--marlon's misadventures: attack of the kitten

[MARLON COOPER DELANEY]

It was a beautiful day to go for a walk. Or at least it was in Marlon's opinion. But then again, his opinion of what constituted as good weather and what didn't was a bit different from others. He had always favoured the darker, gloomier type of weather, presuming that it meant that he wouldn't have to run all over the house with buckets to make sure that the house didn't flood. Although it was not currently raining outside, there was a bit of a dreary overcast, indicating that it could possibly rain in the near or later future. Only the weather knew its own intentions, if that. Due to the less than stellar weather conditions, most students had opted to stay inside where the possibility of being rained on was not a great possibility and Marlon had the place all to himself. Or as close as he was going to get with someplace as popular as the lake.

With his ever-present companion that was his journal, Marlon made his way towards a large tree that still managed to maintain most of its leaves; although all of the leaves were a beautiful array of red, orange and yellow. As he had always wanted to do, Marlon sat underneath the tree. He had always thought that was such a great idea and painted such a poetic picture. One always read of people sitting under trees and such, and he had never really gotten a chance to do such a thing until now that is. Following the commonly followed paths, he took out his journal as he reviewed over his notes of the people he had encountered this week.

As Marlon read through his journal, he realized that sitting under a tree was not all that it was cut out to be. Apparently books and movies had made it more exciting and fantastic than it actually was. Just as he was about to get up and take a walk (because that was tried and true to work well with his brooding nature), Marlon was suddenly attacked by a kitten. Or what seemed to be an attack. Yelping, Marlon jumped and attempted to throw the offending creature off of him.

Of all the creatures in the world, there was nothing more that he despised than cats. Aside from them, Marlon adored all creatures. It always seemed that they understood him... but not cats. They just wanted attention and only attention from him and quickly abandoned him for the nearest meal or another source of attention. 'Why did it have to be a cat?' he thought exasperatedly as he continued his efforts to remove the kitten who was very intent on acquiring his attention.

[YORI OSHIRO]

”... Well, the cat's not up here then.”

She stared a bit morosely at the kitten currently nuzzling a boy below her. In hindsight, it was kind of stupid to climb up the oak tree when she was perfectly aware of her phobia of heights. Maybe it was that thought that someone as tall as her having trouble with heights might be worse for someone who was so tiny like her dear kitten. That one thought seemed to have override common sense in her brain and without a second thought, she scrambled up that tree, calling Natsu's name for dear life. She must've been fumbling through those trees for at least an hour before she finally looked down and realized how high up she was.

In an ironic show, the owner was the one stuck in the tree now, with the cat trying to get help. For a moment, Yori allowed herself to stew in the unpleasant realization that this looked incredibly pathetic right now. Here she was, one of the hufflepuff champions for bloody sake, stuck in a tree, all but paralyzed to try and come down. What an embarrassment to do this to herself. If she were to really call herself a champion, she needed to get over this silly stuff. She couldn't hope to even try the first task unless she overcame these ridiculous fears. No wonder people were worried about her. The hufflepuff could barely take care of herself.

Shaking herself from such thoughts, she figured it would be better to get help and worry about the implications later. With a shaky breath, Yori leaned over on the branch she was currently perched on, realizing that she was much higher up than she thought. ”Oh dear...” the timid girl mumbled, trying not to focus too much on just how much it would hurt to drop from there and instead focus on getting the boy's attention. ”Um... Hello!” the Okinawan called out, trying to keep from seeming so distressed. ”Could you help me? I seem to be stuck up here. I was looking for my cat, Natsu.”

[MARLON COOPER DELANEY]

Through his desperate attempts to dislodge the very adamant kitten, Marlon heard a voice above him. In his disoriented state, he thought that the voice had come from heaven, not that he ever believed in that crap. To believe in heaven was to believe in a better world, and Marlon definitely did not believe in that at all. Just look at what he was stuck with: a messed up mum and an even worse off dad, and pictures in his head. Oh yes, his life was just bloody swell.

