ArchivedLogs:Nocturnal

Nocturnal
Dramatis Personae Rasputin, Tess	2013-12-04 Rasputin and Tess meet and talk over their similarities!
Location <NYC> Harlem
Harlem's gritty reputation has become less and less earned over the past decade or so as gentrification has set in. Its reputation as a hub of jazz and culture, however, is still very much earned -- throughout the years Harlem has been renowned for its contributions to music, from its swing dancing and jazz culture back when speakeasies were prevalent to the many hip-hop artists with Harlem roots in modern day. It's late at night in Harlem, with the street /currently/ empty as the city still recovers from the recent plague that is all but gone. A fluffy white cat sits atop an abandoned car, just watching the area, with a cellphone in front of it, online, the cat having a stylus of sorts /carefully/ tucked into it's mouth. Rasputin is carefully trying to poke the thing to get it to work, but is having slight issues, one of them being that the stylus keeps trying to fall into hir mouth, and the other being that ze has no idea how to use a smart phone. It is quite a weird sight, for sure. Tess was sleeping in an abandoned building nearby, but woke up and decided to take a walk. The cold night doesn't bother her, after all. She is walking past Rasputin, glances at the cat, moves on, stops, and looks again. "Woah." Now she's just kinda staring, and trying to figure out what's going on there. Looking up from the phone, Rasputin spots Tess, and makes a weird half-meow gargled sound, until the sound transforms itself into actual dialogue. "Oh, hello! Before you panic, mutant.". Ze has taken to just clarifying that ze is a mutant whenever ze talks, half smiling whilst still holding the stylus in hir mouth. More sound is turned into dialogue. "Nice night for a walk, isn't it?" Well, that kind of assumes people won't panic from the word mutant alone. Tess takes a careful step back when Rasputin mentions that mutation thing, and she takes a few deep breaths. "Suppose it is, couldn't sleep." The girl answers, looking around her as though trying to figure out escape paths. "Wait, you're not afraid of me, are you? My mutation is strictly what you see here. Talking cat. Okay, talking animal possessor, kind of a difference, but, eh.". Rasputin clarifies, noticing Tess's panic of sorts. "I usually sleep during the day, bit of a night-owl, even though I'm a cat right now.". Cheerful as ever, Rasputin continues to try and tap at the phone. "Name's Rasputin! Nice to meet you!". Tess takes a deep breath and heads a little closer, still wary. "I'm Tess." She looks at Rasputin with the kind of curiousity of someone finding something interesting that may just be able to kill her if she's careless. "I'm not really a night owl, but sometimes you just have to be awake at night, you know?" "Nice to meet you, Tess!". Rasputin is still half-smiling-whatever, tapping at the phone. "I understand completely! Sometimes I have trouble sleeping because of smells or sounds or explosions or something, and, well, I sleep awkwardly at awkwardly times. Wait, I'm rambling, aren't I?" Tess chuckles a bit, still kinda nervous seeming. "Yeah, you are. Most of the time I have trouble sleeping it's because it's too warm." She grimaces as she says that, like she hadn't meeant to. "Not always though, explosions are always a good reason to not sleep." "Apologies for that, I ramble a lot. Atleast, that's what my buddies tell me. I was just visiting them, bought a smartphone, trying to get it to work. Lack of thumbs makes this hard. Maybe I should steal a monkey.". Rasputin is /still/ rambling, tapping at the phone some more. "I like the warm, personally. Winter is too cold for me. Also, yeah, explosions are totally good reasons not to sleep. Sleeping through explosions is difficult!" Tess decides that it doesn't matter at this stage. "I've grown to like winter. Fall was a bit too warm for me, and I've yet to experience a summer since, well..." She kind of trails off there. "I need to figure out what I'll do then..." "Since what-". Rasputin pauses, thinking, before making the item obtaining sound from the Zelda series. "Oh, I see. Yeah, it's hard when stuff like this kicks in. I don't even remember anything from before I became a cat. I know who I am, but that's only because I saw my body get hauled off by an ambulance.". Ze looks around a bit, before changing back to the prior subject. "Well, my buddy Kay is like a personal heater so, I can rely on him when things get too cold, I guess.". Tess kind of makes a helpless noise. "It's uncomfortable if I stay in heated buildings for a long time, tiring too. I keep freezing myself to avoid overheating, don't have to think about that fortunately, but it still takes a lot out of me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when summer hits, I'm kinda afraid I'll melt." If he hadn't figured it out yet, by now he probably should have. Unless he's really, really dense. Luckily, Rasputin isn't that dense. "That's unfortunate. You could move to Antarctica, perhaps? Maybe then you won't melt.". Rasputin sadly isn't joking, contemplating this as a possibility for her. "Or get, like, a ton of fans during the summer. Maybe a tub of ice. Just, live in it. Maybe then you won't melt!". Tess kind of giggles at the ridiculousness of the suggestions, but takes on a more serious tone after. "My budget is roughly 'how much others are willing to give me if I ask nicely' so..." She considers things a bit longer, "Maybe I can find someone with a huge fridge I can use as a bedroom, but even that I kinda doubt." The rambling stops suddenly, Rasputin looking up at Tess, just holding the stylus in hir mouth. "Oh, wow, that..sucks. I was homeless for about 3 years, give or take. Lived with a band of alley cats. Became their supreme overlord, the usual stuff. Some good friends pulled me out of the rut, though, so, I'm happy for that.". Ze smiles, continuing. "I really hope things go better for you. You could maybe live in a meat locker at a restaurant!". Tess shrugs, "Don't think it's quite the same. If you keep your mouth shut, they'll just think you're a stray cat. Well, and don't play around with a smartphone. Me? I can't hide what I am, and even normal homeless people get a lot of flack." She pauses, then adds, "Sorry. Didn't mean to make this a pity party. How's being a cat working out for you anyway?" "Being a stray cat's boring, though! I want to be equal, not regarded as an animal but as a person.". Rasputin grumbles, going back to tapping at hir phone. "Also, I paid good money for this.". Rasputin pauses, continuing. "It's tough, can't do all the things people can do, but, eh! Most people aren't as adorable as me, and sometimes I become a bird, so I can fly around! And no one ever notices, so, I usually don't get bothered.". Tess listens to that, and eventually adds, "Well, I do need to get back to some sleep. I'll let you keep your phone. Good night, Rasputin." And that said, Tess wanders on, moving away from Rasputin at a casual place and watching the buildings around her. "Good night, Tess.". Rasputin flicks hir tail in a wave, before looking down to hir phone, missing the pigs with hir birds once more. "Okay, this is getting frustrating.".