Just A Normal Day, Yup [Seiji]

[Snow]

Ryuu preened. "I nyam a boy," he purred, "anyd nya can call me Ryuu." Ryuu himself barked out a cat-laugh at the question. "Nyah, nyat a magic cat. Just an intyelligent one." Technically, he wasn't lying. He wasn't a magic cat, he was a Forestkin.

He loved loopholes. So, so much.

"So," Ryuu rumbled, "why are nya a thief? Why nyat get a job?"

[Midna]

Seiji nodded slowly. Good, he'd been right. "Ryuu..." he said the name slowly, testing it. "Nice." He felt a little embarrassed at having asked if Ryuu was magic, but, well, the cat was talking! At least he seemed to be telling the truth. Weren't cats supposed to be tricksters? Maybe that was just the Ariss...

He thought about Ryuu's question. Then he frowned. His turn to be truthful. "Well... Part of it is that I was raised by a former thief. I don't have any job experience, and I don't like being stuck in one place either." Plus, he wasn't too fond of people either, but he didn't feel like telling that. "I know how to be a good thief, so I am. That's all I know."

[Snow]

Ryuu shrugged. "Nyall right then. Whatever floats nyar boat, Ice-brain." Stretching, Ryuu hopped down from the trash can and settled down between the Skrit's feet, purring. Rubbing his cheek along the Skrit's clothing, he made sure the other neighborhood cats would know that this one was his and to stay away.

He hoped anything else with a sense of smell would also stay away, too. Not many creatures wanted to mess with a Healer, not when it meant the judgement of every other thing.

[Midna]

Seiji frowned at the nickname. "It's Seiji..." he said half-heartedly. As far as nicknames went, it wasn't too bad. He could tolerate it.

When Ryuu started to nuzzle up against him, he reached down to scratch behind the talking kitty's ears. It looked like he now had a talking cat. One who might be staying with him for a while. Speaking of staying, where would they go now?

"Hey," he asked, "Do you know a place where we could stay? I don't think we'll be able to go back there." It was getting late too. The sun had mostly set, and he was worried about Ryuu getting too cold.

[Snow]

Ryuu slipped deftly beneath the hand, arching his back into it only briefly. "Course I dyo, there an abandyoned house somewhere 'round here" The cat shrugged, smirking. "Good condyition, if I heard right. Nyat exactly sure where, of course. I'm nyat nyormally in this part of Sirrus."

Ryuu pressed against the Skrit one last time before trotting in the general direction of the abandoned place. He made sure the Skrit was following, of course. They were actually near Rack's alley, which was the only reason Ryuu knew of the place at all. Rack had told him about it before, and it was helpful that he had.

[Midna]

An abandoned house. Good, maybe they could stay there for a while. A quick smile flitted across his face before vanishing. "Great. We can probably find it." He gave Ryuu one last pet before following him. He hadn't really been in this part of the city before except for a couple of food trips. The people here weren't that rich so he didn't take from them much.

As they went, one house caught his attention. It was a nice house, but the paint was peeling a little bit and the front lawn looked overgrown. Seiji squinted at it through the dark. It didn't look like anyone had been there in ages. "I think I found it. Behind the next house to our left. It looks abandoned." He quieted his footsteps as they neared it. "I hope nobody else decided to move in..."

[Snow]

Ryuu sniffed the air. Unable to find any scent besides their own (and the rats'), Ryuu opted to leap lightly onto the fence and pad towards the entrance. "Nyat to worry," he mewed cheerfully, "I can'yt smell anything suspicious." Leaping onto a windowsill (which creaked under his weight, not a good sign when he only weighed about 2 or 3 pounds in this form), he edged it up with his claws and slipped inside, heading for the door that he was pretty sure was locked. Then he hesitated. The being was a Skrit, surely he could follow Ryuu through the window?

Deciding to unlock the door anyway, he hoped up onto a counter and pushed the deadbolt into the unlocked position. He found a key in the keyhole and pressed against that until there was a loud, satisfying thump as the lock slid back into the door.

"All clear," he purred, trotting off to investigate the rest of the house. He found some dusty jars of something in the kitchen, some furniture, and there was two or three bedrooms. One bedroom was downstairs while the others were upstairs. The stairs creaked under Ryuu's paws, and he backed down instantly. He was not going up there.

[Midna]

Seiji didn't follow Ryuu through the window because of both its creaking and the bag he was carrying. Instead he waited for the cat to unlock the door. Then he headed inside, scrutinizing the house as he went. The boards were weak on the stairs and the windows, but there was no water damage on the ceiling of the first floor, so he hoped the roof was good. Almost everything had dust on it, and he could see some rat droppings in corners. "Do you eat rats by any chance?"

He continued to search the house, speaking aloud so Ryuu would know what he was finding. The bedroom downstairs had a bed that was big enough for two people and would definitely fit a human and a cat. The kitchen had a working refrigerator and a freezer, which would be good for the meat. The sink worked. He didn't check to see if the oven worked but it looked like the fireplace would. There was a dusty couch and a dusty table with three dusty chairs. There were a few lights too, and while one had a burnt out lightbulb, the others worked fine. The windows had curtains so he closed them. There was a small downstairs bathroom and everything worked in there, which was a relief.

