2019-12-20 - The Bodega Cat

Unfortunately, the cat left after Lilith snapped its picture to show to Byron in texts the day before and by the time he showed for lunch and a little bit of body on body pleasure for dessert, there was still no sign. The food is refilled, left out, occasionally other strays come to eat, but it's not the angry one they want. For some reason, this one stuck and it's a matter of principle and challenge now, which doesn't make it a good idea in the long run, but right now? Together, they're dug in over something, and it happens to be this particular angry cat. Maybe they just want to see if they can do it, they're both kind of like that in their differing ways, and...

Okay, the cat, other than being angry and having feline brows like a thundercloud, is rather unique and adorable. The creamy pale fur, if it were clean, almost makes it look like a wooly playtoy, which only exaggerates the sheer rage for life in general on the cat's features. Considering they see strays out by the dumpster often and the pair has never gotten a wild hair to rescue any of them is rather telling. It is honestly a weird thing to make a mission together as a team, especially given it all started with a fib about owning a mischievous cat to one of Byron's investors.

Besides, after a good washing and some pictures, who says they have to keep it?

Lilith and Byron are upstairs in her loft early evening the next day, having dinner and keeping an eye out of the windows looking down over the alleyway where Lilith's SUV and Byron's Wraith are parked by the dumpster. There's a clear line of vision to a food bowl by the back office door, and initially, they just see an orange tabby poking around there. But about the time they're finished eating and standing to clear the table, there's a pale blur downstairs at the food bowl instead of the tabby who was chased off with a faintly audible spat.

So down to the office they go, and Lilith looks at Byron before cracking open the back door to let him see the thing in person from a bit of a distance. Even eating and clearly happy about eating, it still looks angry, "... why is this the most amazing cat I've ever seen?" She keeps her voice down so she doesn't run the creature off before Byron can ensure it does nothing of the sort. And she gauges his expression to see if he agrees with that irrational sentiment she's voiced into question.

Well, while Lilith might have her sights set on this one cat, Byron does't care overly much. It was going to be for one or two pictures that he was going to send Hughes, one of his investors and clients for projects. He knows that they could just go to the animal shelter and possibly adopt one, but that meant keeping it, and he only needed one to show Huges that, yes, this was the cat who he may have heard over speakerphone that one day that the purring Lilith was... Well, the awkwardness aside, it was an enjoyable afternoon.

So this was a few days later and they were on a hunt for a scraggly looking cat with hatred in its eyes. When she'd first shown him the picture she'd taken, he assumed it was a stuffed animal. There was no way that an actual cat could look like that. Over dinner, as they noticed the orange cat snooping around, he did come out and say, "We could just get that one. Looks like Goose from Captain Marvel and after that movie hit, I'm sure everyone wanted a generic orange cat like that." It's true, the cat was pretty generic! But no, Lilith had her sights on the most ridiculous cat he'd ever seen.

Then the sudden appearance of a blur that could just be the cat they were looking for is seen, something which makes his gaze shift back to Lilith monetarily as he dabs at his lips with a napkin on rising. He's even quiet when he pulls his chair out and the both of them go sneaking down into the office. "I'm not going to make any joke regarding a matter of taste." He says in his own whisper, "Because then I have no idea what that says about me." It's all said in that rather high-strung deadpan of his, but he flashes her an easy enough smile afterwards.

"You love my unhinged and lovely little ass enough to wrangle that feline mess and humor my ideas. You can blame it all on me when I lose an eye. But look at that..." Lilith says to Byron in a quiet murmur, lifting up on her toes to press a kiss at the side of the man's face while standing there in her little black dressy-casual halter dress without the wrap sweater or even proper shoes-- she was in such a haste to get down there with stealth on her side and didn't think about how cold it actually is outside while opening the door slowly the rest of the way, now she's paying for it a little bit.

After wetting her lips and tilting her head, she steps with lean against the doorframe to eye the cat as it stops eating to stare at the door opening. Then it starts eating again, maybe trusting the level of its dirty look shot their way (purpose or accident?) to keep them at bay. It's either stupid or fearless as far as stray personalities go in alleyways, and Lilith cracks a bit of a smile before looking at Byron, "It's not even running. Yet. Mm, but listen, there is logic to this too-- obviously, if the man asked for a cat picture, he's a cat fellow, probably has one or two himself or always wanted one. That or he likes cat memes while sitting in his office. Anyway, the point is, when you're talking to an investor and you want money out of them, you give them relatable, realistic charm to help seal a deal. The fact that this cat is so memorable and may well make your man chuckle could push things where he's waffling."

