Accents and Asylums [Chao]

[seraaches]

It wasn't too horribly strange to grow up at an asylum. At least, it wasn't for him; it was all he had ever known, after all. The King turned as he heard his name called and searching golden eyes skimmed over the crowd of faces already turned in his direction to find the waving hand of the little gerbil nurse. He moved gracefully, head held high as his hooves echoed softly across the stone street beneath golden feet. The sounds of the crowd, however, easily covered it, which was just as well. He hated being stared at.

The proud tilt of his head, the arrogant arch of his neck were little more than efforts to hide just how much he hated it when people stared at him, murmuring as he strode by, and leaving a trail of whispers behind him. He made it to the nurse's side gratefully, and the kindly Sonja patted his young neck fondly and carefully arranged some bags over his shoulders before leading him on through the crowd.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Though the boy knew he hated to be stared at, Kristoff had no idea and so he did stare, and very openly. Well, it would have been open, if the cat had been anywhere near the area of the general public. From where he crouched in the shadows, it was entirely likely no one at all could see him watching the boy. The fact that he was with nurses didn't matter at all to the feline. All he could see was that pretty red coat, so vivid, and the spiralling horn that rose from the center of the boy's forehead. Such striking features! And better yet, he was certain that his Meecha would look favorably upon both if he were able to somehow deliver the child do her.

He slunk along in the shadows as the boy followed obediently, never letting the child out of his sight. It wasn't hard to do with such bright colors, but all the same the feline barely even blinked as he stalked his quarry. He needed the boy, had to capture him.

How he would go about doing such was a different matter entirely, one that still required thought. The nurse seemed to be watching him fairly closely, and would probably not react well if a stranger came out of nowhere and whisked the horse away. Hmm. He'd just follow close for now, then, and seize the opportunity if it should ever present itself. Which they always did, if he was patient. His tail twitched as he waited, but otherwise, he was still and silent.

[seraaches]

"Oh, dear, Havoc," Sonja said softly and suddenly, her voice difficult to hear around the murmur of the crowd. "I seem to have forgotten our fruit. Will you fix my error?" She hated to have him hurry back alone, but they still had far too many errands to allow her the time to return now.

His ears twisted backwards in an immediate show of unease, but, of course, he quickly nodded his head to show his willingness. "Apples, pears, and oranges?" he asked softly.

"And clementines, if they carry them," the gerbil agreed, giving him an apologetic smile. "Ah, here comes Nurse Lanie; she can take your burdens before you bounce off."

It took no time at all to pass the bags to the bulkier doe, who accepted them without a word. Havoc swallowed and offered the two women a nervous smile then headed back into the crowds that parted before him.

"He's such a shy child," Sonja sighed.

Lanie only nodded one and brusquely asked, "What's next?"

The colt had his head high again as he slowly made his way back towards the fruit sellers, pretending he wasn't horrible self conscious. He wished, often, that he didn't have this stupid horn that caused people to stare and, occasionally, run from him. His ears flattened against his head as his thoughts spiraled down their depressing turn.

[carcinoGeneticist]

As he'd expected it would, his patience was finally being rewarded. The pretty creature was walking away from its guardians, out into the general panic of the street. Kristoff slipped from the shadows and began to follow the red horse, taking care to keep out of his view and out of the view of his caretakers, knowing that they'd probably try to interfere if they noticed that the boy was being... stalked. When he was halfway to the stand and, the feline felt, well out of the line of sight of the two nurses, the cat made his approach, sauntering jauntily over to the pretty creature.

Meecha would reward him well for such a gift, he was certain.

"'ey! 'ey, yew dere![/b]" he called out, loud enough to hopefully get the boy's attention but not attract too much attention from passers-by. After all, if they got involved, it would ruin everything he'd been working for. As he approached, he accentuated his limp, letting one paw dangle loosely and pathetically. "Yew lewk li' an upftandin' youn' fing, migh' yew take pi'y on a poor cripple 'o'f loft 'if crutfefs? It'f a real pain ta wal' wifout 'em, an' noone elfe'll 'aff anyfing ta do wif poor ol' Kriftoff.[/b]"

Kristoff gave the horse a truely pathetic expression, screwing up his face into a hopeful smile as he nearly scraped the ground. A King of Clubs... Meecha would be thrilled indeed. And didn't he look like that mythical thing? The horse with a big old horn on its head? He couldn't remember for sure, but he thought he remembered hearing about those once.

[seraaches]

People so rarely actually spoke to him unless they absolutely had to, plus the fact that he desperately kept him purposefully distanced from those around him, caused the King to actually have no idea that he was being approached until well after the Golfam had gotten right next to him. The Morganberry turned to look at the cat. . . thing. . . and had to fight his initial reaction to jerk away. Of course, having grown up at an insane asylum, he had learned that it's often highly unwise to jerk away from the crazies.

This cat. . . looked crazy. Havoc's ears flattened uneasily yet again as he heard the strange, strange speech, and he tried to keep his eyes from showing his fear. He had no idea what the man was asking for, but guessed it was probably money. Wasn't that what most of the homeless asked for?

