Knife in the Dark

Irony

The cat finally stopped and placed his paw on a book spine, this strange behavior prompting me to go and investigate. It was 'A Study in Scarlet' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I pulled the book out and Adrianus dashed onto the bed, where he sat expectedly.

I sat down next to him and started to read. The words spilled out, almost like an ocean, that was being held back by a dam, being released. The cat slowly grew sleepy and when he fell asleep, I put a bookmark in where I had read to and put it on the bedside table.

A dog barking woke me up the next morning, it also woke the cat, which looked towards the area where the sound of the barking was coming from like it was a mouse about to be caught.

We both got up and Adrianus went outside, where he went and sunned himself on the first storey roof. The others were up shortly afterwards, they all looked as tired as I felt. Over breakfast we all agreed to make our rooms soundproof, so that took up about half an hour of our morning routine.

The cat came in just after I had finished and fell asleep on the bed, as if knowing that nothing was going to disturb his peace now. I listened to classical music through a speaker quietly, which didn't seem to bother the cat at all.

After a while the cat went and placed his paw on the Sherlock Holmes story, which I read to him until I finished it, at which point I went and returned it to where it should be and the cat went and chose another book to read, this one was 'Poirot' by Agatha Christie.

The cat seemed as enthralled by this book as by the last one, looking as calm and relaxed as a book should do to the reader. The cat laid down on my chest and fell asleep after a little bit. I carefully put him down and pulled the blanket over him. I went and wrote some more in code, and eventually becoming too tired to focus properly and joined Adrianus and fell asleep.

The soft light of the approaching dawn woke me. I had a bath and changed into a suit, which was the next thing on my clean clothes pile, with a crimson tie. After dressing, I got ready to leave my room when Adrianus woke, ran and landed lightly on my shoulders, acting in the way a hunter would act when hunting his prey.

When I entered the communal area, I noticed that most people hadn't made such good companions with their pets.

Katana's dog wouldn't stop barking at everything and anything. Guisarme was having trouble keeping her mongoose interested in her now. Voulge and her angora rabbit looked like they were enemies more than friends.

For the rest, the animals seemed to be bearable. Rapier was sitting with his parrot, which would say something in English that he would ignore. The raven kept fluffing up its feathers as a sign that it wanted attention, but there was no response from Raven. The boa didn't seem to be doing anything other than resting, while the iguana was still running around madly. Sling's frogs let off the occasional croak, but nothing big.

Everyone looked up at me when I entered the room, Adrianus still balanced on my shoulder.

"How do you become such good friends with an animal?" Loch is great at asking questions because they are simple and straight to the point.

"Treat them like they are people, think of them as your new friend, tell them about yourself, tell them how you feel, include them in your life." Came my response.

For the next fifteen minutes, there was eight conversations going on between the people and their animals, although it was a bit one sided.

At the end of the time, the animals were not only more calm and relaxed, but also more friendly towards their counterparts, meaning that we could get down to business.

We were sitting in a circular ring of chairs, with a large round table in the middle where we often did important work. Adrianus sat on the table just to my right, overseeing the entire thing through his fierce green eyes, fixing them on anyone or anything that did something out of place.

The conversation was mostly about taxes and things like that and the idea to install solar panels to take us off the grid and have to pay no tax.

We all agreed and so ordered in solar panels, solar ventilation and solar hot water. All in all, we had the money for it, so we bought it to save money.

The day progressed really slowly, I mostly stayed in my room and read to my cat or drew or wrote.

Boredom set in and I was forced to turn to other methods of fun. I electrified the door handles of every doorway with 10 volts, not a lot but just enough to feel it. I changed the carpet from rainbow to black and white, which everyone agreed was much nicer than the original and so let it stay. I reached the end of the day with five pranks performed.

Adrianus was already asleep by the time I went to bed, obviously tired out by all the excitement which hadn't happened today. I promised myself that I would have more fun tomorrow.

The next day I rose early and went for a run, what made this run off was because I had a ginger cat running next to me, which I just laughed about and continued down the track.

I met the lovely lady again, who took a liking to Adrianus and he seemed to return the favour. We went out and looked at the horses, and Adrianus was placed on top of one of the mares and balanced there, appearing to be having the time of his life, as the mare continued with her grazing routine, which seemed quite patterned but I was unable to work it out.

I said my goodbyes and ran home, where everyone was happy and excited with their pets. Rapier and Raven were cooking this morning, with their companions grabbing this and that for them in return for bits of bacon.

Voulge sat brushing her rabbit, which was quite enjoying it's time in the spotlight.

Guisarme and Loch were both chatting while their pets played and ran around in front of them, seeming to be having a lot of fun.

Katana and Glaive sat together, with the dog resting patiently while the python made interesting designs on Glaive's arms.

Sling sat apart from everyone, her frogs messing around on the palm of her hand, which acted like a miniature playground for them.

Adrianus went and sat with the rabbit, and so I followed. I sat down next to Voulge and say awkwardly, watching her brush her rabbits fur.

"So, you and Rapier then, hey?" was the only thing I could think of in the context.

Voulge just simply laughed. "It could never work, me and him, not in these circumstances, anywhere else on earth I wouldn't hesitate, but in these circumstances no, I don't think I could."

"Personally, I think he likes you, maybe more than he should, but he likes you, there is no doubt about it." I don't do romance, I can't do anything to do with love, so my word doesn't mean all that much.

"Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't" Voulge shrugged. "I don't care, I love him probably more than he loves me, so if he was to ask me on a date, I would say yes, but not before knowing you didn't set it up, Knife." She said, turning on my with mock anger.

"Me?" I pretend wounded. "I have no idea why you would blame me with such a ridiculous accusation."

Voulge stops brushing to laugh. "Ok, I'm going to wait and see if he gets the courage the courage to ask me, and if I find out that you are behind it all, so help me." Voulge stood suddenly, cradling her rabbit, then moving off.

I was left sitting there, staring into blank space thinking about the four partnerships in The Storm and myself, and how it is going to affect them.

Rapier and Raven called lunch, so I plodded over towards the dining room, Adrianus following me, knowing that lunch with me means he gets food scraps that I 'accidentally' drop on the table, as 'no one eats from the floor unless they are dogs or lower class peasants' would be Adrianus' reasoning.