\ Haven:Mist and Shadow Encounterlogs/Korinas Odd Encounter Sr Rachel 240805
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Korinas Odd Encounter Sr Rachel 240805

In a plush, carpeted library on a warm morning, Korina finds herself brooding over a lavish pelt, contemplating the heat and the effort required to cool her surroundings or acquire food. Despite possessing the magical means to lure in a variety of potential meals, Korina dismisses the idea of catching local animals, reminiscing instead on her recent victory achieved through minimal effort and a preference for goat meat. Annoyed by the warmth and pelt-induced discomfort, she abandons her luxurious dilemma for the pursuit of sustenance, contemplating whether to venture into the forests or the town for her next meal, swayed by the tantalizing scent of cooking meat from nearby.

The story climaxes in an unexpected encounter between Korina, now satiated from her alley-found steak, and a small, intelligent cat laying claim to the steak's leftovers. Their interaction, marked by a mix of dominance, curiosity, and amusement, evolves as Korina, uninterested in the fries that accompanied her steak, leaves them to the cat, only to end up in a display of feline power dynamics. Korina transforms into a snow leopard, asserting her supremacy through physical demonstrations and ending their brief connection with a territorial gesture, leaving the smaller cat to reconsider his strategy and retreat, optimistically hoping for another fortunate find. This peculiar meeting underscores the unpredictability of interactions between beings in a world where magic, whimsy, and the mundane intertwine, leaving each participant with a story of their own.
(Korina's odd encounter(SRRachel):SRRachel)

[Sun Aug 4 2024]

In a carpeted library filled with books and trinkets

Carpeted in a deep, plush fabric that muffles footsteps underneath, this lavish library is graced with rich wood paneling from floor to ceiling, with built-in bookshelves lining the eastern and northern walls, some filled with books and others with mechanical and magical trinkets. Large windows overlook Paine Avenue to the south, heavy curtains ready to be drawn for a more serene atmosphere as needed. Directly in front of these windows is a seating area with a couple of overstuffed armchairs and a small side table holding a lamp that casts a warm glow over the room.

It is morning, about 77F(25C) degrees,

(Your target has been hexed and transformed into an animal against their will. Unable to turn back they need to try to find allies who can understand their problem and find a way to undo the curse.
)
After a hard-earned victory won off the (literal) back of a single very dead other, Korina has earned the right to peace and quiet. How nice that no one's bothering her. Not a certain lumbering Russian, not a bird insistent on consuming her food, and not - last but not least - an assistant whose very existence offends.

It'd be a lot nicer, though, if it weren't so toasty here. By God, with the sun bearing down through the windows, and all the heat captured by those dark carpets, it'd feel like sitting in a sauna. The pelt she's examining only adds to the warmth. If she decides to put it over her lap or over her shoulders, she'd soon begin to sweat. This isn't the ideal clime for a snow leopard.

hungry.

It might actually be cooler outside, but walking down the stairs - what a task. It'd require Korina to stand up, move her feet, open doors... all that work's for plebeians like Jane. What Korina can do, though, that'd require little energy is crack open a window. Let that cool breeze in. Maybe some noise, too, given that they're right across from Paine Avenue, but it'd probably be worth it. She can even watch all the poor souls running around on treadmills and revel in the knowledge that she doesn't have to join them.

The clock chimes.

Once.

Twice.

Three times. Four, five, six... nine.

9 AM. It's time to eat. You know, maybe she should make like her conquest and hypnotize her breakfast in. It'd be interesting practice - and there are plenty of tasty passerby for her to sample. Of her choices are:

(a) dog - it's a golden retriever, with the kind of verge and wagging tail that would promise an early death if it were found in a film. (b) An alleyway cat, with a twitching nose and scruffy fur. (c) A flock of crows that, if let in, promise to litter her floor with liquid waste.

This is a prime menu. She shouldn't bother with steaks anymore, honestly, when a fresh catch is possible -- assuming, of course, that her powers extend far enough to coax someone to let dogs and cats onto the third floor.

