Once an isolated and dying township, an influx of academics, adventurers and thrill seekers have made Scalvoris Town their home. From scholars' tea shops to a new satellite campus for Viden Academy, this is an exciting place to visit or make your home!
”cat herding is as hard as it looks” - common / murnasian
With the changing weather and the stifling discomfort of being indoors ( and specifically in their home after all that had happened ), Amaris had thought that perhaps it would behoove them to venture outdoors more often. At least as often as they could and for as long as they could to tire themselves out enough for sleep to kindly relieve them of their thoughts. And, it wouldn’t do for their pets to remain cooped up inside either. They had noticed the seemingly longing stares out of the window to the street as more people found the courage to venture out and test whether their eyes were playing tricks on them or the snow was truly melting. But opening a door to over a dozen felines at a time turned into a disaster they had not quite anticipated.
Which lead to them frantically walking about town to find each and every one of them that had gotten out. They hadn’t anticipated all twenty-three to rush for the door once it had opened, but had been lucky in that they’d managed to keep a little less than half of their cats within the confines of the apartment. The tall mixed blood might have felt some sort of embarrassment for their current situation, if not for the absolute panic they were in.
Currently, there were three wriggling forms in their arms, held close to the chest. A fourth had opted to rest on their shoulder, supported in the crook of Amaris’ elbow. They figured this would do for now, but this was minus the two cats prancing ahead of them that they had to constantly redirect with their feet. And there were still around seven left to locate. Sighing, they glanced about them for a sign of a familiar pattern or glimpse of a tail.
They paused in their search, readjusting their grip on the still struggling cats in their arms, murmuring soft apologies. They must have looked quite comical to the outside observer, perhaps living up to the “crazy cat lady” title that might have already been given to them. Hair askew and a light sheen of sweat coating their skin. Not to mention the lack of warm clothing where others were dressed more warmly and certainly not covered in cat hairs. They caught their breath and continued on, taking two strides to catch to the two that had gone ahead.[/font][/style2]
He wasn't yet used to this place, still able to get himself turned around and lost but Rowan had a plan. Rather than asking people for directions, he was going to try to navigate Scalvoris Town on his own. It was better to get into the habit of spotting landmarks and working out his precise location rather than relying on others, especially as he'd been on the island for a few trials already and still didn't know his arse from his elbow. He needed to get his act together. Thus, he'd gotten lost. It was totally on purpose though, entirely part of the plan. No better way to discover his surroundings then getting hopelessly lost in the middle of them.
The young man reasoned that if he wandered down odd little streets and squeezed between buildings beyond the main thoroughfare then he was likely to see some strange and exciting things, ideally the "true" Scalvoris town. If you wanted to gain a true sense of a place, you had to go to the parts that weren't advertised, that weren't necessarily pretty and areas that visitors might be steered away from. From what he'd seen thus far, Scalvoris appeared to be a nice, welcoming place; he didn't trust that at all.
He hadn't succeeded in finding the seedy underbelly of the town (yet) but he did manage to enter a street where he was greeted by a very bizarre sight, the sort that made him stop and stare while he tried to make sense of it, before he began to laugh. There appeared to be an exceedingly tall woman - he had no idea that anyone, woman or man, could reach such heights - struggling with a bunch of cats in her arms. As she walked along, she appeared to be guiding two more that walked before her with her feet. None of the cats seemed particularly pleased to be in this situation, all of the ones on her person ready to make a break for freedom at any moment. In fairness, he couldn't be blamed for laughing; he'd never seen a more ridiculous thing in his life.
The blond man found himself leaning against the nearest building, laughing himself silly, hardly noticing the higher pitch that his voice reached during the mirthful display. Only when his belly ached and his eyes were stinging with moisture did he manage to pull himself together and approach, moving to intercept the two cats on the ground and carefully shoo them towards their owner.
"Hey, do you want a hand here, miss?" he questioned, dragging a hand through his hair as he stepped to the side, trying to nudge the cat into the middle. Instead, it put on a spurt of speed, leaping over his foot and shooting off to the side. The other cat took the opportunity to head in the opposite direction. "Oops, sorry. Guess cats don't like to be directed," he added with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck a little sheepishly."Are all these yours? They seem like a bit of a handful for one person... even one with your sort of hands."
They had only taken a few more steps, strides long and hurried, when someone offered to help. A polite refusal was at the tip of their tongue before the person went right ahead with their supposed help. It did not, in fact, help. Butterball skittered ahead and her brother Fudge seemed intent on paving his own path. But regardless, they were both lost once more and the mixed blood could only gape in horror. A break of work to find those two, gone. They blinked, forcing themselves from their stupor as they looked down at the stranger.
