YOU WERE SEEING SOFT PALE MOONS → failed house hunt

[michael t.]

ALL I FOUND THE SPACE BETWEEN THE SPACES
STANDING IN THE NOTHING, AND TIME RECLAIMS YOU

When Michael had initially joined The Typhoon, he had been... unsure about where he stood. He had constantly been on edge and looking over his shoulder, thinking that his past would eventually catch up to him. In the meantime, though, he had met someone who truly cared about him – Roxie. And for a brief while, he had resided within her home, back when only herself and Roan were the two other occupants. It had been a rather cozy living situation, with the bobcat helping out wherever he could to make both Roan and Roxie comfortable. He was hardly a housekeeper, but he would've felt awful just lazing about there, even with his usual selfish attitude. Rox had always seemed to appreciate it, although his attempts to clean usually just turned into jumbled game nights when he stumbled upon some forgotten toy or board game tucked away in a corner. Roan had always wanted to play them, and Roxie would do anything for Roan, and Michael would in turn do anything for her, so... it was a natural cycle.

Eventually, though, the dealer had known that he needed his own place. He didn't like intruding on Roxie and Roan's home, even if they did consider him to be family. Additionally, that was right around the time when Trevor had shown up, and Michael had been sure Rox would rather die than let him live with them. So, the bobcat had gone on a house hunt, scouring the beach for a hut that he would find suitable. Unlike Harland, though, the thief hadn't had many old attachments that made him difficult to become used to something else. After all, Michael had spent his entire life moving. Ever since that fateful day when he had fled from his initial "family home," he had constantly been on the move. Never settling in one place, instead moving from one camp to the next, first on his own and then with Trevor. None of those camps had ever really felt like home. Rather, they had just been temporary residences. For the sake of convenience.

When he had found the hut he wanted to be his personal haven, it hadn't really been because of the structure itself. Instead, it had been because of the occupants that were already there. Namely, the rats. Despite initially being surprised and "attacked" by the family of rodents that lingered inside, Michael had quickly warmed up to them. Not wanting to move them from one hut to another, the bobcat had simply decided that it would be easier to fix the place up for himself, rather than disturb them. When Trevor had heard about this, the coyote had called him an "enormous softie," but for once, Michael hadn't really minded. After all, he loved taking care of his tiny companions, and it wasn't as if he had needed anything particularly fancy for living in. The only occupants had been himself and Trevor, and neither of them were exactly used to five star hotels.

It was a shame that Harland couldn't have that same sense of setachment, though. It was obvious that the other's house hunt wasn't going very well, and Michael caught onto it the moment he emerged from his own hut. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out what was going on, considering the way that Har was ducking his head into the various structures, and peeking around. Additionally, the dealer was fairly sure he knew why the other was struggling so much. While he obviously didn't know every detail of Harland's past, he knew that the other had a life before all this. Presumably a fairly full one. That much was obvious just from how he and Diya had reacted when Michael had mentioned Elysium. Namely, with vague disgust and disagreement. Although, in the male's defense, he hadn't even been around for the existence of the Ascendants.

Nevertheless, Michael didn't want to just leave the other sitting out in the proverbial cold. So, he approached soon after Vayne, biting down lightly on the inside of his own cheek before pressing forth. When he grew close, he moved to very lightly press against the other's side, a soft gesture of greeting before he spoke, "Hey there, Har... you in the market for a house 'round here?" He smiled kindly at the other feline, his tail twitching before he continued, "The places around here are pretty nice, but I've gotta warn you... some of them have got rats." He was quick to snicker after that particular little joking comment. He was trying his best to keep the mood light, not wanting Harland to end up too down in the dumps about the whole house-hunting endeavor.

— Reggan