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He'd been on the streets for a long while, so long that he'd lost track of all time with the swirling of the seasons, night and day blurring together into empty weeks. He was alone now. He'd lost his little sister, the girl he'd sworn to protect, and he hadn't been able to find her. He kept searching, hoping that she was okay, that maybe... Maybe she'd found a place that would protect her, a family who would welcome her with open arms. Maybe he should give up the search...but the idea that she was still out there, alone and cold from the bitterness of winter... Or worse.

Mayhem shook his head quickly, his shaggy dark hair flying back and forth with the force of it. "No. She's fine. She's okay," he told himself, huddling into the oversized red coat he'd found as a colt gust of air sliced through him. He would find her and then they would find a new home. A home where they weren't abused. He winced at a memory--of his master throwing the kittens in a burlap sack filled with rocks...tossing them into the river. He should've died that day, but he'd managed to escape. He wasn't going to screw this second chance up.

Mayhem turned down the mouth of an alley to get a break from the wind. He kept the plush red ribbon wrapped around his neck like a scarf, but he had no gloves. His shoes were worn and torn, but they kept his feet covered. He had to be thankful for that at least. Except now his stomach was growling, an angry rumble that told him he needed to eat. When was the last time he'd had something yummy?

Thank the skies--there was a large green dumpster sitting in that very alley. "Jackpot!" he grinned to himself, scrambling over to it and doing his best to open the lid. He blindly felt around, reaching a hand into the dumpster until he felt the styrofoam of a take out box. "My lucky day..." He said, pulling the box of mostly untouched Chinese out of the trash. His stomach let out another warbling growl.

And that's when he heard the voice. "Hello?" he called, hoping for a moment it was his sister...

Mayhem's head spun when he saw the strangest, tiniest, skinniest kitten come out from behind the dumpster he'd just trash surfed in. He was a black tabby...but he had no fur. Mayhem stared for a long moment, taken aback. He watched the boy shiver, no fur to keep him warm, and he grew concerned. "Hey little guy," he said, bending down. No fur... So weird.. But Mayhem wasn't one to judge people--especially not little kids, though he wasn't much older than a kid himself.

"You want some?" he asked, offering the box of cold yet edible Chinese food. "I dug around in the trash can. I know, it sounds gross, but out here? There's no one to serve you kibble in a dish, you gotta fend for yourself. I'm Mayhem, by the way."

Mayhem smiled, stretching out his hands, kneeling next to the kitten. "No, it's okay. Really. You look hungry--you're really skinny, so I can share. I'm used to sharing with my sister," he said matter of factly. "But she's...not around right now. I'll dig something else out of the trash, you eat up! Really!" he said with a cheerful grin.

He looked down at the younger boy, who wore a pair of torn jeans and a t-shirt and a blue collar with tags. Tags. Darn... He had to've been loved by someone at some point, right? "Do you have a master?"

Mayhem shoved the lid open once more, fishing for something else, but all he found was old dead things. Nothing fresh. Darn, but the kitten was chowing down like he was starving; Mayhem decided he could go another few hours without finding another dumpster, if only to make the kid smile. He shimmied back down to join the kitten on the ground. "My sister... We got separated by accident. I've been looking for her ever since."

When the black tabby told his story, his heart went out for the kitten. He'd heard about cat mills and situations where humans hoarded cats, keeping them in cages because they "loved" them. Just about as much love as tossing your kittens in the river, in his opinion. "I'm sorry about your mom," he said solemnly.

"Where are you going to go?"

Mayhem nodded, sitting down beside the kitten. "I used to, yeah," he said, his smile fading away at the memories of his master. "But he tried to kill me." He wasn't one to sugar coat the truth, even to little kids, because they needed to know humans weren't always as nice as they seemed. But if the kid had spent his life in a cage, he probably already knew that. "So me and my sister escaped and now we're street cats."

"Speaking of your fur..." He paused. "What happened to it?" He looked down to the papery ears and skinny, bony tail of the kid, and it made him look emaciated and in need of a plush coat of fur...

Mayhem blinked in surprise as the boy spoke of show cats and lineage. Humans showed cats? What...was the point in that? "Well, huh..." he murmured, shaking his head. "I've never seen a sphynx before. I'm a bombay myself." He said it carelessly, as if his breed didn't matter to him--because it didn't. He was just another black cat on the streets and black cats were a dime a dozen.

"Are you sure you got enough?" he asked the kitten, eying the leftover Chinese. When the other boy nodded brightly and smiled, he began to eat, his hunger rearing its head. The chicken tasted sweet like honey. Yum.

"Do you wanna...hang around with me for awhile? I mean, I don't have much to offer--I'm just a kid myself--but if you wanted to help me find my sister, I can keep us both fed. Plus I have a place to sleep at night, away from the cold. You could be my little brother. We're both black cats, afterall," he laughed.

Mayhem grinned at the boy's enthusiasm, the bright spirit in his blue eyes. "Yeah, sure!" he said, nodding brightly. "I could use a friend anyway. It's been pretty lonely to walk the streets alone, and after we find my sister, we could find a place to stay. I've heard rumors of territories in this city, places where stray cats gather to be part of a clan. We could have a family."

When the kid--Rockstar--offered his hand, Mayhem laughed and shook it. "Nice to meetcha," he said. "Rockstar and Mayhem, partners in crime. I like it." He finished the meal, tossed the box aside, where it fluttered away in the wind, and then stood up. He dusted off the butt of his jeans, then offered a hand to the sphynx. "Ready?"