[Kiel]

((Continued from In Between Days.))

Kiel still couldn't get his head around Nic's idea of a dream job, but, like, it kinda figured since they were from two totally different worlds, you know? Live and let live, and all that.

“Come on, come on!” Kiel was probably more excited than Nic was at the prospect of seeing his kitty-kin. He hadn't seen her since he left the house that morning, so he missed her, he missed her! It made him wanna ditch work to stay and play, and he even spent the whole trip back to his house arguing with himself even though he'd never actually play hooky. He needed the money for one, but his work ethic was just too drilled into him for him to skip a day.

Except, like, if he got really really sick.

“Shane, Shane, I'm home, I'm home!” His yell was met with the rapid thudding of graceful feet riding down the stairs like a herd of elephants, and then suddenly he had an oversized gray cat where his face had been. “Fwahahafhfahfafh!” His giggles were muffled by the furry belly pressed to his head as he hugged her close. It was only when she pounced away from him to attack Nic's shoes in greeting that he realised he was flat on his back. “Hahaha, hi to you too, man. Hahaha, say hi, say hi!” Rolling onto his hands and knees, Kiel hopped upright, grinning like an idiot as Shane abandoned Nic's feet in favour of winding herself around and through Kiel's legs, turning her face up for a chin-scratch.

“Awww, you're so cute, you're so cute. I gotta get ready for work, though, okay? Keep Nic company. Play, play!” Totally understanding every word he said - he'd swear to it! - Shane pounced back toward Nic as Kiel extracted himself and headed up the stairs. “Help yourself to food, man, okay?” Like, even though they just ate, 'cause in Kiel's word twenty minutes was, like, forever, man.

((I hope you don't mind me time-skipping again? I'll edit if you want to RP the trip home, though. ))

[Nicolay]

Nicolay missed Shane! He greeted the gray cat with a happy smile and a “Shaaane!” as he pulled his pants up and crouched down to get closer to the creature's level and reached for the feline character, running his fingers through her fur before she turned away in favor of Kiel but he stayed where he was, resting his chin on overlapped hands as he watched the cat move around her owner with an interest he had never once had. He was told of how Therians were wont to do this when studying a form and since he was yet to have one, he thought he might do the same, watching her place her paw carefully on the floor, swish her tail, twist her body...

But how could he moved so perfectly like that?

“Awww, you're so cute, you're so cute. I gotta get ready for work, though, okay? Keep Nic company. Play, play!”

“Hey,” he called with a start when Nicolay realized something, still crouching as Shane returned to him and his fingers crawled through her back, again. He was looking up the stairs as he did this. “What time are you coming back? I have to go before it gets dark...” Which wasn't about to happen anytime soon, anyway, but who was going to watch over Shane while he was gone? Sure the kin could handle herself better than he ever could but the Therian didn't really like the idea of abandoning her when he was tasked to keep her in company. If there was one thing he learned in this world, it was that animals like Shane weren't simply animals, they're actually rational beings! They had feelings, too.

[Kiel]

Kiel paused halfway up the stairs to shake his head down at Nic. “It's okay, man. When you gotta leave, just lock up behind you and post the key, okay? Shane'll meet me outside with it when I get home.” 'Cause she could phase from shadow to shadow, she could pretty much walk through walls and stuff, and even in her feline form a key was no problem. How cool was that, man, for sers!

Well, like, maybe she'd have to change to monkey to put it in her mouth or something, but Kiel trusted her to figure it out. And if not, you know, he'd left a spare at Zeph's a while back. He wasn't sure the hairball even knew it was there, but he figured, you know... why not?

He giggled as he turned back to rush the rest of the way upstairs, though. Like, Shane was totally ignoring him in favour of squeezing her eyes shut and arching her spine into Nic's hand. She really acted like such a cat that even Kiel forgot sometimes she was more than that. But hey, she didn't seem to mind being fawned over like a household pet.

While Kiel got showered and changed, Shane butted her head into Nic's hand and rowred at him, plodding a front paw on his shoe and generally pestering him for more petting. When she got bored of that, she'd totally start pouncing on his shoes again.

