filleauloup | Abandoned Warehouse District, Saturday Evening

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Abandoned Warehouse District, Saturday Evening

There were easier ways to go about acquiring a pet, really, but for one thing, Éponine would feel much better about not hearing the litter of stray kittens mewling pitifully every night outside her window. For another, she'd been raised to understand that if you could get something without having to pay for it, you avoided having to pay for it, and she still saw nothing wrong with that approach to life. She also found the idea of rescuing small animals from the streets vaguely appealing in some way that she couldn't articulate.

Having rounded up a crate lined with a towel, a can of tuna, and a flashlight, and then spent most of the afternoon prowling around her section of the warehouse district to determine where the cat and her kittens were, she was ready to put her plan into motion.

It really did seem like an excessive amount of work and planning to do to acquire a pet, but she suspected it might be worth it. Besides, as far as laying extensive plans to accomplish something went, this wasn't even close to being her most elaborate.

[OOC: For the cat-rescuing accomplice!]

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Kenzi had oven mitts in hand. Yeah, she was ready. "I could swear they were louder over this way," she muttered quietly, stopping to listen at the bottom of a fire escape. "Sneaky little devils."

"They're clever little bastards, all right, with their silent little feet," agreed Éponine in a low voice. "But I've been listening to them for days, and they like coming back 'round to this spot after sundown. It's still warm, you see? From the afternoon sun. I took care to leave a bit of food out for them earlier, and perhaps they'll be full enough to be sleepy."

Éponine did not do plans halfway.

"Very clever plan," Kenzi approved. "Cats are fast but if you left enough food, yeah, they'll show up." She cocked her head, listening again, one hand gripping a squeezy-bottle of water. "I think it's getting louder?"

"Of course they'll show up, if they're hungry and there's food," Éponine agreed with a touch of a wry smirk. "And fight over it, likely as not, but they're too small to do much damage yet, I should hope."

She gestured toward an alley between two warehouses, that took a left-hand turn about thirty feet down. "There. It opens up into a tiny bit of space, only it's a dead end, and it's a good place to hide. I'm certain that's where they ought to be."

"Maybe we should hide?" Kenzi looked considering, and pointed up to the top of cargo container. "Up there, maybe?"

"I don't see why not, so long as we're not too high up that we'll miss them if they go by," agreed Éponine; not about to be outdone by a cat in silent movement, she'd foregone shoes herself. "One of us ought to make sure to stay where they can't slip past us, anyhow. Block the alley off."

She paused, an uncomfortable expression crossing her face for a brief moment, but she shook her head as if to brush it off.

"Look, see, I'll leave the crate out here, and creep in to leave them some more food. That ought to get their attention, and distract them a bit besides."

"Gotcha." Kenzi was wearing her rubber-soled socks, perfect for sneakiness. "Want me to play blocker? I do have the armor for it."

Éponine smothered a snicker behind her hand. "Let's hope you won't have to rely on it to avoid those claws, hmm? Best not let them catch you unaware, then."

"Nope!" Kenzi wagged the oven-mitts, and grinned, climbing on top of a nearby dumpster and settling in to wait. "Mama cat may go for the eyes, you know?"

"Well, that's for certain! After all, wouldn't you, if you were in her place?" Éponine carefully arranged the crate to block off as much of the alley entrance as she could, then piled up a few more crates and boxes for good measure, swearing to herself under her breath the whole time. "All right, then, shall we see how this goes?"

Opening the can of tuna (pop-top cans were one of her favorite things about the 21st century) and pocketing her flashlight, she slipped into the shadows and disappeared into the alley.

She reappeared shortly afterward, brushing her hands off on the front of her skirt and looking satisfied. "They're there, all right, and eating now. I suppose we ought to wait a bit. It would be rude not to let them finish their meal."

Random moments of practicality in unexpected situations were a trademark of hers.