“Yes, these are all mine, and more,” they responded, voice thick as they scanned the area once more. The cats wriggling in their arms were adjusted once more, tears pricking at the corner of the mixed blood’s eyes. This was nothing to panic about. This was merely an extended walk. It would be like watching them venture out from the door of their apartment. Amaris had acquired recently a tiny bit of paranoia with being outdoors by themselves. “They are indeed a handful.”
Amaris was quiet for a moment, teeth worrying their lip as they glanced around again. Well, maybe they weren’t exactly alone. Their attention returned to the stranger, who likely didn’t mean anything by being the opposite of helpful a moment ago. “I do--I do, um, need help. There’s still five more, plus the two that ran off just now. If it’s not too much trouble, would you mind helping me out?”
They hoisted the cats in hand up further, enough to lift a hand to brush a few hairs from their face ( though the remained oblivious to the truly chaotic state of it ). “My name’s Amaris.” It would be best if the man knew their name, and if they knew his. “May I ask for yours?”
The young man had laughed before, enjoying the unusual and comical scene presented to him, and he was laughing a little again but for a different reason: he was trying to lighten the mood after screwing up. On both occasions, he hadn't intended any nastiness, hadn't meant any harm at all but now he could see the shine of tears in the other's eyes and it made him panic immediately. Rowan didn't know if it was as a direct result of his actions or the missing cat situation in general - which he'd just made worse - but he wanted to fix it. No, he needed to fix it.
"Hey, hey, hey! It's all right! I didn't mean to fuck everything up, okay? I'll help you get them back, don't worry!" he assured them in a rush. "We can... we can, um..." He stared at them blankly for a moment, not sure what he could do to fix this but then he had a bright idea; he took off his bag. It didn't have a great many items in it, only holding some snacks and some water for his roaming and a recently added blanket that he'd picked up because he'd thought it'd look nice in his home. He switched its position, slipping the straps on from the front so that the bag rested against his chest. He opened it up, moving the blanket around inside it so that it was more evenly spread before pulling the bag's mouth wide, an odd peace offering.
"Look: you can put the cats you have in here. I'll make sure that they're comfortable and can't escape, and you get to free up your hands so that you can catch more. There's a blanket here and I'm not going to smother them or squash them or something so how about it?" He adjusted the flap so that he didn't have to hold it open, reaching out with both hands to take one of the felines. In fairness, given their superior height, Amaris could probably simply lean forward and tip them in but he wouldn't like to think of the potential damage to himself in that situation.
"I'm Rowan by the way but given what I just did, feel free to call me idiot," the blond added with a wink and a lopsided grin that still held some sheepishness. "I'm really sorry about your cats but we will get them back. Just please, don't cry. There's nothing I hate more than making a woman cry." Not that he'd made women cry that often but when he had, either directly or indirectly, the guilt always devoured him. He'd had less opportunity to see men sob and typically, when he did make them cry, it was usually on purpose; striking some part of their anatomy with extreme force tended to do that.
"All right, so we've got seven cats to retrieve. With the two of us and this handy cat carrier, we can gather them up in half a break, maybe a whole one. Easy! Now, what do these cats look like? See if that can help me spot them!"
How distraught did they appear that this stranger needed to comfort them? Amaris figured they were not making that great an impression on him at this point. Or maybe that had already been thoroughly spoiled upon first glance. They were going to speak again, perhaps to rescind their plea for help or try to justify the situation with an explanation, when he started to remove his bag. They watched him for a moment, tensing. They relaxed only when it seemed like he hadn’t produced a weapon of some sort.
The idea he had come up was simple, but just right. “That’s not a bad idea,” they murmured, glancing down at the cats in their arms. Getting them into the bag would be relatively easy task, they figured. Leaning forward slightly, they held out the felines to be taken by the man, jerking forward as a paw caught on to their tags. The metal tags clinked together, catching the light for a moment and blinding them. After another moment of struggling, all four of the cats in their arms was nestled in the bag. They seemed relatively calm about it.
Standing upright with a weight quite literally off their shoulders, Amaris nodded down at Rowan before wiping the corners of their eyes. “Thank you, Rowan.” They were likely putting him out of the way of some sort of schedule. Once this was over they’d figure out some way to repay them. And perhaps it would be a good idea to inform the man that there were more than seven on the loose. There was a chance, though, that the two elderly cats had already made their way back home.
Lip pursed, they thought back to which of the cats might still have been missing and how best to describe them. “Well, the twins are pure white. One has yellow eyes, and the other has one blue one. They never seem to be apart so the kids just called them the Twins. Chewy might be easiest to find, considering he’s so inclined to chew on things. He’s a creamish color? Beige?” They paused here, fingers noting how many had been described. They looked down at the cats already in the bag, seemingly content. “Oriand has a large white patch on her chest, but is otherwise all black. Zeth will be a small one - he was the runt - looks like a moving ball of snow and has a little cluster of star shaped patches of brown fur. The two that ran off are Link and Whiskers.”
