Welcome to Gaia! ::

The journey wasn't too long in ********* mind, but the fact of the matter was that she was very adjusted to wandering about the full city on a daily basis. She hadn't been talking as they trotted along, merely seeming to hum a light little ditty. It almost seemed to be the tune one would hear at a circus.

The pair of cats cut through the park and into a neighborhood nearby. It wasn't the best part of town, but it also wasn't the slums. The houses were nice enough, but there were signs of various places needing some touching up, some places that didn't get the best lawn care (or in some cases, there was no lawn care). The duo eventually came upon a two-story home that had gravel rather than front yard of grass. The garage was an old school one that swung open and shut rather than slid up, and had a large lock attached to it to prevent people from breaking in.

Turning to her companion, the manx gave the boy-turned-cat the explanation as to her plans.

"Go to the garage... I need to butter her up a bit before she'd consider taking up another cat. I'll come and get you once I get her attention, okay?"

Once the other cat had sent himself to take his position at the garage, ********* settled herself down in front of the front door. She obviously couldn't reach the doorbell, but she was able to scratch at the front door.

Yet before she could get her claws out, something seemed to go off inside of the house.

Barking?

"Hold yer horses!" could be heard from the inside of the house, which was muffled by the constant sound of barking. When the door swung open, there was not only a blonde girl standing there, but a blue Merle Aussie with a black collar being held back. Oh, but how that dog strained to try to move closer to get a better smell of the small round animal.

"...what'cha doin' 'ere, cat?"

Rather than reply with the door open, the feline trotted into the house without a word. Being quite familiar with the layout, ********* soon enough made her way to the dining room table, bounded up into the chair, then onto the table top. She waited for the blonde to close the door before she spoke up.

"When in the world did you get a dog?!"

After shutting the door, the injured girl released her hold of the canine's collar. Immediately the dog bounded over to the table the cat was on and was shoving his nose up to try and get a better sniff.

"Ain't he cool? His name's Aque... but seriously... what'cha doin' 'ere?"

Rather boldly, the manx padded up to where the black nose was sniffing and sat down. "That's a weird name... but your dog... so whatever." With a slight giggle, the manx then explained what was going on.

"I know you've been cooped up... but there's been something that's happened across the city that's... well... a bit different."

Ellie pulled out a chair on the opposite side of the table and sat down, leaning forward so her bulky cast wouldn't need to be held up for a bit. "...different how? Like... those kids goin' missin'? Or that coma last year?"

There was a pause where the only sound that could be heard was the sniffing of Aque's nose.

"...like random people being turned into cats..."

Out of the side of her mouth, the blonde scoffed out "...why's it always gotta be cats?!"

"Yes, yes, the whole world and their cats. Anyways... it has hit a lot of people. Senshi, Negaverse agents... and even basic civilians. Aaaaand... I need you to do me a huge favor right now."

"Favor?" the blonde repeated, barely glancing up at the small cat.

"One of them is your friend, Sheldon Hobbes..."

"...Hobbes ain't my friend..."

"...yes he is... anyways... he's outside right now waiting for you to come get him. However... the favor I want to ask of is going to sound weird."

The manx was beating around the bush and it was getting a bit annoying for Ellie. "Spit it out, cat."

"I want you to pretend you can't understand what I am saying."

Another pause. "Wait... what?"

"He seems very adamant that I can talk."

"You can talk."

"Yes, but I don't want him to take this knowledge with him... I suspect this cat thing is temporary... so this is why I need you to pretend like you don't understand what I am saying. I am going to be speaking like normal... but I need you to pretend whatever I say is coming out like kitty sounds. Meow meow meow."

"...I still don't get it..."

The manx sighed. "You don't have to get it... just follow through with the plan... oh!" ********* wandered up to the blonde and sat down right in front of her face.

"Do you still have that catnip you bought while I was here with a broken leg?"

"My dad would have killed me if I threw something away wastefully...I thought cats were supposed t'go gaga over that crap."

"It isn't a good idea for me to be using such a substance. Either way, Sheldon seems very agitated... he'll probably be asking for it... or if he doesn't... maybe offer it to him?"

