(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

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel shook his head. "Like Wizards, cats are never early or late, but do things in their own time. If he does have a burst of energy, it will be for a very good reason, which mere non-cats can only guess at." [No, he's not going to say mortal, he doesn't qualify. LOL]

He rubbed Maru's ears, enjoying the purring. "Definitely okay."

[sobothersome]

Nope, Maru definitely was not mortal, and technically not even a cat, though he preferred to be one most of the time. Cats weren't monsters. Vampires were. He could be cute and soothing as a cat and make people smile. He could cheer them up. Look how much Madoka giggled when he did something, the way she hugged him and told him he was cute. Would she have been the same way if he was just hanging around in his human form? Probably not...

And it was very hard to get ear pets when he was human. It would look weird and feel even weirder. So wasn't it the strangest thing that as a cat it felt good? Maru even leaned into the Shiny Guys fingers, wanting him to rub just a little bit harder.

[happyends]

"Amazing.. You really know a lot about cats!"

Or rather, it's the way he speaks about them. He makes it almost sound philosophical, which sounds amazing to someone as easily impressed as Madoka. Then again, Glorfindel did sound really smart the last time they talked too, so maybe he's just some sort of super genius. She'd believe it!

She's momentarily distracted from her amazement though by the way Maru is leaning into the man's touch. It makes her giggle. (Because yes, she really is that weak for his cute antics.)

"I think he likes you, sir."

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel obligingly rubbed Maru's ears a little more firmly and smiled at Madoka.

"I have spent many hours in the company of cats. They especially like me on cloudy or stormy days. Apparently I am a good substitute for the sun," he said with a grin. "So they have trained me well."

He smiled down at the cat who was also a person. "I hope so. He is obviously special to you, and I consider you a friend."

[sobothersome]

Sun was NOT Maru's friend at all. The sun was very bad, in fact. He knew that there were cats that enjoyed basking in sunbeams and such, but he preferred the shade. He preferred the night. He was a vampire, after all.

Still, even if the guy was a sunbeam in human form, he still gave good ear rubs and Maru could appreciate that!

[happyends]

Wow. Wow, wow, hold on for a moment there! There aren't many things that could distract Madoka's attention right now from her utterly adorable kitty, but Glorfindel's words are one of the few things that can do so right now. Because the moment he says that last part, Madoka immediately looks at him, her eyes growing wider and wider in surprise.

"Y.. You really see me as a friend?"

Honestly, she should probably be used to this by now with how nice people on this train are to her. And yet it's surprising every single time.

[laurefindil]

"You are warm-hearted, generous, kind,and I enjoy talking to you, so yes, most definitely," Glorfindel said. "Why? If my friendship offends you..." he made to rise, but did not stop petting Maru's ears as he was just gently teasing her, "I will apologize and remove myself immediately."

[happyends]

"W-W-W-What?!"

If Madoka looked surprised a moment ago, then she looks doubly as surprised now. The girl is so incredibly weak to teasing - since she's so gullible, she believes every word a person says. So she quickly stands up too.

"N-No, sir, please! That's not what I meant at all! I.. I was just surprised.. since, um, you seem really amazing, I didn't think you'd want to be friends with me that easily at all!"

Is it since she has a cute cat? It's probably for the cute cat, right. Madoka knows Maru's cuteness is very powerful, who wouldn't want to be friends to gain access to that.

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel shook his head, smiling widely at her as he sat back down. "Why wouldn't I? You are also quite amazing, you know."

He reached out with his free hand and patted her gently on the head as well. "You've been there for me since my first day here."

[happyends]

"A.. Ah, well, I.. I was just doing what anyone would do.. I think.."

She's still so flustered. The combination of the teasing and the compliments is truly too powerful for Madoka. Glorfindel will have to miss his cat petting for a moment, since Madoka is reaching out to grab Maru, gently holding him in her arms. Apparently it's a miracle cure, since she already looks like she's starting to simmer down just by holding the cute kitty close to her.

Enough so to be able to talk without stammering all the way through, anyway.

"B-Besides, I'm sure a lot of people here must like you already, sir. If you treat everyone as nicely as you treat me, I mean.."

[sobothersome]

Maru had half dozed off with the petting. He'd definitely zoned out to the point he had no idea what everyone was talking about. It wasn't until he was picked up that he decided maybe he should have been paying attention.

Madoka's heart was beating quicker and she seemed tense. She held him within her arms, so there was no point in struggling to go free.

Instead he did the most cat-like thing he could think to do.

He purred.

He purred and he stretched his sleepy head up to give her a gentle nuzzle under her chin. Soothing Maru to the rescue!

[laurefindil]

"My being friends with other people does not eliminate my friendship with you though," Glorfindel said. She was just so cute when she was all flustered like that, but it was time to give her pink cheeks a break.

He smiled at how cute she and Maru looked with the cat nuzzling her under the chin. "So what sort of adventures are the two of you planning?"

[happyends]

Soothing Maru is the best kind of Maru. No matter how much of an anxious wreck Madoka may be at times, there's no way her worries can keep standing in the face of all this cuteness. Besides, even though Glorfindel's words fluster her, it's not like they're bad. If anything, they just fluster her since they're so kind. So with her cute kitty nuzzling her, Madoka finds just enough courage to smile at the elf.

