But we were the people that we wanted to know. [p]

Tria 16, 81381

Cayson smiled at the cashier as he entered the store. The two of them knew each other fairly well, although Case didn't think of her as anything but a simple acquaintance. Her name was Tenalp and she had long, glaringly two-toned, acid green hair. Cayson suspected that she was a Yki, given her spotless and luxurious white pelt. It seemed as if she had something to prove though, as every time he came by and saw her, a different part of her was dyed a different colour... or cut differently, or sometimes shaved. This time she'd dyed the tips of her ears black.

“Hey Case!" she said as she leaned her weight on the counter.

“Hey Tennie. Got anything new today?" Cayson said in return, letting his eyes roam around the store. It seemed like he asked this every single time he entered this particular store.

“You mean anything new that you'd like? Ah, Case I don't know. You're just so difficult. I've never met a guy with such strict music tastes before. I mean, really. What's your obsession with folk music?" the cashier asked with a laugh.

Cayson rolled his eyes and gave Tenalp a pointed look. She was joking of course, and there was a cheerful mirth in her smile. She pointed to a bin just to Cayson's right. “You might find what you're looking for in there, hun." Tenalp said with a laugh.

The orange arden shook his head at her, but made his way over to the bin that she had indicated. Inside were small chips that held entire albums of music. This particular bin was ordered by genre. The chips themselves were ancient. Case had heard that there were only two companies that still manufactured them. Music was almost always transferred electronically now. These types of “second hand" music stores were one in a million. Still, Cayson found it interesting to peruse through all the different types of ancient digital formats. He had a player for just about anything... and it wasn't just the sound quality he was interested in nor after.

When it all came down to it, it was simply the music.

 

Tenalp looked over the young girl as she entered the store and smiled a warm welcome. She looked purposeful as she headed down the aisle, looking at various racks and bins. It wasn't long before she'd returned to the counter which Tenalp was manning.

“Excuse me. But, do you know what chips would play on the most recent model of player-doo dad? Even though it's probably what? Five years-old? I have no idea what they're called."

Tenalp grinned at the thill and her snake-like pet. “Ah, hun. I honestly don't recommend anyone buying chips, discs, and what-have-you anymore. They're generally just for old fogies, like that guy over there." She gave a nod of her to indicate Cayson who was still perusing the bin. Case, who had heard her, momentarily paused in his digging in order to stick his tongue out at the cashier.

“If you've got a player that was made... ah, really any time within the last two hundred years or so, we've got all sorts of digital formats. There's literally thousands of them... They keep on saying that they're making the compression better, but honestly, I don't really notice the difference. It's just a bunch of companies fighting each other in order to become a monopoly in the music industry. If you're not sure what format to get... I'm recommending dfre right now. Pretty good compression versus quality ratio, plus their organization actually supports artists. Instead of you know, ripping them off." The white thill said, her last words laced with just a little bit of venom.

“Heh. Tenalp. You're speaking as if you actually are an artist." Came Cayson's voice from over a rack.

“I've made more music than you ever will." Tenalp said primly. In response to this, Cayson chuckled.

“If you carry on like this, you're not going to have any customers left." Cayson warned her as he walked up to the counter. “I mean... is she scaring you?" He asked the other customer, a thill, at the counter. “She's certainly scaring me."

 

“Ah, got'cha. Well, Tenalp will do nothing but confuse you if that's the case." Cayson gave Tenalp a pointed look. The thill rolled her eyes, furrowed her brow and pursed her lips together tightly. However, she didn't say a word in protest. She knew Cayson was only playing around and attempting to rile her up. For some reason, he just liked being an ass.

“All you really gotta know is that you've got a lot of choices. None of which," he began, his eyes meeting Tenalp's, “are wrong." He grinned.

“You're a nuisance, Case." Tenalp muttered then waved the arden away. Cayson simply continued to grin in response. After a moment, Cay's ears blue ears perked and his attention turned back to the younger thill at the counter.

“Say," he said, as he noticed the critter lounging upon the girl's shoulders, “who's your friend there?"

