A treat that wants to be no treat [NPC encounter]

[saveournpcs]

Date: June 7-9
Characters: Open!

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Those who own/regularly look after a dog or cat might find their pet chasing something around.

Something small and fast and scurrying.

Something very crafty - nobody will find their cat or dog having caught it, but they'll find the pet trying to reach under a low space, into a wall cavity, and dog affiliated persons may even find the dog barking up a tree (or up at a high spot in the kitchen/living room/etc).

Investigate?

[ooc: Simply respond to this post, including the information of what the pet is and where they are.]

Comments

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie's four cats (Squash, Tigger, Amber, and Mr Evil's cat) are focused intently on the small space at the bottom of the TV stand in the lounge.

[saveournpcs]

There's some rustling at the very most removed spot of that small space. Something's most definitely trying to stay out of cat reach, hoping for them to get called away or perhaps just bored.

June 7th

[spaghettimonster]

After whatever mischief Chad got up to the previous weekend, and Russell's gone to some effort not to ask anyone what, so he can't somehow get made responsible for it... His owners contacted Russell for a couple extra walks this week.

Days like this, Russell remembers why he's a dog-sitter, and not a dog-owner.

They're in the park, taking a tour of all the best sniffing spots, with Chad checking out some large popular tree in particular. Russell's paused just a moment of checking his phone, and the barking begins.

"Chad, psst! Not so loud."

[dragoonrouge]

Unfortunately for whatever the small, scurrying thing is, the cats are tenacious and surprisingly patient as four sets of eyes all in a row remain locked on the area under the TV stand with four set of very sharp claws at the ready.

Tigger, ever the endeavouring feline, swipes underneath to see if the scurrier is withing paws length.

[saveournpcs]

Nope, it is not. And it's going to utter some distressed squeaking noises now.

Is there no help nearby that could take the cats away?

[channingchanningchanning]

But there's a really interesting scent up this tree!

Look, it wiggles and moves and he just chased it agross a whooping five feet of grass onto that tree and LOOK! THIS IS ALMOST AS GOOD AS RANDOM CHICKEN!

[dragoonrouge]

Living with cats for as long as she has, even with her more sensitive hearing, the scrabbling sound of animals in the house is a bit like white noise to Sadie. What isn't white noise the sound of squeaking that definitely isn't coming from a cat.

"Oh for fucks sake!" Sadie opens her door and starts heading swiftly for the lounge, "Which one of you menaces brought in a mouse?! Shoo! Shoo!"

Sadie waves the cats away and kneels down next to the TV to try and get a clear look at what the cats have dragged in this time.

[spaghettimonster]

Dog-sitting should be easier when the dog can understand exactly what he's saying. It should be. Instead, it's like baby-sitting.

"Come on, the volume... Barking isn't going to bring it down, you know!"

If anything, Russell figures, the volume of Chad's interest is just going to convince whatever stray animal he's chased into the tree to stay up there.

What is up there, anyway?

[saveournpcs]

What Russell can see is that it is tiny and ...very hard to spot. Likely some form of tree coloured, probably brown.

A bit more indicative might be that it is squeaking down at the dog.

Oddly enough, it doesn't sound scared so much as... angry. There's a good amount of consternation in the squeaking sounds.

[spaghettimonster]

At least it doesn't sound terrified.

It's... a little too brown, and a little too far south, for him to assume it's an insulted squirrel. And that squeaking doesn't quite sound like an unhappy bird. A small cat, maybe?

"What is that...?"

Russell's not about to join in the barking, but he pulls out his mobile and opens the camera app to zoom in at it.

[dreamtamer]

"Gizmo?" Thom crouches over next to the dog, who was staring fixedly at the space under the couch. "What are you looking for? Did you lose one of your toys under there again?"

[saveournpcs]

Well, perhaps. But only if the toy suddenly developed the ability to move, because something is definitely moving back there - scurrying forth and back, trying to make sure that it is solidly out of the dog's reach and attempting to find a safe way out.

