(open)

[happyends]

Who: Madoka, her new kitty (Maru/Sleepy Ash) and you!
When: Day 2 of Fiddlesticks
Where: Everywhere on the train
What: Madoka is very excited about her new cat. And also likely making very bad life decisions for herself here by making a contract with a vampire.
Warnings: Likely mentions of vampirism.

(note: threads will mostly be between madoka and your character, maru might randomly jump in to pipe up on some threads, you'll know if/when it happens!)

( a: dining carriage )

If you've seen Madoka going anywhere on the train since yesterday, you may have noticed something new about her. Namely the fact that she's dragging a tiny black cat with her everywhere she goes.

Right now she can be found with it in the dining carriage, where she's seated at the table not to eat, but to instead draw in her notebook. She keeps sneaking glances over at the cat as it's sleeping on the table next to her notebook though, and after a while Madoka can't take it and giggles as she gently boops his face with the not-sharp end of her pencil.

"So cute.. Who's the most adorable kitty around? It really is you..!" She's staring at the cat with so much endearment in her eyes, but that's the exact moment where she looks up and only then seems to notice you being there too. Madoka's face immediately grows pink with a blush.

"A--Ah, I'm sorry!" Because apparently she feels the need to apologize for gushing over her cat publically..

( b: near the on board shop )

Or you may spot Madoka near the on board train shop. Apparently she's been using it, since the girl's arms are loaded with way too many chips for one tiny teenage girl to eat. There's six different bags in her arms, and the tiny black cat is precariously balanced on top of her head. It seems to be going well.. until one of the bags of chips slips out of her hands, falling onto the ground.

"Ah..!"

The girl is trying to pick it up, but it's a difficult process with her arms this full and her not wanting to disturb the sleeping cat on top of her head.. Someone please help the poor girl instead of watching her attempt to bend down and pick it up only to fail.

( c: anywhere in the train! open to madoka's close cr! )
(if you're wondering if you're close cr, then the answer is probably yes.. but feel free to check with me on plurk or discord!)

After a while she figures though that she should probably at least tell some people about the true nature of her kitty. It's going to be really awkward if someone sees him transform and freaks out about it in the middle of battle.. So while carrying the cat in her arms, Madoka makes her way through the train to try and look for people she's close to.

When she finds one of them, she'll offer a small smile and say: "Um.. Sorry, but do you maybe have a moment for me..?"

Comments

D! AH HA HA HA HA

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Dood!"

That was the exclamation of a Prinny who'd found loot! In this case, a bag. With it tucked under its flipper, the Prinny cheerfully sauntered through the hallway, intent on at last returning its new property to the garden car base.

you can't be stopped!!

[happyends]

At first Madoka doesn't think much of it. She's just making her way through the hallway, her kitty happily scooped up in her arms while she's walking. Sure, she does spot the Prinny, but she's seen the little penguin-y things around the train before! They're cute! And look, this one is even holding a bag! An orange.. bag...

...

Hold on a second!

"Ah--! Um..!" Oh god, how does she even politely address a Prinny. She quickly turns around, calling out to it. "S-Sir? M-M-Madam?! Mister Dood? Where did you find that bag?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

The Prinny paused, wondering if it was being addressed.

"Mister Dood? What kind of a name is that, dood?"

Zetta's lack of self-awareness could extend to his minions as well...

[happyends]

"Ah.. Sorry, I thought that might be your name.."

What kind of person says their name out loud like that, Madoka! It's not a Pokémon!

"But.. um, I'm glad to have your attention! I.. I'm really curious about that bag! You see, my little friend here is missing his.." She keeps holding Maru in her arms, but tries to raise the kitty just a little bit to indicate she's talking about him.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Oh. That's pretty unfortunate, dood." The Prinny totally failed to put two and two together. "Maybe if he's lucky he'll find one lying around like I did, dood!"

[sobothersome]

Maru hadn't been paying much attention until he was lifted and his attention was pretty much forced to focus.

There was a weird creature in front of them holding a bag. He looked back over his shoulder at Madoka, confused. "... Is that mine?" He asked. Is that why she wanted it? It was orange. He was pretty sure that was the colour that had been assigned to him. "Should I get it..." Take it, he meant. Since the thing had it and didn't seem inclined to relinquish it.

[happyends]

"H-Hold on a second, that's what I'm trying to find out!" Sure, getting Maru's bag back is the ultimate goal here, but it's not like they can know for sure yet! If the Prinny randomly found it, then it could still have been someone else's bag, and Madoka sure doesn't want to be rude to the poor creature over a misunderstanding.

(Also, yes, they're not very subtle - especially Madoka - by talking about it out loud in front of said Prinny, but Madoka has never been good at being subtle, let alone sneaky.)

"Can you maybe show us what's in the bag..?" There has to be at least one personal item in it. And while Madoka doesn't know that Maru's item is a Switch, she figures the cat will at least recognize whatever it is.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Actually, doods," the Prinny said, taking a sloooow step back. "I already know this bag is totally mine. So since it's my bag, I'll just be heading for a place that... isn't where the cat is threatening to steal it, y'know, dood?" Another sloooow step.

[sobothersome]

Maru wondered if the bird thing new what cats did to birds.

But Madoka had told him no, so he just stayed where he was, watching the strange creature and ready to stop it if it did anything it shouldn't.