To be fair, Korina didn't have to do ANY of the work required for that victory apart from brewing up a potion and sending off a goat to be slaughtered like cattle, because... well. It's cattle. And speaking of, she's been so /good/ having protected the goat with her life for the last few days instead of eating it. You know what Korina's in the mood for? That's right, goat. Not dog, she hates dogs. Not cats either, they don't taste good. Crows are promising, but Nik would kill her if she made a mess, and she doesn't want to clean out bird poo and blood and feathers from carpet - and he /would/ make her clean it out herself instead of hiring someone for it. Knowing him, he wouldn't even let Korina get Ash to do it.

Plus, Korina doesn't want to get her new pelt dirty. She's still admiring it by draping it over her shoulders, which may or may not be the prime factor towards the heat that's slowly overtaking her, and the sheen of sweat that covers her form. Even the A/C can't protect her from self-inflicted misery.

Korina lingers, brushing her fingers through soft fur, picking out any matted pieces here and there, and, most importantly, scheming to figure out her next steps, now that she has the lovely, lovely pelt in her hands. It's only when the clock chimes... not nine, but /ten/ whole times, that she looks up from her business and drapes the pelt across the armchair - pat, pat, I'll come back for you soon - before making her way out. She's already made her way through her Daily Steak Ash had gotten for her in the anticipation of waiting for the group she'd send to the Wilds to come back, and now she must go elsewhere to find some other source of meat.

For a normal person, that might be a restaurant or a grocery store. Korina, on the other hand, makes her way downstairs in the elevator - fuck stairs - and pauses in the alleyway at the eastern exit of the apartments, pondering the forest. She /could/, couldn't she? But the Hometown is also pretty close by...

Yes, Korina should be celebrated for her self-control. Goats everywhere thank her for delaying the death of one of their kind by a few days. All hail their merciful overlord. Unfortunately for her, none of them throw themselves at her feet. One can only imagine where Korina got that goat from, but it certainly wasn't off Paine Avenue.

The more she thinks about eating, the more she could /swear/ that there's the smell of food - it can only be roasting meat, given how delightful it is - wafting from close by. Maybe the Diner's put up a new menu. Maybe that menu includes wagyu steak (unlikely, given the low-class rabble - by her flatmate's standards - that populate the town, but hey, optimism's good).

The elevator, unfortunately, chooses to stop on every single floor. That's comeuppance for Korina, who likes to smash every button. She'll have to wait minutes longer to sink her teeth into something.

At long last, she arrives on the ground floor.

Yep. The smell's definitely diner fare. Maybe someone's gotten takeout, or something, and that's what she's scenting. The trail gets stronger and stronger, the more she walks.

It takes her past a number of bougie clothing shops that she doesn't need - no, she's got a regal pelt to wear at home - and...

Hang on, the smell's coming from an alley that splinters off the main road. Weird. There definitely isn't a restaurant in that direction. Go far north enough and it's just trees. Trees aren't tasty.

... is Korina becoming...

...

... a vegetarian?

The horror.

Korina isn't becoming a vegetarian and she'll eat a goat to prove it RIGHT NOW (as soon as she finds one). She hadn't found the first one herself either - Ash had found it for her. What else is the point of having minions if you can't make them do menial tasks like find goats and clean goat poo?!

Thankfully, Korina doesn't require wagyu steak or anything /that/ fancy. She's not picky about her choice of meat, as long as it's raw enough and doesn't taste like absolute garbage, and whatever she's smelling right now proves to not taste like absolute garbage. Her eyes half-lidded, Korina follows her nose, definitely not tripping over anything in the process until she gets to the source of this deliciousness - what hath the world to offer her this day?

Korina means promises* instead of proves.

No goat. Aaaaaaabsolutely no goat in sight. What there is instead is a takeout box, accompanied by a little orange cat. The cutest cat. The best cat - sorry, Korina.

