come with me, go places

[burnslikesnow]

Metis has finally made his way to the Main Gauche, though now he's just standing outside, peering up at the complex with raised eyebrows. It's much more of a fortress than he was imagining.

The cat carrier at his feet is making very, very unpleasant noises.

Bean is finally getting back into the swing of things. Most of her memories have come back

Comments

[deadgirlsliekme]

Victor, by contrast, is inside the Main Gauche, looking quite pleased with himself. He's found and sketched a couple of new specimens today, and now he's just having a walk before going back inside. His sketchbook, butterfly book, and specimen jar are all tucked under his arm.

As he wanders, he notices the man standing outside staring at the Gauche and pauses. "Er -- excuse me, did you w-want to c-come in?" he asks -- he can't think of many other reasons to be staring at the complex.

[burnslikesnow]

"Oh, uh, hi." Metis knows his staring habits make him kind of creepy, but he can never really bring himself to care. How can you get to know the details of something without staring at it for awhile?

"Sorry, yeah...I heard there are rooms available?"

[deadgirlsliekme]

Actually, Metis, Victor might agree with you there. He studies all his butterflies and such very carefully, and that does tend to involve a lot of staring. It's just -- when people are staring at the place where he lives, it tends to make him wonder if they're planning on doing something nasty to it. With the CLF around. . . .

"There should b-be, yes," Victor confirms with a nod. He walks up to the gate, taking a moment to note the angry-sounding cat carrier. "I'm Victor Van Dort," he introduces himself, wanting to get it out of the way first instead of last.

[burnslikesnow]

Metis smiles broadly in an attempt to make the skinny guy less nervous. "It's nice to meet you, Victor. I'm Metis Snow. Something of a newcomer to Chicago; I'm just shopping for a place to stay."

He sets the cat carrier down and it gives a pretty horrific-sounding yowl. Metis casts a mulish glance in its direction. "Don't mind him, he just hates the carrier."

[deadgirlsliekme]

Victor's default state is "nervous," sad to say. The smile does help a little, though. "It's nice t-to meet you t-too," Victor nods, opening the gate. "Newcomer? From. . . ." The way he trails off, it implies a question -- This universe or another? Which is a pretty valid question in this world.

He's about to say something else when the cat carrier yowls, making him jump. "Oh! Goodness," he says, staring at the box for a moment. "Are all cats like that?" Victor is very much a dog person.

[burnslikesnow]

"Niagara Falls, most recently," Metis answers before it occurs to him what a loaded question that could be. "Ah, I'm not a wanderer, if that's what you're asking."

Metis smirks and chuckles a little. "No, not at all. Onigiri is very, uh, special. And by 'special' I mean 'evil.' He has his moments, but most cats I've met are distinctly friendlier than him."

[deadgirlsliekme]

"Niagara Falls?" Victor repeats, curious. "That sounds interesting." He blushes a bit and fidgets with his tie. "I was, indirectly. Y-you never know." Not like you can tell just by looking, unless you're an angel or demon or similarly gifted. He'd ask if Metis was one of those, but it seems rude to just come out and say so.

Victor manages a small smile back, looking at the carrier again. "I see. I don't know m-many cats. I had a dog as a child." Scraps -- the best dog ever, in Victor's opinion.

[burnslikesnow]

"Never heard of it?" Victor does sound rather like he's from across the pond. Metis smiles. "Don't worry, I understand. Having people wonder what world I'm from is just a bit of a new experience to me. I don't think I'd ever even met a wanderer until I came here."

Metis chuckles. "I like dogs well enough, but I find that my personality is more cat-friendly."

[deadgirlsliekme]

Born and bred Brit, Victor is. "I've heard of it, but I a-admit I don't know much beyond the name and that it's a very l-large waterfall," he says. "And really? Hmm. I'm sure you're going to meet a lot now, though." From what Victor's seen on the journals and suchlike, Chicago is rapidly turning into Wanderer Central.

Victor smiles a little. "Well, I don't have anything against cats. I've just always preferred dogs." He shrugs a little. "What did you say his name was? Onigiri?"

[burnslikesnow]

"Brilliant city," Metis says with a soft smile. Niagara Falls has a special place in his heart. "Bit of an identity disorder, though. Half of it is on one side of the border, half is on the other side, and a lot of the people live in one half and work in the other. Beautiful city."

He looks skyward, frowning just a little. "Yeah, with the Rifts it seems like there's a lot of them here. That's the reason I came, after all, so I'm not complaining."

Metis finally reaches down and opens the cat carrier. A white, blue-eyed cat comes slinking out, turns to Metis and hisses. When the cat catches sight of Victor it makes a sort of mrrt sound and starts cleaning himself.

"This is Onigiri."

[deadgirlsliekme]

"I see," Victor replies, looking intrigued. "It sounds like a very interesting place to live."

And that cues a lot of blinking on Victor's part. "You -- came for the Rifts?" he repeats, baffled. "M-may I ask why?" He can't think of anyone wanting to come to the Rifts. Most people want to stay far, far away from them.

He watches as the cat slinks out and starts cleaning himself. He grins a little. "Handsome fellow," he says, leaning down a little. "Unusual name -- what does it mean?"

[burnslikesnow]

"It really is."

Victor's nervousness is really kind of cute. Metis laughs. "It's not anything suspicious. Well...coming from me, I suppose it just sounds more suspicious, eh? No, I'm a writer; I was hoping to have the Rifts and their effects feature in my next novel."

Metis reaches down to scritch Onigiri's head. Onigiri narrows his eyes and looks like he's about to bite, before he visibly forgives Metis and starts purring. "It means 'rice ball' in Japanese. When I got him he was just a little ball of white fluff, so it kind of fit. And 'oni' on its own means 'ogre', which fits him even more these days."

[deadgirlsliekme]

Victor expression turns curious. "Oh! That makes sense. You'll get plenty of information around here," he nods. "Though you'll want to be careful -- some people aren't taking k-kindly to anyone associated with the Rift these days. I don't know if that w-would extend to a writer who merely w-wanted to know more about it." Somehow, he doesn't think the CLF would care much about the difference.

He chuckles as he watches Metis scritching Onigiri's head. "Heh, so I see," he admits. "How long have you had him?"

[burnslikesnow]

"Ah, right." Metis scrubs at his hair. "Those terrorists. Yeah, people have been warning me about them. I'm good about being careful, though."

Metis finally scoops Onigiri into his arms. The cat bristles a little but then settles himself, peering over at Victor. "I found him when he was just a kitten, and that was...eight years ago this November."

[deadgirlsliekme]

Victor nods seriously. "Yes, them. There's already been -- too many i-incidents. It's good to hear you're good about being c-careful." He smirks a little. "That should serve you w-well around here."

Victor peers back. "Aha," he says. He looks around. "I hope he doesn't do badly around dogs -- I've seen at least one around the complex." Well, what he saw was a shapeshifter as a dog, but he doesn't know that.

[burnslikesnow]

Metis returns the smirk. "Considering the clientele, I figured it would."

He tilts his head a little. "He can handle himself with dogs well enough." He's more worried about Behemoths. Metis lost his first cat to a dragon-shaped Behemoth some years ago, which was not exactly a pleasant experience. Onigiri won't like being cooped up, but it's starting to look like they're not going to have a choice.