fandomtownies | Day two of a new business

Day two of a new business

Red opened his shop on time and bustled the cubs back up to his flat above the shop so they wouldn't be underfoot. He took a moment to straighten the mess the cubs made when 'helping' him last night and discovered a note left to him.

He flattened it and grinned, slipping it under his cash register with his membership for Bada Bing. The townspeople were really very nice.

Pulling out his sign, he went to hang it in the door again. He had hired Duce for henna artistry and general help, which he had needed but still had need for one or possibly two more people for the store as general clerks to help mind the register and merchandise.

Help Wanted - General clerk staff
Apply within
~~No minors please~~ Negotiable
Serious inquiries only

Satisfied, Red went to his counter, picked up his mouth stick and started paging through his Tattoo Artist magazine.

((ooc note: if you enter Red's shop, for most of the morning the player will be a little slow in responding back but should be around in the afternoon.

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Since Journalism class was cancelled, and Oz doesn't have to be back on campus until 4:00, he wanders in to town.

He feels like everyone is looking at him, like they know he was one of the werewolves running around a few nights ago. He keeps his hands in his pockets, his head down as much as possible.

Passing by the tattoo shop, Oz stpped. He gazed in the windows. He'd thought about getting tattoos one day, until the werewolf thing happened. He wasn't sure the change wouldn't affect tattoos, so he thought he'd be safe and never get one.

But that didn't mean he couldn't look.

And there was something more. Something...beyond words, that pulled him toward the shop. Before he even realised it, he was reaching for the door and stepping inside.

When the door opened, Red's head lifted to see who entered. His nostrils flared with a half familiar scent.

Placing his mouth stick down in his magazine, Red nodded to greet the young man. "Good afternoon, brother. How are you feeling today?"

To say Oz blinked at the proprieter of the shop would be an understatement.

His nose caught the vagueally familiar scent, though he did not share his wolf's thoughts or memories, and did not know why the scent was familiar.

He knew that there was a connection between himself and the...dog at the counter. He reached up to scratch his neck.

He nodded his answer, uncertain his voice would hold up if he attempted to speak.

"That is good." Red leapt down from his stool and padded over to him. He sat down, his tail swishing back and forth across the floor. Looking up, he gave only a half grin, hoping not showing too many teeth wouldn't scare him.

"I see you have only vague remembrance of the other night," he cocked his head, jewelry jingling softly. "My name is Red and I'm the owner of this shop."

Was this the other wolf he'd run around with? Not that he would remember that, but...everyone in town and on ampus was saying two wolves...this Red was not a wolf. And certainly not a werewolf.

"You're...talking..." Oz leaned on the counter.

Red chuffed lightly, still grinning. "So are you."

"I'm not...a dog." Well, not today, anyway. Oz looked completely perplexed.

"Sorry...I don't mean to be rude. It's just...pretty much don't expect dogs to talk."

"Well, I'm not technically a dog," Red said, shaking out and moving back around to leap up on his stool and talk to the young man on a more even level. "I'm canine, though, if it matters."

Oz nodded. I'm a werewolf, so...you know. He shook his head, clearing the thought. He wasn't ashamed of it really, because it wasn't hs fault. Who knew playing with your five year old cousin could change you life so dramaticaly.

"What...are you?" His tone was low, curious, and respectful if that was possible.

[OOC: Will be AFK for about half an hour, maybe 45 min]

"My real name is Nanaki," he said. His paw wiped irritably at his scarred eye. "I don't go by it anymore." Shoulders lifted and dropped in a parody of a shrug. "I don't know much more than that."

"I'm...Oz. But...I have a feeling you know that already." Oz offered a slight smile. "I feel...like I know you."

"I scented you, on the night air," Red said with a grin. "I came to see you and met your ... roommate? Wednesday? Lovely young woman. But I think by then you were lost to the wolf."

Oz caressed the edge of the counter with a finger. "I...pretty much don't remember anything." He said, voice trailing off. Red would understand he meant he didn't remember what the wolf did.

No reason to be shy about it, with another...canine. He smiles just the slightest smile, looking for comfort, understanding, and most of all acceptance.

Red rested his chin on his crossed paws and he watched Oz. "Is being a werewolf new for you?"

"It's been...a little more than a year. This weekend ws my sixteenth change."

"Not much time, in the grand scheme," Red remarked after considerable thought. "So you keep yourself locked up during full moons? You are not able to change at will?"

Oz blinked. Hard. For a moment he felt like the ground was moving out from under him. It evened out and he looked at Red.

"Change at will?" He knew Vampires could...put on their game face whenever they wanted to. But werewolves...Not so much.

"I don't know much about your kind. I didn't know if you could shapeshift at will or if you were at the mercy of the phase of the moon." Red sat up and regarded Oz.

He was curious, not having met a werewolf before and wasn't sure how those things worked.

Red got the feeling that this was making Oz uncomfortable. "So how do you like attending the school? I've heard very many curious things about it."

"It's...interesting. I think it'll be okay as long as no one finds out I'm...you know. A werewolf. I'm not the only...There's at least one other," Oz ruled out Red as the wolf he'd run with Saturday night. Since he said he'd met Wednesday, and referred to her as his room mate...That had to be at the manor, Sunday night.

"And...other creatures too. Vampires, demons, there's a squid in the basement and gremlins all over campus. It's very...Well, we have a lot of that where I'm from, so...I don't know."

Oz was a man a few words, and he was practically writing a novel saying so much all at once.

"I don't...think I could. I don't think I would want to." He hates the wolf, hates how the wolf makes him feel both before and after. Why would he want to do that on purpose?