[Nicolay]

Wow. That was one convenient pet.

“All right,” Nicolay said as he leaned a little too his side and watched Kiel disappear but Shane had purred for his attention and he looked back to her, smiling and obliging her for her need for attention. Such a needy being...

“Hey, let's go sit down there,” he said to her as soon as she took interest on his shoes and he stood up, careful to do it slowly lest the pins and needles overwhelm his legs and that would be something inconvenient to feel right now. Nicolay really didn't know how to spend the time in Kiel's house, though. He figured it would just be like babysitting or in this case, kin-sitting but Shane was a creature that hardly needed sitting. So it looked more like he was gatecrashing than anything else. It made him feel a little uncomfortable but as he had Kiel's invitation, he figured he should stop worrying.

Being alone in a strange house would be good for himself, too, he thought. A chance to just remove himself away from anything, a chance to focus on something that didn't really need focusing. A break, so to say -- it was something he thought he needed.

“I wish turning to animals were just as easy as you doing it,” he said with a sigh as he picked Shane up and placed her on his tummy, smoothing his hand on her back, again, as though he was determined to keep them her fur all straight and soft. “Why can't Therians work like that? Therians have to break bones, tear muscles...it's so hard to do and so painful, too.” He twitched his lips at the cat. “Life's unfair, isn't it?”

[Kiel]

“Pants, pants. Where are my pants?” Upending a pile of freshly laundered clothes, Kiel grabbed his favourite combats and a couple of t-shirts, then had a brief debate with said t-shirts over exactly how they qualified as work clothes, and also which hat they'd match.

Downstairs, Shane morphed into her monkey form to make it easier for Nic to pick her up. Kiel wasn't joking when he called her an oversized cat, 'cause not only were shadowkins larger than the average house cat but her tummy was also showing the tiniest hint of podge from all the food she shared with her Chosen. The only reason she wasn't bloated and immobile was from all the exercise she got from chasing him around town - but that was just something else they had in common.

“Ee eeh!” It was the closest she could come to actually speaking, but this was another reason she'd started using her monkey form more. She'd picked it up one day when she was window shopping with her Chosen and he stopped to make ape gestures at a couple of odd creatures through the glass. She could tell he liked them, and opposable thumbs made looking after her Chosen sooooo much easier. It helped alleviate the boredom while he was working, too.

Reaching up to pat Nic's cheek with a soft hand, she picked at his collar and his hair and bounced in his arms. She wanted to chase him around and pounce and do all the things she used to do with her mama but she got the feeling he needed a hug more than play time. She could always tell with her Chosen when it was a hug she needed, even without their bond, just 'cause he was an open book, but Nic was a bit tougher to read. Hug? You want hug? She nuzzled against his cheek, then pulled back and bounced again. Or play, play? Play?

[Nicolay]

A part of Nicolay thought it was amazing what kind of "trauma" the incident with the flying monkey left in him. He held his breath a little when Shane reformed herself into a simian and had to flinch, nearly shutting his eyes as he drew back a little when she reached to touch his cheek and his hair, worried that she might pull on either as his monkey was once wont to do. She was gray, though, and the previous one was not -- and she was gentle and held restraint the way the other didn't.

He forced a smile on his face that soon became natural when he reminded himself that this monkey was Shane and not...the other one as stroked through her fur, again. The nuzzling took him by surprise -- how could a pet that wasn't his so instantly become affectionate to him? -- but he didn't think much about it. Simply pressing a hand against her back to sort of hug her back.

When Shane started bouncing on his lap again, his eyes turned round and his face looked open. “You wanna play?” he asked, unaware of the kin's own mental questions. He simply thought it was obvious in Shane's body language that she wanted to have fun -- after all, a monkey she may be but a cat she always will be! And if there was anything cats enjoyed doing, it was always playing. “You wanna play catch or something?” He accommodated her like he would his youngest niece. Pulling himself to sit straighter, Nicolay looked around for anything he might use to entertain the kin.

