lost and found, c

On his way home from purchasing his and his little sister’s dinner, Ash was forced to make a detour when he stumbled on a lost wallet. The weathered leather—or maybe it was pleather?—sat forgotten in the middle of the walk way. For it to even still be on the ground meant the owner wasn’t far, or so he assumed. Being the Good Samaritan he could be, he picked it up and set off to find said person. Now all he needed to do was find someone frantic and who appeared to be searching for something.



It didn’t take a detective to figure that out, though his exceptional perception did give him an upper hand to the average person. And it wasn’t long before he found the guy in question. The picture on the license he glimpsed when he opened it was all the evidence he needed to conclude he found him. “You dropped this.” Ash held it out to the dark haired man. He seemed a bit irritated so the brunet hoped he would spare any misdirected anger.

The way the dark-haired man was eyeing the trashcan and removing his scarf, Ash almost was convinced he was going to put himself in the trash. Why would anyone do that though? It seemed rather pointless and disgusting too. Maybe it was a Nova Athenis thing? He was starting to believe the people on the island had some abnormality in their brains. Sofia fit in perfectly. He could see why she was so insistent about living on the island.

Ash only stared at the taller man as he inspected the contents of his wallet with such exuberance, an eyebrow quirked. The inquisitive brow fell when the word kid left the stranger’s tongue. His eyes narrowed, upper lids hanging over his yellow eyes. Before he was given time to reply, the over sized moron was patting his head like he was some animal. He ducked away, glaring. “I’m twenty four years old, you bloody idiot. I’m not a child!”

He fixed his hair, which had become mussed by the idiot’s patting. “My name is Ashton Holmes. I’m a private investigator.” He regretted returning the guy’s wallet. Ash should have left it for someone else to do. It was light so there was probably nothing of value in it anyways. There certainly wasn’t any money in it. But his conscience wouldn’t have let him leave it lying on the ground. Sometimes he wished he wasn’t such a good person. Creation knows the human race didn’t deserve kindness.

The disbelief written clearly across the idiots face was the normal reaction when anyone heard how old he really was. No matter how often he saw that expression, it annoyed him just the same. In this case, however, seeing on the dark haired and taller man made him more irritate than usual. “I am a private investigator and I am twenty four. Do I need to show you my ID for it to get through your thick skull?” Without waiting for a reply, he pulled out his wallet and flashed the plastic card contained behind a membrane of plastic.

Ash was unimpressed with this man, Cain. He just glowered up at him, yellow eyes smoldering like small magma pools. “If you pat my head again, Cain, I will not hesitate to kick you.” He cross him arms. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll take my leave.” The thought of the café he passed earlier reminded him of his hunger. He figured he’d head back there and indulge in their daily special. A coffee sounded pretty good too. He wondered if it had a decent selection.

The ID shut up the oblivious brunet tailing him. It was a relief to know that it was possible for something to get through that thick skull of his. He was beginning to think it was impossible. However, it seemed there were some things that still didn’t quite get through to him. Ash’s last comment was meant to be his good bye. He didn’t have much desire to spend any more time in the guy’s company. He didn’t seem to have much choice in the matter now.

Ash rolled his eyes as Cain went on. He had heard enough about how much he looked like a kid and on how short he was. Did no one know how to shut up about it? The young detective took the ID from his back pocket and placed it back into his wallet. He had nearly forgotten about it in his irritation. Well, he guessed it was a good thing Cain followed him. “I enjoy it so long as I’m not asked to follow someone’s cheating spouse.” He mumbled. “And no, nothing that fictitious.”

He had to give Cain credit for being persistent, or maybe he too dense to grasp that his presence was unwelcomed. Ash didn’t care to figure out which. Honestly, the effort wasn’t worth it. The detective was more worried about trying to get the guy to leave him alone anyways. His apathy had no effect on the so-called-musician. He seemed too caught up in images of fictitious detections he was whipping up in his hallow head. There was probably some thought about Ash’s stature bouncing around there too.

Ash decided to switch tactics and pretend he couldn’t hear the ceaseless blabbering of his unwanted companion. It didn’t work out too well. He stopped dead in his tracks. Assistant? No. No way. Having Sofia around was enough for him. That was more than enough for him and even then it was too much. His little sister seemed convinced that he was her assistant, after all. It was about as demeaning as people believing he was a kid. “I don’t need an assistant.”

Whatever possessed him to move to an island like Nova Athenis anyways? Now that he was an official citizen with a job and an apartment, he was beginning to wonder why he had even left his home country. Everyone in the city acted so strange. There was something seriously wrong with the island’s population. For that very reason, his sister was attracted to it and he couldn’t get her to leave with him. As much as she drove him mad, he loved her dearly and couldn’t leave her behind.

Yeah, that was the reason he kept telling himself. In truth, he was curious. Even the irritating Cain piqued his curiosity. He would never admit that though. “If it’ll shut you up, fine.” Maybe that was why those words left his mouth. Ash regretted them as soon as he spoke. Yet, it wasn’t enough to make him wish to take them back. “Just don’t get in the way or do anything stupid…What?” The brunet averted his face and side stepped Cain, who had gotten too close to his face and even said something weird. “I’m not cute.”

This guy was irritating so Ash was all for anything to get him to shut up. He didn’t realize what a bad idea it would be though. Ash just wanted to avoid the idiot getting worked up and persisting to bother him about being his assistant. He suspected he wouldn’t give up very easily. Either way, there was no ‘winning’ in those particular circumstances. Cain would probably continue to follow him even if he tried to ignore him and get away. He had proven to be rather relentless.

Ash didn’t want to see the extent of his persistence however. But now he was presented with an entirely worse situation. “Shut up.” He swatted Cain’s hand away lightly. “No one asked you anyways.” This was annoying. Why did he ever find that idiots wallet? “How long do you plan to follow me around?” He was half tempted to puff out his cheeks in annoyance, but he refrained. Something told him that gesture mine provoke an irritating reaction from the other man.