********* was about to just hop off the table, but then she remembered who was there.

"Um... is there a way you can carry me to the door, or get Aque to stay back while I walk over there?"

Pushing herself up to her feet, the blonde picked up the cat and set her on her shoulder, then turned to the dog who was already prepared to follow her.

"Sit!" she said firmly.

Aque's butt was on the ground.

"Stay!" she said in an equally firm tone.

The dog whined, but as she walked towards the door, he remained in place. Once at the door, the blonde picked the cat up again and set her down on the ground.

"Anything I say... pretend it is just meowing sounds... got it?"

"...uh... whatever?"

With that, when the door was opened, the cat glanced right, then left to make sure the neighbors weren't about.

The coast was clear (as was to be expected on a workday at this time). Rather loudly, she began to call out "Come on... follow me... follow me!" With that, she scampered ahead and began to move towards the garage. She only stopped on a few occasions to glance back, then call out again "Follow me!" Soon enough she was next to Sheldon.

"...Goddamnit, Cat... why th'f*ck are ya so fussy?" Following the animal, she soon enough saw what had become of Hobbes. Even knowing that he had been turned to a cat couldn't prepare her for one aspect.

"...green cat?"

In a pretty flat tone, the tomboy turned to face the cat with the floppy ears with one phrase. "...green cat that can talk..." The blonde narrowed her eyes and attempted to stoop over to look at the tomcat.

"...why does yer voice sound familiar?" Ellie knew why the voice was familiar, but if she was pretending that the manx cat couldn't talk, then she also had to pretend she didn't get the explanation already about who he was.

Rather than answer the question, ********* sat her haunches down and asked "Do you realize how redundant you sounded just now? Asking me and then asking her... you'll get the same answer either way."

It was already pretty hard to feign ignorance, but forcing herself to play the role ********* gave her, she attempted to distract Sheldon with a question. "...were ya jus' askin' th'cat how she knows me?"

"Oh. Kay?" Ellie glanced down to the cat, who managed to sneak in a slight nod.

"First thing... I'm gonna bring ya guys in th'house... last thing I need are th'neighbors figurin' this sh*t out..." Without any hesitation, she leaned down and picked up the smaller of the cats and lifted her up by the scruff of the neck.

********* let out a small mewing sound as she was lifted up and was set up on the shoulder that had the cast on it. The manx leaned in once settled in and whispered "Keep it up."

With one cat down, the tomboy leaned forward again and picked up the other cat by the scruff, somehow managing to flop him upon her good shoulder. "...yer heavier than th'cat..." Ellie mentioned, glad that her most frequent label for the guardian seemed to be coming in handy.

Now loaded up with felines, the tomboy made her way back to her front door again, talking just for Hobbes' sake.

"...yeah... I found th'cat at one point in an alleyway... like... guess she got into an accident or somethin'... broken leg, but nearly dead. Took 'er t'the vet... she got tossed in a cast... and I was kinda stuck with th'cat fer a while. Once she got th'cast off... let 'er go off and do 'er own thing. She pops up every so often... dunno why... ain't my cat..."

There was a pause as she turned the knob to the door, to find her dog crying like a little b*tch. One of the things she had read was when he was acting like this, she wasn't supposed to react much. If she didn't get excited, then he'd stop doing it over time because it wasn't getting him any results he wanted.

"Aque, stay!" she said in a subdued, yet still sharp tone as he stood his rump up.

With a cough, she then glanced to the green cat on her shoulder. "Dude... ya want some catnip or somethin' like that? I bought some when th'cat was 'round... but she always turned it down."

Shrugging the shoulder that Sheldon had scratched up faintly, the tomboy lamely offered "I guess..." The blonde had no plans to leave the cats out and about with a dog that didn't seem nearly as okay with small animals as Raja. Once she got to the stairwell, she began to make her way up to her room.

As they bobbed along with each step, the manx spoke up again. "Yup... this one belongs to me... there are a lot of people that belong to me. It's what happens when you don't limit yourself to being a house cat." She giggled lightly as they came upon the bedroom door.

