🅰🅿🅿🆁🅾🆇🅸🅼🅰🆃🅴🅻🆈 🅰 🆆🅴🅴🅺 🅰🅶🅾
The sheer audacity of human Animal Control knew no bounds.
That was Faust’s prevailing thought as a high-tensile containment net whistled past his whiskers, snagging instead on a rusting dumpster in the back alleys of Mystvale District 4. Behind him, two bipeds in dark, overly dramatic tactical gear barked into their collars, leveling sleek metallic rifles loaded with tranquilizer darts. They moved with synchronized, practiced efficiency, the kind of relentless persistence usually reserved for rabid raccoons or stray mutts that had bitten a high ranked member of society.
(Honestly, Do I look like I have fleas? Uncultured primates. Not even a single piece of dried bonito to negotiate with, just straight to the nets.)
Faust thought, leaping effortlessly onto a rain-slicked brick ledge while keeping his compressed Krypt signature locked down to an absolute, undetectable zero.
He didn't bother unleashing his newly acquired powers. Shifting into his monstrous state over a pair of glorified dog-catchers would have been an embarrassing waste of calories and worse, it would have ruined his afternoon nap. Instead, he relied on pure, unadulterated feline agility paired with just a whisper of fluid cellular flexibility. When one of the operatives fired a dart at close range, Faust twisted his spine mid-air with uncanny, boneless grace, letting the needle graze harmlessly past his shoulder fur before he dropped down into a narrow gap between two shipping crates.
Sprinting toward the waterfront, he spotted a massive, dimly lit structure looming at the end of the pier, a wide metal ramp leading straight into a quiet, shadowed cargo bay.
(A warehouse, finally. Peace and quiet.)
Darting up the incline and slipping beneath a stack of canvas tarps just as the heavy steel door groaned shut behind him, sealing out the shouting operatives.
It took roughly forty-five minutes, a deep, rhythmic thrumming beneath his paws, and the unmistakable, nauseating scent of open ocean brine for Faust to realize his tactical error.
He crept out from under the tarp, ears flattening against his skull as he peered through a viewport into endless, churning gray water. No shoreline. No rooftops. Just a floating steel box setting sail across the sea.
(...I am going to tear the hull out of this vessel.)
Faust seethed, his tail lashing furiously against the deck. For a creature whose dignity was rivaled only by his hatred of getting wet, being trapped in the middle of the ocean was a personal insult.
Yet, with nowhere to swim and no desire to spend four days miserable, his intellect quickly overrode his feline panic. Over the next ninety-six hours, Faust systematically colonized the empty transport ship. With only a minimal skeleton crew aboard, he mapped every ventilation shaft, claimed the warmest exhaust pipe near the engine room as his throne, and treated the ship’s galley like a personal buffet liberating fresh blue fin tuna and pan-seared cod while leaving the crew baffled as to how rations seemed to be disappearing. By the fourth morning, watching the sun rise over the industrial harbor, Faust had almost forgiven the ocean for existing.
Almost.
The moment the cruise ship docked, his peaceful cruise was violently invaded.
(They’re boarding. Every single one of them...)
Heavy boots thundered up the gangplank. Voices. Loud, chaotic, and overlapping. Even the loud music filled the corridors. Faust flattened himself beneath a bolted-down bench on the main passenger deck, his slit heterochronic eyes narrowing as dozens of uniformed teenagers, adults, stern-faced instructors, and armed escorts poured onto the vessel.
A loud buzzing voice bellowed over the ship's intercoms announcing the departure to Mystvale University. The very area in which he had worked so hard to escape from. He was returning! Faust recoiled, his nose wrinkling at the sheer volume of unrefined, leaking Krypt signatures washing over the deck like cheap cologne. His ears twitched in pure disgust. Half these novices couldn't suppress their auras if their lives depended on it, radiating sloppy, erratic waves of energy that made his whiskers ache. Worse still, there were bound to be sensing specialists among the faculty who could not only locate him, but theoretically turn him over to the people in the white coats!
