Friends of cats

[Mikko Ashby]

"Are you... out of your mind?" Incredulously Mik looked Cori over, from the top of his head to the shoes on his feet. Why was he dressed like that? He looked like a creepy weirdo, buttoned up to his eyeballs, with gloves on his hands. Gloves over gloves, even, and sunglasses, despite it being a cloudy day. It had just started to rain, in fact, so Mik was out battening down the hatches and making sure the kennels were well-protected. He was tending to the doggies when Cori ran up, babbling nonsensically about being cursed and needing a place to stay until the rain stopped.

"Does Lieve know you're out dressed like this?" How could Lieve drop the ball like this?! Cori was a hideous mess! He reached out to take Cori by the shoulders, steering him inside where it was dry. What was that thing about a curse anyway? Cori had always been kind of quirky and Mik accepted that as him being him, but. Geez. Curses yet!

He took Cori into an inner office where he plonked him down and made him take off the coat. There was a big comfy couch there too, perfect for taking naps, which Mik threw himself onto while Cori sat in the loveseat with his hands between his legs, looking nervous and out of sorts. "You can stay here until the rain stops. Do you want anything to drink? Wanna go see the new kittens?"

"NO!" Cori shook his head so hard his curls flew everywhere.

Taken aback, Mik held up both of his hands with the palms out. "Okay... okay geez. I thought you liked kittens."

"I do! But I can't touch them!"

"Okay... sure. I have to go see if Aunt Shel needs help, so you sit tight and. Take a nap or something, calm down. All right? I'll check in on you later." He stood up, went over to ruffle Cori's unruly mop and then went back out. Raising Cori was kind of a community effort these days, ever since his mom mysteriously disappeared. Lieve was nice enough to offer him a place to stay, but their little group of friends took turns dropping by to make sure Cori was all right. (He was kind of an innocent thing, sheltered and protected by his mom and his friends.)

Aunt Shelby was tending to a puppy that someone had abandoned, and it had been struck by a car. It was in pretty bad shape and they weren't sure if the poor little thing would make it. Ooh, that made Mik so mad! Instead of handing the little thing over to a shelter, some asshole just left him by the side of the road and drove off! OOH PEOPLE!

"Everything okay Aunt Shel? It's really coming down out there!" He peeked in on poor little pupper, which was sleeping. "Aww... his leg looks bad. Do you think we'll have to amputate?" Mik frowned. Aunt Shelby didn't know, she said, but it looked quite beyond saving. Shit. If Mik ever found the person who did this—!

He turned when someone entered the front lobby of the shelter, and their motion-detector doorbell went off. Mik walked back out; immediately his expression changed from stormy to sunny. "Rip! You're here!" He ran forward to grab a hold of Rip's arm to pull him inside—and also so that the automatic door could close to seal them off from the sudden storm outside!

[Ripper Nightshade]

Rip stepped into the lobby but he sort of... half stood there for a long moment, with the doors trying to shut on him and then opening again. Rain lashed at his back and his hair was a wet, tangled mess in his face. His clothes stuck to him uncomfortably. The bus had stopped near the shelter but there was still a walk up from the outer gate and across the asphalt parking lot before arriving at the office itself.

Pulled inside, he heard the doors slide closed behind them. His boots squeaked on the wet linoleum as he stepped further inside.

He... didn't know why he was here. He shouldn't be here. But he had defied direct orders before. The problem was that when he did, somebody else got hurt in the process. So... he didn't know why he was here. He shouldn't be here; it was only going to cause problems for Shelby and Mik.

"It's... there's a storm," he said, as if he had to explain his current state to the others in the lobby. He wrapped his arms around his body. The eye makeup, the nail polish, the jewelry, the hair, that was all the same. Leather pants had been a mistake, and the tank top he wore beneath a vest were pathetic against the onslaught of wind and rain outside.

To be fair, though, the rain had only started after he boarded the bus.

"I got off at the wrong stop," he explained. "And I had to go around town again."

[Mikko Ashby]

"I know, we were scrambling to get everything covered! Goodness, you're all soaked through!"

There was even a little puddle forming at Rip's feet! Mik pulled him further along, past the receptionist's desk (usually manned by Mik) and into the back. "We've got some towels you can use to dry off. Come on, this way." Mik had the good sense not to remind Rip that if he got off at the wrong stop, he could have taken the return bus back... not take it all the way around town! Poor Rip was already soaked and bedraggled, there was no need to pile on him now.

