God dammit Phoenix!" Echo chased her down the stairs.
Phoenix flipped over the edge of the stairs and landed in the entrance hall of the mansion they were currently living in. She landed gracefully and darted out the door. She gasped and let her hands rest on her knees, "Geez. It's not like I did all that much. It was just a prank."
"What was just a prank?"
Phoenix jumped and looked up. She saw a young boy, probably a couple years younger than her, standing in front of her. He had sandy orange hair and similarly colored cat ears on his head. His orange tail flicked back and forth. His bright purple eyes studied her curiously. Phoenix sighed, "Well...I kind of messed up my sister's stuff. It was a prank and she took it personally."
"Oh," he shrugged, "Okay." He continued to study her, "Well, you seem like you're new around here."
"Well...yeah," Phoenix nodded. She shrugged, "We are." Ugh! At least he's asking vague questions. I swear these rules are dumb. Why can't I just tell him to screw off? Well...then again. He looks kind of lost and sad. I wouldn't want to make that worse at all.
"What's your name?"
"Crystal. What's yours?" Phoenix asked smoothly.
He shrugged, "Peyton."
"Alright. See you around I guess," Phoenix sighed. Don't trip. I don't want to fall and die in this stupid- UGH! I hate dresses. And with very good reason. There's no sense in them. They just get in the way of everything. She sat down on the ground where she was and stared into the city streets, "This is so boring. We aren't even doing anything."
"What do you mean?" Peyton asked.
Phoenix sighed. So he isn't leaving anytime soon. Oh well. It's not like I don't enjoy the company. "It's so boring. There's nothing going on right now. The next event is a whole month away."
"Oh," he looked away from her, "You're excited then?"
"No," Phoenix answered honestly, "I'm just bored with the day to day blech."
He looked at her in surprise, "What do you mean?"
"Everyday's the same. I'd take anything to make life more interesting," Phoenix shrugged.
"Be careful what you wish for. It might actually come true."
"I know," Phoenix looked up at the sky, "Mind if I ask you some questions?"
"Go ahead."
"How many families are there, exactly?"
"Well," Peyton paused to think, "Seven I think. Including you."
"And how many 'Cats'," she made quotation motions with her hands as she said it, "does each family have?"
"Are you trying to get information out of me?"
"Do you want a one hundred percent honest answer or a half true lie?" Phoenix smirked at him.
"Uh...both?" he looked uncertain.
"Honestly somewhat. More like I have an older sister that wants me to know absolutely everything about this place within three days and I don't feel like pissing her off. Half true lie is no," Phoenix smiled.
He chuckled, "That's funny."
Mission somewhat accomplished. Though I am lying to him. Oh well. "Anyway, what's your best estimate."
"I don't know," he shook his head, "I only know that the family I live with has fourteen that are around my age. But we're expected to be able to look after ourselves so they don't have to provide us with anything."
"That's a lot," Phoenix narrowed her eyes, "Why are there so many?"
"I don't know," Peyton shook his head, "I just know that every single one of us looks like this. We all have the ears and the tail. Nothing more. Nothing less."
"That's weird," Phoenix shrugged.
"Well...uh. Bye, Crystal," Peyton got to his feet and hurried away.
Phoenix waited for a moment before following him.
"What are you doing?"
Phoenix froze and turned. She saw a young woman with golden hair. Her silver armor had gold trimming and her blue eyes studied her. The woman didn't appear to be hostile just curious. She also seemed like she wanted an adequate honest answer. Phoenix swallowed, "Looking into the 'cats' here."
"Really? Why would you be interested?"
"Because it's why I'm here," Phoenix said slowly.
"Ah, the vampire sent you didn't he?" she shook her head, "So he actually managed to pick up someone like you."
"Huh?" Phoenix stared at her, "Well...it's not like I don't get to do things my way. Well I-I kinda do things my way anyway." She chuckled nervously. Maybe that's why I get all the weird jobs. Oh well. It's not like he can stop me.
She shook her head, "I am Elspeth. I can tell you everything I know about the situation here but that would require a large portion of your time."
"Okay Elspeth," Phoenix nodded. She followed the blond woman to a dark alley in the city.
"First things first your name?"
"Chandra," Phoenix said.
"Alright," Elspeth nodded, "The companies that sell the cats aren't originally from this world. Neither are the cats themselves. An extremely long time ago they were brought here. The companies moved because someone drove them away from the world they were on. They came here and bred and distributed the cats."
"Bred?" Phoenix asked in shock.
Elspeth nodded, "Yes. I have done what I can which is mostly gather information. I have not been here for much longer than you have so I haven't had time to act on the information I have."
Phoenix's eyes narrowed, "So the companies are doing this? Do you know where the companies are?"
"Yes," Elspeth handed her a map, "The companies' locations are marked with an 'x' on the map."
"Alright," Phoenix nodded. The companies must be generations old. That means that the people in charge might not understand that they're doing something bad. Of course that doesn't entirely matter. That just determines whether or not I'm going to go easy on them. "Interesting. Can I keep this?"
Elspeth nodded, "Of course."
Phoenix turned and darted away. She climbed up onto a rooftop and stared around her. The closest location is just south of here. She dropped down onto the roof of the neighboring building and darted along it. She crouched at the edge and looked around again, "Of course just south on a map could be an all day trip on foot." You gotta wonder how places like Ravnica were built. I mean it's not like it was that big forever. That's not possible. Of course it might be but I doubt it.