Lilith did at least logic through it some based on what she was picking up from the phone conversation, but naturally, it's not the only reason given the way she's looking at the cat with a vaguely amused expression. Then rubbing a hand over onto the man's chest, she wonders quietly, "Now what? Do you just tell it somehow to... walk inside? How does this work?" She seems genuinely curious, at that, "You make it want to come in?"

"I don't know about the unhinged part, but you do have a very lovely ass." Byron says, his expression softens, before his dark eyes narrow as he tries to get a better look at this cat. He was dressed more casually, having changed after whatever business he had to finish earlier, wearing a simple long-sleeved gray shirt and some warm sweat pants. Unlike Lilith, he wasn't walking around barefoot just yet, but he does have on sneakers rather wearing shoes with a harder (and louder) sole.

"I guess it's not surprising to learn that your investors and clients are animal people. It seems with the boom of the internet and pet pictures being posted everywhere, most people are open to express their loves for these furry things." Byron's never had a pet. Not even after his father died. That doesn't mean that he's never communicated with animals before.

So when Lilith asks him what they do now, Byron gives a slow nod. "That's... exactly what I'd do actually. I can give them simple commands. Usually, it's uh... come here. If I want to pet them. But more recently, it's to attack this or that Dream freak." No, he's not going to take a step forward, in the case that he actually scares the mangy thing away. In fact, now that he has a better look at the cat live and not just in a photograph, he has to wonder what sort of creature this actually was. "Are we sure... this isn't a Dream thing? Or something from the Veil?"

"Hey, buddy," He'll start pretty casually, though there's this intensity in his eyes that say that he's incredibly focused. "Come inside and relax while we get you cleaned up." In his mind, he's even picturing a bathtub or wherever Lilith is planning on doing the cleaning. "You'll feel a whole lot better once your fur is... less matted. And trimmed."

Lilith slips on a dusting of smile and distraction for watching Byron instead of the cat, fingertips pulling absently at a wavy piece of her hair on her shoulder, other arm folding around with useless hug around herself in vain attempt to reflex ward the chill of the evening, "It is more mainstream lately, yes..." After making her agreement, her bottom lip traps between her teeth with pensive, considering working back and forth when he explains in brief what he can or is going to do. But after a few quick bat of her lashes, her spidey senses accidentally go up with paranoia because this cat actually does look fairly unique with fur type and all, not just the mien of it or the perpetually angry cat-brow.

"Everything feels..." Lilith actually stops for a moment and compares her surroundings outside to the surroundings inside, then the sky, then she just stands as if feeling for a few extraneous heartbeats. Sometimes it takes a few to kick in that something is strange, sometimes it's til the strange is right in your face, but everything seems fine, and after a split second, she relaxes with a half-laugh in breath and a whisper, "Fine. Not that we always know the difference, anyway. That actually made me paranoid for a second, which probably... says something about our lives, babe."

Then she quietens down when Byron starts to focus and talk, eyes snapping from him to the cat to watch it react moreso than she's watching him. Abruptly, her hand pulls from her hair to hold over her mouth to muffle any slip of laughter, because that face when it looks up from the food bowl...

When Byron had mentioned the possibility of this being a Veil cat, he was mostly joking. Even if the creature looked like it could be. I mean, it looked like a stuffed animal, one in need of a brushing, for the most part. And its eyes. "What kind of cat has eyes like that?" He asks himself aloud when he and the creature make eye contact. "I think, but I'm not sure, if this did come from the Veil, it would be conversing with us right at this very moment." He says, gaze trailing behind the annoyed-looking, yet obedient gray-ish furball when it pads past them up to Lilith's loft.

Exchanging an amused glance with the pretty brunette, he gestures in that chivalrous way 'After you', before following behind her as they head up the stairs to give the cat entrance to Lilith's bathroom, the very image he projected into the feline's mind. "That's it," He says once the door is open, gesturing to the tub, "Hop right in there. It'll be fine. Maybe you'll change that sour demeanor once you're cleaned up."

