In the unambiguous time between afternoon and evening, a time that may be jokingly called pre-vening, the dry winds from deep down the valley rolled through the endless alley ways of the city. What might be a typical day for some, was actually a dreadful day for others. Scampering from corner to corner, a young Selkirk ninja'd his way to a safe haven away from the humans. He was tired of always being petted by empathetic girls and small humans, and he was definitely despising being called a girl. Just because he was fluffy did not mean he was a girl!
Sighing at his misfortunes, he decided to rest on an empty alley, next to a broken lamp post with lights that seemed batter up, perhaps due to gang violence and shenanigans.
Atreo wandered about the streets of the city. He loved this time of evening, when the sky blazed and the streets were dim with the aproaching darkness. It was a time for dreams and fantasies, of calm and unlimited posibilities. Most people pictured him as a day cat full of light and some even called him a knight. But he held no love for the day, or the night for that matter. His time was the in-between, before dawn when the world opened its arms and right now before the night when life began to stir and the stark contrasts of the day began to blur and fuzz into mystery.
He had on fashionable loose jeans with a bright silver chain as well as a fashionably matching shirt, overall giving an aura of casual exploration. he really had no destination he was just out to enjoy the night. Suddenly some movement caught his eye and he turned in time to see a small cat sheltered in the slowly growing light of a lamp post. Atreo stopped and took a good look at the cat...no it wasnt a cat it was a kitten! His heart went out to the poor fellow and he began to cross the street. Atreo loved young ones and as he got closer he wondered what a kitten was doing in such a bad part of town.
Twitching his ears lightly, he opened one of his eyes, and looked at the strangely dressed Himalayan. -and I thought I was fluffy...- he thought to himself, trying to soak in the awkwardness of this moment. Not only was he now dreading the evil pre-vening, but now he had to deal with a gawky dressed guy. Making an inner vow to himself, Dmitry decided that when he was older, he was for surely going to go out of his way to dress nice.
With a smirk crawling across his face, he finally opened both of his eyes, and stood up to meet the "gentlemen who used big words". Using big words is nice and all, but Dmitry was only ten! And a former house-cat at that with a young owner. He was not exposed to such vocabulary yet. "Um... feeble light?" he asked in slightly confusion, looking back at the Himilayan with his bright heterochromia eyes. "I'm just resting silly goof!" he declared. For one so young, it will be a while till he learned to respect his elders... even the ones who look weird.
Atreo slowly let a smile grow across his face, well at least this one had spunk, that was a good thing. It told him that this cat at least wasnt starving or abused that was always a good thing to come across. "Well little one a feeble light is a light that can only barely sustain itself let alone a young champion like you." He bent down and squatted on the cement next to this new cat "friend".
"So I take it by your uncommon ability to conversate that you have...." He tried to think of a more common word to use in the presence of such a young cat..."spunk!" Was the only word he could think of.
"A la la la la laddy la la la la..." Humming to the tune in her own head instead of another song from her home country, an unusual colored Egyptian Mau strolled about the city. She was young, cheerful and very free spirited. Sadly, she's always in her own world, and rarely notices other strays... Mainly because she believes that if she can't see them, they can't see her. Plus why would they? She was just your typical female... Nothing too unusual about that right?
Making her way along the city, she spun around every now and then, enjoying the day. However it was a little warm... so warm she decided it was best to take a small break and enjoy a delicious cool bottle of milk. Rummaging into her matching side green bag, she found the amazing drink of the gods, a gift granted by the almighty moo cow as she would often declare it. "There you are!" she cried out loud and smiled at the glistening bottle, containing what had to be, the greatest thing on EARTH! Opening the lid carefully, she sniffed it, inhaling its beautiful odor. Unable to contain herself any longer, she gulped down much of the drink, it was simply satisfying her pallet. Little did she know, there two male strays near her. They looked completely unrelated, but it appeared as if they were friends. Not giving them much attention, she just blankly smiled, once again diving into her own world.
Holding up his hand at the Himalayan, he called him out, "Sir! I know not what you speak of! And I do not have... spunk... Pft..." Eying the man most carefully, he suspected it would be rather challenging to get rid of him. He seemed like one of those over friendly types who would not get the hint of leaving another alone... even if you point blank said -leave me alone!- They probably think it's some kind of joke.