In the back, he found clean towels in a supply closet and handed them to Rip. "Are you cold? I can get a heater to warm you up."

His smile lingered on Rip's damp form. Rip was probably here to see his fish, which were happily installed in their new tank. Allie didn't actually come through with his promise to buy one, but Mik heard that he had gotten injured that night shortly after he chased after Rip, and couldn't get it. Allie did transfer some money, though, so Mik went and got a tank, and the fish were just fine.

[Ripper Nightshade]

Rip looked down. Oh yes, he was dripping everywhere and he was soaked from being out in the rain during its sudden heavy showers. When he left the apartment, they sky had been grey and cloudy but the temperatures were mild. Not too cold, not too hot. Rip liked it... up until the part where he ended up a sopping mess when the clouds decided to open up buckets of rain over him.

Stepping after Mik, his first step was overeager and he slipped--but caught himself before he spilled onto the ground. Just sort of... stumbled before righting himself. After that, he was careful with each step as he followed Mik to a supply closet. One towel was propped over his head and the back of his neck while he used the other to make an attempt at drying off his clothes. At least the leather just sort of... let the water slide off.

"Oh, no... I'm not... I'm just wet." He looked down at himself. "I should have seen the rain coming. I saw the clouds but I thought it was just going to be one of those overcast days..."

[Mikko Ashby]

"Not a good day to be out without an umbrella, huh?" Mik smiled as he reached over to help Rip dry off, gently rubbing the towel against his dark hair. He didn't know why he did it, it just felt like the kind of thing to do. And he took the corner of the towel to lightly wipe the area under Rip's eyes, where his eyeliner was running slightly. Maybe he was still in caretaker mode from Cori? Maybe he wanted to do it just because.

"Your eyeliner's running," he did try to explain himself, hoping that Rip didn't find what he was doing odd. Not too odd, at least! Mik wasn't trying to treat him like a child, either! Obviously Rip was a full grown man. But Mik took care of animals, he took care of Cori, he had that motherly streak in him. Nothing to be ashamed about, right? Right!

"Did you come to see your fish? We've got a new litter of kittens, too, you should see them! Tiny little fluffballs! They just opened their eyes the other day."

[Ripper Nightshade]

"No..." And he wasn't even sure he had an umbrella. There were umbrellas, of course, for the Prince and for Keith. But for somebody like Rip, who was meant to stay home unless told otherwise...

But when he left, he felt that strange feeling against his forehead again, like breaking a seal. It was so... strange. But it didn't hurt. At least, not until Keith entered his mind and mucked around in there for a while. Thinking of Keith, Rip did his best not to change his expression, especially since Mik was currently helping him with his hair and his face.

Keith had been amused for 2.5 seconds about his "ugly kitten" shirt. And then Allie had shown up and put him in a sour, horrible, awful mood. And with Rhys mysteriously vanished and Raf nowhere to be seen, it was just the two of them. Keith's anger combined with his frustration made an evil combination. Keith was convinced that Rip had been passing himself off as Jack to Jack's friends without discussing it with him first, that he was going to fuck everything up. And in line with that punishment, he thoroughly fucked Rip up for the next two days. And with no Rhys or Raf, no reprieve came.

Not until Keith was called away for a job and then it was just... Rip.

"...I need to invest in the waterproof kind..." But Keith liked this kind. He didn't say that aloud. As the towel lowered, he nodded.

"I wanted to see if they made it safely--" he was about to apologize for having to ditch them before he could see the fish off safely but interrupted himself. "Kittens? Baby kittens? Here?" He put his hands together in unbridled delight. "Where?"

[Mikko Ashby]

"Here! Come on, I'll show you!"

He grasped onto Rip's hand and tugged him down the hall, towards a special area designated for cats and kittens. There was a warm room that they'd put the kittens in, into a special pen built just for them—where they couldn't wander away. Mik pushed open the door and pulled Rip inside, but there he halted. "You need to wash your hands first Rip. It's just to make sure they don't get sick."

