Percival
Location: Herbivore Dorms - Outside The Warren
Mentions: None
Interactions: Open
Perci hurried back to his class, cutting time but jogging through the snow. It crunched underfoot (underhoof?) with each hurried step. He had, surprisingly, made back to the building rather quickly. His professor didn’t even notice him pull open the classroom door. Perci was relieved. He trotted back up to his desk and took a seat. His fuzzy gray tail nervously twitched all throughout the duration of the class.
Class ended without a hitch, thankfully. Perci grabbed his bag, which was already packed from before, and slung it over his shoulder. His phone vibrated in his hoodie pocket. The goat had no need to check his device since he knew who it was. It was Fenzi, of course. He felt slightly disappointed… She was the only person he regularly spoke to anymore. Regardless, he still pulled his phone out of his pocket while pushing the door open.
“Don’t forget about the meeting in half an hour”
Oh, lord. He’d been dreading the meeting ever since Fenzi reminded him. Perci felt tired, and after today’s shenanigans, he wanted to go to his dorm and sleep. His brain felt fuzzy but he reluctantly decided to attend. However, the goat knew he’d need to grab his laptop. Back to the dorms, it is. Perci brushed some of his fur out of his face and tried to hurry back to his dorm room. It was warming up, but not nearly quick enough. The cold air made his nose feel dry. Gross.
Perci’s walk to the dorm was uneventful. It had stopped snowing, thankfully, but it was still cold as balls. He was going to walk to the Warren, so he was going to have to add another layer to his outfit. Oh well. He grabbed the door to the building and rushed inside. It was pretty empty since nobody wanted to hang around close to the entrance where the heat escaped. He grabbed his bag, rifling through it to find his keys. It was taking him a bit longer than usual. His tail twitched in annoyance.
By the time Perci found his keys, he was already climbing up the staircase. He was on the second floor, which was dedicated to smaller herbivores. He was technically on the tall side of “short”, but compared to many other medium-sized animals, he was below average. It irked him sometimes. Most of the time his height only became an issue when putting away the dishes, or speaking to his insanely hot wolf classmate. Fuck! Why couldn’t Marcello be more...approachable? Though Perci supposed Marcello wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting if he wasn’t a tall predator-animal…
He knew that was weird. He also knew that some prey animals would develop feelings for a potential attacker as a way to cope. But...he never saw Marcello as a threat. He got scared once, and it was today. Perci recalled when he saw those large fangs up close… Those god-awful teeth made him uncomfortable, but that feeling was one he felt towards ALL carnivores. It was his instinct to be scared, especially when he was an undersized farm animal. He tried his best to ignore it. He has better things to think about, like what shirt to wear.
Perci was unlocking his door. Room number 203. It was pretty close to the stairway and elevator, but that was only convenient sometimes… He heard EVERY conversion between groups who just entered the floor. It annoyed the shit out of him. The goat pulled open the door to reveal his roommate standing on the counter-top.
Perci’s roommate was a Silver Dik-dik, a type of miniature antelope, named Grant. He stood at barely 4 feet and had the beadiest eyes he had ever seen. The goat wasn’t bothered by the sight of this. Even though the countertops and appliances were shortened, they were still a smidge too tall for Grant. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen this.
“You need help?” Perci offered.
“Nah,” Grant answered.
“Kay. Wipe off the countertop when you’re done,” Perci murmured while drifting off to his room. That’s usually how their conversations went. Grant was cool, but their majors were completely different. They simply had nothing in common other than being short ungulates. At least they could tolerate each other. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if his roommate was a slob or any other sort of wackjob.
Perci shut his bedroom door behind him and pulled off his hoodie. He was going to need a long-sleeve shirt instead of the oversized tee he wore. It was a bright, nauseating orange that said “ILLINOIS MOM”. Perci relished it because he was neither from Illinois nor a mother. Half of his wardrobe consisted of ironic clothing with surreal or nonsensical imagery. He usually kept those clothes to himself when he was lounging indoors, sleeping, or wearing them under a jacket. He opened his closet and pushed past the cursed items, grabbing at his long-sleeved shirts and sweaters.