Ellie lifted her good arm to turn the handle, and then had to lean slightly into the door to get it to open. "Eh... catnip is the equivalent of cat drugs, ain't it? And since yer a pothead... figured ya might wanna try somethin' druggy fer cats... as a cat." Once they were in her room, she shut the door, once again leaning into the motion until she heard a faint click which meant the door was truly closed.

The room itself seemed more suited towards a guy's room, which made sense considering this was Ellie Spectre. Where many girls might have left their rooms somewhat neat, the tomboy's room was a mess. Random articles of clothing were on the floor in piles. There was a messy desk with a computer that wasn't turned on (since the blonde wasn't a computer nerd). The walls were decorated with posters of cars. There was another door in the room that was open a crack, which led to her bathroom.

"Alright... no more free rides guys..." Ellie first reached for the manx, since she was on the opposite shoulder, thus easier to grab. Once more, she grabbed the animal by the scruff of the neck, then tossed her towards a beanbag chair she had at the edge of her bed.

The small cat easily landed on her feet against the soft bean-cushion.

"Hobbes... ya wanna get off on yer own?"

********* head popped up from the beanbag chair she had been tossed onto. Almost like a child, she interjected "I love this chair... I just wanted everyone to know!" She then seemed to flatten down into the best version of a kitty loaf she could manage.

Now that her shoulders were freed of cats, the blonde went lumbering to one of the drawers at her computer desk. She tugged it open with her good hand, then leaned forward to take a look. Under her breath, she couldn't help but muse "...if I was a baggy of kitty-pot... where th'f*ck would I be?" Drawer number 1 definitely did not seem to have what she was looking for, so she shoved it shut before opening the next drawer. As she was in the middle of searching drawer number 2, she decided to mention something.

"Hobbes... I know yer a cat right now an' all... but if ya need to piss or sh*t... do it in my toilet... I don't really have a cat box set up in 'ere anymore... and I usually don't let th'other cat in... so jus' so ya know." It was about that time she managed to fish out a small packet of cat n**.

"...there we go!" Without even thinking about it, she tossed the baggy onto her bed near the green cat.

A pair of green eyes seemed to watch as the little baggy of catnip flew through the air. However, she kept quiet for now as she continued to watch. She needed to find the best time to escape out of this place to check up with the others in the city that might have been affected by the machine.

"I don't give a rat's a** if it's TMI, Hobbes!" She whipped about to facing the pathetic green cat on her bed as fast as her large cast would allow her. "I ain't gonna have some cat f*ckin' sh*ttin' all over my room. And since ya understand me, yer gonna do that stuff in th'bathroom as if ya were a person!"

Of course, the cat formerly known as Sheldon was already pretty involved with the catnip by the time she was scolding him. Sighing a bit and rolling her eyes, she began to move towards one of the piles of clothing in her room. It might have been a mess, but the tomboy had some dignity. She only pulled out very select pieces of clothing from the piles, the sort of unmentionables a guy didn't really need to see. Awkwardly, she knelt down and with her single arm began to try to sort through the clothing a bit. Any undergarments were pulled from the piles and set upon her lap until she was ready to stand up. When she was ready to get up, her good hand grabbed onto the collection of bras and underwear, bunching them up as much as she could in her hand in an effort to make them unrecognizable before making her way to the bathroom. She had a hamper in there, and for now, that's where the undergarments were going.

From the bathroom, she called out "...so, enjoyin' yerself yet, Hobbes?"

Not really getting a response that she could hear from the bathroom, when she came back out, the tomboy glanced to her bed to find the floppy-earred cat hugging onto the baggy. He seemed to be flopping slightly to one side from what she could see.

"...dude... I'll never get cats..." she grunted before sitting herself down at the chair at her desk. "...or get people who find this t'be entertainin'..."

Shaking her head, she went to pull out something from one of the other drawers at her desk. With a single hand, she reached in and pulled out a car magazine up onto the desk. She shut the drawer with her foot and then proceeded to open up her choice of reading material.

The manx decided she should check on the boy-gone-cat now. From her spot on the beanbag chair, she hopped up onto the bed and looked the green feline over. She kept her distance and sat her rump down, but she kept her eyes upon the other in a quiet manner. This was the reason why she'd never be willing to do catnip of her free will.