(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest

[DracoOmega]

>Presumably that's on the way to Easthaven?
>Where is it in relation to the secret hideout?

>It is, more or less. Slightly north of the road out of town, but not far out of the way. While the majority of the houses in Braston are in the south end of town, there are a few patches of them in and around the markets. They would have been on the outskirts at the time they were built, but the commercial district basically grew to encompass them. You're inclined to suspect Elmview did in fact have a view of Elms at one point, before more buildings got in the way on all sides.
>The fairy hideout is a fair distance north of your current location, and slightly east. Elmview is mostly east, and a little north.

[Hello Purvis]

So, youse mugs wanna try to catch a cat?

[Sect]

Give it a shot, so long as Nazrin gets some sleep or something.

[Oldmansour]

I don't see why not, shouldn't take too long. We did make a deal with the fairys after all. Besides, catching a stray cat. How had can it be?

[Kips McKipzerson]

I don't see why not, shouldn't take too long. We did make a deal with the fairys after all. Besides, catching a stray cat. How had can it be?

The fact that this city seems nearly devoid of cats only makes me think it'd be extremely hard.
Should we just search for a cat until we've extremely tired?

[Oldmansour]

The fact that this city seems nearly devoid of cats only makes me think it'd be extremely hard.
Should we just search for a cat until we've extremely tired?

Whaddya mean, 'devoid of cats'? We've seen at least three, maybe four, just walking around town. That's not bad for a couple hour's (or thereabouts) walking.
And besides, we've got a decent place to look first as well, with Sashiko's aunt's place. That seems a good place to start.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'll give it a look. Thanks, Sashiko!"

[DracoOmega]

>"I'll give it a look. Thanks, Sashiko!"

>"No problem," she says. "Heck, some of the neighbours might be glad if you can take a couple off her hands."

[Hello Purvis]

>"And thanks for the appraisal, Boss, even if it didn't live up to my secret hopes it was some dread artifact."
>With that, excuse ourself and make way toward Sashiko's Aunt's Place, which we shall codename Catslevania.

[DracoOmega]

>"And thanks for the appraisal, Boss, even if it didn't live up to my secret hopes it was some dread artifact."
>With that, excuse ourself and make way toward Sashiko's Aunt's Place, which we shall codename Catslevania.

>Rinnosuke smiles slightly. "Perhaps you should be careful what you wish for."
>You exchange farewells, then excuse yourself and head towards Sashiko's Aunt's house. It is an uneventful trip, and soon enough you find yourself among a fairly claustrophobic lane of houses, surrounded by market almost on all sides. Sashiko's directions were quite specific, but you may have been able to guess the correct location without them. It is an unremarkable dwelling, much like many of its neighbours, but there is currently a small grey cat eating food off a plate that's been placed on the ground some distance from the front door. You can see another with tawny fur, curled up and napping on the low rooftop.

[Hello Purvis]

>It's the rodent equivalent of a haunted house ;_;
>Look around the area a bit, see what other kinds of cats turn up.

[DracoOmega]

>It's the rodent equivalent of a haunted house ;_;
>Look around the area a bit, see what other kinds of cats turn up.

>You frown a little. This would be a pretty scary area for an ordinary mouse. You take some small comfort in the fact that there is non-rodent food on offer. That ought to help keep some of them safe, at least.
>You poke along the rest of the street, and then loop around the area the houses back onto. As you round a corner, you see a large tabby chewing on a scrap of something or other. It stops and glowers at you as you pass by, then resumes eating once you're an nonthreatening distance away. A little further down the back, you spot a small cat with tufts of white along its tail and legs poking its head into a small cardboard box. This is followed soon after by it falling unceremoniously inside with a little meep.

[Hello Purvis]

>Observe this small cat. It seems like faerie material.

[DracoOmega]

>Observe this small cat. It seems like faerie material.

