[ti]Open[/ti]Lazy Mornings

[noctemq]

Rook

A dark colored tom sat atop a small structure made of neatly organized stone, leisurely stretching one leg out to groom himself. The spot where he chose to settle was nice and shady; some sunlight filtered into the alley through the gap between the two buildings and lit up the area in front of him. He could already tell that today’s schedule would be filled with naps in the sun if the weather continued to be like so.

A small snap. At at the first sign of movement in the front of the alley leading to the street ahead, his green eyes flickered forward and the tomcat sat up, his wide ears perked up and  alert but his expression relaxed. He was no stranger to unexpected company, and he hoped that it was welcome company. The day was too young and so far, too pleasant to be fighting off some dog or running away from a human. There was always room on his perch for one more. 

[LupTacco]

The shapes and sounds of twoleg place were increasingly familiar, but downtown was always a little foreign to him. Full of strange little things the twolegs made for seemingly no reason- like all the stone piles. They were great sunning spots, but far too small for twoleg use. Did they just really like their feline friends? Perhaps they let their own kits climb on them for practice- his own twoleg liked to travel and climb on big rocks from what he could tell. Maybe it was a traditional thing.

Hopping atop a short stony wall along the sidewalk, Buckaroo purred as the pigeons roosting on it fluttered away, creating all kinds of interesting shadows and leaving behind a common treasure- soft loose feathers! The young tom pranced along, batting the feather in front of him for as long as he could until a gust of air from a passing monster shifted it up and away. I'll just to find another he shrugged amiably, and continued on his way until he spotted an unfamiliar form across the way, and caught traces of new scent. Could it be... a forest cat? With a mix of caution and excitement, he stepped forward as light as he could, coming up on the cat's blind side to get a better look, but shrank down a little as his paw snapped a twig hidden in the grass. As the stranger sat up, Buck's ears perked up with wonder. "...are you from the trees?"

[noctemq]

“The what now?” Rook turned his head to the side with narrow eyes in question. Once he understood what the other cat was referring to, he smiled slightly, amusement lacing his features. Those forest cats were a wild bunch he didn’t associate with. Sure, Rook has ran into a few of them before, but their interactions were always stiff. Always territory-this and territory-that. He didnt believe in boundaries, so the forest cats and Rook weren’t exactly best friends.

“No, I’m not one of them,” he meowed to answer the other’s question. His deep olive eyes glanced down to whatever was around the other tom’s neck. Rook wasn’t sure what those neck-binds were, but he knew what they stood for. Cats that wore those were usually harmless, so Rook resumed to his previous position of laying down. There was no need to be on edge, especially since he had the high ground if anything bad was to happen.

“There’s different names for cats like me, depending on where you’re from,” he continued on. Rook didn’t know many in this area, so he planned on striking up a little conversation. “So, what would you call me?” Rook crossed his paws in front of him, curious to hear the other tom’s answer. It was always fun to put someone else on the spot.

[LupTacco]

Buckaroo's expression relaxed, losing a little of that wondrous spark but still curious and kind as the young cinnamon cat sat up and blinking a more formal greeting. He'd have to actually go outside of town to start seeing those more wild cats, he supposed; maybe he'd make the journey soon, but for now it was time to enjoy the sun.

"So, what would you call me?"

The tom started a little. He didn't really have a collective name for other cats- he'd heard some of the other house cats call the ruder collarless ones rogues, but what about the nice collarless cats? Stranger? That's a little... rude I guess. Lone cat? Uhhh, his eyes scanned the grass for a bit as he tried to come up with something to say, and eventually choked out an awkward, "...single?" He realized that might sound a little stranger than he intended about a second after he said it, mumbling, "As in, you're... alone?" His ears flattened with embarrassment and he focused his eyes on a ladybug in the grass. Smooth, he chided himself while one hind leg kicked at a tiny itch on the side of his neck where the patterned coarse fabric lay.

[noctemq]

Rook lifted his head up to get a better view of the cat below him. While scanning the him slowly, from the top of his ears to the tip of his tail, a sideways smirk spread across Rook’s dark muzzle once he heard the other’s answer. It pleased him that the other tom decided to humor Rook and play along. The answer could have been so much more boring, or even insulting, so this was one of the better possible outcomes.

“Yes to both,” he answered simply, his tail tip curling in the air cordially. “Though, alone no more, thanks to you, so you might have to use a different name for me.”

He stood up from his spot. Although it was comfortable, Rook couldn’t just sit here forever. The day was begging to be started and he had no intention on making it wait. Maybe this other cat could show him around this place? Rook only knew a small corner of this human-infested area, so it would be interesting to go out and explore. Adventuring was always better done with company, otherwise is was just solitary wandering, which Rook had enough of.

“Rook is one you may use,” he introduced himself before climbing down from his perch, each step carefully taken to balance himself on the unstable pile he had claimed as his temporary throne. Rook met the other cat at ground level for a proper greeting of a blink in return.