!!! [interlude]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan carefully wipes the mud from her boots before coming in from her morning archery practice. It's not warm out, but it's wet, and she's got rather mucked up whilst retrieving arrows. Her first stop is to deposit her dirty clothes in the hamper in her closet - which has seemed to expand even further since Lancelot moved in - to be washed immediately after she washes herself. Before she can shower, though, she must first wipe the arrows down, and then her bow. Then, to stay on the safe side, she sets about unstringing the bow so she can hang it and her coil of string with her other bows.

When she goes to start coiling the string, however, there's a tug on the other end. She frowns and kneels down. There's a flash of color, and then a flare of pain. She stares at her hand and the scratch across the back of it, and then at the culprit.

"Oh, aren't you a beauty," she breathes, reaching out to the Siamese cat tucked away between Lancelot's shoes. "Wherever did you come from?"

It takes her a good ten minutes to coax the cat out, and another ten to coax it into her arms. It's a girl, and not a kitten, though she does have a whiff of kittenhood still about her. "Do you belong to anyone?" Susan asks, but the cat isn't a Talking Beast, and doesn't answer.

Right. The first order of business shall be getting the cat some food. The second order of business shall be inventorying the residents to see if anyone has lost a cat she somehow hadn't caught wind of. She's nearly out the door when she realizes she's largely nude and still covered in streaks of mud, and carefully eases the cat onto the bed, instead. her actual first order of business ought to be washing quickly and getting dressed again. Then onto the rest of it.


Typist note: This is technically being posted as an interlude, given that Enjolras is doing an open post on the same topic at the same time, but if anyone wants to thread meeting Susan's new cat, I am MORE than happy to... I just don't want to overwhelm anyone!

Comments

[mothwingofriverclan]

Mothwing catches Susan on her way back to her room with kittypet food, and trots up to say hello. She stops short when she catches a different scent--yet another she-cat!

"Susan!" she calls in greeting. "That's not for me, is it? Have you met another cat lately?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, Mothwing, hello," says Susan, warmly. "I have! I found one in my closet just twenty minutes ago. Would you like to come meet her? I'm trying to sort out if she ought to be with someone else."

[mothwingofriverclan]

"Yes, please! I can talk to her for you, if you like." Mothwing's tail swishes with excitement. "Assuming she can't talk to you?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"She cannot," Susan confirms, starting to walk toward her room, maintaining a pace Mothwing be easily able to keep up with. "I'd be ever so grateful if you'd translate."

[mothwingofriverclan]

"I'm happy to. Do you know, Enjolras also found a cat?" Mothwing sits down and waits for Susan to open the door.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"No. Truly?" What an insufferable man!

[mothwingofriverclan]

Mothwing's ears go back temporarily in skepticism. "I mean, I'm glad about it," she meows. "I was lonely for a while there."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I'm pleased for you," says Susan, immediately. This much at least is true. "That there are more cats here now, I mean."

[mothwingofriverclan]

"You don't like Enjolras?" This is an interesting piece of gossip.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan grimaces. "I'm sure he's fine," she says, doubtfully.

[mothwingofriverclan]

"I'll keep in touch with Charlotte the cat and make sure she's not being mistreated," Mothwing meows.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I can't imagine he'd treat this Charlotte poorly," Susan hastens to say. "After all, it's not like she's a human woman." They're at her door now, and she opens it carefully.

[mothwingofriverclan]

"Still, present company aside, twolegs are not known for listening to their cats!" Mothwing meows, trotting inside. She can smell the new cat right away, and see her too, where she's perched on the bed.

Mothwing's heart skips a beat, because this cat looks like she could be an apprentice-aged version of her own mother. She wonders for a moment if it really is, time and space being what they are in this place, but on closer inspection, she's not Sasha, just a young she-cat with the same pelt coloring. Mothwing's not sure if she's relieved or disappointed.

"Hello," she calls out. "I'm Mothwing."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot is returning to the room after a fairly packed day -- his usual morning routine, and the rare lunch without Susan as he was working on getting a few other things together for his session with Magnus in the afternoon. It's on toward evening, and he's missed not seeing her since this morning.

He comes into the room, removing his cloak as he does so, looking a little flushed and pleasantly tired. As he often does, he calls to her as he's getting his boots and swordbelt off and put away, having not really glanced around for her. "Susan? Sweet, art thou here?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I'm here," Susan calls. She's kneeling on the floor behind the desk, becoming acquainted with how the cat likes to chase a string that isn't meant for bows. "Sweetheart, it seems we've got a visitor."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He turns, finally spots her, and crosses the room. "A visitor?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Yes," says Susan, trying to tug the string loose from the cat's claws. "I found her in our closet."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot comes to stand behind her, where he can finally see the cat.

"Oh," in mild surprise, "look at that."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"She's awfully cute, isn't she?" Susan asks, looking up at him.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Yes, she's lovely. I wonder where she came from."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Obviously Susan has done her due diligence in background checks. "Mothwing says she doesn't know how she got here or anyone else here," she says.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I see." He crouches beside her, and offers the back of his hand to the cat to sniff.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

The cat pulls her head back and then stretches it forward again, sniffing carefully. She then headbutts Lancelot's hand.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"There's good," he says, voice very soft. He doesn't move much, but he does give the top of her head a gentle skritch.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

The cat presses her head into the touch, and then startles at a noise only she can hear, darting under the bed.

Susan rises, dusting herself off. "I don't know what to do with her," she says.