A day with a cat. |Tempy|

Alexandra purred as she rubbed the side of her face against the millonth tree she had passed while venturing into the forest. Her owner wouldn't play, so Alexandra had decided that it would be okay if she went out on her own today. Hearing a curious noise, Alexandra padded gently over the leaves until she spotted a squirrel high up in one of the trees. Primal instinct kicked in and Alexandra lept up into the tree chasing after the squirrel getting higher and higer in the tree until it suddenly disappeared and Alexandra was left all by herself on a lone tree. Looking down at the ground that was about 30 feet below her, the cat was of course surprised. A few minutes passed of her pacing back and forth on the limb before she started to meow loudly- wanting desperately to get down.

Alexander walked through the trees, a long, rectangular black box in one hand and a jacket slung over one shoulder. A shovel was tucked under one arm and he walked as one haunted.

If anybody asked what he was doing, he would probably come up with some lie about a time capsule. In reality, he was burying some supplies out in the woods for when he would make his escape. He didn't trust anybody here to leave his room alone. His father's influence would most certainly warrant a search.

Alex didn't want them to find out his plans just yet.

He had just picked out a place when he heard something that didn't register at first as a cat. He closed his eyes and located the sound, then looked up. If he squinted, he could make out the animal in the tree.

Surprised, he asked angrily, "What are you doing up there?"

Alex shook his head. "Right... asking a cat... idiot..." Under normal circumstances, he would have continued with what he was doing, but he found himself putting his stuff down and climbing the tree the cat had gotten itself stuck in. Once he got to the branch, he ended up sitting next to the cat to take a short break before descending.

Now, Alex would have done things the easy way; taken his power and used water to get the damned animal down. However, he knew that cats didn't like the stuff and he wasn't in the mood to call water over to make a platform. Besides, that could attract attentiong; water zooming through the air in a horizontal direction wasn't something people saw every day.

Alexander looked at the cat and commented, "I bet you don't have to go through the kind of thing I went through with Erin. You weren't around when Death was after her." He sighed and looked out into the canopy around them. "The only thing I'm good at I cannot do for her." He positioned his weight so he could rest his elbows on his knees and look down.

He needed to get a lot of stuff of his chest, but he wasn't sure he wanted to talk. Even to a cat.

Alexandra watched curiously as Alex sat down, and as a he sat down she rubbed her whole body against his arm as she made her way to his lap. Once there she laid down and pushed her head against one of his arms in hopes that he would pet her. Also it was almost like she was urging him to continue on with what he was saying.

Alex allowed himself a smile, which probably looked as weird as it felt because he hadn't smiled like this in a long time. "Better be glad you're not a human, Cat. I probably would have beaten the crap outta you."

He listened out for any voices or footsteps... sounds that would mean people were coming... but he didn't hear anything so he petted the cat's head and neck, trying not to be too rough wih it.

"It would probably make things a lot easier if I could stay mad at her for pushing me away the first time," Alex growled. "She's not helping, you know. Idiot gets herself hurt, asks me to punch her."

He got a glassy look on his face then, as though he was really far away. "Sometimes I wonder if what I saw with that counselor was really going to happen. It was perfect, except for the end where I was about to kill her. The therapist showed me something else, a happier vision." He laughed darkly, "And that definitely did not come to pass. I think that I need to leave, start off where nobody knows me and the law enforcement is easily bribeable. This place drives me crazy- SHE drives me crazy."

He shook his head angrily. "And then there's my father. He'd be happier if I was out of the picture, so why did he stop me at the border? If what he's been saying is true, I've been a thorn in his side for my entire life. Next time I'm not stopping for anybody. I am going to kill everyone who stands in my way, starting with him." He realized that he had been petting the cat a little too roughly as he spoke of his most-hated person in all the world. "Errr... sorry, Cat."

The cat purred as Alex pet her, but as he got rough she lightly bit his hand as a reminder that she was meant to be handled carefully and not like some stupid dog. Oh, how she hated dogs; annoying slobbering beasts... she suddenly meowed loudly as if she were attempting to speak to him.

Alex raised an eyebrow at the cat. "Really? You don't say." He looked down again and said, "I don't suppose you'd do something like stand on my shoulders as I climb down... Just talking to you is mental, but at least nobody's around to hear it."

He turned around and climbed down enough so he could reach out and grab the cat with one arm. Hopefully the foolish animal wouldn't do something to throw him off-balance as he climbed down using only one arm...

Oddly enough staying still as he climbed down, the cat really didn't bother to do anything knowing full well that any moment she'd probably be on the ground anyways.

Meanwhile, Erin was getting increasingly nervous that she couldn't find Alexandra. Wandering into the forest she tried to control her breathing but found it nearly impossible, "Alexandra!" she yelled hoping that her cat would come back to her at any moment. It was a comfort having the animal around, she would feel calm when petting it and since she had already had it for almost a year now Erin already felt connected to the elegant beast.

Alex found that climbing down with only one free hand was very difficult, even if the cat was behaving. He often made jerking drops as he went from branch to branch, forcing himself to take faith in the sturdyness of the limbs.

Unfortunately, about ten or eleven feet from the ground, he encountered a branch that was too skinny to bear the momentum of his body and he crashed to he ground. Luckily, he curved his body around the cat and took the bruising and scrapes that accompanied the landing.

"...you okay, cat?" he asked as he sat up. There were several cuts oozing clear blood on his left cheek and his shirt was slightly torn where he'd brushed past the tree. He had bruises too, but those would never be visible.

He was just happy that he hadn't broken any bones. He had thought he heard something, but it was a little too faint to make out.

Alexandra watched him curiously, but then suddenly jumped of off him when Erin called her a second time. "Alexandra!" she yelled again this time coming closer and closer to them. Finally after a minute or two Erin spotted her cat, and none other then the person that the cat was named after. Sort of surprised at the scene before she only hesitated for a second before rushing up to the cat, picking her up and holding her tightly against her chest. She then looked at Alex himself, seeming slightly confused that he had some cuts on his face. She would have never guessed that he had saved her cat from the tree. "Um," she looked at him find it sort of hard to think of anything to say.

Alex looked at her darkly, then gave his head a sharp jerk left and right. A few leaves fell to the ground and he was already leaving. He had already realized that he got more and more weak the more he saw her, so he decided that it would be best to make a quick exit.

In one smooth motion, he picked up the black case, shovel, and jacket. With no last look to Erin, he started walking farther into the forest.