When Ruins Reply [1x1]

Atelon frowned, brows furrowing before his ears flicked towards the door for ammoment and then returned to facing her. Kat didn't look convinced and he supposed she had every right to be that way inclined. Still, his offer remained open.

"Are there?" He supposed every race had their pet or three, but that one was apparently so similar was curious yet troubling. Perhaps just convergence.

He wasn't too sure how to take being compared with a pet, all tamed and docile... He had to afford her more leniency than those that knew better to run such comparisons but he did wonder where she... he blinked, staring at her. Did she just poke his nose? It was not a hard prod by any means but had she been one of his kin or someone who knew their culture, she would not have entertained the thought, he was sure.

Atelon blinked again before he rubbed his face, messing up his fur a little, "You're not from this world, so a little word of advice if you meet others of my people... Don't call them pet or... poke their noses... It can be something of an insult and taken the wrong way. There are tribes with a very short pot of patience..." His words were gently but firm in the heed of warning. He did not appear to take great offense outwardly, perhaps because he really did appreciate the difference of culture better than others in this apartment block. He wondered then and peered at her curiosly.

"Would I be right in thinking that may have been part of why you ran off in fear before? Because of my appearance... the fur, the teeth, the claws?"
 
"Sorry. I'm loopy," Kat apologized, resisting the urge to rub her own face. "I don't normally poke sentient beings in the nose. And... yes. You look like a wolf. Mostly. See, we have wolves, dogs, and foxes. They are all canine, they look kind of the same, but are different. Wolves are the wild ones that are really dangerous if they want to be but usually leave people alone. Foxes are also wild, but they are really smart and often live near people, and I've heard some people have them as high-maintenance pets. Dogs are the fully domesticated ones, but wild dogs are even more dangerous than wolves. So... yes. You look like a predator." She hesitated and then added, "And like a mythological creature from my world that's not supposed to exist, but according to the stories is... horrendous. An evil villain."

Tucker decided that Kat had been still long enough to risk checking out what was happening. He poked his nose out over the edge of her shirt pocket and sniffed for several long breaths before raising his head up to look around. His whiskers trembled alertly, and his giant black eyes took everything in. He was not confident enough to leave the pocket, but at least the jostling movement and the screaming had stopped. Maybe it was safe? Then again, the furry thing nearby could be a potential predator. Perhaps it was safer to stay in the pocket.
 
He nodded to the apology, accepting it, glad that she was now forearmed as she spoke on, listening to her as before. Wolves... Dogs... Foxes.. All in a varying level of danger to those around them. The names sounded so exotic to his ears, except for dog. It was interesting and a curiosity, wondering just how similar he was to these Wolves, Foxes and Dogs from her world... it was an extremely academic curiosity on his part. He doubted most of his kin would be quite as willing to entertain such thoughts.

Mythological?! Atelon sat up a little, piqued and a little wary, ears shiting back and down a little in betrayal of this mood.

"You have a name for this... mythological version I seem to be comparable to?" he was curious to know even if he might be playing a game of question time here. He scratched his jaw, a spot he seemed prone to scratching if the tiny bald spot was anything to go by.

His blue eyes shifted towards the tiny movement of her tiny companion and surmised it ahd woekn from its slumber or grew anough courage to see what was going on. Atelon smiled but directed no fruther attention to her little riend on his part. He wouldn't want it to think he was after it or interested it for the wrong reasons.

Atelon looked back to her, again apologetically, "There are so many questions... I am sure you have your own as well. Aside from the obvious 'how do I get back'. We have to figure that out."
 
"Yes, they were called werewolves," she told him. "There's a lot of different myths with different variations on exactly what it meant to be a werewolf and how one got to be one, but the basic outline is there's a man with a horrible curse to turn into an awful, evil, man-killing monster every full moon. At least, that's the most common one I heard."

She sighed and rubbed her eyes, not even realizing her pet rat had decided to look out her pocket. "I... I don't even know where or how to start. I don't understand any of this. Where am I? I know you told me, but I just... I can't... we don't have other planets where I'm from. We have space flight, and bunches of people want to believe in other life and stuff, but there's no proof of any of it. None of it. I just don't get it. Why me? Why here? Why you? How does this thing," she waved the translator, "work. How am I talking to a wolf-man in a really nice apartment? Why does this space alien city look like something out of the Roaring Twenties met the Beast's castle? How do I get home? Can I get home? Is anyone going to miss me? What's going to happen to my place and my job? Am I going to be homeless and jobless when I get back? What about my family?" She petered off and shook her head. "I know you don't have any answers, and I'm just... I keep hoping it'll be different when I wake up in the morning."

