Walking Along (Open)

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Akki padded along with a slight grin on her face.

Her tail waved back and forth behind her. She loved how her collar lacked a bell. She'd seen other house cats with bells on their collars. Highly annoying. Her collar served its purpose. Obviously, to look fashionable and cool. She closed her eyes, greatly enjoying her little walk.

Then she bumped into some cat. 'Okay, so maybe walking with my eyes closed isn't the smartest.' She mentally noted. She opened her eyes and gave the cat a lazy smile. "Yo. Wassup?"

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Jo wasn't exactly what most other house cats might expect around here. She was a kittypet, technically, but roamed the streets more often than not. The collar, if you could call it that, was a ragged scrap of leather that she'd been trying to get rid of for the past year. So far she obviously hadn't succeeded.

The dark ginger feline was busy searching for food scraps among the bins at the road when somebody bumped into her from behind. Bristling, she spun around and fixed Akki with a wide-eyed gaze.

"I hope you're not trying to steal this chicken. I found it; it's mine."

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Akki's smile didn't cease.

"Nah. Not me. Not a thief." Then she paused. "Or at least, I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I'm not a thief. Might be wrong though." She muttered to herself. Then brightening back up, ears perked up she smiled again. "At least, I'm not really hungry anyways. I already ate today." She chuckled. "I ate some brat's soul this morning, so I don't really want or need your chicken."

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For all her bravado, the grey-eyed cat was actually rather nervous as she stared at the stranger. Akki reminded her a bit too much of somebody else. Was she joking about messing up the unnamed 'brat'? Maybe not.

"Good," Jo said after a hesitation, still standing guard over the food she'd scavenged. "So what do you want from me?"

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Scarily enough, the smile didn't falter.

Akki shrugged. "I dunno. You tell me." She meowed. "I was just strolling along... And.... WHAM!" She suddenly shouted. "I bumped into you and voila!" She smiled. Privately, Akki was smirking on the inside. The other cat seemed to be rather uncomfortable. She still couldn't believe how many cats thought she ate souls just because she said that she did.

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"Well, what're you doing here in the first place? I'm sure your owners wouldn't want you in this part of town," Jo pointed out. It was a run-down area - there had been a fire at some point, and the houses hadn't been fixed up afterwards. That meant less people and cats tended to be around here. The ginger feline liked it best when she was left to her own devices; humans didn't like her digging through their trash, and the kittypets often judged her for it.

Of course, the stray didn't believe Akki actually 'ate souls' - that was ridiculous. But it sounded like she'd messed with another cat in some way or another. Maybe the white cat was planning to do something malicious to her, too?

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Akki snorted. "I may be a kittypet, but I'm not exactly restricted. My owners are good to me. They feed me, give me shelter... But they also basically don't mind whatever I get up to when they let me out for the day." She explained. She wasn't blind. She knew that this place wasn't a place frequented by many cats or humans. 

However... Akki did enjoy her alone time. Plus, it was mildly threatening. She'd always wanted something a bit more dangerous... Though, this place was the closest she could get. 

"My housefolk trust me to take care of myself and come back at the end of the day." Then her eyes practically sparkled. "Though I've got a little question for you. Are you a kittypet or one of those stray cats?"

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She raised a fictional eyebrow at this. Humans like that sounded a bit too careless - as if they didn't really care about their pets. Perhaps it was just her. But Twolegplace could be dangerous for a cat, there was no way around it. Cars, rats, dogs… There was a reason why most kittypets just stayed inside. It was safer.

"What's it to you?" Jo snapped, fur fluffing up defensively once more. "Why should I tell you everything about my life? I don't even know your name." It was a rather pitiful attempt at deflecting the question; Akki had touched on a slight nerve there.

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Akki shrugged.

She knew some of the opinions. Humans like that should keep a tighter leash to make sure their fluffy companion didn't suffer a horrible and painful death, being torn apart. To Akki... Well, she wasn't dumb. She wasn't going to pounce on a dog. That'd be stupid. Regardless, Akki preferred it this way. Besides, her housefolk often were busy and unable to pay attention to her. So... She made do.

The other she-cat got extremely defensive. Akki raised an eyebrow. Said other cat quite pathetically to be honest, tried to avoid her question. Akki decided not to pry. She understood some cats preferred secrets. "Akki. My name is Akki." She meowed.

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"Jo," the orange cat stated plainly as her own introduction. A name alone couldn't hurt her. Other information could be twisted, used in some way or another. She figured this little tidbit would be safe enough.

For the sake of preventing Akki from returning to the original topic, Jo spoke again. "So what part of town are you from? The neighborhood? I've seen a lot of new cats around there lately." It was a place where middle or upper class families tended to settle. Oftentimes they brought kids. The stray absolutely hated children for several reasons, which was probably one of the reasons why her time as a kittypet hadn't quite worked out.

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Akki nodded. 

"Yeah, I come from an area on the outskirts. It's a big house with a yard and a good amount of lawn. Oh and there's fence as well." She meowed. Then she smiled. "It's nice to meet you Jo. I hope you don't get mauled when we part ways." She meowed in a oddly friendly tone, considering the content of her statement.

So far, Akki kind of liked Jo. Obviously, not enough to spill things. She would've liked to give Jo a chance, unfortunately it seemed like Jo didn't exactly return the sentiment. Such a shame. Still... Akki knew she'd survive. Everything always turned out alright, even if it was a tiny bit lonely.

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She thought for a moment. "Is that near the kennel? With noise like that, I'm not sure how anyone gets a wink of sleep." Jo wasn't entirely familiar with the town, so for all she knew, the shelter might be on the other side of town. But the area was always marked by a cacophony of howls and barks. She had a theory that the dogs were deaf and couldn't hear the uproar they were making.

Her ears half-flattened at Akki's next statement. It irked her, though she couldn't quite put her whisker on the reason why. "I think you're underestimating me. If this place could kill me, I'd already be dead."

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Akki shook her head.

"Nah, not near the kennel. I live in a very nice area where there are a lot of big and nice looking houses." She explained. She wasn't sure that her housefolk would've chosen to live near the kennels. They seemed to like that Akki was pretty quiet most of the time.... And she was. She didn't meow that much at her housefolk.

Akki shrugged again. "Fate and chance are a pair of fox-hearts. I'm sure you're capable... But there's always that flip of the coin that could mix things up. Things that no cat can predict." She sighed. "Often, when this happens.... Things end up going down into the dumpster." 

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Jo stared blankly at the white cat for a moment, then sighed and shook her head. Akki didn't understand. Not that she'd expected her to, but it would've been nice to spare the breath that an explanation required.

"You don't get it. Most of those 'unpredictable' events? They can be predicted, and I daresay I've experienced most of the ones this place can throw at me. I'll say it again: I'd already be dead if the town could kill me."

For all intents and purposes, that was probably true. The ginger feline had faced off against all sorts of beasts and hazards here. She might take precautions against them, but if everything did hit the fan, Jo had proven herself capable of getting out alive.

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Akki shrugged. 

She could understand that. Being prepared. Still.... To Akki, there was a difference between killing and maiming. "... Okay. I understand that. You never said anything about this place maiming you one way or another." She pointed out. "What might not kill you will do something else, most likely. Everyone runs out of luck eventually, even if it's not actually luck."

She shook her head. "Okay.... You've established you've lived here long enough so you know you can survive here." She looked into Jo's eyes. "You say all of these so called unpredictable events can be predicted.... Well, I have to tell you that's not always true."