Welcome to Gaia! ::

Blarney was not at all certain that his message had reached the little cat that had been the catalyst for his awakening into Blarney. He wasn't actually 100% sure the cat could read, even if it had reached him. But it could talk, so maybe it could ask someone to read the note to him, on the chance it did make it to him?

The note had read:

Logan (the Mauvian) -

I was told you could help make this ring I found better. Would you mind helping me out? If you can, meet me on the same rooftop we met at. If you can't...thanks anyway, hope you're staying safe!

Thanks,
Blarney
Page of Earth

Beneath his name was the faint indentation of his sigil, a stag's head. It was, as all the notes he'd written so far were, written in sparkly purple ink, by a pen he'd stolen from his sister. He'd had to ask Halia what the official name for the talking cats was, and he wasn't sure if the message would send to Logan the same way it had arrived to Halia, but--well, it was worth a shot.

In truth, Blarney would not have been that upset if the cat didn't show - whether due to a faulty delivery system or just...being busy. Or not knowing how to read. Because a lot had happened over the last few days, and he felt like he'd barely had a minute to himself to think about it.

He'd discovered his wonder. He'd discovered his ring. He'd discovered Joyeuse Garde (and gotten Madeline's help determining how to spell her name, just in case he did need to call her for help at some point, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that), the only Earth Knight he'd met so far. He'd invested in a punching bag, and his knuckles hurt.

Blarney sighed and laid down, his legs dangling over the edge of the roof. Since all this happened, he'd found himself looking up at the stars with a much higher frequency than he ever had before, with a much higher level of interest. Somewhere out there was a big ol' Cauldron with people's souls in it. That was reality now. Someday, when he died, unless the physical manifestation of his soul got thrown into a blender or eaten by a shadowdog, his soul would rejoin all the...hundreds? thousands? billions? of other souls that Blarney could only imagine boiling away up there, surrounded by witches out of a Scottish play.

Absently, he rubbed at the Earth logo, still fixed firmly over his chest. He was fidgety by nature, and at moments like this, when he pondered the vastness of the universe and his itty bitty tiny place in it, the reminders of what he was--the station he held--seemed to physically weigh him down a little bit. Whether it was that they were grounding him in reality or keeping him from floating away, Blarney couldn't tell.

Get your ring fixed, Miss Garde had said. Then you can have patrol partners every night of the week, if that's what you want. He wasn't sure he did want that - but he wasn't sure he didn't, either, so he figured it was best to be as well-armed and well-able-to-communicate as possible, and apparently his little cat friend was step one in accomplishing that goal, so here Blarney would sit, and wait, for as long as he needed to.

Hopefully, this time, there would be no need for fighting, and he could just learn everything the little cat was willing to teach him and get his ring all upgraded. He was, he admitted to himself, very curious to see how a cat would perform complicated software/hardware upgrades without any thumbs, but who was he to judge? The cats spoke, for crying out loud. Maybe they didn't need thumbs.

Blarney grinned as he heard a familiar yowl approaching - that was the sound that had gotten his attention in the first place, back when he and Logan had first met. He could only hope that this time there wasn't a monster literally on his tail.

Shortly thereafter, the cat himself approached, and Mason gave him ear and chin scritches obediently, the smile on his face genuine. "Hey buddy," he said, giving him a gently pet all the way from his head to his tail, smoothing the fur down as he went. "Thanks for coming."

Blarney slid his signet ring off his finger and held it out for Logan to sniff, and take, or do whatever it was he would need to do to it.

"I ran into another Knight of Earth," he began, "and she told me job one was to get my ring upgraded, or updated, or something," he continued. "So I don't have to write notes to people or something, I guess? She said I should ask you--well, not you, specifically, but that you guys know how to do that. Which...she wasn't punking me, right?"

"Aw, man, you guys get manuals? And a headquarters?" Blarney pouted, only halfway to joking. "I'm officially jealous. I wish we got manuals. All we get is a stick and a costume change," he said, but he nodded in answer to the cat's question.

"Just please be careful with it?" Blarney said, not trying to pretend that he didn't feel a tiny bit uneasy, giving something of magical import to a cat--even if that cat could talk and was magically inclined as well. He could just imagine the cat putting it on a table and knocking it off and repeat for three hours, just for the noise it made when it clattered to the ground.

"I'll just be here whenever you get back."

Blarney watched the cat disappear (amazing the things that could seem normal after a long enough adjustment period) and busied himself with studying the stars as he waited for him to come back. It occurred to him that he really should've asked how long the installation would take: if it was a matter of minutes or a matter of days would greatly impact his next few decisions he needed to make--

Before he could worry too much about it, though, the cat reappeared, ring in tow, and Blarney felt a rush of relief, in spite of himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust Logan - he did! - it was just that Logan was, in spite of being a Mauvian, still very much a cat, and cats were unpredictable creatures at best.

"Thank you," Blarney said, with appropriate solemnity. After examining it and seeing approximately no difference whatsoever, Blarney slid the ring back on his finger and relaxed fully, surprised how naked he felt without it, given that he hadn't really had it in his possession all that long.

"I really appreciate it, man." He reached out and scritched Logan behind the ears again, giving him a warm smile. "Let me know if I can ever help you out with anything, yeah?"