Kittens! (invited ones first)

[Zodiac]

How bizarre was this. Zodiac herself wondered at times how she would fare in the Realm. It was supposedly harder for her kind to escape as it was, so she figured in time she would go insane at best. But this? Come back and not even have a clue?

The part of her that her grandmother nurtured and raised wanted to reach out and try to help. There had to be something left inside her mind she could work from. A good telepath (not a novice like herself) could possibly find something. The idea fascinated her, but she hardly knew the woman well enough to suggest she let someone walk around in her head like that.

"That has to suck, major," she sighed. Too bad about the alligator question. She could have divided and parted them out for several spells and such easily and had stock for months. But if River had found them local, then someone had to know where they could be gotten.

The mystic stood up and approached the woman. Her eyes on the black bit of fur she had picked out. Each of the remaining cats had blue or pink collars and numbers on them. Gently she pushed back the fur to reveal a number- 4. Zodiac turned to the pile of folders on the table and pulled out the one marked 4. "As you can see," she sat down near River and handed her the folder. "Vet has checked them over. In good health. Had their first shots. They are just small is all due to the litter size. I doubt any of them will get as big as their mother." she gestured to Ginny who sat in the empty chair like it was her personal throne. "I'm just trying to pass them to good homes now. If you like him, he is yours and if you need help or suggestions you know I live downstairs so not too hard to find."

[Alexandrea]

"Yes, Alanoth. It's me. Alexandrea. It should wear off soon." Alex looked at her watch, it was almost midnight. The spell would end in just about five minutes. "And yes, I was trying to stay out of sight... from someone. But that doesn't matter. Will you come with me or would you rather wait down here?"


She was fine with whatever he decided, Alex was not worried about going up to Zodiac's place alone. She knew the Mystic was not the one who had put a hit out on her. the two may not see each to eye on every issue, but Alexandrea counted Zo as a friend and enjoyed her company. Zodiac seemed to be one of the few in Harper Rock that could understand how someone could be anti-bounty, while still being pro-masq.

Alex just didn't want to leave Alanoth waiting for who knew how long, and besides just being polite? She had enjoyed his company before and wouldn't mind a chance to catch up before she was distracted by a new furry friend. She may not be the most self aware person all the time but she knew enough about her self to know if and or when she fell in love with a kitten? She would be completely distracted by it and crap at casual conversation.

[Alanoth (DELETED 1528)]

Alanoth nodded to her questions, looking her over for any semblance of her original appearance. Whatever power it was she was using, it was efficient, for there was nothing recognizable about her, except the fact that she knew who he was. Heck, even her voice was completely different. He'd have to remind himself constantly about this.

"I'll come with you...not like I've got anything else to do down here, eh? Besides, I much prefer being able to catch up after all this time."

He smiled in his friendliest way, walking around the car to be on her side. Now, while he trusted that this was in fact Alexandrea, he still had to wonder about Zodiac. He had met ehr once before...a VERY long time ago, so she doubted that she would remember him or that he would be giving Alexandrea any bonus points here.

[Jesse Fforde]

The message is completely unexpected. The first time I met Zodiac was in the elevator as she was moving back into the treehouse. The situation had been tense, to begin with, and I concluded almost immediately that I wasn’t exactly certain how I felt about the woman. Girl. Thing. She’s a bundle of brightness, though I suppose we do have the one thing in common—the inability, or the lack of a want to speak. Except, luckily for her, she has that rather helpful ability to speak directly into other people’s minds. At least the emailed message hadn’t come telepathically. I might have had to slap a *****.

Of course, I’ve seen Zodiac around since then, but it’s not as if we’ve stopped to have a heart to heart. I don’t know her from boo, and nor does she know me. This is why the message is completely unexpected. Her cat has had kittens, and she wants to give them away. The message is worded in such a way to make it sound as if I had requested a kitten. I already have one. Except, I suppose, Cairo lives at Veil Tower. He lives with Felicity. I should have thought that he lived with Felicity and I, but the truth of the matter is, I rarely ever visit Veil Tower and our apartment there. I’ve pretty much handed the thing over to Felicity, and I stay only at Larch Court, where all the family are able to visit, or in my hut at the Eyrie. Mainly the latter, over the past month or two.

