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Normally Sunday night was 'sit on Gladys's lap night until she fell asleep in the chair,' but Gladys and the grandchildren were out at a fancy pants restaurant to which the cream-colored cat had not been invited. Mortimer and his daughter and son-in-law had taken advantage of the opportunity to go to the Casino and gamble, meaning that the one night that was always family night had just been... well, cancelled. Horatio was not the kind to curl up in an empty house, so she slipped out through the kitty door in the kitchen and prowled around, hoping to find something to strike her interest.

That was when a sort of... well, she didn't know how to explain it. It felt like something was drawing her to walk in a particular direction, to take new routes that she had not taken before. Exploration was fun, not really as fun as it was when you were exploring with another person of course, but still fun, so she took it initially as just a strange calling on that particular night. As she grew further and further from home, though, she realized it was a tether or sorts pulling her. Not a literal one, but something... someone was calling to her, and she had to find them. There was no way she was going to get any peace if not. Maybe it was a winner that had yet to be awakened? ... or a winner that had, and needed her for some reason? Whatever it was, it was now a game of hide-and-seek!

She neared the residence of the one she felt and gave a mewl of success. HA! SHE WON! Now she just... had to get inside and see what was up. After a few minutes of prowling on the ground, she jumped up to a window. Inside she saw... a winner, a very familiar feeling winner even though the Mauvian was positive she had never seen the teal-haired girl before. Horatio desperately began to knock on the window and then (score!) she was being allowed in. ... and being asked a really strange question.

"Who's Timmy and why would he be stuck in a well again?" Horatio was pretty confused, and it showed as she stalked around the bed looking for a place to sit. There was a steaming bowl of food which smelled... interesting, but sadly not like fish, and a fizzy soda, and a laptop and the girl, of course, but not exactly that many places for a kitty to be. She eventually settled for scooching as close to the girl's lap as she physically could. Displacing be damned, she was getting close! "I mean, did someone dare him the first time and then it was an accident the second time? Either way, seems pretty stupid to get stuck twice. I would go down a well to explore maybe but--what is that stuff in the bowl it smells spicy?"

What she had to say would wait long enough to find out, and besides, the motor mouth was not exactly known for not getting off topic. Her teal eyes narrowed suspiciously as she peered at the unknown substance, and her flagged tail waved wearily. It could be tasty food... but it could be yucky, like bubblegum. Even winners sometimes liked yucky food. She stretched out her face to sniff at it. Well, only one way to find out! She chomped down on a big bite of veggies and rice. Tears welled in her large, teal eyes, and then she wailed, some of said food falling from her mouth, "Hoooooot!"

Curry, huh? Well, Horatio decided from that point onwards that curry was absolutely, definitely close to bubblegum on the yucky food scale. It was spicy and hot and had no meat? No thanks! Horatio kept her tongue poked out and blew, trying desperately to get the burning and the tingles to go away. It was still sticking out of her muzzle whenever her new friend with weird food tastes began to pet her cheek... and petting was always a comfort that she was weak against.

The small cat leaned into that touch and tried to answer the questions being asked of her. "Mm k. Jst..." She brought her tongue back to her mouth and smacked lightly to get some lubrication so she could talk better, "I'm okay, it just really hot, like, spicy hot... and you give nice pets can you get behind my ear, I can never reach there. Please? You'll be my new best friend!"

She flopped out on her belly next to Tallulah's side, kicking her paws slightly to get more comfortable. She looked up at her new friend and mewled happily, "Nope, nope, I've never seen you before either, but I'm Horatio and, well, obviously, you're a winner since you aren't freaked out about me talking and such. I don't really know why I'm here... I was walking and looking for a game or a prank to play and then I felt something drawing me here to you, and here I am! Weird, right? But hanging out is fun too, do you like games, I like games. I'm not very good at checkers and chess because the pieces are kind of hard to move but I'm boss at chasing laser pointers and fetching and other stuff!"

The Mauvian should probably be more interested in the circumstances that had brought her into Tallulah's life, but it just wasn't her nature. She had a new play mate who willingly gave pets and that made this night five million times better than she had expected it to be already.

Ear scratches achieved! The Himalayan kneaded her front paws into the comforter, the curry out of sight and out of mind whenever Tallulah moved her bowl. She nodded and mewled happily. Her instincts had been correct - she was the best at finding winners. "Yep, yep, Senshi! Or a Knight. Or a little Chibi Senshi. Or another Guardian Cat. We're all on the winning team, right? But hi Eternal Senshi Europa Tallulah!"

The playful Mauvian considered the question, stretching out a bit farther and resting her muzzle on her paws. How could she explain what had been happening? Well, she had never had a shortage of words, so she took a deep breath and furrowed her fuzzy brow, "Okay, well, it was sort of like... whenever a kid puts you on a leash, and you're not really sure where they're trying to lead you, but you go anyway? It's a tug, but you're not really being dragged, and then when you get to the spot it turns out to be a really cool thing? Like a toy you forgot you left there or a familiar bit of string? It's sort of like that."

It was... sort of exactly like that. A frown crossed Horatio's face. She had never seen Tallulah but the name Europa sounded... just right. Like something very precious that she had not had for a long time. Why? It didn't make any sense! Oh well, no reason to worry about it whenever her new ear-scratching buddy was obviously not feeling well. The cream-colored kitty scooched closer and chuffed warm air onto her new friend, "All I said was that I wanted to play a game... but if you're sick, then I guess I can just lie here and keep you company and absorb all of your cuddles. And come visit so you're not stuck watching really old TV shows about dumb kids that get themselves stuck in wells repeatedly."

