The Cat Is A Liar

March 01, 2017:

A brief encounter between a girl and a cat, with neither of them being what they appear.

Lower East Side, New York

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…


Logging Started: 3-01-2017 12:53:52 AM


Rooftops are pretty great for sitting and observing people. Juno wonders why more people don't use them!

Well, come to think of it, most people haven't had the same training as her, or the same augmentations, or… well, okay, there're plenty of reasons, it seems.

But that means she gets to keep this one all to herself unless somebody else shows up! It's a nice one, too, with a wide ledge to perch on, and a little row of potted plants that are hibernating for the winter. It even has a great line of sight along one of the many streets on the Lower East Side, full of people rushing to and from places.

She settles back onto the ledge, swinging her feet and sipping from a paper cup of hot cocoa. She'd better be careful not to be too conspicuous though, the other day someone though she was a jumper…


You know what else enjoys having rooftops to themselves? Cats.
A small black cat leaps upon the far edge of the rooftop, prowling upon the edge of the wall. At first the creature was inspecting the opposite street but the moment he notices a fellow roof occupant he pauses.
The cat's first inclination is to startle the girl and see if she jumps but intuition tells him there might be more to this one than a quick fright. Calmly the cat approaches, walking on right up to her without a concern, tail flipping back and forth as he purrs. His mismatched blue/gold eye color the only truly remarkable detail about him as he calmly looks over the edge beside her, glancing down to the street below. Curious to see what she's watching, perhaps? He sits on his haunches at her side. Just being a cat.


Juno is fairly observant, but cats are naturally masters of stealth. She doesn't hear the cat's footprints on the rooftop, but motion on the rooftop catches her eye. Juno turns her head just enough to spy the creature approaching her. She wonders if this one talks, too, like Rocket. Ever since finding out that animals may know how to talk and drive electric toy cars, Juno has had a new appreciation for the adaptability of other mammals.

And more importantly than that…

It looks really, really soft.

Abandoning her view of people down in the street, she reaches out an empty hand, blue eyes fixed on the cat. What do they do? Do they bite? Do they claw? It doesn't seem to be mean or skittish, because it's right here next to her. Maybe it's a pet!

Juno would like to have a pet someday, but she has no idea how to care for one. She has to learn, first. For now… she just reaches over with hesitant fingers, going to gently touch a furry ear.


That would clearly be odd and insane for an animal to talk. The animal seems inoffensive enough and certainly very soft. As the young woman's hand reaches out, the cat willingly rolls his head against extended fingertips. As advertised, warm and soft. The purring seems to hike in approval.
It seems pretty easy to have one of these 'pets' that Juno has heard tell of. It seems affection is what they crave most from humans, if this little guy is any kind of indication.


IT /IS/ SOFT!

She /knew/ it.

Juno has never touched a cat before, not that she can remember. Her hand twitches when it rolls its head against her fingertips to seek out more petting - is it going to attack?! - but no, it just… seems to like that…?

She turns away from the ledge completely, swinging her legs /through/ the short wall like a ghost for a better petting angle. "You're really soft," she observes, because she doesn't know what you're supposed to say to a cat, but the obvious seems safe. Plus, softness is an essential quality in things! Emboldened a bit by its warm reception, she tries stroking her hand all the way down its back. "So this is what a cat is like. I wish I'd gotten to see one earlier." It would have made her childhood more interesting!


As the young lady swings her legs through the wall as effortlessly as a ghost, the cat tilts his head quizzically. His feline eyes focus on her legs for a moment as she offers a curious expression before looking back up to her face.
The soft creature allows for the stroking, calmly rising from his haunches to move yet closer, perhaps to seat himself on her lap as his tiny claws seem to knead upon her pant leg. His purring seems to insinuate she should continue, both with her affections and her commentary.


If Juno is a ghost, she's still solid enough to pet him! If she's not a ghost, she's got some weird talents. Sometimes it's hard to tell these things apart.

The wide-eyed, cautiously-curious expression on her face is relaxing slowly, turning into something a little more open and pleased. "I guess that means you like it?" she assumes as it moves closer, though she's a bit startled when the cat climbs into her lap.

For a long moment, her hands hover above his back, and she bends a little precariously to one side to see just what he's doing to her leg. It feels like sharp things, but not sharp enough to make her just… jump up or dump the cat out of her lap. With a little less hesitation this time, she rests both of her hands on the cat's back and pets it, stroking the fur one way, then the other, and finding that rubbing the 'correct'-looking way is more enjoyable (probably for both herself AND the cat).

