Curiousity is the Cat (Alea, Open)

[Krivak]

Timestamp: Winter 34, 511 AV Time: Around the 16th Bell Location: The Menagerie Who: Alea, Open Krivak was resting near a shop fence in the Menagerie. He was slightly annoyed today, but was too comfortable to alleviate the situation. He had been minding his own business, foraging around the Menagerie looking for a tasty snack, when he felt something bat his tail. He looked back over his shoulder and saw nothing. He figured it must have been the wind, so he kept foraging. Then he felt something bat at it twice. He stopped in his tracks, let out a deep huff, and turned around to see... absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. He turned back the way he had been to see tiny creature on the ground looking up at him with large, adorable eyes. It was a cat. A large, fluffy, all white cat. The cat let out a little mew and walked toward Krivak. It rubbed itself against his leg, circling it like its larger counterpart would an injured animal. And then it saw the string. The string hung from his pack, which he kept slung around his neck. It wasn't a particularly noticeable string, not especially long, or colorful. But this cat just went crazy on it. It began batting at it ferociously as if it were its mortal enemy. It hopped around the string batting at it, and occasionally biting at it. Krivak was so confused by this, and to get it to stop he wandered over to the nearest fence and laid down. Now the cat could bat neither string nor tail. It would probably leave him alone now. Or it would jump up onto his neck and lay down, getting comfortable in his fur. Which it did. Krivak stood up and tried to shake it off, but the cat dug its claws in and rode it out. Krivak let out a warning bellow, but the cat just snuggled up as if it owned Krivak. With a frustrated snort, Krivak let the cat be, sleeping upon his neck, as he wandered around the Menagerie, once more looking for a meal.

[Alea Davenport]

It had been quite some time since Alea had been to the Menagerie. Her errand today was to attempt to find the merchant from whom she'd bought her horse. She was not at all convinced the man had been sufficiently forthcoming regarding the Gilding's temperament. Unfortunately, she didn't remember whom she'd bought the horse from, since she'd been rather distracted at the time from the novelty of her adventure.

She was about to give up when she was distracted by the sight of the second-biggest animal she'd ever seen. She must have been getting used to seeing strange things, because this time her mind didn't even get through all the ways he could kill her before she started noticing other things. Like the cat sleeping on his neck, reminding her very much of the relationship her own pet cat shared with her horse.

She was about to walk past the yak and continue about her business when he suddenly gave an extremely loud bellow! Alea flinched and looked around, staring at the source of the noise, getting ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. Thoughts of goring and trampling once more flew through her head, but she had the presence of mind to hope that at least the Menagerie in broad daylight was safe from that sort of thing.

The yak soon calmed down, and Alea was reassured by the fact that the cat was unfazed, but she kept her eyes on the pair just in case. She did not move until the yak wandered away, but then her curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to follow it, all but forgetting her previous errand.

[Krivak]

Krivak was surprised at the stubbornness of the white terror that had taken up residence on his neck. Moments ago he had what he thought was a brilliant idea. He saw some needle filled branches ahead, just slightly above his shoulders. So he made a brisk trot toward them, and made sure the branches would catch on his horns. As he moved forward, the branches bent back until taut. With a swish, the branches snapped over his back. And struck absolutely nothing. The cat had a moment before moved and settled upon his hind quarters. The cat wasn't even fazed by the flying branch. Krivak grunted in disbelief and made his way back toward the stables, he knew that someone there would love to take care of the cat. The cat had moved back up to his neck and was now fumbling with something back there. Krivak let loose a low warning moan. Again, the cat ignored him and kept at it. Then the leather strap that made up the necklace that held Allana's bracer gave way. The bracer fell to the snow below, the leather strap was now in the cat's mouth. It jumped down off of Krivak and bolted away. Krivak was furious and quickly dipped his head down low, and hooked one of his horns inside the bracer, and raised his head. The bracer slid down and locked in place, while Krivak took chase. The cat ran toward a building that Krivak wasn't familiar with, and dove through a hole beneath the foundation. Krivak ran quickly over to the building, and circled it. He saw no head nor tail of the blasted cat, so he assumed it was still beneath the building. He walked back over to the hole and tried to peer inside, but could make out nothing but darkness. He knelt down, and stuck his snout under the house, and snorted out trying to stir anything in the inky blackness. Mew. He heard the sound from a much small source than the bandit who stole the strap. It was quickly followed by several more, similar in size and timbre. Then one little paw was set upon his snout. In that moment, he knew he was making too big of a deal over a little strap. So he backed out of the hole, and was about to turn away when he heard a mew once more. He looked down and saw a kitten that was an exact copy of the adult that had plagued him earlier, albeit a tinier version. The kitten looked up at Krivak with large, glowing eyes and began to purr. Krivak laid down upon his furred belly, and the kitten wandered over and nestled itself in his dreaded locks. Shortly after, it was joined by six more copies of itself, and the mother, strap in tow, all settling in with his warmth.

