Lonely Together ( Social) (Kuro/Danica/Open upon Request)

THE UNFORGIVING LIGHT OF THE MID-MORNING cast harsh bars of light across Nimue’s bed, outlining the hills and valleys of where U.A.’s nurse lay. Behind the bend in her knees, a small, flattened sphere of black rose and fell periodically, but was otherwise motionless. The faintest of snores could be heard from the furry, black orb.

Outside, the scream of a car horn. Kuro’s head lifted attentively, grass-green eyes blinking groggily. A horn? The cat unspooled himself, yawning. He got to his feet and stretched the sleepiness away. He’d polished his food bowl clean last night—so if he wanted breakfast, he’d need the help of someone with thumbs.

Kuro walked oh-so carefully along the length of Nimue’s body, before settling upon her shoulder.

“Nimue~ hey, Nimue~” the cat sang softly. When the blue-haired woman didn’t respond, the cat lightly patted her cheek with his paw, “Ni-mu-eeeeeeee~”

The nurse groaned and rolled over, sending the cat toppling to the comforter below.

Fiiiiine then. Kuro rolled to his feet again, padding to edge of the bed and jumping down.

They had systems for situations like these. For example—Kuro strode out into the main living-space, towards the dinette by back the door. He leapt onto the table, surveying a chart at its center. It was a spinning wheel chart, much like one would find in a childrens’ game. The main difference was that, rather than directions, the items on the chart were locations and actions. At its axis, a plastic arrow that Kuro could push with his paw.

Kuro nudge the arrow with his paw, pushing it until it pointed to “Adventure!”

It was a compromise that he and Nimue had worked-out—if he left while she was asleep or away, he was supposed to tell her where he was. Kuro was certainly not an indoor cat, but Nimue didn’t take kindly to the cat randomly disappearing.

From there, Kuro’s adventure whisked him all around town, through the residential. He’d taken some kibbles from some other, hapless cat’s bowl, and some water too. It smelled like raccoons had been in it, too, so Kuro hardly felt guilty. And then he found himself in the shopping district, residential homes giving way to buildings of commerce. The city was exciting, but also dangerous—so many cars, so many people with dogs—Kuro kept to the quiet alleys and the fringes. He would only stop to calculate his next move and then run to his next vantage point.

Busy people were hurrying past, too preoccupied to notice a miniscule black kitten near their feet. He moved quickly, close to the wall where he wouldn’t risk getting stepped-on. Of course, that meant he was easy to see—a shiba spied him and let out a few short barks. Kuro went scurrying, claws out amidst his retreat. He took shelter in a café patio, sparsely populated by patrons. If anything, the tables and chairs would inhibit the dog, if it chased.

It… didn’t seem to be chasing him.

The cat remained, back arched, against the wall, eyes wide. Once he calmed himself, he was finally able to assess the area—such a nice café, with such nice people food! Perhaps he could sucker some of these sucker into sharing? The cat wrapped around the legs of the tables and chairs, his nose to the air as he perused the scents—oo, turkey!

The girl dropped her feet, and the cat leapt into the chair that the feet had previously occupied, sitting primly in the seat.

“Meeeewww?” Kuro cried sweetly, fully aware of what he was doing. From this vantage point, he could barely see onto the tabletop.

ft. danica tem'naka

quirk: e-rank cat physiology, invisibility, floating; f-rank agility, breaking-and-entering

THE GIRL ANSWERED KURO'S PLEA with a patient yes, followed by an offering of her sandwich. Kuro rose onto his hind legs, placing his front legs upon the tabletop to get a better look at the sandwich. When the girl lifted the top bun of the sandwich, Kuro smelled—and saw—a number of ingredients. The most prevalent was the mild, somewhat-salty scent of turkey. Turkey!

It wasn’t his first choice of meat, by any means, but meat was meat. Kuro’s tail rose with curiosity, and he uttered another, more insistent, “Meeeewwww.”

Yes, lady, give the cat the turkey, and no one would get hurt. In his eagerness, and in fear of the dog that had just given Kuro chase, the cat would leap onto the tabletop rather than the ground, as the girl intended.

He kept his nose low to the iron café table, following it towards the sandwich. The girl had deposited the turkey on the ground, distractedly opening her book, and Kuro—ever the opportunist—was going for the sandwich. How would she reconcile that?

Whether she reacted meanly or calmly, the cat would draw its nose back from the plate, taking a seat upon the tabletop. Eating off of the ground? How undignified! He wasn’t one to dine and dash, but he wasn’t one to eat off of the pavement, either. If she were to set that same piece of turkey on the tabletop, though—now, that was a different story.

ft. danica tem'naka

quirk: e-rank cat physiology, invisibility, floating; f-rank agility, breaking-and-entering

IT WAS A CONTEST OF WILL. The girl snapped her fingers at the cat, to which Kuro simply flicked an ear and took a stubborn seat upon an open spot of tabletop. No one told Kuro what to do, particularly not a stranger. Even if they were a stranger with turkey. Kuro tilted his chin up at the woman and thinned his eyes, feline disdain written clearly upon his features.

Finally, the girl buckled, depositing the turkey onto the tabletop after a cursory glance around. Kuro stood up again and eagerly scarfed the offering down once it was where he wanted it to be, his tail raised high with his delight.