"I'm. . . I'm sorry," he said hesitantly. "I'm afraid I don't have any extra on me." He hoped that would be enough to get the Golfam to leave him alone, especially since he had stopped walking without thinking about it.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Sucess! The pretty horse-deer-horn thing had looked at him! Kristoff grinned inwardly, his tail twitching happily from side to side. Sometimes, he was so damnably clever, and today was one of his lucky days. All the people who called him an inbred, illiterate hick could choke on their own words!

Then, his expression soured at the boy's reply. Was he deaf or something? Kristoff had clearly requested help looking for his crutches, but the boy was denying him money? It was enough to make the cat's tail lash from side to side for a moment before he forced it still once more and tried to put his genial smile on again. It looked a little strained around the edges, but he thought he'd done an admirable job at smoothing his expression over.

"No, no, I don' wan' money...[/b]" Kristoff said, waving a paw dismissively. "I nee' 'elp findin' my crutchef, yew know? Crutchef? T'elp me walk? Fer an' ol' cripple like me ge' aroun'? I loft em an' I need 'elp findin' 'em again.[/b]"

If the kid still didn't seem to know, then Kristoff was more than willing to drop the act and just grab him by the scruff and take him away. Since the boy was a King, he'd rather not resort to that. Who knew what sort of powers the boy would have lurking under the rather quiet exterior? The cat didn't trust high-rankers, as he called them. They had too many secrets for his liking.

[seraaches]

"Oh, crutches," Havoc felt rather bad that it had taken him so long to catch that. He likely could have consoled himself with the knowledge that the cat's accent was simply atrocious and made it virtually impossible to understand anyway, but he wasn't really the type to allow himself leeway based on anything as trivial as that.

Now he was really torn. This man was scary and really kindof ugly, but it seemed unlikely that the man could have helped that. And he really wasn't supposed to talk to strangers. But the man had that weird limp and seemed. . . off in the head, like a lot of the patients at the asylum. And he knew that if any of them had gotten loose in a town, they would appreciate a nice person stopping to try and help them get back home. But he also was on an errand. He wasn't certain what he should do.

"Uhm, well, where do you think you lost them?" he temporized instead, wondering if he could sort of direct the scary man and then go on his way.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The boy's tone seemed to hint at apologizing, and so Kristoff allowed the fur on his back to settle once more. Silly child, had no one ever taught him how to best speak and listen to someone? From the way the boy had reacted to his words, the cat would have thought he was speaking in the native language of Golfam rather than Common... Feh. The pretty creature seemed to be rethinking his position on helping out, however, which quite delighted the cat.

Now he just needed to figure out a way to lure the boy away and keep him away. He had a small vial of a sleeping solution, didn't he?

"Hnnnh, I fink... I probbly lef' 'em offer dere fomewheres,[/b]" the cat said, whiskers bristling slightly as he extended a claw and pointed beyond the fruit stalls, closer to where buyers were peddling clothing and jewelry and other trinkets. Kristoff glanced at the horse, his sickly yellow eyes narrowing slightly. "Pleafe, it woul' mean lotf if yew can 'elp. It'f fo hard, ge'in aroun' wif my back fo bad an' no crutchef. Ol' Kriff'll get yew a ifee drink fer yer helpin 'im out, yef.[/b]"

It was a rather warm day, after all. Bribing the child to slip through the crouds and away wouldn't be too hard, as long as the boy wanted a treat of some kind... That'd also make delivery of the sleeping-poison simpler.

[seraaches]

Havoc tried to not sigh in frustration as the man seemed to have taken his desire to just direct as proof that he actually would go help look. He couldn't very well go back on his perceived word now, even if it wasn't what he'd actually said in the first place.

The horse's red ears drooped ever so slightly and he reluctantly turned to look in the direction the Golfam had gestured in. It did not occur to Havoc to ask how the man had gotten as far as he had without crutches, nor why he couldn't limp his way back to find them again. One ear flicked towards the cat at the offer of a drink-- at least, Havoc was fairly certain that's what the Golfam had just said-- and he protested faintly that it really wouldn't be necessary. And then he headed towards the clothing and trinkets. Maybe he could ask other vendors if they'd seen the crutches; surely that was something fairly obvious? Unfortunately, that would involve more talking. . . Maybe he'd just see them lying around somewhere.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Of course, the supposed crutches were nowhere to be found. That was unsurprising to Kristoff, as they were and always had been an entirely fictional creation. But he led the boy on all the same, taking him farther and farther from where his guardians had last been seen. It was getting to be difficult for Kristoff to keep up the awkward gait. His excitement was starting to get the better of him.

Oh, his Meecha would reward him well for this one.

Finally, when he was satisfied that they were far enough away, the feline sighed. "Eeeeh... It lookf lik' fomebody made off wif 'em." he said in what he hoped sounded like a remorseful tone. He turned a watery yellow eye on Havok, the corners of his mouth dipping into a frown. "Fankf for de help annyhow. But I need to ge' yew a drink. Fer helpin' an' ol' crip like myfelf aroun'. Fo kind. I won' take no fer an anfer, eiver."

The cat gave the horse a welcoming smile, his ears perking forward. He was so close.