Curiosity

[Existentially Odd]

Tau was struck by her first comment, wondering what the protocol for looking after a shifter - someone he considered his responsibility - was, when they didn\'t have a home.  Should he recommend places?  Offer money to put her in a hotel?  Ask her to stay with him?  Expect she\'d simply look after herself in the woods?  Rattlesnakes were desert animals, weren\'t they?  There wasn\'t a whole lot of that around here.

"I do not believe it was safe for any of the species, no, but better for supernaturals than mortals.  It gave a taste of what true freedom would be like, but it was very, very messy," he explained with a shrug, compelled to answer her final commemnt first, though he was still preoccupied by the fact that she didn\'t have a home.  Nor had he filled out the profile fully, though.  "How old are you?  Do you age as a snake or as a mortal?" he enquired, one pointy index finger hovering over the keypad again.

[Luna Moon]

Alacer looked back up at him typing. She ran her hand through her short, spiky hair. "I age as a human, I\'m twenty-five." She looked around his office again, her eyes settling on the almost empty bookshelf. She looked back at Tau, "A taste of freedom, indeed. I don\'t even know if I would have been out and about. It seems that a city full of supernaturals that the humans know about seems very dangerous to me, and I\'m a supernatural, too."

Alec played with the edge of her sweater, fully conscious that he did not say anything about homes and hesitated slightly, seeming to be in thought. alec played with the edge of her sweater as she waited for the next question he would ask. she scratched her neck at the edge of her hair.

[Existentially Odd]

Tau concentrated on entering her age into the profile, then took a rough guess on height and weight, taking his time clicking the drop-down menus for hair and eye colour, frame, skin and general appearance.  He\'d left the box for her animal type blank because he couldn\'t spell it quickly and easily, but he knew he\'d be able to look it up later on and fill that part in.

Most of the profile was a study in the habits of the supernatural once they had become a full member of the city - where they lived, work, socialised, known associates, that sort of thing - but because she was so new, he couldn\'t answer any of that.  The history section was one he could address with her, though.

"Tell me," he invited, watching Alacer steadily.  "Are both your parents shifters?  What city have you come from - I suppose they are not with you?"

[Luna Moon]

Alec wasn\'t really surprised at his question. She figured the file had some sort of history section. "Well," she started, trying to think of a way to explain it. "Yes, both of my parents were shifters. My father was a coral snake and my mother was a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, like me." She bit her lips trying to remember something then answered his other question. "I come from Phoenix, Arizona. The middle of the desert." she said the last part with a small smile.

Alec looked up at his face over the computer screen again. "My parents are dead. I\'m an orphan." She said it hesitantly. She missed her father and she never knew her mother. She waited patiently for Tau\'s next question, trying to think of what it would be about.

[Existentially Odd]

Tau looked very uncomfortable to hear the news that she was an orphan - and also somewhat like a wild animal caught in the bright, rapidly oncoming headlights of a car.  "Oh," was all he said for a few moments, staring at her without blinking.  "Sorry."  That said, he looked down at the keyboard in front of him and began laboriously typing in what she\'d just said.

In the end, he gave up and asked how to spell the two types of snakes and also her town of birth before silence filled the room once more - well, silence except for the soft, steady clicking of keys.  After almost ten minutes of this, he was finished as much as he believed he\'d be able to finishwithout her having established links in the city, and had saved the document one last time.  He lowered the screen of the laptop so that he could see her clearly, his right foot tapping rhythmically against the carpet underneath the desk.

"What is your next step do you suppose?  Would you like me to organise somewhere for you to stay or are you planning to shift into your snake form and stay in the woods?"

[Luna Moon]

She smiled as he apologized about her parents. Her smile somehow said, It\'s okay. He typed for a long time and the silence was almost unbearable to Alec. She hated silence, that was one thing she never could stand much of. The clicking of the kays helped slightly, but almost not enough. she met his eyes as he lowered the laptop.

She smiled at his suggestion of turning into a snake. "well, my snake form would be good, but it\'s a little too chilly for me in the woods here. snakes are cold-blooded animals, and unfortunately I inherited that as a human also." She gestured toward the sweater she was wearing. "I\'m like a snake in the way that I have to regulate my body temperature myself. for some reason, the woods here are chily and the city is warm right now." Alec had arrived through the woods and she checked the tempeature as she rode.

Alec shrugged. "I don\'t know what I\'ll do, but I\'ll figure something out. It\'ll be just like traveling for me."

[Existentially Odd]

"How long are you planning to stay in the city for?" he enquired, suddenly realising that perhaps her presence here wasn\'t a permanent thing, where he\'d been assuming it was.  That made him relax a little more - enough to offer what he instinctively wanted to.  "Maybe you just want to stay at my place for a while instead of looking for anything else?"

