Always Late with Christmas Gifts (open)

[Dr. Jay Murdoch]

”S’ quite for a Sunday.” Jay rubbed the sleep from his eyes as the mule walked down the side of the street, no cars whizzing past them. Most people - since Pilot Ridge was a very meta-friendly town - were quite considerate in passing the equine on the street, fortunately. It was a common sight: the tattooed vet on the mule that had only a saddle and a loose rope around the animal’s neck for balancing purposes, synthetic bags and a raincoat tied behind the cantle.

”I’ll take quiet,” the mule responded, long ears swiveling around to the sounds of the awakening town. ”To the grocery store, right?”

”Yessir.”

Sherman turned his head to make sure there was no vehicle behind them as he widened his stride fully into the lane. He stopped at the red light, licked his lips while he waited for the green light, and then trotted left, keeping gait down the street until getting into the lot of the grocery store.

”Hang out wherever you want,” Jay said as he slid off the saddle, digging out reusable bags from the synthetic ones behind the saddle. ”I’ll be jus’ a few minutes.”

Jay didn’t get too many things: there were eggs at home, milk, spices. He found items to make a large batch of dinner to last for multiple meals, grabbed a bag of peanut M&M’s to snack on, and peppermints. Never hurt to spoil his best friend with treats.

He came back out to find Sherman grazing at a strip of grass along the side of the parking lot. The animal didn’t look up while Jay loaded the saddle bags; only when there was crinkling of plastic did Sherman lift his head, and the vet held out an unwrapped peppermint for him.

”Shoot. I gotta start thinkin’ about what t’ get the family for Christmas.” He opened the bag of M&M’s and popped one into his mouth before giving Sherman another mint. ”Care t’ go window shoppin’?”

”I don’t mind. You’re not on call, right?”

”Not ‘til tomorrow.” Jay ate an M&M as he looked both ways to cross the street to the line of shops, the mule tailing along behind him. ”I’m always late on Christmas. I should’ve started this in like… summer. God, I procrastinate.”

Sherman snorted. ”Yeah, you do.”

[Declan O'Cassidy]

Declan was always conflicted about Christmas shopping. The old man in him, who enjoyed being able to hold something in his hands that he was considering buying, wanted to go to a brick and mortar store . But the introverted loner in him much rather preferred the convenience of shopping from the comfort of his, well his and Ricky's, home.

Though he never left the house for Black Friday, he thought maybe with it being a small town that some light shopping today would be alright. One of the problems with having a huge family was that it meant having a huge shopping list for Christmas. And though he had a job now and was splitting living cost with Ricky so he was doing a little better financially, he was still going to have be careful with his Christmas budget. To that end, he was mostly doing window shopping today, trying to get ideas for his family as well as keeping an eye out for small things he might be able to pick up for his peers at Hammel. 

He was more interested in the holiday decor and items in the windows that looking around at his fellow shoppers. Though this was mostly habit to avoid annoying stares from strangers at his height than anything. Still he couldn't help but notice the mule standing outside of one of the shops. Pilot Ridge was an odd town to be sure. But even this was something he hadn't seen before. To make it even odder, the man with the mule seemed to be having a full on conversation with it. Not that Declan himself didn't have conversations with his cat, Ernest. But this felt a little more two sided than usual. And he found himself doing something that he would usually never do...staring. 

"He certainly is well trained," he said, more to himself than to the man, after noticing that the mule wasn't being led by a harness or anything.

[Dr. Jay Murdoch]

Passing a few windows, Jay had missed the quiet observance due to the munching of an M&M and all the potential gifts on the other side of the glass. Sherman caught it, however, and one long ear swiveled around, followed by his head. A dark eye’s gaze fell onto the man with wavy hair and he stopped.

It took Jay a few strides before he realized his companion wasn’t following.

”I wasn’t trained at all,” the mule replied, aware that the human stranger didn’t know he was being spoken to. ”Hey Jay, will you tell him that I wasn’t trained, that I really am just this smart?”

Blue eyes went from the mule to the man and back. ”.... oh!” He came back to where they were. ”Honestly, Sherman taught himself,” he added, looking at the shorter man. ”But yeah, he’s a real mild-mannered guy. Got a killer sense’f humor.” He nudged the mule’s shoulder. ”Anyway, this is Sherman. He does understand what you’re sayin’.”