Tucker wiggled his nose and his whiskers, taking it all in. Everything smelled strange and potentially dangerous. Could he trust anything or anyone out here?
 
"Werewolf..."

Atelon repeated this softly trough his maw of teeth as he listened and his ears twitched as she spoke of evil monsters with a curse and a full moon... He was unsure what the moon was about but that it seemed reminiscent of an event that happened on his ord was a little jarring and he didn't continue that line of inquiry again. Those were scary times he'd rather not entertain thoughts of.

Large trangular ears shot back to fully facing her as she rattled off question as if they were on some factory line by the masses. So many questions! Most were those he had answered already but she didn't seem capable of processing that right now... or perhaps didn't want to. All of that was fair. It was a lot to take in. He glanced to the devices as she made a gesture and smiled, that was a whole thing in of itself really. She spoke of her kin having a space program... but from her tone, it sounded infantile or perhaps to a different scale than that of Nolfia's. He was unsure what the 'roaring twenties' or 'Beast's Castle' were but were apparently references. The following tones of worry and anxiety filled the air then and he wished he could promise everything would be all right and that she would have a home and employment to return to.

Atelon, however, was not in the habit of making promises he wasn't one hundred percent sure he could keep...

And he wasn't entirely sure he could. Would the same action he had done before work again? Would it even be set for her time and place? Would it do something else that was entirely unexpected.

He inclined his head with acknowledgement of her fears and concerns, "I can only ensure your safety whilst you're here. I do hope that this was all just a weird dream... but I can't say I've been diagnosed with sleepwalking before now..." he scratched his head in ponderment. "I can provide a roof over your head and other necessities whilst we work on how to get you back."
 
Kat leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. Even the ceiling looked good. How did even a ceiling look good? Not like super ridiculously glitzy just... nice? It was a nice ceiling. Who cared about ceilings? Other than to make sure they weren't actively leaking. This place was truly outrageous. Wherever it was. Whatever it was. She closed her eyes for a moment and let herself feel how tired she was but didn't let herself drift too much. She was in danger of falling asleep if she let down her guard. She opened her eyes again and studied the wolf man.

"I suppose I am your responsibility now since we're both pretty sure it's your fault - somehow - that I'm here," she said dryly. She hesitated a moment, pretty sure she was about to cause offense, but decided to dive in anyway. "So, I'm called a human, that's my species, but what are you?" She gestured vaguely with her hand toward him.

Tucker came father out of the pocket, still ready to duck back in at the first sign of trouble. Kat felt him squirming about and patted him absently with one hand, not fully registering what his presence meant because she was so accustomed to feeling him move.
 
She stared upwards and Atelon followed her gaze wondering if that meant something but all that was up was the ceiling, which for him was so benign he hadn't considered it an interest. His head levelled off, peering towards the cityscape outside with its little twinkling lights. He felt out of his depth... he was used to dealing with an ancient past and what it left behind... not the here and now variety his mother was more accustomed with... perhaps he should have listened to her more... but his youth had been an angry one.

The woman looked back at him then and his blue eyes averted their gaze from without to within, resting on her features that he found so strange and odd... Kat really did seem to be without any natural weapons that he could see. Not that he assumed she lacked them but either she was deciding to wait for a more opportune moment or she really did lack them. Was that humour? There was a dry wit in her inflections but he had not been around humans before now to mark such distinctions. He dipped his nose, he couldn't fault her logic. Even if he had not been aware of the parameters of the ruins or machine, he had, somehow, activated them.

She pronounced it differently to how had been doing so, he noticed and echoed the name of her species. More emphasis of the 'h' and 'u' than the 'oo' he had been putting through his muzzle. He got it after repeating it a second time. He followed the gesture and nodded, understanding the question.

"My species are called Nolfians... Perhaps a little selfishly of our Ancestors, we names our homeworld, this planet, Nolfia", he explained....

"Although you may have noticed some anatomical differences from the oths of my kin you saw en route to here..." he trailed off in a small hurry as his attention was drawn to the little creatures she was now petting. "Apologies, but what is that creature?" there was no predatorial note in his voice, but rather a genuine curiosity stemmed from the distraction she was bringing towards it.
 
"Nolfians," Kat muttered to herself absently until Atelon asked about the creature. At first, she stared at him blankly, having no idea what he was talking about. Then understanding dawned. "Oh! Tucker!" She winced and held out a hand for Tucker to climb into, swearing softly. "You got a free ride to Nolf-ville, didn't you? I'm sorry, Tucker, I didn't know!"