"I think it would be too. It also looks very full of things to say. I almost want to hear it." Lilith drops her hand with slide from holding placement over her mouth and reveals the absolutely girlish grin of delight and excitement for Byron's ease of handling the situation, and... well, that face! Once she's caught on to the after-you gesture, though, she gets a little wary and sneaks a hand in to rough tickle and point jab against one side of his ribs, "You're far too ready to see me wash a kitty, it's making me suspect. If I get clawed, I'm clawing you when you wash mine before bed." Such orders and sass, but honestly, she doesn't know how long these things tend to last or how well they stick or anything like that, so she might be expecting it to wild out and go Elm Street on her without notice.

Not that she doesn't trust Byron or anything, the results are pretty clearly compliant, especially once they're in the loft and bathroom. But it dawns on her, jokes aside, she's never washed a cat before, or a dog and... well, washing is washing, isn't it? After standing and looking at the rare sight of a cat jumping in a tub for a bath, she takes a huge breath, carefully leans in, then turns on the water to start running, speaking over her shoulder to Byron, "I love you. I trust you. But this still feels like sticking my arm in a lion cage, turning water on a stray that looks like this one."

And when she doesn't lose an arm, she drops to kneel next to the tub so she can pull the cat right under the flow of water and start splashing it wet while temperature adjusts.

Is she holding her breath? Possibly.

"I'm pretty sure we don't want to hear what animals have to say." Byron says with a laugh, "They'll more than likely either be begging for us to do something or bitching at us to do something." And yes, the entrepreneur's chivalry is due to the fact that Lilith wanted to wash the thing. Sure, he's usually chivalrous outside in every other occasion, but he had reasons for this.

He then watches with a mixture of curiosity and amusement at the cat just sitting there in the tub while some water is running off to the side of it. Those plastic-like glaring eyes staring up at him, but he nods in its direction, "That's a good cat." Before he showed up at Lilith's, he did do some shopping, so along with pet soap to get rid of fleas and ticks, he also grabbed a detangling brush, some scissors to cut off any matted fur, a few toys and bed and litter box. He did not plan on keeping the cat, but if they were going through all of this to get a good picture of it, he's sure the thing will be around for a few days. Tops.

Rolling up his long sleeves, he steps in next to Lilith, dropping down to his knees, "Here, let me help." See, he's not all that bad! Gently, he scoops up some water to pour over the cat's body, before squiring some of the soap within his hands, rubbing it into a lather, then massaging the stuff into the cat's back.

Somewhere in the middle of regretting all this effort (scratch hazard?) for an authentic picture of a cat in Byron's company that looks like trouble, Lilith looks up from her brow-furrowed task of concentration while turning and washing with far too much caution and not near enough hands on. It bolsters her considerably, Byron dropping down to help without worry or reserve while handling the wet-furred feline beast, and her lips turn up with slight smile in vaguely charmed or affectionate fashion when she looks back down to task, "Thanks."

Feeling more secure about the matter of safety during washing, along with the added bonus of the first coat of filth being sloughed off with rinsing, Lilith is doing decent wash diligence after taking a moment to sniff the pet shampoo fragrance. Then she loads both of their hands, letting Byron take the front half and she takes the back, which... accounts for the comment once she's ran hands under the belly and onto the tail and back legs with a sudden audible snort of surprise, "Figures it's a boy. Seemed to like swinging these things around out there."

Then... because the cat is behaving quite perfectly, like it truly is a day at the salon, she starts talking to the cat, "You're going to feel better, you know. You probably had your body's weight in collected debris stuck in your fur. You might even look pretty when we get you brushed." She pauses, rinses, then amends, "... or at least more cuddly." Then her eyes look up at Byron once they're at a place to drain the tub and lug the beast to towel dry, "I'll take the obligatory lounge photo of you with the cat once we have it pretty, then we'll take a few more for posterity sake, then..." Well, he did buy the things, might as well not kick it right out, seems rude, doesn't it?

Someone might be showing the first inklings of getting attached. At least while the cat is compliant. Might be a different ball game elsewise, time might tell, given she doesn't sound like she wants to finish the what-comes-next part of the sentence, "What are you going to say his name is?"

