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 Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 10:26 pm
Zirconia limped along the sidewalk, a small noise of irritation escaping at the feline at the fact only three of her legs could support her weight and wondering why the hell she couldn't just resist the allure and danger of the park at night, even when she had no senshi accompaniment. Yet again, she had narrowly escaped danger, and this time also narrowly escaping becoming roadkill, only to realize her foot had been sprained in the frantic getaway.
And limping was getting old.
With a defeated sigh, she looked at the nearest cross streets, thinking she would just impose on someone to put her up for the night, maybe a BMC ISS member. Unfortunately she couldn't seem to remember where they lived or who lived where if she even knew in the first place, so she limped along, wracking her brain, until she saw an apartment complex. Aha! that name looks familiar. She couldn't remember who lived there, but she definitely knew someone did, and better yet, she clearly remembered the apartment number.
After some prowling, she had an aha moment and started meandering up to the window with some difficulty, only to scratch at it with the cutest meow she could muster before trying to push it up and open, managing to get it just a little bit. After some struggling and swearing off her favorite sandwiches forever, she actually managed to push through and fell to the floor with the thump and a really loud, angry cat squawk.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 12:21 am
"What the hell??"
Christopher still had his toothbrush in his hand as he somewhat nervously glanced out of the bathroom, trying to determine where the extremely awkward sound had come from. He'd only recently gotten back from celebrating a win with his teammates and decided that showering in the locker room hadn't been good enough. His hair was still damp and unkempt looking, since he had yet to brush and dry it properly, and all he was wearing was a pair of boxers... but it wasn't like there was anyone else in the apartment, save for his dog. And they were on the top floor, so he didn't have to worry about too many people peering into his windows. Or at least that's what he thought.
He took a few cautious steps into his room, and it didn't take very long for him to notice a fluffy... cat?? In his room?? But how? From where?? And how the hell did it get up there?? Fire escape, maybe? This was certainly the first time a cat has gotten into his apartment, though, that was for sure.
"Hey there," he said softly, not wanting to scare the poor thing, regardless of how confused he was as to how it ended up in his room, "Are you lost...?" It looked like it had been in some kind of scuffle, so the first thing he wanted to do once he convinced the cat to let him take care of her was to check her for injuries.
Well, that was the plan. Until Annabel decided that she wanted to investigate, as well.
The scurrying of claws against hard wood was the first sound he heard, and it was the excited yipping that followed. The young Finnish Spitz slid around the corner as she made her way into the bedroom, barking up a storm at the new animal that decided to make its way into the house.
"Annabel! No!" Chris told her, tossing his toothbrush on his bed as he quickly moved to grab the dog by the collar, forcing her back out of the room so as not to terrify the poor cat any more than it probably already was. "Stay!" he told her, shutting the bedroom door once she was out. Her barking stopped, but it was replaced by whining, which made Chris sigh and grumble in frustration as he went about trying to find out where the fluffy cat went.
"Kitty...? Here girl..." Not that he knew its gender... but.. it was habit...
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 12:44 am
Zirconia was still trying to right herself from the less than graceful landing she'd made when she looked up to see Chris, eyes widening as it slowly sunk in that she had broken into the wrong house. This wasn't the apartment of an ally! She knew that address because it was Chris's new apartment she was supposed to visit.
She made an odd face as she tried not to swear or peek at him in his boxers, only to suddenly poof up in shock as she heard Annabel. Ugh, dogs. Why did people insist on keeping such stupid animals? Zirc hadn't been fond of them to start with, but since Zia's mutt tried to chase her out of her own room she had held a personal grudge.
As the dog rounded the corner, the poofy Zirconia shot off to get on the bed and attempt to perch on the headboard, only to fall right off as she accidentally put weight on her sprained leg and fight with the blankets in a mad, frenzied battle.
Ending up defeating the... uh... blanket that clearly attacked her, she stood on top of it, eying Chris and the door he'd just shut on the mongrel and his pathetic attempt to coax her over. At first it was just staring as the thoughts of her two personalities tried to process this predicament.
Do we make a break for the window? Ugh, we'd never fit.
Please stop making mental comparisons to other... guys... I don't think I like where that brain train is going.
I think I'm just going to humor him.
Finally, very cautiously, she jumped down and edged towards him, ears swiveling as she listened for any sign of Annabel. She was still a mess from when every heavy hair stood on end at the barking, and probably looked even worse since she was still shedding all that dense, matted fluff for summertime and hadn't gotten a decent brushing in... ever. Except for the fancy collar, she wouldn't blame him for assuming she was a stray.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 1:10 pm
Christopher watched the cat as she made her way down from the bed and slowly made his way towards him.