Tucker climbed out delicately, his paws soft on her hand with only a slight tickle of nails. He stood there, tiny nose going a mile a minute and whiskers twitching to match. He stared up at Atelon suspiciously for a moment before climbing down Kat's arm to her lap where he could investigate the area around her. His naked tail with its odd kinks held out on full display as he tried to get onto the couch.

Kat kept her hands near Tucker and guided him to stay on her person for now. "This is Tucker, my pet rat. I found him on a job site, and his tail was really badly damaged, and I thought he had a broken leg. I took him home, nursed him to health, all of that jazz, but when I went to release him back where I found him, he wouldn't go. He kept running back up my leg or my arm and refusing to stay put. It's a ridiculous Disney story, but I decided to keep him."
 
Last edited:
Tucker.

The name was oddly pleasing to his ears and he thought it a very nice name, even though he did not as yet know who or what Tucker was. He could get behind a name such as Tucker, he thought as he watched her realisation dawn like a Huskra bolting into the trees. Atelon watched how she raised a hand and a small furry creature climbed out. The whiskers drew his immediate attention, they were so long and inquisitive!

Nolf-ville. That also amused him. Kat was proving to be quite quirky.

The tail on this tiny creature too was alien to him. Nothing he knew of on Nolfia had such a hairless tail is this thing did. He noted the odd bends to it, it didn't seem right, but the tail was still clearly rather important to this little beast. Atelon stared at Tucker in open curiosity of one who had never seen its like before, his large black nose twitching as he took in the scents of the room, Kat's and Tucker's being the strongest amongst them besides his own.

"Rat," he echoed softly as she explained how little Tucker had come into her life and had stayed with her rather than go back to a wild realm. He didn't blame the little thing... construction sites were hardly safe environments for any creature even on his world, and he doubted it was any different on hers.

"I have never seen a Rat before... What does he eat? Vegetation? Meat?" he asked in wonderment, oblivious to his own staring. "There's nothing like him on Nolfia... Are they common in your world?" Tucker was now a unique creature on Nolfia just as much as he was Kat was.

"He clearly loves you," their bond was tight, that much was obvious as he watched the whiskers twitch and the beady eyes staring back, his own jaws opening with a little slack in his awe but his own posture was relaxed, curious but relaxed. There was something about an animal companion that eased off his concerns over other indiviudals and that she had said she had saved and nursed him spoke to something of her character.
 
"Rats are very common. In some places, they are way too common, if you know what I mean," Kat said. She let Tucker climb down onto the couch, and the brown rat inched closer to Atelon, lifting up on his back legs every couple of steps to get a better sniffing advantage. "They can be a real pain in some areas, and sometimes a bunch of them do need to be exterminated, but that doesn't mean we should let them suffer, right? Besides, they have a place in the food chain just like any other animal. They eat a lot of stuff. They are primarily vegetarians with a bit of meat, but if they are hungry enough, they'll eat literally anything. Or anyone. It's pretty scary if you get hurt in a rat-infested area. No offense, Tucker."

Tucker squeaked as if to say he understood and started sniffing around Atelon's leg. He was ready to run at the first hint of danger, but he was also incorrigibly curious. He wanted to know what this thing was. It was not a cat or a dog or a fellow rat, so what was it?
 
Atelon continued to watched the curious little beast called Tucker. However, his large ears remained focused on Kat's direction, indication she still had his attention. Tucker seemed to be inquisitive and curious too, processing this new world around him that must have seemed gigantic by comparison. He did not move or do anything to deter the little thing, rather letting it investigate and choose for itself.

Too common? Perhaps these rats were as vermin for her people as the Seskra were for his own. It was strange how very different these were but operated in the similar roles... or at least he assumed. "Indeed not... Nature is the oldest arms race and battle of survival known to any of us," he agreed, still enraptured by Tucker's movements. The feet looked like little tiny hands, grasping and flat and the tail too seemed to be acting as a little rudder even with its kinks. Most curious.

They would eat people too? More similarities it seemed!

His ears shifted instantly to Tucker's little squeak. Atelon found it strange on his ears yet not too unpleasant. "Well, I should have something in the stores to sate his dietary needs if he is so versatile," he said, he wouldn't want to be able to feed one and not the other.

Atelon smiled to Tucker but didn't show much in the way of teeth and just spoke with a soft tone, "Hello little one... Seems I owe you a little apology too, hm?"
 
"An arms race, yeah, I guess that's one way to look at it," Kat mused. She watched Tucker carefully, ready to pick him up if Atelon ever showed displeasure with him. "He'll eat just about anything. At least... anything from back home. Gosh, I didn't think about that. I hope we can both actually eat the food here."