It might be nice, to have another cat…

With a shrug, I reach into my back pocket from which I retrieve my phone. I flick through the contacts to find Zodiac’s number; I have it not because we’d exchanged our numbers on purpose, but because it was almost a requirement, our both being a part of Tytonidae. I shoot her a text:

”I’ll swing by and have a look. Where?”

I saunter out to the landing in front of my hut, as if expecting to be able to look through all the walls of the nearby huts to determine which one might be Zodiac’s. I had seen her moving her stuff in, it isn’t hard to assume she and her kittens might be very close by. At the same time, however, I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of any cats around the third tier of the Eyrie, so find it completely plausible that Zodiac might also live elsewhere.

I stretch my arms up over my head as I wait for a response.

[Attire]

[Zodiac]

As she was waiting for River to decide, her phone began to trill. A quick check of the screen showed her a text had arrived and she frowned at first. "No want to go hunting any jerks now," Zodiac huffed as she opened the message, but was surprised to find who it was from and what the message referred to. She quickly keyed a reply to Jesse.

Hello there! The fur balls are at my place in Ivy Bluffs. Let me know when you can come by and I will be sure to be here. she added her apartment number and hit the SEND key. Just as she was about to pocket the phone it trilled again.

"Now mail? I is popular tonight," She opened the mail as one of the kittens began climbing up her skirt seeking her attentions. She frowned again as she read the brief message from Dominique and quickly replied.

Hey, I totally understand, doll. You know you better than anyone, and if you don't feel like you could care for one properly I am not gonna force one on you. I am sure Ginny (or 'Ginny Jr.' as I call the one I am keeping till I can think up a good name) will have more litters in the future, so perhaps by then you be more set. You take care of you for now. You know where to find me if you need to talk. *big hugs* Luvs ya, Mini Butt.

She pressed the send key again and began to play with the kitten who had managed to climb 'Mount Zodiac.'

[Doc]

Social was not what one would call Doc. He never got emails unless it was someone pissed off because he had attacked them, or they were annoyed with his spawns. At which point he would merely tell them to go **** off or find the spawns and take it up with them. But this email was from Zodiac. It’s title was rather off putting, “It’s time, Darlings”

He read the title, she wouldn’t call him Darling. No matter how much he had flirted with her, she merely smiled and poo-poohed his advances. Which was just as well, since the BnC came back, and he would have hated hurting Zodiac. So what was she saying?

Yes, it would be so much easier to just open the ******* email and read it. But sometimes ignorance was ******* bliss. What you didn’t know, you didn't have to ******* worry about. And at this precise point in time, he had his hands full with some tricky subjects, not to mention Tytonidae. Soon he was going to have to get a ******* notebook to write all the issues and subjects he had going, so that he could reorder the priorities as new ones popped up.

Reluctantly he opened the email and read it. His relief was palpable, it wasn’t a problem, it was an invitation. He needed to stop being so damned pessimistic. He sent a text to Zodiac’s attention.

*text* Yes, I will be there as soon as I purchase some supplies.

The next couple of hours were spent at a pet store, where he purchased a plethora of supplies for his new kitten and then arranging the house into a cat welcoming zone. Yes, it was true. He had a soft spot for cats. Not all animals. Felines. There was something about felines that he felt an affinity to. They were watchers and stalkers, and they also liked to play with their prey. Yes he had a definite affinity with felines.

It was later than expected when he turned up at Zodiac’s. Her place seemed to be a hub of activity. It dawned on him then, Zodiac never answered his text. She had better not given his kitten away. He stalked in carrying his pet carrier, complete with a frown plastered on his face.

[Cinnamon Cherrywhip]

CC had come back from the shadow realm a couple of days before and gone to find Zo at her shop immediately. They'd hashed out a couple of things and then spent the rest of the night together, just holding one another and enjoying each others company after so long apart. Zo had mentioned that the kittens were ready to leave Ginny and she couldn't help but grin at that. It was time for Czesław to come home with her and begin his life away from his Mum. She'd been toughening him up and was so proud of him as he cuffed his siblings around and showed them who was boss. She'd wondered how he'd have changed since she'd seen him a couple of weeks before, and had finally found the time, after catching up with the business, to head home and see them all.

