The Antiquity Shop down the Street

Skapii did expect the rain only with a quick look to the sky. However, she also expected to be able to reach the orphanage before it actually started raining. She didn’t manage to – and started running under the pouring rain, looking for shelter.

She swiftly entered a fancy looking antiquity shop, the first dry place she found that was open to the public.

To her surprise, no little bell sound as she opened the door. That being said, even though this was unusual, she didn’t think about it for too long. She shook herself, in an attempt to get rid of all that water on her clothes, hair and feathers. The poor kid was soaking wet.

When she decided she was “dry” enough, she started inspecting the shop from the entrance, without daring to wander between the shelves quite yet. It was very calm and quiet, and there were an incredible amount of wonderful looking, various objects standing on the shelves, neatly organized and sorted. Eventually, she dared to go and take a closer look, trotting about between the high shelves.

The little falcon statue with golden eyes quickly caught her attention. She carefully grabbed it to inspect it further. The rock sculpture was quite heavy despite its small size, fresh to the touch. The eyes of gold didn’t look exactly even, but the overall look of the object was quite impressive. She played with it for a while, manipulating delicately. 

After a moment though, she got interrupted by a stern voice.

“We don’t touch the pieces. Thank you.” She jumped in surprise, starting to panic, poofing up her feathers and hair. She felt two hands grabbing her shoulders and restraining her a bit, probably preventing her from messing up with the evenly aligned shelves and avoiding any unfixable damage done to the pieces. One wouldn’t want this tiny child to just kick half the exposed objects down on the ground.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m s-sorry I didn’t know I, I shouldn’t have t-touched it I’m sorry –“ 

The tall man restraining her let go of her shoulders, grabbed the falcon figure and put it back on the shelf. “Just don’t touch anything.”

He walked away, giving her a chance to look at him. He was tall, with a pretty thin waist, an undercut and dark hair except for the longer part, which had a vibrant pink color. Mister spooky had a well-trimmed dark beard and a glorious mustache. Giving off some kind of good ol’ Mario vibe – Except Mario doesn’t have pink hair, nor does he have two large flamingo wings. Unlike Skapii’s atrophied pigeon wings, these were probably functional. Finally, the man – that she supposed was the owner of the shop – had a tiger tail, and tiger paws it seemed. 

Anatomically speaking, they both looked alike. Feline lower parts, wings, all of that on top of a mostly human body. Except he seemed to be a tiger and a flamingo, which was just a tiny bit fancier than a stray cat and a pigeon. He also had human ears, in opposite to Skapii’s long, pointy ears.

“A-Are you a griffin too ?” He answered immediately. “No.”

That was so cold and harsh. She didn’t even like to talk to start with, but this put her off even more.

She inspected the shop once again. Gave a quick look outside – it was still pouring. She reached back the middle of the shop, stared outside for a few short minutes, defeated. “…” Long pause. “Can I stay here until it stops raining ?” She looked at the shop owner, trying to make herself as tiny as possible.

He didn’t answer right away. “As long as you don’t touch anything and stay quiet.”

She sighed in relief. Waited some more. “Can I do my homework ?...” He gave her a stern, gloomy look. “Yes, you can. As long as you stay quiet and don’t try to engage conversation.”

She nodded nervously, approaching a little table. It looked way too fancy to do homework on. “I said don’t touch the pieces. This is one of the pieces. If you think for even 2 seconds about putting down your pens and other what-do-I-know on this table, I will kick you out immediately.”

She swallowed nervously, and sat down right on the ground, far from any exposed piece. She opened her backpack, grabbing her stuff and getting ready to start working all curled up there.

“… You can sit at the counter if you want.”

She looked up at him again, took a while but grabbed her stuff again and headed to the counter. Sat there and started working. She put a lot of effort in being as discreet as possible – which was quite natural for her anyway. This place was nice. A lot nicer than what she usually went to for homework. A lot calmer. Less noises, but most of all, less people.

He was writing too, but she didn’t really pay attention and just focused on her work. She stuck her tongue out, deep into thinking. Stayed there for at least 40 solid minutes.

“It stopped raining.” These words brought her back to the shop, to the moment, to reality. She looked at the stern man, looked outside, then back at him. “… Do you want me to leave ?”

He raised an eyebrow, looking at her, perplexed maybe. “I don’t mind you staying that much, you seem to know how to stay quiet. But I assume you were heading to somewhere when you got caught off guard by the rain.”

“I was just looking for a place to do my homework…” He nodded slightly. She felt the need to keep on giving arguments. “I, I usually go to that little café, but it’s, it’s calmer here, it’s easier to work. Not as many people.” He nodded slightly again. “You don’t like too much noises either ?”

She looked at her feet, defeated and saddened. “I, I mostly don’t like too many people…”

He remained very stern and gloomy, but he seemed to understand. 

“You don’t like to talk too much, do you ?” She nodded quietly. He didn’t add anything, focused back on his writing as she slowly started focusing back on her homework as well. A few long minutes passed.

“Why don’t you do homework at home ?” She didn’t answer. He kept looking at her, she could feel his freezing stare on her. She shook her head from left to right, very faintly. “Do you parents even know you’re here ?” She curled up on herself, tense, uncomfortable. 

He didn’t seem pleased by this answer, or rather this lack of answer. He kept going. “What’s your name ?” She swallowed again. “S-Skapii.” He frowned. “Your last name. I’m calling your parent. I don’t condone you being there without them knowing.”

She started to panic, tried to add something, shaking. Eventually, she managed to articulate a few words. “I don’t have parents.” 

“…I’m sorry.” He didn’t ask anything more. Focused back on his writing as she tried to focus back on her homework. She wasn’t as successful as him though.

“I-I’m… I live at the orphanage.”

“Believe it or not, I guessed.” She tried to make herself as tiny as possible. “S-Sorry…” He stared at her for a little while before he spoke up again. “No need to be sorry.”

She exhaled deeply. Went back to her homework. Worked for a few long minutes. He wasn’t nice, but the atmosphere of his shop was really nice for working. It was a lot calmer than a café, less people, less parasite noises.

“Does the orphanage even know that you’re out ?” She nodded. Didn’t answer verbally. “What time do you have to go back there ?” Once again, she didn’t answer verbally, but she showed 6 fingers to him. He nodded and went back to his writing.

A few more minutes passed, in a comforting silence. She vaguely noticed her pen wasn’t making any noise on the paper, but that wasn’t worrying enough for her to panic about it.

5pm rang, and she started delicately putting away her stuff. Without a word. She jumped on the ground, and headed to the exit. She stopped before she reached the door, and turned around to go back to the counter. She poked the plane surface really softly to catch his attention. She didn’t really say a word, but articulated quietly, speaking in a low sigh. “Can I come back later for homework ?”

He nodded. She waited a few second. Spoke up, even though very quiet still. “What’s your name ?” He looked at her, inspected her in a glance. “Agamemnon.” 

She nodded with energy, and waved goodbye. Whispered as low as she could. “Bye, Agamemnon.”

He didn’t answer and focused back on his writing as she got out of the shop and disappeared at the corner of the street.