Trapped on a crowded boat with no land in sight, Faust resigned himself to four days of tactical stealth, sticking to the shadows and silently grading the terrible posture of every student who walked past. Then, on the second day out, tragedy struck.
Faust had been stalking along the base of a luggage stack near the lounge, eyeing a unattended platter of smoked sausages on a nearby table, when a shadow fell over him. Before his feline reflexes could even register the lack of killing intent, because there was none, not a single drop of hostility or aura spike to trigger his instincts, two small, surprisingly firm hands scooped him straight under his front legs.
Faust went entirely rigid, and at the same time limp, as he found himself powerless, he had been captured.
Dangling in mid-air, he turned his head slowly to find himself face-to-face with a little girl, no older than eight or nine, wearing an oversized cardigan and beaming with the terrifying, unstoppable enthusiasm of a child who had just discovered a fluffy stray cat.
"Kitty!"
Faust could feel her as she buried and rubbed her face along the thick black fur of his ruff. Reacting on sheer instinct alone, he'd shift the organic composition of his fur as it became like that of a non-Newtonian fluid.
"Hehehe! Slimy kitty!"
What was he to do?! Nothing he thought would suffice worked.
(Unhand me, tiny primate! I am an apex biological anomaly. One such as myself does not get captured so easily!)
And yet he had been.
He tensed his muscles, preparing to phase right out of her arms, every ounce of his feline pride screaming for him to liquefy his collarbone, slip from her grasp, and vanish into the lower deck to never be seen by her again. That was until she sat down on a cushioned velvet booth, settled him squarely onto her lap, and pulled a chilled bento box from her bag.
With practiced care, she lifted a glistening, thick-cut slice of marbled fatty tuna, otoro, unmistakable by scent or sight, even from a glance, and held it right in front of his nose.
Faust’s pupils dilated to massive, round black orbs outlined by gold and blue. The low, threatening rumble building in his chest instantly morphed into a deep, resonant purr. Slowly, with regal deliberation, he leaned forward and took the slice from her fingers. It melted on his tongue.
Faust mused, tucking his paws neatly beneath his chest as the child happily began scratching right behind his ears, another tray of pristine sashimi waiting beside her.
(...I see, This small human possesses a rare and sophisticated understanding of proper tribute. As a benevolent sovereign, it would be cruel of me to deny her my presence, and judging by the quality of her offering, she seems to be of rather good standing. Perhaps the daughter of an official? Could prove useful in my evasion to simply hide in plain sight.)
For the remainder of the voyage, Faust held court from the velvet booth during the times of 8:15am, 12 pm, and 5:30pm. His form draped like liquid shadow across the girl's lap, his two tails swaying lazily over the edge of the seat as he was fed a new type of dish for each meal, varying in sizes and flavor profiles.
【Ａｕｇｕｓｔ １２ｔｈ， ２０７９】
Then the loud voice of the Captain's voice bellowed over the intercoms, surprisingly drowning out most of the music and voices that had plagued this voyage since they initially departed.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. For those of you currently outside, and judging by the number of people I can see standing along our forward decks, that's quite a few of you. The landmass directly ahead is Parros Island. We are still several miles offshore, so despite how large the island may appear from your current position, we have not yet begun our docking approach. We will remain in open water for some time before entering Parros Harbor. Our destination is the eastern coast of the island, specifically the Parros Metropolitan Harbor District. Once we reach the designated approach corridor, harbor control will guide us toward the Horizon Terminal located outside central Parros City. The city you're beginning to see in the distance is the island's primary metropolitan region. Much of Parros was deliberately developed around its original geography, so you'll notice that many of the larger natural formations extend directly through and above portions of the city. The large formations visible behind the skyline are not artificial structures. Those cliffs, arches, mountains, and pillars are natural features of Parros Island. And yes, for those wondering, the visitors traveling alongside us are a naturally occurring pod of Killer Whales. They've been accompanying the Horizon for some time now. Our bridge team is monitoring their position, and there is currently no cause for concern. We ask that passengers enjoy the view from the ship and please refrain from throwing anything overboard. Wildlife activity is fairly common in the waters surrounding Parros, although having an entire pod escort us toward the island is certainly a memorable welcome. We will provide another announcement once we receive authorization to begin our formal approach into Parros Harbor. Until then, we remain in open ocean, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the view. On behalf of the entire crew of the Parros Horizon, welcome to the waters of Parros Island.”
