knelt sinners by his side

Sometimes it seems better to think of something big because then when it turns out to be small it doesn't bother you as much...

Aaaand I forgot to eat dinner.

It was about time that they open the Rookery up, and there were baked goods to restock the glass display with. Truthfully, though, David’s skin was crawling and he needed to get some space from Peter. The other ‘rat didn’t look a threat, but something about him was ringing alarm bells in the back of David’s skull.

He’d heard of plenty of other strains of lycanthropy that had been transferred by the vaccine but never before had he met a ‘rat outside of the experiment. Anyone could get bitten, all you needed was the bad luck to piss off the wrong ‘rat. Vaccines had to be administered by, in the least, a medical professional and these days, who in their right mind electively had themselves put down for a vaccine that was known to spread lycanthropy? Peter had said himself that he’d become a lycan long after the vaccine had been discovered to be the cause for lycanthropy.

Reaching the door, David turned the bolt and reached up to turn the ‘open’ sign on. His hands were clammy and he rubbed them against his jeans unconsciously. David’s brain buzzed between his ears, suspicion mounting quickly. It was dangerous to take information at just face value, humans lied all the time. He also couldn’t prove any of this, not without further information and the more he asked questions, the more Peter might get suspicious. Or worse, he’d start asking more pointed questions of his own… 

Swallowing to try and draw saliva to his mouth, David turned back and headed towards the back room. He kept a careful distance from Peter. He knew that a ‘rat’s hearing wasn’t so acute as to pick up on the sudden jog David’s heart had kicked into, and there was nothing for Peter’s ‘rat eyes to pick out that would betray David’s wariness that any other human might pick out. But David also knew that the ‘rat’s nose was sharper than a humans and David could smell the little bit of fear he was already giving off.

It wasn't so much that Peter had expected more of an answer from David, his own hadn't been very elaborate either, but there was a part of him that had wanted a bigger answer. He didn't want to pry into David's life though. Just because the other 'rat had been one for longer than him didn't mean he knew everything. Peter told himself that he would have to keep that in mind.

There as something off about David but Peter didn't know where to begin. Perhaps it was just nerves. David had no reason to trust Peter, they had met only minutes before, and Peter himself could identify with wanting to keep his distance but there seemed to be more to it. It was almost as if Peter had scared David but he couldn't figure out why or if that was even it at all. Peter had been underestimated before, pushed beyond his limits, and they had gotten more than what they had paid for but he still thought of himself as relatively harmless. He was in control. Hopefully. Still, David was a stranger and Peter couldn't fault him for not wanting to make friends with him right away, if at all. 

Titus’ focus was elsewhere on customers a fair distance away while Peter blanked his features, absent to bear witness to what small range of emotions the other Lycanthrope may have went through while also oblivious as to why.  When the rabbit slept he slept like the dead but his beast didn’t make it easy to find time for it; Crepuscular bastard. Energy drinks and coffee made it all the more screwy and so usually he slept when his body said ‘lay down and shut up’.  Titus looked back to Peter when he spoke, grinning wide as he clapped the rat on the back.

"Booyah!  A match made in heaven, dude!"

Titus pumped his fists up into the air, laughing as he breezed past Peter to lead him towards the checkout counter.  With his arms still extended, he turned around to face the rat and motioned with his chin at the blank section in the display where he’d gotten the phone.

"Great." He said the word so softly that there was a part of him that wondered if he had even spoken out loud. He was ready to follow behind March when it was made apparent to him that he still had the phone in his hand. "Oh." He muttered, a soft smirk appearing across his lips, as he took a step back and placed the phone in the case. Peter made sure that it was secure before moving forward. He didn't want to cause a scene by dropping it.

"Okay," Peter let out a sigh, "Let's pay for this." He spoke as he approached the counter. It was meant to have more oomph to it, to match March's enthusiasm but his patience was wearing thin. He was at a point where he would have been fine with a rock if it had numbers painted on it. À la Flinstones. Guilt washed over him as he realized that he was acting immature. Peter tried to hide his emotions with a look of eagerness, eyes widened and a forced smile pushing on his cheeks. Despite his attitude, he was genuinely grateful for the 'rabbits help and didn't want to discourage him.

"Well, why not start by telling me what you do know and maybe I can try fill in the blanks from there?" she suggested. Bianca wondered what rules would Peter have to follow in town. Surely as a rat he didn’t fall high on the menu for the kinds of predators around here, so for the most part he would be safe.