Log:Fortune's Missing Mask

2020/10/13 Sasha Travis 1

Whatever possessed Tricia Vandemeer to ask you to meet her at Cafe Neko is beyond you. And then she calls you to stand you up after you've already gone in and gotten a table? She called at least to tell you she was stuck at home babysitting her brat of a brother and all but begger you to give her a second chance. And not like you can just get up and storm out what with one cat tucked against one hip and another occuppoying your lap. It's not even like you invited them to. They just both, one Siamese with blue eyes and the black cat with back eyes rumbling in your lap.

But, well, Tricia's waiting for an answer.

Travis scritches between the ears of the cat on his lap, frowning faintly, but trying to control his reaction. He's feeling some anger at her only telling him now, but his father was always angry. And he doesn't want to be like his father. Externally, he puts on a smile, the sunglasses hiding that it doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Sure, we'll figure out something another time. No big deal," he says in a warm, casual manner.

"Thanks, Travis," says Tricia in a relieved voice. "I can't believe my 'rents pulled this on me! They knew I had..."

Whatever she was about to say is cut off by a fire alarm going off. "Shick! Gotta run! See you tomorrow!" says the cheerleader as she hangs up. Before the line goes dead, you hear her shout "What did you do, Bratley?" at someone.

A rich, European accented voice all but purrs as you are distracted, "And has the young sir, decided on something to drink or eat?" It seems a catboy has slipped up beside you and smiles down at you.

Travis pockets his phone once she hangs up. Without Tricia there to look at the menu, it's a little hard for him to read it. But there are some tricks around it. "What would you recommend?" he asks, turning his head to look up at the purring voice. Until someone looks at the server and him, he has no idea who he's speaking to.

Both the cats look up at the server as does one of the serving maids walking by with a tray. Well, she looks more at his butt in the tight leather pants, but does note his face as well...eventually.

The catboy Sasha murmurs, "Well, if it were up to me, I would have a cup of sweet cream, but, for you, hmm, I suggest the vanilla pudding tarts served with cambric, young sir." He grins as he speaks, his tail lashing slowly behind him.

Travis is caught off guard by who is serving him. "It's...it's -you-," he utters in surprise.

Sasha blinks slowly in the manner of cats. "Why, yes, it is me. This entire time taking you order." He smiles, his shorts fangs glinting for a moment. "You did ask for a male server after all. I assume so as to not make the girl you were to meet jealous? A wise move."

Travis hadn't been being enough attention to the server, it seems. "I only just recognized you, though. Um. Yeah, I didn't want my date to get the wrong idea. I'll try what you commended."

"And would the young sir like his fortune read when his snack arrives?" inquires the catboy with a grin. "Not everyone is strong enough to let the future be revealed to them."

As he speaks, catoy Sasha pours you a glass of iced water holding the pitches high up and letting it stream down three feet or so into the glass. He sets it on the table with nary a spilt drop then, with a slight bow, slips a slice of lime onto the edge of the glass.

That feels like something of a challenge. Travis just shrugs. "Sure, why note," he chuckles, not taking it seriously.

The catboy vanishes for a few moments but you catch sight of him returning through several people's eyes. He carries a tray in one had, a plate, utensils, cup, and cambric carafe balanced on it. Along the way, he's acquired a small black and white tuxedo kitten who perches fearlessly on his shoulder.

As he sets the tray down on the table, the kitten jumps down onto the table top and then sits down gazing at you, its tail twitching slightly.

Catboy Sasha pours the cambric into your cup as he murmurs, "So, how do you wish your fortune told, young sir? Cards? Gems? Hand? But cross my palm with a bit of silver and the future will be revealed!" He says with last with a grin and chuckle at the end.

Travis stares back into the kittens eyes as it stares at him. "Uh, silver? Sorry, I don't have any. I'm not too familiar with fortune types. Does it matter which? How about...hand?"

"Then, pray, give me your left hand, young sir. It leads directly to your heart and thus to the seat of your soul...or so the Epyptians told the Romany when they pass through there in the ancient days!" He holds out his hand as if expecting you to put yours in his. "And, be certain to try the tarts. They will settle your mind and spirit. Such is the skill of Mama-san's bakers."