How did Kiel normally do this, anyway?

[NPC]

Shane the Shadowkin played by Emma.

“You wanna play?”

Yes, yes, let's play, play! Shane bounced once more in Nic's arms before leaping away from him and morphing mid-flight into her feline form. She wasn't bound to the same rules as Therian shapeshifters, so she landed on all fours with her head low to the ground and her butt wiggling in the air, clearly ready to pounce and pounce good.

She could hear her Chosen moving around upstairs, the shower running, the thudding of his feet on the thin wooden floorboards. Normally, she'd be weaving between his legs so he'd have to hop and skip over her to get to the shower but instead she jumped at Nic's feet again. Play, play!

[Nicolay]

“All right, all right,” Nicolay laughed a little as he got to his feet, careful not to trip on Shane's excitable body as he walked around the living room, looking under the table, the stacks of magazine, inside the fruit bowl, through the data crystals...but he really couldn't find anything that could be used as a toy for the kin. Did she and Kiel not play catch often? Wasn't that like, the owner-and-pet's ultimate past time? Apparently not where the 'vari came from.

“Well this is helpful,” he muttered to himself in English as he stood in the middle of the space and gave it a last once over. Not a ball, not a sock, not a stick...

“Hey,” he called to the kin as he crouched again to descend to her eye level and leaned a little towards her. “You know this place better. Find me something that we can play with, hm?” How this was to happen, he didn't know but what the hell, right?

[NPC]

Shane was confused. Why was he looking for her when she was right here, right here?

He was playing hide and seek, right? That was one of her favourite games! But if she didn't hide, there wouldn't be much seeking involved.

Head tilted to watch him, more like a dog's than a cat's, Shane mewled softly. This game was boring, boring!

“You know this place better. Find me something that we can play with, hm?”

Ohhhhhhhhh, that made more sense! Yes, yes, she'd find him toys, toys. Where did her Chosen put the toys?

Batting at Nic's face with a paw, her claws sheathed ('cause she'd learned from playing with her Chosen that claws out meant bad things for him), Shane bounded over to a small unit set against the staircase where Kiel had hidden a couple of toys away in boxes that slid out. In the box, she mewed at Nicolay. Get it, get it! She made a good try at pulling it out by herself, but the box was too heavy with a stack of her Chosen's old comics at the far end and a couple of small training weights squeezed between those and Shane's toys. She didn't normally need to get them out herself because her Chosen always made sure she had plenty to keep her occupied while he was gone, and she always just picked up random things to play with while they were out (sticks, dead birds, corn that she'd accidentally smashed off the stalks, even a dashiri's broken collar one time that had been too heavy for her to drag back to her Chosen so she'd played with it there in the field for a bit instead...) so she had to get her Chosen's friend to do it instead. In here, in here!

[Nicolay]

The paws had been more pats than anything and they were soft and light as anyone would expect of a cat but they had still been enough to push Nicolay back to fall back and drop to sit on the floor as Shane skittered away. He'd turned away in shock, shutting his eyes tight and crumpling his face and he...he...he--

“Ahchoo!” Nicolay sneezed, sniffled, then ran the back of his hand through his nose. That tickled. And he was supposed to learn how to shift into these things? Good luck on that! He sneezed twice more before his nose decided it was fine and he pushed himself up to his feet to follow the direction Shane had taken, scratching at his nose with his nails so that it looked a little red when he got to the kin and knelt beside her, again, one knee up, his arm on it as he found the box she had been indicating to him.

“In here?” he asked the cat-form as he placed a hand on the side that face him, and then soon stood up as he grunted, “Let's get this out, then.” He tugged his sleeves up, then with both his hands, began to pull the container out, making slow but steady progress. Goodness, what else was in this thing!

As the box revealed its contents to the world, Nicolay let out a breath and held his sides by his hands as with squinted eyes and slight heaving, he gazed at what he liked to think was the culprit behind his suffering. Why would anyone want to put weights beside a pile of comics? That was just inconvenient...

But at least the toys were out now.