He's snagged what looks like a juicy steak frites. It's almost as big as he is. It probably took him an hour to drag it over here - yes, drag. It's not that some wealthy human decided to discard of a whole meal. He's very, very deliberately pulling at it with his mouth, all the way from the mouth of the street to a shadowed alcove, so he can eat without threat of predation.

He takes his paw, sticks it deliberately next to the box, and pries open the styrofoam with his mouth. What a smart boy. What a good boy. That's completely normal feline behavior. Don't worry about it.

If Korina looks, she'd see that no chomp has been taken out of the food yet. It's perfectly pristine. He sniffs at it, little nose wiggling, whiskers at a quiver. This, like Korina's pelt, was a hard-earned meal.

Korina can steal it from right under his nose, or...

Is Korina a good samaritan?

Korina follows the smell of yummy yummy meat all the way into this alcove, and she then has to pause, taking in the sight of the little kitty cat. There's a long pause, and a staaaaaaaaaare as she attempts to cow the smaller cat into submission - if it knows what's better for it, it'll just leave the steak and run from the larger predator.

In case it doesn't, Korina will still just grab it by the scruff and yoink the box before dropping the cat back onto the ground. Hers now.

Then comes the debate: Nikolai would absolutely have a fit if he knew she was eating dumpster alley steak. On one hand, it's pristine and unopened, that means it's fresh and new and hence not technically 'dumpster alley meat'. On the other hand... she's standing in a shadowy alcove that gives off many dumpster alley vibes. And... what Nikolai doesn't know won't hurt him, right? She's saving money.

Korina eats the steak.

Korina's saving money, but at what cost? The cat -- it doesn't run away, which is pretty odd, too. Most critters know to run from larger predators. This one backs up a step in deference, but then sits on its haunches. He lifts his paw and bats it in Korina's direction.

Now, when most cats do this, it's because they've noticed something moving and want to smack it down. Korina's a hundred-fold larger, so the idea of him doing that's pretty comical. What it comes off as instead is... a wave.

Like, a wave 'hello.'

The little guy's greeting Korina, the way that those figurines in Chinese restaurant windows do.

Yes. Hi, Korina. Pay attention to me. I gave you steak. A conversation - not a verbal one, presumably - is a fair ask.

Korina has her mouth full of steak currently, so she's not really able to make conversation. The cat is non-threatening enough that she just stands there and eyes it out of the corner of her eye, and the best it gets is a muffled "mrrrrph?" while she eats.

/After/ she swallows, it's a different story altogether. "Go away," Korina tells the cat. "This is my alley now." Just because. She's on top of the world today and nothing can get her down.

SRRachel doesn't go away. He simply bats the air again, this time with the other paw. He waits for Korina. Perhaps she'll cut him some slack, given that he's respecting her territory. He doesn't approach the food again; he doesn't so much as hiss at her.

His tail swishes.

When she finishes another bite, he emits a plaintive meow. Heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking. Korina would have to be a monster not to acknowledge him.

Korina eats each and every last bit of the steak, right in front of the cat's eyes. She makes eye contact during it too while she's scarfing down the meat, bit by bit until it's eventually, irrevocably - gone.

Hey, there's fries, though. Korina doesn't like fries half as much as she likes steak, and she doesn't want to ruin the meaty steak taste in her mouth, so she just drops the box back down for the other cat. Maybe if he's lucky, he'll get some steak juices too. It's definitely not because he looked like a poor little meow meow or anything, it's just because Korina's sated her hunger.

The poor little meow meow looks down at the fries. Back up at Korina. He could scarf down the fries, sure, but then Korina would have no reason to stay. She'd have done her good deed for the day - and it'd seem like he was sorted. So, as much as it probably pains him, he uses the flat of his head to to nudge the box back at Korina.

He earns the new nickname Korina has bestowed upon him.

Meooooooooooooooooow.

It's low and distressed.