The girl asked Kuro some nonsensical question about treating an affliction, to which Kuro licked his whiskers. As if he knew the answer—he didn’t even know what those words meant. The cat padded closer to the girl, using his grass-green eyes to survey the page. He would survey the small, uniform print for a moment, before placing a delicate paw upon the corner of the page.

Assuming there were no immediate protests, the cat would begin to inch onto the splayed book, before settling soundly upon its peak, assuming a “cat loaf” position.

If Danica protested, however, Kuro would hunker down next to the book, and next to the sandwich, and drape his head over the corner of the text. His black fur was warm from the sun, and he looked entirely too satisfied with himself over inconveniencing this diligent student.

Kuro flicked his tail, a quiet purr starting to grow in his chest.

ft. danica tem'naka

quirk: e-rank cat physiology, invisibility, floating; f-rank agility, breaking-and-entering

THE GIRL YIELDED-- ACTUALLY YIELDED-- to the tiny cat’s insistence. For example, when Kuro started to creep onto the textbook, the girl tossed her hands up, but didn’t try to relocate him. She simply allowed Kuro to crawl forward and hunker down, and declared that it was time for a break. Kuro closed his eyes, his tail flicking contentedly. He let his nose dip a little closer to the page, purring contentedly, entirely unaware of the fact that he was being inspected.

Nimue had, actually, coerced Kuro into wearing a collar—something about “if animal control got a hold of him, a collar prohibited him from being whisked away to the pound. It was “get out of pound free” card.

The collar in-question was a red, leather collar, with a simple gold tag. The tag read “Kuro” on one side, and hosted a phone number—Nimue’s phone number—on the other. If the girl happened to reach for the collar, or Kuro, he wouldn’t make indication of noticing until she potentially touched Kuro personally. Any touch would be answered with an inquiring, “Brrrep?” and inquiring grass-green eyes.

For now, though, he dozed on the warm textbook. That’s the ruse he had up, that is.



That woke Kuro up. He looked at the girl, and gave a much more insistenr, “MREH” at the mention of turkey. Turkey was always welcomed. She set the shred of turkey upon the table, and as anticipated, the cat craned his neck to reach it. Kuro this time bit the turkey and relocated it to the surface of the book, picking it apart more delicately than the first time.

The girl seemed pretty okay, really. Quiet, maybe. But good enough to share her food with a random cat off of the streets. Anyone willing to share food with Kuro was alright in his book. Perhaps he’d keep her company, until her patience grew thin, hm? Or, until she was out of turkey. Kuro found himself wondering what kind of conversational partner the girl might be, but he was hesitant to speak in such a crowded seating area.

ft. danica tem'naka

quirk: e-rank cat physiology, invisibility, floating; f-rank agility, breaking-and-entering, telekinesis

THE CAT TORE SMALLER PIECES off of the offering of turkey, happily munching away on each torn piece, before taking another ferocious bite. When the girl sighed, the cat rose himself off of the book, circling back to the other side of the table. Although Kuro had no way of knowing what the intention was behind the girl’s sigh, he wanted to be sure that she didn’t make a grab for his turkey.

When the cat finished chewing, he noticed the next turkey-offering, and went hastily to grab it before retreating to the opposite side of the table.



The cat tore-off a piece of the newly-offered turkey, chewing it loudly as he seemed to weigh his options. Her sandwich was starting to look a little thin, in the turkey department—that was to be expected, since she was sharing the sandwich with a cat. So… now was perhaps as good of a time as ever to make conversation, right?

“I could deal without the dogs,” the cat said primly, gulping down his first bite of turkey. Kuro fixed the girl with the stare, “Being a cat is all well-and-good until dogs get involved. Also—dry food. Who does that?”

These were very feline concerns, and Kuro still brought them up, eager to see how the girl would react to a talking cat partaking in her lunch.

He strained towards the piece of turkey and took another bite, keeping it pressed between his two front paws.

ft. danica tem'naka

quirk: e-rank cat physiology, invisibility, floating; f-rank agility, breaking-and-entering

ooc notes

WHEN THE GIRL SPUTTERED in surprise, the cat reflexively jumped back slightly, arching their back. Coughing was a sudden surge of sound and motion, coughing could mean an attack, so it was best to cautious. It was best to be ready to run away at the soonest convenience. As the girl checked her pulse, eyes locked on the cat, the cat remained frozen, back still arched, spring-green eyes roving this way and that.

She then… went back to eating. Pretending she hadn’t heard anything? Proceed as normal? Kuro eased out of his tensed stance, and cautiously resumed his prim, seated position once again.



Wow, a quick recovery!

“Yes,” Kuro said simply, his tail swishing, “Dogs slobber and bark and chase you. And dry food is just gross. Horrible stuff.”

Kuro had closed his eyes as he made these proclamations, speaking plainly. But he opened one eye ever-so-coyly as he remarked, “The turkey from your sandwich is very good, though.”

Give a cat a piece of turkey, and he’d surely ask for more.

Whether or not his “subtle” remark was effective, the cat would rise off of his haunches to inspect the girl’s book once again. Now that the ruse was up, he would satiate his curiosity further—

“So— what are you reading? Is this for fun? Or for school?”

ft. danica

quirk: e-rank cat physiology, invisibility, floating; f-rank agility, breaking-and-entering

ooc notes