[Alea Davenport]

Alea followed the Yak until it reached the building but she stayed back while it tried and failed to deal with its passenger. As entertaining as the spectacle was, she had no desire to get in the path of something that might trample her with the slightest provocation.

Nevertheless, Alea couldn't help but giggle a bit at the Yak's dilemma. She was reminded of how much her own cat was a troublemaker. But then of course they would just look at you with their adorable little faces and you couldn't help but forgive them.

However cute kittens might be, Alea had no intention of getting involved with something that large nearby. Watching from a distance was only entertaining for a few moments, and she soon decided she had better things to do, and began walking away.

[Krivak]

As Krivak settled in to what was fated to be an annoying rest, he heard one more mew. One from underneath the building. Another kitten popped its head out, and this on was jet black. It wandered up to the helpless yak, hopped into the pile of felines, and snatched the string to Allana's bracer. It then fled the now stirred up group toward the unseen woman. As it floundered through the snow toward the woman, Krivak was gingerly trying to get up so as to not hurt the remaining cats. He watched as the kitten darted toward the woman. It looked as if it were going to run up her back to her shoulder. Was that kitten one of hers? It didn't look like the others? Were they trying to steal the necklace string? All this thinking began to upset Krivak and he started trotting toward the woman. The kitten had dropped the string, which somehow entangled itself with the woman's shoes. Krivak let loose a warning bellow at the woman and that devilish black cat.

[Alea Davenport]

Alea suddenly felt a small wight climbing up her back. She was only spared the pinpricks of kitten claws by the many layers of clothing she wore, but in a few moments, the little black kitten had made its way to her shoulder and was getting its hair in her face. She giggled, unable to resist the adorable kitten no matter how obnoxious it became. Her attention to the cat was so focused that she failed to notice the bit of string that had become tangled in her shoe.

The Yak's bellow made Alea freeze, then turn around slowly. She wondered again whether the beast was really safe to be around. She started moving slowly to the side, edging closer to a nearby stand of trees that might give her an advantage if the Yak decided to charge. She didn't realize that the string was still attached to her boot, and was being dragged with her.

[Krivak]

Krivak watched as his prey was startled by his loud warning. He wasn't going to hurt her, he just wanted to scare her long enough to get his necklace string back. So he would charge toward her, fast enough so she couldn't escape into the trees, slow enough to be able to stop before crashing into her or the tree. He stamped his feet, and lurched forward, snow kicking up behind him, a loud, dangerous bellow filling the air. Krivak lowered his head threateningly, but kept an eye on the female. Right before he came upon her, he would skid to a stop, and bellow loudly in her face. If she stayed still, he would take his string back, and try to repair the necklace somehow. If the female could read, she would see that the bracer locked around his horn would say either Krivak or Allana, depending on which side she saw.

[Alea Davenport]

Alea kept her eyes on the yak, but as soon as he started charging, she turned and ran as fast as she could into the trees, her feet sinking through several inches of snow before meeting the unyielding frozen ground. She knew she had pretty much no hope of out-running the yak, but that didn't stop her from trying. The string that Alea was still unaware of clung to her boot for a few steps, but soon was dislodged by the snow.

Running in snow was difficult, however, and when the charging yak got too close, Alea tripped and fell. She braced herself to be trampled, but instead of committing any number of gruesome murders, the yak stopped a few feet away, and simply bellowed loud enough to make her ears ring. While she was recovering her composure, Alea noticed a bracer dangling from one of the sharp, pointy horns that she couldn't avoid looking at. "Allana," she muttered, reading it aloud. "Is that your name?" It seemed like a female name, but Alea hardly knew how to tell the difference between a male and female yak, so for all she knew, Allana was a perfectly reasonable name.

Either the yak now seemed much less frightening, or Alea had another of her frequent lapses of sanity, but either way, she took her eyes of the yak's horn and watched what he was doing. He seemed to be trying to pick up a string that had fallen on the ground somehow. The bracer fell off his horn onto the ground, and... it looked like he was trying to thread the string through the bracer, but the attempt was laughable. No, really, Alea had to stifle a giggle. The comedic effect put Alea more at ease, and she felt compelled to help the poor guy out, since she suspected by this point that he was no ordinary yak.

"Here, let me help you with that," she said quietly with a smile, and she slowly moved her hands toward the bracer and string, giving the yak plenty of time to warn her off. If he did not object, she would go ahead and thread the string through the bracer and tie it around the yak's neck. While she did this, she would notice the other name on the bracer, "Krivak." "Allana Krivak," she said smiling, "what a lovely name."

[Warden]

-Alea Davenport- Skill Points: Tracking 1 Running 1 Lore: The Terror of Mischievous Kittens Being Charged Notes: This thread reminds me of this from Looney Tunes. Adorable.