"I wonder if you have a home," she frowns, because it's winter and things die when it gets cold outside. "But you look healthy… don't you?" How would she know?!


"You look healthy yourself, love."
The young man says while sitting in Juno's lap that most certainly was not there a moment ago.
Upon Juno's legs sits a handsome young man wearing a ridiculously British suit, his own legs slung out to the side with ankle crossed over ankle leisurely. His hands folded together over his higher knee. His hetero chromatic eyes twinkle mischievously from beneath his black locks as he smiles most widely with her hand still upon the back of his long-tailed coat. He certainly seems most pleased with himself.


There was a cat here. It's gone now.

And half a second ago, there was a Juno here. She's still around, but the very instant she realizes that THE CAT IS A LIAR she's ghosting. The girl phases through him, apparently content to let the not-a-cat hit the ground or… whatever not-a-cats do, maybe they float?

Juno lunges /through/ him, hits the rooftop in a roll that brings her up in a crouch facing him, eyes wide and face blank. There's a knife in her hand, small, the blade coated black, and there's just no telling where she retrieved it from!

Seven feet away is plenty of distance, and yet close enough to strike if she needs to. "…!"

what are you what are you what are you what are you


Apparently cat's float too. As well as be young British butlers. Fancy that.
As Juno phases through him to remove herself from his presence, he remains put in mid-air. Sitting very comfortably in the ether in the same posture, even as she ghosts through him yet again. His eyes follow her with great entertainment until she comes to a crouch with brandished edge.
His hands clap warmly then as his invisible chair seems to 'turn' to better face her. Completely unconcerned for his own safety as he applauds her agility and lethality.
"For an apparition you are remarkably lively! And skilled! What IS your secret?" He doesn't seem to be threatening but as has become abundantly clear, appearances are deceiving.


What should she do? With her body on autopilot in the moment of surprise, she got away. But now… now the not-a-cat isn't attacking her. He's just… talking.

Juno doesn't know what to do here, being talked at wasn't in her training!

She doesn't relax from her posture, though she does alter it - she lowers a knee closer to the ground to improve her forward momentum should she need to lunge.

Behind Juno's closed mouth, her jaw twitches faintly. She wants to ask questions. She wants to speak. It just takes her a moment to get past the automatic shock reaction of 'be silent', for her mouth to move when she tells it to.

"Who… are you?"


The mysterious man who was cat looks upon the woman's silent reaction with great patience. Appraising her with those weird eyes as she seems uncertain how to proceed. He calmly brushes the shoulder of his coat with his fingertips as he then continues, "What would you do? Stab me in the heart first or slit my throat? There's so many different techniques and theories on murder, I'm curious to know which school you espouse? Did you hang for your murdering ways and now prey on the innocent?" At his rambling questions it dawns on him that she asked him a question.
"Ah! They call me Grymalkin. And you would be..?" His voice trails expectantly. Hand waving a circle in the air in her direction.


It's probably not the first time anybody's freaked out a little bit when Grymalkin played a trick on them. But it's definitely Juno's first time to have such a trick played on her!

Also she misses the cat :( it was fluffy.

Gry mal kin. What a weird name! Seconds tick by as she grabs feebly for some form of a plan. Stab him in the brain? Answer his question? Both???

"I…"

And Juno, unsure of her enemy(?) and feeling really rather spooked, she valiantly…

…lets herself fall through the roof, into the apartment below. She lands in a closet and dashes through the door without opening it, streaking across a bedroom and through a similarly closed window. Thankfully it's the work day and nobody's home!

Out onto the fire escape, ghost-ghost-ghost-ghost down through the iron, knife held tight in her fist.

NOBODY PREPARED HER FOR CATS THAT ARE PEOPLE!! She has to regroup!!


Grymalkin waits pleasantly, fingers laced together as he floats.
Aaaand that's when she dives through the rooftop beneath her. Mismatched eyes fix upon that spot a moment blinking. "Huh."
His head tilts as he rotates upside down weightlessly, staring 'up' at the roof beneath him curiously as he thinks he hears footfalls in the room below and then silence.
"Timid for a dead girl." Shrugging to himself, closing his eyes as he exhales. "What is it they say?" As he fades from view.
"That's New York."

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