She climbed the stairs up to the apartment and opened the door, calling out with a grin as she walked in.

"Honey! I'm home!"

However, her feet drew her up short with a click of the door behind her as she stared at all the people milling about and handling kittens or cat carriers. She spotted Zo with a kitten in her arms and then let out a shrill whistle and waited. She didn't have to wait long before a monster - comparatively speaking - barrelled through the various legs and around the furniture and started rubbing about her ankles. Obviously, someone had missed her. She grinned and bent down, scooping her hand under the little kittens round and full tummy and picking him up. He rolled onto his back in the crook of her arm and batted at her hand as she teased him with her fingers. His little mouth tried to snag a finger and bite it, trying to hook his paws around them and draw them down to be chewed and claimed.

Chuckling with him in her arms, she walked over to Zo and peered at the one she was holding, wondering if it were Mini Ginny or not. She gave the other kitten a gentle scratch and laughed as Czesław wriggled around, hissed at the other kitten and then climbed up her chest to sit in his favourite place..... lying across the back of her neck with his paws either side, surveying the scene. It wasn't the most, comfortable, of positions for CC to have him in because he was too short and didn't quite fit properly. When she walked and moved, he often had to dig his claws in to stay put and she hoped that as he grew he'd be able to sit there more comfortably - if he insisted on remaining in place. Carefully, trying not to upset the cat's balance, she leant in to Zo and claimed the woman's lips.

"You ok dear? Seeing them all leave like this?"

She was obviously too close to the other kitten, because there was an annoyed grumbling coming from beside her ear. So as she stayed close to Zo to give her the support she figured she'd need - she lifted her hand and scratched the furball around her neck and was rewarded with a deep and grumbling purr that belied something of the size he was!

[CharlotteC]

"There is a message for you." came HAL 9000's voice from her laptop, the mechanical and diabolical voice called Charlie's attention, as well as the attention of her 'thrall' - or as she called him usually, her roommate, Templeton. Charlie sighed and glanced to Temp before she paused the show and moved to the computer from where she had been sitting next to Templeton on the couch watching Doctor Who, or at least trying to, Templeton's constant questions were a bit annoying and meant a lot of pausing the show so she could explain things to him. She sat down and opened up the message, it was a message that brought a small smile to her face. Something that hadn't happened since she had returned from the shadow realm. That place still haunted her feelings from time to time, she was starting to feel paranoid, so much so that she constantly kept her powers, up, her doors locked, and didn't leave her house. At least she hadn't in the couple of days she had been home. Only Templeton and been coming and going.

The idea of having a pet, someone that she really needed to take care of have her a sense of worth, it was something that she hoped would come to love her as she would love it. She sighed again and looked over at Templeton as he walked up behind her. "You want me to go?"

"No, this time I'll go, where did you put the carrier?"

"It's by the fish tank by the door"

"Alright, I'm going to go, can you run to the pet store and pick this stuff up?" She asked, of course she knew he would, despite her question to make it seem like he had a choice. He nodded and headed out the door without so much a wave or 'goodbye'. She sighed once he was gone and picked up a burner phone she had picked up the night before. She planned to use it only for a few days before tossing it and getting a new one.

Before she started the text she stopped and looked at the name at the end. "Zodiac" that name seemed familiar, she checked the database she kept of names of people that she had found though hacking and other ways. The face to the picture made her blood run cold. It was the face of one of many that had led to her death. For a moment she contemplated returning an e-mail telling them she had changed her mind but she wasn't about to give up on something to love just because it was born to a woman who was in a group that had attacked her for no reason what so ever. She shook off the shock of seeing who had sent her the e-vite and typed in her response, sending it to what she hoped her information was correct in listing as the woman's cell number.

Thank you for the information.
I shall be there shortly.

She closed the phone and headed for the door, picking up the carrier on her way out as well as her messenger bag. Charlie closed her eyes and prayed that when she got there, there would be a face she could take before she walked into the lion's den. Then she walked out of her apartment, locking the door behind her before she headed for her car.