>You move over and have a closer look at the cat as it attempts, with some difficulty, to climb back out of the box. It looks young - not quite a kitten, but not fully grown yet, either. Its tail isn't especially fluffy, and its fur is predominantly black, although it does technically fulfill the 'black and white patches' criteria. It draws back into the corner of the box as it sees you approach, regarding you uncertainly. It mews.

[Hello Purvis]

>Yes, this one will do.
>Kneel down and gesture toward it it.
>"C'mere."

[DracoOmega]

>Yes, this one will do.
>Kneel down and gesture toward it it.
>"C'mere."

>You decide this cat sufficiently matches what Juniper was asking for.
>You kneel down and gesture towards the cat, calling out to it. It compresses itself a little more into the corner as you kneel down, and you can see it glancing past you, perhaps for a route away. Still, while it seems nervous, it doesn't look quite ready to bolt just yet.
>It mews again as you speak to it, but doesn't actually move.

[Oldmansour]

>Nothing's simple today...
>Do we have anything on hand that we could use for bait? Snack, or something?

[DracoOmega]

>Nothing's simple today...
>Do we have anything on hand that we could use for bait? Snack, or something?

>Well, the Seekers would hardly have made a name for themselves if every task was a simple as 'walk from point A to point B; collect pay'
>You have some traveling rations in your pack. Mostly hard cheese, beef jerky, and quite dry crackers. You also have a partially-eaten lemon pie.

[Hello Purvis]

>Bleh. Why does it have to be such a cat?
>In a soft voice. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to pick you up and take you to meet some new friends."
>Waggle fingers a bit. Cats love that, don't they?

[DracoOmega]

>Bleh. Why does it have to be such a cat?
>In a soft voice. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to pick you up and take you to meet some new friends."
>Waggle fingers a bit. Cats love that, don't they?

>You gripe a little. Still, probably beats having to chase after it. ...hopefully, it won't make you chase after it...
>You speak softly to the cat, and then waggle your fingers at it. Its head seem to follow the motion around, with a bit of curiosity on its still-uncertain face.

[Oldmansour]

>Break off a couple fragments of pie, and drop them into the box.

[DracoOmega]

>Break off a couple fragments of pie, and drop them into the box.

>While keeping an eye on the cat, you take out the pie, break off a couple bits of it, and drop them into the box. The cat follows them with obvious curiosity, then inches just a tiny bit forward from its corner and has a sniff, and pokes at them. However, it doesn't seem especially interested in eating them.

[Hello Purvis]

>Frown. They sure are getting picky these days.
>What kind of box is it? Might there be a lid we could put over it, and might it be small enough to carry?

[DracoOmega]

>Frown. They sure are getting picky these days.
>What kind of box is it? Might there be a lid we could put over it, and might it be small enough to carry?

>You frown. That was perfectly good pie; great pie, even.
>It is a smallish cardboard box, with flaps you could fold over to close it. It is easily small enough to carry.

[Hello Purvis]

We could try to box 'im up.

[Oldmansour]

My thoughts exactly. I was gonna use pie to keep him occupied while we picked the box up, but that didn't work so good. Maybe a shard of beef jerky might work better, because I somehow think just closing up the box might provoke him to make a leap for it.

[Kips McKipzerson]

I used to feed my cat crackers all the time, she liked it. Why not just give this cute wittle kitten some crackers?

[E-Nazrin]

Because cats are primarily carnivores. Jerky would work better than pie or crackers. :V

[Hello Purvis]

Cats are primarily pigs. They'll eat pretty much anything that's food. Hell, my cat eats olives if you give him one. Jerky would distract better at first, but crackers would definitely be more edible due to not being super tough.

[Oldmansour]

Lucky b'yes, wish I wasn't allergic to cats. But that's neither here nor there. All we need is something to occupy him/her for a couple seconds while we close up the box, so I'm going with jerky.

>Tear off a small piece of jerky and drop it in the box.