"Hey there," he said again, ignoring the scratching at his door and whining of the dog on the other side. "What a pretty kitty," he cooed as he knelt down on the floor, holding out a hand to try and get the cat to come to him. "Where did you come from...? Do you live in this building...?" He knew it was kind of pointless to ask a cat those kinds of questions, but he wanted to keep talking and try and get her to move closer. It would be much too convenient if animals could talk, so he went with talking to her, instead.
It didn't take him long to notice a few things about the cat as he wiggled his fingers on the ground, hoping to attract her attention. The first thing was: "You have the same color fur as my best friend's hair..." Maybe it was the lighting doing it, but he didn't see that color on many people, and on animals even less. Zia's older brother he'd met maybe once, sure, but outside her family, he couldn't really name anyone else. Was it weird that he was thinking of his friend while looking at a cat? For one, the poor thing's fur looked like it was in desperate need of brushing, while Zia's hair was never out of place, it seemed...
The second thing he noticed was the collar and strange spot on her forehead. It was a strange collar, but maybe that meant she would have a chip that could help him get her back to her owner. The spot on her head worried him... Was she burned...? Was it a scar from getting into a fight...? She was limping, too...
"You've had it rough, haven't you...? Are you hungry...? Would you like some food...?" He knew he didn't have actual cat food in the apartment, but he at least had a can of salmon or something laying around.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 6:29 pm
Zirconia realized how little she had needed to act like a 'normal' cat in her short time on White Earth. It was really, really hard not to just blurt out a snotty comment or just flat out answer him.
Food sounded good. Food and rest. That was the whole reason she'd broken in in the first place, right?
Closing the distance between them, she swept her head over the palm of his hand and gave him a reassuring purr, though an especially loud whine from Annabel made her stop and hiss at the door. How was she going to get around that thing?
It was enough to make her sigh and sit in front of him, looking up and trying to telepathically give her commands.
Feed me. Brush me. Lock up your dog. Feed me. Put on some pants. Feed me.
Why don't these White Earth people have more talking cats? Ugh.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 10:16 am
"See? You're okay..." Chris smiled as the cat moved close enough for him to be able to pet her, giving her a gentle scratch behind her ears, only to quickly pull back when she hissed at the door. "Anna isn't going to hurt you. She's harmless. All bark, no bite," he continued, realizing he was talking to himself, but hey, maybe his voice would help to calm her down enough to let him get a better look at her.
He pet her for only a few more moments, before pulling back to stand up and move over to the door, catching Annabel by the collar before she could get into the room, pushing her back, again. "No. Go crate up. Go!" he ordered, feeling slightly guilty to hear her whine and then back off, heading out to the living room where her roomy, pillow lined crate was waiting for her. Sorry, girl... But scaring the cat wasn't going to do any of them any good. He went over to make sure she was locked in before heading back over to the kitchen, running a hand through his still slightly damp hair.
"KItty, did you want some food...?" he called, making a few clicking noises with his tongue to try and get her attention. "Come on. The doggy is locked up now..." he said loud enough for the cat to hear, rummaging through the pantry for the can of salmon he knew was laying around. Once he found it, he brought it back out to the kitchen to open and dump out on a plate, sticking it on the ground for easy access, and then getting out a bowl for water. The cat probably didn't want to drink from the same bowl as the dog.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 10:42 am
Zirconia watched the dog with a smug expression, and even trailed after Chris to make sure she was locked up for real. Now for the real question. Did she go guide him as he made food for her, tease the dog, or snoop? And there were lots of places to snoop, too. She loves her snooping.
Hearing the clicking noises, one ear leaned back in irritation and she sorely wanted to snap back with "I am not a squirrel, Earth boy." But temptation was resisted and she answered back with a loud mewl that she'd have to trust he'd take as a 'yes, feed me already'. Now she got to prowling around.
First, the kitchen was the best bet, to make sure he wasn't going to serve up something gross. Also there were drawers. She hopped up on the countertop and moved like she was stalking prey, trying to figure out which drawer he'd keep junk, mail, or something similar in. Locating one, she reached a paw down and gingerly tried to push it open. Then a little more... Then with a LOT more force to the point the drawer slid all the way out and both cat and silverware showered down to the floor with a huge racket. Even worse, she startled herself with the clattering dining ware and instinctively shot off to hide under his bed.
Well that was embarrassing.
Getting over her scare, she prowled back out to find more stuff to sift through, sniffing various surfaces along the way as she caught the vague, lingering scent of his mother. She must come around a lo-- what is this. Cosmo? Knowing what the magazine was through Zia's memories, Zirconia had to stop, snicker quietly, and turn a few pages. This finding was going to be filed away for future use, even though it was clearly his mother's and was probably just left behind.