[Declan O'Cassidy]

Declan was usually intimidated by animals his size or larger. Which meant, he wasn't a huge fans of dogs, or most farm animals. It wasn't that he was really afraid of them, just that he would rather avoid them if at possible. Still, the combination that the mule was shorter than any horse he'd ever seen and the shock of seeing one just walk around the town was enough that his curiosity got the better of him.

'Oh, right, abilities,' Declan thought to himself. True, he had been back in Pilot Ridge since the start of the semester. But he spent most of his time either at Hammel or at home. He had been away so long that he had forgotten about how regular of an occurrence it was in Pilot Ridge to bump into metas. Not that they weren't everywhere, but there was just something special about Pilot Ridge that made metas stick around, on his his case return. No matter where he went, he wondered if Pilot Ridge would always feel like home.

He gave the man another look, trying to place if he knew him from his time as a student, trying to decide if the young man was even old enough to have been at the school as the same time he was. Probably not.

"Um..." Declan paused, trying to figure out what one would even say to a mule. Did they even celebrate winter holidays? "So Sherman...are you enjoying...the weather?" Gosh that sounded lame. Declan hated small talk. But really he couldn't blame himself. This wasn't exactly normal conversation, right? Speaking of, he realized that though he knew the mule's name he still didn't know who the young man was.

"Forgive me," he said, reaching out his hand to the taller man. "Declan O'Cassidy." He faltered for a moment wondering if there was some sort of handshake type ritual he should be doing with the mule. Wait...it was a mule right? Perhaps it was a shapeshifting meta?

This was why he preferred being a loner. People and social interactions were just so complicated.

[Dr. Jay Murdoch]

Admittedly, it was a little amusing to see how people reacted to hearing that the mule knew what was being said. Always that little moment of bewilderment, then hesitation, and then trying to acknowledge the animal looking their way. Granted, Jay knew he was in a special position with being able to communicate with equines, but he remembered back when he couldn’t, and he knew exactly how he would’ve responded to someone telling him what he now told many.

Sherman’s long ears swiveled toward the shorter male and then turned back lazily.

Jay couldn’t help but grin, glancing between the mule and the man. ”He says it’s nice weather but he prefers the cold,” he said. Not much else had been given by the animal; then again, Sherman wasn’t much for conversation with others that couldn’t hear him. Didn’t quite matter, however, because the man was already turning his attention to him to introduce himself.

”All good, don’t worry ‘bout it. Nice meetin’ you, Mr. O’Cassidy. Doctor Jay Murdoch.” The redhead smiled at Declan as he shook the offered hand. He didn’t think he’d seen the shorter man before… then again, Jay wasn’t around town much when he wasn’t in house at the animal hospital, and if someone didn’t have a farm or exotic animals, he really didn’t meet many people outside of his field of work. I do need to get out more, he thought.

”Sorry if we’re in your way; I am, once again, late on findin’ presents for people for the holidays, so I was window shoppin’.”

[Declan O'Cassidy]

Since the other man didn't elaborate much, Declan came to the conclusion that it must be just a mule and not some sort of shapeshifter. At least if the mule was just a mule, Declan felt less pressure to try to keep him a part of the conversation. Though he did wonder about the cold thing. If he were an animal, he would much prefer to be out of the cold. Maybe the mule lived indoors. Who knew? Declan tried to keep his curious mind from falling down the rabbit hole and instead turned his attention to the man.

Shaking hands wasn't really Declan's favorite thing to do. He felt it always drew attention to his short stature. But still, it was one of those thing, like small talk, that a person couldn't really ever get away from. No matter how much of a home body they were, eventually they had to comment on the weather and shake a few hands. "You're a doctor, for animals?" He hoped that didn't come across as saying that vets were somehow less than human doctors, but it seemed a logical conclusion. Besides, it might be good to know a vet in town in case Ernest ever needed a check up or something more urgent. He wondered if the man worked with cats as well, or could talk to them too. He could love to know what went on in the head of his pet.

"Not at all," Declan said, smiling a bit at the Jay's apology. "I'm on the same mission. Got a family larger than my wallet so I'm hoping to find some good deals. Who are you shopping for?"