Tucker's ears twitched as Atelon spoke to him. After a moment of hesitation, he placed a tiny front paw on Atelon's knee. Then he pulled himself up and took his time sniffing along the leg. There was a lot to see and smell here! He wanted to explore more. He ran in tiny circles, making very little headway but being very thorough.
 
Atelon nodded softly, it was a law of nature none of them could ignore. It happened ever since life on Nolfia first began and he didn't doubt it was any different on her world. "That's good... I don't see why not. Although, admittedly, we're mostly carnivorous by diet but we do have some vegetables and grain-based product available. I was due to get more food... I might have some jerky left, or some breakfast grains."

"As for liquid, I have water, juice... " he had some alcohol but he was not sure how that would affect her system

His attention returned to Tucker as he felt movement on his leg and sure enough, the little beastie had climbed up, sniffing and exploring, familiarising itself with this strange humanoid, Atelon supposed. He never had a pet. Watching Tucker made him reconsider this. He smiled, which then turned into a grin as Tucker ran in circles. What a delightful creature!
 
"Rats are usually pretty good at figuring out what is okay and not okay to eat, so if we set them out for him, he should be able to figure it out." She hesitated, watching his expression as he watched Tucker. Tucker had warmed up surprisingly quickly, so hopefully that meant that the rat didn't think this fellow was an enemy. As for Atelon's expression... It was difficult trying to decipher what was going on in the mind of a dog-wolf-person, but she thought he was happy. Did he like Tucker? Or was she completely misreading and he was trying to resist squashing the rodent right then and there? "I can move him for you if he's annoying you," she offered.

Tucker considered hopping to the other leg, his crooked tail swaying in the air as he balanced on Atelon's knee. Over? Or stay? Ultimately, he decided to hop over and investigate that leg just as thoroughly as the first. There was so much to explore on this new creature! So many new smells that he did not know what they meant! This creature did not smell like an enemy. He climbed up higher and considered the torso.
 
"On the contrary, he is absolutely fascinating. The tiny ears, the tail... the whiskers," he replied to her words of concern or offering, he wasn't too sure which but perhaps she worried. he couldn't fault that line of thinking... after all he had just admitted to her than his race was mostly a race that had a primarily meat-based diet and it was visually obvious given his jaws. However, he had no intention whatsoever of even entertaining a thought of eating this tiny precious little thing that was exploring his frame as if it were a new obstacle course. There must have been a lot it was picking up in terms of information through its tiny nose and the long whiskers.

"Tucker is... unique," he went on, "We have Seskra but they do not have fur, have multiple eyes and a biting sting I'd wish on no one."

"Oh,"

Atelon gasped so softly it could have easily been missed as Tucker hopped and landed on his other leg. "So agile!" he stared in wonderment.

"You're very lucky," he told her, a spot of envy in his inflections. He had Haza but she was much too big to be considered a house pet, she dwarfed them both and liked her external living arrangements no matter how well tempered she was or careful. Tucker was doing a lot of convincing on a question for Atelon in this moment.
 
"Seskra sound unpleasant," Kat said uncertainly. They reminded her of a bee or a spider just based off of that description, and while she wasn't squeamish or fearful, they were not creatures she went out of her way to find. "He is pretty agile despite his tail, and his leg does seem to bother him a little sometimes, but not badly. I think mostly he gets lonely. Rats are communal creatures, but I'm not sure what to do about getting him some kind of mate. Do I go buy one at a pet store or try my luck with another wild one? In fact, I think Tucker might have been a pet before he ended up on the streets because of how quickly he warmed up to me, but I don't know."

Kat watched Atelon, using this opportunity to gauge him as Tucker explored. He was completely unbothered, it seemed, and even curious. That said a lot about him, in her opinion. He was patient and not immediately trying to pick Tucker up or examine him. Instead, he was letting Tucker explore at his own pace. Unusual.

"Why am I lucky?" she asked curiously.

Tucker finished examining the leg and started examining Atelon's torso, almost falling off a couple of times as he poked his nose around every crevice. Satisfied he'd looked at everything on the bottom half, he started climbing the strange creature's torso.
 
"They are, and numerous. We are fortunate the Akht are adept in keeping their numbers down..." he spoke as if forgetting she was human for a moment before remembering she would have little to no idea what he was yapping on about. "Akht are small carnivores... very swift and agile. They're often kept as pets or used as pest control," he explained... he might have to get out some picture files at some stage or give her a padd to look them over on.

He watched Tucker, glancing to Kat sometimes, but it was clear that this tiny creature that was in body length not much longer than his own hand, the tail made it the longer. It was seeming to have an exquisite time in exploring Atelon's frame, perhaps used now to the scent that would indicate him a carnivore, a predator. It showed no fear. Atelon supposed it had been through that phase already what with all the running.