"Thank you.. I'm really, really grateful you consider me a friend."

But thankfully there's the opportunity for something less flustering to talk about.

"And Maru here is going to going to help protect me and help me fight during the next mission!" She says it like it's natural. Despite the idea of a small cat like that protecting her probably seeming ridiculous.

[sobothersome]

The change in her voice and way she relaxed helped let Maru know that he was amazing and his cuteness had saved the day. It probably hadn't really, but he was glad that Madoka wasn't feeling as anxious as she had a moment ago.

He gave one more nuzzle before he yawned and then snuggled down within her arms.

Yes. This lazy, sleepy kitty was going to help Madoka fight. So that meant he needed all the sleep he could get, clearly.

[laurefindil]

If he could calm Madoka down like that, he was indeed an amazing cat. Plus, if he had a wrist amulet, Glorfindel could only imagine that he had some sort of interesting talent or ability to do exactly as he'd promised. After all, who could lie to Madoka?

"Excellent! I hope you don't wear him out, though," Glorfindel said, smiling at her. "Don't go running into danger needlessly. Plus, your fathers would worry." He tilted his head. "Have you been on missions before? What sorts of things can we expect, do you think?"

[happyends]

"I won't.." She promises, although looking just the slightest bit guilty when she does. Madoka is planning on being good, really! She doesn't want to make anyone worry about her, nor does she want to exhaust poor Maru..

Thankfully Glorfindel's question keeps her from focusing too much on potential worries though. Instead she can just focus on answering it as she shifts her hold on Maru a little to let the cat sleep more comfortably.

"And, um, usually there's a lot of fighting. You're part of the purple team, right, sir? I've never gone along with them for a mission before, but from what I've heard, they're always fighting something. Will you be alright doing something like that..?"

[laurefindil]

The look on her face reminded Glorfindel so much of Arwen as an elfling.

He nodded. He decided not to bring up the dying and being reborn part and concentrate on his unbroken-since-then track record of night dying. "I have a lot of experience in fighting, yes," he said with a smile. "I am almost five thousand years old, you know."

[happyends]

Oh god. The fact he's older than any human could be isn't too strange, considering his world sounded so much different from her own when they talked about it. But to a fourteen year old the idea of turning five thousand years old is just.. so mind boggling. That means someone would have lived for most of written history, right? That's so weird! What would it even be like to live that long? It's obvious from the girl's facial expression that she's trying to think about it real hard.

"That's such a long time.." Yes, apparently that's the only conclusion she can reach from that statement. The only one she can wrap her head around, anyway. "You must have fought a lot then during that long of a time!"

[laurefindil]

The look on her face made him smile. He'd seen it before on Humans in his world. The Dwarves just looked grumpier, and the Hobbits just wanted stories, of course.

"A few times, yes," he assured her. "And I've survived every single one in that 4860 years, so you don't have to worry too much about me." He wouldn't tell her not to worry at all, because that wasn't how friendship worked.

[happyends]

"T.. Then I'll try not to."

There's still some stammering as she speaks up because of the surprise from a moment ago, but Madoka manages to smile as she says this much. It's true that she will probably still worry a little, as she does about all of her friends, but 4860 years of combat experience sure make anyone sound capable..

"You don't have to worry about me either. I mean.. I know I'm nowhere near that amazing, but now I have Maru to help me out, I feel like everything is going to be alright during the missions."

[sobothersome]

Maru yawned and gave a little squeak when he did. He hadn't been paying much attention, though Madoka's surprise was enough to rouse him somewhat. He blinked up at the both of them. So Shiny Guy was old? He lifted his head a bit more to look up at Madoka and have his tail a little swish.

"They'll be fine." He said with a sleepy yawn. "... you've got your bow."

[laurefindil]

"You ARE amazing. and Maru seems quite the capable cat," Glorfindel says reaching over and giving the sleeping kitty one last ear scritch. He didn't know what the cat was capable of, but he was a VoidTrekker and Madoka had faith in him. Perhaps he was a wizard, or could become a giant cat, or had a magic sword or something. Besides, Madoka had too many others on the train who would die to protect her, so he had no fear, she would be fine.

"We are on different teams, or I would offer my services as well," he said with a bow. "So I am very glad Maru will be with you."

He tilted his head to the side. "You have a bow?"

[happyends]

"Just the thought of that by itself is so sweet.. so thank you."

It's true. Madoka has so many people who would break kneecaps the moment anything threatened her on the train. And yet every single offer of help puts such an expression of genuine gratitude on her face, like each one is the first. She really does think it's so nice of him to offer...

"And.. ah! I didn't have one before, but I do now. Thanks to Maru!" She gently squeezes the cat in her arms. Somehow something about this particular topic seems to make the girl extra excited.. "Do you want to see?"

[sobothersome]

Ear pets were nice. He liked them. It was sad when Shiny Guy pulled his hand back, but he gave a happy little purr when Madoka hugged him. It wasn't ear scratches but it was just as nice.

[laurefindil]

"Absolutely!" Glorfindel said. "I am an archer myself."

"However, it might be difficult to hold the bow and the cat. If you like, and he does not mind, I could hold him for you," he offered.