Seeing the door to his bathroom was open a crack, she saw an opportunity to be even nosier, and also escape, maybe. Zia had a full length mirror in her bedroom. Zirc figured his bathroom mirror would probably be big enough to mirrorwalk home through. And she would've, if her snooping spree just screeched to a halt with a scream alerting her to the pounding sensation of a nearby youma.
First she shot to the window, only to realize she couldn't squeeze back out, and then to the door to scratch at it frantically. Ugh, time to break the stupid not-talking animal illusion. "Hey! Hey! Open the door!"
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 11:07 am
"Hey!" he called after the cat as she knocked out a full drawer. What the hell?? Chris let out a frustrated sigh, wanting to see if the cat was okay, but since she darted off, he figured he should pick up the drawer with the now cracked front. Ugh... that's what happened when cheap material was used... He grumbled to himself as he quickly scooped the pieces of kitchenware up from the ground and dumping them back into the drawer. Yeah, he knew he should probably wash them all... Or at least that was what his mother would do if she'd been there, but she wasn't so he wasn't going to. Besides... the floor was clean, still. And it wasn't as though anyone ever ate over at his place, so... it didn't really matter since he was the only one using them.
Christopher had just finished setting the drawer on the counter when he... heard the strangest thing... a voice...? He blinked, glancing up at the television to see if he'd left it on. No, it was off... but... he could have sworn that he'd heard someone talking. Maybe it was someone at the door? "Coming," he called to whoever was waiting, heading back to his bedroom to grab a pair of lounge pants, not wanting to open the door in just his boxers, and quickly pulled them on. His chest was still bare, save for the silver medal hanging around his neck, but it wasn't like he was out in public, right...?
He made hie way back out to the door, taking a moment to lean in to look through the peep hole as a hand went up to unlock the door. But he paused, blinking curiously through the tiny hole at the empty hallway. Huh... maybe he'd just imagined it...? Chris did notice the cat, though, frowning at the fact that she was scratching at the door. What was her problem...?
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 11:18 am
Zirconia stared back with an irritated little frown, cringing as whatever civilian had encountered the youma she sensed made one last scream for help.
"Door, human. Open it. Can't you hear what's going on outside?!" She asked, making wild gestures towards the wood. And then she puffed out her chest and put her front paws on her hips. "Or do you not speak English?!"
Okay, maybe she was getting a little too snippity, but this was urgent! What if that thing found it's way in here? Or made it's way towards her own neighborhood? Paranoid of monsters she couldn't see with her own two eyes and what they were doing, Zirconia was at the ready to shoot out the door the second it open wide enough for her fluffy butt and down to the alleyway.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 11:39 am
"What the hell?!" Chris sputtered, nearly jumping out of his skin when he distinctly heard the cat talk. At first he still wasn't sure, but then he saw its mouth move, heard the sound coming from it, and... although he would very much like to jump onto the couch in case it attacked him or something strange like that, he reached out to rip the chain from the lock, yanking the door open with enough force to cause him to end up on his butt on the floor.
He stared at the cat as it darted out, and now that it was out of his apartment, he thought he should have probably... you know... asked it a couple questions. Who are you? Why can you talk? Am I going crazy? Just the basics... But the thing that stopped him from continuing that line of thought wasn't the sound that the cat heard, but a strange roar coming from the alley below. What the hell was going on?!
"Stay," he told his already locked up dog as he quickly shoved his feet into the shoes that were by the door, before stumbling out after the fluffy animal with only enough time to shut the door behind him.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 11:46 am
Zirconia wasted no time getting outside and rounding the corner, coming within just a few feet of the monster when she heard the roar.
Back arching and hair standing on end, she let out a defensive hiss and jumped back, wondering how the hell she was going to get out of this one. A quick scan left her with little hope as she picked up no friendly energy signals, and she was already pretty spent. If she got off an energy shot now she'd pass out, and that wasn't good.
She backed up more as she saw it move closer, still trying to come up with a plan when she noticed Chris on her tail, no pun intended. "Back off, this is above your paygrade," She snapped at him before mustering up enough energy and tolerance of her sprained foot to dart up on a dumpster and catch it's attention, then dart away before it could take a bite out of her. If she could help it, it wouldn't be taking a second victim tonight!
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 12:34 pm
Chris was breathing heavily as he rounded the corner of the building, only to sputter in surprise at the strange creature in the alley before them. He wasn't sure if he wanted to scream, if he wanted to run... or what! He didn't even look down at the cat as it spoke to him again and then dashed off. But, she was going to end up eaten like that! Golden eyes widened in shock as the monster turned to follow the animal.
"Hey!" he called after it, quickly scouring the alleyway for something to use as a weapon of some sorts. This must be one of the monsters that Azzo had told him about... one that the 'good' and 'bad' guys fought against.