"C'mon kitty! Lets go look at the whales!"
Now was Faust's time to act. Quickly he would leap from the opening door as the girl had begun to open it, as he made his escape.
"No, Kitty! My slime kitty! Come back!"
(Sorry kid, nothing personal, it was fun while it lasted.)
The sound of her cries now filled the hallways as the guards who stood on either side of her door knelt down to console her. Reassuring her that her father would not have approved of the pet to begin with, nor was it rightfully hers to claim to begin with.
Now that Faust was able to avoid detection through the natural distraction that was occurring he'd prepare to disembark.
Slipping down the gangplank of the Parros Horizon beneath a rolling stack of student trunks had been effortless. Navigating the sudden wall of boots, duffel bags, and nervous chatter spilling onto the pier was slightly more annoying, though nothing a stray with fluid joints and zero respect for personal space couldn't handle.
Faust trotted smoothly out from behind a stack of harbor crates just as the last of the students gathered at the edge of the gravel, tucking his paws neatly beneath his chest in the thin strip of shade beside a wooden signpost. To anyone glancing down, he was an entirely unremarkable black cat, save for the faint, lazy twitch of two dark tails curled tightly around his haunches whenever his focus drifted.
From his spot near the rear of the pack, Faust tilted his head up, half-lidded gold and blue heterochrome eyes sweeping over the two women addressing the crowd.
Jiwoo Parks. Director-General of Noktis. Faust’s ears flicked backward in mild distaste.
(So those two idiots back on the mainland weren't Animal Control after all. Good to know. Their nets were still pathetic.)
His gaze shifted to the second woman, Ivy Smirnov, as she casually dismantled the incoming class's confidence before they had even taken ten steps off the dock. Faust listened in silence, washing a single forepaw with slow, deliberate strokes while internally grading the posture of the students standing nearest him. Half of them were gripping their bag straps like lifelines; the other half were radiating so much sloppy, unrefined aura it practically smelled like burnt ozone.
Then Ivy reached the rules of the Parros Passage.
Ivy: "You might see something small following us for half a mile because it wants food... some are intelligent enough to realize that humans become extremely stupid when something looks cute. If a glowing rabbit appears in the bushes, starts crying like a baby, and somehow knows your government name, maybe don't go pet it."
Faust paused mid-lick, his paw hovering an inch from his whisker.
(Excuse me...? Compare me to a glowing bush-rabbit? I just spent four days dining on hand-sliced fatty tuna aboard a private suite. I have standards!)
Still, as Jiwoo gave the order to move out and the armed Noktis perimeter began shifting into formation toward the tree line of the Greenway Passage, Faust weighed his options. Behind him lay an empty harbor with zero rooftops and a very angry VIP child whose guards would eventually start looking for a "slime kitty." Ahead of him lay an hour-long trek through unfamiliar Category I wilderness, currently being cleared, guarded, and escorted free of charge by the Director-General of Noktis, the Principal of Mystvale University, and an entire platoon of armed operatives.
(Free security, a paved trail, and roughly fifty walking snack dispensers? It would be tactically irresponsible not to accept.)
The moment the rear guard began advancing onto the dirt path, Faust rose, stretched his spine until his joints popped and padded casually out onto the trail. Keeping an exact, unbothered pace just three steps behind the back row of students, he trotted right alongside the convoy as if his name had been on the ferry manifest all along.
Halfway into the first hundred yards under the canopy, his sensitive nose twitched. Somewhere in the backpack of the student walking directly ahead of him, wrapped beneath layers of spare clothes and textbooks, was the unmistakable, rich aroma of smoked salmon jerky.
(Don't mind if I do....)
Like liquid, the feline would pounce onto the backpack, before slipping into the spaces between a unbeknownst student's zipped bag.
