The Cat and the Burglar (CVU closed RP IC)

I sat in the alley, cleaning the last of the blood off my paws with my tongue, contemplating my existence. It was quiet tonight. Even some of the city's hustle and bustle, the vroom of car engines and the chatter of human voices, was dulled by some unseen force, easing my ears and my mind while I watched for another meal. I am cat. I am feline, cousin of the fierce lion and tiger.

And they treated me as no more than a rodent.

I was the experiment. I was their test. They drugged me. They held me down. They replaced my beautifully sharpened claws with their ugly human knives. They drugged me again, and I woke up coughing. Not hair, as I do after grooming. I awoke coughing my old blood, the blood that was pure cat, out of my body. Now I'm no longer pure cat. They put something into me, something I don't recognize or understand completely, not yet. I listened to them whisper about me, but I never understood them. Not until I began to learn. Not until I began to hear more than sounds, but words. And thoughts. Thoughts that told me what I was. Words that spoke of me when they didn't think I could hear.

Now here I was, listening again to thoughts and words. Darker thoughts, harsher words, but with humans it's all the same dull things. I began grooming my shoulders, my back, behind my ears.

Too many humans, too dull for their own good. I was planning a way to end that, but first...first I had to understand them. The way they had wanted to understand me. For humans were like cats, no two the same. Different breeds. Mutants, humans, metas, supers, villains...all so diverse. And I had yet to meet any of the interesting ones.

@tigris_shark:

Amora walked the streets pretty normally. Her eyes seeing the wallets in each persons pocket as she she did so, she didn't exactly look suspicious, of course unlike a normal person she didn't need to look for the target she wanted. All she had to do was see how much money they had, and then wonder if they might be able to catch her stealing from them.

However even as she was doing that her eyes glanced down an alley and she cocked her head as she saw a black cat. Instinctively she walked towards it carefully waving as if it might understand, "Hi," She said crouching down, "I'm not here to hurt you. I just don't get to be around cats very often." She added softly holding out a hand trying to get the cat to come forwards instead of backing away like most probably would around here.

@amora_kurian:

I lifted my head from my concentrated grooming, my eyes golden. Curious. This human's thoughts were those of an average thief, but the way she went about it...how interesting. At least temporarily. I didn't bother trying to communicate with her, even though she was so open with me. Most humans were used to cats being shy or introverted. I swivelled my ears to her, forward, as I rose to my feet and approached cautiously. Her thoughts were non-threatening. She wanted to pet me. The thing was, as much as I hated being treated as an animal, I loved being pet, especially right between the ears. As I placed my head under her large, five-fingered paw, I tried to let her know that by pressing by ears flat outward and closing my eyes. This could be pleasant, at least for a while.

@tigris_shark:

Amora smiled happily as she rubbed her hand in between the cats ears sitting down crosslegged but not trying to pick it up just in case, "Oh it's so cute." She said to herself glancing over her shoulder as if to make sure nobody was coming, she wasn't exactly hunted so to speak but she also didn't like the idea of being snuck up on in case somebody did try it.

"Well now what huh? You seem sort of friendly but I don't really want to risk scaring you off by trying to pick you up." She said, although she seemed to be addressing the cat, Amora was more talking to herself then anything. Trying to think about what she should do, not really wanting to leave a cat in an alley but not exactly sure how she'd go about anything else.

@amora_kurian:

One of my ears twitched in annoyance as I picked up the thought of picking me up.

"I'd rather you don't do that," I thought to her. It could startle most people, but she had an interesting ability I'd picked up on before she entered the alley. I certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing she'd ever seen or heard. But then, I twitched my ears again. She seemed to really want me to sit on her lap, so I jumped up with the thought of, "Oh, fine", and sat there, waiting for her to respond.

@tigris_shark:

Amora's eyes widened and her mouth opened for a moment as she realized the cat apparently both understood and could telepathically talk back. A telepathic cat was certainly something new, true, she'd seen plenty of rather weird things at this point, even a giant shape made out of souls or something, but still.

She smiled again as the cat jumped into Amora's lap anyway and she continued petting it between the ears before speaking again, "Sorry, I uh, didn't exactly realize you understood me...at all." She admitted kind of awkwardly, How does one even react to being around a telepathic cat? She thought completely forgetting again that the thought may or may not have been heard as well.

@amora_kurian:

Her hand was rather distracting, but it felt very nice to have someone rubbing my head the way people used to when I was a kitten. "Relax, human. I'm just a cat. A cat who happens to understand human thought. Please, as you were." I swivelled my ears again, enjoying the massage. "I call myself Tigris, by the way. Pleasure to meet you, human. Or as pleasant as it is, for one of us to meet one of you."

The girl seemed nice, especially since she forgot to hide her thoughts. It seemed she had the ability to resist mental intrusion, but was neglecting it now from surprise. And wouldn't put it up unless she decided she didn't want to talk to a telepathic cat anymore.

