[Diamond is typing on their phone while walking down the street. Old Man sticking close by most of the time, occasionally running far ahead and then stopping to wait for Diamond to catch up.]
hey I know its been like a week. are you still good for me and Old Man to come over?
[Callen is sitting curled up on the couch when their phone buzzes with a notification.]
hey! yeah, i am. when do you think you guys will be here?
Im only a few blocks away rn so no long
well depending on how much Old Man is going to run when I try to pick him up
point is probably like 5-10 minutes?
sounds good. good luck picking up the man, some cats are notoriously difficult to lift
also i zoned out and by the time i'm responding you're probably basically already here so! see you soon :]
oh, the apartment buzz in system thing is stupid and bullshit. i'm in apt number 204, can't remember if i told you that and there's no directory or anything for some fuckin reason
good for privacy I guess
Old Man is sometimes difficult to lift. I just decided to trick him so he wouldnt run off
but yeah just walking up to the building now so expect the buzz in like two seconds lol
[Callen nods at their phone, then pauses as they realize Diamond can't see that. They wait for a minute or two, then hear the tell-tale buzz from next to their door, and cross the room to open the door. They don't press the intercom - they don't need to, they know who's coming already - and instead skip straight to the button that'll unlock the main door.]
[Downstairs at the main entrance, the locked door buzzes and unlatches with a soft click.]
[Old Man surprised by the noise tries to wriggle out of Diamond's arms.]
Not yet. I know. I know you don't like being held, but I can't let you run around the halls.
[They give Old Man some scritches, which only partly calms down the cat. They walk inside getting to Callen's door knocking on it.]
[Callen is still lingering by the door, so they open it almost immediately after the first knock. Some part of them was expecting Diamond to be taller than them, so when they actually see the other for the first time, they have to adjust their perspective a little. To try to cover up the immediate falter, they reach up to push their glasses up their nose.]
Hey- hi! Y'know, I don't, uh, think it'll ever be not weird meeting you guys face to face. Come on in, though! It's good to see you.
[They step out of the way, sweeping one arm to the side to indicate for Diamond to come in. The apartment is... pretty standard for a newly-on-their-own young adult. Fairly sparsely decorated with exactly 1 (one) poster on the walls, featuring a man with a glowing eye holding a cat with an equally glowing eye.]
[There's also a small assortment of cat things piled next to the couch. An empty litterbox holds most of them, including a bag of cat food, various types of cans of wet food, and some still-packaged toys.]
[Diamond looked… well it was very obvious that they had been living outside for a bit of time. Though they weren’t filthy or anything. Their hair was ratty and in need of a trim. Their clothes had also seen better days.]
[In their arms was the Old Man in question, as well as a reusable Walmart bag.]
Uh yeah, really strange to actually meet you. You have a nice place though.
[They stepped inside but didn’t move far, standing a bit awkwardly.]
[The ghost of a frown flickers across Callen's face as they notice the state Diamond is in, worry settling in their mind. But they don't say anything. Not yet. They push the door shut with a soft click and step back a little.]
Oh, thank you! It's, uh... not much yet. Still getting the hang of decorations. I've got...
[They gesture at the one singular poster.]
That.
You can sit, if you want. Couch is pretty comfortable, uh.. the carpet is actually really comfy to sit on as well.
[As they speak, they kneel down on the floor next to the pile of assorted cat things and pull out a few of the cans of cat food.]
I wasn't sure what he would like and I know some cats are picky, so I got... a few brands, a few flavours. Thought we could try some out?
[As the door closed Diamond started to put Old Man down, though he jumped out of their arms part of the way down running off to somewhere in the house.
So far I haven’t found any wet food Old Man won’t eat. I did open a can earlier to trick him into staying still long enough for me to grab him. Which is in here.
[They raised the Walmart bag, a few things clacked together.]
Uh, I obviously won’t need the food anymore so you can have what’s left of what I bought. I’ve been feeding him like half a can per meal, two meals a day. Since you know he was bone skinny, so uh, now that he’s inside and has a good amount of meat on him you might want to change that? I’ll uh leave that to you.
[Callen watches Old Man run off toward their room, making a faintly amused noise as he goes. Then Diamond starts talking, and it looks back up at them, nodding along to their words.]
Yeah, that sounds good! I'll keep an eye on him and try to figure out what kind of feeding schedule works best.
[It pauses, then clicks its tongue in realization.]
I should get him to a vet, probably. Get him checked out, vaccinations, et cetera. He doesn't have his ear clipped, I think, so he probably needs fixed...
[At this point they're more or less rambling to themself, counting on their fingers as they consider what needs done.]
Yeah, I was going to say something about that. I obviously have no clue what he does or doesn’t have. And uh, I don’t know if this changes anything, but uhm, despite me calling him ‘Old Man’ I think he might actually be female. So, uh, like he shouldn’t be pregnant I don’t think, but before you full decide if you want to keep him you should know that.
[Callen nods, glancing in the direction that Old Man went.]
That's good to know. I'm okay with that possibility. I can ask them when I get him checked out if he might be pregnant.
[They pause, then make an amused noise through their nose.]
....trans cat. Nice.
[Diamond chuckled a bit.]
