Welcome to Gaia! ::

Teal eyes shielded from watched the interactions between the girl in the flowershop and her calico kitten. The cat to whom they belonged was crouched down, and with a flick of her flag-bearing tail, she slid her candy-colored goggles down into position. Ready. Set. RACE!

The object of her mad sprint? Treats. There were treats. Fishy, delicious treats, which... Horatio barely stifled a laugh at the kitten sitting to get one of them. Sitting? On command? What did she think she was--a dog? Hmph. Maybe little miss all-the-colors had to do tricks in order to earn the treats, but the Mauvian would show her how it was done with true feline poise. ...okay, so maybe Horatio wasn't the poster cat for modeling, but she WAS fast and cute and determined to win.

Her competitive nature clearly showing, the Himalayan leapt up onto the counter and rubbed up against Lola. They might be contenders for affection, but (1) cuddles were nice and (2) people generally felt kitties getting along was cuter than kitties fighting. She moved from the kitten to the person holding the treat with a playful "Mewl!" Paws stretched out, careful to avoid pricking the treat-giver... and then kitty speech was abandoned when a tell-tale warmth glowed beneath her touch.

"Oh, it's you! Lemme have one of thoose fishy thiiiiings?"

Horatio huffed right back at the kitten whenever it gave a hiss. What kind of stuck up thing didn't like free cuddles? Ha, joke was on the calico. Now all of the delicious fishy treats and cuddles belonged to Horatio! The Guardian was quite pleased with this turn of events and planned to take full advantage of the opportunity that had been presented before her.

Purring started almost immediately when both treats and attention was aptly provided. She immediately dove in to eat one of the treats and it was just as tasty as it smelled! Crunching down on one while enjoying her ear skritching, she mewled in contentment despite her full mouth. "I'm okay; I've been having a really interesting day! I chased a bird and a squirrel and I danced around in the street with a little boy and all sorts of fun things! I didn't find anybody to wake up today, which is kind of sad, but I think I'll find someone tomorrow there are just soooo many people that still need to be discovered, and I want to wake them all AND OH MY MOON these are delicious treatss I-"

Here the Guardian frowned and swallowed, looking up at the girl with a thoughtful look behind her goggles. "I... don't know your name. Can't call you by the same name I call you when you're all kicking Chaos in the face, and I can't call you 'hey you' because what if there's more?"

"Orah? Orah. That's a pretty name, and it ends in the same vowel sound as you other name so it should be easy to remember!" The Himalayan repeated the name with a grin, but that grin only deepened at mention of the other Guardian. "Yeah, me neither. She ran pretty fast when she thought I was going to blast her. HA!"

Horatio was always pretty happy, but at Orah's question she beamed. She pawed at one of the newly poured treats and batted it around like a toy, her flagged tail flapping about as she purred, "I sure do! I've got a great family! There's a little girl, and two little boys, and a Mom and a Dad AND BEST OF ALL, Grandma and Grandpa live right next door! They have a yard with trees that I can climb, and little shiny balls that I roll around the house and a feather on a stick so the kids can play with me!" Sure, all of her family had names, but why bring up those little details when she could brag about how awesome they were? "I stay with them most days, but I'm strictly an out door kitty so I can leave whenever I need or want to go somewhere."

She paused here to sniff at the air in consideration, and she admitted, "I dunno what other Guardians do. If I had my Senshi... maybe I would stay with her. Or him. I don't really remember. But since I don't know where my Senshi is, I stay with my current family. It'd be kind of hard on them if I left now, I think. But don't be sad, Orah, because I can always come visit and we can play and cuddle and... I guess YOUR kitty can, too, if she decides not to hate me?"

The kitty munched down on one of the treats as she listened, swallowing to comment, "Your family sounds nice too, although I'm sorry about your Mama. One day you should go to this India place and visit so you get to know them because it's good to have dreams like that." With that, she was back to batting at the nuggets of fishy goodness before her.

Horatio paused in her play and gave serious consideration to Orah's question. (Yes, she could be serious, she just found it boooooring.) Truth be told... she didn't know all that much about the finer points of being a Guardian. She just... knew that somewhere out there, there was someone just for her. It was a feeling in her gut, the same way that it was a feeling that she was connected to something... big. Bigger than herself, bigger than her own personal Senshi. She licked at her paw and cleaned her whiskers. So what? It was nothing to worry about! "Dunno. I know I do, somewhere. That's enough for me!"

When it came to talking about Lola and kitty doors, the fluffy kitty was more in her element. A smile appeared on her face, and then it turned mischevious as she giggled, "Oh, I can get in through any door! It'll be a fun game, maybe I can even play 'Which Entrance Today?' where I make different window or door my target. And I can mew and skritch and then when Da comes he'll say 'OH NO YOU ARE NOT LOLA!' and I'll zoom in anyway and we'll laaaaaugh~ Oh, oh, and I can cuddle with Lola and I'll give him the big, sad, kitty eyes, and then he'll not have the heart to kick me out. It'll be fun!"

Horatio couldn't talk about other Guardians, but she certainly liked getting her ears scratched. It was shown in the way she tilted her head for easier access, how she offered her chin and her chest for further attention too. It felt good to be pet and cuddled and even better to be loved. She kneaded the table with her paws before scootching a little closer to Orah. This talk of Senshi and guardians was a little weird for cuddle time but, if it meant more attention, then she could happily continue! "Not all Senshi, and not all Guardians. It's like... some Senshi are all on their own, right, and sometimes Guardians don't want to bond to any one person and stick with a group of people instead."

The puffy Himalyan's face squinched up in thought, and she brought her tail to rest on the girl's wrist, "Well, it's sort of hard to explain. See, you have a warm chest - it means you're a winner!" A paw rose to rest, momentarily, on the location of the girl's starseed before withdrawing again. "Not all people have that same warm spot, and I can't tell from far away. So, I have to go up and investigate, if I think they're a winner. If they're a winner then I know BOOM, you say these words, you become this person. Upgrading is sort of like that too - same spot, more warmth. Making the winners BETTER winners, like giving them a trophy. Shows that they're a bunch of MVPs! Oh, and I can kittybeam and pull objects from my pocket. Like when I give new Senshi their pretty magic sticks!"

"Opening doors is a super fun game. Sometimes they're partially open so you can bat your paw like this--" here the small cat began to bat at a treat to demonstrate her technique, "or you can wriggle around the lock to see if you can get it open, on really old doors. Or you can bop at the window until a human comes to see what the heck is going on and then sneak in." Horatio listed all of these with the same boundless energy she displayed for everything else - games were always fun to talk about, and even funner to play!

"You're going to learn all the things, Orah, I just know it! You're strong and nice and pretty and smart and have the best cuddles ever." Horatio all but flopped in the girl's arms now, completly content to let her newest and bestest friend stroke her fur as much as she wanted. At the question, she yawned before nodding, "Yeah, I'll come by. Lots of times! I can play with you or scare away mean customers or talk to you about whatever you want. I like to talk, if you haven't noticed, and you're really good at listening too!"

The small cat rolled onto her back and began to gently paw at Orah's hands, a giggle in her voice, "I don't know everything but I know lots of things and I like to play, so count on seeing me lots!"

Horatio knew her job and even if she was a bit of a goofball, she wasn't going to talk whenever there were strangers near the door. She wrapped herself up entirely in cuddling and the sensation of being tickled, wriggling ever so slightly in response. Once the "danger" had passed, she batted at Orah's hair with a whisper--one of the hardest sounds to make from her tiny, demanding mouth, "Okay, but I'm not going to stop talking or visiting so you'd better get used to having me around."