Stumbling about in a half-twirl, the Slytherin admittedly panicked a bit as he fell to the ground where the cat had yet to abate its furious, yet completely harmless swipes at him. He would blame his less than clear-minded state of mind on the kitten except that wasn't exactly a good manly cause to be overexcited and panicked as he was. It's not like he was scared of the small thing or anything.

'Ugh, this is exactly why I hate cats,' he thought disgustedly as he tried to shove the kitten away from him. But the kitten was having none of that as it was quite evident when his newly made furry friend pounced excitedly on Marlon's chest. He shook his head as if to clear his mind of thoughts of him being scared of a measly cat. Now that he was firmly on the ground, it gave him an opportunity to look straight up at the owner of the voice that disoriented him so. Yes, the voice caused his disorientation, not the cat. Not at all...

Marlon blinked up blankly at the Asian girl sitting anxiously on the tree branch, looking more than a bit nervous about her current position. 'Her? This was her abomination?' Dragging his eyes away from the girl owner perched nervously on her tree branch to the apparently unfazed kitten who seemed to think it was playtime with Marlon's curls. “This one yours?” he asked pointing at the kitten as if the girl couldn't see the kitten currently assaulting him. “It seems that your cat had no problem getting out of the tree,” he replied dryly. “It seems like I broke his fall.” Marlon looked more than a bit unhappy to be Natsu's landing pad.

[YORI OSHIRO]

From her viewpoint, she could tell her kitten had taken quite a liking to the boy below her, pawing playfully at the boy's chest and hair. Natsu had always been quite the friendly kitten, playful in nature like most cats his age. The Japanese girl had been waken plenty of times in the mornings by Natsu playfully mauling her face. Barring the occasional nicks, the kitten was fairly harmless to those that came across it. If she wasn't paralyzed with fear due to her height from the ground, she'd might find the scene below her relatively adorable. However, most of her thoughts centered around what bones would possibly break should she get just a little off-balance. She couldn't help a subconscious gulp.

At the question of the cat being hers, Yori sighed a little bit, and hugged the branch a bit more tightly, not just trying to project her voice better. ”Y...Yeah!” the hufflepuff called out nervously. The boy didn't seem to like Natsu too much, making out a bit of the annoyance in his expression. Oh dear, looks like she was hindering that boy's day as well with her kitten's curious nature. The raven-haired girl wasn't entirely sure why someone wouldn't like kittens with all of their adorableness, but she didn't like the idea of putting a cat-hater in this sort of situation. Yori desperately needed to get down the tree though.

At hearing about the kitten's safe landing, she sighed a bit in relief, however smiling apologetically at the boy (slytherin, upon closer look-- oh dear). ”Umm... thank you for being the landing pad, I guess?” she laughed sheepishly. The boy definitely didn't seem too happy at the circumstances between them at the moment. ”I'm really sorry to bother you,” she began nervously, ”But... uh... could you help me get out of this tree?” Trying to sit up allowed to recognize the tremor in her body, hands pressed flat against the branch even as she sat relatively secured on the branch. She prayed it wouldn't break any time soon. ”I promise to repay you for it!”

[MARLON COOPER DELANEY]

Upon hearing confirmation that this beast was her cat, Marlon wasn't sure whether or not he should be happy that he had found the owner of this danged kitten or not. One one hand, he couldn't kick it while the owner was watching his every move. But on the other hand, he could rip her a new one for not keeping her pet away from innocent bystanders. And he used the term pet very lightly. Cats should never be pets. They should just be left alone where they will soon realize that not everybody loved them just because of their supposed adorable features. Then they would be much less attention-seeking.

Hearing her hesitant and questioning appreciation for 'saving' her cat so to speak, Marlon scowled not because it was a rather ungrateful thanks, but because he was involved with saving a cat. Man, did he hate cats... “My pleasure,” he said, his voice thick with sarcasm. Though his annoyance, Marlon could tell that the little Asian was hanging onto that branch rather tightly as if she was scared to be up that high. But that didn't make sense. Why would she go up there, knowing her own fear of heights? Unless she had not been aware of this fear until very recently? The Slytherin didn't know, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know. He soon got his confirmation when the Hufflepuff called down to him for help to get out of the tree.