Without the worry that this stray cat would go ballistic and scratch they up, washing the poor thing was a relaxing event. With a gentle touch, his fingers knead at that soapy wet fur, following up with a pouring of water to cleanse it, using its hands rather than seating the cat beneath the faucet. Stroking along the feline's cheek, he is careful to not get the soap or too much water into its eyes. Despite looking unamused by what was happening to it, the cat was patient-- if only because this was the command given it.

Grinning over at Lilith when she determines its gender, he stares the thing in the eyes just as he scritches its soapy head, "You're one pissed off little guy, aren't you." It was nice to work together and get this done, and all for just a few photos to send an investor.

Byron's control over the animal was basically to tell it to get into the tub to be bathed. That might also include a nice toweling and brushing, but it's trapped in the loft as it is with no escape. That is unless someone left a window open or that front door leading downstairs. He's not overly concerned regarding when his influence over the cat will wane and break off entirely. If it were a normal cat, they'd treat it as such.

He'll be the one to lift the wet thing in his arms and carry it to Lilith with her waiting towel. "Do I really have to be in the picture?" There's humor in this question, but he hadn't really thought of having his picture taken with the thing, "Well alright then. Wait til we're both presentable." Not that Byron's never presentable, he cuts a striking figure no matter what he's wearing or how his hair is styled.

All the tools of the trade are set out for them. He even bought a cat tooth brush with toothpaste if it will help make the creature look like a pet rather than an alley cat. When she asks what he plans on naming it, it's not something he'd thought of. "I'd have to think on that. Maybe see what he looks like with a good grooming. Unless you got an idea?" Dark eyes lift to look fondly upon her.

Lilith does the towel tousling while seated on the flipped down toilet lid with her cat towel bundle and the more she fluffs it there on her lap while towel drying it, the more it actually starts to look like an angry toy cat. Especially when it's being so compliant... while very convenient, Lilith isn't under any illusions just yet that these things would be possible at all without Byron's special brand of animal aid.

When finished, there are some matting places and she directs Byron with the scissors where to clip and snip the unbrushable bits out there while seated and talking away all of a sudden when it comes to the subject of pictures and names. Apparently, her wariness is waning to be replaced with the enthusiasm of having this soft fluffy animal (with that face) in her hands to groom and play with, "... of course you have to be in at least one of the pictures. And when you say both, are you talking about the cat or are we taking official trio selfies too?" She makes tease to Byron while brushing, pauses a beat, then continues, "Snip here, please. Anyway, you lounging on a couch with a cat on you is far more believable than you letting one sit on you like a throne while you're wearing a suit. And you're amazingly photogenic no matter what you're in, but we can do it however you want to show yourself."

She pauses long enough to take a breath before blowing a stubborn piece of her own hair from hang over her eyes, the piece falling right back anyway to dangle while she's looked down tending to the cat. Lilith talks and brushes and fluffs and directs the scissors and Byron with small pause gestures while doing so, "Names, though. Honestly, I've been calling him Monster in my head, but the more I look at him, the more I feel like he needs something vintage like a cranky old man name. Possibly Oscar since we found him by the trash, or... mm, Clarence. No, not that one, too much. Theodore is... mildly fitting with the fluff somehow, though. And easily shortened to Theo if we need to call out for--"

Lilith trails off and shakes her head, wondering of the cat suddenly, like he's going to talk her out of getting attached or something, "I bet you're not made for cages, are you? Is that what the inside feels like? Or do you actually like this?"

"Oh, not only do I have to be in a picture, but I have to be in a picture while lying down with this cat sitting on my stomach?" Byron asks, his brow lifted, his dark gaze lifting as well to peer across at Lilith, before they return to what they were doing initially doing, watching for sections of fur that needs a good trimming as directed by the brunette. "And when I said that, I actually did mean myself and the cat," He's careful with the scissors, taking small snips of matted fur at a time, "I don't think it would hurt if we did take a picture as a trio. If anything, it would be a good memory to have."

Since Byron wasn't planning on keeping the cat permanently, he wasn't inclined to actually give it a name, even if a few names rattled in his head. Then Lilith comes out with names of her own, something which makes him ask, "You want to give this cat a person's name? Do you know how weird that is? I can just hear it now, you're talking to a friend, and I'm not going gonna specify which friend, but /a/ friend, and then you utter the words: I spent the morning cleaning up Theodore's puke. Or something like: Clarence pretends to ignore me every time he does something wrong. But that's more of a dog thing and... the police Chief's name is Clarence."

