WHAT'S BROWN, WHITE, AND RED ALL OVER?

[catsatan]

Who: Tigerstar and YOU!
When: Day 44 - 45 (this is heckin late)
Where: Varies
What: There's a new cat in town, and his name is Tigerstar. Mostly just covering intro things missed out on the TDM!
Warnings: Potential survivalist rambling and maybe some animal death. Also, mentions of unsanitary cat behavior.



i. DAY 44, LEARNING THE ROPES - PATROL ONLY

[Okay. He's got a job, his first task, clearly, is to get to know whoever he's going to be working with. Tigerstar is nothing if not careful - it always pays to know enemies from friends. Not to mention he was told to meet people on the team. But no, this is definitely his idea. Mostly. Largely.

It takes some legwork to figure out who's who. Some, like the skeleton, are easier to single out, but for the others he had to do a little more poking around than he would have liked. With a little exercise and plenty of griping, though, Tigerstar successfully finds you! He approaches with his usual feline scowl, tail and chin both up in a bold show of confidence despite having his hindquarters stuffed into gauze wraps and his neck fur pushed around by an infuriating radio collar (seriously, how did Firestar ever enjoy this feeling?) and somewhat haughtily calls for your attention.]

You are on this patrol team, yes?

[His stare is intense, but given his current getup, that might be the only intense thing about him at the moment.]


ii. DAY 44, MOVING IN - CLOSED TO TYKI MIKK

[After a full day of learning, training, exercise, and probably a little hunting, Tigerstar makes his way to the trailers. He's somewhat surprised at how quickly he finds trailer 11 - though if any number is going to be easy to remember, it's going to be eleven. And, of course, it's one of the only trailers that has a cat flap on the door. After some careful door-sniffing (amazing, it smells just as strange inside as it does everywhere else in this bizarre place), Tigerstar pushes into the trailer and looks about. He's never been inside a twoleg nest that isn't abandoned before, and while he certainly has some expectations built up it is a somewhat pleasant surprise to see that they are not quite met by what he sees around him.

Provided he isn't approached immediately, Tigerstar begins carefully tip-toeing around the trailer, continuing his cautious sniff-spree as he moves from corner to corner.]


iii. DAY 45-46, WATCH YOUR STEP - OTA

[At least he's been assigned a job that he's...sort of familiar with. Patrolling is part of a warrior's everyday, though it takes some doing to just watch for trouble without the other less glamorous trappings that a cat would usually tend to when traveling around their territory.

At least that much isn't really an issue yet, either; this place smells all kinds of strange, and considering Ringmaster is in charge, Tigerstar is in no hurry to correct those smells.

Still, he's not entirely clear yet on which twolegs (and fourlegs? some of these twolegs have extra body parts and it's weird) are friends and which ones are foes - so, of course, it may come as a bit of a surprise when he hisses at you from whatever inconvenient, out-of-the-way spot he has elected to walk on.]

You there, intruder!! [He may be a cat, but he can make his voice sound surprisingly big for only weighing maybe twelve pounds.]


iv. WILDCARD - OTA

Tigerstar will skulk through the carnival more or less every day leading up to the current event, learning faces and looking for hiding places. If you'd like one of yours to bump into him in his investigations or to break in some interactions in a more specific scene, feel free to post your own prompt OR send me a message here or via plurk/discord to plan something out!

Comments

WATCHING ALL OF THE STEPS

[alphudo]

If there's one thing Yuusei's had in relative abundance post-space shenanigans, it would be time to adjust in the carnival. Certainly not the newest of the new recruits anymore, and certainly not new to the features of his job, he should really about have this new life of his about down in terms of routine. Maybe he should give himself a little longer, though. It's only been about two weeks since he arrived, after all.

He's even gotten the hang of walking on four legs, too, thanks to Gongenzaka's aid; and by this point he can move pretty efficiently, even able to run while carrying a small load on his lower back. Subsequently, he's become more confident in his work: although the stuff he's actually doing hasn't been particularly foreign to him, the exact way he carried it out had been a little unsteady and uncertain at first, but he's nailed his process back down by this point. It's a good feeling, to adapt to one's work and excel at it even in the face of particularly bizarre setbacks (of sorts).