[NPC]

Unaware that she was the reason Nicolay had sneezed, Shane had blithely ignored it. She was used to her Chosen making strange noises at random, so the sudden loudness didn't startle her and the noise wasn't interesting enough to draw her attention away from her efforts to get to her toys now that she knew Nicolay wanted them.

As soon as he had the box out and the lid off, Shane put one foot in it to bat at her favourite toy, the stuffed bird. Its googly eyes rolled as it moved and if she pressed on its belly it squeaked. She could sit for hours chewing on it, and the evidence was in the ragged holes where stuffing was leaking out. But that one was more for when she was alone than to share - not that Kiel minded the drool.

This one, this one! she chose instead, her butt wiggling again as she lowered her head to nose at a ball of yarn. There was proof of Kiel's own boredom sometimes at one end where he'd started braiding it for no reason at all, and some of the length was more chewed up than others, but it was bright red and fuzzy and she loved trying to catch the colourfully painted wooden fish her Chosen had dangled at one end. Play with this one!

[Nicolay]

He read her gestures, so Nicolay picked the ball of yarn up and lifted it away from the rest of the pile, letting the fish dangle in-between his eyes as he looked at it. She liked to play with this thing? Well, he really didn't understand how to play catch with it--

Unless, of course, one wasn't supposed to! How silly. He should have read it from the length alone.

It looked more like a baby's chandelier to him than anything else, however. “But how do you play with this?” he asked more to himself than Shane as he looked back to the rest of her toys and began sorting through them, himself still holding the ball of yarn up so that the fish was at some distance away from the floor. There was this bird that the kin had just pretty much abused and he was curious to see it now...

“I wonder what else Kiel does to make you happy...” muttered again to himself.

[NPC]

Shane's eyes were fixed on the dangling fish but while it was so close to Nicolay's face she daren't try to pounce on it. She'd done that once when she first found her Chosen (or, actually a few times before she truly learned her lesson) and neither of them had enjoyed the results. Kiel's face and arms had been covered in scratches and she'd had to look at him like that every day until they healed. She'd felt awful... and then done it again a few weeks later, until she'd eventually learned better. You're meant to look after your Chosen, Shane, not scratch his eyes out, was what her mama would have said.

But oh, that dangling fish was so so tempting!

When he finally moved, distracted by the rest of her toys, Shane's gaze was still fixed on that painted wood. So as Nic rummaged around in her toy box, she sat up on her hind legs and batted at it with her front paws, unable to quite reach it but still utterly fixated. Fishy, fishy!

[Kiel]

Fastest shower ever, man.

His hair still wet and dripping onto the small towel wrapped around his neck, Kiel thudded halfway down the stairs dressed in his favourite combats, a short-sleeved white button-down shirt layered over long-sleeved red t-shirt that had a goofy-grinned yellow face on the front. His pockets were already bulging with necessities (like, you know, his COM, wallet, snacks, a pencil and the menu for his favourite take-out), but his feet were bare. Well, like, except for the jazzy blue socks keeping his toes warm.

Hearing Nic talking to himself, Kiel leaned over the banister, hanging low like he was prepared to jump over instead of walking the rest of the way nicely. “Hahahaha, you found it, you found it!” Grinning his excitement over Nic's having found Shane's toys, Kiel abandoned his leaning post to race the rest of the way down, hopping off the last step. “Awwww, but I gotta go, I gotta go.” He wanted to stay and play with the two of them, but, like, you know.

Patting at his hair with the towel, Kiel waggled his free hand towards Nic. “She likes if you bounce the fishy, man, and like, you can toss that bird around if you wanna see her nomming on it. Or, like, hey, hey, there should be a leather ball in there too, but she doesn't like playing catch all the time. You can try bouncing it off the wall if she won't straight-up catch it though, you know? Or bounce it, she likes pouncing on stuff. Like your feet, hahahahaha.”

[Nicolay]

His feet.

