"What do you mean, cats?" Makoto asked, swirling his drink around. Emiko was attempting to mix some new drink flavours, and he had volunteered as a test subject. All things considered, he actually had quite a good tolerance for alcohol. "Also, this one could use a touch more grenadine."
"Cherry Blossoms are so fiddly," Emiko grumbled, reaching for the bottle under the counter. "But no, we're having a bachelorette party in here next week, so I have to learn. And I mean what I said. There's been an infestation of yeowler cats in the city lately, and I think there's some out back."
He shuddered. "I had a run in with one of those once. How many is an infestation?"
"Five? Six?" She pulled the bottle full of red syrup out and beckoned for his glass. He pushed it over and she tilted a splash of it in, before picking up a spoon to stir it. "It seems cruel to kill cats, but..."
"These are not cats," Makoto declared. "They are small, vicious, clawed demons. That being said, I'm not likely to kill them. I'll just turn them into the local authority or set them loose in the desert or something."
"Fair enough, I suppose," Emiko said. She finished stirring and pushed the glass back over. "How about now?"
He tried a sip again, and then downed the whole thing. She gave him an amused look.
"That's quite good," he said. "...Don't these have a lot of alcohol for a bachelorette party of presumably civilians to be mainlining them?"
"You'd think so," she said. "I don't get it myself, but they're a hot seller with that crowd. Apparently getting drunk on ridiculously sweet drinks is the point."
"They'll be falling-down drunk three in," he said critically. "Or slightly more, depending on tolerance. Oh well. I suppose I'll go handle those cats. Actually wait, no, I'll go get some supplies and then handle those cats."
She stared at him incredulously. "You're a trained ninja and I know for a fact you're carrying at least two weapons right now. Aren't you sort of...I don't know, already prepared to deal with cats?"
Makoto shook his head. "With these monsters? No. I need cages of some kind at the very least."
~
Fortunately, when he explained the issue to the local law enforcement, they'd all but thrown half a dozen cages at him in an effort to not be drafted into assisting with catching the things. Considering as he wasn't about to ask for help, even with infernal vaguely cat-shaped hellbeasts, this was fine and he didn't attempt to argue.
You take these cats far too seriously, Makoto.
Considering what happened last time, I really don't think I am. Besides, it's better to be too prepared than not prepared enough.
That didn't appear to be a line of logic that it could actually argue with, or perhaps it knew better by this point than to try and argue Makoto into optimism.
Which would be terrible for everyone involved, especially himself, if it ever succeeded. Pre-preparing for things was one of the reasons he tended to be successful in his missions. Never mind that some of the things he prepared for never happened; plenty of them did. It was only people who didn't prepare for things who had to get all upset in a crisis situation, after all. By preparing ahead of time, Makoto could expend less energy when things inevitably went to hell around them, as they did on a worryingly frequent basis (something he ascribed to being a ninja). And while he was significantly less lazy than he had used to be, he had still decided that there was no point in expending more energy than needed.
But anyway, treating the cats as serious opponents was not silly. You should treat everyone you fought as a serious opponent, unless you were genuinely just sparring. That was just sense.
The cats were likely nesting somewhere around the bar itself, given the sightings Emiko and a few of the other staff members had relayed to him earlier. Of course, he first had to lure them out, but he didn't think it would be you know, difficult or anything to draw out creatures made of claws and hatred.
In fact, two of them came zooming out while he was debating if he should make a noise that cats hated or go in to request bits of meat as lures.
Zooming out from under the back porch of the bar, in point of fact.
Oh great. They really are nesting.
Since he was more prepared this time, and since he did not have to go crawling underneath the building looking for them like he'd been vaguely dreading, Makoto managed to ward off one cat with his parasol, which it was attacking due to the spokes being shiny while fending off the other with his gloved hand. It was a little difficult to pin one cat with a parasol while grabbing the other by the scruff of its neck, but he managed.
No sooner had he managed to secure these two in their own separate cages, only a few claw marks on him for his trouble, when another one poked its head out, clearly investigating the source of the racket and not particularly cautious about maintaining its continued freedom.
This proved to be unwise on its part. He secured the new, slightly smaller but no less bitey and scratchy, hellcat, and went to try and draw the remaining ones out.
Except there were no more cats forthcoming, despite that apparently there were at least two, possibly three more. Instead of bothering to wait another half-hour, he pulled Photon chakra into his hands and used it to shine a light underneath the porch.
Where he was greeted by not more vicious hellbeast psuedo-cats, but actual kittens. Cat kittens. Regular cat kittens.
He cast a suspicious look back at the cages. Had they 'kidnapped' the kittens, or killed the parents and forcibly adopted the children along with their own single one? Either way, these were not yeowler kittens.
They responded well to a little bit of coaxing, especially once he fetched the bits of meat he'd been intending to trap the other ones with. The kittens staggered out into the dimming daylight, making little kitten chirping sounds.
He called in the capture of the three cats and took the kittens into the bar. No doubt someone would want to adopt them.