[saveournpcs]

It's small. No, actually - it's tiny. No longer than a woman's hand is wide, most definitely. Likely some form of rodent? It's also brown and quite distressed, though some calming down happens when the cats are shooed away... and then it starts up again when a human that somehow still manages to be part cat shows up. THAT WAS NOT WHAT IT WANTED why are there so many cats in this household!!!!!!

[saveournpcs]

It's definitely a lot smaller than a squirrel. Or a cat. No longer than a woman's hand is wide, most definitely. Which makes it hard to spot more details from this distance, but going by the angry squeaking sounds it's probably more a rodent.

It's definitely not amused by the dog barking at the bottom of the tree...

And considering escape mechanisms.

To which end it is scurrying onto a branch of the tree that hangs directly above Russell and then just drops, aiming to land straight on his head.

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie coos quietly at the distressed... Animal? "There, there. The cats are gone now, you're safe."

Sadie moves slowly away, ears still focused on the small creature as she scans the lounge for some sort of box or container to carry it in.

[saveournpcs]

There is a very long moment of Thought, and then the visitor very quickly scurries forward.

It turns out to indeed be a mouse - a very small mouse. It shoots across the floor and then up Sadie's leg. If it can make it, it'll climb up all the way to her shoulder and stop there.

Oh no, it's adorable

[dragoonrouge]

Sadie freezes as soon as the tiny mouse comes scurrying out from underneath the TV stand and forces herself to remain stock still as it quickly climbs up her leg to her shoulder.

"Hello? You're rather bold aren't you?" She comments quietly, still standing in the middle of the lounge as her ears twitch, this was going to be something weird wasn't it?

because i don't have a good russell icon for this

[spaghettimonster]

Whatever it is, and he still can't quite make it out... Russell can't believe his eyes when it drops directly at him.

He doesn't step away, too busy gaping at its choice, and he only ducks at the last second so it'll land on his hair instead of his face.

"Oh my god, it's on me, what is it get it off," he says, repeatedly making aborted swipes at his hair. Each time he stops inches short, afraid he'll injure whatever it is, or it'll bite his hand, or worse - knock it into Chad's barking grasp.

[dreamtamer]

That's all it takes to get Thom down on the floor right beside the dog as he tries to see what was moving. Gizmo whines a little and tries to fit more of his head under the couch.

[vernal_miss]

Nel is laying on the bed in her bedroom drawing in her sketchbook. Accompanied by Dizzy, the cat that has claimed her bed most often, her pencil lifts away as Dizzy wakes from a lazy nap and shows intense interest towards where her bed meets the wall in a matter of seconds. Dizzy hops from the bed and ducks under the bed to investigate.

A little slower to follow, Nel sits up on the bed and slides off to crouch on the floor and look under after the feline, “Dizzy? What’s the matter?”

[saveournpcs]

Almost the second Nel leans down that far, something tiny and brown shoots towards her and up her arm, all the way to her neck where it seems to hunker down trying to hide in her ear - Nel will be able to hear worried squeaking somewhere behind her right ear.

[saveournpcs]

It's too dark to really see anything. All that Thom can observe from here that whatever it is is very small, no larger than the palm of his hand.

[dreamtamer]

Obviously the answer to seeing something small moving around under the couch is to make friends with it. He shushes Gizmo and squirms a little to get a better view of the space under the couch and waits to see if it will come any closer.

asdfasd

[channingchanningchanning]

Chad has turned around, having noticed Russell's panic, and now starts barking up the human, running a circle around him in an attempt to see what's up there.

"Bow down, I'll get it!" he barks in response to Russell's words, but sadly he he is a dog right now and there is no network connection open anywhere nearby, so all that comes out is doggybarking.

[vernal_miss]

Barely able to spot the brown blur coming towards her from under the bed, the feeling of it racing up her arm makes her fall back to sitting with a shrill squeak of her own in surprise. Surrounding her shoulder and even covering her ear, her long hair will provide a thick curtain of cover to hide. With the small creature hiding at her ear, she freezes and looks towards the right without moving her position.

Taking a few breaths as she listens to the worried series of squeaks, she starts to move as she sees Dizzy come back out under the bed. Rather than allow Dizzy to chase the creature further once she realizes where it has gone, Nel stands up slowly.

"Okay...okay, calm down. I'll keep you safe."