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 Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 7:25 am
What Nat was supposed to be doing today: meet some friends at the movies, go out to dinner, then hang out at her friend's house until who-knew-when playing video games. Sounded pretty good in theory, right?
What Nat was really doing today: waiting outside the movie theater, idly twisting her bangs between her fingers as day descended into night, trying her hardest not to get angry because they definitely would have texted her or called her or something if they knew they were going to be late, right? She glanced at her phone again, just to make sure.
Nothing.
She sighed and tucked it back into her bag, leaning against the side of the building. A minute later she took her phone right back out again, because they might have tried to call her for all she knew. The service wasn't so great here -- or maybe they'd just gotten distracted. That happened a lot. She smiled to herself, thinking how typical it was of them.
Three phone calls and voice mails later, she dropped the phone into her bag again with a resounding sigh. Irritation swelled up in the pit of her stomach like a nauseating wave of hunger, but she forced it back down again. No big deal, she tried to tell herself. Movies ran late anyway. Sure, they were supposed to meet about an hour ago, but... things happen. Nat could afford to give it five more minutes.
Twenty minutes later, she'd had enough. She sighed, crossing her arms and frowning as she walked briskly away from the movie theater and back towards home. She kept trying to tell herself that something must have happened... but would it have really killed them to call? Or just a text, even one little text!
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 4:48 pm
It was here, she could feel it! It made the fur down her spine tingle and her whiskers twitch with excitement. She knew this feeling, having felt it before, and she was dead set on getting to it before some other cat snooped in on it.
Darting between legs, Ash wove her way through the crowd, back and forth, as she searched for that thing she felt. It was so close!
Her silver side brushed against the legs of a business man, but there was no reaction, save for the man impatiently swinging his foot at her. She avoided that easily, not even taking the time to wait for the signal to travel from his brain to his foot. Well... what passed for a brain maybe. That woman on his arm was obviously not his wife, but what did the guardian care? She wasn't the one the feeling was coming from either, she'd gather that much from being so close to them.
Changing tactics from a random search to something more refined, Ash aimed for the young people, despite the greater danger. They were faster, more likely to take notice of a cat being a bit too friendly with their ankles. One had nearly grabbed her before she had coyly run off, her tail curling in the air above her back. Not today, darling!
Back and forth she moved, between and over feet, legs brushed and hands avoided until she ran into a pair that made her stop and look up, blinking through the purple haze of her visor. Hmmm... This could be promising. Attention caught, Ash began to rub against the young girl's legs far more demanding, even letting out a plaintive mew as she stared up at her.
Pick me up, sweetling... She said through her eyes. I want to get to know you better.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 11:20 am
Nat was wrapped up in her own head, imagining the various scenarios that might have led to her friends' abandonment of her. The images ranged from car accidents and medical emergencies to more paranoid scenarios like ignoring her so they could all do something together instead. She didn't have any idea why they'd do that -- but why indeed, right? If it was just one person it would have been easier to chalk it up to a dead phone or something, but this was --
Something brushed against her leg, and she nearly gave a start before she heard that mew. Just like that, all the irritation and confusion was swept away (for now) and such a smile swept onto her face. "Oh my... " Nat dropped down to her knees, ignoring the grunts of irritation from a few people as they had to walk around her. She didn't particularly care as she moved to gently gather the bundle of fur towards her. She was cautious about it, careful. Cats were hard to read sometimes. One minute they would be all sweetness and purrs, and the next she might have claws in her face for daring to touch one.
But this one -- "... look at you, " Nat almost whispered as she rose back to her feet. "What a pretty little thing." It must have been a patient cat, what with all those accessories. She'd seen cats tolerate some, but this was the first she'd seen with something like a visor before. Nat quickly skimmed the area for any distressed faces; this cat had to have an owner, right?
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 2:48 pm
Ash began to purr as the girl stopped and bent towards her, elation making her tail flicking wildly as hands came down around her body and hefted her upwards. She hung limply from the hands like the laziest housecat in existence, blinking wide green eyes slowly in seeming unconcern.
