Unlike some people, Ven didn't have to be talked into coming to this get-together, or think of it in any way other than what it was presented as. Oh, sure, he's not dumb; he's sure there's something going on here, even if he has next to zero skills in deception or detection or anything like that. He's been subject of or adjacent to too many "plans" for him to think of anything like this as completely innocent. But there's absolutely no reason to not use it as the jumping off point for meeting more people, right? Right.
And there are animals.
Eraqus had been a strict man and hadn't allowed pets in the castle, no matter how much his apprentices had begged or given him their own puppy eyes, and so after asking once if he could keep a bird he'd found when he was thirteen and receiving a firm no, Ven hadn't asked again. Eraqus was the master, and you didn't fight with your master. But getting out in the worlds had shown Ven how much he enjoyed seeing other places, other faces, and other living things (that weren't trying to kill him, at least), and that idea of getting a pet one day was not exactly gone.
His face when he comes into the building slowly spreads into a smile verging on a grin, and after stepping out of the way of traffic, Ven plops down cross-legged in a corner and waits for one of the cats to come to him. None of them look weird to him, but then again, one of his friends is a six-limbed short blue alien with giant ears and eyes. And when the first one to come over is definitely cat-shaped but looks entirely too prickly to be handled, he still doesn't hesitate. Or at least he only hesitates long enough to figure out which way the thorns go so he can pet along the grain, not against the grain, so he doesn't end up with his hand all stabbed and bloody. The creature seems to like this and "purrs," a noise which sounds an awful lot like a bunch of branches rattling together as in a high wind, and places both paws on his knee to reach closer to his hand and lean into the strokes.
Ven grins, watching his new friend. "You like that, do you? You got anything else you like?"
Ventus | Kingdom Hearts
And there are animals.
Eraqus had been a strict man and hadn't allowed pets in the castle, no matter how much his apprentices had begged or given him their own puppy eyes, and so after asking once if he could keep a bird he'd found when he was thirteen and receiving a firm no, Ven hadn't asked again. Eraqus was the master, and you didn't fight with your master. But getting out in the worlds had shown Ven how much he enjoyed seeing other places, other faces, and other living things (that weren't trying to kill him, at least), and that idea of getting a pet one day was not exactly gone.
His face when he comes into the building slowly spreads into a smile verging on a grin, and after stepping out of the way of traffic, Ven plops down cross-legged in a corner and waits for one of the cats to come to him. None of them look weird to him, but then again, one of his friends is a six-limbed short blue alien with giant ears and eyes. And when the first one to come over is definitely cat-shaped but looks entirely too prickly to be handled, he still doesn't hesitate. Or at least he only hesitates long enough to figure out which way the thorns go so he can pet along the grain, not against the grain, so he doesn't end up with his hand all stabbed and bloody. The creature seems to like this and "purrs," a noise which sounds an awful lot like a bunch of branches rattling together as in a high wind, and places both paws on his knee to reach closer to his hand and lean into the strokes.
Ven grins, watching his new friend. "You like that, do you? You got anything else you like?"