All right, that did turn out better than I'd expected. But there was no guarantee of that going in, so I was still right.
"Cherry Blossoms are so fiddly," Emiko grumbled, reaching for the bottle under the counter. "But no, we're having a bachelorette party in here next week, so I have to learn. And I mean what I said. There's been an infestation of yeowler cats in the city lately, and I think there's some out back."
He shuddered. "I had a run in with one of those once. How many is an infestation?"
"Five? Six?" She pulled the bottle full of red syrup out and beckoned for his glass. He pushed it over and she tilted a splash of it in, before picking up a spoon to stir it. "It seems cruel to kill cats, but..."
"These are not cats," Makoto declared. "They are small, vicious, clawed demons. That being said, I'm not likely to kill them. I'll just turn them into the local authority or set them loose in the desert or something."
"Fair enough, I suppose," Emiko said. She finished stirring and pushed the glass back over. "How about now?"
He tried a sip again, and then downed the whole thing. She gave him an amused look.
"That's quite good," he said. "...Don't these have a lot of alcohol for a bachelorette party of presumably civilians to be mainlining them?"
"You'd think so," she said. "I don't get it myself, but they're a hot seller with that crowd. Apparently getting drunk on ridiculously sweet drinks is the point."
"They'll be falling-down drunk three in," he said critically. "Or slightly more, depending on tolerance. Oh well. I suppose I'll go handle those cats. Actually wait, no, I'll go get some supplies and then handle those cats."
She stared at him incredulously. "You're a trained ninja and I know for a fact you're carrying at least two weapons right now. Aren't you sort of...I don't know, already prepared to deal with cats?"
Makoto shook his head. "With these monsters? No. I need cages of some kind at the very least."
~
Fortunately, when he explained the issue to the local law enforcement, they'd all but thrown half a dozen cages at him in an effort to not be drafted into assisting with catching the things. Considering as he wasn't about to ask for help, even with infernal vaguely cat-shaped hellbeasts, this was fine and he didn't attempt to argue.
You take these cats far too seriously, Makoto.
Considering what happened last time, I really don't think I am. Besides, it's better to be too prepared than not prepared enough.
That didn't appear to be a line of logic that it could actually argue with, or perhaps it knew better by this point than to try and argue Makoto into optimism.
Which would be terrible for everyone involved, especially himself, if it ever succeeded. Pre-preparing for things was one of the reasons he tended to be successful in his missions. Never mind that some of the things he prepared for never happened; plenty of them did. It was only people who didn't prepare for things who had to get all upset in a crisis situation, after all. By preparing ahead of time, Makoto could expend less energy when things inevitably went to hell around them, as they did on a worryingly frequent basis (something he ascribed to being a ninja). And while he was significantly less lazy than he had used to be, he had still decided that there was no point in expending more energy than needed.
But anyway, treating the cats as serious opponents was not silly. You should treat everyone you fought as a serious opponent, unless you were genuinely just sparring. That was just sense.
The cats were likely nesting somewhere around the bar itself, given the sightings Emiko and a few of the other staff members had relayed to him earlier. Of course, he first had to lure them out, but he didn't think it would be you know, difficult or anything to draw out creatures made of claws and hatred.
In fact, two of them came zooming out while he was debating if he should make a noise that cats hated or go in to request bits of meat as lures.
Zooming out from under the back porch of the bar, in point of fact.
Oh great. They really are nesting.
Since he was more prepared this time, and since he did not have to go crawling underneath the building looking for them like he'd been vaguely dreading, Makoto managed to ward off one cat with his parasol, which it was attacking due to the spokes being shiny while fending off the other with his gloved hand. It was a little difficult to pin one cat with a parasol while grabbing the other by the scruff of its neck, but he managed.
No sooner had he managed to secure these two in their own separate cages, only a few claw marks on him for his trouble, when another one poked its head out, clearly investigating the source of the racket and not particularly cautious about maintaining its continued freedom.
This proved to be unwise on its part. He secured the new, slightly smaller but no less bitey and scratchy, hellcat, and went to try and draw the remaining ones out.
Except there were no more cats forthcoming, despite that apparently there were at least two, possibly three more. Instead of bothering to wait another half-hour, he pulled Photon chakra into his hands and used it to shine a light underneath the porch.
Where he was greeted by not more vicious hellbeast psuedo-cats, but actual kittens. Cat kittens. Regular cat kittens.
He cast a suspicious look back at the cages. Had they 'kidnapped' the kittens, or killed the parents and forcibly adopted the children along with their own single one? Either way, these were not yeowler kittens.
They responded well to a little bit of coaxing, especially once he fetched the bits of meat he'd been intending to trap the other ones with. The kittens staggered out into the dimming daylight, making little kitten chirping sounds.
He called in the capture of the three cats and took the kittens into the bar. No doubt someone would want to adopt them.
All right, that did turn out better than I'd expected. But there was no guarantee of that going in, so I was still right.