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Tama did not usually leave Negaspace.

At first his aversion to coming to Destiny City had been entirely trauma-induced. Faustite had corrupted him on these very streets and there was still a feral part of his brain that associated them with danger. This was not a place for him. Not a place for Mauvians.

But he had not always thought that way. There was a time when he openly prowled these streets looking for senshi to guide and the good he could do. There was a time when he knew these streets like the back of his paw. Those times were no longer.

Had they ended when he had been corrupted or had they ended well before then, when he went to live with that knight as a kept pet?

The only reason he was where now was because he had cash to spend — what little he had managed to get out of the ill-fated bank operation. He was standing in his human form in front of an ATM collecting the last bits of cash when he saw the cat.

“Who does that cat think he’s fooling? Even a child can she he does not belong here.”

Tama shook his head, hid down an alley and turned into his cat form and raced after the other ‘cat’.

“Hey! You. Mauvian. What are you doing by yourself out on the street?”


☆

“I am certainly not out here looking for food.” Tama said a bit sanctimoniously. Sure, he liked to hunt occasionally. It was only natural. Sometimes a little violence and a fresh kill was what was needed to keep one from getting complacent.

But hoping for human scraps? Absolutely not!

“Do you know someone at the butcher shop? A senshi or knight that keeps you?”

He hoped the owners there were looking out for him and not just feeding him whatever was left after their own meals.


☆

So, he was alone.

Tama didn’t know how to feel about it, but it made him feel a little sad. Sure, there was nothing wrong with being alone. He just didn’t like the idea of this Mauvian being on the street. He seemed entirely too nice for that.

“Well, if you think it’s good.” His voice said he wasn’t entirely sure. But whether it was the quality of the meat or what he was about to do, he was unsure. “You go on ahead. I’ll be right there. Don’t want to make them think they are feeding two right away.”

But what he really wanted was a little distance so that the other Mau could not hear what he was whispering into his communicator.

“You know, you don’t have to live on the street to be able to roam. I’m Tama, by the way.”



☆

“Any home you wanted, hrm?”

Tama was amused. There was a time when he, too, thought he could have any home he wanted. But that was not to be anymore.

Then he let out a sad ‘meow’ when the woman approached and looked up with eyes of small pleading that even he still knew how to make. If he had remembered anything about his life before awakening as a Mauvian, he would know that he was not quite the stranger to begging for food that he thought of himself to be. But he also remembered none of that time anymore.

He winced at the fact that the woman did not know Magnus’s true name. What a waste! To be called by whatever name the human fancied. At least, the woman was kind. It was something quite rare in this world and something he was gradually forgetting how to be.

“Lunch indeed.”


☆

Tama spotted Eion output of the corner of his eye. But even though he had been the one to call him, the Mauvian was still rather surprised that he had turned up in glamour. He’d more than half expected him to show up all fire and a general-king’s aura for all his wishes.

Well, he’d take pleasantly surprised.

“Seems like we’ll get a feast.” Tama said with a glance over his shoulder to the crouching boy. “I hope it wouldn’t be long.”

Then he put his arm around Magnus hoping Faustite would catch his motion that the other cat was the target and not the poor soul fetching them food.

He supposed they were both marks in a way.



☆

Great, they were eating carcass scraps on their lonesome. They were both asses in the air while munching away on something that Faustite would've deposited straight into his grate, to the chagrin of everyone who shared a space with him. Eion didn't want anything to do with gassy Mauvians, since Tama all but called this one out as one of those feline impersonators. He presumed that all this to-do was to end in the other cat's conscription into the Negaverse, but beyond that? Eion supposed he was the one to come up with the plan.

From where he knelt, he spied beyond the bumper of the car to watch the older lady head back inside. The other cat had played her up to a clearly intentional level, and the old lady must have been lonely enough to fall for it, though she didn't stick around to pet the pair of mangy meatbags while they ate.

That would be his entrance, then. Jogger boy who spotted a pair of fleabags and, completely heedless of the possibility of rabies or even animal aggression, wandered over to pet them after removing a rock from his shoe. It sounded stupid enough to be real life. People pulled that horseshit all the time. They even tried to pet youma and expected to escape with their lives.

Sighing to himself, Eion pulled his jacket tighter about himself as he rose up. Checking both ways, the street looked dead for cars and people. Better that way, he supposed. Fewer loose ends to tie up.

He strode across the street, focus on the two cats, and he slowed as he neared them. He still remembered how he used to approach stray dogs when he was Elex — full of reverence and delight. full of excitement when he hadn't yet scared one off. He did as he remembered: approached slow, crouched down, tried to minimize his size in comparison to the pair of fake felines before him. It all felt ******** idiotic. It felt like the flimsiest sham, knowing that they were all three intelligent creatures, knowing that the intended result didn't need such a vacuous pretense as this.

But he would try, and then he would make Tama miserable for it later. Tama would be Target Number One, of course.

"Hi, Kitty," Eion spoke softly as he reached out to let the furbag sniff him. "Can I pet you?"

Magnus had wasted no time in digging in. He scarfed the food down in heeping gulps like any gluttonous feline would. Tama was still hanging back, eyes to the road. Magnus was aware of someone approaching by the scuff of shoes on asphalt and cement. Licking his lips he lifted his head from the bowl, eyes focusing on the teenager.

The request for pets wasn't abnormal. He had it happen often enough from children but the fact that Tama was obviously friends with this dark-haired boy started the alarm bells ringing in the Mau's head. While he was comfortable speaking to one chaos-oritented being, he was well aware that he was now outnumbered (assuming the same lean into chaos for the new arrival as well).

"Honestly I"d rather you didn't." He remarked as he stepped away from the silver bowl, food now forgotten. Blue eyes looked beyond the new arrival as he calculated his escape. Going the opposite direction, he knew, would eventually end in a dead end. Though there was copious amounts of hiding places amongst the trash, cans and bins if need be.

"I don't need a place to stay." He said casually as he inched himself to the side he'd have a better chance at escaping through though marginally a wider escape route. "I am quite content where I am right now." He glanced to Tama who, unfortunately, was closer to the route out, but he'd risk that over someone with thumbs right now.

"It was nice to meet you Tama." He said. He had enjoyed the other Mau's presence, even if it was brief. Having conversation was always a treat, but now he was set to bolt.

Magnus, in all his alley-cat glory, made a run for it to pass the teen and hurry to the street where he hoped they wouldn't pursue.

Strickenized

He really doesn't want to, nope. No thank you.

meighei

Magnus hurt by that betrayal Tama. <3