She left me behind...for real? [Done]

[Kari Muffin]

Xander was in the middle of Capital City. Alone.

He watched as people walked by him, sitting on the sidewalk. He got plenty of curious glances but no one stopped. The feline sighed and looked down at the ground for a moment, ears pulled back in frustration.

Where had his grandmother run off to? Mom had told him plenty of stories about how she was left behind as a child. He hadn't believed a single one of them until now. No wonder she was so hesitant to let Peaches take him anywhere, or any one of his siblings for that matter.

His tail swished a bit before he stood up. Well, he better start looking for that hotel that she said to go to if they got separated. At least he knew that there was a room for them to stay in there. Not like Grandma had given him any directions.

[Nako]

A cheerful little hybrid made his way down the road. Sure, he got a few odd looks on occasion, but he wasn't the strangest thing to walk down the street. The albino hobbled along, taking care not to get his long toes stepped on in the crowd. Whenever the people around him wouldn't give him enough room, the young coyote/bat flung his white wings out, peeping out feeble 'excuse me's to whoever he hit. Of course they were halfhearted; these fools wouldn't give him enough room to breathe much less walk! It was good to know his wings were good for something.. even if it wasn't flying.

So, Mikael made his merry way down the road, his small pocket money in a small bag kept around his neck. He was just at that age where he could walk down the street and people not think it too terribly weird for him being on his own; perhaps he lived in town and his parents sent him off to get some bread? Nevertheless, he wasn't too worried about anyone abducting him; people knew his father, and there was no doubt that there were eyes about the Capital keeping a look out for him. Of course, that also meant Mikael needed to be on relatively good behavior. Meh.

It was probably the flash of white that caught his eye, along with brilliant yellow. The extra set of arms was only a second thought when it came to his intrigue. Trotting over, he evaluated the youngster carefully from afar, staying behind him as he watched the lad walk somewhat aimlessly. He did this for about a block or so before deciding the odd albino in fact did -not- know where he was going, and made his approach. "Lo there! You look kind of lost?" He said cheerfully, panting noisily in his bog mask.

[Kari Muffin]

Xander was very lost as he wandered the streets. He didn't take notice to the person following him, until he spoke. Stopping in his tracks, the yellow and white cat peered over his shoulder, moving one of his arms out of the way so he could see properly.

Someone in a gas mask?

He turned around completely to look at the person, bindings jingling slightly as he sat down to face them. His ears twitched as he stared at the boy for a moment. Xander chocked his head to one side to study the card in front of him.

Yeah it was totally him. Of course it was him. There weren't that many Bog Dwellers running around in the first place, and who else could it be. Unless it was some sort of evil doppelganger that he was unaware of.

"Hi Uncle Mikael. I lost Grandma Peaches," He said with a small shrug. Really, she lost him, but he wasn't going to say that out loud.

[Nako]

(*tries to save face* XD)

Tail wagging, he ducked down into a playful bow when the lad turned around. He almost hadn't recognized the boy at first! "S'you! I didn't think it was you at first... I don't see you in the market too often... Ever.. actually" His face screwed up into a confused expression, though one could really only tell by the position of his ears what he was feeling due to his mask.

He wiggled his nose thoughtfully and looked around. He didn't see the crazy wall climbing kitty anywhere. "Yup. I guess you did. Did she say where she was going?" Turning around a few times, he gave a little look-around. "When was the last time you saw her? You'd think you wouldn't be that easy to lose.. all bright colored like you are. She must not have been paying attention much..."

[Kari Muffin]

"That's because Mom is super protective. Or she doesn't want me to be a chaos maker like Grandma. I'm not sure which is worse for her," He said with another shrug. On the rare occasion he managed to sneak out of the palace Mommy always found him, or had someone else do her dirty work.

Xander sighed. "No, Grandma only gave me the name of the place we're staying tonight if I got lost. It's the Grand Bell Hotel.... but," he broke out into a wide grin. "Since you're around I guess I don't have to hurry there. I don't know if they'd believe me about room reservations anyway. Hanging out in a lobby for hours would be boring anyway. And Grandma probably got side tracked."

