Welcome to Gaia! ::

It wasn’t the first time while at camp that Arian had woken up groggy – while not at his best first thing in the morning , to be honest most mornings he’d felt sleepy – however today was the first morning where he hadn’t really felt like heading straight for the mess hall. Instead Arian had dressed, stuck his hair into a messy ponytail and then grabbed some of the cookies that he’d saved from one of the camp’s baking activities before slipping out of his cabin and making his way towards the nearby woods.

I won’t go far he told himself sleepily as he walked towards the trees at the back of the boys’ cabins. Just long enough to clear my head and then I’ll go get some breakfast. Not that he was greatly anticipating breakfast – it hadn’t taken long for Arian to discover that the food on offer was crap.

Arian had let his thoughts drift as he walked absently munching on one of the cookies as he did so, they weren’t the most outstanding cookies ever baked, and goodness only knew what was in the ingredients – if wasn’t as if any of the stuff had been organic – but it wasn’t as if out here he could really be choosy... And to be honest it was nicer than the stuff that was the camp’s excuse for ‘breakfast’.

So caught up in his thoughts was he, the rustling of a nearby bush took Arian completely by surprise causing him to yelp slightly as he stumbled backwards. “Is somebody there?” Maybe it was an animal. He took another more cautious step backwards. Maybe it was a skunk. God he hoped it wasn’t a skunk – he’d heard tales about them and from the sounds of it being sprayed by one was no joke.

Arian tensed as the bush rustled again. It wasn’t a big rustle which was a good thing wasn’t it? He hesitated briefly, memories of watching Pepé Le Pew cartoons reminding him that the skunk – Pepé – had been only slightly bigger than the cat (Penelope something or the other) that he was always chasing. Taking a step backwards, Arian was debating putting more space between himself and the suspicious bush – a lot more space – when the animal popped out of the bush.

Actually come think of it, it kind of looked like a cat. No wait – Arian stared in disbelief – it was a cat. A muddy cat. A cat the seemed to be covered in bits of plants, but yes – a cat nonetheless. And if that hadn’t been enough to convince him, the cat chose that moment to rub against his ankles and start making mewing sounds.

“What are you doing out here kitty? Where’s your owner” Arian asked, squatting down to take a better look. Was that a bell round it’s neck? Not that he expected an answer – after all it wasn’t as if the cat could answer him. He quietly wondered if the cat was hungry, it looked like it had been out for a bit and to be honest the mewing noises sounded so pitiful that it was making him feel sorry for the poor creature.

Although it was a little unnerving having the cat stare at him the way it was doing, it would have taken a harder heart than Arian’s to not be affected by the cat’s actions – a much harder heart.

As it was – not being a particularly stone-hearted person – meant that the (what could only be described as) ‘pleading kitty style’ was more than enough to convince Arian. The continued pitiful sounding mewing was simply icing on the cake.

“You’re hungry, poor thing.” The cat had to be, Arian rationalised (it was about the only reason he could think of why it would sound so miserable). “But I don’t have...” He hesitated, the rustling of the little plastic bag serving to suddenly remind him of the presence of the cookies. Cookies weren’t exactly cat food, but they were the soft sort of cookies rather than the crunchy so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad for the cat. He looked down at the bag of cookies and then back up at the cat. Surely one cookie wouldn’t hurt.

Suiting action to words Arian snapped the cookie in his hand in half before holding out the uneaten half to the cat. “Sorry it’s not cat food, it’s all I have though.” He kind of felt a little silly doing it though – after all he’d never heard of a cat wanting to eat cookies.

Wow it’s actually eating it! Arian couldn’t help but stare a little as the cat took and started eating the piece of cookie – to be honest he’d honestly thought the offering would be disdained as he was pretty sure that cookies (even soft ones) weren’t exactly on the to give list for cats. He looked at the cat while it ate, looked again at its muddy appearance, then at the bell. The bell suggested that the cat belonged to someone – but why would the cat be here of all places – the camp was quite frankly in the middle of nowhere.

A sigh. It just didn’t make sense! Not unless... “I wonder,” his mused thoughts were quietly spoken aloud. “Did your owner abandon you kitty?” It would after all explain what the hungry cat was doing out here, although Arian hadn’t a clue who would be cruel enough to do such a thing.

The last thing Arian expected was an answer to his question – after all there was no one else out here apart from himself and the cat and it wasn’t as if the cat could understand him... That whole thing about cats not able to speak – at least not anything that a human would understand.

His reaction therefore when said cat suddenly sat down in front of him, looked him in the eye and proceeded to indeed answer his question was to stare wide-eyed at it from behind his glasses his thought process little more than a giant Whaaaat?!

When the cat went on to make a sound suspiciously like a giggle Arian actually removed his glasses and peered at them, the cat’s question going over his head a little as he mumbled somewhat stupidly “Um did you just speak?”

Arian was shocked enough to dumbly slip his glasses back on at the cat’s words. “Um I’m a boy” the question was answered absently – he was too flustered to feel the slight annoyance that the question usually elicited – not to mention the fact that his mind was trying to wrap it’s way round the fact that he was having a conversation with a talking cat. A talking cat that made giggle-sounding noises (well okay one) and had a female-sounding voice... Arian fiddled with the simple band keeping his hair in the ponytail. Maybe he was still not quite awake.

“Um... Pleased to meet you Miss *********.” Arian had had politeness drummed into him enough so that the response was more automatic than anything else. “Um sure, you can have another cookie if you want.” He fumbled with the bag of cookies somewhat flustered, before holding out the requested cookie. Cookies might not be what he’d think of as the food of choice for a cat, but then again what did he know about the diet of talking cats – before today the idea of one wouldn’t have even crossed his mind.

He blinked confused at the notion that the cat may have some sort of business with him “My name is Arian – Arian Laith.” He started – she had asked his name after all – then added “But I think you may have made a mistake.” Why would a talking cat have something for him.