Shinichi peers at the odd small reptile in front of him, utterly baffled. Despite being only about the length of his hand, the creature has a ferocious look about it, but somehow manages to carry an air of joy and overall playfulness and child-like amusement. Well, in addition to looking extremely upset and unsettled that is. The pearly lizard's tail lashes like that of an irritated cat, and it seems to grumble rather frustratedly to itself. Or…himself? Herself? Themselves? The odd creature does seem to have a certain keen intelligence, and gives the impression that it would care.
Shinichi shakes his head quickly, banishing the odd thoughts. It isn't like him to so carefully pick apart meaningless things about an unidentifiable lizard he happened to come across on his way back home. After entering the mansion, he had carefully placed the agitated thing on the table to observe. Rightfully so at that, Shinichi has never even heard of a reptile like this.
Well, not like he's done extensive research on small lizards, but finding one that's such a startlingly white in mid-winter, while being cold blooded no less, certainly does get one's attention.
Shinichi carefully pokes at the reptile's side, getting a remarkably unimpressed look in return. It shifts, an oddly shaped bit of scale attracting his attention. There's little nubs of what looks like hardened scales on either side of the lizard's spine, a bit back from the joint of the front legs. How odd. As he reaches out with his pointer finger to gently brush against one, it swivels away and the reptile chatters at him, obviously annoyed. So not just a random piece of scale jutting out then, there are obviously joints and bone involved there. Shinichi pauses for a moment, silently staring at the creature while it just simply sits there and looks back up at him, as he debates whether to keep the creature inside for now to investigate and observe it or letting it loose outside. Maybe figuring out a way to haul it around and visiting the nearest pet shop is in his future. The first step to learning more about the strange white reptile is identifying what it even is, and for that he's going to need more than just 'white lizard with weird shoulder nubs'.
As he lifts his hands to poke at it again, something seems to draw it's attention, the lizard's rough right head jerking up, before being tilted to the side. Then, whatever had elicited the reaction must've... stopped? Left? Something along those lines, because the lizard just lets all the tension go in it's body, flopping onto it's belly with a huff. Shinichi hesitates for a moment, before gently moving his finger up to the reptile, tensed and ready to draw back at a negative sign from the animal. He gently places the digit onto the ridge of scales above one of the lizard's eyes, gently sliding it across the length of the ridge, the scale smooth while the rough edges are still detectable. In response, the animal in front of him manages to relax even further, omitting some probably happy noise before it stops suddenly, somehow managing a confused and hesitant expression before the sound resumes, the strange alarm passing. Shinichi frowns slightly.
"What are you?" He asks the lizard in a hushed voice, captivated already by the puzzle the creature presents. He swears the reptile shrugs before nuzzling his finger, nudging Shinichi's palm with it's nose. He resumes stroking it's eye ridge, scooping the animal up in his other hand, walking slowly out of the kitchen to the library. Shinichi carefully sits down in his favorite chair, comfortably worn and soft, settling his new reptile in his lap before picking up a nearby book, a piece of paper sticking out of the top. He cracks open the book, immersing himself into the story as his absentmindedly pets the lizard. It relaxes, settling in and stretching out contentedly. It makes that purring noise again, and slowly seems to warm, becoming a near radiator within the hour. Shinichi shifts uneasily. There's a small lizard fast asleep on him, and he doesn't want to disturb the creature. But on the other hand, if he waits much longer there's a chance of the reptile deciding to spontaneously combust. He knows it's a ridiculous concept, but there seemed to be no end to the reptile's exponentially growing heat. He scoops up the creature gently, cradling it for a moment, causing it to blink sleepily up at him right as he sets the lizard down onto the table beside his chair. It huffs at him, standing up before curling up into a ball on the cool wood. Shinichi eyes the strange animal once more, before immersing himself back into the story.
Later that evening, the sun having set hours before, the white lizard huffs noisily before launching itself into the middle of Shinichi's book, sprawling out to intentionally block as much of the pages as it could. At least, it sure seemed intentional. Shinichi gives the white reptile a scathing look. He was mid-chapter and was not going to stop in the middle of the climax; well, not unless a case came by or something.
The lizard just looks back up at him, projecting a clear intention of not moving. He goes to scoop it up, it simply barely avoids his hand, resuming it's sprawl. Shinichi sighs, moving the book out of his lap over the table, and tilts it. The reptile makes a startled noise as at slides down, plopping onto the surface with another sound, this time rather disgruntled. It simply picks itself up, and as soon as Shinichi turns to go back to reading, once again obscures the page. Shinichi tries a couple more times, intent on at least finished the chapter if this reptile is going to be so stubborn.
Shinichi sighs again, but this time making eye contact with the lizard. "If you're going to be like this, how about this? I'll figure out what you're trying to get me to do, but first I'm going to finish this chapter."
The lizard eyes him suspiciously, as if it can understand, before picking itself up off the book and perching on the arm of the chair, peering at the text. Shinichi continues reading, getting lost in the story once again, and the mysterious reptile doesn't move. That is, until he goes to turn the page to continue reading, not realizing that the newest chapter title was emblazoned on the page. The lizard throws itself back on the book with a huff, seeming to glare at Shinichi.
"Okay, okay fine. What do you want?" At that moment, his stomach seems to more or less answer for the reptile. The cacophony it manages to make is astonishing, and the lizard gives him a rather annoyed pointed look. Shinichi sighs, remembering his promise to play a game of charades with the animal, though it seemed that perhaps it had just wanted him to... take care of himself? Or maybe it was hungry as well?
He scoops up the white reptile, having it perch across his shoulders and neck as he replaces his bookmark, sets the novel aside, and stands to move into the kitchen.
Shinichi opens a cabinet, hoping that he'd have something quick and easy. He stares blankly at the nearly empty space, the sad lone box of something or other not processing as it occurs to him he still has no clue what his new reptile friend eats. And beyond that, it wasn't even if there's was much for him to eat either. His mind finally catches up, sighing deeply.
"Guess we need to go shopping then, huh?"