saturday sun. [tomie]

“Yeah, something,” Tomie repeated. He looked a little too weird to be just a cat. Plumed tail, weirdly long ears. His body was so small, though, and the young Gryffindor couldn’t help but wonder whether he’d been left up here or something. If he was all alone, how was he supposed to eat? What did kneazle-cats even eat, anyway? He felt very light in her hands, and she felt bad for him.

“I hope so,” Tomie said, peering out past the ring of light the flickery lamp overhead made around their little sitting area. Even as she said it though, she felt like it couldn’t be true. “Maybe he got lost,” she suggested, shuffling back to her crate-chair, still holding the little guy. “Or… I dunno, he looks pretty runty don’t you think?” Tomie watched him squirm around in her hands, trying to get comfy. She placed him in her lap gently and he started clawing at her shorts. She laughed.

“Oooh, nearly done!” She said, stretching her hand out to grab the bottle from where Benny had placed it on the floor, careful not to squish her new little friend. She patted him absentmindedly as she took another sip of the drink, leaving just a little at the bottom. “All yours,” she said, handing it out to him. Tomie closed her eyes for a moment, trying to see if she felt… more laughy or more stumbly or anything. Her heart was beating a little quickly, but that could have just as easily been from their little scare, or even nerves at drinking the alcohol in the first place. “Feel anything?” she asked, cracking one eye open.

"Yeah, maybe," Benny added with a shrug but lost or not the Gryffindor was stuck wondering how the cat-kneazle-fluff ball had even gotten up here in the first place. Was there a hole in the wall or did they sneak in when someone opened the door? The other witches and wizards that lived here didn't come up to the attic often, and when they did, it was typically to deal with the Boggart that came around once and a while. Benny chewed on the inside of his lip thinking about it, and what to do next, as Tomie took her last sip and held the bottle out to him. Grabbing for it and returning to his chair he thought about saying something clever, like how he'd seen his parents when they were making a toast, something fun like 'bottom's up' but he came up short.

Instead he just looked at the little bit of liquid left and spoke softly, "Here goes," before knocking the last of it back and swallowing. He set the empty class on the floor and it clinked against the wood. Benny's eyes darted up to the kitten currently set on destroying Tomie's clothes (her mother must have been an expert at mending charms by now) and hoped he didn't scare the creature. "It is pretty small, looks thin too," Benny noted as he took his seat back in their little lit oasis in the middle of the dark attic.

"Um, I think so," Benny said, trying to will himself to feel something other than a little bit tingly. His cheeks felt hot, so that was something, but he wasn't sure if the alcohol was the cause. "Maybe this is what being drunk feels like? Do you feel different?"

Tomie opened her other eye, feeling a little disappointed. “Cheers,” she said anyway, smiling as he finished off the bottle. She stroked the little kitten curled up in her lap absentmindedly.

Did she feel any different? She tried to feel out her body from the inside, tried to see if she could spot anything. She was hungry, but that was almost always the case. She was hot, but it was summer, so that one was iffy... “My face feels kinda weird,” she replied suddenly, raising one hand to poke at her own cheek. “Actually, yeah! Don’t your cheeks feel kinda weird??” She slapped her own cheeks, trying to work out what the feeling was exactly.

Tomie laughed for no reason at all, feeling giggly at the idea that they’d done something so bold. “Weasel Warren better not rat on us,” she said, but she was grinning when she said it. Her eyes were drawn back down to the little kitten in her lap. He was done shredding the edges of her basketball shorts now, and had curled up, seemingly exhausted by the activity.

“What do you think we should do with this guy?” she asked, looking back up at Benny. “Do you think his family is in here somewhere?” Tomie cast a dubious look out into the darkness.

