Hello Kittenland

[cityship]

Welcome to Kittenland, the most adorable place in Happy Happy Fun World! If you didn't like Kittenland, you probably had no soul at all.

There was the Kitten Go Round, a Merry Go Round where everyone could ride a kitten; the Nyan Cat Coaster, a rollercoaster where the carriages were in the shape of kittens with pop tart bodies, racing along a rainbow track to the constant sound of 'nyanyanyanyan'; the Kitten Petting Corner (with real kittens!); and the Hello Kitty Teacups.

And then there was the merchandise - the Nyan Cat Coaster had a shop of it's own, as did the Hello Kitty Teacups, both with a considerable range in merchandise; there was Kitten Candy, kitten t-shirts, kitten magnets, and more. Oddly enough though, you couldn't buy actual kittens.

[ooc: Feel free to make up any other kitten related rides or merchanise if you want!]]

Comments

[livestoannoy]

Marco stared. The kitten she'd grabbed had not been the kitten Marco had thought she was referring to.

"That's not the black kitten!" Marco said, conveniently ignoring the fact that it was actually a black kitten. Just not the one he'd been thinking of. "It's a midget! That thing looks like it's legs gave up on growing halfway though. That's the one that you decided reminds me of you?!"

[encourage]

"I'll take that as a, 'No, Sakura, that wasn't.'" She brought the kitten up close to her chest, nestling him under her chin. Considering he was still wiggling, it made for an interesting nestling.

"He's a little shorter than the other kittens. So?"

[livestoannoy]

"Right, so you just go and think, 'oh, that kittens short, he must be like Marco' then?" Marco said, crossing his arms.

Okay, so maybe he was a little annoyed at being compared to the short cat. just a little.

[encourage]

"You do realize the only one who thinks you're short here is you, right?"

They stood eye to eye, if she was wearing flat shoes, or neither of them were in shoes. She'd never call him tall, but he hit about average from her point of view.

She brought the kitten away from her chest just long enough to plant a small kiss on his furry forehead. He seemed unsure of what to make of that, eyes narrowing.

Then he purred.

"See?" Just like you.

[livestoannoy]

Sakura was a girl - what was normal for her was short for a guy like Marco. He glared, first at her and then that kitten.

"I like the other one better," he said stubbornly.

[encourage]

"We always want what we can't have." Her response was half lost as she placed the purring, not quite sold on the whole experience kitten back in his space. When he settled on the pillow again, she gingerly ran one finger over his skull and down along his spine. He was bony, in the way of the young and growing.

They're so fragile at this age. Fathoming how people, sentients, whatever thought it was appropriate to not keep close watch on such young animals. Too easy for them to get hurt, and she hadn't seen anyone (or anything) near-by who looked like a medical officer.

[livestoannoy]

Marco narrowed his eyes. Wants what he can't have, does he? Well, who was she to tell him he couldn't?

So, feeling contrary he stepped over to the other back kitten's cage and use one of his own tokens to pop open the door. Without any real ceremony he grabbed the kitten and dumped it on the table. The kitten mewed angrily, not too happy about being disturbed.

"There. And mine could totally take yours on in a fight," Marco said.

[encourage]

Sakura shifted to shoot Marco a glare -- not for having decided to take out Kitten McWonderfur the Tall and Magnificently Intelligent and Attractive (In Marco's Humblest Projected Opinion), but for the fact Kitten McWonderful the Tall and Magnificently Intelligent and Attractive (In Marco's Humblest Projected Opinion) had been disturbed enough to complain. She might not be a big animal person, but she was definitely enough of one to not appreciate tiny mewls of angry complaint.

"At this age, they call that playing I'm pretty sure. Besides, I was just putting--" she was going to say she was putting her kitten back, but he chose that moment to launch out of his cage to hit the table with his four stubby legs and his rounded belly. An umph and a shake of his head later, he plopped his butt down and started grooming his toes. "--this one away."