 

“Shill? I like that name," Cayson responded with a smile. He'd never seen a creature quite like it before. “I bet he's a unique one. I've never really done all that well with pets. I guess I maybe just don't have the time... or just attentiveness really."

Truth be told, most of Cayson's pets tended to die from neglect. When he was younger he'd fawn over them endlessly for weeks, then promptly forget about them once something new came along. “Where'd you get him? If you don't mind me prying."

 

The young thill's statement that she had created the creature made Cayson double-take. There weren't too many pendragons around who could successfully summon a more or less “permanent" pet from Fronima. Specially one that looked so solid. He knew that Jaceen could do such things. Although for the most part her creatures were Fronima-powered illusions and actually had no physical substance to them.

“Wow. That's quite the calibre magic. Something gone wrong? Looks the opposite to me. Oh, my name's Cayson by the way. I don't do much magic myself. I've been told I've got the potential, but it's just not something I'm really interested in. I sort of like to draw. How about you?"

 

“Nice ta meet'cha, Euph," Cayson said with that same friendly grin of his. “You can call me Case if you want. Hm... I bet if you try you can get better. Like I said though, I'm not the magic sort at all. I don't really know what it takes. It looks insanely hard to me though. Drawing however? It's something I can do pretty easy now. I don't do... portraits and stuff like that. I'm more into the architectural and mathematical type of stuff."

He paused for a moment, realizing that he was just rambling on about himself. That happened quite a lot, and generally those who weren't his friends got to thinking he was conceited (not to say he wasn't). “So, um... this stuff you do? Do you play any sports maybe?"

 

“Yeah, mostly geometric. You can't really mess up too much when all you have to work with are straight lines and calculated curves," Cayson said, the silly grin still not vanishing from his face. “I bet you're not bad luck either. Just in an awkward stage. I went through one of those. Couldn't even walk without trippin' over my own damn feet." Cay rose an eyebrow at the interaction between Shill and Euph. Had Shill just laughed at the little girl? It certainly had seemed like it, as Euph had taken offence to the sound and had knocked the creature to the ground.

“Um. I'm not too bad at spelling. Though the rest of them non-insect bees? Heh. Yeah. Can't really say I'm all that good at remembering facts, nor names for that matter. I'd probably forget my own name if it weren't stitched into my underwear." At this Cayson laughed at himself. It was the sort of joke that simply oozed with cheese, but weren't those the best kind?

 

“Yeah... well, I think the clumsiness had to with that growth spurt I had quite a while ago. You get all gangly, and your limbs go all over the place... and it's just not fun. I know lot'sa people that get those strings of bad luck though. Like my pal Radin was having a bad stint with it not too long ago." Cayson absently licked his lips. He sure did like to talk. Even if it was talking about nothing in particular. The bad thing was that often times while he was a great talker, he wasn't much of a listener. However it was a habit that he was trying to break.

“Morals... what do y'mean by that? Rules have got something to do with morals? I mean, if yer breaking them, sure I guess... Are there even rules for magic?" Case scratched at his right ear, trying hard to remember the things that Jaceen had said to him about magic. Everything in that area of his brain just felt like simple grey matter though. He doubted that he even had a single magical bone in his body.

 

Cayson's ears flattened themselves back against his head. Beaten? Did pendragons actually get beaten like that for simply forgetting? It was a concept that was completely foreign and almost lost completely on Cayson. Everyone had always been so patient with him, even when he had failed repeatedly. The idea of getting punished was enough to make his stomach quiver with unease. At least, that's why he thought he was feeling slightly ill.

Shill was still residing upon his shoulders, yet as they talked, Cay felt the creature tense up. Shill's position preventing him from looking though — just what was the little monster up to? "What...?" Cayson stammered. Before he had a chance to flesh out his question, Euph was removing the slinky creature from its previously perched position. The warning about scratching or biting made Case wince. Shill had seemed tolerant of him before, why the sudden caution?

"Um, okay. Is Shill —" He'd been about to ask if her little pet was doing okay. However, as Cay was watching, the little thing latched itself onto Euph's wrist. Cayson's eyes widened, his stomach doing a sickening flop. How horrible! "Eeee," Cay's voice came out in a small squeal. "Eeeek, does it hurt? How do you get him off?"