Out of nowhere, Red asked a question. "Are you hungry? I haven't eaten all day." Reaching out with his mouth, he pulled the phone over closer. "Would you like to order pizza and stay here for a bit?"

He wasn't sure why it seemed important that Oz stay for a while longer but Red's instinct was buzzing strongly for it.

"I..." Whatever he might have said dropped off, and he nodded. He was hungry. He hadn't eaten a proper meal since sometime last week. He rarely ate during the full moon, ihs stomach was a twist of nerves and stress for das before and after the werewolf.

"Thanks."

Grinning, Red ducked beneath the counter for a moment, coming back up after a bit of rustling around with a thick phone book in his mouth.

It flopped onto the counter and pawed at it until it flipped open. More pawing until it was closer to where he wanted, he picked up his mouth stick to turn the last pages until he reached 'Restaurants - Pizza'.

He pawed at the receiver next until it flipped off the cradle. Poking at the 'speaker' button, he looked closely at the listing before slowly poking at the buttons to dial the pizza delivery place.

While it rang, he put his mouth stick down and jumped from his stool. "You order, whatever you like and I'll be right back," and he raced into the back.

Oz picked up the receiver and ordered an extra large cheese pizza. he didn't eat much meat, and he had no idea what Red would like...if Red even ate pizza.

Call completed, he hung up the phone and sat down, eyes glancing around the shop for the first time since he'd wandered in.

Red's shop was an eclectic mishmash of furniture, decorations and merchandise.

A low table next to his tattooing equipment, old persian rugs, his walls lined with flash art and ethnic jewelry behind glass on display sat in one corner across from the display proper of the ethnic jewelry for sale.

In the other corner, a chair similar to what a dentist uses with a small table off one arm that Red used for piercings.

After a few minutes, Red appeared again. Right behind him tumbled in two smaller versions of him. Their tiny growls punctuated the air as they found all kinds of interesting things to do and see and smell.

Red leapt back up on his stool. With his mouth stick, he opened his register and pulled out money to pay for the pizza.

Oz froze when Red came back, followed by two young ones. He wasn't sure what to expect, as a general rule, dogs didn't like him. But they're not dogs, he reminded himself. Red had said he wasn't a dog, but hadn't explained.

Oz scratched at his head and eyed the pups warily.

One of the cubs found Oz quite fascinating...for all of a few seconds before his shoelaces were more interesting.

Then his brother's colorful ball spun across the floor, brother in chase, was even more interesting that shoelaces and he bounded after it to land squarely on his brother's head.

Red counted the money slowly. "My treat," he said with a grin.

Oz held himself very still while the cub nipped at his shoe. When the other one flew into him, Oz's focus shifted, assuming now the playful pups were not a threat to him.

"You don't have to..." Oz cut himself off and nodded appreciatively. And he was appreciative. He had a little money, but not much, and he'd missed his shift at the cinema beause of the werewolf thing.

His gaze swept fdown to track the cubs, before looking at Red again. "Thanks."

((continued in new comment...))

"It's my pleasure. Consider it appreciation for you stopping by to chat with me." Red grinned. "Sometimes things are slow here in the shop. It's nice to have someone come in and keep me company."

The pizza arrived much sooner than Red expected. But then again, there was something unique about this down. His nose slid the money over to the delivery boy and he waited patiently for Oz to open the pizza box.

Which he does after the delivery boy wanders off.

He pulls out a piece and offers it to Red, figuring he'd have trouble getting it out for himself.

Gently taking the crust between his teeth, Red pulled it over in front of him and let it sit on the pizza box lid. He chewed thoughtfully.

Ripping two small pieces from his slice, Red flung them into the floor, which the cubs immediately pounced on with small tribbly growling noises.

"You work at the cinema, right?"

Oz ate slowly, too.

"Only on weekends," he shrugged. "Saturday and Sunday nights." So far, he'd worked exactly one shift.

"Is it that you need to study and can't work any more than weekends?" Red was curious about this thing called high school life. It fascinated him as did the young people who went to the school the town was built around.

Oz shook his head. "Pretty much...just worked out that way. I have plenty of time to study. I have a late class Tuesdays and Fridays, so he offered me weekends."

"There are other places that could use help if you were interested in more work, although I would think you should concentrate on your classes." He took another bite of his pizza. "Several businesses have opened up and are hiring."

Red looked at his sign in the window briefly before tearing his pizza again and tossing the bits to the cubs.

Oz nodded. It was subtle enough. He understood the message.

"Seems like...maybe I could study here, if I had to." Oz has never been a good student. Learning has never been easy for him.

Grinning, Red delicately took another piece of pizza and dragged in front of him. "I just need help with the register and keeping up with customers here to look at the jewelry while I'm with a client." More ripping and sharing with the young ones.

"And hours are flexible ... to just be here when your classes allow."

"I can do that." Oz felt himself smiling. Not only had he made a friend who wouldn't judge him because of his beast, but he'd also somehow landed a second job. And a seemingly easy one. School wasn't his thing, but he could do math, and thought keeping up with a register probably wouldn't be too hard.

[OOC: And I'm needing to get my lazy self to bed here soon]

"Then stop by tomorrow between classes and we'll get you started." Red said, jumping down from his stool. The cubs were on Red's heels, interested in what he was doing.

Until he didn't do anything interesting.

He paced over to the door, took his help wanted sign down and carried back to place under the counter.

((ooc: no worries. finish up your pizza and head out to class?))

Oz gave a quiet nod.

He finished his pizza.

"I'lll see you tomorrow, Red" He smiled, and excused himself to go to his late Tuesday class.

[OOC: Sorry! I crashed big time and fell in to bed.]

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Day two of a new business

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