A Vignette

--New Scene--
 
Ganak shuffles across his room, folding up a few sets of robes before tucking them away in the dresser drawer. His room at Ms. Reyfa Kragbelt's boardinghouse doesn't leave much room beyond his bed and scant furniture, but it is comfortably furnished. The house itself is sturdy dwarven craftsmanship that looks just as fine and homey now as it had two centuries before, and his room on the top floor is one of the ones that seemed designed with members of the 'taller' races in mind. As he continues putting his laundry away, he speaks, looking to the other occupant of the room. "- and after that it all changed, and suddenly we were... somewhere else. I can't recall exactly, but I recall Mx. Servis spoke to us directly. Something, I can't really recall the specifics. It was all so... dreamlike." He trails off a moment. "So strange- to feel guilty like a peeper but not remember what you saw." He chuckles. "At least, the ladies and gentlefolk seemed just as embarrassed as I was..."
 
Closing the last drawers, he goes back over and sits on the bed. "Speaking of dreams... Last night I had one that was at once so ordinary and charming. I was wandering around the city, mostly just through the streets around the parks, but I was not myself. I think I looked human, maybe something else. Whatever I was, no body noticed me. No sidelong glances, no little ones staring, no one walking wide around me to make way. I just... blended in. Another fellow in a crowd." He shakes his head. "Hadn't realized I was so bothered until I thought abou-" There is a tap at his door and he stands, a look of focus and then a smile. "Yes?"
 
The door opens and a matronly elder dwarven woman leans her head in. "Good evening Mr. Ganak." she begins, a friendly but professional tone. "Supper will be served in fifteen minutes. I'm letting everyone on the top floor know because the boy didn't wind the clocks up here properly this morning, and they are running a bit late."
 
"Oh, thank you, Ms. Kragbelt. I'll be down in just a few." He says nodding.
 
The woman looks around the small room with a quirk in her brow. "If you don't mind my asking, who were you talking to?"
 
He chuckles at himself, then gestures over to the only piece of furniture that the room hadn't been furnished with. "Oh, just talking to Isil-drot while I tidied up." Near the radiator in the room, a glass case a couple feet wide and a few feet long takes up half the desk that came with the room, and inside amongst some rocks and moss and a few small branches of wood lies a vibrant purple gemsnake. As though on queue, the serpent groggily blinks and slowly glances to the elder woman, tongue tasting the air so lazily and slow that 'flicks' really isn't an appropriate verb for the action.
 
She gives the snake a slightly concerned look, and clears her throat. "Ah. Yes. Actually, I should let you know- I've a new tenant that will be in the room across from you starting next week. He did ask about what pets are in the house- I believe he has some allergies- and well... I must confess he did not seem pleased to hear about you're viper. You are sure to keep the cage locked while you are away, ay?"
 
Ganak chuckles again. "I promise you, Ms. Kragbelt, there's nothing to worry about like that. Isil hasn't left his case on his own once since I moved south to Novandria. I don't think he likes it outside his case where he feels safe." He folds his hands in front of him and bows his head, speaking more formally. "But I assure you, I'll continue to make sure it's secured whenever I leave."
 
She nods at that, taking the win, and leaves closing the door behind her. Ganak stands there, thinking for a few moments about going back to finishing what he was talking about, before deciding he's lost his train of thought and shaking his head. He steps over to the glass case, feeling it to check the warmth for Isil's comfort, and chuckling. "You hear that, drot? You're a menace- got them quaking in their boots."
 
Isil-drot looks up at him and blinks once, sleepily, before curling a length of his body over his head to hide his eyes.
 
Ganak snorts. "So ferocious." He secures the latch at the top of the cage, takes a half-written letter and pen from the space on the desk and places them in a drawer, and heads down to supper.
 
--End Scene--