In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention

[DragonSong]

Feigning indignation, the panther exclaimed, "Of course I will!" She pressed a hand to her heart, eyes wide and innocent. "When have I ever not been on my best behavior?"

[DaGlobster]

Atiq laughed, and started walking again, motioning for her to come along.

"You're right, my precious Kitty is a saint," he teased, although his face straightened out a bit.

"But I'm being serious, Kitty. It's going to be dangerous, no better way to put it. I know you can handle yourself but... well, I just don't want to worry about you. I need you to promise me you'll do exactly what I say, when I say it."

Then, an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Besides, Defka's heart wouldn't be able to handle it if anything happened to you."

[DragonSong]

Sensing the shift in his mood, Kitty nodded solemnly as she walked just behind and beside him. "I promise," she told him firmly-- although if she was being perfectly honest she probably would have promised anything if it meant she wouldn't be left behind again.

Brightening a bit at the joke, she rolled her eyes and nudged his shoulder gently with hers, before rather abruptly falling forward and landing on all fours in her feline form, evidently bored with walking about as a human. She turned and twined herself around Atiq's legs, purring softly and arching her back to rub up against him, marking him with her scent.

[DaGlobster]

Atiq let her circle about him before he resumed walking. It wasn't a long walk through the gardens, and after they'd passed the zebras and silver-scaled Kaadirs they came up to an octagonal paddock that was set five feet down into the ground. Half of the paddock was dedicated to a swampy looking pond, with the rest being covered over with loose rocks.

Sitting halfway in the pond, basking with its mouth open, was a dark green snapping turtle the size of a carriage. It had a regal appearance to it, with a snout shape, raptor-esque feet, and long winding tail that evoked draconic heritage. There were some handlers cleaning a large leather ball and preparing to lower it into the paddock.

"Scal!" Atiq called out, and the giant turtle gave him a cursory look, snapping it's beak in response. Dragon turtles might've looked big and dopey, but they were as smart as dogs.

[DragonSong]

Kitty hung back a bit as Atiq approached the enclosure, pouting a bit. She had nothing against the dragon turtle, per se, but her friend was quite infatuated with the creature and she just didn't understand it.

Huffing, she rolled her eyes and turned to find a patch of sunlight for herself, ears and tail flicking.

[DaGlobster]

"They got you a new ball, Scal! Look!"

Atiq, who seemed to have an endless reserve of love and energy for every last one of his animals, had a special place in his heart for the massive beast, who was second only to Kitty herself in his esteem.

Atiq rushed along the edge over to where the handlers were, and Scal let out a throaty grunt. The turtle rose the rest of the way out of the water and followed along, gait slow but stride long enough that it didn't matter. The handlers let the ball down, and Scal immediately struck at it, squeezing it and sending it rolling across the paddock. It bounced back, bumping into Scal's side as it wheeled about to bump it back with it's head.

Atiq laughed, and pointed.

"Look, Kitty! He loves it!"

[DragonSong]

Sprawled out in her rather excellent patch of sunlight, Kitty barely raised her head at Atiq's call, letting her form melt back into humanoid as she did.

Propping herself up on one elbow, she drawled, "Seems so. Hope he doesn't destroy this one as quick as the last. You'll go bankrupt trying to keep him entertained."

It wasn't that she didn't like Scal, really. She was just...used to being the favorite. And while of course she knew her place in Atiq's life was never truly under threat, cats could finicky about that sort of thing, and sometimes impulse and instinct got the better of her.

[DaGlobster]

"No, this one's got just the right amount of give for him," he said, watching the turtle bite down and thrash the ball about, tossing it out into the water. Scal, seemingly satisfied, set himself down on the rocks, opening his mouth to resume basking.

Atiq took a few moments to just watch, before nodding to the handlers, who then started to lower Scal's breakfast, a huge bundle of desert grass and palm fronds. Atiq observed the turtle start to snack down on the bundle before he returned to Kitty, smirking at her as she laid sprawled on the rock.

He patted her knee, giving it a playful squeeze.

"Don't worry girl, you're still my favorite."

[DragonSong]

"Well I know that," the panther shifter retorted primly, though she was smiling a bit.

Ego sufficiently soothed, she sat up properly and tilted her head at him. "Where are you going next? Can I come?"

[DaGlobster]

Atiq laughed at her question.

"Well, Defka's barely had ten minutes to himself, so I think I'm going to sit in the sunlight with my hookah for a little bit."

Not that he thought she even needed his permission, or that she'd turn down a chance to laze about with Atiq, who was usually much more energetic than his feline companion.

"I worry for that man, you know. Barely in his twenties and such a talented cook, but I think he might believe you are a human who can turn into a panther, and not the other way around, if you catch my meaning."

[DragonSong]

"Mmm." She stretched as she got to her feet, tilting her head from side to side. "I don't know why people get so hung up on that," she scoffed quietly. "What difference does it make, really?"

Another little shake of her head and she twisted back into her feline form, padding along beside Atiq.



[Time skip maybe soon? Near-ish before the hunt?]

[DaGlobster]

So she didn't catch his meaning.

"People find it a lot easier to believe in the first than the other, I suppose," Atiq said simply. In reality, today marked the fifth time that he'd caught Defka stealing glances at Kitty, and he loathed the fact that he'd have to set him straight with a private talk, just as he'd done so a few other times in the past with bold new servants.

The last time, a new guard had straight up flirted with her, and it went over her head by some miracle.

But not Atiq's.

[DragonSong]

The panther tipped her head at him and chuffed quietly, ears flicking.

