[open mingle] close your eyes, feel the present

[revolutionfalcon]

Who: Everyone! This is an open mingle log, so feel free to toplevel and thread between yourselves as much as possible.
When: October 27th
Where: Calico Cat Cafe, somewhere vague in Tokyo. An address was posted on the BBS a day prior.
What: Cat adoption day - come bring some (or a lot of) new friends home, take advantage of the no entry fee to spend a day hanging out with cats, or volunteer to help out the somewhat overloaded staff.

An adoption event needs no small venue, and Cat Cafe Calico provides that much, visible as soon as anyone walks in the front door, pane glass with a little bell to ensure no cats walk out undetected. The area is spacious and welcoming, warmly lit with smooth and modern decor, and of course, plenty of posts for the cats. The cafe area itself is on the lower floor, along with various stools, cushions and lounges for people to sit on and spend some time with the plentiful felines. Most of the adoption services have set up along one wall down here, but it's plenty easy to avoid them and just play around with the cats unless you intend to adopt. They've got plenty of waitstaff available, and the cafe is testing out some new and unusual styles and flavours of tea, coffee and milkshakes, as well as seasonal fruit based cakes and tarts. For those without as much of a sweet tooth, there's savoury snacks as well - or maybe you'd prefer to just buy some snacks for the cats, which is an option too.

Upstairs, there's also a video game area with plenty more seating and plenty more cats...though good luck getting them out of the way of the screens, or occasionally off the consoles themselves. Quite a few of the cats are lounging around by the large window, either between cushions or on an impressively-sized play frame, and some are even up near the roof on mounted walkways. There are no guarantees they won't drop onto the occasional passerby. The upstairs also houses a few enclosed areas for people to socialise with specific cats or groups of them to see which ones they get on with best.

Volunteers will be thanked profusely, and some of the staff may even approach visitors to ask if they might help, offering compensation of food and drink prices or similar. There's a lot of adoption paperwork to be done, and with the waitstaff run off their feet, there's few people left to supervise interactions between visitors and cats to make sure all's friendly. Of course, this is an excellent excuse to just surround oneself with any available cats and let others approach as they please.

There's a steady stream of kittens being let out into the mingling cats throughout the day, most of them kept to enclosed areas under staff supervision. Whenever more come out, it might be possible to catch some whispers from the waitstaff, as if surprised at something - listen closely enough, and it sounds like they're talking about an employee, one who they barely see and rarely talks, yet finishes work promptly and slips away before anyone notices except the cats, who all seem very comfortable around him...

Whatever the reason for being here, there's plenty of cats to go around, plenty of activity, and ample opportunity to take home a new friend! Or two. Or ten, if you can convince the staff you can handle it.

Comments

[smilingbullet]

[ A ]
[ D2 came to the cafe to play with cats (taking some time off from training once in a while is important too - though he did come directly from a gym) and, maybe, adopt another one. He'd have to ask Forrest before actually making any decision, though he thinks he won't mind.

He has found a seat on the floor and he's using a stool in place of a table, and on the stool he's got coffee and fruit tart, and there are at least half a dozen cats around and on him by now. He lifts up the coffee cup when one of them puts her paws on the stool to sniff at the coffee. She looks at him with an offended expression when the cup is held out of reach. ]

No dear, this is far too hot for you right now. And it's not very healthy for you either.

[ B ]
[ After finishing several cups of coffee, D2 has found another place to sit and play with cats. One is chasing a mouse toy he's bouncing across the floor, for example. ]

Are you comfy in there?

[ Today, D2 is wearing pastel pink and blue, jeans, and, it seems, cats. Two kittens have made itself a nest in his hoodie's hood. One of the kittens meows, the other snoozes on. He speaks to the cats in English, like he often does to the cats he already keeps, and he speaks way too little English since he came to the Far Shore. ]

Alright, but you know you can't stay there forever right? Same goes for you, blossoms.

[ The big round cat in his lap that he gives a poke burps, the one sitting on his shoulder with its back paws on his back and a few claws digging into his hoodie to stay on ignores him in favor of watching the mouse toy with laser focus. The cat sitting on his leg and partly on the round cat, purrs when he pets it. ]

B!

[pure_radiantics]

Oh my gosh! Did you put them in there?

[Kairi comes up behind D2, where the kittens snuggling in his hoodie's hood are clearly visible.]

How cute...

[She comes up with a little feather toy in hand, looking for where all the cats in this area of the cafe went to - and thinks she found them, all surrounding D2.]

[smilingbullet]

I helped them, at least, they decided to get in there on their own though.

[ The kittens looks up at her, one of them stretching its little neck to twitch its whiskers at her and her toy. ]

They're super adorable, it kinda makes me want to take them all home.

[ But he doesn't know if he can. Forrest may have been fine with D2 bringing two cats along when he moved in but what would he say of this many---D2 doesn't know. ]

[pure_radiantics]

[ Kairi laughs at D2's initial explanations. ]

Aww, how kind of you.

[ And she puts her hand up in a 'thoughtful' pose as she responds to the second part though. ]

Hmm... The temple's pretty big, right? There's got to be a few rooms or section of the garden they'd be comfortable in, right?

[ She certainly knows the layout as well as D2 does by this point. ]

[smilingbullet]

I'm kindness incarnate.

