Disclaimer: I don't own RENT
"Guess what I found, Bitches!" yelled Collins as he burst into the loft where the bohemians had gathered.
"Stoli? Vodka? A twenty-dollar bill?" Mark guessed.
"No! Better!" With that, he started to unbutton his coat.
"Collins, please! We went streaking last week," said Roger.
"Take it all off!" yelled Maureen as Angel and Mimi cheered. Joanne just rolled her eyes.
Fortunately, Collins was wearing clothing under his coat. He reached into the interior pocket and pulled out a small orange kitten.
"Awwww, it's so cute!" exclaimed Mimi. "What are you going to name it?"
Collins shrugged. "I was hoping you guys could help. My first thought was to call him Aristotle, but that seemed like a long name to call. And it's kind of a silly name for a cat. It's not like he's a deep thinker. He chased his tail for about ten minutes today, caught it and turned around and chased it the other way."
Maureen went over and picked up the cat. "You should call him Marmalade. He's such a tweet wittle kitty-cat… Yes you are, yes you are…. " Her voice trailed off into a stream of baby talk as she brought the kitten over to the couch. It quickly got away from her and wandered around the room.
Collins wrinkled his nose. "That's too cutesy."
"When I was little, my family had a cat named Gato. Not very original, mind you, but it's a good name," said Mimi.
"Half the cats in the neighborhood would come if I called him that. The other half would come if I named him Kitty."
"How about Ninja?" suggested Roger. "Cat's are silent attackers, just like ninjas."
"Might work if he was a black cat, but I don't think it'd suit him."
"How about Princess, sweetie?" asked Angel.
"Honey, it's a boy cat."
"Are you sure? Maybe he just looks like a boy on the outside like me,"
Collins really had no idea what to say to that. He was pretty sure that cats did not have gender identity issues, but didn't want to hurt Angel's feelings. Luckily, Joanne came to his rescue with another suggestion. "You could call him Ginger." Soon, everyone was talking at once, making more and more ridiculous suggestions.
Meanwhile, Mark decided to stay out of it and got up to get a glass of water. The little kitten followed him to the kitchen area and meowed at him.
"Oh, do you want some water?" The kitten cocked his head at him and waited. Mark grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and filled it. "You're very smart. Kind of like Collins." The kitten immediately started to drink the water quickly. Mark laughed. "You drink like Collins, too, if that water were vodka. They should just call you Collins Junior, or CJ for short." The kitten started to purr.
After a few more minutes of bonding over water, Mark returned to the others, who were yelling different names at each other. Mark didn't care much for Nietzche, Mr. Cuddle-wuddles or See-Ay-Tee, and really didn't like Damn-Cat. He kept quiet and scratched the kitten behind his ears, as he curled up on his lap. He started talking to him, ignoring everyone around him.
"Well hopefully, they'll decide on something, soon, CJ. I won't let you get stuck with a name like Prince Whiskerton, or even worse, Benny. You're going to be fine, and then everyone will be getting no know little CJ." Mark kept up his steady stream of chatter and didn't realize that the others were listening in.
"What did you call him?" asked Collins.
"CJ. He's like a miniature version of you. Collins Junior," replied Mark.
"I like it!" exclaimed Angel.
A few minutes later, the kitten woke up, and Collins put him back into his coat pocket for the trip home.