Just a sweet pet, nothing odd about me, just cuddle me close... While she might have an ulterior motive for wanting the attention, Ash would not deny that she was simply loving this. The attention, being held and cuddled and stroked... it was everything she missed about being a pampered pet, and if her hunch was correct, things were going to get all the better in a few minutes.
The burmilla rubbed her cheeks against the parts of the girl she could reach as she opened up her senses, diving deep to search out that little flicker of something she had noticed before. Being held this close, she could feel it now, for sure coming from inside this girl and no other. Ding ding ding, we have a winner. Which meant it was time to get down to work and unfortunately forsake the cuddling, for now.
Squirming suddenly, Ash gathered her paws under her and jumped from the girl's arms, landing lightly on the ground and trotting off with her tail held high. She didn't go far though before she turned back to look for her new friend again, letting out a plaintive call in cat-speak.
This way... follow me!
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 3:16 pm
It had been awhile since Nat had a cat. Since her dad had the shop, she got to see kittens and puppies, sure, especially when the adoption agencies stopped by to try and find some of their animals a forever home. But it had been awhile now since their mom's old cat had passed on, and...
She chastised herself for the thought as soon as she had it. This cat was obviously a pet, she reminded herself again. The collar didn't do much in the way of a name or a home, but that didn't mean anything. She'd heard plenty of stories where owners never expected their cat to slip out, or families that relied on the chip in case their little ones wandered off.
All at once, the cat leapt away from her, and Nat made a soft sound of surprise. It wasn't running away though, and let's face it: by now, Nat was invested. Someone was probably missing this cat very much by now; of course she followed without so much as a second thought. "C'mon, kitty... It's okay... " She tried to speak soothingly to her, even if the cat didn't seem all that nervous. "I can take you home; you wanna go home, right?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:12 am
Once satisfied the girl was going to follow her, Ash took off into the crowd and headed for less populated areas. What she had in mind would not do to have an audience for, for very important reasons that involved safety, mostly. Ash paused every so often to wait for the girl to catch up, never going too far in case she should lose her and ruin the whole exercise.
Just a little farther...
The park was a good place for what Ash wanted to do and at this time of night people tended to avoid the shadows under the trees. Upped the danger of coming here, but also afforded a good measure of privacy. It was hard to miss the silver cat, her light fur standing out against the dark grass and she finally sat down to wait for her new friend to join her, finally finding a voice once the pair of them were alone.
"I'm sorry to take you away from whatever you were doing, but I really wanted a chance to talk to you alone." The burmilla said, her voice light and friendly. "I know its probably startling, but I promise I'm here to help you, not hurt you! As though something my size could hurt you..." She couldn't help the laugh that broke from her, her tail flicking back and forth in amusement.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:03 pm
She was chasing a cat - some part of Nat couldn't help but laugh at herself. This was how she'd end up spending her weekend, right? Chasing lost cats through the streets to parts unknown.
The cat was faster than her, but the way it was moving -- it wasn't trying to duck into bushes or anything like a frightened animal would have... and really, it hadn't seemed nervous to begin with. It just kept running ahead, far enough to stay out of reach, close enough to stay in the edge of her line of vision. Clever little thing, wasn't it? Seemed like it was just playing with her. She wished she had one of those toys with the feather at the end -- oh, or catnip. Catnip would do it! If she had any.
She was just toying with the idea of grabbing a branch or something and seeing if the cat would want to stop long enough to play cat and mouse with that when abruptly, the cat stopped and sat down. Just like that. No butt wiggling, no mew or rolling around in the grass as Nat came closer.