”I'm really sorry to bother you.” “Too late,” he muttered under his breath as he picked up the kitten and held it far away from his face as if the small thing was something dirty and disgusting. Hearing her request for help, Marlon glanced back up to the tree to say something awful like shove off or something similarly unpleasant, but seeing the tremor in her body gave him pause. A harder look at the girl above marked her as one of the Hufflepuff champions. 'The Hufflepuff champion is scared of heights? Really? Merlin, Hufflepuffs really didn't have any good candidates if they were so desperate as to pull out a girl who's afraid of heights as their champion.' Perhaps, it would have been better for him to leave her there where she could get accustomed to being so far from the ground. She would certainly benefit from it. But one more look at the nervous countenance on her, the whiteness of her knuckles as her hands clutched tightly onto the branch and the light tremors running through body, Marlon reconsidered.

With a deep, heaving, reluctant sigh, Marlon got up and carelessly dumped the kitten off to the side as he began to climb up the tree. “It had better be good,” he called up to her, hoping that he was being distinctly Slytherin enough. The last thing he needed was the girl to think that all Slytherins were cute and cuddly or something equally horrifying.

[YORI OSHIRO]

If Yori were to really be honest with herself, it wouldn't take very long for her to notice how annoyed the slytherin below her seemed to be quite annoyed. If she really thought about it, the hufflepuff would be feeling incredibly guilty for bothering the boy. However, the Japanese girl was also on a rather high branch, and was rather focused in not teetering onto the ground. She was almost proud of herself for being able to climb up the tree in the first place, relieved that her fears didn't override her concern for those close to her. Though she would never voice it, she had been terrified at the idea that she would abandon Dunstable for the sake of self-preservation at any point in time during the tournament.

It wasn't impossible though, even with this example. A kitten was incapable of understanding trust, or taking advantage of certain resources. People were a different matter though. They had motives and desires that couldn't be easily understood. She could give benefit of the doubt, but that only went so far. Simplicity was easy to understand-- attractive. At the very least, Dunstable seemed to be that in his motivations. This boy as well didn't really have any motivations in helping her either, thankfully. She could only think of the kindness in his heart that pushed him to begin climbing to reach her-- except for the payment in return, she supposed. Oh, she couldn't wait to feel her feet on the ground.

”Thank you! You won't regret it!” She called out with a grin on her face, pushing herself into an up-right position on the branch. Yori would immediately regret it however, when she heard the branch snap underneath her hands. With a panicked scream, the Japanese girl began to plummet to the ground, slamming against the cold earth with a hard thud. Her vision swam for a moment, laying in almost a fetal position on the dirt as she tried to focus on a blade of grass to steady her thoughts. That hurt. A lot. Her heart sank when she felt the throbbing in her left arm as she flipped onto her back with a low groan.

The hufflepuff tried to move it only to feel the throbbing worsen, only getting a few inches before dropping it to the ground with a wince. Oh, she hadn't done this in a while. Her brother was gonna kill her. She grimaced toward the sky. ”Well... I'm out of the tree...” she muttered into the air. She heard her kitten mew near her, pawing lightly at her cheeks. Of course. ”Umm... I think my arm... its hurt, I think.” Oh god, no one needed to know about this.

[MARLON COOPER DELANEY]

Really, Marlon was being a saint. Or at least that's what was running through his head at that point in time. No powerful and self-respecting Slytherin would ever agree to such a request. So why was he? Hell if he knew, but here he was climbing up a damn tree for a girl with a kitten. Sometimes he wondered at the state of his sanity whenever he did things such as thing.

Hearing her grateful call down to him, Marlon grumbled grumpily under his breath. Won't regret it? He hadn't even helped her and he already regretted it. Thankfully, he had spent a great deal of his childhood, climbing up and jumping down trees such as this one. In fact, climbing up trees had been one of the few ways that he had managed to seek refuge from his utterly incapable mother and his thoroughly creepy 'step-father' if that's what he could be called. However before Marlon climbed up much of the tree, he heard the tree branch snap as the Hufflepuff girl tumbled down to the ground.

