Week 12 (12.10.07) (UDC 2) (Mara and Dark Star…)
56. Trial
She watched as the feline napped on the floor underneath the viewport. Ever since she'd brought her aboard, Dark Star had been particular about that wall, and she hadn't really thought about it much. Mara sighed as she set the box she'd been holding down on the low table.
Today, she was going to see about teaching the feline something.
'Call it a trial,' Mara thought as she pulled a bell out of the box and made it ring. Glancing over, she noted that the cat hadn't moved even a little. Strange… wasn't she supposed to at least pay attention to the noise?
57. Test
Mara rang the little bell again, testing to see if Dark Star would at least look at her. When it didn't work, she began to get frustrated. 'Why isn't she looking at me? This much noise would make me look up or something…'
Ringing it incessantly only caused her to irritate herself, and Mara finally had to set it down. Getting angry just wouldn't help matters. No… it would just cause her Farmboy to be concerned and comm her to see what was going on.
What could she have told him? That her cat was ignoring her?
58. Preparation
The ringing had stopped. That was what she noticed as she woke up. Whatever had infiltrated her sleep like so many sirens… had stopped. Pricking up her ears, she waited, preparing to react if it started again. She hated that noise. It brought to mind small dislikes and big ones, and people in bad outfits ringing a bell beside little red buckets.
If that sound was here… was it safe? Were the people with the red buckets coming to get her? Whatever the situation, Dark Star unsheathed her claws, prepared to meet the bucket people head on with her ire.
59. Fail
The bell having failed, Mara picked up another item from the box and looked at it. A bone? What good would a bone do? She set that aside and pulled another item out… which turned out to be a sock. "All right… why would Aves put a sock in with things for animals?"
She glanced over again and saw that Dark Star was looking up at her with sudden interest. Fingering the sock in her hand as she made eye contact with the cat, Mara suddenly knew why. Why not? Smiling, she held the sock out toward Dark Star.
60. Pass
The sock had been torn to shreds an hour ago, and Mara had, once again, had to find something else in the box. The something else had been a ball of string with a note on it saying "have fun" in bold lettering.
She hadn't gotten Dark Star to do anything more than go in circles and attack the string repeatedly, but… she was definitely having fun. It was relaxing to sit here and tease Dark Star with the string, just to see what she'd do.
The ball of string passed with flying colors.