[04]
The decision was pretty clear. You couldn't just stay here and wait.
You really had to go look for civilization.
There was a tiny voice in the back of your head telling you that maybe, just maybe, there was none to be found, but you squashed it. There was little sense in taking things in that direction; it wasn't as if you had any better odds of staying alive here than if you began moving. Especially when you were growing increasingly short on resources.
You were not sure exactly why it was that your mind so loudly repeated to you what you already had as your primary and main goal, but... Well, it was nice to be reminded about it. That meant other things, cat-lady things, had to be dealt with, organised, moved about. Looking at the pouting cat-lady, you made big obvious gestures for her to come over.
She pouted harder and turned to look away much more indignantly than the first time.
"Come on... come?" You spoke, to which she didn't even respond- of course she wouldn't, did she even know English? "How long until the carrier is done?" You asked muscle-glasses, what was his name!? You were so sure you knew it too, gah.
"Not long," he replied.
"Good." With a nod and a frown, you decided to use this bout of motivation to find civilization to skip a second or two to make a choice and instead began stomping your way towards the cat-lady. If you were going to move, you were going to need her to come along.
Her ears turned to pick up the sound of your feet; the flick of her ear acknowledged your presence but didn't turn. Her tail became completely still, attentive regardless.
"Hey," you called out with a neutral tone, taking out a chocolate bar, the sound of the wrapper earning her looking at you through the corner of her eye, barely turning her head in your direction.
A part of you knew this had some risks, but you had come to comprehend that so long as she wasn't losing face and it was at least tangentially related to sex, she'd be far more accepting about whatever it was you did to or with her. It was rough on your nerves that's for sure, but doubly so when it could compound. You wanted to show confidence to make certain the message came across, so being nervous made it easier to be even more nervous.
Taking a bite of the bar, you leaned down and kissed her.
The gesture caught her by surprise, probably not expecting it- or maybe she'd never even experienced it? You weren't sure, only that she froze as you did this, lips parting easily and accepting the piece of chocolate, her tongue lashed at it, at your lips. Your cheeks were glowing slightly as you heard a holler from Katherine in the background, and promptly ignored her in favour of focusing your attention on the cat-woman and on ignoring the taste she had in favour of the chocolate you were providing.
After a second or three, you pulled back, and her mouth closed with a plop, licking her lips, chewing the chocolate with an absent look in her eyes that lasted only until she swallowed it in a loud gulp. She looked back up at you and smacked her lips, licking them slowly again, the gesture seeming more curious than sensual. Her hand reached to her mouth, touching it, staining the fur with some of the bits of the chocolate; she licked it off without a second thought, appearing pleased.
"We need to move." You raised the chocolate bar and showed it to her, taking a step back and prompting her to stand up. "Will you come?"
Her eyes wandered from the chocolate bar to your mouth, and back. She smacked her lips again, absently looking at you as if pondering something. Then, she stood up and grabbed the sides of your head with the soft pads of her paw-hands before pulling you into another kiss. It was sloppy, with a little chocolate to save you from the rancid taste of her previous meals- you were definitely going to eat a pack of mentos after this.
But damn if her clumsy enthusiasm didn't make it very very hard to keep from reciprocating.
"Purrsian." She seemed satisfied with the look on your face, her smile a cattish one. You didn't realize she'd snagged the candy-bar from your hand up until she'd plopped it into her mouth wrapper and all.
The look of smugness vanished, a gagging coughing sound as she hissed and spit out the chocolate wrapper. She looked betrayed at the thing and then at you. A loud snort followed as she leaned down to pick up the wrapper, sniff it, and begin to gingerly lick it. You had a thought to take the wrapper from her paw, but you weren't feeling particularly suicidal, so you stomped on that thought mercilessly.
"We leaving now?" Katherine asked, helping her now-thankfully dressed grandfather to stand.
"Yes," you declared, looking towards muscle-glasses (you made a mental note you'd ask him his name in some discreet way later), Alice, and May. They had made a sort of stretcher but apparently meant to be dragged rather than carried on both ends at the same time.
"If you put me on that thing, it will be after I've half beaten you to death," Mr. Gabriel proclaimed proudly. To which you couldn't bring yourself to reply- you'd force him there yourself if he slowed you too much, having one problem that could get you killed was enough. Until then you'd let him keep his sense of pride.
"The others went that way," Alice pointed in the exact direction opposite from where you'd last heard May's brother screaming from. Made sense. But you had to wonder if that was the best option- not that you had that much information to go on.
Silently you began to chew on a mint candy now while the feline was occupied with the wrapper. "Ok, ok, just stop for a minute," you muttered, rubbing the bridge of your nose. "I don't think we should head south."
"What?" It was a statement made in unison by everyone else.
"I've been thinking about it," you muttered. "She came from the east." You pointed towards the cat-lady who was currently standing on the sideline and watching curiously, licking, chewing, and spitting bits of the wrapper. "If she came from the east, then there must have been water in that direction."
Unless the entirety of her water needs came from the... meat she ate. You didn't want to think about that for too long.
"...where there's water there's better chances of civilization." Gabriel frowned with half a nod, but clearly looking displeased. "But we agreed to meet up with them."
"It's not like we're going in the opposite direction," you replied. "If we don't find a river to follow or signs that could lead towards civilization, then we head south and follow them. If we find civilization we can ask for help to rescue them as well."
They looked amongst each other, seeming troubled, but there was a slow nod amongst them. "I don't like it, but... I don't think we have any clue at all about what's south of here," Alice spoke with a half-hearted nod.
"Show of hands?" You spoke, raising your own. Much to your surprise cat-lady mimicked the gesture, tilting her head a little.
"If she's in I'm in," Katherine giggled, raising her own hand. Then came Mr. Gabriel, Alice, muscle-glasses, and lastly May.
You sighed in relief, lowering your arm and scratching the back of your head. "With that out of the way, there's one more thing before we start walking." You turned towards the cat-lady. "What's your name?"
She tilted her head as you spoke. "Purrsian?"
"I am not going to call her that," Katherine whispered under her voice.