Or, more likely, he was just going crazy from lack of sleep. This was really just a dream and he would wake up at any moment. But he didn't wake up. A metal trashcan was the first thing he could get his hands on, and he quickly grabbed it and slung it in the monster's direction, trying to get its attention away from the cat, not wanting her to be hurt again.
Of course, all the monster did was let out an angry roar and turn back towards him. Well, s**t... now what? He took a few steps back from the creature, though still looking for something to throw at it when he suddenly tripped backwards over something in the middle of the alley.
His heart stopped cold as he stared at the unmoving form of a young woman on her stomach. She... was she dead?? There wasn't exactly any time for him to check because the monster had made its way to him, reaching out with its long claws to try and swipe at him.
In his defense, Chris reached out to grab onto whatever he could find to throw at the creature. Cardboard, loose chunks of cement, and empty bottles, which shattered as they hit the ground, the monster letting out another roar as it was hit. And it looked like it was getting more pissed, too. Hopefully the talking cat had managed to get away.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 1:40 pm
"No, stop it!" Zirconia yelled, sounding more frustrated with Chris than frightened about their situation. As the youma turned it's attention to Chris and he was drawing attention to himself, she launched herself at it to swipe at it and get it back being angry at herself.
Stupid human.
"Just go away before you die, idiot!" She screeched, getting nicked as she tried to dart away from huge youma claws. That hurt, and she was starting to seriously worry neither of them were going to make it out alive. Jumping away again, she started trying to aim, but she didn't have enough time to steady herself and when the monster swiped at the stack of cardboard boxes she'd been perched on, the fluffy cat went flying and tumbled on the ground yet again.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 5:12 pm
Hey! She had no right to be frustrated! He was just trying to save her from getting hurt!
Chris sputtered in surprise when she yelled at him, and then ended up getting hurt in the process to redistricting it. Alright, first off, he had no idea why he had a cat yelling at him. A talking cat, to be exact. And then there was a monster fighting that talking cat and... going around, killing people?? Yeah, he wasn't really up for that.
"Leave her alone!" Chris yelled at the monster, pulling off one of his shoes to throw at it, before struggling to get to his feet and look around for a better weapon. The monster let out another roar and started for him, again, apparently not liking that it kept getting hit by things. He stumbled backwards again, unable to find anything decent to use. If only he had his bat with him. His heart was pounding in his ears as, in his haste, he stumbled backwards again, wincing as a sharp pain shot through his left hand. Chris quickly lifted it to inspect, seeing blood now dripping down his wrist from a broken bottle, shards of glass embedded into his skin. s**t... And it didn't help that the monster had already knocked the cat out of its way and was advancing on him. Now what?? He could kick it when it got close enough, but after that, he wasn't really sure what he could do.
Suddenly, as though his desperate thoughts had called it forward, an object appeared before him, floating in thin air. It was a golden object, the size of a pocket watch, on a golden chain. But it wasn't a watch... it was a... compass...? It was pulsing with a strange energy, but one that was also... familiar...? Chris stared blankly at the compass for a few long moments — probably longer than he should have with a monster almost on top of him — wondering where it had come from. Something was pulling him towards it, as though it was calling to him...
His left hand reached out, fingers clasping around the item, and a sudden warmth spread through him.
The monster roared again, baring down on him, and it was only when his foot shot out to make contact with the monster's face did he realize that he had changed.
Wait, what the hell?!
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 5:42 pm
Zirconia flailed and sort of gave up and stayed limp on her back until she was hit with her senses going wild at a new aura. Not a dark one, it was definitely not chaos aligned. And... it was right next to her?
Scrambling to look up, she stared in confusion at the powered up Chris kicking at the youma in his fancy new outfit with a clear look of 'What the ******** ******** just happened here?' He didn't LOOK like a cavalier, but he sort of felt like one. But also not. He was a new species entirely an--
Oh, and he was also getting mauled by a youma.
New species or not, he didn't seem to have any special magic or a useful weapon, just a really good kick, and so she resigned herself to what she'd been putting off. Taking advantage of the fact he was keeping the monster distracted, the ragged cat braced herself, took aim, and put all she had into an energy shot square at it's head.
"Ugh," She coughed as the thing exploded into dust and wrinkled her nose. She'd never get of how gross it was to dust a youma.
"Uggggh," And now the consequences of spending her energy. she swayed on her feet a little, and flopped down on her belly. "You alive?" She asked Chris with an obvious, sarcastic tone before giving in to the overwhelming urge to just go to sleep. She almost didn't care that it was on the filthy pavement. Well, she kind of cared, but sometimes you can be tired enough that you just don't care about anything at all.
And shortly after Zirconia had finally lost all consciousness, she inevitably powered down to her civilian body still in the pajamas she left her house in, too drained to maintain any other form.
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