[Closed] Along The Long And Painful Journey

[wildandtough]

Who: Moses Sandor + Shinjiro Aragaki
Where: The Sagittarius Dorms
Summary: Moses gets lost, meets an old(?) friend, and gets freaked out about persona.
Warnings: Their mouths and language.


He totally wasn't lost.

He just happened to stumble on a place that he didn't know after looking for... something.

Even if he was lost, he wouldn't admit it; that would just ruin his reputation!

But he definitely wasn't lost. In fact, he found just what he was looking for!

There was a litter of stray animals, a mix of kittens and puppies in one of the alleyways... and dear god, he couldn't help himself. He loved animals and would spend his life with them if he was given the opportunity. Of course, he didn't know how long he had here, so he would spend what time he had free with them. But gosh they were cute. Most people walking by would pretty much just a large, six foot man, holding two kittens.

No big deal at all.

But gosh, he does look happy.

Comments

[themortalhalf]

Shinjiro still wanders around Sagittarius with habitual frequency, despite it being one of the sketchiest wards of Hinoto-ri—that crown goes to the Taurus district, even if it looks nicer than it is when night falls. It's a routine Shinjiro hasn't yet abandoned—nothing yet has beat it out of him. He often does odd jobs in the warehouses that line the dirty streets here—they don't give a damn whether you're a student or not, or a vistor—and it works on his varied schedule where he only wants work and not daily obligation.

Sagittarius also a place he likes to visit alone.

Maybe it's because parts of it remind him of Tatsumi Port Island's back alley. And maybe because it's somewhere he can go without being bothered (usually) by noise and crowds and give himself room to think.

But he also comes here to feed the strays. Even in Hinoto-ri, there's still a fair share of stray animals. More cats than dogs—perhaps because they do much better on their own—but with the amount of dilapidated buildings here, the ward tends to be an able breeding ground for the unwanted and collarless. And like most times, Shinjiro's brought food with him in large plastic bags and cans hidden in his coat's numerous pockets. He rounds a certain corner where he knows where a pocket of strays are—a few kittens and a couple young mutts that are somehow sharing the same space—he thinks the dogs lost their mother some time back, and one of the cats took them in like they do sometimes. Hell knows the reason but it happens. He was expecting to find the alley as vacant of humanity as it usually is, but this time he stops and stares levelly at the man just feet away. He recognizes him from the video not long ago, though Shinjiro hadn't really thought he'd run into him. At least, not here of all places.

"Tch." Suppressing a grimace—this place ain't exactly safe for someone to just be walking around—he keeps his face a stoic mask, eyes wandering over both Moses and the kittens he's holding. They're getting bigger every damn time he sees them.

"Hey. You shouldn't be wandering around here."

[wildandtough]

Perhaps it's because Moses has been through way worse but he doesn't notice anything wrong about this place. It just seems like a normal street... and not only that, he can handle himself just fine in this place. Fisticuffs were amazing for that sort of thing. He just blinks and looks up, holding the cats in his hands.

Somehow still kind of cute.

"Why shouldn't I be? These yours?" He looked at them and back to the man he was just talking to. "But yeah, why shouldn't I?" Starting to stand up to his six feet of height and manliness. "Y'don't own this place and y'don't control me!"

[themortalhalf]

"It ain't safe is why," he says, hands still firmly in his pockets, his voice a half-growl. He finds it hard to be intimated by an almost shirtless man holding a couple of cats. "And no. They're strays."

[wildandtough]

"...I can handle myself jus' fine, y'know." He puts the cats down carefully. "And nothin' is gonna stop me." He shook his head. "...Mm, wonder if I can take any of 'em home. I'm kinda lonely..."

[themortalhalf]

"It's your head. But last I checked you didn't know a damn thing about this kind of place."

If he wasn't even familiar with technology, how would he know how to handle the dangers a world like this one had. Back here you were just as likely to be jumped as anything. Not that Shinjiro had much of anything of worth to take: just a broken watch and a couple pills in a plastic bag that sure as hell wouldn't get you high. Add the Dark Hour—the 13th—to that, to someone who probably hadn't unlocked his Persona yet, and you were walking blindly into trouble

"Do you even know anything about taking care of a cat?"

[wildandtough]

"I don't need to know anythin' to fight for myself!"

So he didn't know what was wrong with this place... he didn't care one bit. He was a guy who could handle any new or old situation. And whether this guy thought he could or not, didn't matter to him one bit. Because he knew he was good enough to take care of himself.

"Yeah! This is the kinda thing I'm good at back home!" He laughed a bit. "I love takin' care of animals!"

Sorry for the late tag. ...This reply got lost in my inbox~

[themortalhalf]

"...You might if they pull a gun on you, or you suddenly find a Persona trying to stab its sword through your back. You know how to deal with those, or are you just gonna throw a goddamn spear at them and hope they roll over?"

He grimaces, though it's hard to scowl when one of the unmolested kittens suddenly decides to rub against your leg. It knows he has food.

"It's the same thing with animals. You might know how to take care of one back home, but this place ain't your world. You know how to take care of them here?"

sure sure <33

[wildandtough]

"...I dunno what two of those even are! But I ain't gonna let nothin' defeat me! I'm too strong for that sorta shit!"

And he flexed his muscles like he was the boss of the whole goddamn parade.

"Course I know how to take care of a cat! You gotta feed 'em the right food, give 'em water, a warm place to sleep, places to scratch and just the right 'mount of love so they don't scratch yer eyes out! I'm not stupid!"