"Plus, they're much less likely to attack us. Maybe they'll even fall asleep?" Kenzi looked hopeful. "Did you get a look at how many there are?"

"Three, perhaps four, but no more than that, for certain," Éponine answered. "Mind you, I'm not taking them all on, even if they are pretty little things."

"Naaaah. You take one, I maybe take one, the rest go to the shelter and other people," Kenzi agreed. "We can take the bus out to the Shelter. At least, they should be open late enough to do that..."

"Well . . . it won't hurt too much to look after them for one night if I have to," Éponine conceded, though her tone of voice indicated that she'd much rather not. (Because then she'd be tempted to keep them all, but she wasn't saying that.)

She crept a few feet further into the alley to listen, then nodded. "Yes, I think they might be done now -- shall we go have a look?"

Kenzi gave a very quiet eee! of delight, and tip-toed down the alley, past the blockade Éponine had constructed.

Peering over a trash-can, she could see the box, with an ash-gray mama cat, and four kittens of various sizes and colors, sniffing at the now-empty can of catfood. "Lookit them! So littttle!"

Edited 2013-06-23 03:16 (UTC)

One of the kittens had definitely caught Éponine's eye. She kept tiptoeing toward the cats, stopping to ask out of the corner of her mouth, "They are tiny, aren't they? Now, d'you think we ought to grab them all quick? Can we do it in one go?"

"Maybe pick up the box?" Kenzi offered, then reconsidered. She pulled on her mitts. "I'll grab the box. You grab any escapees. Aaaand... We'll figure out something when we get to your place!"

Éponine nodded and gestured silently to say You lead the way, then.

. . . she was starting to get really fixated on that one particular kitten.

"It's all right, dearies," she said half under her breath, humming as if it would keep them calm.

Kenzi hummed along. Well, sort of. "Don't worry, kitties, no problems, it's all good..."

Mama Cat was not thrilled with this. And did try to scratch Kenzi's arm. Then got a claw stuck in one of the oven mitts.

"Aww, man." The babies were just circling, though, and staying within range, so Kenzi lifted the box. "Can you get her loose from that?"

It couldn't, Éponine reasoned, be all that different from lifting someone's money-pouch in the middle of a crowded street, so she darted in and made a quick grab for the cat with both hands.

Which was a bit more like trying to lift someone's stolen money-pouch off Montparnasse, as it turned out, since she got clawed once or twice for her trouble. "There's no call for that! I'm only trying to help you get loose!"

Technically.

"No no kitties," Kenzi coaxed the babies. "No jumping outta the box, thaaat's it, oh, hey, Mom, stop it, she's trying to -- okay, she's got loose. She's fine." And was now yowling, even if she wasn't jumping out of the box. "Yeesh. You okay?"

"As if a scratch like this is something to worry about," Éponine scoffed, hugging the squirming, protesting cat closer in the hopes that it would calm down. (Her cat-handling techniques hadn't improved much since she was eight years old. Effective, but not very considerate.)

"Oh, for God's sake --" She glared down at the cat, who was trying to kick at her with both back paws. "Back to my place, quickly now, before she tries to rip me to shreds."

"C'mon, kitties, somewhere warmer, somewhere with more food..." Kenzi snickered. The cat-smushing-with-affection-control-technique was pretty amusing. "I'll let you keep the pot holders, hunh?"

"What on earth for?" Éponine asked, laughing, as she picked up speed. "As if I cook!"

It took some maneuvering to get the door open without letting go of the cat (good thing she wasn't in the habit of locking it, for once), but she managed.

"Good lord, wasn't that a job."

"You would think they'd never heard of moving house." Kenzi grinned, looking around with interest. The wide open space wasn't bad at all; she'd seen a lot worse. It looked clean, at least, and some of the windows were open. "Hmm. Where's a good place to put them down?" She beamed down at them. "So tiny and fuzzy!" She coughed. "I mean... they're pretty cute."

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