ArchivedLogs:Feeling Out

Feeling Out
Dramatis Personae Dusk, Alicia
In Absentia	2013-12-20 Dusk does a little spying for Rasputin.
Location <NYC> PetHaven - Morningside Heights
Nestled in Morningside Heights, PetHaven is, as it says, a pretty good place to go for all things pet-related. Marked into different sections varying on the type of pet you're looking to buy for, the store has a wide variety of different toys, treats, and smaller animals, like reptiles and avians and fish. Relatively mutant-friendly, the store has a policy to allow mutants, but to throw them out at the first sign of trouble. Currently cleaning out one of the iguana cages, is a young blonde woman, dressed in a PetHaven uniform, smiling as she does this..mostly unsightly job. Alicia has a pair of earbuds in, connected to an MP3 player though at a low volume incase her superiors call out to her, as she wears a pair of latex gloves, cleaning out the waste of the cage and disposing of it routinely. With the strangely warm weather continuing -- up to the /fifties/ outside today -- Dusk does not have his immense trenchcoat to hide his wings and grant him relative unobtrusiveness. Dark short-cropped beard neatly trimmed, hair its usual scruffy mess, wearing a light denim jacket, faded old jeans, equally old Vans sneakers, the most striking thing about him is as usual the enormous wings sprouting from his back. He has a small-animal carrying kennel in a hand, though the animal it's intended for is not inside it -- a long slim black-masked ferret is draped around his neck instead, rubbing her head against one long bone of his wings. With the ferret over his neck it's probably not hard to assume Dusk needs the small mammals section, though he doesn't head straight there. He wanders, meandering through the birds to watch them in their cages and then heading for the reptiles. He stops beside Alicia, dark-dark eyes flicking over a cage full of baby bearded dragons and then looking sideways to the young woman. Alicia quickly wraps up with cleaning out the cage, turning to grab the iguana and place him back into his habitat. After she does this, she spots Dusk, but first takes a glance at the ferret. "Aww, adorable ferret you have there. What's its name?". After this, she is eyeing his wings, but not with a face of disgust, more of one of vast interest. "Nice wings! They're very batlike. Do they grip?" Alicia is turning down her music for a response, as she moves over to one of the other cages to clean it out as well. "Her name's Alanna." Dusk's smile is quick and bright as he turns to Alicia; there's a habitual warmth in his expression, open and friendly even despite the very sharp fangs that gleam noticeably where his lips part. "She's pretty much a ball of --" Alanna is clambering around off his neck now that he's stopped moving, climbing out onto a long upper bone of his wing and then starting to skid /down/ a fingerbone with little regard for the long drop between her and the floor. Or maybe she's just used to Dusk watching out for her with such manuevers; his wing curls upwards, much more flexible than a bird wing, to turn her drop into more of a slide. "-- ridiculous. A ball of /ridiculous/." He reaches down to scoop Alanna out from where she's now nestled in a cupped pocked of fuzzy-soft wing, and she flops over his hand bonelessly, stretching out tiny front paws towards Alicia curiously. "And thanks. They grip. They fold, they do a lot of things. Climb. Hug. Fly." "Pretty name. Yeah, she seems very ridiculous.". Alicia is laughing at Alanna's movements, eyeing her, tilting her head in awe as her paws fly stretch out towards her. Alicia's then looking back up to Dusk, smiling. "So, do you need any assistance today, sir? I can show you to the section where they house ferret supplies, if you'd like. I think the reptiles can wait a spare minute?" "Ferrets basically are just ridiculousness wrapped around a slinkie core." Dusk sets Alanna back around his neck, the top of one wing pressing lightly in at her back to hold her in place. "Oh, that would be great, if you could? I totally need more food and litter for her. I usually get it online but I kinda was slacking and let it run too low so I can't wait for shipping. His wings shift slowly at his back as Alanna starts to wriggle her way down his jacket, this time. "And it can be kind of hard to find places to /get/ things in person, you know?" One wing stretches slightly outward in indication. "Half the stores I go into kick me out the second they see me." "I wouldn't really know, I only own a cat. His name's Clyde.". Alicia says partially cheerfully, with a bit of sadness hidden behind it. She places the reptile back into it's cage, as she waves her hand to lead Dusk to her. "It's this way.". She walks cheerfully, keeping a good pace to not outrun Dusk, but is pretty cheerful. "Yeah, that's why I like this store. Much kinder to mutants, but, I wouldn't really know of the discrimination, I'm not one myself.". "Clyde." Dusk echoes this name softly, head tipping slightly to one side. He curls his wing downward to scritch at the top of Alanna's head, following after Alicia. "That's really nice to hear. So many people just figure since it's not their problem they don't care. It's kind of refreshing --" His hand gestures towards Alicia. "To find humans who give a damn. And," he adds with a crooked smile, "to be able to get Alanna her food without running into trouble for it." "I find mutants fascinating. Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to have abilities like that. To fly, to control fire. Sometimes I actually wish I was a mutant, hah.". Alicia leads Dusk over to the small mammals section of PetHaven, searching for ferret supplies. "They're..uh..where are they..". After a few moments of searching, she finds them, pointing them out to Dusk. "Here they are. Ferret food and supplies.". Alicia smiles softly, looking around the store. "My name's Alicia. If you need any more help, just ask.". "I take people flying sometimes," Dusk admits lightly. "Though not in winter, it's cold as anything. I'll tell you something, though." He scoops Alanna back up onto his shoulders, for all the good it will do. "Being a mutant can be /pretty/ awesome. Even though the world can be pretty terrible." He offers a hand out towards Alicia when she leads him to the right section. "Dusk. And thank you." Alicia takes Dusk's hand, shaking it lightly, as she smiles. "Well, nice to meet you, Dusk. Anyways, I need to get back to cleaning the reptile cages before my superiors find out I went to another section. And whilst the world is terrible, you always have to have hope, I say.". She smiles, before walking back to the reptile section, giving a small wave as she prepares to do her duty again.