When she pulled up to the apartment she again prayed that she would be ok. She had done nothing wrong in the week before she had been attacked, yeah she had used a couple powers to help her sire out, or at least attempt too help him out but the vampires in question had got her back that day. She hoped no one from that cluster **** was going to be picking up a kitten as well. She noticed the two that arrived and decided to go it with them, but before she got out of the car she looked to a random human and concentrated on shifting, she could feel herself change. She would have checked to see if it had worked but she knew the moment she looked in the mirror all she would see was her decaying corpse, far more mutilated now than before because of the unjust attacks on her.

Taking a breath to add to the human look, she got out of the car, carrier in hand and moved up next to the guy and girl that had arrived as well. "Picking up a kitten as well?" She asked, mimicking her sire's accent as best she could. Her now hazel eyes shifted to the building for a moment before returning to the two by and getting out of the car, moving to hold her carrier in front of her.

(( Attire ))

[Alexandrea]

Alex grinned at Alanoth. "Good, glad for the company! And we have a lot to catch up on. Let me feed the meter and meet me in the lobby."

She fished out a handful of coins and made sure the car was good for several hours, just in case. Then just because she felt like it, paid the meters to either side of Alanoth's car before going into the building and texting Zodiac again.

*I"m downstairs but I don't know which apartment is yours. ~Alex*

As she waited, Alexandrea looked around the lobby. She hadn't been inside the building before, only gone passed it a few times. It was nice.She wondered if there were any vacant units available.

Oh! The spell of Alter Ego... she had better warn Zo. Taking out her cell, she sent a quick post script. *I don't look like me right now, btw. But I know you'll know me. I'm the one wearing the 'Hello Kitty' sweatshirt.*

[Zodiac]

She stood up as the man entered her apartment and smiled brightly. "Greetings, Doctor Nilson," she inclined her head as she approached him. "Is nice to see you under more pleasant circumstances again. If you will just give me a moment." she held up a finger for patience as she grabbed a laundry basket lined with blankets and began to work her way around the apartment checking collars of her small furry guests and dropping the ones with pink collars into the basket. She returned to where he stood and sat the basket on the table so he could inspect them. "That is all the girls I have. None have left yet so you have first pick of them. All have had their fist vaccinations and been checked by a vet. I have the paperwork as well for your future needs."

The skirt climber found her again and was working his way back up. Zodiac excused herself and began to try and peel him loose as a loud whistling caught her ear. A familiar little brute exploded from under the couch where it had been pawing at another of its siblings and ran straight for CC. "None of them are going to be sorry to see him go," she laughed in her head as CC approached. She hugged her and pondered her question for a moment.

"Actually, I am okay with it. Don't get me wrong, they have been a joy to have around but I am close to my wit's end now. They getting good homes and I'll be able to pop in and visit some of them from time to time." she reached out and rubbed Czeslaw's head, only to have her finger nipped in return. "He is SO your cat, CC."

Another knock. "Excuse me, doll." she got up and answered the door. Zodiac blinked. The girl had a carrier in her hand, but she did not recognize her. She cocked her head and reached out gently with her thoughts for a second. Her mouth opened a bit as she figured out what she was seeing. Zodiac understood at once and slowly but gently put an arm around the girl's shoulder and encouraged her to enter.

"I am glad you came." her mindspeak warm with sincerity for the woman's mind alone, then she projected so all in the room could hear her. "The ones in the basket are girls, but the Doctor requested first pick of them, so once he has chosen, the remaining ones are up for grabs. The boys are running around loose and have not been claimed except those two." she pointed at River and CC. "And the one sitting with the mother is mine. Welcome to my home. Make your choice. They all have been vaccinated and checked by a vet."

Zodiac then spoke again just to Charlotte's thoughts. "No one will bother you here. I won't allow it. You are a guest in my home at my request. Take your time, but I would avoid any long conversations with the Doctor, if you know what I mean."

The phone trilled again. "Please excuse me." she said as she checked the screen. Zodiac opened her door and looked down the hall to see someone standing there in the lobby she did not know. The phone trilled yet again and she checked while laughing. "What is this tonight? Don't be seen going to Zo's place or something?"

With a whistle that would rival CC's, she caught the attention of the woman in the lobby and she waved at her. "Down here, babe!" she called out. "You Fifth-types are taking this hiding thing a bit too far, you know that don't you?"