...And this was exactly why he hated his Sight. Words could not possibly describe just how annoyed he was at the kitten, the Hufflepuff and the world. If only his Sight could tell him that she was going to fall from the tree, he might as well have not made the effort at all. Instead, he could have been waiting at the bottom of the tree for the girl to follow suit of her cat. Sure, he would have been a bit squished and it seemed like he was already doing such a good job at being a cushion today. But at least if he knew it was going to happen, he wouldn't have had to make the effort at all. What a bother. “Well, I wish you would've told me that you were going to do that. I could have just stayed down there and caught you in my arms like some sort of bloody Prince Charming,” he said, dripping heavily of sarcasm.

Marlon sighed as he jumped down from the short height he had climbed to before the Asian girl had dropped to the ground. Hearing her plainly obvious announcement that she was free of the tree, the Slytherin boy rolled his eyes for her having stated the obvious. “Yes, I see that,” he said acidly and impatiently. However just as he was about to sarcastically ask for permission of leave and stalk off like a good little Slytherin, he was stopped by her next words.

There was a brief flash of concern when she announced that she was hurt, but Marlon quickly covered it up with enough anger and annoyance to fool anyone. “Oh great, now they're going to think it's my bloody fault,” he grumbled grumpily under his breath. Maybe if he followed things through and made sure she was alright, they wouldn't think that and they might even give him brownie points for being such a good student. “Come on now,” he said gruffly, more than a bit wary about pulling her up and hurting her more. “Off to the hospital wing now...”

Today was so not a good day.

[/justify]

[YORI OSHIRO]

Well, this was turning into more of a burden for the slytherin boy than Yori had anticipated. She did feel rather guilty and embarrassed by the whole thing. As a representative of her house, she shouldn't be so clumsy or easily frightened-- or you know, not manage to fall out of tree and potentially injure herself. It was in these days that she was most grateful for the relative speed of healing magic. In the muggle world, she would remain a liability to Dunstable for at least a few months from something like this, but at Hogwarts, she'd be out of commission for an evening at the worst. Of course, those sort of conveniences did make it easier for her to climb up a tree to rescue her kitten in the first place. The hufflepuff wasn't sure if she'd done it without knowing about healing magic.

Either way, the slytherin probably wasn't too happy with her. He had already seemed annoyed before climbing the tree, and now that the action had gone to waste, Yori figured she would have to do a lot more to make it up to him. She figured finding out what his name was was as good of a start as any. If he wasn't too crossed with her anyway. At his sarcastic words, the Japanese girl managed a small grimace. She really wished she hadn't done that. "I'll have to double the reward, won't I?" Yori muttered apologetically, "I really am sorry. Guess I was putting a little too much weight on that tree branch." In hindsight, it wasn't the greatest of ideas. She had been too nervous at the time to really consider stabilizing her position on that branch. Hindsight was 20/20, she supposed.

The hufflepuff champion passed an uneasy smile once it came out that her arm was injured. She really didn't want to burden the boy any more than she had and was tempted to merely tell him that Yori wouldn't mention the slytherin once she had arrived to the hospital wing, but he seemed to be ready to escort her there either way. "You'd think the professors would find a way to pin me trying to get my cat out of tree on you?" she asked, trying to ignore some of the anger in the comment, "That seems a little strange. It's not like I'd tell them it was your fault."

With a nod, she clamored to her feet, dong the best she could not to move the injured arm. She could still feel it throbbing, wincing for just a moment when the muscles in her arm twitched for a moment once she had gotten to an upright position. "Thank you," Yori said, doing her best to convey the gratefulness she had, "Let's uh... get going." At least the slytherin seemed nice enough with all his grumpiness. Maybe he just needed a hug or something. She hoped he would enjoy the mountains of candy awaiting him once Yori was back to full health.