“There’s only one way to find out”
Mewls and meows was all Cleo heard, cats followed her everywhere no matter where she went. It was fun at first when she came into the city but no its just overlay annoying and boring. The cats did nothing but meow and meow and sometimes shit, Cleo was just fed up now, walking endlessly trying to find a job, it was hard enough walking around looking like a zombie trying to get a job but now with all these cats, Cleo was sure she was never going to find a job, ever!
Her feet were sore, and her boots were covered in dirt, muddy. She had trekked through a muddy street without realising it was. It was annoying to walk with dirty boots, they felt heavier and Cleo didn’t have another pair to switch them with.
Cleo was walking into an empty street, Cleo spent most of her time walking into empty streets trying to avoid bring a mass of cats into busy ones. It would just bring havoc to herself and those around her. She did not know how she was meant to get a job like this, avoiding the places where she could find a job but even if she did find a job it would not matter due to all the cats following her. Cleo huffed, she was starting to think about where she would turn in for the night, probably the same kind of place as always, some dirty floor. Cleo did not have a home to go to or any friends she could ask for help from, it upset her, a lot. Running, trying to make a living from honestly nothing.
Cleo kept walking down the empty street, the cats meowed at her.
“Oh, shut up.” Cleo was tired and could not be bothered, the meowing was getting annoying, way to annoying.
A cat hissed in return to Cleo’s ‘shut up’, she only sighed.
The cats started running around, jumping up on walls that were falling apart and knocking over rubbish bins. They were making a mess, and it was pissing Cleo off as if she were not annoyed enough. Suddenly Cleo felt a weight on her boot, she looked down to her right boot to see a fluffy white cat that had attached itself to her shoe. Cleo lifted her leg up and the white cat just started to hang from her boot, the white was starting to get tainted by mud from her boots. Cleo started to shake her foot in attempted to get the cat off but the small fluffy cat had its claws deep in the leather of her boot. Cleo continued shaking her foot anyways, trying to balance on her one foot as her other was up in the air, swinging around without rest. Cleo was letting out a string of words, telling the cat to get off. The cat only kept holding on and letting out shaky mews.
Cleo spent at least a good 10 minutes trying to get the cat off before something hit Cleo in the side of her head and she tumbled over, still with the cat on her boot. Cleo let out a small, “Oof” she looked around to see what hit her and she spotted an empty can. She was slightly mortified an open can had hit her, she was lucky that the sharp edges didn’t catch her. “Bloody witch!” Cleo quickly looked to the left where the shout came from, an elderly woman stood in a doorway holding a broom. Being called a witch was something Cleo had heard many times before, being undead and all the cats following her gave everyone the assumption that she was. The old woman then started heading towards Cleo with the broom and it was clear the way that the old bat was holding the broom that she was going to hit Cleo with it. Cleo picked up the cat that had its claws in her boot and started to pull it off, Cleo struggled to pull the poor cat’s claws out, Cleo thought about the cat getting hurt before her. The cat finally came off from her boot and she pushed it away. Cleo went to get up to get out of this street before the old woman started beating her ass but Cleo wasted her time getting the white cat off of her and the elderly woman started to attempt to whack Cleo with her broom, the bristles jabbed her a bit and Cleo raised her arms to block the broom while the woman started to actually land hits with the broom end. The old bat was shouting random things to her, about getting out of the street and god punishing her. The amount of times god had been mentioned to her was crazy, at some point someone had thrown ‘holy water’ on her. Cleo never felt safe anywhere she went, things like this happened all the time, she’d fight back but this time she was caught off guard due to trying to get the cat out of ways harm first and she was not away to hit an old woman. “God would punish you but he won’t have the chance to because I’ll do it!” The cold woman continued to hit her with the broom, Cleo knew she wasn’t going to give up anytime soon so she opted to start crawling backwards while still holding her arms up to block the hits landing on her. She started shuffling on the ground, thinking if she got at least a few inches backed up that she could stand and then run.
Unfortunately, the old woman noticed Cleo backing up and stuck her foot onto Cleo’s ankle, Cleo cried out; her body was aching enough, and this woman was not making it any better. “Get off!” Cleo shouted at the woman; Cleo was now trying to grab the broom to stop it from hitting her, but it just hurt her hands. The broom just kept coming down and striking Cleo repeatedly, she felt like her arms were about to give out any minute and then the broom would end up hitting her body. Cleo closed her eyes and started to joke to herself that ‘this was it, I’m going to die to an old hag!’
Cleo was starting to tire out and the cats around her just hissed and tried throwing claws at the old woman but could not get close enough due to the old woman swinging her broom around. “Hey!” A masculine voice called out from not far away, a man had entered the street and was heading towards them. The old woman ignored the man and kept bringing her broom down on Cleo, the man then was close enough to grab the broom and stop the lady from hitting Cleo. Cleo opened her eyes to see another person towering over her along side the elderly woman. He wore an unusual purple tailcoat and a top hat, she suddenly recognised him as the circus guy from the newspaper she had read once. She only recognised him due to the two scars running across his face that looked like an x. He was staring down at the lady and he hold onto the broom, it looked like the were having a staring contest right in front of Cleo. The woman then huffed and pulled her broom from the ‘circus guy’ and spat on the ground next to the man’s and Cleo’s feet. She turned and went back into her own house. Cleo let out a sigh filled with relief and let the rest of her body fall to the ground, she lay on her dirty back, looking up to the cloudy sky. The sky suddenly got covered by the man leaning over to look at Cleo, he held out his hand, an offer to help her up. Cleo took the hand and she got pulled up. “Thank you” Cleo smiled at him and he smiled back with a nod. “I’m Xisuma, you’re the young woman with all the cats, right?” The circus man, now Xisuma pointed out to all the cats wondering about, the fluffy white cat with mud stuck to it had attached itself to Cleo’s boot again. Xisuma leaned down and picked the cat up easily and propped the cat in his arms. Cleo muttered a few before answering, “Yes, I’m her. Cleo.” Xisuma put his hand out again while holding the cat in one arm, Cleo made a confused look before shaking his hand. “I feel like someone like you would make a great addition to my crew with your ability and all.” Cleo shook her head, “My ability is shit, it does nothing other then them following me…” Xisuma looked around at the cats again and chuckled. “Have you ever thought about ordering the cats around normally instead of just shouting at them?” Xisuma put the cat he was holding down, and the fluff ball quickly attached itself back onto Cleo’s boot, Xisuma pointed to the cat. “Why don’t you try with this cutie, I heard from other while trying to find you that you just scream and shout profanities at the cats.” Cleo crossed her arms, if they weren’t little shits she wouldn’t have to shout. She sighed and uncrossed her arms just as soon as she had crossed them, she crouched down to the cat and started rubbing its ear. “Do you mind, I don’t know…getting off my boot please?” the cat peered up to Cleo before it mewled and pulled its claws off from her boot and just sat there. Cleo stared at the cat in shock and then she smiled and started to rub the cats chin, she stopped petting the fluffy cat and the thought for a moment. “Hmm, give me your paw.” Cleo held her hand out and the cat put its muddy paw onto Cleo’s hand. Xisuma watched as Cleo kept asking the cat to do other things and the cat following along with it, Cleo looked up to him and she stood up with the cat in her arms, “Do you think you could ask bigger cats to do acts like that?” Xisuma gave a smirk when he asked her that and he received a smug face in return. “There’s only one way to find out.”