He grabbed a snug-looking black knit sweater and pulled it over his body. The shoulders were cut, but other than that, it was pretty warm. Oh, gee, this didn’t match his pants at all… Perci’s brow furrowed as he began rooting around for more clothes to try on. A tighter pair of jeans maybe? It was too cold for leggings. His tail waggled while he thought to himself. Wasn’t he here for his laptop? Oh, yeah…
By the time Perci had finished getting dressed, he was running a little behind schedule. He had to grab his laptop from his nightstand and shove it into his bag, but it wouldn’t fit. Perci huffed, growing frustrated. He tossed his Art History textbook onto his bed. It bounced and then landed on the floor with an expensive-sounding thunk, scaring Perci in the process. Fuck! He gripped his ears and pulled on them in embarrassment. Oh, he hated being so jumpy. This was the reason he couldn’t keep his phone with sound, it scared him- His foot stomped on the floor gently while he raveled up his laptop’s charger and fit it into his bag.
Perci was out the door within the next few minutes. He wore a different hoodie, a black one with a star pattern on the front, but it was a hoodie nonetheless. He also had a pair of jeans that were more like a warmer pair of jeggings. He wouldn’t call them jeggings, that’d be stupid. He texted Fenzi that he was on his way. She called him “fuckhead” and told him to hurry up.
Perci had no more delays on campus, thankfully. The sun was actually shining now, albeit dully. The goat welcomed the change in the weather. While walking up the sidewalk, he spotted Marcello. The maned wolf was also leaving campus, but Perci didn’t know why. He caught up to Marcello by the crosswalk to head into town, hesitating for a moment. Should he say something? Maybe he could ask him to come to the Warren with him… But that would just be a best-case scenario. Instead, he decided to just say hi and ask him if he was okay.
“Hey,” Perci started meekly.
The canine’s ear twitched and swiveled Perci’s direction. Marcello’s head turned and he looked down at the goat quizzically. “Hm?- Oh, what’s up?”
“It’s just funny running into you. I thought you’d be at the campus nurse’s office- are you okay, by the way?”
“Oh, I’m fine. I didn’t break my nose, so they let me out early. I can’t smell a damn thing, though.”
Perci chuckled a bit. “Shit, dude, you should probably get that checked out.”
Marcello shrugged and scratched the back of his ear. “Meh, if it doesn’t go away, then I will,” he answered.
The signal to cross the street lit up, and the few cars on the road came to a halt. Marcello started leisurely walking across, but Perci had to quicken his pace to keep up with him. Holy fuck, Marcello’s body was what Perci thought to be about 70% leg. The wolf’s strides for each step were at least twice as much for the goat.
“Hey, are you busy right now?” Perci asked.
“Eh, just grabbing some things for the dorm from town. The campus store is overpriced,” Marcello answered. “Why?”
Ah, fuck- Perci’s face flushed, but he was glad he has his fur to hide it. Oh, for god’s sake! He’d asked out tons of guys before, why was this suddenly so hard? He nervously grabbed one of his ears and stroked it. “Nothing, really, I just wondered if you had time to walk with me. I’m going to The Warren for a club meeting.”
Marcello listened to Perci, nodding slightly. In his head, he was sure this was some small animal thing. After the fight, he could see why he would be so on edge about being alone. Goats were herd animals after all. At least, that’s what Marcello thought this was about. He decided to accept the offer. “Sure.”
“Cool, thanks.” Perci cringed at his own awkwardness. “We’ll be having an open mic night, soon. You can sign up when we get there, if you’d like.”
“Open mic? So, like, music?” Marcello inquired while they turned the corner.
“Uh, yeah, kinda? Music, slam poetry, comedy. Anything, really. If you’re into that kind of stuff, you can always give it a shot.”
Marcello shook his head. “Nah, everything I do is on the computer. Sounds fun though.”
Perci felt a bit defeated after hearing this. “If you just wanna watch, admission’s free. I’ve got my band going up for a set.”
“You play in a band?”
Perci shrugged. “I guess- There’s only two of us so far, so we’re more of a duo. We don’t even have a name yet. I play drums live, but we both mess around on Garage band.”