I mean, arguably it’s more akin to misgendering
[Callen hums, nodding.]
Good point. We should ask what pronouns the cat prefers.
[The suggestion presents itself like a joke, but the look on Callen's face is serious.]
We could do that fuckin'. Thing. Y'know the thing people do online where they attach options to food and let the cat choose? That. But with pronouns.
[Diamond’s smile widened a bit.]
Hey, if you want. She’s your cat now. Though uh, I have thought about your… other offer, and if it’s still okay I think I’ll stay for a few days until Old Man is comfortable will you.
[Immediately, Callen nods.]
Yeah! That's definitely still okay. I have extra pillows and stuff that we can get the couch set up with. The cushions are pretty comfortable.
[They gesture vaguely at a closet down a hallway.]
I think I'm going to make some tea. Do you like tea?
[There was an obvious relief that washed across Diamond’s face at the confirmation they could stay.]
Uh, what kind of tea?
I've got a few kinds. The classics, earl grey and green tea, there's a few fruit teas, I've got a cinnamon gingerbread-y one.... I think that's it.
[As they list them, Callen counts on their fingers the different teas.]
Uhm, I'll take one of the fruit teas, uh if you don't mind. I should probably go make sure Old Man isn't uhm like getting into anything.
[A small nod of acknowledgement, and Callen is on their feet again.]
I think he went... uhh. That way?
[They gesture at a half-open door down the hall, what looks to be a bedroom.]
[Then they're moving again, walking towards the small kitchen - assumedly, in pursuit of tea.]
[Diamond nodded back, heading down into the room. They spotted Old Man on the desk in the room, head pressed into a mug.]
Shit… no you can’t be doing that.
[They picked Old Man up, earning an indignant meow in response and he tried to climb out of their arms.]
You need to be good so Cal will take you in. Then you can live a good life, be happy, warm, and fed. Please behave…
[Diamond righted the cup as they talked and cleaned up the, luckily, small spill.]
Besides who knows if what was in there is even healthy for you. I can’t have you getting sick either…
[They brought Old Man out of the room closing the door behind them so he wouldn’t be able to run a muck in the bedroom.]
[Callen looks up from where they're filling a kettle with water.]
Oh, shit, did he get into something? I thought I cleaned everything up...
[They frown, trying to recall if they did, in fact, clean everything up.]
I'm so bad about leaving mugs and shit out, sorry about that.
[The kettle clinks as they set it on the heater and they cross back into the living room, leaning against the doorframe. When they see that the Old Man is out here, they smile and crouch down, offering a hand to him.]
Hey, little man...
[Diamond freezes for a moment.]
No, he-
[They really wanted Cal to not think Old Man was a bad cat and take him. But what if what was in there was toxic to cats and not telling Cal would kill old man.]
Yeah, uhm… there was a mug. Nothing got recked and I cleaned up the spill! But… I don’t know how much Old Man drank, he’s very food motivated.
[For Old Man’s part he cautiously smelt Callen’s hand for a moment before rubbing against it.
[Callen smiles at Old Man rubbing against their hand, then glances up at Diamond.]
Oh! Oh, shit, yeah, that must be my coffee from earlier. It's just coffee and some creamer, he might be into the dairy. Shouldn't fuck him up, maybe a little bit of an upset stomach, but nothing major.
[They look back down at the cat, moving their hand to rub behind his ears.]
Thank you for cleaning it up! You really didn't have to do that, but I appreciate it.
[Diamond’s shoulders relaxed a bit.]
I thought coffee was really bad for cats.
[Old Man walked forward then turned around, almost making Callen pet him
[A pause, before Callen speaks again.]
It's not... great for them, but a couple licks won't do much. If I gave him, like, a whole cup, that might mess with his system a little, but there shouldn't have been much in the cup and he didn't have time to drink very much.
[Despite the serious topic, they end up grinning down at Old Man, rubbing along his side with one hand and rubbing his ears with the other.]
That’s good, I’m not sure what I’d do if after all this I got Old Man killed.
[They laughed, but there was clearly no humour behind it. Old Man, having no clue of the distressing topic, flopped down at Callen’s feet, a very quiet pur could be heard if either listened closely.]
[Callen keeps one hand on his ears and the other hand shifts to rub his belly.]
Yeah... well, hey, no need to worry about it, right? He's okay! Look at him, purring away. Getting absolutely loved on.
[Then something visibly occurs to them.]
I wonder if he likes getting ruffled...
[When a hand landed on Old Man’s belly he rolled more onto his back.]
I don’t think he’s ever complained about anyway I’ve pet him.
[The look on Callen's face can only be described as >:3]
Let's try this.
[They put one hand on each of Old Man's sides and begin ruffling their hands back and forth. Very gently at first, but if he doesn't protest or move away, they get a little more rigorous with it.]
[At first Old Man just seems slightly confused, then when Callen’s rubbing got more vigour the cat quickly got up and ran away.]
Ah, man....
[They wince and drop their hands to their sides, and call after the cat.]
Sorry! Sorry-
Okay, so, that's a no on the ruffling. Good to know.
[A faint whistle can be heard from the kitchen.]
Oh, shit, the tea-
[They get back to their feet again and cross to the kettle.]