Rolling his eyes to the heavens, he hoped for some kind of miracle. Little did he suspect, that miracle came in the form of a woman. Raising a brow, he whispered to the funny dressed man, "Hey... look at that!" Hopefully turning the attention on the random stray girl would get the Himalayan off his back.
Atreo was slightly startled by the young femme and her outburst of joy at.....er...milk? seriously! He gave her a curious look and debated whether or not she was in trouble. With an outburst like that she had to have something wrong right?....or she was just crazy. He decided that he should at least let her know that there was someone who could...help? was that what she needed help? he would have to figure that out when he spoke to her.
"Young ma'am are you alright, are you in need of any assistance?" He asked in a gentle way as to not scare her if she was indeed unstable
Twitching her ears lightly at the sound of a male's voice, she blinked for a moment and looked around, only to catch eye contact the older of the two strays. -He looks... silly...- she kept to herself and just smiled, trying to grin and bear the scene. "Nope, I didn't realize drinking milk needed assistance... Are YOU ok?" she asked back rhetorically.
Not really caring about his response, she looked around trying to distract herself. It wasn't until she looked at the younger of the two strays did she burst out once again, "Aww! A young kitty!" Quickly maneuvering her way away from the awkward Himalayan, she twirled around and hopped over to the Selkirk.
With her innate caring instincts, she quickly picked up the young kitten and began to snug him. "Aww I like you! Fluffy and adorable!"
After being so abruptly picked up, Dmitry tried to figure out if this was a good situation. -It's either Atreo or this chick... Any choice has to be better than Atreo right?- he quickly deducted as he moved his tail around. "Hi Miss.... The name's...Dmitry..." he finally said after moments of air from the intense snuggling fest.
Swishing his tail around and clinging for dear life, he wondered how long a person could snuggle for. She had the grip of a bear!
Atreo watched rather shockedly as the girl rushed over and picked up the young kitten. He initially twitched in such a way that made him look like he was going to go save Dimitry, but he soon realized that the girl was only going to snuggle and pick up the kitten. He relaxed and sighed with relief. "Well I see you have found the young renegade." Atreo debated whether he wanted to take a step closer or a step back because this girl looked like she was going to swing that kitten any which way at any moment.
He decided in the end to just stay where he was. "So young ma'am from where do you reside?" He asked inquisitively. he had never seen this young girl before and of course Atreo was always looking for new people to know and talk to.
Lightening up on her snuggles, Meghann looked up at Atreo and lightly held out her hand in a halt motion. "Sir, I don't think I should be telling you such private information. I don't even know your name..." Stepping back a bit, her worrying senses were triggered and she moved back even further, holding her new kitten closer to her.
Narrowing her eyes, she stared at the Himalayan, wondering if he was a creep-o to ask her about her whereabouts this soon. "Kitty... Do you know this man?" she asked, not knowing what to do next. If he was indeed a creep-o, she could try to attack him... But the young kitten was talking to him earlier.... so maybe he was not a creepy stray. Or maybe she saved the kitten from the creepy man... Her head was spinning with all the possibilities!
Considering his response carefully, he decided he might as well give Atreo a break. Clearly this stray had an odd way of presenting himself in front of other strays. "I know him... Kinda... His name is Atreo... He's not a bad guy..." he said and quietly mumbled, "but he is odd..." Hoping this would make the the girl less fearful of Atreo, he purred and tried to adjust himself in her arms.
If he was going to be stuck in this strange mess, he might as well get comfortable right? After all it seemed like it would be a long day... Hopefully he could serve as a buffer, and hey, he wasn't alone anymore! Today seemed to be going good as far as he could tell. Better than running from street to street, trying to avoid humans.
Atreo mentally slapped himself for sch a slip up of his manners. he was allowing himself to be casual again and that could not be tolerated! he had to be a perfect gentleman at all times. He was ashamed of himself and so knew that he had to make it up to this young lady. He bowed low and apologetically. "I am sorry if I disturbed you young ma'am I meant no disregard and I praise your response. It was my mistake to ask such information without volunteering mine own. You have every right to be perturbed at my previous words, they were rash and uncouth, you have every right to abscond from my foul presence with the young squire but I pray that you don't." He raised himself from his bow and took in a breath as if to expel from his system what had happened earlier.