Nicolay hadn't really noticed that, deciding it probably was just something she tended to do on everyone but now that Kiel had mentioned it, she did have some strange fascination on his feet. Was it because he had Therian feet? Or maybe he simply wore the kind of shoes that Shane liked bouncing or pouncing on -- although what was so special about a pair of old ones, he didn't know. There was probably no rhyme or reason to that thought, though...

“I'll keep that in mind,” he said to Kiel with a quick smile and a nod before he turned to Shane and removed the fish from her attention by pulling it higher than she might probably reach -- or just to get to it, she would have to climb on his back. “Hey, Kiel's going. Say goodbye to him,” he ordered the kin as though she was Kiel's daughter.

[Kiel]

There was always this moment before he left the house where Shane either tried to cling to him so he'd take her with him or sulk and ignore that he was leaving - like, right up until he was at the door, when she'd throw herself at him and wind herself around his legs and knock him to the floor so she could hug his face off.

Somehow with Nic there he didn't think she'd bother today 'cause she'd have company while he was out, but then the dude told her to say goodbye and the next thing he knew he couldn't see his socks for all the fur.

“Hahahahahaha, awwwww, you're so cute, you're so cute!” he enthused as she attempted to climb up his legs - while still in feline form. Instead, he bobbed down and dragged her into a massive bear hug, squeezing his arms around her neck until her eyes bulged. They rough-housed for a minute or two, then, with her easily getting the upper hand and standing on his chest and belly like the proudly victorious predator she would have become if she hadn't been bonded to him.

And then he rolled them over so she was trapped under him and they tussled some more while he giggled and she purred. “Hahahahaha, wahahahaha, hahahaha!”

“Ah, you got me, you got me!” Their goodbyes over, he rolled away and brushed himself down, grinning from ear to ear. “You gotta show her who's boss, man, the boss, the boss!” he told Nic, still grinning, knowing the dude knew exactly who had just won their little scrap. “Okay, okay, where's my shoes, my shoes?”

Before he'd even finished saying it, flapping his hands and looking around himself helplessly like he didn't know exactly where they were, Shane was over by the coat hooks lined up at the bottom of the stairs where his boots were, nudging at his favourite pair with her cute little nose. “Dude, that's awesome, man, how'd you know where they were?!” It was another ritual and he'd swear she snickered at him, the way she made this odd little noise in the back of her throat and sort of shook herself like she was wet.

“Okay, so, like, food in the kitchen,” he said to Nic then as he sat on the bottom step and pulled on his boots. He'd probably already told the dude that but it bore repeating, especially when it came to food. Like, right? “Bathroom upstairs. Shane'll show you where stuff is if you ask her, okay? And, like, you know, when you leave just lock up behind you and post the key through the letterbox, okay? Okay!” Jumping to his feet, Kiel whipped across to Nic and enveloped the dude in a (totally non-girly) hug, and was out the door.

Shane stood at the door staring at it for a second in total silence, then turned to her new playmate and pounced.

((Kiel has left the thread.))

[Nicolay]

OOC: GM of Shane with permission from the Ms to the Ma.

As Shane did as he had told of her, Nicolay picked himself up and straightened his legs, staying on his spot, toys in his hands and all, while he saw the kin latch herself onto her owner. The dynamics of the pair was uncanny and he caught himself smiling appreciatively even if he'd had to wince when Kiel fell over. Do they always do this? It was a wonder the Dracovari wasn't littered with bruises just yet, if that were so! He watched them laugh, purr, roll over and mess around...it was almost sad to have to see the two of them part.

He stepped aside as Shane went to fetch the shoes, all the while keeping his eyes on her shape, her tail, her paws, following her back to Kiel, now watching the older man put his boots on before he went.

“Okay, so, like, food in the kitchen,” Kiel began to leave his reminders.

“I know,” Nicolay would tell him, the back of his toy-wielding hand on his side as Kiel ran through everything he might need to know and smiled particularly at Shane knowing where was what in case he needed to find the Dracovari's stash of illegal drugs or the map to Treasure Island. “I know,” he said again, knowingly. She did show him the toys when he asked of them. He took note of where he had to place the key at the end of the day with a nod.

