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Without much of a thought or a care over where she was heading, Demi's small paws carried her quickly across a busy street. She nimbly dodged through the legs of several humans and soon found herself skittering into a much less crowded park. Panting lightly from her short sprint, the bobtail fell back on her haunches and shook her head. Running her rough tongue over a forepaw a few times, she drew it over her ear repeatedly in an attempt to settle her nerves again.

A light, high-pitched ring-a-ling sounded as the young female, quite suddenly, began kicking at the green ribbon about her neck with one of her hind paws. Ever since she set out on her own, it seemed as if the lovely ribbon she had been given was growing smaller and smaller... or maybe she just had fleas; Demi wasn't quite certain which. Letting her paw fall to rest beside her again, the kit sighed and took a moment to adjust her collar. Her ears twitched with delight, and she batted at the small silver bell again; she loved the sound it made, even if the ribbon had become irritating over the weeks.

Quickly becoming bored with just sitting around again, Demi's deep-golden eyes lifted again to skim the park she had found herself in. This place didn't seem familiar at all; in fact, she was quite certain that she had never set paw in this part of town before. Her eyes lit up at the realization; that meant it was time to explore! Her short, puff of a tail twitched eagerly as she got back to her paws and began exploring the park first. She zigged and zagged all over, inquisitively testing out everything she could. In her haste, she nearly didn't notice the quiet color-point cat sitting in her path. Unfortunately for her, and for him too, she didn't notice him quite in time.

"H-hey!" She cried, trying to stop herself in time, but succeeding only in tumbling snout-over-tail into him, "Oooooow.... Man, what's the big idea, sitting in the middle of everything like that...? Geez...." Demi rubbed her tender muzzle gently as she complained in a tone heavy more with disappointment rather than anger.

Demi shook herself off, a small dust cloud erupting in her wake. Her ears perked at the Color-point's voice and she fixed her attention on him, puffing her cheeks a bit stubbornly at his words. She really hadn't been paying attention to the road in front of her, only what was in the distance ahead, but she really didn't need to admit that fault to him, did she? "Sorry to have disturbed you," She mewed in a slightly clipped tone, turning her head away from him and closing her eyes as she reached up to adjust her ribbon again. The bell jingled lightly in response, and although it was pleasing, Demi was irritatingly aware of how uncomfortable the collar was becoming.

Just as she was getting back to her paws to be on her way again, the male was suddenly right in front of her with a smile on his face. One of the Bobtail's ears flicked back uncertainly at first as she gazed up at him with a little scowl. "Oh... This is your park, is it?" She began skeptically, looking all around her as if in wonder, "That's funny... I don't remember discovering your scent anywhere that I examined earlier; are you sure?" Aware that she was being obstinate, and still feeling the burn of embarrassment from running into him in the first place, the small cat's tail began to twitch rapidly at her rump. "I was just resting a little," She mewed again, quietly, "I've never been around here." By this time, both of the Bobtail's ears were tilted back to the sides as she held his gaze.

But wait a minute.... Why should she be the one recieving the interrogation? She'd already confirmed that this wasn't officially his territory, so she had every right as he to be here! "A-anyway, why were you sitting there in the middle of the path? You're lucky I was the one to run into you and not one of those humans!" Letting a small, playful smirk make it's way to her maw, she continued, "With that fragile, little body, you would have been crushed for sure!"

When the calm little tom didn't react to her instigating, Demi's smirk fell a little and she tilted her head at him. "Oh," Was all she could think to say when he told her she had been looking for him in the wrong part of the park. Still, he was at least a little full of himself; as if the humans would care whether he was cute or not, they were all the same after all.

"Sparrow...?" She mewed curiously at the pet-name, "I think I prefer my own name; it's Demi." Grinning back at Phenex, the little cat flicked her bobbed tail and got to her paws again, "I don't think this park is a bad place, but it's a little too stationary for my liking. As well, thinking is okay sometimes, but doesn't that get boring all by yourself?" Her ears flicked with the sound of her bell as she tipped her head to the side again, "You live around here, right? Why don't you come with me; you could show me around this place. I've already had my fill of this park, for now."

Demi giggled a little, amused by his strange manner of speaking and hurried after him as he began to walk away. She listened attentively as he began listing off things to do and realized that she hadn't eaten anything that day. "Food! We definitely should find food first!" She mewed definitively, her stomach giving a soft burble of agreement. She wasn't certain whether she would enjoy visiting bookstores and arcades, but she decided to give it a try anyway. Having company for once was nice, and of everything she left behind when she abandoned her humans, it was the company of her siblings that she missed the most. "Phenex, right? You mentioned being a writer; what kind of things do you write about?" She wondered curiously; Demi herself didn't really have any hobbies to talk about. Her life without humans pretty much consisted of constant movement and exploration. A wanderer's life. She did enjoy the sound of bells and wind-chimes though, so maybe there was something to that that she just hadn't discovered yet.

"Let's see," Demi mewed thoughtfully, scurrying under the fence after the Color-point tom, "Well, any kind of food is good, really... As long as it's not kibble or vegetables. I like what the humans call Udon a lot though!" Giving herself a quick shake once she was past the fence, the smaller cat picked up her pace briefly to match his again. "Ah, poetry! That explains a lot, you know! All your talk of sitting and thinking..." She laughed lightly, trailing off to ponder her own hobbies. "I'm not really sure I know the answer to that. I like to explore new places, and I guess I kind of like competition too. I haven't really had anyone to compete with since I left my humans though." She smiled in spite of herself and glanced back at the cream-colored male beside her, "I suppose I haven't really found my 'calling' yet."