"please allow me to start again, I am Atreo as the young squire says, a cat of the city, or so I hope to be one day. But for now I am merely a wandering vagabond who happened to be lucky enough to come across a small kitten, yes the one in your arms, and you." He stood up straight and once again resumed his gentlemanly stance and perfect manners. He couldn't afford to once again degrade into a casual manner he had to pay more attention to staying crisp and precise, the young lady deserved to be in the presence of a gentleman as all ladies and gents did.
Feeling a bit speechless and confused by the jargon used by Atreo, Meghann blinked a few times, trying to decipher it all. He might as well be speaking Latin, or some other dead language. Going over the words one by one, she finally came to the conclusion that he just enjoyed using big fancy words. Why he did this, she had no idea! Perhaps it was something that his previous owner's had rubbed off on him. That or he was odd like Dmitry tried to hint at her.
Shrugging the weird vibes channeling through her spine, Meghann figured she might as well try to humor the fella. It wasn't in her nature to purposely use big words, being a simple country girl and all, but that didn't mean she couldn't use 'em. Giggling slightly before she began, she bent her legs and curtsied, shifting Dmitry to her left arm as she did it. "Ah, fear not young squire. For alas the damage has been fixed and all is good again in this fine world! " Holding her hand next to her heart she smiled, "I am Meghann, a lass from a country rich in greenery and clean air... Not something I can say for here though..." she frowned a bit, looking down at the filthy streets of the city, and tapped the ground beneath them with the toe of her shoes.
Sniffling a bit, she resumed to place Dmitry back in both of her arms. "Bleh... ok enough of that..." she thought quietly to herself. There was no way she could keep up with that act for long.
Looking back and forth between Atreo and Meghann, his brain started to frazzle. He didn't know if Meghann was just as weird as Atreo, or if she was mocking him. Whimpering softly, he struggled in his arms, no longer comfortable with his plans to relax. "Must you two really talk like this?" he asked unafraid of the fact that he was only ten, and thus not really use to this formal chatter. Floofing up a bit, he looked at both of them again, this time angrily.
Atreo smiled and accepted Meghanns curtesy of spoken laguage well. He really loved that she was speaking in higher language since he didnt usually meet too many cats who could recipricate his language abilities. She sounded a little rusty but he was ok with that. Even if she was humoring him he took it as a gesture of good faith. "Ah yes Ma'am I'm afraid the contours of the sunsets are much sharper here in the land of chrome and cement, but do not fear for I am sure the cities charm will soon be apperent to you." he absolutely LOVED the city and he knew the country where this oung kit was from was a plesant place it paled in comparison to his cement love. He hoped that the city could grow on her as well one day, especially since she was prabably to live near it or in it for the rest of her life.
Atreo looked at the struggling kitten in Meghanns arms and let a small laugh pass from his lips. "Well young squire I fear you will also have to submit to having a conversation or at least provide us with a subject that is more to your taste." he smiled as he spoke. he knew he was prabably boring the young kitten since they usually loved to run around but at the moment he didnt want to disadvantage the young lady.
With his little hissy fit blowing away, Dmitry went into a pensive mode. "A subject huh? Um..." Not really enjoying being put into the spotline all of a sudden, his stomach growled intensively. "Food.... I want food..." he said quietly. It was late, and he didn't really have much to eat all day. Being new to the stray business, trash cans were generally the newbish thing to do. But trash is never exactly filling... "How.... how do you guys do it? Survive out here? I mean.... you two don't exactly look like your starving..." Eying Atreo, and knowing Meghann's strength, these were full grown cats who had plenty of nutrition.
Smiling, Meghann flicked her tail around excitedly when the young kit mentioned food. "Oooh! Food is EASY! You could get it from the neighborhood, small ponds, forests, restaurant dumpsters.... marketplaces... So many options! Mmm... food!" The thought of food was certainly making her hungry.... and thirsty... Milk time! "Oh I have something for you, yes I do!" she said enthusiastically as she pushed Dmitry into Atreo's arms. "Hold him please!" she said as she quickly rummaged through her bag. "Here it is!" From her bag, she unveiled another bottle of milk! How much milk this woman carries is unknown... The only fact is she always has enough to keep her happy. "Drink up you!" she said as she opened the lid and coaxed it towards his mouth. "You'll never grow big if you don't drink your milk! Isn't that right Sir Atreo?"
