It was a grim duty, but someone had to do it.
Fine. You go get the cat. Don't take all day.
Katrina Halloran paused outside of the apartment building to glance down at the address and instructions that had been sent to her phone. Her brow furrowed as she tucked the phone away, shifting the pet carrier in her hand before heading up the stairs. Before she could press the call button for someone to buzz her in the door opened, a petite, elderly woman standing on the other side.
"H-hi!" Kat smiled brightly, expression faltering only slightly as the woman eyed her for a moment. It wasn't until after she had put her glasses on to give Katrina a glance over once again that the woman finally spoke to her.
"You must be here about Dennis and Clyde's cat. Terrible thing, those two boys just disappearing like that. Sweet boys, you know. Wouldn't ever harm a fly." She shook her head, drawing her keys out of her pocket as she turned to head up the stairs to the second floor where she unlocked the door. "I've been stopping in to feed the poor thing, but I haven't seen much of it beyond a flash of grey running away from the door."
"Thank you, ma'am." She stepped in once the door was opened, setting the carrier down on the floor before propping the door open. "We'll take care of the cat... Momewrath, I believe they called it?" Her brow lofted as she glanced back at the woman who simply nodded before leaving her to her feline charming.
---
Nearly two hours later the young woman was frazzled, hair tousled and chest rising and falling with each puff of breath. She had never had this much trouble with a cat before. Never. It was starting to make her question her status as a 'cat person'.
Slumping against the wall, Katrina dug out her phone again, exchanging a series of texts with Chase.
[Text to Spades: The cat doesn't like me. This doesn't happen.]
[Text to Spades: Cats don't not like me. ]
[Text to Kat: I don't care. Get the cat over here.]
Another hour passed in which she had opened up a can of fancy, gourmet cat food, tucking the can into the carrier in an attempt to lure Momewrath back out of hiding (after the last scurry across the apartment she had, at least, shut off one of the bedrooms and both bathrooms) she received another text.
[Text to Kat: You've been gone for half the day. Where are you? ]
[Text to Spades: I told you the cat didn't like me. >( ]
[Text to Kat: Do I need to come there? ]
[Text to Spades: Audio file Download? Y/N ]
The audio file consisted mostly of a variety of cursing followed by a very loud thud (presumably Katrina tripping over something), a crash and then a most pitiful meowl.
Kat had not hit the button on her phone on purpose. She had been trying to delete the file when it had sent through and couldn't figure out how to cancel it before it sent, instead sending another quick text through after.
[Text to Spades: Everything is under control! No, it's fine. ]
Then, two minutes later.
[Text to Spades: Yes. Probably. ]
It didn't take Chase long to arrive, which was likely for the best considering the state that she was in. A red bump was rising on her forehead from when she had fallen, several cat scratches marking up her arms. The apartment was in a state of disarray and it was hard to tell if it was just from Katrina chasing the cat around or if it had been that way to begin with due to the unique tastes of the generals that had lived there.
The moment he stepped into the apartment the silver tabby came out of hiding, cutting a wide circle around Katrina as it trotted up to Chase. Kat watched with wide eyes as the feline began to purr while weaving in and out of Chase's legs, even holding still as he stooped down to pick it up.
Her eyes narrowed as she fixed a glare on the smug feline, nose wrinkling as she made her way over to pick up the carrier. "Stupid cat," she muttered beneath her breath as she held the carrier out for Chase, adding in a thing or two about how the damn cat simply had to be part youma; that there had to be some reason other than just a finicky cat to explain why it liked him and not her.
"Do you think you can manage to get the cat back to my place on your own?"
"Yes." She huffed, taking the carrier from him. Luckily for the cat she had borrowed a car for the day so she wouldn't be strapping it onto the back of her bike, no matter how tempting it would have been to do so.
"See that it doesn't get the best of you again, Kat."
If it wasn't for the fact that she didn't want to see him smirking at her, or grinning at her, teasing her for how easy he had just made the whole thing look, Katrina would've turned around and stuck her tongue out at him. Instead she shifted the carrier in her grasp so that she could haul the angry, hissing cat downstairs.
She didn't wait to see if he had followed her out, unlocking the car so that she could load the carrier and her bag into the back, securing both. She had already picked up the necessary feline care accessories from the pet store before fetching the cat, including a few toys and some fancy food. She was not going to settle for anything less than purrs and affection from Momewrath. One way or another she was going to make this cat like her. One way or another...
Nuxaz
[Word Count: 1073]
