The trouble with rats! (Open)

[Cadence Blake]

Sirens wailing somewhere a few blocks over, bicycle bells, dogs barking, car motors and the occasional sound of a car horn as motorists grew impatient with traffic, a variety of people going about their daily lives in the Downtown district of Pilot Ridge. These were all the noises that a young woman could hear as she dodged and weaved past the other pedestrians along the sidewalk, all enjoying their own weekend activities.

Cadence was the teenager’s name – or Cadie for short –side-stepping and shoving ahead while she avoided any collision with the other different people around her. All the while her amber eyes flicked from person to person as she took some great enjoyment in the overcast weather. Though it was overcast, it was not so cold that Cadence had to over dress. Today she was clad in a pair of old faded jeans, torn at one knee and scuffed at the bottom. She wore an old grey worn shirt, a black phoenix on the front, posed as if it were ascending in flight. She wore a pair of sneakers designed especially for skateboarding, red and black with silver laces. She had never learnt how to skate, she only liked the style.

Cadence had woken that morning, initially with no particular activity in mind. When did any of her plans really go forward anyway? There was always something that would distract her from the task at hand, or maybe two, or three things. Each of which she would attempt to get done. Get up, now I'll play a video game, though I did want to listen to some music, wait I can do that at the same time, no, then I'd need to turn down the TV volume. Oh look, my show is on! Breakfast? Oh sure, I think I had half a sub left somewhere. What do you mean I ate it all? You did, remember? No, you were right in the first place.

By nine-thirty, Cadence had kicked herself out into the fresh air for the day, while one of her is-she-a-friend-or-am-I-thinking-too-much-into-it friends went about whatever it was she was going to do. 'Do whatever makes you happy, I don't care.' Were her words, so that's just what Cadence was doing.

Y’know what she had been putting off? Getting a pet. Not putting off per se, but just trying to find an opportunity to in between every other activity or deadline she’d been procrastinating over for the past umpteen months. If she was good at anything, it was leaving things for the last minute.
Her journey led her to The Arc. It was one of the most popular pet stores in Pilot Ridge, and most recommended as far as potential animal cruelty was concerned. One of Cadence’s favourite things about it was their no cat, kittens, or puppy policy. None deserved to be left behind a glass window. Rats and mice, sure. Reptiles, yes. Fish, certainly. But not cats or dogs.

When Cadence first moved to Pilot Ridge, it looked more or less the same externally, but internally it was far larger, spacious to cater for the needs of each breed and creed of animal there. The cool air conditioning caressed the contours of Cadence’s face as she stepped into the store, her senses were immediately filled with the scents and noises of the creatures around her.

So, where was the isle she needed anyway? She could start off at cages first, she supposed. Or pet food. But really, if she wanted to begin anywhere it should probably be where her animal of choice was actually situated.

Rats. The smell initially made her nose crinkle as she sauntered towards the glass cages, bending over with her hands on her knees as she leaned forwards to get a better look. It was younger ones she was after; there were babies and adults, a few adolescents. The mice were cute, but it was a rat she was after specifically.

Straightening her posture, Cadence looked to her left and right, standing upon tiptoes to peer over the top of the isle closest to her. Her mouth formed into a fine line, she sighed through her nostrils and turned back to the small glass cages. The thought of giving up entering her mind, she was about to wander back to the rat cages section when someone turned a corner and into her isle. “Oh, excuse me, do you work here?” She asked quickly.

Notes;; I hope it was a decent first go! I'll pretty it up once I have banners/signatures sorted, promise!

[Rhys Rockwood]

It was an odd morning. Rhys had managed to get himself out of the apartment for his typical morning run, but his interest in keeping one foot moving in front of the other quickly dwindled. In what was a fairly brief amount of time, his run had slowed to a lazy jog and eventually become nothing more than a brisk walk. He'd never really considered getting a pet, but when he found himself wandering around town, he felt compelled to swing inside The Ark and have a look around.

The lack of the typical dogs and cats was peculiar, but when Rhys spotted the fliers for the local shelters, he couldn't help but smile. The owner of the store was clearly passing on potential profits to help animals in need of a home. He paused in front of one of the snakes, watching it carefully for a few moments. There would be something ironic about owning a snake. Rhys was always so active, and snakes were so...not. It certainly wouldn't reflect him at all. 'On the other hand, maybe I could use it as an inspiration to slow down...'

Rhys walked around the store some more, moving along the aisles slowly. The more he thought about it, the more the idea of a pet made sense. Perhaps he'd find something here or would check out one of the suggested shelters for a dog. His mind was going back and forth on the idea when a voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

"Oh, excuse me, do you work here?"