Then, well, that happened. Nat's pulse quickened, surprise washing over her as she dropped down onto his knees for a cat twice in less than the span of an hour. "You talked?" she blurted out. Then, like she was vaguely aware of how stupid that sounded, she tried again: "You talk. Oh. Talking! You're a talking cat! Oh. You're -- you're a talking -- "
Nat pressed a hand to her face to stop the noise that just kept coming out. Okay. So clearly, either she had just spontaneously gone insane and her friends were completely vindicated in abandoning her, someone was playing a really elaborate prank, or she was dealing with a talking cat.
"Please don't take this the wrong way if you're real, " she gushed out, reaching out and tentatively prodding at the visor on the cat's face. If it was a robot or a hallucination, she should be able to tell, right...? Hallucinations weren't something she could touch, right?
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 10:20 pm
Ash puffed up proudly as the girl seemed over come with awe over her status as a talking cat. She hadn't really known what to expect, but the response was just perfect... at least until she went to poke at her visor. The guardian squinted as she laid her ears back, reaching up to hook a paw over the prodding hand.
"Yes dear, I am real. Quite real, and I do indeed talk." She said as her tail flicked side to side, expressing some of her annoyance at being poked. "I am a very special creature... a member of a race of cats like me who come from a planet called Mau. See, I wanted to talk to you, because I felt something special about you and I think I might have something of yours..."
Darting away from the reaching hands, Ash posed dramatically for effect, hamming it up the way she hadn't been able to with her first. She'd been a little distracted at the time and in a bit of a rush... but now she could fully enjoy her duty as a guardian cat. Gathering herself, the cat jump up and twisted in the air, a little bit of acrobats that gathered energy and focused it to pull a pen from midair. As Ash landed, so did the pen and she beamed proudly.
"You, my dear, are something called a Sailor Senshi. A guardian and protector of Earth and its people from the dark forces that would destroy them. This pen will help you to transform into your powered self. Lift this pen and call out 'Amphitrite Asteroid Power, Make-up!" The cat said as she posed again, forepaw lifted dramatically with her tail curling behind him.
Oh, this was quite fun... the silver cat was very much enjoying the chance to showboat a little.
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Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 5:58 pm
Nat drew her hand back quickly when the cat made it clear she didn't approve of the poking. Even if she hadn't put her paw down, Nat had been around cats long enough to know that a twitching tail eventually led to more than a guiding paw. After all, who knew? Now the cat was going on and explaining that she was from some planet that she'd obviously never heard of; either this really was some big elaborate prank that someone had put way too much money into, or if it was all real, who knew what an alien cat's claws might do?! Real cat scratches got infected easy as it was, just imagine space claws!
But wait a second. Potential realistic muppet/alien cat aside here, she went on to say something about Nat was special... and then, bam. She went and did this amazing little pose, and the way she twisted in the air made Nat's jaw drop. She was so captivated by the little show that it took her a second to realize a pen just formed mid-air.
Once upon a time, when she was a little girl, Nat had gotten a magician's kit. She'd been so excited to make a cotton ball turn into two in a cup, or pull a ribbon out of her wand. For about half of her 'great' shows, the cotton ball had tumbled out the wrong way, or the wand blew when she waved it at her plastic top hat instead. A cat had just completely owned her at magic tricks, and, "That was awesome," she breathed out.
Oh, but the trick continued -- and even if the whole thing was a prank, Nat was completely buying into it by now. "You mean I'm like a super-hero?" and she was practically gushing, because seriously, how damn cool was that?? Take that lame friends, they missed out on a chance to see a movie with a super-hero! "This is so much better than a movie, " she mumbled to herself as she took the pen.
Some part of her really wanted to be skeptical about all this -- but let's face it, who never hopes that they're a little special? She stood up straight, thinking it would be better to laugh at herself later than to laugh all this off now. All she could really hurt was her pride, and that could take a beating. "Amphitrite Asteroid Power, Make-up!"
Then, in what felt like a flash, her entire outfit changed. No more jeans and t-shirt, but instead a bodice and a puffy skirt and -- "Eeep!" She wobbled, then stumbled, then went tumbling down like an elaborate ton of tricks, right onto her a**. -- and heels. Really, really narrow heels. Right. "Ow."
