Pet Shop Boys [Cecil]

It was hard to ignore pet stores. Remembering what it was like being around animals, those better times when they were around the house. Memories of an overly affectionate little scruffball, ever excitable as it sought everyone's affections. A lovely brown lapin, floppy-eared and ever fussed over. A fussy feline, content to place itself on his lap when he visited and demand his attentions.
It had made things easier...a small comfort, a welcomed company.
But it's hard to hold onto such things when the world was ending.

As another caught his eye, he decided he'd indulge, if only a little. He hadn't expected to see a familiar face as he approached, though, and as he removed his headphones, it became readily apparent who was fussing at the window. It was...actually a little funny seeing the measures she was taking to try and capture the cats' attention. A little hint of a smirk creeps onto his face as he stops by the window. "Look like you're having a lot of luck there."

It was hard to keep a straight face when faced with the over-the-top attempts to call a pair of cats on the opposite side of a glass window, a comical affair overall with the measures being resorted to. He couldn't help but snicker a little - all this, and they wouldn't even stop lazing around. Neither looked impressed, in that way typical for many a cat.
"I have to admit, I can't really imagine that." He turns his eyes properly to the cats, unable to help but think it almost looked like one had taken all of the fur that ought to have belonged to the other, with the sharp contrast between them. "Guess I just dealt with them way too much growing up. Very different temperaments, each of them, but I loved them all, whether it was our own crazy bundle of energy or that furball that seemed to think it had a better claim to my uncle's house than he did."

Cecil laughs at that. "Can't say you're wrong there. Though I wouldn't ask a cat for lessons in friendship. As they say...dogs have masters, cats have servants."

The blond boy listens to Brit as she continues talking, starting to take on a thoughtful look. "...I wouldn't really worry about it. Or at least, not now." He looks over to the girl beside him. "Aside from the fact that trying to pass off wild animals as pets is a terrible idea...it's not like the world out there is great for a lot of them. Far safer to be here than out with demons." He shrugs. "World's changed...and the wild isn't going to be how it used to be. Non-domestic animals like the ones we live with are gonna have new hurdles to get over to survive. Honestly, it's kinda nice seeing pet shops like these about - it's a kind of assurance that many animals have managed to make it and live on as well as they have before."

Everything utterly normal until he heard one thing that led him to give Brittany a very strange look. "...uh...hold on. You ask your owl? For, ah...fashion advice?"
When he started questioning if there was anything supernatural occurring about this owl that it was capable of giving fashion advice, or if it just so happened to be a demon in disguise, it was then he acknowledged to himself that all the madness that had come to his life may be making him a little paranoid.
Still, that was kinda strange.

Shaking his head clear and just...trying ineffectively to silence the questions his mind had conjured, he turned his attentions to the kitties in the window. "I'm not going to lie...they're both nice, but I'm a bit of a sucker for a big fluffy cat."

Cecil looked on in utter bafflement as Brit delved into the mechanics of asking an owl for fashion advice, confusion ever rising with her laughter only to scrunch up into a resigned expression at the words that followed. "Really should have known better..." He shakes his head, only for it to jar to a halt mid-motion. "Wait, partia- aghhh...goddammit, just ignore it, just stop thinking about it..."

He failed to stop thinking about it.

Taking deep breaths, he focuses on the question he's been asked. "I wish..." He chuckles awkwardly, scratching at the back of his head. "I haven't had animals about the house in a while. Guess I wanted to stop by and indulge a little."

Cecil smiles as Brit talks about her owl and the way she interacts with it, thinking back to when he had pets himself. A little dog they were, but it was impossible to sit down anywhere without them bounding up into your lap and showering you with affection.

The smile turns into a sad one as she tells of the stray dog about the river, and before long he's fretting about the animal. "Huh...that's...that's good. Honestly, it feels kinda strange to me to think about that...I don't really say stray animals about." He raises an eyebrow. "What's it look like? What's it like?"

As Brit elaborates, the sadness and worry in Cecil's expression fades for simple bemusement. "I'm...not sure specifically what the name is, but..." He shakes his head. "Kinda have to agree there. I doubt a dog wearing clothes of all things is really a stray...let alone if they're clean and in good condition. I doubt it'd take too long for them to at least get dirty if they'd been stuck out on the streets for a while."

He pauses, and slowly nods. "Yeah, I...doubt they really need feeding. If they show up at the river unattended regularly, they probably want chipping or just keeping a better eye on, but...yeah. Probably don't need the food that badly."