Sakura frowned down at him in consternation. "Maybe it's not the individuals that remind me of you. Maybe it's the whole species."

[livestoannoy]

Kitten McWonderful stared at Shorty for a moment, as if wondering what this other kitten was doing on his table. Then he seemed to decide the invader wasn't worth his time, and just turned his head to stare off in the other direction.

At Sakura, Marco raised an eyebrow. Cats weren't really the kind of animal that most people would decide reminded them of him. "I'm not really a cat person," he said. "I don't even have a cat morph."

[encourage]

Shorty seemed to take that as an admission of -- actually, challenge. Kitty politics were a strange thing. He let his paw come back down to the table, then stalked after the other kitten. When McWonderful looked back at Shorty, he gathered himself for a pounce. Sakura leaned forward and nabbed him out of the air.

"Do you only morph the things you like?" She held her kitten close again, shifting her weight and turning back toward the cage. She remembered back in the art hall, where memories had been played out in sculpture and paint. The creature she'd never seen before, and the cobra.

She remembered snakes larger than the room they were in, rearing back and striking out, intending to kill. She remembered being frozen with fear, incapacitated by a killing aura...

Orochimaru.

[livestoannoy]

"I wish I only morphed things I like. Believe me, no one wants to morph cockroach," Marco said, wrinkling his nose a little. "But I've never needed a cat morph. They don't exactly have much use, unless you need to impersonate a specific cat."

McWonderful almost seemed to smirk, before getting up to stroll casually around the tables. Clearly the fact that the other kitten had been removed was proof of his superiority and right to the table.

Meanwhile, Sakura seemed to have zoned out. "Hello, earth to Barbie?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

[encourage]

She heard his response, making a noise to let him know she'd heard. She had to shake herself out of her own thoughts, bringing her own shortlegged little kitten friend back up and apologizing.

"I need to put you away." He squirmed again as she held him at eye level, pausing for a moment when she smiled and blew on his nose. The distraction was enough for her to set him back on his pillow, then definitively close the door.

Things I shouldn't have time for. Just what those things included, she didn't presently want to say.

"What about Earth?" she asked as she turned back toward Marco.

[livestoannoy]

Marco scowled at the kitten one last time. Stupid little fur-ball. (And how come it was getting all the attention here?)

"You'd left it," Marco said dryly. Then he tilted his head slight. "...or you would have. You know, if Earth still existed and we were actually on it."

[encourage]

Because it was infinitely cuter, obviously. Sakura lifted an eyebrow, about to deny that she hadn't been paying attention. Then again, it was fairly obvious she hadn't been. "Never did sound like my kind of place anyway." She looked for the kitten still walking the tables, nodding her head toward him.

"You say that one reminds you of you. Why not acquire him? Can't hurt to think ahead. I'm sure there's some situation where a cute little kitten would be strategically advantageous." Like maybe a five year old slumber party.

She'd seen those on the media library screens.

[livestoannoy]

"Are you serious? You actually think a kitten would be useful?" he said, staring. "You do realise that in three years of fighting the Yeerks, we needed a cat morph a total of once. And that was because the place we needed to infiltrate had a cat, so we couldn't just acquire any cat - we needed the right one. And that turned out to not work so well anyway, because we had to keep making sure the real cat wasn't around every time. There are other morphs that are better, more effective, and don't have the same risks."

[encourage]

"You know, for once I'm admiring your resolve, but I was more thinking it's useful for fun. That's the word, isn't it? I swear it's the word you keep trying to tell me is real and exists in our vocabulary." She smiled, further pushing away her thoughts from earlier. "Unless you've been joking all along. Very clever, Marco! I'd never guessed that you weren't serious about not being serious when you didn't want to be serious."

She wagged her finger at him, then gestured with her hand after the kitten looking as if he were to jump off the table take off for one of the far doors.

"Very practical of you, too. In the spirit of practical thinking, you might want to catch him before he makes his break for freedom."