Of course, as soon as he made the offer he got the horrified feeling that he\'d done something rather stupid and that he was going to get into a great deal of trouble for even asking.  "I mean... I would have to check that that is alright with the Luminary but... " he added hastily but trailed off halfway through, feeling very uncertain of himself.  Alacer might not even be interested, he supposed, so he should wait and see what she said before he panicked.

[Luna Moon]

Alecc smiled slightly at his offer and shifted uncomfortably. She couldn\'t get comfortable suddenly. "Thank you, but I was planning on trying to find somewhere to live here, and I wouldn\'t want to get you in trouble." She leaned back in her seat. She twisted the ends of her sweater while gaining a small amout of courage. "If it doesn\'t get you in trouble, could I?" she asked, with almost a pained expression. She really didn\'t want to spend time in the woods constantly shifting every few hours to stay warm.

She looked at Tau uncertainly. Did he really want to ask her or did he feel obliged since she was a shifter. If he didn\'t she could always move out, If moving in with him didn\'t get him in trouble in any way.

[Existentially Odd]

Truthfully, Tau\'s heart lifted when she refused his offer and then sank just as quickly, when she admitted that it was the preferable option.  Her large-eyed look of appeal was certainly difficult to resist and it helped with his inner pep talk that he\'d asked her to stay with him because it was only right for him to look after others of his species, as well as because it was a kind thing to do.  He had drawbacks with his own animal side - being an actual six year old was quite detrimental, for a start - but, right then, he thought that her being cold-blooded would have to be the worst feature of all.  He couldn\'t imagine how difficult it would be to deal with that regularly.

"I\'m sure it will be no trouble - I will make a phone call right now, to be sure," he told Aleca in his deep, steady voice.  Reaching for the handset on his desk, he pushed a single button on the sleek black phone and then waited, receiver pressed to his ear.  It rang quite a few times before Tau frowned at the harmless bit of plastic, his heavy brows making his glower very intimidating... well, for people, not phones.  He glanced over at the woman sitting patiently across from him.

"There does not seem to be an answer.  I\'ll make another phone call... " he murmured, his voice trailing off as he watched his long fingers push in the hookswitch to disconnect the call.  He dialled in four digits this time and was rewarded by a gruff greeting on the other end of the line, almost immediately.  "Hello!" he responded with enthusiasm, his heavy brows lifting.  "I was wondering if you could tell me where Lazarus is?"  There was a slight pause as he listened to the response given, his frown returning in record time.  "You are sure?  No, no it is just that I rang his apartment already and there was no response... no, I will... oh!  Well, if you would prefer... thank you."

Again, silence fell as Tau listened to his call being connected to Lazarus\' suite.  Not surprisingly, it rang for a very long time once more but this time, instead of ringing out, the phone was answered with mild discourtesy and gruff annoyance.  Tau stumbled into speaking as best he could, fumbling his words because he\'d honestly not expected the call to be answered.

"Sir!" he cried out in surprise, instinctively sitting up straighter in his chair.  "I uh... had a question - well, I do have a question; I.... well, that is to say... I have a shifter who is new to the city with me.  She has nowhere to live and I wondered what you thought about her... uh... coming to stay at my house until.... well, for a while?"  Almost as soon as the question was finally out of his mouth, Tau blinked rapidly and then pulled the handset away from his ear to stare at it, as though it had just bitten him.  With a blush, he then looked over at Aleca, dazedly replacing the handset as he did.

"The Luminary has no problem with it," he told her then, wondering how she would take this news.  There would surely be no backing out now.

[Luna Moon]

Alec chuckled slightly as he tripped over his question. He was a lot shyer toward the Luminary. She smiled slightly as he blushed and looked at her. She watched as he paused on the phone for a few short moments until he looked at her and replaced the phone.

She smiled happily and stood from her seat, bowing. "Thank you Tau, I mean..Mr.Leander." She blushed slightly looking up to him. She stood up from her bow and looked at him. "You don\'t have to call me Alacer if you want. You can call me Alec. It seems to sound more normal than Latin." She sat back down in her chair. "Thank you really," she said quietly, looking up at him. When she was sincere or honest it always came out quietly. She blushed and looked around the room. "So....what do I do now?" she asked curiously.

[Existentially Odd]

(ooc:  Sorry I took so long with this, holidays finished, school started back up and the urge to be on RPC dimmed in the light of doing other stuff and being organised.  I\'ll be better now, though

Tau was quite confused when she stood, bowed and then sat again.  He merely watched her do so with raised eyebrows and an expression of interest on his face when she referred to him as \'Mr Leander\'.  He still hadn\'t got used to that term of address.  "Alright Alec.  Please, continue to call me Tau," he interjected before she thanked him, to which he simply inclined his head in acknowledgement.  As for what she should do next...