[ Well, he's done some bad things and killed far more people than he can count in the line of duty, but he is still a good person. ]

Yeah, right? I should be able to adopt several, right?

[ Of course, and he knows she knows it well. In the first place, she is basically the reason he lives with Forrest now. ]

[pure_radiantics]

[ From what she's privy to, Kairi just nods happily at D2's personal remark on his own kindness. ]

Definitely, several - if that's not going to upset Forrest, of course. I think there's plenty of room, personally, but I was with a bunch of outdoors-only animals at the old temple complex, and no fears of knocking over things like vanities and dressforms.

[smilingbullet]

Mmh, I wouldn't want to cause too much damage.

[ If he brings home some cats, and one or more cause a mess or trouble, that would be his fault at least in part, right? He doesn't want to mess things up for Forrest. ]

That's why I'm going to ask him first. At least it ought to prepare him that I might bring some home.

[pure_radiantics]

Let me know either way, will you? I could probably spare some time to come over and help you settle in any new friends you get!

[ She claps him on the shoulder, enthusiastic and hopeful. She's never known Forrest to have a bad attitude towards animals... but maybe some clear barriers to get to his commissions, that would be in order for sure. ]

[smilingbullet]

[ She's both a great friend and a great girlfriend, clearly. ]

Yeah sure. Official introductions nee to happen at that point too anyway, right?

Wrap?

[pure_radiantics]

Definitely! They're gonna be members of your temple after all! Adorable members.

[ She smiles and pats his shoulder. ]

Call me back over if you need any help with filling out the adoption paperwork, okay?

Yes

[smilingbullet]

Yep, they'll be my adorable little children.

[ Closest thing to a family he's got is anyone at the temple, his dear friends. ]

I'll try to work it out first, but yeah I will if I need help.

B

[priforprince]

You're surprisingly literate.

[ You'd think Hibiki would know not to talk to D2 under any circumstance. But she's far too fond of showing off throwing foreign languages around to resist the chance to speak English here, too.

As far as her cat situation is concerned, she's carrying a cat with long fur the exact shade of her hair in the crook of her arm. It is fussing with her tie, and she is trying to ignore that. The lady...is so mischievous.... ]

[smilingbullet]

[ Hibiki is a brave, relentless woman with a certain lack of sense.

He's an American soldier, of course he speaks English. But D2 is not going to say "obviously, English is one of my first languages" because he's not really interested in telling Hibiki that he's got a bunch of memories back because they're not that close.

Did she look for a cat with the same fur coloring as her just for the sake of effect or something? He would not be surprised.

He smiles up at her with a look of pure innocence on his face. ]

I'm terribly sorry that I can't live up to your expectations, God Apollo. I'm sure you would have preferred me to be incapable of mingling on the international stage.

[priforprince]

I didn't have any especial expectations of you.

[ On this point she will eternally be clear: when you are not in her immediate orbit, she likes to try to forget you exist. It tends to succeed.

One would think a different tactic might keep her from being so upset and surprised every time they interact later, but, genius is unfathomable.

Hibiki's cat takes a break from strangling her with the world's most elite noose and chirps at the cats D2 is playing with. Hello, peasants. ]

[smilingbullet]

Yeah I know!

[ She didn't get that he meant that she don't think very highly of him and things around that.

The selkirk rex on his shoulders is the only one who replies to the Hibiki cat's chirp with something like a merp. The kittens are peering curiously over though. ]

But I don't really have much expectations of you either.

1/2

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki's cat stretches and begins kneading her sleeve, preening a bit at having such a Good Perch (and all the other cats, who have less good perches, looking at it).

More things Hibiki was not expecting: claws on her arm. ]

Hkk...

2/2

[priforprince]

[ No, no, she's fine, she's fine, what a pleasure it is to be appreciated by someone of equal pedigree. Hibiki rests a hand on the cat's head, coughing. ]

Then we're in accord.

[ What are the odds of you not pointing out she just made a noise? ]

Re: 2/2

[smilingbullet]

I guess that we are! What a rare occasion, it's very celebratory, don't you think?

[ This cat and this god are surely a match made in heaven. So to speak.

And cats are above even gods, of course there might be claws involved. ]

You okay there, God Apollo?

[priforprince]

Always.

[ The cat purrs and kneads some more. ]

[smilingbullet]

You got claws in you though.

At least D2's clothes are thick enough to mostly or entirely protecting him from getting his skin prickled by cat claws. ]

[priforprince]

.....It's a refined hunter instinct.

[ One of her talent agency proteges said that (if you tilt your head, squint, and have a vivid imagination), and that's good enough for her. ]

[smilingbullet]

So does that mean that you're prey?

[ Wouldn't that be fun. The can in his arms merps at the Hibiki cat again. ]

[priforprince]

The skills of a creature of such pedigree are not to be taken lightly.

[ In response to this merping, the creature of such pedigree myowls and licks its own armpit. ]

[smilingbullet]

[ That's not very friendly. Murp. D2 thinks it's amusing though. ]

Oh no, I'm not taking your friend lightly at all.

[priforprince]

[ ...there is an implication here that irritates Hibiki enough that she keeps bragging about her cat to try and get her mood back the way she likes it. ]

This particular breed can trace its lineage back to the cats owned by Priopatra.

[ Or so she has chosen to believe. Done with the licking, the cat decides it is time for climbing. Up Hibiki.

With a nice, firm grip. ]