Atreo was a bit surprised by the sudden appearance of another bottle of milk. He stared at the bag this girl carried in amazement wondering how she stored the bottles to keep them from hitting each other and making noise. maybe it was a certain type of fabric or something...eh he would figure it out one day if they became better friends. He gave the young ma'am a smile and nodded to her encouragement of milk drinking. "Yes young one Milk will definately help you develop a strong calcium base for your young developing skeletal system."
He then gave some thought to what the young one had said before about living as a stray. His face took on a what he would call casual and what everyone else would call normal/relaxed expression as he thought about the city and all of its treasures. Food was easy to find here, as was shelter, all you had to do was know where to look, and sometimes how to look at things. He wanted to make sure that he could make this clear to the young lad and so he thought out his words carefully before speaking.
"Food in the city is not hard to find, every corner has something to offer and every vendor has a soft spot. You can track the birds to find the best leftovers. Sometimes even the city itself seems to just open her arms to you and offer you a dropped hot dog or some ice cream in a half empty cup on a hot day..." His face was happy and he spoke in a very unusual and normal vocabulary, yes the city had a strange effect on Atreo..
With a bottle being shoved towards his face, he couldn't help but curiously peek at the strange glass bottle. "Murr?" he said in confusion as the pale liquid slooshed around his face teasingly. Not only that, it would appear that Atreo was speaking like a normal being! "Hey.... I can actually understand you Atreo... Finally...." Flicking his tail around eagerly he snatched the bottle and slooshed it around even more, making bubbles appear within the bottle. "Hehe! This is fun!" he said showing it to Meghann and Atreo. After a few minutes of pure slooshing, he finally decided to drink the milk, where it's foamyness tickled his mouth a bit. "Nyah! This stuff is amazing!" he said and rubbed his belly in satisfaction.
With her mouth wide open, she stared in awe at Atreo's transformation. "Oh my gosh! Why couldn't you talk like that sooner!" she exclaimed and stuck her tongue out at him. With Dmitry still in her grasps, she giggled at the silly boy as he played with his milk. "Hum... but perhaps we should try and get him some real food..." Pondering their options, she looked at Atreo and smiled innocently. "So..... Atreo.... you should treat us to some food.... since you're a gentlemen and all.... Right?" The himalayan seemed like he knew his stuff in the city, so this would indeed be an interesting experience.... or so she thought.
Atreo paused for a second and gave the two kittens a bemused smile. "Children when I ponder the mysteries of the city I become a different person, I apologize for the slip up" He laughed. He didnt think he spoke all that differently but the more kittens he met the more he seemed to realize not everyone shared his vocabulary. But now the little ones had tummies that demanded attention. "Well now you have a point ma'am I should provide you with the sustinance that you both require." He paused and thought for a while where the best food could be found at this time. It was twilight so he knew of some of the higher class restauraunts that were just opening. The dumpster would be full of fresh cut edges and garnishes. But then again these were kids, and he also happened to know a family buffet style place who would be closing and tossing out all of their hamburgers, fries, and specials of the day. He decided to ask the youngest kitten since he seemed to have the loudest tummy. Atreo turned to Dimitry as Meghann held him and with a tail flourish presented the options.
"Well dearies I know of two prime locations that currently wwould offer the most bounty to a group like us. There is a high class food place where we can prabably get all kinds of things but the portions would be small, and a buffet with easier to identify vittles and large proportions. Which would you prefer Dimitry?" Atreo paused and his gaze drifted to Meghann as he suddenly remembered something "The buffet has a cereal bar and sometimes after closing it isnt to hard to get into their storage, I could try to procure a bit of your beloved dairy product if you like?"
As Atreo rambled on and on about locations of food, all Dmitry really heard was small portions or buffet. Was that really a question? Seriously? "Buffet! Buffet!" he chanted as he edged around while in Meghann's arm. "Right Meghann? Buffet buffet!" he repeated hoping his enthusiasm would win. As fancy as high class stuff was, food had to taste good AND there had to be a lot of it! Humans really knew nothing when it came to food, and that really disappointed him.