[livestoannoy]

"Hey, I have plenty of morphs that are good for fun. Like dog. And dolphin. And dragon," Marco said, grinning on that last one. Sakura definitely knew how much fun dragon morph was. "And if I was going to morph a cat for fun, I'd at least pick one that was fully grown. Morphs don't age."

Reflexively, he reached up to grab McWonderful before he escaped. Sure, they wouldn't be able to keep their money, but that didn't mean Marco wanted to go and lose his to having to pay some fine for loosing a kitten. McWonderful wriggled around, not really happy about being held.

[encourage]

"None of those," Sakura said, "Are adorable. Or half as likely to get picked up and snuggled for no good reason."

If the idea of someone trying that with his dragon morph was amusing.

[livestoannoy]

"My Irish Setter is plenty adorable," Marco countered. "And I wouldn't call getting picked up fun. I'll stick to moving around of my own free will, thanks."

[encourage]

"Maybe if you're a dog person," she said with a shrug, holding open the door to Marco's kitten's cage. His statement did give her pause. "You're saying you prefer to be ridden than to be along for the ride?"

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Kittens. After the last few weeks, what could be more relaxing than a petting zoo filled with small, furry, completely innocent animals? Even if they are creatures that seem to confuse love with possession and ownership. Eva tries not to think about that as she mills through the petting zoo, gravitating back to a particularly proud-looking Abyssinian kitten.

And then she hears an incredibly familiar voice, albeit one she never expected to hear in Kittenland. And more surprising, a female voice is with him.

Being the Really Not Nosey type, Eva crouches a bit behind a cage of adorable calicos and listens for a second before interrupting.

"Oh, Sakura, that's a remarkably poor choice of words around a teenage boy. You know that they've got a little hormonal homuculus managing their Broca's center, don't you? I'm sure they taught you that in your medical textbooks."

[livestoannoy]

"Mom?" Marco said, spinning around and blinking. He hadn't expected to run into her here - actually the possibility that he might run into his mother while hanging out with Sakura hadn't occurred to him at all.

Although now that she was in front of him and going on about teenage hormones, it now occurred to Marco that his Mom didn't know about him dating Sakura, and he had absolutely no idea how she would react to that.

"Uh, what are you doing here?" he said, feeling weirdly put on the spot.

Kitten McWonderful meowed in irritation, clearly not happy with all this spinning around.

[encourage]

Equally surprised by the voice (and face) she recognized as Marco's mother, Sakura felt herself starting to blush as Eva's words sank in. She hadn't honestly been thinking about it, though doubtlessly if Eva hadn't spoken up right then, Marco would have noticed.

"My master might have mentioned that in-between the lessons on how to keep men on track in spite of themselves." Her smile was small and half amused, hoping to avoid thinking on how she'd embarrassed herself. Sakura inclined her head toward Eva. "Hello, Eva. I hope you've been having a good day." Polite in tone, and sincerely meant. Her eyes flicked back toward Marco as the kitten he held mewled, but she held off saying anything on McWonderful's account, or stating the obvious when it came to potential whys for his mother.

It was far less strange to think of people in concepts of living, working families, if Marco and Eva were by and large still the exception to the rule. Thinking on that, she wondered if this should turn into her politely excusing herself and leaving them to family time. Sakura had no real good idea how that worked, let alone in the context of family dynamics from another world.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Oh, for Heaven's sake, Marco. Women don't outgrow the pleasures of kittens." She rolls her eyes and shakes her head at him. "I could solve greater mysteries for the universe by asking what you're doing here. Short-legged kittens aren't exactly the bastions of masculinity."

She turns to Sakura. "I have, actually. And you? I hope having Marco tag along hasn't ruined the entire thing for you yet." She winks at Marco to remind him she's kidding.

[livestoannoy]

"Hey, I wanted to go to Pirateland," Marco said, quick to assert that playing about with kittens wasn't his idea. And when his mother decided to be 'helpful' and point out that short-legged kittens weren't masculine, he shot Sakura a quick scowl. So, the kitten she associated him with was short and un-masculine. Great.