"...Heeeere, cat. Here, kitty-kitty. C'mere..."

A young man (or what appeared to be one) was crouching on the icy sidewalk, one hand on the pavement for balance, the other held out in offering to a fluffy ginger cat that was lurking out of reach under a dumpster. He leaned forwards a little further, trying to coax the animal out into the open.

"C'mon out, huh? Here, kitty..." he wheedled, watching the shadows, his green eyes opened innocently wide. He looked odd, to say the least - dressed in a coat several sizes too large that fit like a blanket and dragged on the ground, and wearing a newsie hat (which made him look like an overgrown paperboy) pulled low over his dark curly hair.

As for the cat he was trying to lure out - it wasn't even his. He'd simply been passing, had spotted the cat, and decided he would like to pet it or scratch its ears or something. When he'd leaned over to to touch it, though, it darted under the dumpster, where it was now hiding.

"Aw, come on..."
He edged a little closer, not quite ready to give up.
"C'mere, kitty. Please?"

She walks tentatively, like a bird thinking about taking flight. A large part of this is that she has new, rather unfamiliar shoes that she's yet to get used to.

Many things have changed about Sam in the past few weeks, chief among them her appearance. Gone is the straight black hair, replaced by auburn waves. Gone too are the sunglasses, smashed into tiny pieces with much relief. Her eyes are a mild hazel due to sparklingly new contact lenses. Her lashes are darkened, as are her eyebrows. She wears a brown top, knotted in front, and jeans.

She's looking better. Not great, not amazing, but better. Not someone you'd be ashamed to associate with.

No one at school would recognize her.

She pauses her walk (she thinks as she walks, daydreams, never really knowing where she'll end up at the end of the walk, but carries a map so what does it matter?)

A cat? Where? She makes no move or sound (she's eeriely good at that, though she doesn't realize), not wanting to scare the kitten. The boy who drew her attention is passed over as a mere extension of OOU KITTY.

Matteo, almost all of his attention focused on the little animal hiding under the dumpster, is blissfully unaware of her presence... for a few moments, at least.

He's just gotten the cat to nose its way out and sniff his fingers when he feels her shadow fall over him. It takes something of an effort not to edge away - he doesn't want to move and startle the cat. Said cat chooses this instant to creep out and rub its face against his hand, purring noisily.

"You're a nice cat, aren't you..." he murmurs, scratching it behind the ears,"Yeah. You are..."

"Girl or boy, do you think?" She says very softly, because animals take fright easily. Otherwise, she holds still, silent, quiet. Just another shade-thing, like a building or a car.

He jolts at being spoken to, then glances up at the girl with a weak sort of smile on his face.

"Um,... don't know? It's, um,...it's not my cat, you see, so... I don't know."
He shrugs a shoulder and, blushing, turns his attention back to the cat. Having lost interest in his hands, the animal was now winding itself around him and sniffing curiously at his coat.

"I think it's a girl."

Therefore it is. Sam's stubborn that way.

"I think we should name her." Sam hasn't moved to touch the cat, just watching, because of politeness and shyness and whatever else.

"It - er, she probably belongs to someone. Probably already has a name," he offers timidly. The animal does have a collar, though there are no tags on it. "But... um... y-you could if you like, I suppo- hey, cat, stop it!..."

He takes the cat around the middle and carefully pushes her away - she'd managed to nudge her way under his coat. Apparently, in the cat's opinion, Matteo has a very interesting smell.

"Well... maybe Kit, that's a nickname so it wouldn't replace her real name, right?"

Sam makes no move to touch the cat, still. Animals tended to dislike her. Plants she got along with, but animals usually reacted a tad drastically to her scent.

Silly elf.

Sigh.

"Mm,... Kit'll do," Matteo agrees, still frantically trying to push the newly-named Kit away, "Out of there, cat, you're going to knock me over..."

He succeeds in getting the animal out from under his coat, and turns her to face the girl.
"Go on," he coaxes. "Go on, Kit, say hello to the nice girl..."
Kit arches her back and hisses.

Sam winces, expression flitting through hurt and into a closed-off glance downwards, unwilling to look at the cat's rejection.

She really hates rejection, you see.

"Kit seems to be feeling a bit snippy today." As is Sam, apparently. I think Jetta's rubbing off on her.

"...Seems so," Matteo nods, a guilty look on his face, as if it's his fault the cat doesn't like her. He carefully (so carefully it could make you nervous) picks up Kit and strokes the fur under her chin, whispering to her. The cat calms and starts to purr again.

"There," he smiles faintly, satisfied, and stands, "...Maybe you just startled it- her, I mean. Here, you can hold her if you want."

"No, I-" Pause. "Cats are allergic to me, or something."

Uncomfortable topic. She shrugs, awkwardness at odds with the (relatively) put-together look she's sporting, these days.

