it's a beautiful morning ! [open

[Phantomhive]

Phantomhive pushed her forelegs out and her rump upward in a long, luxurious stretch. Her tail curled and tensed, the blunt black tip twitching softly. Lips curled in a yawn. Her needle-like fangs gleamed dully in the darkness of her tree hollow den. The long white whiskers growing from her lips laid back against her cheeks, giving the brief illusion of white markings. Leaves and feathers crackled under her paws as she came to the entrance.

The sun was little more than sliver of pale buttery yellow on the horizon. Much of the sky was still deep, purplish navy, entirely devoid of stars. Palest blue was bleeding into it, its progress controlled by the slowly growing light. She knew that one or two of the older stall vendors would already be setting up in the market. Their eyes and ears were terrible, so it would be easy to steal a meal from them. Phantomhive hated taking human food. She had been raised wild, to hunt and kill wild things. Taking tame meat felt wrong, like she was betraying her heritage. It wasn't like she had much other choice, though. Human development had scared off much of the prey that her mother had trained her to hunt. Sifting through human leavings and snatching food from their oddly shaped paws was the only way to keep herself healthy.

She went to look at the small bowl-shaped depression located in the very back of her hollow den. Pawing away the leaves used to cover her cache led to disappointment. There was one mouse left. It was tiny, little more than a mouthful. The odor emanating from its wee carcass made it clear that it was no longer fit for consumption. The yearling wrinkled her nose in disgust. How had she let her stock get so low, and why had she left the rodent for so long? Her tail twitched in annoyance. Phantomhive sighed irritably. She would have to travel into town today and see what she could get.

The striped feline had traveled maybe forty feet before she traded wood and earth for brick and cobblestone. She came to a halt when she entered the alleyway that lead into the market. There was a dumpster and a pair of trashcans. Maybe she could pull something out of there and spare herself the trouble of stealing from a vendor. She padded up to the dumpster and frowned. Nothing there; the lid was closed, and she didn't want to try and open it. Doing so would be very noisy, which would draw unwanted human attention to her. Both trashcans were covered with heavy metal lids and weighted down with melon-sized stones. Her ringed tail swished angrily, ears twitched and eyes narrowed. She had seen feral dogs visiting the cans, tipping them over to get at the treats inside. She guessed that the humans finally tired of cleaning their messes. Maybe she would pay one of the mutts a visit while she was in town. One of them had a suckling litter. Phantomhive had never eaten dog before, but meat was still meat.

When she came to the alley's mouth, she sprayed the brick buildings on both sides. It didn't matter that the alley wasn't a very good food source any more; her territory was her territory. Dogs never heeded feline markers, but it would make those bastard pets think twice about coming close to the woods. The wildcat mutt stepped into the market itself, scanning the area with her pale green eyes. The ancient fountain bubbled on as it always had, flooding the near-empty square with a coppery scent. There were a few wooden stalls here and there among the buildings. One of the stalls, located to her immediate left, was occupied. The fishwife was putting out large tubs of ice. Dead fish lay upon the ice, staring blankly skyward. Phantomhive briefly contemplated snatching one but decided against it. The fish were too small to fill her belly. Instead the tabby trotted up to the fountain. Leaping up on its edge, she began to lap at the cool water.

[Rascal the Raven]

( written by: admin )

For a long time he flew and flew ( who flew? you! haha, not really ). When he was done flying, well, he flew some more ( that is, Rascal flew ). Typical raven, trying to fly everywhere and be everywhere at once. He liked to know things and he wanted to know things. In fact, he wanted to know everything ( as if ). At the moment, the ebony raven found himself soaring above the market in Lower Portu. Old place it was. The humans didn't take care of it well, did they? Then again, there were thousands of them flocking in during the day. It was really no wonder ( yet they blame animals for being messy! ).

Still, there must have been something to learn there, or maybe he could find something interesting ( or talk to someone interesting ). It didn't really matter to him, just if he could figure something out. He liked to be the know-it-all, sometimes with the attitude, and sometimes without. His beady blue eyes, unusual for a raven, observed the scene below. There really wasn't much considering it was only just about to be day break. The sun was hardly up, but from the skies, he could see it slowly coming out over the horizon.

With a dip of his wings, Rascal dropped below and angled himself on the wind currents until he was nearing the building tops of the market ( which really weren't that tall, especially in contrast to the skyscrapers of downtown Portu ). The buildings were stone, and some had a wall of leaves. The streetlights were on even though there was no one out ( well actually, there were a few people, but Rascal didn't really include them; they were nothing special ).