He shook his head clear of thoughts and looked down the aisle to see a young woman watching him. "Sorry, but no. I'm just wandering about, having a look." Rhys was about to move on and continue browsing, but he decided to stop for a moment. He hadn't immediately recognized her from around town. "Um, hi, I'm Rhys. I...don't think we've met before. Not sure I've even seen you around before, and I get around Pilot Ridge a lot, so that's saying something." He certainly wasn't going to let his athletic shorts, t-shirt, and light jacket stop him from meeting people.

[Cadence Blake]

"Oh," she uttered, a small grimace pulling at the corner of her mouth. If Cadence had given herself the chance to get a better look at this young man in the first place she would have realized much sooner that he was indeed dressed far too casually for someone on shift at the Ark.

All blonde hair and blue eyes, he was a young guy, about her age. It had made sense for a moment that he might have been working there. As it turns out, she'd made a mistake, and so Cadence had expected a polite chuckle and apology and the two would probably go about their own business.

As it turns out, in this instance the boy decided to introduce himself. "Well, okay. I'm Cadence." Not entirely sure where this ball was rolling, Cadence figured she may as well go with it. Initially, the thought of drawing away crossed her mind, but everything he was saying was kind, even if it didn’t make Cadence lean in. She'd allow - as it were - for the ball roll free.

"I'm a college student here," she went on to explain with a light shrug of her shoulders. "Takes up quite a bit of my time. So, how about you? What do you do?"

Cadence was preset to overthink others intentions, and perceptions. Perhaps it made her come across as a little suspicious, and cynical but it was the way things were until a level of camaraderie was formed between herself and the other person. Since her early teenage years It had worked for her time and time again, so why break her winning streak.

Notes;; Nooo, it's so much shorter than my first post.

[Rhys Rockwood]

"I work at the private school, traveling around to recruit new students from around the country.  Nice gig for the most part, lots of time to take a look around the different cities and find which places I like," Rhys replied, looking at the shelving near Cadence.  Was she looking at rodents?  It seemed like an odd choice of pet, but he supposed that as a college student, she would need something less maintenance heavy than a dog or cat could be.

Rhys was still trying to decide what his intentions were for starting a conversation with this girl.  It was nice knowing that she was at least in college; no matter what happened (to a reasonable extent, of course), there would be no need to worry about potential consequences.  She was an adult and not a student where he worked.

The more he thought about it, introducing himself had felt more like a reaction than anything else, but it couldn't hurt to meet someone new, right?  "I never was one for college.  Finished up school then stuck around here just because it feels like home here than where my parents live."  Not that he'd been in his parents house in over ten years now, and he'd only been to that town on work.

"I probably wouldn't have done too well.  Never had an idea about what I wanted to do with my adult life, but I lucked out into my job.  What about you?  Figured out what you're attending college for?" he asked, curious what the young woman had picked for her field of study.  Perhaps he could learn something meaningful about her based on her response.

[Cadence Blake]

"That'd be a nice job for someone with wonderlust." Cadence remarked, a smirk playing upon one corner of her mouth. "So, if you didn't know what you wanted to do proffesionally, you at least leaned towards something that'd give you an oppertunity for travel. You dig the vagabond thing?"

Still unsure of which direction this conversation was going, Cadence decided that the best thing to do would be to exersize a little cynicism. After all, for ever drop of rain that falls, a flower grows. And a fountain leaks and a ball game gets rained out and a car rusts and etcetera.

While students were given better oppertunities by attending the Hammel institute and finding their place among the other residents of Pilot Ridge, Cadence wondered what it must be like to be tasked with recruiting students from all over country. Teenagers of all walks of life.

Cadence raised her eyebrows a hair as he comtinued to talk to her, and her mouth shifted into the hint of a smirk. She dipped her head very slightly. Cocky, she thought. Cocky and perhaps a little arrogant, this one. And that was all she could make of him, at the moment. She smiled at Rhys, amusement sparking within her eyes. "Friendly, aren't you. Don't get me wrong, it's refreshing. I'm just not used to that."

His last question threw her off a little. What was she here for, what was she interested in. Hoop dancing was something she thoroughly enjoyed but didn't see a career beyond dancing on the street for spare change. Maybe even giving lessons. "Taxidermy," she decided. "Sell my work to museums and art displays. My mother is an artist and knows a couple of taxidermists I could start an apprentiship with. Though I probably shouldn't be saying that too loud in a pet store, huh." She added in a staged whisper. "Once they're dead, they're dead though; skinned and mounted, they're just a hyper realistic sculpture. It's fun unsettling people's perception." She finished, a wicked smile crossed her face.

"So, if you travel then it's probably not such a good idea to be dragging a pet along with you half way across country. What are you doing in a pet store?"

