Quadrant Feathers

Chapter 9 "Criminology"

Phandrin let out a quiet breath facing the boy who laid now silent on the bed. His tail hung off as he noticed how uncomfortable it would likely get wearing jeans to sleep.

Glancing around the room he recognized the plain walls, nothing really out of order as he glanced back at the boy. Was he high? He had to have been lying about his eyes but why did he just let Phandrin stay in the room? Leaning on his knees he opened his phone seeing no new notifications before turning it off again.  

Sighing again he glanced over the bed seeing a small bag. Furrowing his eyebrows he sat up quietly moving towards it. Had Kwared missed putting them away? Are they what's been affecting him or are they medication?

He leaned over, careful of the boy's tail as he grabbed the bag quietly. He heard the blanket shift beneath his as he grabbed it leaning back quickly into the chair. He paused waiting for the shifting to stop as Kwared now laid faced away completely. Smiling slightly at his victory he looked at the bag examining the few pills inside. He grabbed one looking closely at the engraving before pulling out his phone.

He took a small photo of the engravings zooming in seeing the small number before typing it into a search bar. He recognized the code but not the order. He had been studying criminology which often involved pills and drugs though he was still kind of new so he couldn't exactly name every single one.

As the search loaded he set the bag back down carefully and sat back down. Scrolling through the first result popped up as his eyebrows furrowed.

He read off the many pills and descriptions to himself in his head, the side effects worrying. He screenshotted each one, may be information that could help Ace as well.

With a small puff, he set the bag down into its spot carefully. Trying to find each pill and its name had taken a little longer than expected. Glancing at the time he thought for a moment before letting out a screech when a hand pulled his phone from his grasp.

"Shut the hell up holy shit- I told you not to touch anything," Phandrin watched the boy open his phone to the gallery and deleting every screenshot. Phandrins stomach drop as Kwared handed him back to the phone before groaning annoyed. Phandrin watched him run his hands over his face sighing loudly.

"This was none of your business yet you still try to snoop huh," Kwared hummed turning his head to Phandrin who closed the phone setting it down.

"I knew you were lying," He mumbled as Kwared laughed quietly.

"That doesn't mean you snoop," he reminded before sitting up quickly shifting his shoulders. Phandrin moved to the side avoiding a hit from the boy's tail as Kwared smacked his head. Phandrin moved quickly hitting him back as Kwared picked up the bag and waving it in the air.

"You don't need to tell anyone about these and for all you know, they are prescribed alright?" Kwared said and Phandrin noted the threatening undetone as he nodded.

"So it's not-? Prescribed?" Phandrin asked rubbing his neck as Kwared shrugged.

"I don't need to tell you anything-" Kwared cut himself off glancing at the feathers on the boys back.

"Are those new?" He hummed and Phandrin furrowed his eyebrows. "The feathers,"

Phandrins eyes widened as he smiled suddenly shifting them.

"Yeah! Actually I just started gaining them the other day, I uhm, haven't figured out who it is though.." He trailed off and Kwared hummed.

"That's too bad, Have you met anyone recently," He asked sitting on the bed again trying to keep his eyes open.

"Yeah I'm a tour worker so there's a lot of people- are you alright-? How many did you take-," Phandrin asked glancing at the bag Kwared set on his dresser. Phandrins stomach was twisting at the possibilities of overdose that he had read about.

"I'll be fine, actually can you do me a favor?" Kwared asked avoiding the question quickly glancing at his phone as it made a loud ping noise. Phandrin glanced at it seeing a texting screen and a message that seemed to be in caps lock.

"Go lock the do-"

Kwared was interrupted by a loud crash as the door whipped open. The door closed again quickly as a long black tail whipped around, a growl like laugh rang in as Kwared pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What did you need, Kertia,"