Funny though. Somehow, she couldn't help smiling even as she winced. "Gotta work on that." Who wouldn't be happy?!
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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:28 pm
Ash was so entirely pleased with herself and this girl as she took up the pen and called forth her power for the very first time. The glow that wrapped her up and changed her clothing was like the warmth of Ash's love, the feel of her new power signature like the light of her pride and joy... right up until Amphitrite wobbled and fell over into an ungraceful heap.
Okay so, that sort of ruined the wonderful moment Ash was trying to enjoy and she padded over to look the girl over in concern.
"Oh dear... that was... less than impressive. Are you okay, darling?" She said as she head bumped against Amphitrite. Well, maybe heels weren't for everyone, but there was nothing they could really do about it short of removing them every time she transformed and replacing them with other shoes. That would be a smidgen... inconvenient.
"I'm sorry, I probably should have warned you that the fuku are sometimes a little... different than normal clothing. They always have elements of your sphere in them, in this case seashells, but they're not always the most practical looking or wearing. You'll get used to it, I'm sure. Now." The guardian settled back to sit, assuming her 'teacher face', as she liked to style it. Now was the time to explain just what the heck was going on, because there was no way she was going to become known as one of those guardians, the ones that haphazardly awoke senshi and left them to fend for themselves.
"Okay! Time to get down to the nitty gritty, my love. Yes, you are something like a super hero... and just like a super hero, there is an evil out there that you have been awoken to fight. Sailor Senshi like you are all over the city, living as civilian people, and powering up as you did to defend the general populace from the forces of the Negaverse, who are ruled by the power of Chaos. It can be something of a scary thought, but I want to assure you that you aren't alone in this fight... there are a lot of us out there, and many who want to fight beside you. The Negaverse seeks to drain the city of energy and steal the starseeds of the people for some nefarious purpose we haven't been able to figure out. Your job is to stop them and to protect the people they are preying on." Ash said as she sat quietly, head tilted to the side to watch the girl take in what she said... or not, as the case may be. It was hard to tell how she would react to all of this. "As such, you have certain powers now, when you're transform like this. You'll discover you're stronger than normal humans, you're faster and can jump higher. You can also, if you focus on it, feel the power signatures of the people around you and tell from them if that person is on the side of Order or Chaos, and how strong they are. You also have a magic that you can call up during battle... the words and actions to activate it should come to you naturally, if you focus on your power."
Standing up finally, the cat arched her back with a playful look.
"My name is Ash and I am what is commonly known as a Guardian Cat, or Mauvian. Its my job to awaken senshi like you and guide you. I'm here to do whatever you need to support you in your fight, and when the time comes, I can strengthen your starseed and upgrade you to a more powerful form. When you're ready for it." She said as she cracked a wide, cat yawn. "I know this is a lot to take in, but older senshi have started up a Primer with most of this information in it on your phone... Oh, here, just a moment..."
How could she have almost forgotten one of the most important parts? Backing up a bit, the guardian performed another bit of dancing magic and a phone appeared out of thin air, rattling as it fell to the ground.
"This is your senshi phone, which you can call up and dismiss into subspace while you are transformed. With it you can scan the power signatures around you, take pictures to add other powered people to your contacts, make and receive calls with them, as well as text messages. The primer is also available on it, and the database of Negaverse agents we have been compiling." She said proudly.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 3:18 pm
If her pride had been aching at all (it wasn't), a head bump from one of the most gorgeous little cats she'd ever seen probably would have cleared that right up. "It's really okay, " she assured the cat with a gusto, flashing an even wider smile so Ash could know she wasn't just saying it to say it. "My ankle's totally fine. I've taken worse spills -- and honestly, being a super hero is kind of worth the awkward footwear." She could learn to deal with them. Hey, maybe then she could actually learn to deal with non-shell heels! Man, if she could show up one day in the cutest little pair of stilettos...