However, while Yuusei's slowly mapped out a great deal of the carnival grounds, there's still some uncertainty in his mind on where exactly he is and isn't allowed to go. This isn't a place where he's comfortable risking an overstep of someone's boundaries (he doesn't want to end up with a longer contract due to some oversight, after all). As a result, the bold declaration somewhere beside him as he walks catches him off-guard, and he staggers slightly as he searches for the source.

Needless to say, he's... a bit bewildered when he finds it.

"I..." At a loss for words, he just blinks for a moment. "...are you talking to me? Can I help you with something?"

[catsatan]

Tigerstar glares at him, looking him over and trying to figure out if he's seen this guy before - tail lashing all the while, of course. "Are you supposed to be here, four-twolegs?" he demands. "Or are you looking to cause trouble?"

Even from his precarious perch, he still has to look *up* at Yuusei. What an inconvenience.

[alphudo]

Again, Yuusei stalls, not entirely sure how to respond to this actual literal cat attempting to interrogate him in an environment he's not terribly familiar with. This sort of scenario is probably one he should've expected to come across at some point in his carnival career, but it's still pretty jarring.

"I work here...?" he finally manages to say with some uncertainty. "I'm just making my rounds to see if anything needs repairing. I... don't believe we've met." Coming in during the Space Olympics didn't do him much good in getting to know people.

[catsatan]

Well, that certainly bursts Tigerstar's bubble. He supposes he should have guessed, what with Yuusei being another one of these four-twolegs. He relaxes quickly, though his tone is still curt and official - but, of course, that's because that's just how Tigerstar is.

"I see. I don't believe we have, no. I am Tigerstar." He dips his nose in a shallow bow - showing respect, but not submitting or deferring.

[alphudo]

An official tone won't be enough to bother Yuusei; he figures by this point that this is another member of the patrol team, and it seems like all of them take their work with a certain formality that he's by this point become somewhat accustomed to. Tigerstar simply suits the role quite well, that's all.

He returns the gesture with a nod of acknowledgement of his own. "Tigerstar..." he murmurs, hoping to cement the name in his memory. It's certainly a unique one, and one that sounds as if it carries a wealth of meaning. "My name is Yuusei."

He can't help but eye the collar around the feline's neck - particularly the decide strapped to it. "Is that how they gave you your radio?" he asks as he gestures to it.

Moving In

[prazerbutterfly]

[If he hadn't been here for a few months now he might've found the sudden cat flap on his door to be a new surprise. He was getting use to changes the way sudden things appeared and shifted within his trailer from time to time. He was an adapter and made due with what he could. Either the Ringmaster was trying to give him a boost with his own transformation magic or he was getting a new room mate that needed that kind of perk. They already had a cat before but they were here very briefly.

There's the subtle sound of his Tease buzzing against the ceiling and other places to alert of an intruder not currently on their list that rouses him from his nap. The shutter slides open, that hides away his bed on the lower bunk, and a messy head of hair and panther ears emerges to inspect. His eyes lower towards the cat currently in his trailer and he'll raise a brow gently with a wide grin.]

Lost, buddy?

[catsatan]

Well, that depends...

[The only-intimidating-to-cats tabby approaches the opening calmly. Haughtily, really.] Are you Tykimikk?

[Somehow, despite being in such a strange place, looking up at someone who is definitely a twoleg, Tigerstar feels oddly confident in here. Maybe it's because it almost smells like other cats in this trailer....almost. The scent is admittedly very different, but it's just close enough that it feels a tiny bit more like home. So, despite having just walked through a cat flap (really, using one of those things would be a much bigger ordeal if not for the fact that Tigerstar was already wearing a radio collar and bandage pants), he's actually managing to keep his cool. For once.]

[prazerbutterfly]

[Yeah, sorry but all he's seeing is a cat right now and Tyki's kind of a powerhouse.] That's correct. I am Tyki Mikk.

[He does catch the way his name almost seemed blended together but doesn't put a lot of consideration into it. Upon closer inspection, with Tyki's chin now resting in his palm and his elbow to the bed, he may notice to very large panther ears settled on top of his head.]

[catsatan]

[Tigerstar promptly turns away from him and starts poking around, sniffing first at the couch.] Then no, I am not lost. I was told to share a...trailer with you. [What a weird word. This is obviously Tyki's den, so why call it something else? Well, okay. Maybe Tyki's den is where he's poking his head out from now, but it's still weird.]