@tigris_shark:

"Nice to meet you too Tigris. I don't usually get to talk to cats that talk back, that's for sure. Or ever." She admitted as she continued petting Tigris, "By the way, what do you mean by, uh, one of us to meet one of you? Do you mean like you as a species and me as a species or something?"

I suppose that would make the most sense. I guess it's not exactly possible for a human to actually meet a cat in most any other situation since we wouldn't understand each other, for the most part anyway. I think cats might understand people better then vice versa in some cases.

@amora_kurian:

"Cat meeting human," I purred as she hit a sweet spot behind my left ear with one of her fingers. "Yes. Most of you are incredibly dull. There are exceptions, but... well, those are few and far between. It's nice to meet someone vaguely interesting for a change." I raised my paw and licked it gently before posing the next question, "Why were you planning on stealing from those people, anyway? They're not interesting in the least. And have a bit too much money to spare."

@tigris_shark:

She grimaced nodding as Tigris mentioned that a lot of people weren't exactly intelligent, she'd definitely seen a few stupid people, some of the people she'd seen when the giant shape showed up being at the forefront of her mind. She was just about to thank the cat for calling her interesting, as odd of a comment as it may have also seemed when Tigris mentioned that she had been looking to steal from these people.

Amora sighed but continued petting Tigris, it was rather relieving somehow to do so, "Well, I don't exactly have a job, I've kind of been stealing to survive and all for years. Since I was like 14, to be precise, that's when I started doing it regularly. And it'd be kind of hard to explain that my parents took me all over the place to avoid discrimination, so I'm not really a citizen...anywhere. So I just sort of..steal to live and stuff." She shrugged, "My fault or not the only way I really know how to get around."

@amora_kurian:

I had always found the human barter system amusing, just as my ancestors probably found it in their time. I paused to make an audible purr. Humans were like large kittens, they didn't know any body language, and had to communicate with sound. I didn't want to have to outright tell her that what she was doing pleased me, so I dropped that not-so-subtle hint before continuing.

"What about just stealing food? What is that called... shop-carrying? Something like that. Shoplifting, that's the word. Cut out the middle altogether. No need for practically worthless paper. Food and clothes would be what I would steal if I were you."

@tigris_shark:

She thought about it for a moment still petting though, odd as it was she'd almost gotten used to a cat that could practically converse with her, maybe it's because cats were already so peculiar, "Well, it's a lot harder to steal enough food then it is, say, a hundred dollar bill. A hundred dollars gets me like a few steaks and some side dishes, but safely stealing out a few steaks without getting caught is strangely a lot harder." Amora replied.

"Gotta agree about the paper though, heck, it could be worth a lot in one place and practically nothing somewhere else. Crazy people and their monetary systems." She added shaking her head and grinning.

@amora_kurian:

"Agreed." I yawned, eyes closing and ears laying back a little, then lying myself down on her lap. "Your barter system is ridiculous. Even metals like gold and silver are both worthless and priceless. They look nice, but you don't use gold coins for anything. Same with your paper money. It's good art from a certain point of view. But totally useless unless it's traded."

@tigris_shark:

Unfortunately yawns were "contagious" so to speak. Causing Amora to yawn in response on accident and lean a shoulder against the wall though a little bit of a rough wall, "Guess gold could be melted down and then used for something useful at least. But the paper money's just paper that's already been written on." She said a bit quieter now whether she realized it or not.

@amora_kurian:

I felt the human slow down to a stop, her body relaxing. I debated leaving, but even gentle as her petting was, it still felt good. She was just a kitten, a stray no less. She wasn't hard, like her elders. Her heart was gentle and good. How long that would last was anyone's guess. None of my business, though. I curled up on her lap. Human dreams were interesting, too, in the case the girl fell asleep. I wouldn't stay long if that happened, but I'd make sure not to wake her. She was just a kitten, after all, an innocent in a game she didn't understand. Let her steal her paper to barter for food. It didn't matter. I knew that. But she didn't, nor did she have to.

@tigris_shark: (OOC: Well that was certainly a very "laid back" rp lol. Honestly think I got more awareness of my character out of it then most fights would though, it was pretty fun.)

Pretty soon Amora would indeed end up falling asleep still thinking about the telepathic cat. Only realizing how tired she was as she already started drifting away still leaning against the wall, and in a dream still talking to the cat although the words were kind of mish mashed together. She'd spent too much time thinking and doing stuff to sleep recently, and was simply tired. It might end up being more of a "cat nap" ironically, but it was a nap nevertheless.

@amora_kurian: OOC: agreed. I enjoyed this as a first RP with this character far more than i would have enjoyed a fight.

I waited for her breathing to slow, then slipped off her lap. I was done here, and I had things to do. But this was a reminder that not all humans were sadistic monsters. Some could be good, if they wanted. As I sauntered off, I felt a change in my train of thought. I had learned something tonight. Something very important if I wanted to continue my path to revenge. I took one final glance over my shoulder, then turned back to the alley.

I didn't look back again.

@tigris_shark: (OOC: Cool! See you later then! I'll probably watch your next few rps with Tigris just to see what's going on for awhile, just for the fun of it. Thanks for the rp!)