There was a sink near the door; he gently nudged Rip towards it and turned on the tap. Mik scrubbed up well before drying his hands on a clean towel. And then he went over to the pen, where he reached in and scooped up a tiny fluffy ball of orange and black. "Their mom is a stray we found in town, and she'd given birth and hidden them behind a dumpster! Some kids called us in to take them. We got mom too! But she's out for her shots right now."

He turned to Rip and offered him the kitten, which clawed ineffectually at the air, mewing. Its big yellow-green eyes were trained on Rip as it let out another teeny high-pitched sound.

[Ripper Nightshade]

This guy was a flurry of... everything. Rip only blinked as he was pulled along and words were thrust at him. Without even thinking--he wasn't used to thinking when things were moving this fast--Rip washed his hands. Clean hands for small kittens. He dried his hands off, too, then because he didn't know where else to go (he did sort of do a half turn as he looked around the area), he slowly followed Mik to a pen where he could see a clump of fireballs rolled up and around each other.

"Oh..."

The kitten handed toward him looked scared as it clawed and cried. Rip took it and instinctively held it to his chest. One hand. That was all it took to cradle a cat so small. It was a tiny ball of fluff. Its eyes were so big for such a little creature and it was pressing its face against Rip's chest like it was... looking for something. Like maybe mom. Or... mom's teats. Rip laughed a little, somehow embarrassed by his own thought, even though it was natural for a baby kitten to seek its mother's teats.

Ignoring that thought, he tilted his head as he looked down at it.

"It's black and orange," he said, "like the goldfish queen."

Did that make this one the queen kitten? He liked to think so. Her fur was super soft and once he placed most of his hand on her and gently petted her head with one finger, she seemed to calm down. Even... He lowered his head a little.

"She's purring!" he whispered urgently, as if this was news to somebody working with kittens. Also, he didn't realize he'd already called the kitten a she. In his mind, she was already she. But he honestly had zero way of knowing.

[Mikko Ashby]

Most of the kittens were some variant of tabby, oranges and whites and grays and even one little black and white one. But Mik picked out the only orange and black tabby because of its similarity to their goldfish queen. (Yes, their goldfish queen, because he and Rip were taking care of the fish together, weren't they?) And he just knew Rip would love the little kitten, too.

He had kind of a cute laugh. Rip, that was. Mik smiled even though he didn't know what Rip was laughing about, watching him being super extra careful with the tiny furball. It settled against his chest, seemingly at ease, and—yes, it was purring! "That means she likes you Rip!" Mik came closer so that he could stroke the kitten's thin curved back, gently tickling her at the base of her tail. She turned to bat at his hand but her little claws didn't do much damage.

"Are you gonna choose this one to be your pet? There are others too, but... I think she's already taken to you." She was kneading at Rip's shirt now, sinking her teeny claws into the fabric of his vest. Mik laughed a little as he stroked her head, and her eyes began to flicker closed. Then they opened again, gazing up at Rip, before they closed. "She's so cute."

[Ripper Nightshade]

What could be more adorable? If the little kitten on the t-shirt made his heart feel bigger, the real deal was way more adept at heart-melting. Look at that tiny ball with the big ears and the big eyes and the wannabe attack mode! And she was indeed purring and kneading at his vest, even though it was still damp from outside. He was glad he'd dried his hair. The idea of dripping all over her horrified him. Cats hated water, right?!

"She does," he said with a smile, because it was damn near impossible not to smile at a kitten, especially one that liked him. Mik's question, though... made him ache inside. He wished he could have her as a pet. In his mind's eye, he could see her growing up at his side. Knocking things down, hunting down bugs, batting at boot strings, jumping out from behind chairs. He wanted that for his life.

"I... want her," he said with some hesitation. And he knew that Mik said she could stay here at the shelter as his official not-at-home pet but... "It would be selfish of me to keep her here if somebody could take her to a real home."

[Mikko Ashby]

"Then... we'll make sure she goes to a good home, and people who'll love her as much as you do. But in the meantime, you're more than welcome to come see her whenever you have time."

Rip seemed like a busy guy, since it took him a few days to get here. And he never called or texted back in that time, either! Maybe he wasn't interested... which was okay. Hey, Mik had to shoot his shot, right? If he never reached out, how would he ever know? That streak of boldness was definitely something he learned only recently, because young Mik would have probably gone to hide behind Aunt Shelby and secretly made eyes at people.

