02

[knifesedge]

[Some several days after arriving in Luceti, Knives finally appears in town in midafternoon. This is with remarkably little fanfare; what's one more new feather this week? Those who are familiar with Vash might well recognize him, as they are identical twins; his hair's shorter and black, he's a bit paler, but the rest is still there. The same features, nearly the same bearing..

But Vash probably doesn't pick his way through Luceti with thinly veiled distaste, as if he's spending most of the time wading knee-deep in something nasty. And he is shopping. Oh yes. So much shopping.

Probably because of the black and white border collie cheerfully tagging along wherever he goes. Which means Knives can be found at various times of the day at the grocery store, library, and in the forest near Luceti when he can't tolerate the town any longer.]

Comments

[Or are they?]

[agelesseyes]

Dogs are uncommon in your world? Truly?

[Yes, that's the thing that stuck with her. Moiraine is very much a cat person. Cats like Aes Sedai while dogs seem drawn to men who can channel.

And she doesn't want to talk about male channelers...]

[Yes, absolutely.]

[knifesedge]

[The book is snapped closed.]

The planet is called 'No Man's Land'. It is little more than a global desert. There isn't enough food and water to sustain most Earth animals larger than a cat. Cats are ubiquitous. Dogs however are rare, and as I understand it, something of a status symbol.

[If you had the resources to throw away on having a dog, then you had a lot of resources.]

Things seem far more abundant here.

[agelesseyes]

They are. So you took one in immediately?

[The rest of it is absorbed quietly. What can one say to that? Moiraine mentally files all this away for later though.]

[knifesedge]

No. As I said, I didn't get a dog, it ... she got me. I simply chose not to reject ..her, and leave her behind when she wished to follow.

[It's difficult, to equate a spayed animal with 'she', when it was in fact now neuter, but if that's how people did it in Luceti, then Knives will adapt.]

It's a diversion. There's no harm in having a dog, or particular prestige. If I wished to have one before then I would have. You have no pets yourself.

[Not ..quite a question, she didn't seem a pet-sort.]

I am so fail with tagging speed lately T.T

[agelesseyes]

[Moiraine smiles at that and shakes her head]

That's not entirely correct, Knives. I do have a pet. My horse arrived with me, though I've grown to think of Aldieb more as a partner than a pet. But I do not keep...cats or dogs, no.

RL always comes first!

[knifesedge]

... A horse.

[Something in his tone suggests Knives has to scramble a bit to even remember what one of those were. His brow furrows slightly.]

You keep livestock as pets? How do you keep it indoors with you?

[agelesseyes]

Livestock? No, a horse is hardly livestock. A good horse...well, they'll weather the roughest storms as Siuan might say.

[She clicks her tongue irritably.]

And a horse is kept in a stable, of course.

[knifesedge]

[The usefulness of a horse, to someone who's probably seen one in his life and that in Luceti, is nil. Knives knows what the words mean; stables are where animals are kept. But there's no connection to anything relevant. It's archaic, an anachronism from Earth.]

If you say so.

[His tone is one of an utter lack of caring. Horses weren't pets if they were kept as far away as possible. He knew little of pets but that didn't sound right to him.

Knives should at least offer a parting goodbye or something, but he simply turns, scanning the bookshelves, intending to continue his search.]

[agelesseyes]

[With a sniff, Moiraine goes back to her reading, the lights flickering back into existence.

What a rude man...]