With a nod, they concluded their descriptions and hoped Rowan had caught all of that. With their hands freed and attention momentarily on something other than squirming felines, they pushed hair from their face.
In truth, this was probably one of the oddest situations he'd ever been in. As they began moving the cats into the bag, cooperating with one another, Rowan had to resist the urge to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. It wasn't that his idea didn't make sense - it was actually quite clever and practical, if he said so himself - but being sensible didn't make it any less amusing. He'd effectively fitted himself with a big frontal pouch so that he could carry a bunch of cats around that didn't belong to them where he'd have to cradle them and care for them so that they didn't get spooked when they started walking. It was certainly not how he'd envisioned his trial working out when he'd woken up this morning.
"Oh course it's a good idea; I came up with it, didn't I?" he teased, his grin broad and mischievous, mirth dancing in his gaze as they got the cats settled. He moved the flap of the bag so that it was partially over the top, allowing the cats to peep out and not feel trapped, while also preventing them from leaping out. Four heads squeezed out through the opening, the felines evidently curious about their new situation although thankfully they didn't seem distressed. Still, he could feel them stirring, the movements felt against his abdomen through the material. It was an odd, almost ticklish sensation that made him want to laugh more.
Resting a hand under the bottom of the bag so that the animals had something of a firm base, he loosely wrapped his other arm around it so that if they did succeed in finding enough room to wiggle out that he could increase his pressure and keep them there. He brought his chin gently down on the head of the nearest one, secretly enjoying the feel of the soft fur as he listened to Amaris describe each feline they sought.
When they finished, pushing their hair from their face, Rowan eyed them curiously. Now that they were no longer weighed down by cats, he realised that they were even taller than he'd first supposed. He was slightly envious, long having wished for greater height so that his origins were a bit less obvious. He was always paranoid that someone would work it out by adding things together but it wasn't just that; he genuinely wished that he was taller. However, he didn't think that he wanted to be that tall, sure that there were disadvantages to it. Some part of him wanted to make a joke about it, ask why they didn't simply climb on top of something and spot every cat from there. Instead, the young man chose to make a bit of an effort.
"If I was a cat, I'd go somewhere with food. Have you tried looking around different places where you can eat? Like Cally's? Might be a good place to start. Although they probably don't like much bustle so backstreets rather than main streets, maybe. Still sounds like me," he admitted with a chuckle, about to move a hand through his hair before he remembered that he should keep his hands where they were. "So why have you got quite so many cats anyway? Are you some sort of crazy cat lady? Should I avoid you at all costs?" the blond questioned with a smirk.
The story of how they’d come by all these cats was not one that often wanted to tell. Who in their right mind would want to relay it? They’d been careless and as a result ended up the unwilling guest of two particularly deranged individuals and a crossbow named Francine. It had not been a fun experience to be held captive underground. So, perhaps it would be best to omit that part of the story, for fear of remembering more than they wanted.
“I rescued them. There was only a few, but two were pregnant and they seemed to take a liking to me,” they responded, shrugging. That fit well enough and it wasn’t untrue. The mixed blood had been looking for a while for someone to take them off their hands, but the cats always seemed to come back, as if rejecting the owners chosen for them. They reached into the bag to lightly scratch at the nearest furry head, mulling the thought over for a trill.
“If Cally’s is where they’re headed, we should head over there first. I wouldn’t want them interrupting someone’s meal; most of them don’t have great manners.” They could attest to this, having more than once had to remove cat hairs from their food or giving up on a meal altogether in favor of one of the cats taking it for their own. “Faith may be forgiving, but I’m not sure the patrons would be all too amused.”
Walking first, they glanced back to be sure they were slow enough for Rown to keep up, but still at a fairly steady pace. “I’m sorry if I’ve put you out of your way. You must have had plans.”
There was a definite pause before the other answered his question, feeling his smile falter a little in the interim as he wondered whether he'd touched a nerve. When the answer came, it was brief and to the point. It instantly made him feel that he was having some or perhaps the entire true story withheld. Rowan knew what it was to lie and he knew that there was such a thing as lying by omission. He couldn't be sure if Amaris was lying by omission or lying outright but the initial silence came across as suspicious to him. Why would someone have to choose their words like that if it was really as straightforward as it sounded.
"I see," he murmured, choosing to let it go; it wasn't any of his business. If he'd had someone prying into his life, wondering what he hid behind many of his words then he knew he'd be pissed off by the attempted intrusion, especially from someone he'd just met. So he left the matter where it was, smile vanishing altogether as he let his mind drift a bit, ready to simply start moving but secretly wondering what this strange individual might have to hide. He could make up fanciful stories in his head - they'd been stolen, Amaris ran some crazy breeding programme, she'd liberated them from an underground cat fighting pit - and it was fun to speculate.