Benny puffed out his cheeks when Tomie brought them up, suddenly entirely too interested in them, and he supposed they did feel a little weird. Warm even, but Benny didn't smack himself in the face to figure it out. Poking at his puffy cheeks he shrugged, "They do," but was this all? It was kind of a letdown to think this was what being drunk was like. He didn't feel especially different, or happy, but then when Tomie laughed he couldn't help but laugh too. It made him tingle a little, like the warm fuzzies were spreading across his preteen body, and he smiled brightly. "Feels cool," he said just before she brought up the source of the alcoholic adventures.

"We'll get him back at Hogwarts if he does," Benny wasn't really the sort to threaten others but he felt bold at the moment. Likle he could just go right down stairs and give that weasel Warren a piece of his mind. He wouldn't, but he felt like he could. And that was an exciting feeling.

Nearly slipping off the crate he'd been half sitting on half leaning up against he chuckled again. "Dunno, I expect if they were then he'd be trying to get back to them right?" At first Benny thought maybe the family was up here but he hadn't heard any more noise in the attic. And the kitten was so small, if the mother was close by, surely she'd of noticed one of her babies was missing by now, right? Benny went back to poking his warm cheeks with the pads of his fingertips, enthralled by it, and spoke absently, "Hope she's not an orphan,"

Tomie laughed again when Benny mentioned getting Warren back, delighted by how bold he sounded when he said it. She felt light and airy – was that the alcohol? She wanted to laugh at everything he said. Suddenly she found herself half-hoping Warren actually would rat on them, just so they had an excuse to go full-vengeance on him. There was nothing quite like a diabolical Vos/Rivera plot, and now that they’d basically successfully executed this one she was ready for the next.

“Yeah I guess,” she said, glancing down at the sleeping cat in her lap. “Maybe we can sneak some milk up here later or something. Or, I dunno – fish?? What do kneazles eat?” She laughed again for no reason, running her fingers down the creature’s back lightly. “Do you wanna go for a walk?” she asked, glancing back up. “We could get some snacks from the shop, or…?”

"Yeah, milk probably," Benny told her absently, mostly because he was not trying to smuggle fish in his pockets all the way up to the attic. That would surely warrant some questions from his Nola when she did the laundry. "Okay," Benny told Tomie as he moved from where he was sitting. They had been up here a while now, a whole beer ago, to be exact, and he was getting hungry.

"Are you going to bring the kneazle?" He asked her as they met in the middle of the attic, under the single light that was still working, but Benny didn; 't feel scared about the darkness surrounding them anymore. If anything, he felt a little bit tingly. Maybe it was because he hadn't eaten since breakfast, but more likely, it was the adrenaline mixing with the tiny bit of alcohol he had consumed.

“Nah… Dad would probably call an exterminator or something,” she said, rolling her eyes. It wasn’t really true, but she definitely wouldn't be allowed to keep playing with the wild little thing.

She was reluctant to leave the little guy here all alone, but resolving to come back and feed him snacks at some point in the future went some way in making her feel more comfortable with the idea. Carefully, Tomie picked him up, stood, and put him down on the crate she’d been sitting on. She’d hoped he wouldn’t wake up, but he did, and he started making cute mewing sounds at her.

“Lets make him a nest or something when we come back,” she said, following Benny to the attic door, feeling buzzed and bouncy. “Goodbye!” she said into the attic room as she shut the door behind her.


/end

"Tomie," Benny hesitated as the little kitten kept making cute sounds, even Benny could help but think so, and it made it a little more difficult to leave the tiny thing up here alone, "I don't think cats use... nests," He said apprehensively as he followed her toward the exit of the attic. Though he wasn't entirely sure, he was pretty sure that was a thing for birds. Then again, Benny had never really had this kind of pet.

And regardless, it was a nice idea, so he wasn't entirely sure why he was fighting her on it. They both knew Benny would end up going along with whatever plan Tomie came up with next. That was how it had always been, and always would be, so instead, he shrugged.

Following her out of the door of the attic he closed it slowly and quietly, no reason to draw any attention to them as they cascaded the stairs. Benny had forgotten to grab the bottle, but in a way, it was better than it was left up in the attic. Less chance of it being caught on them as they headed down to her parent's shop for snacks.

[/end]