Author's note: (You work too fast! I wanted to clear this one first with nothingsp, as I know we're not really going for a prejudicial world... but I thought it was interesting enough that I could add to it and see if it works. Maybe some humans can be prejudiced.. I hope this isn't too messy. I have alternative ideas for the cat-girl anyway but couldn't resist trying to add something to this situation ;)
Ardour city...
This place had it all really- and more if one could afford it. In some ways if one wanted for absolutely nothing, there was no reason one couldn't have a perfectly content life. The steam revolution combined with some magical enhancements provided an ample food source and in general the politics tended to sort itself out- as it did in most cases.
Captain James Ashcroft of the Watch was about to enter into retirement age, well into his late sixties. Though he didn't really want to go, even if his body was insisting that he had to take it easy. White balding hair and wispy beard... but still built with strength and good health, with a broken tooth and nose fracture as his most visible blemishes that did not come as part of natural ageing. He wore his uniform well.. the badge was quite rusty, as back then they didn't make it out of the good steel. It was cast iron but in some ways.. Ashcroft liked that. He had to work hard to make it shine each morning. It became part of his daily ritual, even if there were particularly stubborn rusty corners he couldn't clean off. the newer badges issued didn't corrode at all, somehow... hiding it. He took a bit of that polish as he looked out his window and into the city, the weight of that steel heavy on his palm.
In his time the officer had seen this city grow from the humble farmlands into a thriving steamopolis. His father was one of those steam engineers and actually had a steam-point named after him. Captain Ashcroft however, had favoured mainlining law and order despite the greater dangers. In some ways it was still engineering... social engineering? Well no, that sounded terrible. He simply worked to make one group of people interact peacefully with another group of people. Maintaining law and order. Humans working together tended to be far more difficult then the curious myth-races yet somehow it was making the myth-folk interactions with humans that was the most rewarding of all. In some ways he envied the very simple demands they had. Often it was 'leave us alone and we'll send you a post card' they had an independent streak that the captain admired Ashcroft knew to always keep those postcards. Tomorrow tended to come quickly and friends were quickly made out of circumstances. It was down to humans to remember the circumstances of such bonds.
He was going to miss this station. The one regret he had, was that he couldn't convince any of the non-human folk to join in the Watch as actual officers. Not even a werewolf- (they were human sometimes, right?) Sure they didn't mind helping out in the other things like witnesses or providing unique evidence... but they were pretty keen to keep human matters of arrest to humans... he could understand why, but to him it was all the same law. The same social need for justice... regardless of how many eyes someone had.
Ashcroft was looking at one of the photos in the hallways when he heard a voice.
"I tell you she wondered right at me! Little thief tried to take something clearly. Unregistered, so I sent her packing to the cait quarters." A young man said brimming with glee.
" in my office." Ashcroft spoke brushing past the man, and somehow with just the inertia of his voice and body language managed to drag the young man into his den.
The young man looked with bemusement. He could still feel the bruise of the 'invisible bump' on his shoulder. "What's the deal?"
"A good question. I have another... Name, Rank, and tell me the actions you performed as part of your duties today."
"Uh... support officer, Neil Mitchell, I escorted a Cait-kind minor back to her home."
"Support officer Neil..." The captain repeated, his words dripping with both ice and sandpaper as he said his name. It was akin to having that sandpaper get shredded. "Now... what checks did you do with this minor? What was the young girl's name?"
"Name? It was a cait-sith-"
Ashcroft's cold dark eyes bore holes into the younger man. He spoke very slowly to him, as if drilling right into his brain. "I believe... they like to be called cat-folk.. or neko-kin. 'Cait Sith' is a very particular myth-creature and is borderline insulting. It's like calling an elf a fairy... and I think even you know how that turned out. Now, 'support officer' Neil.. a lost minor came to you, and what happened? You did get her name and write it down at least, didn't you?"
"Well-" Neil took out his log book. The official insignia of the watch upon it. All actions were supposed to be recorded... but... most of Neil's log were just scribbles and a few odd messages. He gulped as he realised he didn't have the girls name or even a description- or even the date. "Well- she... she was lost? It was at Market Street I saw her." He quickly jotted that down to get into 'less trouble' as well as adding some of her description. 'Black hair.. uh.. tail...'
"So you took her to her parents then?" asked Ashcroft. "Hard to do without a name..."
"Well... No.. I... took her to the ghettos... where... she belonged." Neil responded and even his own face was starting to turn white. "I left her with someone though! One of her own kind-"
"Ah. Good. A relative I take it?"
"Well- the same species..."
"So...to a stranger...? Support officer Neil?" The captain tilted his head questioningly.
"Well- it was another cait- er- cat folk... his name is Kiraq, He always deals with them."
"...so.... you took a minor... who came to you for help... to one of the poorest quarters of the city... to one of the cat-folk you have little idea about."
"She was happy to be there captain! I am quite sure...it's got fish and-"
" I have reports of an officer of the watch dragging a cat-kind by her tail... and what was this about registration?"