She wasn't entirely oblivious. If nothing else, she could scent arousal in humans as easily as fear. They simply didn't hold her interest, or at least not for long. She'd never really bothered to give such matters much thought.

Panther and girl were one and the same. Most males she'd met didn't seem to quite understand that.

[DaGlobster]

Atiq, it seemed, was the the one who was oblivious to her non-obliviousness.

But, blissful in his ignorance, he kept on walking, taking note of the delicious smell wafting from the kitchen window as Defka worked. He went out to his favorite spot in the gardens and reclined on a nice, long seat.

He felt like it was going to be a lazy day today.

---------------------------------------------

It'd been two weeks since that meeting in Atiq's house, and the young merchant prince paced about nervously. He wasn't wearing his home clothes anymore, rather a sturdier getup more suitable for travelling, complete with a headscarf. His expeditionary wagon was loaded up with everything they needed to make camp alongside a month's worth of food and Atiq's hunting equipment. The wagon was attached via towhook to a long carriage with a canvas top, which in turn was fastened to a trio of sturdy looking kaadir.

"Come on, they're going to be late..." he muttered to himself.

Out of nerves, he looked about, wanting to pinpoint where Kitty was to make sure she hadn't wandered off. Not that he thought he had much to worry about, but he still wanted to calm his nerves a bit.

[DragonSong]

Kitty was actually wearing clothes, an incredibly rare occurrence for her. Of course, when Atiq had pointed out that traveling would leave her quite a bit more vulnerable than simply traipsing about the estate, she had relented and allowed herself to be fitted in a relatively simple, sturdy knee-length tunic and a pair of loos pants.

She even had sandals on her feet, which just felt weird. She wriggled her toes, looking down at them as she leaned back against the wagon and huffed, tail flicking back and forth as her irritation started to grow.

"We could just leave without them," she noted with a flick of her ears.

[DaGlobster]

"Yeah, as if I'm going to go hunt a land shark by myself," Atiq said, snorting a bit. He went and leaned by the wagon next to her, giving her shoulder an affectionate little rub.

"But hey, here you are! Travelling with Atiq, getting to see the world outside the estate," he said, voice teasing. His expression straightened out and he crossed his arms.

"They think we're just going on a friendly hunt, but what they don't know is that the land shark's liver oil is going to make me nearly five thousand gold pieces per vial."

He chuckled.

"And they've got pretty big livers."

As if on cue, another carriage pulled up. Atiq's friends, who seemed to have met up beforehand to drink in advance, all climbed out looking merry. Atiq greeted them in the usual manner, too polite to call them out for showing up late (and drunk at that!).

[DragonSong]

Kitty purred happily and leaned into Atiq when he stroked his shoulder, blinking large golden eyes up at him when he spoke of their quarry's valuable liver oil.

Then his friends arrived and she rolled her eyes, straightening up. "Finally," she grumbled with a quick flick back and forth with her tail.

[DaGlobster]

Kitty's comment went mostly unnoticed, although there was one who stood out from the group as sober who caught her words. He gave Atiq a momentary glance as he greeted the others, and when he was done the visitor motioned to Kitty.

"You're bringing your pet?" he said, using a similar tone as Kitty herself, a tone which Atiq bristled at.

"Jalai, I am the one paying for and organizing this excursion. I can bring who ever I want. Is there a problem?"

Gedhi and Pilo, the other two friends, seemed to sense the tension through their addled state, and Gedhi himself rubbed Atiq's shoulders.

"Don't pay him any mind, Atiq. He's just grumpy because he didn't have any wine," the man said. Gedhi was an overweight man in his 30s, sporting a long rectangular beard and cropped back hair. Pilo was his younger brother, who was shaved bald on his head and face and of a wiry appearance. Jalai, the grumpy one, was around Atiq's age but not nearly as worldly, and he sported a short  goatee.

All three of them were not dressed appropriately for a hunting expedition, rather they seemed to have dressed for a party.

Atiq sighed, and then put on a smile.

"Well, hopefully we can fix that during the carriage ride," he started, and motioned up to the carriage. As his friends started to pile in, he looked to Kitty. He had a labored quality in his eyes, he'd spent the better part of the last two weeks stressing over every detail and quadruple-checking all of his supplies and plans.

"Be nice, girl," he said, low enough so his friends wouldn't hear.

[DragonSong]

Kitty bared her teeth at the antagonistic human, a silent snarl. She was quiet while Atiq calmed his friends.

When her friend tried to usher her into the carriage, she hissed quietly and muttered in response, "I will, if he does."

She did not like the smell of these men, the alcohol and sweat that made her pant for a breath of fresh air. How come when Atiq spent a night drinking he never smelled so awful?

With a huffed, she took her feline form and leaped up into the carriage. She took what she thought of quite plainly as her seat-- right next to Atiq.

[DaGlobster]

"He will. I'll set him straight," Atiq said, giving her back a short little rub before she shifted and lept up into the carriage. The carriage was long and open-topped with a section of canvas stretched over it to provide shade. Atiq never liked to be cooped in when he travelled.

When Kitty came up into the carriage Ghedhi and Jalai couldn't help but to jump a little on instinct, but then she curled up on a seat and Atiq came and sat down next to her, giving the top of her head an idle little scritch.

"Well, if you gentlemen want to help Jalai get in a better mood, there's wine and rum in the cabinets. Cups too."

Pilo spoke up.

"And remind us where we're going?"

Atiq smiled. He always had a genuine passion for these  things and even through his stress the happiness shown through as he spoke.

"This time of year, the land sharks are in their breeding season. They like the soft, sandy dirt of the delta to nest and rest in. It's a bit of a ride to get there with a couple of stops along the way. We should be back in a week, however."