[happyends]

"Ah.. No! That's not what he was threatening to do at all!"

This is awful. Madoka is such a bad liar. Not to mention she promised her mother to never lie, but.. sorry, mama! Surely she'll understand that these are very dire and important circumstances..!

"W-What he meant to say was.. if he can get your name! Since he'd really like to get to know you better! Maru has been looking for some playmates.." Help, she's dying. How do normal people lie, it's so hard!

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Oh, uh, I'm Red, dood." There wasn't any harm in giving its name, right? They couldn't possibly do anything bad just with that, right? Dood?

[happyends]

Well, this might.. be going marginally better than Madoka thought? Only marginally though. She's still not really getting anywhere, but at least she doesn't seem to be making things worse just yet.

"Red? It's nice to meet you!" She even politely bows. (And tries to keep holding onto Maru as she does so, so he won't fall..) "We really don't want to steal anything from you. We're just really curious about that bag, that's all! Can't we just take a tiiiny look..?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Uh... dood, sure, here, look alll you want." The Prinny held the back up as it began sidling slowly away again. "That's good enough, right? Look with your eyes, not with your hands, dood, right? Eh... eh heh."

[happyends]

"W-Well.. Thank you, but it's kind of hard to tell from the outside..!"

At least she's looking with her eyes! With her eyes, for sure. After all, Madoka's hands are very much occupied with holding the cat! Although she's stopped holding Maru close to her chest and is holding him out a little now, as if she's silently telling the cat to go for it. She knows Maru's a good kitty, so surely he'll just grab it to take a look rather than hurt the poor penguin-like thing, right?

[sobothersome]

Maru was staying quietly out of things since he'd messed up before.

But when he was thrust out like that, the meaning was abundantly clear.

He leaned the rest of the way and grabbed at one of the straps of the bag with both of his kitty paws and tugged as hard as he could, trying to pull it away from the creature.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Whoa! The Prinny clung on tight, which meant it skidded right across the floor as Maru pulled it forward. "Aaaagh! Attack animal, dood! I'm not the protagonist Prinny, I don't have a scarf!"

[happyends]

... this is starting to feel a little cruel.

On the other hand.. it's for a good cause, right? It's not like she's just randomly harassing some poor innocent creature, right? It's for the sake of finding Maru's bag, that's important! So Madoka does the only thing she can do here - make sure to hold onto Maru so he doesn't slip and fall mid-tug.

"S-Sorry, it's just to take a look!"

[sobothersome]

Maru... was getting kind of annoyed now. Whatever this thing was, it bothered him.

He slipped out of Madoka's hands and changed, changing from cat into Human. And in doing so he lifted the bag, weird bird included, up into the air and glared at it.

"Let go of my bag, birdbrain." And then he shook the bag to try and shake it free of it's thief.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Aaaah, not cool, dood!" The Prinny whipped back and forth above the floor, clinging to the bag with a baffling tenacity... not least because how were its flippers clinging in the first place. "It's MY bag! That's the rules, dood! You can't argue with the rules!"

[happyends]

Now it definitely feels like she's witnessing schoolyard bullying! It'd be a lot easier if she knew for sure that one side was in the right here, but Madoka has no idea! After all, if it does turn out to be Maru's bag, it'd be pretty mean for this penguin to keep it..

Clearly this means she has to soothe both sides. "Maru, don't hurt him..!" What if the poor Prinny falls and hurts itself... "And.. um, you know, just finding a bag or any other item lying around doesn't automatically mean it's yours, Red..!"

[sobothersome]

"I wasn't gonna..." But he could have. The thing was as annoying as that puppet guy. Maybe moreso. He wasn't too sure yet.

Maru shook the bag again, though less aggressively this time. "... Isn't there punishments for stealing things?" He lifted the back until he was face-to-face with the bird. "Won't you get into trouble...? It'd be bothersome to have to deal with a punishment over a stupid bag, wouldn't it?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"It's totally not stealing if you find it lying there, dood! Universal rule! Finders keepers!" Which WAS something of a universal rule in demon society, because demons were just like that. "You--you should be lucky I'm not invoking the weeping part of it, dood!"

[happyends]

At least Madoka seems satisfied with - or at least tolerating of - the current level of intimidation, since there's no further protests from her towards Maru. Instead she just clasps her hands together. While making puppy eyes.

(It's not even something she's consciously doing, it's just a natural Madoka thing.)

"But.. you have to think of the poor person who lost the item too, you know..? They could be out there, all upset, maybe even crying! Just look at poor Maru here, he just really wants his things back!"

.. Yeah, 'poor Maru' who literally looks like he could beat up this bird in an instant.

[sobothersome]

Maru was very interested in beating the bird up. It's protests were annoying him. It was so bothersome... How could it get away with stealing a thing? Was that okay here? Stealing from each other? Somehow that didn't sound right.

But he was quiet and he decided to let Madoka do the talking because he if said anything more it would be to warn her before he wrapped his fingers around the things scrawny neck.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"W-well, doods --" The Prinny let go with one flipper, but not out of capitulation. Instead, it dove for its pouch, whipping out -- a long tray with numerous colored pegs stuck into it.

"For control of the pouch and its contents, I challenge you to Mastermind, dood!"