[Rhys Rockwood]

Rhys couldn't help but nod along with her assessments. He certainly enjoyed sightseeing at night after talking to a family about sending their kid who knows how far away to attend Hammel. He would have enough time to plan a running route while looking at interesting places if it was a large enough city, and in the morning, he could grab a few photos with his phone during quick stops. He'd accumulated quite a collection of photographs.

"Friendly vagabond?  Sounds about right for the perfect description of a recruiter for a private school.  Have to love the travel, have to be good with people.  And of course, friendly people get a lot further than those who can't string a sentence together and make people like them." He smirked and paused for a moment, trying to get the timing right for a joke.  "You know, when I hear it like that, maybe I should go into politics.  Yeah?"

When she answered his question about her studies, Rhys opened his mouth to respond and stopped.  Closing his mouth, he made a confused face, started again, and stopped again.  "You..."  He stopped and laughed awkwardly for a moment, grinning as he looked for the right words.  "You certainly know how to make a person search for words, and I'm not used to losing them in the first place."  He scratched his eyebrow absently, still grasping for the right response.  "You definitely make an interesting point about hyper realistic sculptures.  It's a very unique point of view you present, even if you mostly intend to unsettle people.  I bet you'll succeed too."

Rhys hadn't thought about that.  Maybe he shouldn't think about getting a dog yet.  He did spend a few days at a time away from home, and that wouldn't be fair to a dog, even if he could arrange for one of his friends to watch it while he was gone.  "You're right.  I probably shouldn't get a pet that needs a lot of attention.  Pretty much puts out dogs and cats. Conveniently, they don't have those here to tempt me because dogs are awesome.  Maybe a snake?  They only need to be fed every couple of days, right?"

[Cadence Blake]

Friendly people get a lot further than those who can't string a sentence together and make people like them. This was true, and a good assessment. There were basics for it - be nice, considerate, heck, just be decent person. There were plenty of ways you could go about winning people over and influencing them. We make alot of concious and subconcious choices based on how others engage and respond to us.

There were smaller, more subtle ways to go about it too, if you were crafty enough - or heavens forbid, just a decent person. For example, using a person's name. Let's be honest, we're all narcissists at heart, we all love hearing the sound of our own names. Try smiling. It rubs off on the recievers. It's encouraging. Don't just talk, you need to listen too. That's a no-brainer. Verbal communication goes a long way, but body language plays it's part - with that in mind Cadence turned her body so that she was facing him, rather than the merchandise lined up opon the shelves beside her. There was sencere praise and handling critisism with tact... she could go on.

These were all examples of tips a guidence councellor offered to Cadence whist she was studying in highschool; her people skills had been lacking. They'd improved, of course. But Cadenced was by nature, wary. She was hard-wired to seek the worst in people before the good. However, in saying that. Apart from an initial assessment that Rhys was a little cocky, he was also making an attempt at making her smile, and laugh; both of which he was succeeding.

Cadence smiled more genuinely this time, pleased with his praise. "I do try," she waved a hand in the air in response to the compliment. Emiting a short puff of air from her lungs, she took a deep breath in as a suggestion crossed her mind. "Well, you could get a snake," she began, putting a little emphasis on the 'could' part. "But then you'd need a large tank, and a heating system. Very expensive, I might add."

"You know," she started, itching one earlobe. "I could help you out if you give me some advice. I'm thinking about getting a rat, myself. The college would allow it. Plus, I've always thought they were kinda cool. What do you think?"

[Rhys Rockwood]

"A rat?" he asked, watching her facial reactions for just a brief moment. "It's an odd choice for a pet. They're capable of being quite intelligent, but I'm not sure how capable they are of attachment. A dog or a cat...you can usually see the affection they have for you. On the other hand, the uniqueness of choosing a rat for a pet could be a reflection of you different point of view."

Rhys shrugged, wondering why she would start with a rat. Maybe it was the simplicity of care? They only needed to be fed occasionally, they didn't particularly need to be shown affection, and they wouldn't be a particularly large investment of time or money, all of which could have played into her thoughts of getting a rat.

Or maybe Cadence just liked rats. Seemed like that would at least be a possibility since she thought they were 'kinda cool.' Perhaps he should just ask if he was that curious about why she was considering a rat over a more normal pet. Then again, maybe that was the answer. She definitely seemed to at least a standard deviation away from normal, so maybe her concept of a nice pet was always a little off the beaten path of cats and dogs.

"I'm curious, though. You said you could help me out if I gave you some advice. How did you think you would be able to give me help? I'm not even sure what I need help with at the moment, you know?" Rhys was a bit interested in her thoughts, though maybe she was just intending to return the favor regarding advice on what pet would be best for him.