Travis smiles and sighs a bit and humors Sasha, extending his left hand and putting it palm up into Sasha's. The right hand stays busy scritching the cat in his lap, but he stops to try the tart.

The kitten takes the moment you reach for the tart to pad over and paw at your hand then look at the tart then back to you.

During all this, Sasha holds your left hand in the right as he bends over slightly to gaze at your left palm. "Ah, see much in your hand, young sir. Your past is full of worry, your present full of changes, and your future...ah, your future..." the youth murmurs in almost sing-song voice.

Travis cracks a grin at the kitten. He picks at the tart for a tiny piece, then holds it out to the kitten. He listens to Sasha's generic fortunes. Anyone could guess those. He just nods patiently and waits for the kitten to take his share.

The kitten looks at the piece you've broken off for it, back at the tart, then back to you, before appartently deciding this is fair and sits down to nibble on its tart part. It laps at the vanilla pudding and a rough purr radiates from it.

The other cats stretch and jump down to the floor, off to pursue cat agendas.

"You have traveled very far, yet not far at all. You are doubled in this place I feel. What this means I do not know...but suspect, ah, suspect, yes...." He then traces a finger across one of the lines on your hand. "You are moving soon. From one place to a home. But not alone. You will be wit friends. A handful of them."

Now that gets his attention. Travis looks back to Sasha and tries to control his reaction. "Okay," he says casually.

The catboy looks up at you then grins. "You know this one speaks the truth, Travis," murmurs Sasha so softly only you and the nearby kitten likely hear. "It is writ upon your soul...and your aura...and in my visions as they have still come to me. Only false faces, not true ones, save you at their center. Shall I reveal what the future may hold for you, outlander?"

Travis shifts a bit in his seat, but he doesn't withdraw his hand since Sasha called him an outlander. "Sure. Since you've been accurate so far," he finally fesses up with a grin.

The youth bends over your hand agsin, his finger tracind first one line then another before going back and tracing a third line. "Hmmm, if you had only brought another, I could compare. As it is..." He lets his left hand rest palm down on yours. "I have seen you, but older, not old but older than you are now. Grim, driven. You are with another from your past, his past, you're shared different life paths...Which varies, but only three masks besides yours are seen. One is absent, long empty. But, a trace remains in the face of another now with you. A girl with a sword and iron and magick at her call."

Travis frowns a little, his brow furrowing. The description of his future leaves him unsettled. If they lost one of their number, that wound explain the change in him. Travis now seems further engaged. "Absent? Who? And...a girl with a sword and magic? I...I don't think I'd be around someone like that."

Sasha lifts his hand from yours, a slip of paper resting in your palm. "I do not know. The masks, who, what they are, are unknown to me as is the identity behind the missing mask." He adds after a moment, "But, the girl with the sword and iron and magick? She is here, now, somwhere. She is in your future, not your present."

"And the three masks? They are with the one who is and is not you. He is here now. And in your future."

"I just mean...that doesn't sound like someone who'd be interested in mundane me," Travis grins faintly. He glances towards the paper, trying to get a view of it through Sasha's eyes.

It is rice paper folded into a small flower shape. There is nothing written on the outside of the half dollar sized flower.

Sasha grins as the 'mundane me' comment crosses your lips.

The tuxedo kitten darts into action and bats the paper flower out of your hand and into your lap. It dives after it.

Oh god, not the claws! Travis tenses as the kitten dives for his lap, too slow to stop it or catch it.

The kitten manages to avoid landing squarely on the 'danger zone' instead boofing into your stomach and tumbling into your lap in a sprawl. It lays there for a moment, looking up at you like 'How did that happen?" before it closes its eyes and goes to sleep.

The paper has landed by your near pants pocket, but not fully in it.

"Hmm, it seems the Unnamed One has chosen you. You can think of her as a, hmm, house warming gift, I suppose, from the Cafe Neko." The youth stands and smiles down at you. "And I will take care of your snack. Be certain to finish it. Mama-san hates it when growing boys leave food behind." He bows, perhaps a little mockingly to you, then turns and sashays into the back, his tail flicking slightly.

Travis sighs in relief as the kitten doesn't manage to pounce or claw anything important. As Sasha leaves, he looks back up to him. "A house warming gift...? What, what do you mean?" He doesn't know how to take care of a kitten!

And the swinging door to the back of the house is the only answer.