He blinks down at the cat in his arms, then back at the girl, looking more than a little confused.

"I...thought it was the other way around?"

"Nah. Doesn't work that way for me. No idea why."

Pause.

"I'm Sam, by the way."

"Oh. That's, um, kind of strange..."

He shifts the cat so he's holding her in one arm, then holds out a hand to shake.

"I'm Matteo. Pleased to meet you."
Now that he's no longer paying attention to her and keeping her calm by ear-scratches, the cat fixes an 'I want to bite you' look on Sam.

She shakes hands, expression vaguely irritated. Mostly with the cat.

"Yeah. You too. And, uh, sorry to bother you and Kit, I mean."

She doesn't know what she means.

"You're not bothering me," he offers a smile.

Dear little Kit, when Sam shakes Matteo's hand, swipes at her, her claws outstretched. Unable to reach, she scratches at Matteo, who lets her go. And she skitters back under the dumpster.

"Am bothering her, though... look, I'll be on my way, leave you two alone?"

Yes. In Sam's estimation, a (possibly) stray cat is more important company than she is.

Great kid, is Sam. So very sane.

Yep.

Matteo looks puzzled now, and just a little bit hurt.

"It's just a cat," he protests weakly. "She's not even mine."

"I just."

Pause.

"Nevermind, sorry." She forces a chuckle. "I have to be going anyway, it's getting late. Um... if you want to tag along you can, but I have to go."

She fully expects him to take this excuse to stop talking to her. Takes it as a given.

"Um, well... if you have to go, then you have to go. I won't keep you," he says, giving the tiniest of awkward shrugs.

Well, she is a stranger...

And she sighs, and turns to leave, dejection is stance and expression.

She doesn't like being unfriendly. She just does it anyway.

Blink.

"...I could... follow along anyway?" he offers hesitantly, taking a single step towards her. "If you don't mind or anything."
Of course, he's offering because he's getting the impression that she'll mind if he doesn't tag along.

Sam is so ridiculous, sometimes. And she knows it.

"Sure thing - Matteo, wasn't it? I'm heading towards Elm, though I'd find something to eat, y'know?"

Really, she was just wandering. But Elm is as good a destination as any.

"Um. Um,.. yeah, it's Matteo."

He edges closer, until he's just within arm's reach.

"Elm's... fine. I don't have anything else I have to do."

Pause.

"So, which of us would you say is more hopelessly shy, mm?"

Sam's musing.

Sam's a tad blunt.

"Um..."

He gives a small shrug.

"I don't know... me?"

"Yeah, right." Part skepticism, part humor.

"Elm's this way, right?"

She's not from around here, give her a break. She has it almost right - she has the long route, rather than the shortcut.

"Uh.. umm..." He turns in a slow circle, trying to orient himself. He mutters a bit before coming to a conclusion.

"Yes. It's this way."

"Oh." Pause.

"That's good."

Oddly enough, having the other person be shy makes her feel more confident.

"I just moved here."

Shock. She actually volunteered information.

"Oh?"

He takes a hesitant couple of steps in the direction of Elm street.

"Uh... from where?"

And now they're walking and talking.

"Out of town, east of here... little place. Nothing special."

Pause.

"I like the city. It's so much easier to be invisible here."

A tiny little smirk tugs at Matteo's lips.

"Heh,.. yes, that's very true..."

"I'll probably stay here after school. Get some meaningless job and just... stick around, y'know?"

Smalltalk, rambling... whatever she's doing, she wouldn't do it with someone who she thought was any danger at all.

The submissive and shy act does help with that.

"Yeah."

Another small nod.

"...That's a pretty good plan. If you want to keep from being noticed, I mean. Almost no one looks twice at anyone here." He buries his hands in the pockets of his coat. "I don't like small towns, 'cause they're just the opposite."

"God, don't I know it. That's why I left in the first place. Dad was all set to send me to community college down the street because that'd be cheapest, but...." She shivered.

Not staying there.

Not going home.

Ever. Far too many bad memories about that town.

"...But what?"

Matteo would answer with some kind of fragment of a memory about life in a small town, but he only has a few and none of them are appropriate to tell to this unfamiliar, most likely (in his opinion) Unnish girl.

"But I really didn't want to?" She shrugs helplessly.

Unnish people can be just as cruel as Innish people, though in different ways.

"Dad wasn't happy about it, but hey."

Adopted father. Yeah. Odd relationship, that one.

"Oh, I see... So you go to Keaton, then?..."

Here he starts babbling a bit.

"I know someone who goes to Keaton,...two someones, actually, one's Taryn, and the other's name is Katrina,..um,... d'you know either of them?"

"Um... no, I don't think so. I mean, I just transfered in, so this is my first semester here and." She pauses, because she was babbling too.

"I don't really know anyone." She shrugs uncomfortably.

These two are just so... so....

Jeeze.