#rionen

She sighed. “I know what cats are, you fool, but… again, what?”

From across the withered desk, the brunette pulled over a chair and pulled the package closer. “I was lucky to find them,” they explained as they worked, “Out at the market, I mean. Some clod animal trader from the other side of the country. I thought they’d be a good present for Mimi. They’re cute, she likes cute things, so, naturally…”

Najila was about to speak up but was interrupted by Rionen producing a scrawny gray tabby cat from the opened box and promptly shoving it in her face. It meowed, surprisingly peppy, and halfheartedly batted at her nose.

“Cute, idn’t it?” They laughed, just a little bit. “I got four more here. Two of them are kittens, I think. This lovely’s probably the mom. They all got stripes, see?”

She tried to frown. She really did. She tried to turn away the beaming hitman, frown, deny adopting any new family members, human or no. But there was a cat in front of her and several more squeaking from inside that box and gods, they’re so happy about it, and surely Miya would be happy too–

“I didn’t spend anything on them, if that’s worrying you. The dealer was treating them bad so I knocked him out and ran with ‘em all. Well, I think I actually killed him, but at least I did it out of the goodness in my heart. I am a model citizen, I save cats.”

There was simply no way. They couldn’t travel with a load of cats in tow, they’d have to settle down in this dusty city, find better living arrangements, to raise these cats like…

Like a family?

Najila sighed. She took the squirmy tabby from her lover’s grasp and at last gave in, smiling warmly.