"Anyway, let's just get this over with. I'm dressed as casual as could be if you want to make this picture look homey or whatever your vision is." Attention drawn back to the cat, giving its cheek a few strokes with a crooked finger before scritching it just beneath its chin. "You're really something else, you know that.

"When are you going to be having full cat conversations like that, anyway? I think you like the idea of domesticating some demon from the street to cuddle, and if that's not a metaphor for something..." Lilith gestures between herself and Byron after putting the cat on the floor and folding the towel over and over twice to catch all the fluff to shake out later. For now, once standing to eye the cat shaking itself, then licking a paw when free, she puts the towel in the sink and reaches for Byron's hand to guide him into the living room, grabbing her phone on the way.

She might be doing a little bit of pot-kettle-black with that ribbing, too, given the way she was shooting off names.

Lilith looks back over her shoulder to make sure the cat is following Byron while she hand drags him out to sling over (kind of weakly) in the direction of the couch, "Down boy. You're a model now. Make sure the cat doesn't tear your insides open, though, what are we going to do when it-- you know what, doesn't matter, pictures first. It was the whole point, afterall. I'm also realizing how ridiculous some of my ideas are now that we're going and doing all this, but..." Her lips crack with a glowing little smile to herself before she looks down to tinker with her phone, "You make things easier than they would have been, otherwise. Like you always do."

The newly cleaned, yet still strange looking cat didn't need to follow Byron's orders anymore, unless new ones are given.It did what it was told. It was now fresh and clean and groomed, where a good chunk of its unruly fur was either brushed off of it or snipped off. Byron will follow anyway when he's being led away. If the cat were left to its own devices, it might have jumped back into the tub once the water was drained and lay down, as cats do. But rather than relying on the kitty to do the right thing, a little mental coaxing is involved, so it very well may look like Byron is the Pied Piper of cats. Or at least angry gray fuzz balls.

Turning towards the window, rather absently really, he comments, "Heard there was going to be heavy snowfall coming soon." Walking pass a mirror, he stops to take a good look at himself. The front of his shirt was obviously dark with dampness, but was there any need to change out of it for the picture. His hair looked fine. Taking a spot on Lilith's couch to lounge back on, he pats at his midsection, looking at that angry face leaping up onto him as he was mentally commanded to do, "We might be stuck with this one until winter passes." Playing with one of the cat's ears, he adds, "You might very well be one lucky bastard, you know that?" He then pats at a section beside him for Lilith to snuggle against for this group selfie, finally adding, "Or we could turn it in to the animal shelter. Better than being caught outside in this weather."

"... that feels a little mean, to go putting it in a cage somewhere when it looks used to fending for itself on the outside on his own terms. But I guess we'll see how it goes and know it's an option. I had forgotten about the snow. I'm glad you said something. I don't know how I forgot, because it's exactly why I went grocery shopping for both here and your place while I was on errands earlier. Mm. Can't put an animal out in that once it's in our hands to decide." Lilith takes a moment to 'oh' and talks while detouring into the bathroom to get her own hair brush for running through her hair as Byron settles in with the cat on his stomach, eyes distracted as she makes the perfect excuse to just keep it around for a while right along with him.

Then after putting on a flush of lip balm, she wanders next to the couch to look down at Byron with this stuffed toy of a living cat on his stomach, tilts her head, then decides, "Oh no, having a pet around means I have to share your body heat. This is terrible." She doesn't look like it's so terrible. In fact, she's downright adoration in the eyes looking at Byron lounged out like that with a cat acting like it belongs there at his midsection. Then, making sure not to disturb the cat, she crawls onto the cushion and into the nook against the man to cuddle, phone held up to take a few selfies in various states of casual or play with nuzzle and kisses.

Lilith also decides all three of them are comfortable like that on the couch when they're finished with their personal moment captures on her phone. Lowering it, she murmurs against Byron's chest and shirt with cozy nudge, "Since we're not in a hurry to send the picture and we'll have... this monster a while longer... let's keep doing this. Then you can model before bed. Turn on the news?"

Maybe they're cheating a little and maybe this cat isn't theirs (yet?) right now, but... it feels good to be laying with each other and the warm fuzzy of a pet they picked together while the television drones.

There's no telling what the cat will be like when Byron isn't around, of course, but that's a problem for Future Lilith.

This is nice.