"I can send you lots of pictures of her too, for when you can't be here." He watched the little kitty snoozing against Rip's chest. It was such a shame that Rip couldn't take her, knowing that he would have really loved her and given her a good home. Mik sometimes regretted letting people take animals from their shelter because he sensed that some of them didn't know what they were in for. A couple of times he went out to check on them, and a handful of instances saw people even giving them back, when they realized that they weren't properly equipped to handle them.

[Ripper Nightshade]

"How much time?"

It felt like asking how long he had to live, even though he knew it wasn't so dramatic. She was just so cute and lovable and he loved her already, it was true. He could already imagine her in his home. Not the current one. The one he'd been building in his head for a while now. A useless endeavor, he knew. But. He couldn't help yearning for more than what he had in life.

"Send pictures?" He asked. It sounded so easy. But...  Rip didn't look up from where he gently stroked the kitten's little head. "By phone, you mean..." His laugh now was sheepish. "I don't actually have one so..."

[Mikko Ashby]

"I don't know." He couldn't tell the future or he would have gladly told Rip everything he wanted to know. It depended on luck, he supposed, and the right person coming along to take her. And if no one did, Mik was always here to look after the kitten for Rip. It wasn't like it took a lot to convince him to keep a cutie like her, either—although his Aunt Shelby might sigh at him adding another animal to his menagerie.

But... oh. Oh? No phone? Was Rip one of those people who lived off the grid? They had a couple of guys like that around town, people who disliked technology and who only lived off the land. Not that Rip looked like one of those rugged outdoorsy types but... Hmm... "We could... get you one? Or if you can get online, I'll email pictures to you?" He paused then laughed. "Or I'll mail them... in the mail!"

[Ripper Nightshade]

Rip hoped he would be around enough for his little kitten queen to know who he was. That she would know the sound of his voice and the touch of his hand. That she would want to be around him. That maybe... by the time she was old enough to be adopted... maybe... things would be different.

Keith had... a lot of enemies. Not that Rip hoped those enemies would get the best of him. But... the fact of the matter was--he had a lot of enemies. Even his allies didn't like him. After all, where did Rhys and Raphael get to? It had just been the two of them--Keith and Rip--in the apartment now. And it was extra lonely and extra painful and extra horrible.

He spent a lot of time in Raphael's room. Or Rhys' room. Raphael had things to look at. Rhys' room was neat and tidy and almost looked as if nobody ever lived there. But they were both preferable over the last room. Keith's room. It was a mess of dirty clothes flung aside. There was a clean pile and a dirty pile. There were weights that often pissed Keith off when he stubbed his toes on them, then blamed Rip for their placement (spoiler: Rip didn't use the weights and therefore never touched them.)

There was even a punching bag suspended in the corner of one area of the room by the closet. Keith took his body very seriously. It was... a nice body. But it didn't go with the warped person inside it. Not at all. Keith used that body as a weapon in every way imaginable.

So with all that on his mind, he shook his head. A phone... would be a bad idea. A terrible idea. He... would never be able to use it. Unless... he hid it in Raf's room maybe? A tiny flicker of hope as he looked up.

"How? I have some money," he said, which went without saying. He got on the bus, didn't he? And that meant getting into his roommates' money. (In this case, he had taken from Rhys... silently sending a prayer to the fallen king himself that he could be forgiven for doing it.)

"I could buy a phone!" His excited tone woke up the half asleep kitten, who looked at him with her half open eyes, then stretched out a paw over his arm before closing her eyes again.

[Mikko Ashby]

"You could!" Mik... wasn't going to pretend he knew what went on through Rip's head. He just wasn't even going to try, because there were weird folks in Hazleton, some even weirder than Rip. It was easier to go along with it, especially since Rip appeared so excited by the prospect of buying a phone. That wouldn't be hard; they were cheap if he wasn't hung up on the latest models, and just wanted kitty pics from Mik.

"There's a store along the bus route, even. On the way home you can pick one up!" He stroked the little kitten's head again, until she went back to sleep, all curled up safe and sound against Rip's chest, still purring faintly. "You still have my number, right? Is that why you didn't call or text me up until now?" Mik glanced up with a little impish smile—but also genuinely curious! "Because you don't have a phone? Would you have called if you had one?"