But I have no doubt, one day we're gonna get out

[mustardwithat]

Fritz is on top of the Conrad. An unlit cigarette dangles from her lips, its end batted back and forth by the wind. She has hes eyes closed and her arms spread as she stands on the roof's low cement barrier, watching the sunset through the patterns of red that filter through her eyelids. At the very lest, Fritz is on the opposite side of the hotel

Comments

[neverinportland]

Juliet was having coffee with Marshall in the CCTV room, but the sudden appearance of cats in the parking lot required investigating, and so now she's walking out the front door with a confused expression on her face. She's fairly certain that someone would have mentioned it if they were going to turn the parking lot into a cat sanctuary, so that leaves.... Well, Cy comes to mind, but she doesn't see her anywhere.

"What's going on?" She'll wonder later when she became the sort of person who addresses cats as if they can actually answer her.

Well. Some of them do.

[prince_stupid]

The cats freeze. And then scatter, bolting under cars, into corners, and flooding away into the streets again. All except the little mother cat and her revived kitten. She hunkers down over the baby, panicked and hissing. Ragnar sits down next to her, purring away, and she slowly calms as well. Her attention turns to the cleaning the kitten as Ragnar addresses Juliet.

"Good evening. I do not mean to disturb you, certainly--I had invited those in need to come to me, should they feel so inclined. I will say this: I did not expect so many to accept."

[neverinportland]

And, instantly, Juliet feels kind of bad, even though that's pretty much what stray cats tend to do when confronted with people. She doesn't stare step closer for fear of startling the mother and her baby and when the freakishly large black cat addresses her, she completely freezes, herself.

She relaxes a bit, however, rolling her eyes a bit. After Cy, talking cats shouldn't surprise her, but... This cat is definitely not Cy.

"Oh, it's... Fine," she says, tilting her head to the side. "Just a little... Surprising. Um... Who are you?"

When did this become her life?

[prince_stupid]

Ragnar stands and whisks his tail into the air. "I," he says, rather more grandly than necessary, "am Ragnar Gustaffson Coeur de Lion, King of Cats." There he pauses. "Ostensibly."

Yes, Juliet, the cat just said ostensibly. "At one time I was called a Grand Champion of the show bench, representing the breed Norsk Skogatt, that is to say, the Norwegian Forest Cat. And now I am said to represent cats as a whole. Ironic! But I digress."

The kitten-mom stares up at Ragnar in awe. Stop him now, Juliet, or you never will.

[neverinportland]

Juliet stopped listening to Ragnar about the moment he said his whole name, more focused on the mother and her baby. She takes a tentative step forward and kneels down so she can be on eye level with the cats.

"Do you think you could convince her to come inside?" She cuts in, addressing Ragnar, but looking at the mother. "She needs food and a safe place to keep her baby."

Sorry, Rags, but the mama and the baby are more important right now.

[prince_stupid]

"Hm? Ah! Yes. Indeed." He turns his gaze on the little cat next to him, who tensed up again at Juliet's approach. Ragnar bows his head and licks the top of hers.

"Hush now," he says. "The actions of some humans do not distinguish the entire species."

The mother picks up her kitten, her eyes on Juliet. She's a marmalade tabby, bony with notched ears and riddled with old scars. The kitten isn't much better off in terms of weight. "They will come, I think. If I stay beside them."

He gives the mother a questioning look and she presses up against his side.

[neverinportland]

Juliet smiles and stands up. "Okay. I'm Juliet, by the way. I'm the doctor for Torchwood Four."

Because... That is important to explain to random cats. She seems to realize that's a bit silly and rolls her eyes and heads towards the door to hold it open.

"Well, come on in. I'll see if we have any tuna in the kitchen."

[prince_stupid]

The mother scuttles along next to Ragnar, who strides after Juliet languidly, stopping several times as mom readjusts her grip on the yelling kitten. Ragnar finally, after a brief exchange, ends up carrying the kitten himself.