And when Kiel approached him, Nicolay laughed, threw his hands up and held his arms open to receive Kiel when all of a sudden, the man was upon him and he felt his lungs rise up two inches when the Dracovari took him in tightly. He choked, again. He had to learn how to hug with this man around. He did pat him on his arm when he could, trying not to look flustered as he did so and with a smile, said to him, “Have a good day at work. Shane will be all right.” He hoped.

He waved to his friend as the taller man left the house. Alone with the kin now, Nicolay hunched over to the moving cat, palms on his knees as he said, “Hey Shane, let's go and play--” but much like her owner, she was instantly upon him! And she had the weight of his old dog, too! This stunned him to no end. Cats were not supposed to be as heavy as basset hounds!

The floor came to Nicolay's back faster than he had expected and he let out a quick yelp before Shane poked her face on his. “Whut the-- Shane, wait--” His hands were waving in a disoriented manner, his eyes were shut tight as he wrinkled his face and looked away.

Two seconds after, he let out another sneeze. Goddess, this cat!

[NPC]

Shane nuzzled Nic's face and purred like a madman, the whole of her sleek body vibrating. She was usually alone when Kiel had to work, unless it was at that mean brute's place and the sky was overcast enough to let her make the ten minute trip. The winter had been great for that, but with spring came better sunlight and her Chosen had decided it was safer to leave her home more.

She was going to hate summer, but that was one of the reasons she was so excited to have company now. Plus, she really liked Nicolay. He smelled like the forest to her.

When Nicolay sneezed, Shane settled down beside him, still purring. She would wait for him to recover and then get him to dangle her fishy some more.

[Nicolay]

He sneezed for two more times, feeling as though Shane had implanted her fur on his nose and he sighed after before he lied down on the floor to look at the ceiling for a good moment. He normally wouldn't be seen doing this in a house that wasn't his but with the kin as his only company, he didn't seem to mind. For some odd reason, he felt as though it was all right to be this way around her.

Nicolay lifted a finger up to Shane and said to her, “Please stop doing that. I have a sensitive nose.” before he set his hand down. Two moments later, he pulled himself up with another sigh, snorted a little then ran his hand through it as though to itch. Hopefully it wasn't as red as a ruby right now, as it was wont to be when the allergies struck. He wondered how it would be like if he turned into a furry animal. Would he keep sneezing at himself? That was going to be embarrassing.

Still on the floor, he looked around the house, a little dwarfed by its space. All this just for Kiel and his cat? What a life. Nicolay said he would watch over Shane but if he were to be honest, he had no idea what to do. Playing was one -- but playing could get boring, too, couldn't it?

He turned to the cat. “Where's your toy?” he asked her. Well, if Shane played, she also moved. Maybe he could do his homework and actually study her movements while he was at it. His first exercise on being a Therian was making him a little nervous...

OOC: If Shane got the toy for him, you can GM Nic and say that he would play with Shane using that toy.

[NPC]

((The rooms in Kiel's house are really small, btw. That roommaker thing makes it look a lot bigger than it is, but there isn't a lot of room. ¬_¬))

Shane didn't understand why Nicolay didn't like her nuzzling his face. She was used to Kiel, and that guy would let her lick his skin and eyebrows off if she was that way inclined, so she didn't have any concept of personal space or how some people just didn't like fur in their faces. She'd do her best not to upset him, just because he was a friend, but through her Chosen bond, she'd inherited some of Kiel's more... "interesting" quirks and that included a habit of forgetting something until it was too late.

She was bored just lying there, too. Hadn't Nic said he'd play with her? Play, play! So she gracefully lunged to her feet and grabbed the colourful wooden fishy between her teeth to drop it squarely on Nicolay's tummy. Play, play! She nudged at his arm and shoulder with a cold mauve nose, then bounded away to land on the sofa cushions. There was strategy in her position: Here, she was higher up so she could better reach the fish while Nicolay was dangling it for her.

Assuming he didn't tease her with it from a distance like Kiel did when he thought she was being lazy.