Cat-quisition [Peter Parkman]

[Quinten Kearney (DELETED 6516)]

“Menhit. She who massacres. A warrior goddess depicted by a lioness. After unification she began to be considered an aspect of Sekhmet.” Quinten really couldn’t seem to help it when he was nervous; he’d never been able to exactly quantify why he felt compelled to verbalize his thoughts, like speaking aloud was some strange sort of validation of mind and self. He’d become aware that it tended to make people uncomfortable, though, and he was trying to curb the compulsion; he didn’t particularly like drawing undue attention to himself besides.

He felt himself flush slightly in embarrassment. “It’s a good name,” he finished awkwardly. “She’s a beautiful example of X-inactivation.”

Quinten crouched and regarded the cat through his lashes. “Hello Menhit,” he greeted.

The feline regarded him silently for a moment before drawing closer, sniffing at his hand before butting her head up against it and demanding affection. Something warm and fuzzy bloomed in Quinten’s chest as he tentatively scratched behind her ear.

[Peter Parkman]

Peter smiled.

All of a sudden he had a compulsion to bring this human home--to introduce him to Jersey if only to have a little fun. Jersey had mentioned, once, how her sibling Danton sometimes got on her nerves because of his fount of knowledge, and the way he spoke. Peter also knew that he sometimes had the ability to frustrate Jersey with his logic and constant literal interpretation. With this customer, Peter was starting to feel as if he were on a level playing field.

"Yes. She slaughtered a lot of mice to feed herself. And she is a cat, not a lioness, so I figured Menhit is more logical a name than Sekhmet," he explains. The majority of the animals who are kept here are named after some god or goddess. The cats mainly got the Egyptian names due to the Egyptian worship of everything feline. Peter watches the man interact with the cat distractedly.

"Did you hear about the male Tortoiseshell in Scotland?" he asked. It was a story he'd read a while ago, about a couple who'd realised they were allergic to the cat's fur and had thus taken the kitten to a nearby shelter. A very rare occurrance of a male Tortie. Peter had to admit--he'd been jealous of the shelter. He'd wanted to see the rarity himself.

[/quote]

[Quinten Kearney (DELETED 6516)]

“I did,” Quinten confirmed, “Interesting that the research now suggests most cases of male Tortoiseshell are the result on chimerism, rather than a case of XXY genetics.” Thinking about genetics in any capacity always made him think about pea plants; such a basic explanation for such a complex subject and he couldn’t seem to let it go. It always left him feeling a bit little perturbed. It didn’t help that he’d never liked peas, he supposed. They were legitimate reasons, though, thank you very much.

“What’s the procedure for adoption?” He continued to pet Menhit softly, “I haven’t gone shopping for supplies yet, so I need to do that first before anything else happens. What has she been eating? Even if I decide to switch, I know she’ll need to transition. And do you have any brand of litter you prefer over others?”

He still couldn’t quite believe he was doing this, but it felt right. Menhit's easy affection was just what he needed in his life right now, and having someone depend on him would keep him from sinking too far into the gaping chasm threatening to swallow him. It was nice to have a purpose, something to focus on, even if that purpose was the well-being of a feline companion.