Home Away From Home (Open)

[Frost]

Trista walked down the sidewalk of the busy street filled with cats, dogs, and humans alike. This place reminded her of parts of Italy, the place she'd been born in. She usually didn't think much about it, but something about today made her miss her home. The fawn-colored cat quickly turned her thoughts away from her past before she thought of the bad memories, the ones that she constantly blocked out.

Trista had a feeling that today would be a good day. So far she hadn't been bothered, she had eaten a late breakfast of delicious sausage she'd gotten from a vendor who had fallen for her 'I'm so hungry that I'm not afraid of you' ploy. It wasn't hard to pick out the types of vendors who would fall for it. 

The Somali decided that she'd visit a vendor that she had been getting food from for a few weeks for lunch. The vendor had given her some name, but the fawn-furred feline hadn't cared to memorize it. She would be nice to the vendor, she didn't really care for the pats on the head he gave her, but it was worth it for the food.

"It seems that today can't get much better," Trista said to herself, wondering how the day would turn out.

[Redshift]

The market was generally loud, but it was a content kind of loud where everyone was just at peace with perusing the exquisite food and intricate wares. Suddenly, there was a pocket of commotion. A clang of metal, a loud yell, and stringent cursing rang throughout the market. A lot of heads turned to see what had disturbed their leisurely Sunday afternoon with dark scowls. They got their answer as a lanky cat rushed through the crowd with a line of sausages trailing behind him. Then, a fuming Italian man followed hotly in pursuit, howling in anger.

"Tornare qui, dannato gatto!"

Ajax looked behind him for a moment, grinning between his mouthful of sausage. But, his moment of triumph was cut short as he fell head first into something, or rather someone, furry. He tragically dropped his meat and it took him a moment to get his bearings. He blinked slowly and realized he'd knocked into a cat, a beautiful lady cat, at that. "Oh geez, so sorry, I...uh..." Ajax glanced over his shoulder, hearing the Italian man getting closer. "Uh, you should probably run." With that, he picked up his gritty sausages and tore down the sidewalk. Honestly, he was not quite sure how to lose his pursuer or if the lady cat would even follow him, but he figured he could come up with something slick.

[Frost]

When another cat ran into her, Trista was so surprised that she yelled at him in her native language. "Che diavolo stai facendo?! Guarda dove stai andando!" She wasn't really angry, but he'd scared the hell out of her. She didn't have much time to think about it before she followed the darker cats gaze as he looked behind himself to see the sausage vendor she'd gotten her breakfast from earlier running towards them.

Trista turned tail and followed the other cat, her instincts taking over as she sighed. It seemed that she would not be able to persuade that vendor to give her food anymore. She quickly realized that the other cat didn't seem to know where he was going, so she sped up to run next to him.

"This way," she said as she sped up to run ahead of him, turning down an alley quickly, turning again onto another street, then racing to some large dumpsters. Slowing down a bit, she slipped behind them. After a few seconds of catching her breath, she turned to see if the cat with the sausages had followed her.

[Redshift]

Ajax nearly jumped as the other cat overtook his pace, taking a sharp turn down an alley way. He missed it and had to stop to turn around. Farther down the sidewalk, the vendor was still running, faster than the black cat thought a man of his stature could handle. At this point, he was just chasing the cats out of principle. He would probably make sausages out of feline meat if he was able to catch the thief. With that thought, Ajax speed after the female with renewed vigor.

They turned a couple other corners before they stopped at a few dumpsters. Ajax came in behind several seconds behind the fawn-colored cat, his breathing heavy and labored. It took him quite a while before he could relax and look over at the stranger. He gave her a sly grin and began to laugh. "Woo! That was pretty intense, huh? And did you see his face? It was all red and scrunched up, hilarious! I bet I can't go back there for a while."

The black cat sighed, leaning against the wall. Even though that vendor would hate his guts for the rest of eternity, his haul made the effort justified. He looked down to the sausages and his mouth began to water. His gaze then met the lady cat's, green eyes bright. "Really, sorry for bumping into you earlier. But hey, these babies were worth it. I think their still kind of warm. You want some?" Without waiting for her answer, he took one of the end ones, purring as the juices flooded his mouth. With meat still in his mouth he said, "My name's Ajax, by da way."

[Frost]

Trista laughed with the black cat, it had been pretty funny. "Don't worry about it," she replied when he apologized. She thought about his offer for a few seconds. "I am a bit hungry, so yes I would like some. If you don't mind, that is," she said, she wasn't too keen on humans, so eating now instead of persuading one to give her food later sounded like a good idea.

"Nice name," she complimented Ajax. She'd never heard a name like that before and it was interesting. "I'm Trista," she introduced herself politely. She'd never seen Ajax before, which was unusual since Trista usually kept a lookout for people she didn't know and made it a goal to figure out who they were. She knew a lot of people in this city, even though they didn't know her.

[Redshift]

Ajax continued to chomp down on the link, the smokey flavors engulfing his taste buds. Sure, he was not much of a pork or beef cat, but this beat dried or canned fish any day. This stuff was meant to for the much more delicate human palate, but it sure did spoil his taste buds. Looking over to the now introduced Trista, he broke off a sausage for her to have, nudging it towards her paws. "Thanks! Yours too. Never met a gal called Trista before." He paused for a moment. "Well, I guess not too many girls have given me their name. They usually claw for my eyes before we get to introductions." The black cat laughed awkwardly, realizing that happened way too often.

He then swallowed and cleared his throat. Listening to his acquaintance talk, he realized she had a slight accent. Curious, he asked, "So, you Italian? Like this sausage?" He held up the strand, but then realized his mistake. "Wait! Not like a sausage. I mean, you're much prettier and less delicious than a sausage. Well, I don't know if you're less delicious...what? No no, you're just prettier than a sausage. Not that that's hard to do...oh gosh, sorry I'll stop." Ajax was beginning to feel hot with embarrassment. He sighed, hung his head, and tried once more, "Did ya catch anything the angry dude was yelling at us?"

[Frost]

Trista took a bit of her sausage and chewed on it as she listened to Ajax. When he had finished talking, she swallowed, then took it upon herself to amend the situation. "Yes, I am Italian, and don't worry, I get what you mean. Thanks for the compliment," she smiled brightly, holding back a laugh. The whole situation was pretty amusing.

"I believe he said something along the lines of 'come back here, damn cat!'" She said, once again having trouble holding back laughter. She quickly took another bite of her sausage so that she wouldn't laugh, but she was still having trouble. After a moment she swallowed and regained her composure.

"So, are you new around here?" Trista asked curiously.

[Redshift]

Ajax nodded and chuckled, "Yeah, I figured he'd say as much. Angry ol' bastard." Though it was easy to dismiss humans as dumb, blubbering monkeys that made the food that the strays of the city stole, the black cat was oddly fascinated by them. Maybe it was his naturally romanticized view of the world, but he loved any chance he could to interact with them, even if it did mean stealing their sausages.

He then took a moment to answer her question, pondering his own timeline. "Well if here, you mean this neighborhood, then yeah. I've been around this place for a few months. I was born somewhere else in Brooklyn, though. Left as soon as I was old enough." He leaned back against the wall, chewing absently on a piece of meat. "It's beautiful, but a rough spot. I assume you've lived here a while, then. Don't know how you do it."

The black cat stood up straight, his belly pretty content with several sausages inside of it. "You know, surprisingly, no one's been friendly enough to give me a tour. You seem like you know the ins and outs of the place. Do you mind humoring a fellow feline after this warm meal?"