"Registration- uh- we register the monsters-"
"That's FOR CRIMINALS YOU IDIOT!" Ashcrof punched his desk... "A list you will now be acquainted with." His hand as red as his face from the impact of wood splintering it. This was the first time he had ever felt the need to physically lash out... because if he didn't do it on his desk, he might just attack Neil. All he could think of now was that poor girl, lost in the city because of this... pathetic excuse of an officer. Ashcroft had never had children of his own but... that thought terrified him. "CRIME! I call for The Watch!" he shouted, his stern voice ringing through the corridors of the station.
At once another officer came in through the door; a rather young woman with a determined look in her blue eyes and short blond hair. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but when someone called for the watch they were trained to respond immediately. It was just very odd for it to happen in their own station.. She stood up straight, expecting this to be some kind of inspection or test. "The watch is present." she said crisply.
"Cuff this...man, corporeal," ordered Ashcroft as he removed the insignia of the watch from 'Mister' Neil. The badge was still gleaming in silver with that special iron. He stared at it placing it on his dented desk as it rolled to the impression he left upon the surface.. The captain's words no longer had an angry weight just a bitter disappointed emptiness. His anger, such as it was didn't serve any purpose- not when he had no target. Now his only weapon was the law. "Mister Neil, you are hear-by expelled from the Watch. You are charged with criminal negligence in your duties while in the watch, illegal arrest of a minor, assault on a minor, leaving the scene of a possible crime, child neglect, collusion in trafficking a minor to an unsafe house and so help me if that child dies due to your incompetence you will go on trial as an accomplice to her murder. I would give you a bigger speech but I have to clean up the mess you made. Get him out of my sight."
The young corporal nodded, not even missing a beat as she logged the list of charges the man would be facing... and then, she calmly took him towards the cells by tugging on his arm. He complied.. part of her wished she could make him feel even some of what that child must be feeling, but that is what justice was for. To find some kind of... penalty that matched the crime. It was not her place to make him pay for this... not yet.
Neil was aware of everyone in the watch looking at him as he was dragged, handcuffed. They heard the list of charges from the office, it was said loud enough... it was public. Neil was very.. limp as he was taken to the cells. All he could do now was hope that the girl was still alive...
Darrin was.. scared.
She hated to admit it, but something about being in this body... it was hard to think like her old self. She knew she wasn't really a child, she knew she was supposed to be a human man. But her body was insisting otherwise and it had so many... thoughts that she was slowly remembering just what being a child was truly like. Acting on impulse but suffering conflicting instincts of both her human mature self and this immature cat-girl's body. Worse was whenever she tried to say something- whenever she tried to find the resolve to to make a decision for her own benefit and act upon it. That should be really simple... but that voice was always asking her- 'don't I need permission? Is that safe?' Being part cat seemed to help that a bit but only if it was something the cat in her found.. curious. But right now, the cat instincts were not helping her find any strength of will.
Kiraq looked Darrin over, pulling her hood away and placed a hand on the back of her neck, applying just a bit of pressure there. The sensation... It made Darrin go limp. She felt paralysed as the elder cat-man simply pulled her closer into his 'den'. Finally she was taken to what looked like a rusty shack in a poor area of the city. The door creaked and smelled of rust. "Now then little one, you will stay here until I decide what is to be done about you...Given you are in my territory and no longer in your own, I think you understand how things work..."
Darrin gulped and sniffed the air. That smell of rotten fish... it wasn't just that. It was something else hiding the scent. This whole area, was Kiraq's territory. She was in another's territory and that thought frightened her even more. A primal instinct that was not relatable by any human standard. Indeed this whole situation had no human analogue, and Darrin was helpless. A human probably expected a human response... but in this situation, a human just gave a cat... to another cat. "P-Please... I just want to go..." she whispered.
"When I decide it is time, of course you will go." Said Kiraq with a nod. "For now... you will stay here kitten" and her neck was released.
Despite being let go, Darrin felt herself become just... powerless at his voice. This was a strong male cat, and she was in his territory. She was just a cub, she had to do what he said. Her instincts were telling her that and she couldn't fight them... could she? She wasn't... strong enough.
'You're an adult! You're human! You don't have to do what he says! FIGHT! Get out! Run! Anywhere is better then here! Maybe you can get the humans to understand you're not a cat-girl!' Darrin's male voice echoed in the recesses of the cat-girl's mind as it struggled in deep conflict based on past experience but also the cruel infantile structure of her mindset that once knew maturity. Where would she go? What could she do as a child in a strange world where she knew nobody and everyone seemed to 'hate' her? She could only see and perceive and act upon such things as a child would, even if she had the experience to see past it- but it was just so -hard- to turn that into a mature action. "W-What do you want from me..." she whispered. Her legs were locked and she couldn't move. She found herself going onto the ground, her tail limp as she acknowledged the master of this territory. She had this horrible realization as she realised that when he hugged her... the scent was now on her own body. He... he marked her. That's why he hugged her... she felt sickened.
Kiraq smiled. "Oh don't you worry kitten. You'll be joining a new family now. There is much to learn about the cat-folk as I'm sure you must be curious. You are.. remarkably human looking... hm... that will be useful... I'll be as your father... after all, you were given to me, it seems appropriate."
Darrin wasn't sure she liked this at all.