However, what really caught his eye ( which gleamed in the dark, mind you ) was the feline figure that huddled next to the fountain in the middle of the mini-plaza. He let out a raven-like call, loud and frightening ( at least, he liked to think so, sometimes others saw it annoying for some reason ), and began a quick descent near the figure. Rascal rapidly flapped his wings to slow his landing until his sharp claws hooked into the dirt of the flowers that were decorated around the middle of the fountain. He gave a little caw of greeting, happily one might add ( some may say it could have been a little sneer, but it wasn't, really! sometimes it just happened to look like that ), and said, “Greetings my fine, fellow friend!” His eyes shined with curiosity. “What brings a wild kitty like you to the middle of a human's den this morning, eh?”

[Phantomhive]

I'M NOT A SLAVE TO A GOD THAT DOESN'T EXIST.

She looked up at the sky, water slowly dribbling from her chin fur and whiskers. A black seemed to be coming her way. It grew ever closer. Its shape was soon apparent: a bird, raven perhaps. The sight of meat brought up a thunderous rumble from her stomach. Her lips curled in irritation. I know, I know, she hissed in her mind. But we don't eat those. Her dam had caught a live raven for Phantomhive when she was a kit so that she could practice on him. The avian had been hard to kill and rather foul tasting; she would rather go hungry than chow down on one again. It landed high on the fountain, finding a comfortable spot amongst the flowers planted at the top. He was rather interesting for one of his kind, having bright blue eyes instead of the regular pitch black beads.

“Greetings my fine, fellow friend! What brings a wild kitty like you to the middle of a human's den this morning, eh?”

"My belly is empty, and there is not a scrap of meat to be found 'round my den," she replied. Perhaps he would be willing to share some food, or information on a hunting ground. Birds always seemed to know everything you needed to. Most were willing to share... for a price. "Say... Would ye be willin' to tell me a good spot to snag a meal? I'd be willin' to catch somethin' to feed ye too."

I'M NOT A SLAVE TO A WORLD THAT DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT.

[Phantomhive]

bump?

[Rascal the Raven]

( written by: admin )

With a twitch of his twitchy tail ( as if that really made sense ), Rascal listened to the kitty with a sort of disinterested interest ( you'll get these weird quirks eventually! ). "My belly is empty, and there is not a scrap of meat to be found 'round my den." Keeping a keen eye ( almost a glare, but not really, just a creepy kind of look ) on the cat ( or kat if you want to go with the alliteration ), he clicked ( klicked, am I right? ) his beak. For a moment, the usually talkative bird ( maybe not always talkative, but he certainly had an odd sort of humor commentary in his mind ) was silent ( a proud feat for whoever managed it ) as he thought over her words. It certainly made sense, at least, as to why the cat was in the humans' domain. However, Rascal was quite curious as to why there was no food around her own den. As he thought, the raven twisted his head around, the feathers around his neck fluffed up in an almost feral look ( well, maybe not feral, but he was a wild raven after all ). This was certainly news to think about ( and investigate )!

"Say..." Blinking, Rascal broke out of his thoughts with the flapping of his wings ( the nerve, interrupting his thoughts! ). Rascal gave her a look of slight annoyance, not that she knew his thoughts or anything, but quickly smoothed out his expression into a kind of curious look ( it especially helped that his head was tilted, a sort of thing that humans might have found cute, not that he was talking to a human ). Still, while annoyed, Rascal was ( admittedly, not that he would admit it ) curious as to what else the cat might say. After all, she did give some interesting news that he could look into...

"Would ye be willin' to tell me a good spot to snag a meal?" Oh. That was it. "I'd be willin' to catch something' to feed ye too." A thoughtful expression crossed Rascal's face. No, he wasn't interested in the food, but... well, he could always use free food ( it wouldn't hurt, no work on his part! ). Still, he could easy get his own food ( Rascal glanced at the flightless creature... yeah ). Rascal clicked his beak as he made a sound ( not that the sound was supposed to mean anything ).

"I can do that." Here, he blinked and locked his blue eyes at the cat ( he didn't even realized he looked to the sky, but the sky was his domain ). "But I'm not interested in food." Rascal leaped off the flower bed and took a few quick flaps before he landed closer to the feline ( but still far enough to jump and fly away if she chose to attack him ). He carefully looked at the cat, wondering if she did have any interesting things to say ( though Rascal didn't think she did considering she was a wild cat and all ). Nonetheless, he went on. "I'm a kind of... well, I'm the kind of bird that likes to know what's going on. Don't get me wrong, I don't gossip, but I like to know things... if you know what I mean."

( ooc: sorry, i didn't notice you posted )