And the golden-haired lady laughs bright as a bell, says that good things are often quite small...

[foryourown]

The sun never seems to rise after the feast, leaving the castle and its surroundings in a sort of twilight that goes on and on without showing any sign of ending. After a time - it’s impossible to tell just how long - snatches of music and singing and laughter start to filter into the guests’ atrium seemingly from everywhere. The same doors the

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Food Vendors

[foryourown]

They don't have the bright colors or noisy music of the carnival games, but the smell is enough to draw people in. Whether it's designed to warm, to make you feel nostalgic, or just to fill your stomach, it's all delicious - and very fairly priced. A song, a joke, a conversation is all you have to pay, and the vendors will take them in as though enjoying a fine meal themselves.

[im_apimp]

Alec is all about the food.

If he could actually figure out how to pay for it.

He's aware that it's probably something simple, but there aren't a lot of things in Alec's life that are simple. In fact, the entirety of it is pretty damn complicated, so he's hanging back a bit, trying to figure out where to start. It all smells good. Really good. He just needs to figure out how to get some of it on a plate.

This could take him a minute.

[bell_bound]

Mogget is also all about the food. However, since he's heard that it might be drugged, he's hanging back to see if it has any adverse effects on others first.

Which is why there is a small white cat skulking around the vendors, watching the proceedings with keen eyes.

[im_apimp]

Given all the cats that are around here lately, Alec doesn't think much of the small white cat wandering around the vendors. But he does know that the cats can sometimes have decent information, if you're willing to work around a riddle or too. Add to the fact that his feline genetics have made the cats predisposed to him in the first place, he figures it couldn't hurt to ask.

He moves closer to the cat and drops into a crouch, extending a hand out to him slowly. "Hey. Got time to help out someone who's still learning his way around?"

[bell_bound]

Mogget stares at the outstretched hand and then at the odd human it belongs to. His first instinct is to say no, but he might as well see if this man will be any use to him. First, he clearly needs to learn that if he's going to hold his hand out to a cat, he ought to have something in it. Like a fish.

"That depends," he replies. "What's in it for me?"

[im_apimp]

Oh, Mogget, that's where you'd be wrong. Alec is very much not human.

His head tips to the side as he studies him, and then gets a better look at the collar. It isn't even remotely similar to the ones that the Princess employed.

"Sorry. Thought you were someone else's cat."

[bell_bound]

The collar is unique to him. The red leather looks ordinary enough, but the miniature bell is something else entirely - though no-one outside the Old Kingdom would recognise it for the magical object it is. Mogget isn't inclined to let him look any closer.

"Afraid not."

He turns away, since it seems that the man was looking for some other cat. They are ridiculously common here. They might make good test subjects for the food too, he ponders.

[im_apimp]

He nods, before pushing himself up to his feet again. "Guess I'll just have to find someone else. Or ask the vendors, but I have a feeling they could just screw me."

This is what living in an economic depression can do to a kid. So skeptical of everyone.

Or maybe that's just the woods. Who knows at this point.

[bell_bound]

Mogget simply watches him go. If anyone is going to be screwed over by the vendors, as the man so charmingly puts it, he'd rather it was someone else.