"Well," he mused, looking down at his desk thoughtfully.  The reality of a houseguest was starting to sink in and the mundane things such as feeding her were occurring to him.  He had a place she could sleep because his small apartment was a two bedroom one and he\'d kept a room prepared for his brother after he left, even though Jed had never returned.  As he\'d earned more money, in fact, Jed\'s room had been the one to be refurbished first.  But what did a rattlesnake shifter eat?  He doubted the copious amounts of raw steak he had in his fridge would suffice.

"I don\'t need to be here any longer," he said finally, even though the night was relatively young and he would have been there another couple of hours, had she not shown up.  Since he wasn\'t restricted to nocturnal living like many of the other Oligarchs were, he generally started work just after twelve o\'clock and was done with all his paperwork when night fell (it really did take a lot of effort for him to read and write most documents).  That was when most of the Shifter cases he was likely to meet would show up - or when meetings with the Luminary, or consults for other Oligarchs would be called - so he always hung around until the early hours of the morning.

Not tonight, though.  If anything urgent came up, he would be paged but otherwise - judging by the way Lazarus had crudely told him to do whatever the fuck he wanted with Alec - he was free to do as he wished with his night.  He wished to be organised to have someone living with him.  "I think it might be best if I call for a car and we go to the supermarket to buy food and any other supplies that you will need, and then we\'ll return to my apartment so that you can become familiar with it, how does that sound?"

[Luna Moon]

As he said he didn\'t need to be here any longer, Alec looked at him confused. "Are you sure? You won\'t get in trouble will you?" She was worried that he would get in trouble with her being near him. She usually got into trouble, whether it was her fault or not, mostly with other shifters and supernaturals.

As he suggested going to the supermarket and then the apartment, Alec\'s face brightened. "Oh, that would be great, thanks," she said hurridly, then she blushed slightly. She could eat anything a snake could and meat. "I, well, I eat things that snakes eat. Like...rats and mice, lizards. It seems the better place to go would be a pet supply store." She looked down slightly embarassed. She could eat a live mouse in human form and it wouldn\'t even phase her. "I could just go around outside and find those things if you want me too. That way you wouldn\'t have to search out some things. I can eat them dead or alive." She looked at him to see what his reaction to that information would be.

[Existentially Odd]

Tau\'s interest was well and truly piqued at this explanation; he looked at her with greater interest, his blue eyes shining with curiosity from beneath his heavy brow.  "I had not considered that!" he enthused, standing up and then realising he hadn\'t yet packed up his laptop - or called for a car.

He sat back down immediately and picked up his phone, pushing a couple of buttons and then politely requesting a car to meet him at the front of the building.  He put down the phone and began hurriedly shutting down his laptop and packing it into its carry case - not that he let this necessary bit of housekeeping distract him from the conversation at hand.

"No, no!  A trip to the pet store sounds like a good idea.  We can buy a few mice and pretend to be keeping them as pets, if you like.  Breed them.  Or rats, whichever you prefer.  If I\'m in cougar form I prefer stray dogs to rats, they are much more filling," he chuckled, glancing up at her as he mostly watched what his hands were doing.  A sudden thought brought a slight frown to his forehead and gave him pause.  "Do you change form to eat?  How often do you eat?  Snakes do not eat often, do they?"

[Luna Moon]

Alec chuckled slightly at his enthusiasm as he stood and sat bac down. "Well, I have to admit that I have never seen anyone this enthusiastic about my feeding habits." She grinned slightly, continuing after he requested a car. She listened patiently as he spoke while packing up his laptop.

Alec thought of the best way to answer his question. "Well, I don\'t have to turn into snake form to eat, but I end up eating the same thing sometimes, and I\'ve figured out it\'s easier and cheaper to just eat in snake form." She shrugged slightly and added, "Everyone likes to be rodent free." Alec took her sweater off and stuck it back into her messenger bag, then looked back up at Tau. "Keeping mice is actually quite easy if you wanted to do that, that way you wouldn\'t have to buy me food and I could take care of them. I also promise that if you catch me as a snake I will not bite." She smiled.

[Existentially Odd]

He raised his eyebrows at her but didn\'t smile, because he took her promise very seriously.  He hadn\'t considered that she\'d have enough awareness and understanding as a snake to know the difference between him and any other threat - in fact, now that he gave it any thought at all, he would\'ve assumed he\'d be more likely to have her attack him in snake form, given the animalistic urges she would feel to protect herself and the fact that she\'d sense more strongly his feline nature as a small snake.

"I\'m surprised you can offer such a thing," he told her honestly, glancing a final time over his desk and then standing when he saw he had everything he treasured already packed into his laptop case.  He picked it up as he moved his chair into a tidier position and then rounded the desk.  Believing she would follow, he headed for his office door, standing by the exit and watching her approach before he turned the lights off, speaking the whole time.  "When I am a cougar, I don\'t think anywhere near as clearly as I do in human form.  In fact, you will be lucky if I don\'t play with you just because I sense the reptile in you.  Luckily, I also rarely shift forms because I don\'t want to be feeling pained when I get older, so you will be safe in that sense."