The thought of her teal-haired friend being lonely and bored--and by extension, to the active cat who loved people, very sad--made Horatio sad too. Her tail flopped down with a flutter of her flag and se leaned further into the pettings to remind her new... well, her new/old friend, that she was not alone anymore. The small cat was considering whether or not the family could do without for a couple of days so she could stay with the sickly Senshi. Gladys might miss her at night, with no fuzz ball to warm her lap, but the kids had a puppy to play with too and probably wouldn't...

Normally, she would not consider giving up play time to anybody, but this was something like an emergency. She was not the best Guardian Cat, she would be the first to admit that (if she had the introspective skills to ponder it), but she could not let someone be lonely and bored and sad. It just... it just wasn't right!

So, Horatio threw herself into the task of play time - which was pretty easy, considering how much she loved to play. "I can play both cards and checkers, although sometimes I swipe at the checkers too hard and they go flying across the room and someone else has to pick up the chip to King Me. Cards I can play Go Fish, or Crazy Eights, or other stuff like that? I've watched Gladys play Bridge, but we need more people for that and it seems kind of boring anyway."

...but now there was talk of food and suddenly that caught her entire attention. Something to wash out the lingering taste of curry? YES PLEASE!Fancy Feast was okay, as far as cat food went, and Horatio would've eaten it had there been nothing else offered. (Would she have liked it? No, not really, but she still would've eaten it.) But then there was tuna. That ranked pretty high on the list of deliciousness. There was only one thing even higher, and she made her eyes the biggest, most adorable teal orbs she could whenever she asked, "Is there... is there salmon in the fridge?" it couldn't hurt to ask - if there wasn't, then tuna would suffice.

Horatio trotted alongside her new friend, teal eyes critically observing her movements. When she decided that Tallulah probably would not face plant on the floor or get flung around and die like in a horror movie, she relaxed a little bit more and enjoyed the trip to the kitchen. She could certainly smell that there were other kitties about, somewhere, but there was no need to fight for attention. (Mostly because she already had it haha other kitties!) She stood on her hind legs and oogled all the mysterious containers.

Two were selected and one had the most desired salmon. "Yes! Yes! I want that one! Wait--wait, where are you going? Wait. Waaaait!" She dashed back to the girl's room and then the tupperwares were open! So, she dove straight into the salmon. The other stuff smelled good too, but that would wait until her absolutely favorite food on the planet was utterly gone. She looked up with a mouth full of food and nodded whenever the girl said she'd be back.

And back she came, with checkers and lots of informationto share. Horatio listened as politely as she could while still shoving salmon in her face. Her tail lashed in reaction to some of the news. Being sick to the point of death? Slowly, ancy waves. Growing cool vegetables on the moon? Fast, excited, you-go-girl waves! Eventually, the salmon was all gone and that left macaroni salad to be investigated. The Himalyan licked her chops and headed towards the other tupperware, "Fish is yummy, I love salmon all the time but my people won't let me have it all the time because they don't want me to be spoiled or something but whatever. By the way, I officially forbid you from dying because that sounds like the most awfulest thing ever."

It really did. For once, the little motor mouth was not exagerrating. Imagining Tallulah, Europa, dying because of, well, anything made her heart hurt. She was going to do whatever it took to make sure that it did not happen! She chomped an experimental bite of macaroni salad and swallowed it down to mew insistently, "So we're going to stay here, and you're going to get better, and if you don't then I will never, ever forgive you ever."

Macaroni salad was good. Not salmon level good, but good. Two or three more bites of that, and the tiny Mauvian was ready to call the food quits for the time being. Especially when a pet came and the checkerboard assembled. Time to get her game face on. "Red! Red is bright and pretty, and black is kind of emotastic." First move was hers? So much more awesome!

One stockinged paw moved confidently to a piece and slid it forward. It didn't land quite right, but her intent was pretty clear. Agressive opening for the win, as far as she was concerned. She then sat back, proud and preening as she cheerfully announced, "Your turn!" Her head tilted to one side at Tallulah's question, and she had to concentrate a bit more on that then she had to do on checkers.

Did she have a single Senshi that was her very own? Horatio honestly wasn't sure. She hadn't really thought about it. Why limit yourself to just one winner when you had a whole line up to choose from? Every Senshi and Knight she had met was a friend now. She liked friends. She liked winners. She had even found some losers she kind of liked, if they would only renounce their nasty Chaos stink. Her teal eyes closed as she thought about as hard and long as she had ever thought about anything.

Finally, she offered, "No one's ever said I was only their kitty, so... I guess not? I know lots and lots of winners - Ida and Massalia and Lutetia and Valhalla and Ganymede and all sorts of people. I like to go out and find the hidden winners, and to upgrade the currents ones to better winners, and to turn losers into winners. Because it's always better when you win, right? But... there are some that feel... better than others? Not better. Different. Like I've known them before or... something. It's confusing."

"I like teams - winning teams are even better!" Horatio happily exclaimed, growing excited as Eurpopa did so as well. "Valhalla and Ganymede are pretty rocking... but I don't think I could pick a top ten of winners! It's like... asking whether Superman beats Goku, right? They're all awesome and should be treated as such."

She placed her puffy paws on the checkers, her eyes narrowing as she studed her moves. The opening moves where probably the least important, in the long run, but she needed to take them into account. Mostly because it would become increasingly difficult to move the chips. Jumping an opponent's checkers? Paws weren't meant for that so much. "I dunno... a bunch of awesome people, I guess? Kallichore, and Ganymede, and Leda and Pasiphae and Chaldene... even Valhalla a little. And you. Lots of people. Maybe more of your team people?"

She finally selected a piece and slid it forward.