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 Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 7:14 pm
Sabine wasn't there; in the early afternoon, Ever still half-asleep and trying to decide if he should get a very late lunch, she had long since gone off to school and it would be a while before she came bounding back. It left him alone in the apartment, still damp from a shower, fumbling his way into [mostly] fresh clothes and humming tunelessly as he scrubbed a towel through his hair.
The apartment was small. It was big enough for two -- or three, maybe, if they were content with as little space as Ever. Sabine's bed was likely made, Ever's bag sat on the sloppy bundle of blankets he used. He'd never bothered to really move in, his things still packed down tight into the battered old messenger bag he dragged around everywhere.
Work wasn't far off. Realistically he should have been gone by now, winding his way down to the library, but realistically he was also never on time.
He'd linger another ten, twenty minutes, not cleaning up the place and not really getting anything else done, either. Then he'd haul a** and grumble, wondering what had held him up.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 10:32 pm
Hiro was on a mission.
To say that he was protective of his senshi would be like saying Scheelite thought glowsticks were kind of okay. Ammolite might be new, but she was no less precious to Hiro than any of the other corrupt senshi (excluding Alkaid, who topped his list always and forever... but that was different). So when Hiro heard from the rumour mill that one of his newest senshi was living with a Negaverse officer, he decided it was his right as a Guardian Cat to inspect this non-senshi and check that he was good enough for Ammolite.
It wasn't hard to find out where Ammolite was residing - what with Tanzanite being almost as protective over the senshi as Hiro was. So the cat made his way to the apartment, letting himself in through an open window (security risk, definitely a negative mark against this 'flatmate'). When Ever emerged from his room, still scrubbing at his hair, Hiro was waiting for him. He sat neatly, tail wrapped around his paws, teal eye glaring deadly warning at the unsuspecting man.
"I don't suppose you're the brother?" he demanded, claws flexing to tap against the floor like an impatient human would with their fingers.
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 7:14 am
The first time Hiro met most people, he probably got the same reaction. It went something like this:
Holy s**t, a talking cat!
Ever, at least, managed to bite down on the words and just think it, his expression gone blank for a moment and towel frozen in his hair. There was, it seemed, a talking cat in his apartment. That meant one of two things. The first was that he had entirely lost his mind, was seeing and hearing things, and probably needed to get himself checked out. He abandoned that concept based on his almost permanent good mood these days, the generally excellent state of his life. The second was that the cat was somehow tied to the weirdness of the city in which they lived.
Plausible, if strange. Why a cat?
So, instead of the usual talking cat question, he let the towel drop down around his shoulders and blinked down at the beast. "Are you a youma?"
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 4:42 pm
Hiro's face soured. The look he gave Ever would have been the same if the man had suggested that Hiro get a lion-cut and enter the annual Destiny City Cat Show.
People really didn't know enough about the corrupt senshi and Guardian Cats. What were all these officers being taught? (Clearly, their instructor was not as awesome as Hiro was to his senshi. Well, that wasn't such a surprise, really, it was hard to be this good.)
"No, I am not a youma," Hiro hissed out, tail swishing dangerously. "I am a Guardian Cat. I look after senshi. One of whom you happen to be living with."
He narrowed his one eye at Ever. "I'm here to see if these living arrangements," ie. you, "are acceptible."
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 9:52 pm
The rather unfortunate thing about being a Guardian Cat was -- well, Hiro was still a cat. If Tanz had given him a look like that, Ever might have flinched. Hell, even Zac, at a whopping five feet tall, had more presence than the beast settled elegantly on the floor with his tail wrapped around his feet. Even Sabine, staring off into space and considering some new idea...
Hiro sat and narrowed his eye in something like a glare, tail thrashing, and instead of instilling the fear of God into Ever, it just made him grin.
He was a cat person, at least. He shifted, slowly, sinking down to a crouch beside the beast and holding out a hand in offering. Ever knew animals, having all but grown up on a farm, and the careful way he spread his fingers was something like a peace offering. A regular cat would have eyed him warily, sniffed, and then passed judgment.
He smelled clean. And amused. "...and what exactly will you do if they're not?"
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 7:05 pm
Oh ho, Hiro amused the white-haired officer, did he? The teal eye narrowed, before Hiro assumed an angelgic, innocent expression. He raised one of his own paws. Ever might have thought Hiro was going to shake, until there was a soft schink and long, sharp claws extended.
Did Hiro ever trim those things? It was a wonder he didn't make clacking noises as he walked on hard surfaces.
