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 Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:54 pm
Ume shifted her satchel carefully on her shoulder, not wanting to crush the lace of her current -favorite- top. It was still pristine and black and stood of its own accord, after a few weeks with her sister, and her family, she was quite sure it would be as limp as the soggy asparagus her mother had foisted off on them last evening with supper.
Her fingers trailed lightly over the spines of the books as she quested for 'inspiration' amid their titles and the occasional peek at the cover. Sometimes she'd pull one down and open to a random section of the book to see, if even at a random start it could grasp her interest.
So far none of them had -quite- done so, and she slid yet another back into place.
Her hand lingered for a long moment over the area on 'witch craft' and she paused with a small smile, some half remembered thought tickling at her, something she -used- to find funny, someone's reaction, but the thought snapped like an old cobweb and was gone leaving her reading titles and arching an eyebrow at the strange names of authors.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:30 pm
That was it.
Ursula huffed as she shoved her way past the polite gentleman who'd made the unfortunate mistake of attempting to open the door for her. The scowl on the young woman's face was fearsome enough to keep him from uttering any displeasure over her rude gesture, well, either that or the ample cleavage exposed from her less than conservative blouse had caught his eye. Either way, she paid him no attention, and continued her warpath into the store.
That damn cat had done it again, and that was the utterly last straw for Ursula. First were the ripped curtains. And then there was the cat hair all in her closet and all over her wardrobe. But this, no, this took the cake.
Storming her way through the aisles of the bookstore, it didn't take long before Ursula found herself to be hopelessly lost among the walls and walls of fine print. Bookstores were certainly not her area of expertise, but drastic times called for drastic measures.
Turning to one side, she quickly spotted the back of the head of a young girl with long raven colored hair. Pushing her faux reading glasses further up her nose, she cleared her throat before huffing, "Hey, you, where are the cat books at?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:36 pm
Ume jerked her hand back startled at the sharp tone in the voice and turned to find the source.
The woman was... practically falling out of her top. It wasn't that she was bad looking mind you, she was -stunning-, just she'd never imagined anyone actually -wearing- something that showed that much cleavage.
"Ah... their over this way, were you looking for something in particular?" She asked wondering if she should point out that she didn't wear the ear piece and laniard that denoted a 'real' employee of the store. Of if pointing that out would just irritate the woman more. She elected to see it through, straitening slightly as she'd bent to look at a row of books and composing herself.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:41 pm
Lifting one hand up, the older woman absentmindedly tossed her long orange hair to one side. She hadn't bothered to put it back in its normal bun, no, this afternoon was not focused on appearance but rather instead preventing more future "surprises" from finding their way into her shoes.
"Well it would need to be a book, and it would have to be about cats," she commented dryly as she followed the young girl, who couldn't be any older than the boys at Hillworth. How young did stores hire out these days? Catching herself, she decided to be helpful and added, "Teaching. I have a cat who I've about had about enough with, and he needs to learn to respect me and not act so...so cattish all the time."
She readjusted her purse strap and took a moment to glance over at the area of books the girl was leading her towards. Who in the world could sit there and write so many books? It was obvious that a good number of people had far too much free time on their hands.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:50 pm
Ume quirked an eyebrow at the weapon grade sarcasm the woman unleashed as her first reaction to the question.
She wondered for a moment if the cat was misbehaving or just acting in -self defense-
She shifted nervously as paused in front of the 'right' area, it wasn't one -she- spent very much time in to be honest, she didn't -own- any cats after all, though she rather adored them. There was that one that sometimes followed her, but she only -wished- it would stay, it seemed to vanish at the oddest times.
"Nnnnot act so Cattish..." She repeated not quite believing what she had just heard.
"AH... that may be a task paramount to... building the pyramids of Giza..." She offered, not really sarcasm in turn but a dry humor, or an attempt at it.
"What, particularly is he doing that you need help with? There are specialty books that might be more effective than a generic guide to cat behavior?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:16 pm
Paramount? Pyramids? What in the hell was this little wisp of a girl talking about? Ursula was here to talk about felines, not movies and landmarks!
