Welcome to Gaia! ::

Oddly enough, Bazzite’s stomach was quite full tonight. There was something special about sports games that made people happily congregate in large, drunken groups. Stuffing themselves into sardine cans with wheels, grilling food and yelling about their favorite teams well into the night. Three of the rotund sports fans with face paint were easy pickings, having to return to their truck for additional alcoholic beverages. Bazzite had crept up beside their huge silver truck (which was elevated in addition to having as many “manly” accessories as possible). In quick succession, their starseeds were pulled and devoured, their lifeless bodies left in a pool of their own sweat and leaking beer cans.

Quickly becoming bored of the tailgate scene, Bazzite crept his way into the city, using alleyways as a means to bypass busy streets. The last thing he needed was citizens being alerted to his presence. He hated the screaming - it was so annoying.

Clawing his way between buildings, the youma almost missed distinctive sight of the single largest cat he’d ever laid eyes upon. Normally, animals were utterly ignored by youma - their nutritional value was negligible and the possible injury sustained from trying to take down, say, a deer, wasn’t worth the effort. But this cat was massive. Massive and…

….felt funny.

Maybe it wasn’t a cat, but a really hairy dog?

Intrigued, Bazzite dropped to the ground and clawed his way towards the strange rust-colored creature with a pace that would best be described as horrifying. The cat was one third of the way through his leap, on the upward ascent, when he was snatched right out of the air. Bazzite had grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck, the easiest spot, he thought, and turned the creature around to get a good look at him.

A star! So it was a cat.

The youma’s face contorted into a confused expression, pondering between finding out what a cat tasted like, to whether or not he’d get in big trouble for eating one of their own. Youma didn’t get in trouble for gobbling up stray lieutenants, so…

”Cat.” came a metallic, gravelly statement. ”Cat, do you know Beni? Or Hydra? I’ve been looking for Hydra but I can’t find her. Have you seen her?”

Bazzite’s long and tapered ears visibly drooped in annoyance. ”M’not a bee, cat.” Wings buzzed loudly for a few seconds, the vibration of which traveled from Bazzite’s back, through his arms and into the cat. As much as the youma disliked this heavy cat for being so rude to him, the cat seemed to recognize Hydra’s name.

Point in Bob’s favor.

The Maine Coon’s useless hissing and flailing did nothing except annoy the youma, Bazzite halfheartedly batting at Bob’s paws with his free hand. The youma’s skin was tougher than that of a human’s. The cat might have been annoying but he also might have some important information. Bob’s willingness to be an asset would determine whether he walked away or sat in Bazzite’s stomach.

”Cat, I don’t want to eat Hydra. Hydra is my friend. She’s nice to me. Have you seen her?”

The implications that he couldn’t make very many decisions on his own, while true, caused Bazzite to frown severely at the cat. ”I’m not dumb, cat. I can eat whatever senshi I want… as long as they’re not our senshi, anyway. And Hydra is nice so I would never eat her.”

Bazzite’s luminous eyes narrowed, suspicious of the cat. Was Hydra one of this scruffy thing’s senshi? If so, Hydra could do much better, Bazzite thought. Someone more well-groomed. The tie was nice, though. Bob hung in the air by his scruff for a few quiet moments while the youma contemplated his options. Possibly find Hydra, or possibly have a delicious snack. Either way, it sounded like a good idea to take the cat with him.

”I’m Bazzite. What is your name, cat?”

Without so much of a question as to whether the Negaverse Guardian would rather walk or ride, the youma used his free hand to pull at the neck of the remainder of his shirt. Dropping the cat inside the pocket created below the youma’s chin, Bazzite kept the Guardian from sliding out by holding Bob’s hindquarters. The cat was heavy enough that the shirt alone couldn’t hold him.

The youma patted the cat on the head with a clawed hand. ”There. Now you aren’t being mishandled. Can we find Hydra, now?”

You twit.

If there was one thing Bazzite hated, it was being insulted. The blue skin that made up his face peeled back considerably to reveal two rows of distinctly sharp teeth. Eyes shrank to luminescent pinpricks as he hissed at the cat in his shirt, the sound somewhere between mutant cat and angry crocodile.

"DON'T. CALL. ME. NAMES." came the one warning Bob would receive.

Warning issued, Bazzite's face returned to its relatively normal (all things considered) resting position. He wouldn't devour the cat just yet - he knew where Hydra lived, and if the cat could arrange them to meet sometime soon, that would suffice. He hadn't seen Hydra in a while, and adored her company.

The youma's wings vibrated quickly and he huffed, considering Bob's request for payment. "...you want food? I can get you food. That would be very easy."

Good, the point got across just fine.

Bob apparently had good taste in trinkets - one that he and the youma shared. Stepping back into the alley, Bazzite began to pace, thinking. One clawed hand held Bob's underside so he wouldn't slide out of the bottom of the shirt. The other tapped the youma's chin. "I like shiny things too, cat. Do you want money, or just the shiny things? Breaking into a jewelry store or something would be fun, and easy. I keep half of what I can carry, you keep half. How's about that, cat?"

Really, his nest down in the Rift could use a few more shiny things, despite the lack of reliable light. Maybe an oil lamp too, if an antique store was nearby. And it wasn't like he cared about laws or the police or anything. It would be a get-in-and-get-out kind of job, especially since jewelry stores were closed this time of night.

And security cameras would be baffled by his appearance.

"Or do you just want money?"

Bazzite's ears noticeably perked when the cat mentioning a five-finger discount on gifts for Hydra. She was kind enough to him, and Hydra was pretty, therefore Hydra deserved pretty things. It was simple. Looking down at the cat in his shirt (as much as he could, anyway, considering most of his jaw was in the way), the youma nodded with enthusiasm.

"Yes, I want to get something pretty for Hydra. She should have pretty things. You know what she likes, right, cat? We'll fill my shirt with stuff and I'll scoop you up and we'll leave after we get all the shiny things. You have to have Hydra come see me. She's important. Hold on, I need both hands for climbing."

With a determined frown, and as soon as Bob had secured himself, the youma took to climbing the alley wall. He was intent on scaling the building high enough to evade prying eyes while they dropped onto the roof of the family-owned-and-operated jewelry store down the street. Entering through the vent system in the roof made the dastardly duo much harder to spot from the street. No broken glass, no reason to investigate. Right?

”I’m good enough for Hydra.” Bazzite answered succinctly. There was probably some other boy vying for Hydra’s affections if the cat was truthful. If that were the case, Bazzite would simply have to devour the boy in question. Problem solved.

Landing on the roof of the single-story family jewelry shop, the youma ran into a problem. With a shop this small, there wasn’t an easy way to get himself inside. Sure, Bob could easily mosey his way through the air ducts that fed the building from the roof, but Bazzite couldn’t fit inside those narrow spaces. With a grunt, the youma crawled down the side of the building to find the back door. That might have to be Plan B.

There was a mission - find Hydra a pretty bracelet or a ring, something she wouldn’t forget, and pilfer some new shiny things for themselves. Wings abuzz with excitement, Bazzite reiterated what little plan he had.

”I’ll just tear this door off the hinges, then we’ll go inside and I’ll put you on the counter. We’ll just use my hood and shirt as a sack. Should be pretty easy to break all those glass cases. You point out what to grab. Then we leave. Okay?”

The youma was poised to start their crime spree at Bob’s signal.