And this was a perfect chance for him to experience freedom from his Mommy's prying eyes. At least Daddy and...everyone else wasn't as clingy. Thankfully Othello was the one who got that most of the time.

[Nako]

"She probably doesn't even notice you are gone yet." Mikael said with a bit of chagrin. While not exactly a prime example of good behavior himself at this age, something about 'losing' children didn't seem like a very responsible thing to do.

"Well then! This sounds like a rare slice of freedom for you then. So, what to you want to do before we both undoubtedly get into tons of trouble? I'm a bit of an accomplice now, you know. If they actually -do- start worrying about you and they find out I've been whisking you from one side of the capital to another, they'll have my head." Despite his talk of gloom and doom, his tail never stopped its steady wagging. Obviously, he wasn't too worried about being beheaded.

"Saaay.... Want to go check out the side of the butcher shop? I totally tagged it the other night. Painted a mural to be proud of, for sure! I doubt they've gotten around to painting over it yet."

((Completely forgot about this sorry!))

[Kari Muffin]

Xander couldn't help but purr with boyish glee at the thought of getting into trouble. He hadn't been without his siblings before, and he would get a chance like this in a long time, he was sure. Mommy was far over protective and Dad would probably scold him.

The feline practically bounced with joy at the mix realm. "I'm sure we can come up with something awesome enough to tell our parents. They can't punish us for what they don't know unless we get caught. And I'm sure we won't!"

His ears perked up when he heard the question. "Ooooh! Sure I want to see it! I really hope it hasn't gotten painted over!" He would follow wherever Mikael would lead him. He had no idea where the butcher show was after all, and he had plenty of time to kill before Peaches noticed he was gone. If she noticed he was gone that is. Sometimes grandma was pretty unobservant.

[Nako]

Mikael was more than happy to lead the way, mince-trotting as he usually did with his fingers arched as well as they could to stay out of the way of passers by. Every now and again he'd walk on his knuckles, but to do so was so hard to do on cobblestone roads. one was forced to use the pawpads nature made for walking, even if it put his super fragile fingers at risk.

They made it to the shop without incident, and Mikael sat down before the mural, panting noisily and wetly behind his bog mask as he took it all in. "It looks even better in the daylight. What do you think?"

The mural consisted of eight faceless humans, nude and of alternative gender in an entwined circle, overly long fingers grasping desperately as their bodies contorted to make some strange, harsh wreath of bodies. The skin was colored in harsh reds and pinks, the shading of them being a contrasting darker bluish hue. The hair was black and wild, long on both genders.

[Kari Muffin]

It was a good thing that there was no incident. Xander was absolutely fascinated by the way Mikael walked. It was just really interesting how his fingers worked. Wings that hadn't formed must have been inconvenient when they turned out that way.

When they arrived the cat's tail was twitching with all the bottled up anticipation. When he looked at the image on the wall his eyes widened as he processed it. It really was a lot different from all that "formal art" that everyone thought was so great. And the subject matter was something he had never really noticed before.

Wow. That was really cool. It must have taken forever to do. "Wooow! You're really amazing! I could never even imagine how you did that." He titled his head to the side and edged closer. He was half tempted to touch it, but knew better than that.

[Nako]

"You really think so?" Mikael was all but glowing, his scrawny, adolescent chest puffing out with the utmost pride. Normally, finishing a work of art was enough for him, but when people actually -approved- of his work.. it was a whole new level of satisfaction, especially when his father was so... hostile towards his more magnificent creations.

"Ey you! Get t'hell outta here!" Came an angry voice from around the bend. it was that damned butcher, a greasy looking man who had acquired his human form by some miracle, for he was only a three of clubs. The obvious markings of a jossigy splotched his face and hair.

"Oh shit, run!" Spinning around, he fumbled awkwardly on his odd paws to get enough traction and speed, glancing over his shoulder frantically to make sure his cousin was keeping up. "Come on!"