Focus Nat, she told herself as Ash settled into super serious mode and began to lay the most impressive exposition she had ever heard from a cat. Granted this was her first cat-given back story, but -- again, focus. This was the important stuff, no matter how much like a video game all this stuff sounded like. It made it more exciting than it was scary. For a split-second she imagined herself as Batman, swooping into Arkham and putting the smack-down on a bunch of nameless thugs. Her outfit was a lot cuter and a lot less practical, but hey, same difference right? Batman didn't have super powers anyway, so she had this.
And apparently she had friends out there somewhere, too. She thought back to the "friends" that had ditched her at the movies, and she felt a puff of sweet satisfaction. Screw them, right? She'd found something a million times better -- a secret organization of superheroes! Hah, so there!
Then, Ash -- she finally had a name, Ash -- did another round of moves that definitely would have landed her on YouTube if anyone thought to catch it, and bam. She had a phone now, too. Even if she knew the cat could do things like that, it didn't really make it any less surprising or awesome to watch. "This is probably the coolest thing that has ever happened to me in the history of everything, " she declared, gushing as she took the phone to clutch it to her chest like it was something precious. To her it was. (At least for today.) "I hope you know that Ash -- I'm Natalie, by the way, " she finally remembered to introduce herself. She extended a hand, because whether guardian cats sniffed them like a real cat to say hello, or whether they shook hands, or whatever, it just seemed like the polite thing to do. "But nobody calls me that. You can just call me Nat, okay?"
She paused, tilting her head to a side as she thought of a question. "So... is it like, one cat per senshi? Is that how it works?" It was kind of funny that of everything she'd heard, that was what she decided to ask. There was this tiny, but unmistakable trace of hopefulness in her voice. "Because I mean, if it is, my house is pretty big, and I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind. He loves cats, and I'm sure if he took one look at you... He actually runs a pet store!"
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 12:02 pm
At least the girl was okay... the fall had been little more than an embarrassment, it seems like. Good.
"I like to think being a senshi is cool, but I might be a little biased. Now that you have a phone, I can give you some numbers... I know some other senshi that you should get in touch with, because they can teach about how to go about these things so you don't get yourself hurt. I'm sure this is all very exciting, but its very serious too. Its dangerous work, but when did any super hero not have to face danger over and over, right?" The cat smiled as a hand was offered to her, a purr rumbling in her throat as she rubbed her face against it in typical cat fashion. This was one of her senshi, and any cat who got near was going to be able to tell that.
"While its lovely to know your name, dear, you need to call yourself Amphitrite when you're powered up, and only ever Nat when you're powered down. Secret identities, remember? Its for your safety and your family's safety, that no one from the other side ever finds out civilian you is the same as powered you. You can decide on your own if you want other senshi or knights to know both. I'm sure people do both ways, but there is something to be said about having friends who understand what you're going through and who you don't have to lie to about senshi things." A smile creased Ash's face at Amphitrite's last question and her enthusiasm towards the idea of the Burmilla moving in with her. It was adorably sweet and there was a small part of the guardian's heart that yearned for the life a housecat again. But... reality was never as easy as one would like it to be and there was too much going on right now for a sweet dream like becoming this young senshi's bonded.
"I'm afraid guardian cats are a lot more rare than senshi, darling... Not everyone can have a cat of their very own. I would, however, certainly love to come and visit! There is a lot to teach you still, and I really do like to keep an eye on the senshi I've personally awakened... you're my second, actually. Speaking of... I want to give you a few names of senshi that I personally know, because I think it would be a really good idea for you to get in touch with them, because they'll be able to teach you things about being a senshi that I can only really tell you about. The other senshi I awakened is named Astarte. She's a first level, just like you, but you've both got me in common, which should be something of an ice breaker, right? The other two people are Thraen and Kallichore... both are eternal senshi, which means they're two levels above you and have been around for a while. Kallichore wrote the senshi primer you can find on your phone, with a little help recently from me. I can give you their contact information from my phone."