He set his bag on the table. "I'm going to go have a look upstairs. Anything you need?"

[Snow]

"Those stairs aren'ynt going to hold nyar weight," Ryuu warned. "Barely holds myine." Of course Ryuu ate rats, when he could catch them and make sure they weren't going to give him some awful disease. Ryuu moved to the bedroom and, in a fit of boredom, decided to revert back to his normal form.

His normal form was a mix of cat and human, and he flopped onto the human-sized bed with a smug smirk. Except he was far smaller than a human and couldn't reach both ends at the same time. His white-tipped tail flicked smugly, and his eyes twinkled with mischief.

He wasn't a magic cat.

He was a magic Forestkin.

[Midna]

"They don't need to," he said back. "Skrit, remember?" He transformed, increasing his ice-scent, and vanished up the stairs. He totally missed Ryuu transforming.

Upstairs, he found two more bedrooms. Both looked like they hadn't been slept in even longer than the bedroom downstairs. One was more of a guest room, but the other looked like it had been a kid's room once upon a time, maybe a teen's room once they grew up. There were two more bathrooms upstairs, and nothing worked in them except a working sink. The last room was an attic. In there, Seiji found miscellaneous toys and furniture for a growing kid and a few discarded piece of furniture. There was a trunk covered in cobwebs, but he decided to check it out later. He made himself a little bigger and walked around the floor a little bit. It creaked way too much for comfort. Okay, he'd have to only come up here in his true form.

He flew downstairs and changed back as soon as he was on the floor again. "Okay. Nothing much up there." He looked around, not seeing Ryuu. "Ryuu?" He checked the bathroom first, then the kitchen. Then he wandered into the bedroom. "Ry-?" He stopped, staring at the boy with a tail and cat ears. What. He opened his mouth, then closed it as he saw the similarities between the boy and his cat. "Ryuu?? What the hell?" He wasn't upset, just very confused.

[Snow]

Ryuu grinned, sharp fangs glinting. "Well," he said lightly, "you asked me if I was a magic cat, not what I was. It's not my fault you forgot to ask~" The boy shrugged. "Of course, I can always just stay in my cat form, if this makes you uncomfortable." Or I could leave, he added silently.

He hoped he didn't have to leave. He actually liked this one, and he wouldn't mind being "owned" if it meant he got to stay with the thief. After all, being a pretty pet was what most races thought was a Forestkin's job.

He really, really hoped he wouldn't be thrown out again, whether figuratively or literally.

[Midna]

Seiji shut his mouth and thought. So Ryuu was a cat. And a boy. He hadn't even considered that Ryuu was a Forestkin when he'd been a cat and talked. Forestkin could do that usually. "True, I didn't..." he admitted. Would it be so bad if Ryuu stayed? He liked the cat, so the boy couldn't be too bad. And it would be nice to have a friend. "No, you can be a boy too. That's fine. I'm not uncomfortable." He was answering the questions as he thought.

He knew the things people usually thought about Forestkin. That they were worthless, untrustworthy, horrible. Seiji didn't think so. People usually thought the same thing about him, so he'd be a hypocrite to look down on Ryuu because of what he was. He also had a soft spot for Ryuu, and he told his brain to shut up after he realized that.

Of course, he thought of the most important things first. "Tell me what you like eating so I can pick some up for you. Also, are you nocturnal or something? Because I sleep at night usually."

[Snow]

Ryuu let out a mental sigh of relief. He'd hoped he wouldn't have to leave. "I basically eat anything," Ryuu mused. "As long as it's not green, I'll eat it. I don't really have a set time for being awake. Most Forestkin are nocturnal, but I'm just up whenever. Usually between noon and 10 PM. You can always wake me up earlier if you need or want to."

Being a Forestkin, the boy shared traits with cats. He needed at least 12 hours of sleep every day, for starters, or he'd start getting grumpy. Ryuu rolled over onto his stomach and curled up much in the way he did when he was a cat, though he looked much more awake than he had before.

"So?" he asked. "What's the plan? How are we gonna steal things?" A sudden thought occurred to him. "Usually if I show up at an outside table, the rich snotty citizens move inside complaining that there's a flea-ridden cat, which is quite the insult because I most certainly do not have fleas. They usually leave their food behind. There should be a space of a few minutes to grab everything and leave, if you're quick and careful. And I'll be right behind."

[Midna]

"Good. That'll work." Seiji gave him a smile, not that he'd see it. This would be interesting. He hadn't lived with anyone since Koda, and Ryuu hadn't raised him. Hopefully he and Ryuu would get along.

His eyebrows rose when Ryuu asked how they would steal things. "You're coming with me?" he asked, interest and a little bit of excitement in his voice. "It's a good idea, if you want to do it. You don't have to steal with me if you don't want to. I need to grab more tomorrow or the day after that." He looked out a window at the pitch black sky. "Not tonight though. I'm tired and you probably are too."

[Snow]

Ryuu shrugged. "I've stolen before. I've walked up to people and blatantly jumped up onto their table and taken their plate. Not like this is too different." Ryuu grinned. "It's not even 8 yet. You can't be that tired yet." Flopping onto his back, he took up as much room as he could, which was not a lot because he was very short.