Though I must admit, I did not expect to be sharing a living space with another cat. Is he out at the moment?

[prazerbutterfly]

You can smell that? [He's not sure if that's disturbing or unique that he's managed to leave a feline scent around the trailer.]

No, not really. [His hand extends downward to place on the ground as he slinks out of his bed. With practiced ease fingers turn into paws, his scruffy panther tail slims out into a smaller sleek one, and as he shrinks fur blossoms over his body in a fine coat. Just like that, he's a sleek black cat with piercing golden eyes.] It's just me.

[catsatan]

[Surprise is likely the first thing Tigerstar feels. He's been here for a while now, but he's never seen anyone transform like this. What's more, he never thought a twoleg could also be a cat. Or maybe it's the other way around - he's not entirely sure. The shock is just about as plain as it can get on a cat's face.] You...what? How did you do that?

[He approaches carefully, whiskers twitching furiously as he inspects his new roommate from a respectable distance. The strange, mingling scents make a little more sense now, but surely this isn't real. It has to be an illusion, a trick.]

[prazerbutterfly]

[Tigerstar doesn't answer his question but then he doesn't need to. The evidences is there and he's not really surprised by it. He chuckles as a cat and gracefully sits with his tail curled around one side. He's comfortable here in his own trailer and he owns the place with look alone.

He doesn't mind if he approaches.]

Transformation magic learned through the carnival. It's been useful in the long run.

wildcard!

[kingsroads]

As this is before everything goes to hell and back, Strange has mostly spent his time getting back to the daily grind, practicing for his show in the big top or going through his paces in the training grounds. It's there where he spots Tigerstar: the training grounds have an obstacle course, various dummies, a sparring platform surrounded by a moat, all sorts of places for cats to climb up and sniff and explore.

Strange is a bit of a sweaty mess, having just finished running 3/4 of the obstacle course and blatantly skipping the 1/4 he thought was dumb. The fact that he's wearing slacks and a long-sleeved light cotton shirt only adds to the sweaty factor. He's walking towards a bottle of water he brought before the cat catches his eye. "Escaped from the menagerie, I take it?" he casually remarks, before bending down and making a very dignified kissy noise. "You're a troublesome kitty!"

Entirely unaware that he might get the shit bitten out of his hand, he reaches over to pet Tigerstar behind the ears.

[catsatan]

As might be expected by anyone who's known Tigerstar for more than ten seconds, this earns a fully-clawed swat to the hand and a loud hiss. "Call me that again and I'll see to it that paw of yours comes off, twoleg ," he growls. Ever the violent misanthrope, this cat. He was named for his long claws - but it was a warning shot this time, so with any luck he hasn't been hurt much. (Really, though, would he have done much more damage if it weren't?)

[kingsroads]

Nnnnnnope, not the sort of kitty he was expecting. Strange pulls back his hand when Tigerstar swats at it, but he's still left with some broken skin and a nasty scratch. Note to self, no more kissy noises.

Strange idly rubs at his hand as he gives Tigerstar a little frown. "How was I to know you could talk? You're a cat."

And, at least in Strange's world, cats didn't talk. At least, cats didn't talk to humans, just to other cats.

[catsatan]

"If you've been in this place longer than I have, surely you already know nothing makes sense here." His tail lashes as he pointedly grooms his paw. "Like twolegs being smart enough to actually understand us."

[kingsroads]

"Of course things make sense here," Strange smugly responds, as he looks down at the cat. "It's magic."

Which is not an answer in the slightest but it's apparently a good enough answer for Strange.

"What, does your world not have magic?" Surely it must because again, this is a literal talking cat. How is that not magical?

[catsatan]

"No, of course not," the cranky cat growls. "I didn't even know the word until I came here." A medicine cat may be more inclined to indulge Strange's questions, but thankfully Tigerstar is not a medicine cat. He bobs his head a little, trying to wrap his head around who he's talking to. "Why, does yours?"

[kingsroads]

"It does." And Strange bends down, closer to the ground so that he's closer to Tigerstar's level and won't get a crick in his neck from staring down at the animal. "And considering that I'm a magician, I know more about magic than most."

And now it's time to show off. Strange murmurs something under his breath: a small ball of fire magically forms out of nothing, hovering over his hand.