This obviously was going to take a good deal longer than she thought it would, and that thought evoked yet another drawn-out sigh from the looming adult.
"He's doing everything that he shouldn't be doing," she explained, glancing down and examining her nails as she spoke. "He's getting hair everywhere, he shreds my paperwork and fabric and this afternoon I come home to find a filthy rat in my shoe!"
The recollection of that afternoon's discovery sent a shiver down Ursula's spine. Really, the nerve of that cat, leaving vermin where her delicate toes would be, such audacity! How on earth those wretched senshi could put up with their Guardians was starting to become an even greater mystery for the lieutenant as she had begun to find herself more vexed with her own stolen kitty.
"So," she concluded, an air of haughtiness still in her voice, "I need him to stop all of that. Immediately."
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:39 pm
"...." Ume stared for a long moment. How to deal with this.
"I'm, afraid theirs not much to be done about shedding, you might brush him frequently, that would... reduce, the amount of shedding but short of shaving him your not going to eliminate the issue, and I don't think -either- of you would be happy if you shaved him. Ah, rat's... " She rubbed at her cheek thoughtfully.
"It's... normally not malicious, if you catch him doing it you, might try a squirt gun with water?" She shrugged slightly helpless.
"But if he's keeping down rodent issues for you, you might not want to discourage him from hunting."
To herself though she was wondering why the woman -had- a cat honestly.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:54 pm
"Hmmm," she murmured aloud, one hand reaching up to tap her chin thoughtfully. "Shaving..."
The idea did sound appealing; no more fur to clean up after, to pick away from her black stockings and skirts...but then again, without any hair, no doubt Grendel's bitching would increase tenfold (not to mention how atrocious he would look as a purse pet, either!). No no, shaving was unfortunately out.
Thoughts popped in and out of Ursula's head as the girl continued suggesting options. It would be rather fun to take a spray bottle at her nuisance, but if even beating him up (as she'd previously tried) failed to work, then a bit of water wouldn't help at all.
"Hmm..hm..hm...."
All at once, the idea finally struck her. An easy way out, and it was standing directly in front of her.
"You." she announced, extending her finger in the girl's direction. "You seem to know a great deal about cats. How would you like to leave this silly job and come take care of my little beast?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:03 pm
Ume was, utterly, completely... flabbergasted.
'Leaving the job' wasn't an issue at all, just... did things like this -happen- outside of the movies?
"I...well, I have school?" She said cautiously, at least partially afraid that the wrong answer would set the woman off not unlike clipping the wrong wire on a bomb.
"But, after school I could... perhaps? I'd, need my family's approval..." She trailed off wide eyed.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:20 pm
"Oh no no, you wouldn't be needed but once a week or so," she quickly replied, scrunching up her nose at the idea of a student going in and out of her home on a daily basis. No, Ursula liked her private time, and sharing a home for more than a few hours a week would irritate her to the extreme, even more than having a pesky little furball leaving rodents in her shoes.
Leaning over, the older woman started rummaging through her purse, until she finally retrieved a receipt paper and a small pen. Moving towards the nearest bookshelf handy, she pressed against the spine of one of the many books and jotted down her cell phone number.
"Here." she ordered, shoving the paper into the stuttering girl's hand before readjusting her purse once more. "That's my number. Give me a call at some point this weekend and we will set up some sort of..." she trailed off, waving her hand in the air, "..arrangement, like times and pays and whatnot. I won't pay more than nine dollars an hour, though, mind you, but it's for only one cat so that should be quite fair enough, if you ask me!"
In truth, Ursula had no idea what was a fair price and what was not, but her offer seemed quite fair, at least to her. Nodding her head, she quickly turned around and made her way out of the building, satisfied that she'd found some sort of means of handling Grendel. If this didn't work then, well...
There was always more than one way to skin a cat.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:29 pm
Stunned, she stood there for a moment not even able to react in distress at using the books as a writing desk.
She took the paper with as much calm and poise as she could muster.
"Alright, thank you..." She nodded and watched the woman leave rather, she imagined, in the same way she came in. Like a tsunami.
"...I have a job" she said to no one in particular, and then laughed softly.
"...this is going to take some explaining to Mother"
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