As the two of them fell back into the company of humans, Demi's shorter legs unconsciously carried her closer to Phenex's side and her ears flickered every now and then as she began tracking their movements as they passed. It wasn't so much that she was afraid of them, and it wasn't like she would even admit to it if she were, but she was always worried that one might try to pick her up and take her home with them. She wasn't about to let that happen to her again.

Demi allowed her gaze to wander all over the place as she listened to Phenex talk. Putting a finger to her chin, she mewed thoughtfully, "Well, I've never had duck before, but I think the seafood sounds good to me right now!" Now that the food situation had been decided upon, she thought about the suggestions offered to her by the Color-point tom next to her, and tilted her head a little. "Somehow, I don't think that being a tour-guide would be very fulfilling," She began, tilting her ears back doubtfully, "It's true that I enjoy exploring, but as a tour-guide, I'd have to trace the same routes over and over again; I prefer exploring new places."

A sudden wind picked up briefly, fluttering the knee-length skirt she wore and causing the bell around her neck to jingle a couple times. Trying desperately to make sure the skirt didn't fly up on her, the bobtail hissed quietly, "I really need to find some different clothes... this skirt really doesn't suit me out here..." Once the wind had died down again, she smoothed down her clothes and pulled at the ribbon around her neck a little. "To answer your question, I do like the sound of this bell that my human gave to me, even while this ribbon is really beginning to suck. I like the sound that it makes, and similarly, I like the sounds that wind chimes make! It's really kind of soothing and... I dunno... surreal?" She said with a bit of a giggle, "And come to think of it... music is really nice too; the sound of a woman's singing voice can be really relaxing, don't you think?" Demi stretched her arms out behind herself, beginning to loosen up a bit, even with the number of people around them increasing.

As she listened to him, Demi seriously considered his suggestions, for he made some nice, compromising points. She still wasn't sure that being a guide was for her, but it would be an option. Demi had a terrible habit of getting herself lost on her explorations, and she wasn't certain she wanted to be responsible for getting others lost as well. The scents of shrimp, kalamari, crab, unagi, and various types of fishes drew her attention to the stand just as Phenex was pointing things out to her.

She was a little embarrassed that he had caught her comment about her own clothes, but smiled gratefully to the tom all the same. "Okay, that sounds like an awesome plan!" She chirped, flipping a thumbs up at him with one hand and winking, "I'll meet you there, then maybe I'll check out that shop..."

With that, the American Bobtail left the Color-Point's side and padded quietly up to the stand and vendor. For a moment, she sat and watched him work, observing the tasty things he was making and trying to keep from drooling. She also watched the people who ordered food, seeing if any of them dropped anything. Dropped food was the easiest, since humans didn't seem to want it after it touched the ground; Demi didn't really see the difference, if eaten quickly it was still hot and still just as good. When it soon became apparent that she would have to work for her food, Demi sighed to herself and began cooking up a plan; it seemed as if she'd have to use one of her newest toys for the job. Chaos and Confusions seemed to work best for the small cat when she needed to get something she wanted.

Climbing a tree that was planted along the walk, Demi carefully made her way out to a branch that hung just shy of being over the stand. There she calculated the distances for a moment before producing a silver bell from a pocket in her skirt. It gave an odd, heavy sort of jingling sound, muffled as if it were under water. Holding it carefully, the she cat poised herself on the branch and flicked her arm out, launching the bell like a skipping-stone at the seafood cook. The man yelped as the bell 'tinged' against his spatula, sending it clattering to the ground. The bell deflected off the cooking utensil and hit the ground just beside the human as he scrambled to pick up his lost item. As it hit the ground, it gave a loud 'pop' and released a plume of pink smoke that quickly expanded and obscured the stand and people around it. As people began shouting and coughing, Demi moved in, dropping from her perch and landing at the side of the cart, carefully making sure to avoid the hot plates. She made swift work in grabbing one of the styrofoam containers and scooping various still-cooking food items inside. Shrimp and sauteed vegetables , tepanyaki salmon, fried rice with crab meat, and a combo sea-kabob all mixed together in her self-made to-go order.

Just as the smoke was beginning to clear and the cook had managed to retrieve his utensil, Demi hopped from the stand and made her way swiftly to the alley she had promised to meet Phenex in. The scents of her steal wafted up to her as she ran and made the bobtail nearly dizzy with hunger and anticipation. Skittering into the alley and out of the site of people for the moment, she leaned against a wall and panted with a victorious grin on her face. As much as she wanted to dig in, she decided to wait until her companion arrived with his meal. Her dark golden eyes wandered to the shops that made up the alley, what she could see of them anyway. The raucous, jumbled sound of several games met her from one side of the alley, but on the other, she could see dolls in the window of the shop Phenex had mentioned obtaining clothes from before.

Curiously, she edged closer to the display window and peered at the doll styles. Her current, skirted attire really wasn't doing it for her anymore, but Demi wondered just what kind of clothes would fit a cat like her.