"I'll jump in your lap," Hiro said sweetly. "A lot."
Hiro might not be the ferocious tiger he saw himself as. But he knew how to make the most out of what he had.
And this expression, Ever? This innocent, sweet expression? That's what he would wear when he landed in your lap, claws extended. That's the face he would turn on Sabine, all confused as to why her flatmate was groaning and sliding to the floor. Sweet girls like Sabine didn't ever suspect the cute little kitty.
After a pause - hoping his threat was sinking in - Hiro added, "I know it'll hurt because you've clearly got balls."
Why yes, it seemed Ever had won a point in his favour. Maybe. At least he wasn't the type to kick cats around. And he was down on Hiro's level. Hmm, maybe two points? Or was there one minused for not taking Hiro seriously? Hmm, maybe he should have thought out his criteria a bit better before showing up... Ah well, he could always just go on gut feeling by the end of their meeting.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 11:35 am
Hiro might have been threatening, and Ever did believe he'd really do it but -- well, he was still a cat. He couldn't help but grin at the flexed claws, at the sweet expression, the slow swish and sweep of Hiro's tail. How could he feel threatened by that fuzzy face, the little paws?
Instead he did something stupid. He reached out to nab Hiro under the torso and settle him up on one shoulder, the movement easy and comfortable and surprisingly fearless. Ever'd grown up somewhere that didn't quite qualify as a farm. There had been chickens and goats, dogs, and cats that took care of the mice. They'd picked up strays, back in the day, and some of them had been ruthless, sure, but they were all just cats.
He went immediately for the grab, immediately for a scratch under the jaw and around one ear, his fingers hunting for those spots that were most difficult for Hiro to get at. "What do you want to see, then, kitty?"
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Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 4:45 pm
Ack! Unauthorised catnapping! Abort, abort!
Hiro struggled against Ever's hold, wriggling and writhing, claws out. Unfortunately it seemed that Ever knew how to hold a cat to minimise injury to himself. Hiro ceased his movements with a huff, effectively pinned and at the mercy of the bigger human.
It was humiliating. And infuriating. The audacity! Even Painite, the student of Hiro's most in love with petting him, knew to wait for permission. Hiro wasn't a housecat, he was an intelligent, sentient being! How would Ever like it if Hiro was ten times his size and picked him up whenever Hiro wanted to?
"Why, you-," Hiro cursed and spat out a few words in an unknown language. "I am not some stupid Earth cat, I am-!"
Hiro broke off as Ever's fingers found a magical spot just behind his ear. Oooh. That was kind of... wait, no! No scritchings! This was the enemy.
(Even if he did have magic fingers.)
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 7:49 am
Once Hiro settled and relaxed, Ever took a moment to turn his arm and wince at the shallow mess of scratches against his skin. Well, it was generally the price of handling unwilling creatures with claws. They were well-armed to discourage. Less so to actually prevent a good grab and cuddle. Though a sentient one might be different...
"You're 'kitty' until I get a name." It held a hint of amusement, one pointer sliding gently under Hiro's skin. Ever tried to ignore the scratches as they began to welt up.
"I can show you whatever you want to see, but mostly this is it. This and the bathroom." He gestured, vaguely, with his free hand. It wasn't much of a place. The bed was mostly tidy, at least, Sabine having smoothed it out behind herself. The nest of blankets on the floor was less so, but showed that they weren't sharing. If nothing else, it was better than most people would expect from a twenty-something-year-old-male.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 4:08 pm
Not wanting to be stuck as 'kitty', Hiro grumped but complied. "Masahiro. Hiro, if you can't manage that." He answered to both equally, though it was always an added bonus when someone like Sabine tacked some version of honorific onto it (and even if it wasn't Japanese, 'Master' was a nice addition).
He swivelled his head to glare at Ever. "And you are?"
Sadly, the normal officers of the Negaverse didn't include handy little tags on their energy signatures to let a Mauvian know their name and specialty. Unlike a senshi, when Hiro only had to ask for their 'new' civilian names, he couldn't get either identity of the man holding him.
Hiro glanced around the apartment, unimpressed. His senshi deserved far better, of course. But it wasn't really the living space he was here to judge, it was the Lieutenant that Sabine was living with. The pile of blankets on the floor was a point in the man's favour - if it was actually him who slept on the floor. Hiro couldn't smell who slept where from up here.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 7:53 pm
"You mean you came poking around without proper intel?" He feigned shock, fingers going still for a moment, and met Hiro's eyes briefly...but only briefly. Ever was wise enough not to challenge the cat for dominance, at least, not to hold its gaze long enough for them to be fighting over the position for power. He'd made that mistake with an ill-trained dog, once, and had ended up halfway up a tree. Then lectured by a very disappointed father...