Those three should be able to help this new girl get off to a good start... Both Thraen and Kallichore were interested in helping other senshi, especially new ones, and while she wasn't sure how Astarte felt about having her name thrown about, she was Ash's first and this girl was Ash's second... it would be criminal if the two never met. The Burmilla wasn't looking to start a team the way ********* did, but still... networking was a good thing!
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:01 pm
“You’re so soft… I was totally blown away earlier. Do you get someone to brush your fur, or is it like that all the time?” Nat couldn’t help asking, feeling bold enough to try her luck as she rubbed her cheek with her fingers. Most cats she’d come across loved that, but who knew with alien space cats. For being from space, though, most of her mannerisms seemed pretty much like a normal earth-bound cat to her.
She clutched the phone a little tighter, feeling the rush of excitement that came from meeting new people -- even the whole talk of ‘danger’ was pretty thrilled, and Ash was right. The best heroes were the ones that faced mortal peril and came out on top to save the day. That was going to be her now. Who would have thought, right? It was kind of funny because she’d sort of toyed with the idea of doing some volunteer work or something maybe someday; in a way, this was kind of like the extreme version of charity work!
“Oh, right! Of course!” Amphitrite actually blushed a little, vaguely embarrassed that she had gone ahead and blown through the whole secret identity thing within five minutes of becoming a hero. “I’ll remember that from now on -- but I’m glad you know, “ and she seemed to have reached peace with her little blunder with that, nodding to herself as her smile reclaimed its proper place on her face.
It was a little bit of a bummer that she hadn’t just gone and acquired a superhero persona and a super amazingly soft alien cat, but it was really okay. Ash made it pretty clear she wanted to see more of her, and Nat -- Amphitrite couldn’t be too down about that. “Then I’m even happier you know my name, and my phone, and all that stuff… if you ever need anything, even if it’s cat food or whatever Mauvians eat, “ she was so proud of herself that she’d actually remembered some of the lingo; usually she was balls with names, “Just let me know.” It had to be tough out there, such a pretty little cat all on her own. What with mean people and the weather and…
“And I’ll be sure to reach out to them, “ she declared; so many names, so much potential. Astarte; that name she tried twice as hard to commit to memory, even if she knew it would be on her phone. She didn’t really know how the connection went between fellow senshi awakened by the same cat, but Amphitrite couldn’t help imagining a bond like family; as someone surrounded on either side by brothers, the thought of a surrogate sister was way more than a little exciting.
See, any other time Nat might have told herself not to get ahead of herself; but just to rehash the situation real brief-like, she’d just run into a talking cat from space who had turned her into a superhero and given her a cool phone that would have a bunch of info on her new super life and some spiffy superhero friends pre-loaded. How was she not supposed to get ahead of herself here? “Thank you so much, Ash… “ remember her manners; and why would she be anything but grateful? “I promise I’ll do my best to be a good senshi, really.”
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Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 2:40 pm
The guardian chuckled happily as she rubbed her face against the scratching fingers in typical cat fashion, her throat thrumming with a deep purr. Young girls who appreciated cats were always a joy to have around. She was even taking this senshi thing amazingly well, though... maybe a little too well. Enthusiasm was good, but not to the point of careless overconfidence.
Well, that's what she was here for, she supposed. To guide.
"Thank you darling! I will definitely take you up on the offer for a good meal sometimes. I eat pretty much the same things as you, really. Most people can't resist sharing some of their food with the pretty kitty." Ash grinned, her tail flicking. The Burmilla rubbed her face firmly against Amphitrite's hands, purring roughly.
"You are certainly welcome my dear, and I'm sure you'll be a wonderful senshi! We just have to make sure we get you used to all the things you can do now so when you fight, you don't end up getting hurt. First thing might be practicing walking with those shoes though... why don't we start with that and then I can help you figure out what your attack is..."HanaKirei Leave off here, assuming Ash helped her figure out attacks and how strong/fast she is now?
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