Arriving at the Main-Gates (Open to all)

[FuBar]

A mostly-black ball of fur padded toward the closed front gates of Kosaka Academy. It appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary house-cat, with 2 white paws and 2 startling electric-green eyes that surveyed what could be seen looking in through the bars of the gate at the school's grounds.

Around its neck hung a little string bag, supported from the cat's plum-coloured collar. Anyone noticing the collar may deduce this cat is someone's pet. The contents of the bag poked angles into the felt-material containing them, but from the way it swayed it was evident that the bag was quite light.

Those bright eyes showed some intelligence as they scanned the gates and analyzed the bars to determine which of them had the largest gap between. A fraction of a second later, a decision had been made and the cat was squeezing through the bars of one of the gates as though they were a doorway built just for him. Once through, those eyes glanced back at the gate as if in triumph before he continued to pad up the driveway...

[Ai]

((OOC: Anything in green is Donovan speaking in Spanish.))

Donovan had decided to go explore the lovely grounds of the school campus earlier that morning and by the time it was lunch had nearly arrived, he was tired of rolling his wheelchair around. Although in good spirits, he missed home, particularly his pet cat, Mercutio; the little calico furball had probably gotten off without a good movie in the past week or so. There was a fondness in Donovan's eyes as he remembered the little cat especially since he'd cared for the cat for quite a few many years thus far.

He shook his head, allowing his dark, curly hair to fling into his eyes. What was he doing? He didn't have time to be homesick here; this was a wonderful island full of a place to have a new adventure. That is, if he cared to leave the safety of the school right then. He didn't feel ready to grace the island with his presence yet; that could wait until he'd had a better chance to get to know his way around campus and his classmates and future professors.

He stopped for a moment in the paved driveway, applied the brakes to his wheelchair and looked around the school. If only he had brought his sketchbook and a piece of paper out here; despite his ability to translate a picture in his mind directly onto paper, he still preferred drawing in the traditional sense... without using his powers. He could have sketched that cherry blossom tree planted on the opposite side of the courtyard that he was able to see from where he sat or he could have drawn the scene of a cat, sneaking through the bars... possibly back into the mansion of his master.

With a wry chuckle, Donovan held his hand out towards the furry creature. He had always been fond of cats. "Hey little guy..." Donovan chose to speak in the more lyrical Spanish tongue rather than his native English one. He'd always found it sounded better and as long as he could conjugate the verbs correctly and make the adjectives agree with the nouns they were describing, he was acutally better at his second tongue. "You lost? It's a long ways from the city for a little fellow like you." He now switched to English. "Come on, I won't hurt you." Because he grew up with a pet cat as one of his closest friends, Donovan had the tendency to speak aloud to animals; whether or not they could actually understand him was probably something he'd never know, but at least he would make an effort to be friends.

[FuBar]

The cat's ears flicked toward the sound of foreign speech, closely followed by its eyes and head. It stared quizzically at the speaker as if trying to decide how to react to him. As the speaker switched to English, the cat visibly relaxed and made up its mind what to do: He padded up to the wheeled stranger and put his front paws up on the top of the large wheel closest to him, sniffing at the stranger's hand as the felt bag swung madly in reaction to this movement to rest along his side.

Felix wondered for a moment whether to 'speak' yet or not... Hmm, perhaps he'd wait a little longer and continue the charade of being a 'normal' housecat for now...

[Ai]

With his brown eyes never leaving the cat, Donovan watched as it came closer to him. He had always felt a special affinity for animals and cats in specific; he had spent a few summers volunteering at a local animal shelter. Gently, he rubbed his fingers through the cat's fur and smiled at the creature.

"Come on inside with me, little fellow." Although this was a command, Donovan spoke it as though he was asking the cat to follow him; the last few words in the sentences elicited a raise in the pitch of his voice. "Don't think they'd mind having a cat around." There was a slight smirk on his face. Though there was no formal rule against having animals in the dormitories, he was not sure whether or not it would be smiled upon by his roommates and some of the staff members.

[FuBar]

As he was stroked, the cat's eyes closed and he purred slightly as he nuzzled against the hand stroking him, countering the hand's pressure on his fur.

Upon hearing the invitation to accompany the wheeled stranger inside, Felix hopped up onto his lap and hunkered down comfortably. He turned his head toward the stranger's face and wondered if he'd think it at all strange for a cat to be so complicit with instuctions/invitations.

If the wheelchair starts rolling forward, Phil's gaze will follow the direction-of-travel.

[Ai]

Donovan smiled and stopped the wheelchair to pat the cat on the head. It was strange, seeing an animal this smart. Cats were intelligent creatures, but rarely had he come across one this alert to human behaviour and he made a note of it. "So what's your name?" He didn't think to look for a name tag on the cat. "I'm Donovan." He wheeled the chair forward a good ten meters or so until they were closer to the main building that housed most of the classrooms for courses that the students took. "You're a pretty smart cat, you know that?"

He was still smiling. He applied the brakes once again and pointed towards the main building, standing tall in all its glory against the bright sun. "This here is Kosaka. Wonderful place really... Miss Nimah takes anyone in who needs a home." There was a hint of a sad smile on his face as he thought of Leo. Perhaps he wouldn't have been locked up in that maximum security prison had he known how to control his powers...

[FuBar]

Felix Felicis:

Now? Yes, now seemed like a good time to start thoughtspeaking; after all he had just asked my name, why not tell him?

<And my name is Felix Felicis. Pleased to meet you, Donovan!> I looked around to see how his face reacted to that. <Thanks for the compliment. I'm looking forward to my time here... This 'Miss Nimah' of yours sounds nice, it'd be great to meet her.>

I looked around at the buildings he had indicated; there sure were a lot of them... So this would be my new territory, eh? Not bad. I'd have to explore properly later and see if there were any other feline contenders for this territory who might not be so welcoming...

<Do you know of any other cats here at Kosaka? Anyone I should maybe avoid or etc?> I asked, returning my gaze to his face.