Fancy Seeing You Here

Tadashi seemed as calm and happy as ever as he twirled the pencil in his hand. He had been drawing little lines and squiggles in the air every so often but the truth was he was actually too distracted to really draw anything substantial. His many fleeting thoughts also included John, in a way. Though there was nothing romantic at all about his. He had been bothered greatly by all the stress and arguing in the Community Center of late. After witnesing John's near death he had exclaimed that he was "tired of being a person" and hadn't been back there since. It was perhaps a little overly dramatic but it was really hard to remain calm when things like that were going on. Going to the minimum number of classes to continue barely passing was about all he had been doing in human form lately. Not that he would have told Tomo about that.

He gave up trying to draw and stretched his arms before sleepily blinking his eyes. Tadashi wasn't even pretending to have gone to class that day. He wore a plain grey hooded sweatshirt partially unzipped down the front, revealing a wrinkled white button down shirt. The sleeves ran all the way to his wrists where they were met by his customary light gray gloves. His slacks were a gunmetal gray and his shoes seemed to match the sweatshirt. He was comfortable sitting there next to Tomomi, and probably would have allowed himself to fall asleep if she hadn't shifted and growled.

Even he could tell that Tomo had been out of sorts lately. It bothered him a great deal, but he knew it would be best to let her bring it up rather than pester her about it. Until then he had been content to just sit there in comfort and keep her company. And maybe he would have tried to snap her out of it if the opportunity had arose.

Sure enough Tomo had broken the silence and Tadashi was a little unsure how to answer her. He thought about making a joke. Maybe telling her that of course she was and sticking out his tongue. That might have hurt her though and he really, really didn't want that. Instead he picked his words carefully, "You're scrappy. You stick up for yourself and I love you for it. Sometimes though being tough makes it hard for people to get close without getting hurt. It's easy for me 'cuz I know you're really just a softy at heart," he smiled as he flopped down to look up at the sky, "but you have to remember that you aren't just fending for yourself here. Us alley cats have to stick together. If you aren't comfortable talking to me about some things, fine, but i'm here and I would never judge you."

With smiling eyes and a laugh, he turned his head to face Tomo and added, "And Yuna needs to learn to play nice before someone breaks more than her leg."

@WuffyWuff

There we go, that's more like you. Jumping on heads, biting ears and tackling people. Happy, at least a little bit.

"Oh I see how it is, I say something nice and you try to smother me," he joked but he did hug her back. "Yeah, you're stuck with me now and I'll-," he was interrupted when Tomo let go and called out at someone in the distance. With her no longer holding him he was able to slide away a bit and sit up.

Some random girl was just staring at them and giving the weirdest look. Tadashi wasn't quite sure whether she was upset about something or just judging them for enjoying the day. It looked like she was about their age so she might have been deciding whether to tattle on them for skipping class.

He didn't really catch whatever it was that Tomo was smelling but he was a little distracted by what he was seeing. The girl staring at them was wearing all kinds of expensive clothing, but under that she looked familiar. Really, really familiar. She had pale skin and white hair just like the two of them and she looked like she was about the same age. For some unexplained reason he also felt drawn towards the girl. More than likely it was whatever Tomo had noticed.

Tadashi felt like he was swimming as he stood up and started walking towards the girl. He didn't want to get his hopes up in case this was just a coincidence, but was this their missing sister? "H-Hi! Who are you?" It was about all he could think to say and he had stopped a little distance from her, not knowing whether he should get closer to her or stay nearer to Tomo. So, he just kind of stood there awkwardly and waited to see what would happen.

@WuffyWuff

As Tadashi stood there watching, not knowing what to do, he finally picked up on the familiar scent in the air. Like the one that had helped him realize Tomomi was his sister. The scent reminded him of a cold winter logn ago...and mom. He might have tried to explain it away as having smelled Tomo instead, but he knew that wasn't true. This was an additional scent that added to and complemented theirs.

She didn't sound Japanese, but it was hard to argue against the scent once Tadashi had noticed it. She had asked if they were bakenekos but the easiest way to answer would be to just show her. Tadashi dropped briefly into cat form as he ran the rest of the way over. In his cat form the scent was even more noticeable and he didn't need to get close to confirm it for himself. Instead he was going to get close because he was sure this was their sister.

While running over in cat form he meowed, "Tadashi, and either both of our noses are broken," indicating himself and Tomo, "or you are definitely our sister." He popped back into human form and stood right next to Tomo, grinning from ear to ear.

Somewhere back behind them a pencil lay forgotten and lost, but Tadashi didn't care.

@WuffyWuff