“That’s actually really cool, though. You having fun with it?”
Perci perked up a bit, sounding more enthusiastic now. “Oh, yeah. I didn’t expect it to be, but I’m having a good time. I’ve always played by myself, so being in a group is a nice change of pace.”
Before the two of them knew it, they had arrived at The Warren. It was a quaint pub with a cozy atmosphere. They both stood by the doors and looked at each other for a moment.
“I guess this is the place, huh?” Marcello pointed out while reading the sign.
“Yeah,” Perci responded, “It’s a nice place.”
“Well, before I go, is there anywhere you share your music? I’d like to listen to it one day.”
“Huh?-” Perci was taken aback. He thought Marcello was just being polite. “Oh, yeah, just on YouTube and IG for the most part.”
Marcello reached out of his pocket and took out a phone. “What’s your @? So I can message you-”
Perci’s heart fluttered for a moment. “Oh! It’s- Here, let me type it…”
Marcello handed Perci the phone, which was a bit large compared to his small hands. It took him a moment of struggling with the keyboard, but he managed to find his account and hand it the phone back to its owner. He watched as Marcello clicked the “follow” button and scrolled a bit through Perci’s posts. God, he was so glad he didn’t ever upload anything...strange or otherwise unsavory online. Perci felt his phone buzz as he got a notification that Marcello followed him.
“Well, it was nice talking to you,” Marcello said as he gave Perci a wave. The goat watched him turn to leave and tapped his foot on the concrete. It was now or never, really-
“Hey, would you like to stay for the meeting?” Perci couldn’t bring himself to ask Marcello out yet… He should probably get to know him better. He’d been crushing on his but he didn’t even know his full name! Actually, he did know his name, but that was from stalking his Instagram profile… Damn, Perci was just now coming to terms with how strange he was.
“Oh, uhh… I’m kinda busy, but maybe for a few minutes?” The wolf negotiated.
“That’s fine- the other friend in my band is inside, so I’m sure she’d like to meet you. She also helps manage the club” Perci tried to sound more cheerful, but he thought it felt forced.
Marcello opened the door and held it open for Perci. Even though the doors were lightweight so that any species could open them, it was polite for the largest animal in the group to hold the door open for smaller ones. Perci walked inside. Marcello hadn’t seen him from behind but admired the funny little gait hooved animals had when they walked. It was...endearing?
Sitting by the bar was a familiar rabbit with extremely long ears and a smug expression. Her half-lidded gaze fell upon Perci and called him over. Though she sat in a relaxed position and was even smaller than her friend, she carried herself with poise. Perci admired that about Fenzi… She was always so confident.
“You’re late,” Perci remarked while lifting up her paw and prodding Perci in the chest. She was joking, of course.
“Yeah, sorry, I had to get changed and get my stuff from the dorm,” Perci explained, “and I ran into a friend on the way here-”
Marcello seated himself on the stool beside Perci. The knees of his long legs bent as he sat down. His nose twitched as he tried to identify the scents of the restaurants, but the baboon encounter left his sniffer feeling sore instead. He wasn’t even hungry for food like usual when he entered a food establishment. Bummer, man… Half the joy of eating is the smell- at least for canines, it was. Fenzi’s eyes fell upon him. She looked at the wolf, nodded, and said one word: “Sup?”
Marcello lifted a paw to wave in response. “Hi, I’m Marcello.”
“Cool name. I’m Fenzi,” the rabbit replied, not skipping a beat.
“I heard you guys are in a band. What do you play?” He was curious, but also trying to figure out ways to make appropriate small talk.
“Synth, mostly, but I also mix most of our recordings. You play anything?”
Marcello listened but shook his head at the question. “No, unfortunately. I’m more of a writer and an over-glorified mathematician. Perci and I are both taking a class about level design and game mechanics.”
“Hey,” Perci interjected, “You should tell us about your games. Your class projects are always pretty cool.”
Marcello felt flattered, but also a little anxious? He never got the chance to speak about his work often. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to. However, he was only going to stay for a few minutes, so it wouldn’t hurt to give them a summary.