Does Korina look like she's doing a good dead? She's literally licking her fingers clean of steak as they speak - well, as /one/ cat speaks, and Korina ignores him. "Don't be a baby," she tells the cat, as though it can understand her. She just assumes all animals can. "If you get stronger you can have steak too. Crying little babies don't deserve any. I don't like fries." She's not doing him a favor, or trying to be a good samaritan - she just doesn't wanna ruin the aftertaste of steak.

This isn't working. The cat's done his best to get Korina's attention the nice way. It seems, unfortunately, that that's not what'll grab her. Now, the alternative isn't the smartest - and Korina's about to find out exactly how not smart - but it's all he's got.

He circles around her and, in a way that's highly contrary to what a normal cat would do if it values its life, attempts to get a good chomp on her precious tail.

"AY!" Korina definitely picked that up from a certain loud Russian. She shakes her ankle to dislodge the cat, and then, in a fluid movement, turns from human to leopard and goes to pounce upon the smaller cat. Her paws bap at it. If leopards could speak, it would be something like: 'YOU' bap 'WILL' bap 'APOLOGIZE' bapbapbap. Poor kitty.

SRRachel goes flying off. His poor little head gets bap-bap-bapped into the ground. The yowling picks up. If HE could speak, it'd probably be something like: 'Please. Have. A. Heart.' When Korina(snow leopard) finishes admonishing him, he lies there, head on the floor, looking up with big amber-colored eyes. He still hasn't run away, although it looks like he's not far from it. His tail's swishing non-stop.

Hey, that's not an apology. Korina(snow leopard)'s ankle is 0.0001/ hurt by little kitty teeth, and someone's gotta pay for it. She baps him again, for good measure and then hisses - right in his face. That's right: 008right in his face. Hissssssss. Her own tail's puffed up and swishing back and forth - she hasn't gotten the respect she's due, after she was nice enough to leave him the fries and all.

Hey, that's not an apology. Korina(snow leopard)'s ankle is 0.0001/ hurt by little kitty teeth, and someone's gotta pay for it. She baps him again, for good measure and then hisses - right in his face. That's right: right in his face. Hissssssss. Her own tail's puffed up and swishing back and forth - she hasn't gotten the respect she's due, after she was nice enough to leave him the fries and all. (fix)

But Korina(snow leopard) didn't even leave him the fries to be /nice/, he'd probably tell her if he could. He can't exactly apologize - not unless she accepts more meowing. So far, though, she doesn't seem to like being spoken to, whether by meowing, yowling, or whatever else he can manage. The best he can do is stay down and to try his darndest not to puff up, too. Look at that. He's submitting. Now will she be nice?

Is his tail tucked between his legs and his ears flat against his head? Korina(snow leopard) might accept it as submission in that case. Being nice, however, is a different story. Now finally satisfied by the other cat's subservience, she moves over to the box and starts to eat the fries. Omnomnomnomnom.

His tail is, in fact, tucked between his legs and his ears flat against his head. He's doing his very best. It warrants -- hey. His head whips around so he can witness the last of his food being devoured. This is one sad boy. At this point, he decides that this just isn't going to work. He gets up slowly - very slowly, to avoid being interpreted as readying for attack - and starts to wander back toward the diner. Maybe if he's lucky, he'll find another steak.

Not likely.

...but hey, optimism's always good.

The sad boy's gonna learn the harsh truths of the world one way or another. Korina(snow leopard) plants one paw on the box so she can lick it thoroughly after all the fries are gone, even if they don't taste very good to cat tastebuds, and then sits back to lick at her paws in satisfaction. She's still on top of the world. This alley is hers, and she's totally gonna piss all over it before she leaves, just for good measure. That'll teach you, weaker cat.

The cat scurries away the second that he's got the main street in sight. He was such a brave thing, standing up to Korina(snow leopard), but now that there's nothing to be earned, he wants o-u-t. Giant snow leopards that bap-bap-bap aren't exactly a preferred alleyway encounter.