seemed too picky before.

Catch one.

[Get on his level.]

Where?

[ He's starting to think the rate at which he meets stray critters is dramatically reduced from what it's supposed to be. ]

You'll have to outsource these days. Hope drove all the fun stuff out of town. :/
I usually hit up the coliseum. Sometimes theres good stuff there.

well before you could have tried your luck adopting a friendly neighborhood monster from the tunnels
or outside the city
but Hope kind of kablew them all away so

i ended up inheriting a wolf, so

[ And here he thought one domesticated crocodile was odd enough. ]

Is that honestly common? You take a tunnel tour and cross your fingers that you find something fluffy that hasn't developed a taste for flesh?

no, not really
before wolfie I hadn't even seen anything that resembled a dog in this place
the cats were... the god's doing, I think?
or some weird anomaly
and some of them were super freaky

Umbra and Pryna came with me from home. I was grateful as we have been together since I was quite young and, in truth, I think I would be a bit lost without them.

I don't think there are many pets around here, unless you're planning on trapping a monster. But don't do that.

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