He made a noise, nabbing Hiro te set him back down; gently, dropping him onto the edge of the bed and easing sideways to open the bathroom door the rest of the way. Bed definitely smelled like Sabine. Maybe it'd cool him down, some, leave Hiro more relaxed, likely to cut Ever just a little bit of slack.
"Ever Ambrodiel. Captain Ilmenite." The rank left him grinning a little, still new enough to mean something. Or maybe it had been the method of promotion.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 9:33 pm
Hiro eyed the Captain. "How do think I get my Intel?" he demanded, sticking his nose up in the air. "Rumours have their uses, but you can't trust anything that you haven't confirmed yourself."
How did this guy make Captain, the snooty feline wondered. He clearly couldn't hold a candle to those that Hiro had trained, like his precious Painite.
He nosed aruond the room, avoiding the pile of blankets after confirming they reeked of the armpit he'd just been tucked under and nothing else. Sabine's scent was on the bed (as was a much fainter Ever scent, but Hiro could put that down to pre-Sabine use).
"Hmph," he said, as sat down on the bed. His head tilted as he stared at Ever. "I may be in the presence of a gentleman."
Even Kaia, Hiro's most precious person of all, only had the couch in the one bedroom apartment she shared with another Captain. Kaia said the so-far-hidden roommate was 'delicate' right now, but Hiro just thought he was a bed-hog.
Speaking of... Hiro padded up to the pillows and smooched against them. A bit of a roll later, then he stood and gave Ever a haughty cat stare. That's right, silly human, this bed (and Sabine) now belonged to Hiro. Good luck getting them back!
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 3:58 pm
Ever was grinning at him again, almost helplessly, when Hiro looked up. Maybe he was impressed by the marking, maybe he'd acknowledge that the bed was now truly and completely Hiro's -- but maybe he also thought that was adorabel and hilarious and impossible to take seriously.
Hell. Maybe it was a bit of both.
"Don't worry. Her womanly virtue, if nothing else, is in absolutely no danger." The very idea brought an edge of a snicker to his voice, Ever coughing to cover it up. The bathroom behind him was a bit of a mess, but it was a human, normal sort of mess. It wasn't slovenly, if only because he didn't have enough stuff for it to be worse. Toothbrush, toothpaste, travel-size shampoo samples lifted from a hotel somewhere, soa...that was all Ever had. The rest would be Sabine's.
He settled with his back against the doorframe, arms folding slowly over his chest. "I'm used to sleeping on the floor anyway. Not a big fan of beds unless I'm sharing them -- and she's not exactly my type."
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 9:00 pm
Hiro gave a small kitty snort as Ever spoke about Sabine's 'womanly virtue'. As if Hiro was here worrying about that. "She's a corrupted senshi - Eternal, at that. Trust me, if you made unwanted moves on her, she could flatten you herself." And she wouldn't have to try very hard, the tilt of Hiro's head and flick of tail both said.
Though Hiro did glance from the bed to the pile of blankets and say, "I almost don't want to know what the arrangement is when you do find someone more 'your type'."
He would like to think that human males could keep in it their pants, but... well. Hiro might as well wish for the White Moon senshi to just lie down and let themselves be killed. The best he could hope for was that Ever would do his business at the other person's place and leave Sabine to sleep in peace.
Of not, Ever just might find some peace of his own. Eternal peace. In pieces. Chuckling darkly to himself, Hiro leapt off the bed and made his way back out to the window he'd entered through.
"You pass," he told Ever. "For now."
It wasn't like the checkups were going to stop after just one visit, now, was it?
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 9:11 pm
"...that's it?" He was left blinking, straightening, all kinds of snickering comments dead on the tip of his tongue before he got to share them. Alas. Some of them had been hilarious, certainly. Might have resulted in long, angry scratches, but they would have been worth it.
He started after Hiro as the cat jumped down, easing up against the window to blink after the creature. Properly stunned. That wasn't an easy thing to do. This had been a rather surreal experience, and Ever wasn't sure how to deal with it. Come morning, it'd probably be pushed to the back of his mind, mostly forgotten.
"Well, I'll buy some cat treats, then." The people downstairs might think he was crazy for the shout, but so be it. Ever couldn't quite bring himself to care.
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