"A society of rats sounds rather intriguing..." he mused, "I imagine your world had pet shop places... perhaps you could get one from there when we get you back to your homeworld." If he could achieve that... saying 'when' seemed too final but he didn't know what else to say.

She questioned his comment and he slowly reached to scratch behind his ear, a tuft of white fur furrowing sideways.

"I always wanted a bond this special... but I've never had the time. Haza doesn't really count..." he replied softly.
 
"We have cats that do the same job for rats," Kat said. "And, yes, it sounds the same as my name, but it's not the same. My name is a shortened form of a longer name. I like the short name better than the long one." She yawned as her body started demanding rest. She might have been in a weird guy's house in a weird town in a weird world in a very weird situation, but the adrenalin rush had long since run out, she'd dashed around wildly and expended a lot of energy, and it was after a long day's work. It was time to rest.

"We do have pet shops, and I could buy a rat for him, but I'll be honest, I have no idea how to introduce rats. I've probably been a little selfish in putting it off, but I guess that was for the best because then I would have ended up with two or more rats in my pockets instead of just one." She rubbed her eyes tiredly and leaned back. "I wasn't planning on a pet since I work such long hours, but, yeah, Tucker is worth it. It's nice to have someone at home excited to see you when you get home."

Tucker climbed up Atelon's body slowly, working hard to get up the strange fabric. When he got to Atelon's shoulder, he stopped there and hung on precariously. He looked around, surveying the land. It didn't look all that different to him from back home. Different, but similar enough to a rat. He turned to look at the head on the body. What a strange thing this was. He inched closer to the head and stood up on his hind legs to get a better look. Oh! That crevice looked interesting! All crevices and holes were interesting to him. He got closer, and his nose and twitching, flicking whiskers went right into Atelon's ear.
 
Cats... that sounded rather similar and yet was also something else? These pinkskins were very curious indeed. "If cats are as swift as you on the mark, then it's a nickname most apt for you, I think," he mused in reply with a smile tugging at his maw. His ear closest to her quivered to her exhalation and knew it would not be too long before they ought to turn in for the evening.

Perhaps a small dinner beforehand then.

"Slowly, I imagine?" He replied, "Tucker's teeth look like that can do some damage if one was not too careful." They certainly looked like they could do some nasty wounds if Tucker had thoughts to bite him. The teeth were odd and strange but equally none too dissimilar to a larshek. Different enough for him to ponder at them though.

"Yes... It is a fair reason to not go... Same reason I do not have a pet of my own. A lot of hours out in the field, in the library, studying... " he trailed off as he watched Tucker ascend ever higher up his frame. The little beast had found his shoulder and seemed to be looking his apartment overf.

"If you hunger or thirst, do let me know... I can get you something... or if you need rest, there is a spare room you can use," had he offered that till now? He wasn't sure. Always good to- "Ayaackhee..!"

Tucker had found his ear, the long whiskers tickling the sensitive hairs, "Hee, oh, no, no, no, that ti-tickles... W-Would you..? Heheee, oh, stop little one... " It seemed the large ears that were atop his skull were very sensitive to outside movement and he both felt and heard the whiskers as they flicked. It was ticklish and loud to a degree that was a little uncomfortable. That he was not used to little furry creatures clambering to his ear and investigating the innards probably didn't exactly help...

He didn't want to grab or move Tucker away, those teeth had looked vicious and he was rather invested in not getting an injury if he could help it.
 
A place to stay sounded nice. A place to lie down. This couch was comfortable enough that Kat was tempted to lay down and curl up right where she was, but, no, sleeping in the living room likely wouldn't be the best choice. Especially not the living room of a strange person. She considered what to say about that. About sharp teeth. About food. About how a rat could chew through a metal pipe. None of it really seemed to matter too much right now to her exhausted brain. It felt like she was trying to think through smoke.

Then he started squealing and laughing while trying not to squirm. His initial squeal was enough to have Kat sitting bolt-upright until she figured out what was going on. She bit her lip to keep from grinning too much and scooted closer. She leaned around Atelon so she could reach Tucker and delicately plucked the rat off his shoulder. Tucker happily scrambled onto Kat's shoulder when she offered it to him and sat twitching his whiskers at his surroundings.

"If you let him on your shoulder and he does that again, just reach up like this, put your hand in front of his nose, and redirect," she said, demonstrating even though Tucker's nose was not in her ear. "He redirects very well as long as you aren't telling him 'no' to literally everything." She yawned again and said, "I appreciate the offer. I'd really appreciate a spare bed if you have one. I don't need any food right now, thanks."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top