Giggling at Dmitry, she nodded, "Yeah! Buffet! Buffet!" she said, mimicing the small kitten. "Plus they have milk! Fancy places tend to not have a lot of milk... just really fowl tasting liquids that do weird stuff to those who drink it......... not that I would know...." she added wrinkling her nose innocently. "So where to Sir Atreo? Where is this place of awesome food and milk, hm?" Deciding not to wait long for his answer, she walked slowly in.... "A" direction before turning around. "Hurry up slow poke! We have a kid and a girl hungry!"
Atreo laughed as te kids started heading out on their own "Its this way my sweets." He laughed, luckily meghann had indeed been going in the right direction, Atreo bounced ahead and lead the way to the back of the large building. The kitches had closed a few minutes earlier and Atreo motioned for them to stay quiet "I'm going to make sure all of the workers are out before we head in, they dont usually stay but I'd rather we not get caught since- er just wait here." Atreo was about to say that kittens got sent to the pound and older cats got...er well they tended to dissapear. But he didnt want to put such thoughts into the kittens heads, life was already as hard as it had to be for them it was no use making it seem darker.
He left the two and skirted around the walls to the back door, he tried the handle and found that it was not locked yet, that was bad, it meant people were still there. He quickly found a rock and stuck it in the door handle so it wouldnt lock before quickly heading inside. He snuck around the kitchen and found that it was just a manager and a cook finishing up. He ducked under a large metal table as they walked by and out the door. He scanned the kitchen and dinning room to make sure no one was there and then ran outside, checking his rock in the door handle and then heading back to the kittens.
"All right guys its all clear, go ahead and head inside, I'll drag the big can in and we can set a table." Atreo laughed as he motioned for them to head indoors. He had turned on the ice cream machine and the lights as a surprise for when the kittens got inside but for now he focused on rolling in the big can. Luckily this place "Composted" which really meant they just seperated food trash from all other trash so the cans with food really only had food in them, no digging! it was great!
Inching in slowly, Dmitry got a whiff of cleaning odors, generally what happens when humans closed an area of work before they left for him. Sniffing a little longer, he uncovered a few delicious odors. Since it was night time, the buffet recently finished their dinner segment of the day... "Ohhh... is there meat here?!?! Fresh warm meat? None of that in the can stuff?" he asked excitedly, trying not to drool in the awesomeness of it all. "Bu.... bu.... but where is it hiding?" he asked and scampered around that is until he slipped on a portion of wet floor tile. "Ahhhhh! What's going on!" he asked as he spun around, causing him to be more confused.
Peeking in, she watched as Dmitry made a fool of himself in the kitchen. "Hmph.... men.... never looking where they are going. Oh well... that oddly looks kinda fun..." she thought to herself and decided to slide on the floor with Dmitry, "Wheeeeee!!.... Uh....oh...." A small crashing sound could be heard as she bumped into the wall. "Nyahhh! Nevermind! This isn't fun! Whaaaaaa!" she cried and rubbed her side to rid of the body ache. "Maybe buffet wasn't the way to go.... but they have Milk!" she realized and bounced back up. "Atreo! Where is the milk?" she asked and wondered about the delicious quality of milk at the buffet
Atreo huffed as he brought in the two largest cans, the one with cooked meat and the one with everything else, why humans seperated this stuff was beyond him but it served his purpose. he dragged the cans into the dinning room and set them near a table. He huffed a little more then looked at meghann and Dimitry bemusedly. "Well the milk is over here, Atreo walked over to the drink dispensiry and easily picked the lock of a small refridgerator that was on the counter with a clear door. There were a few half gallon jugs of all kinds of milk from skim, to 2%, to whole, even a few organic. Atreo had no idea what the difference was but he was sure Meghann would like it. "Oh but the BEST milk is over here!" Atreo walked just down the counter to the ice cream machine which was happily humming by now. he grabbed a bowl and dispensed some of the vanilla stuff from the first nozzle the second of which had chocolate and offered it in the general direction of the kittens to see who would take it first. "Most kittens dont get to try ice cream since its so hard to come by but this place has bad locks and an ice cream machine so I'd say you guys are preeeety lucky." he laughed. He then waslked over to the table and grabbed some plates piling each plate high with the different entrees as he sorted them out of the garbage can. This would make it easier to eat later on. "Whenever your ready guys dig in!"
Free Collars Kingdom Guild