Mom frets her way into the Kashtta, always a half-step behind and to the side of the massive black cat. When they reach the kitchen and Ragnar sets the kitten down, she picks her baby up and hauls her away under a chair.

[neverinportland]

Juliet leads the kittens and watches the mother take sanctuary under the chair, frowning a bit.

"I hate seeing abused animals," she mutters, mostly to herself as she searches through the cabinets for some canned fish of some kind. Surely there have to be some tuna or something. She finally finds a half-forgotten can of anchovies in the back of one of the cupboards and opens it quickly setting it down on the floor in front of the chair, making sure not to get too close to the mama or her baby.

"Come on, little lady," she coos to her gently, kneeling a little ways behind the proffered fish. "I'm not going to hurt you."

[prince_stupid]

The cat very, very slowly emerges. Ragnar steps forward and sits next to the fish, an extra little shield between Juliet and the near-feral mother. She finally skitters out and starts wolfing at the food. Ragnar, for his part, cares for the little cat's injuries, pausing between fits of cleaning to speak to Juliet.

"Doctor--that is the person who tends human wounds, correct?"

[neverinportland]

Juliet sits down crosslegged, eying the feral with a sympathetic eye, her chin resting in her hands. She glances over at Ragnar and nods.

"Yes." She turns back to look at the feral mother. "My specialty is fertility... I did a lot of work with human kittens, basically." She may or may not have insulted his intelligence with that wording, but she can't be too sure of what he understands... Having conversations with cats where she's worried about insulting their dignity- there's something she wouldn't believe herself doing a year ago. "Since I came here, however, it's been a lot of everything."

She drops her arms into her lap and watches him licking the kitten for a moment. "You're a pretty accomplished healer, yourself, aren't you?"

[prince_stupid]

If it was insulting, Ragnar didn't notice. He often doesn't. "I am, I suppose."

He draws his tongue slowly over the kitten's head, banishing ear mites and the multitude of parasites swelling the tiny creature's belly. "It was an unexpected gift, I will say that."

The mother finishes off the fish and eyes Juliet, dubious. Ragnar continues to groom the kitten, watching only absently.

[neverinportland]

Juliet stands up very slowly so not to startle the mother and goes to the fridge to see if she can find some milk. She emerges victorious with the last dregs of a carton and pours that into a saucer and places it down a few inches away from the fish.

"There you go," she coos, moving to stand closer to Ragnar, although not so close that the mother might suspect she's going to take away her kitten.

"Well, it's endearing you to the stray cat population of Chicago, that's for sure," she muses. "I wonder if Gwen would object to keeping the two of them here... That cat's just barely mature enough to keep up with a kitten."

She really has to wonder what happened to the rest of her litter, except... No she doesn't want to know.

[prince_stupid]

"The cats here are unhealthy." He stops his grooming, his tail lashing. "I cannot feel the Roads. Where do their ghosts go? This land withers. It is common enough for the major Roads to bypass cities, but to exist without them completely?"

It's hard to tell if he's talking to Juliet or himself at this point. The little mother looks at him nervously, and he sighs. "Peace, little one."

[neverinportland]

Juliet listens to that with an arched eyebrow, not quite understanding what the hell he's talking about. Then again, she's never spoken to a cat before other than Cy. This could just be one of those weird... Cat things or something. "Roads. What do you mean by roads?"

She glances over at the little mother and bites her lip. "Do you think she's still hungry? I can probably find something else for her." Sam seems like a cat person to her- he probably won't mind her digging into his ingredients to feed a starving kitty.

[prince_stupid]

"The Roads. I am unsurprised you know nothing of them. Human ignorance is something to which I have become accustomed." There's a slight rumble of anger in the last portion of that observation. "They are the pathways across the world, the journeys made by the first cats. Our memories, the home to our ghosts. They are the world as it was, the... how do I say it? The veins through which existence flows. That is, I think, how Tag would describe them."

He licks the little mother's head, now that her kitten has been thoroughly cleaned. "And in this place, I feel none."

Ragnar inspects the little cat. "She is. But too much, too suddenly will make her ill."