During the talk of Cally's, he nodded along in an absentminded way, half-paying attention but it wasn't until his companion apologised that he snapped back, giving them his full attention. "What? What are you- Oh! No! No plans, it isn't a problem," the blond explained in a rush, his confusion quite clear as he tried to catch up with the conversation; it was probably evident that he hadn't really been listening. "I um... well, it might sound a bit stupid but I... was trying to make myself lost," he admitted, removing his arm from around the bag so that he could rub at the back of his neck a little sheepishly as the pair of them walked.
"I've only been on Scalvoris for a few trials and I don't really know my way around at all. People have been helpful - don't get me wrong, you folks seem kind enough - but I'd sooner make my own way and work things out for myself rather than having to ask for directions or whatever. So I was just planning on spending the trial getting to know Scalvoris Town. Nothing particularly important or exciting. This is as good a way to do that as any other so... I'm helping lost cats get found and finding my own way around at the same time. Two birds, one stone," he added with a shrug, resuming his former cradling of the bag.
"So there's really no need to apologise. If anything, I should be thanking you for helping you out... and apologising for spooking your two kitties," he pointed out as Cally's came into view. There was a cat there as it turned out, chewing happily on something at its feet, off-white head bobbing up and down. "Is that one of yours? Chompy or whatever?"
It would seem that their companion wasn’t really listening. They hoped it hadn’t been because it sounded like they were rambling. They didn’t mind it much, though, content on not being alone. They spent a good deal of trials by themselves for fear of...a lot of things. Now, with the cats to distract them and Rowan to sort of keep them company, they could momentarily forget the aforementioned things.
A brow rose as Rowan explained what he was doing. It felt almost like he was trying to justify himself, which they didn’t think he needed to do. It was an interesting way to get to know your surroundings, indeed. The only worry they could think of was getting too lost to find his way back home. They didn’t think they could do something like that, but then again, they were something of a landmark themselves, in a way. Their height certainly set them apart from most others out on the street.
“That’s...a fun way of getting to know the area.” Their next words were forgotten as Rowan pointed out Chewy, already getting into something he shouldn’t. They sped up slightly, messy ponytail slapping against their back as they went. “Bad, bad! Spit it out!” They didn’t quite get a look at what it was Chewy had eaten; it was pretty much nonexistent by the time they’d reached. The cat in question peered up with wide eyes, a picture of confused innocence. He mewled softly with short ears pressed flat. His purring, however, gave him away. The mixed blood scooped their cat up quickly, returning to Rowan to quickly place him in the makeshift carrier.
Rowan had known that his explanation would sound strange. It made sense in his mind of course. The young man had had to fend for himself for awhile now and thus, he had developed his own tried and tested methods for getting things done. They weren't anything to do with others and so it wasn't something that typically came under scrutiny by anyone. It was odd to be sharing even that small part of himself, especially as what had seemed like sound logic in his head sounded a bit silly out loud.
Amaris' comment on his methods was diplomatic, the careful answer making a smirk come out on his face.
Having pointed out the cat to his companion, he watched them rush off, taking his time following as he turned his attention to the cats in the bag instead. He released his hold across the bag, moving his hand to the felines' heads so he could scratch between the ears of them all. One in particular seemed particularly friendly, rubbing happily against his fingers as it purred away happily. It was a surprisingly loud purr, one that actually drew a delighted giggle from the young man before he bit his lip hard, horrified at the high-pitched sound that had escaped him. Still, in spite of that, he found that the animal amused him.
Casting a quick glance up, he spotted Amaris turning and hurried to act as if he hadn't been truly interested in his charges, instead making a show of fiddling with the flap so that he could take on another of the furballs. The blond moved to meet them, holding the bag open and holding the other cats in place as he waited to receive Chewy.
"See? We've already got one down so it's just six to go. I told you we could do it. I must be your lucky charm," he commented with a wink, keen to tease them and keep the mood light and optimistic. Once he got the cat in the bag, he shut all of the animals in safely. "I'd say that I can fit another three in here comfortably. I could probably squeeze one or two in after that but I don't think it'd go well. I don't particularly want a bag of angry cats."
He chewed on his lip, considering the matter carefully before he spoke again. "Either you can do you cat juggling act again or we can drop these ones off wherever you live. And hey, who knows, maybe some of them just went home. It's not a bad idea to check. And I'm not just saying that because I want to find out where you live," he added with a short laugh, unable to resist a flirtatious smile when he looked at them. By Syroa, it was a vice. He couldn't just say things like a normal person, oh no, he had to be suggestive... and sometimes quite creepy probably.
"It's up to you though. We can just wander around some quieter streets if you'd prefer. Although bear in mind that while your cats are all right being in a bag right now, they might not be as pleased in half a break or so."
