Soft Paws and Kitty Claws (Hana/Feral)

Between Feral’s shout and the extremely unexpected shriek from in the very same room, poor Crow would have hit the ceiling if it were any lower! Well, substantially lower, but he still flew into the air in utter fright. He managed to angle his descent enough to land on the floor rather than the cage, tail easily triple its previous size, and frantically looked around with wide eyes. He hadn’t been paying attention to anything but the smell on the way in, and now he was surrounded by things and he just wanted out of this situation -

There! The balcony door was still open!

Crow gathered his wits and his muscles and bounded through the room, looping through perceived obstacles rather than beelining for the exit. Once he was lined up, though, he picked up speed and bolted

Into a crouched figure that had not been there the last time he looked, with outstretched hands too-cannily placed for him to stop or turn or dodge or leap above. The lean figure held him firmly and infuriatingly calmly until he let his ears and tail droop, and then scooped him up more comfortably and tucked him against her (androgynous) chest,

Feral straightened, loose on the balls of her bare feet with the sulking cat in her arms. Even with the fluffy black cat, her black tank neither confirmed nor denied anything about her slender figure, and the thighs of her equally dark leggings were streaked with blonde hair that matched the tail that had been waving in the air until she caught sight of the figure within the room. She froze then, though less in terror than Crow had and more in sudden wariness, oversized triangular ears locked onto the stranger in front of her. She swallowed, at a profound loss for words.

Crow was in so much trouble.

As Feral stared at the... person across the room, the silence stretched on. Not complete silence, of course. Even without her ears, Feral imagined the probable-student’s breathing would be audible (with such floppy ears, how well could the strange, soft-looking, probably-female person hear? Soft from the fur, probably female from the clothing choices because most humans were consistent about that). With them, and with them so very attentive on the uncertain situation, she could hear the other, smaller animal rustling and breathing. She even fancied she could hear the student’s nose working as she breathed faster than Feral suspected to be possible for something so large.

What was she? Feral felt like she ought to know, and it didn’t seem that she was especially dangerous, but as a human with a Quirk, assuming safety was stupid. Assuming that a student at UA, even another first year student, was safe would be even more stupid. Feral tried not to be stupid, especially when it came to safety, and Crow was with her. And Kai and Quick were next door.

Would this person be a danger to her pack, being so nearby? Walls weren’t necessarily barriers, and both she and Crow had proven the vulnerability of adjacent balconies mere moments before. She couldn’t just leave that sot of mystery. She needed to know more.

The mystery maybe-soft, maybe-threat person squeaked something. Feral tensed, but there wasn’t enough complexity to the sound for her to glean any meaning. Her fingertips curled into Crow’s fur. Should she make the first move? What was the risk? Worst case scenario, what was the immediate threat? They were far enough apart that she would have some warning if the stranger lunged. There were no obvious signs of weapons, allies, or activated Quirks. The immediate threat was moderately low. She wasn’t trying to catch this person or anything, so if she triggered a lunge away that was fine.

But what if it turned into an issue with the school? Belatedly, Feral vaguely remembered something about how the school, and human society in general, had rules and laws about artificial territory. And consequences other than a scuffle for trespassing. She couldn’t think about that right now. It would just make her more stressed and she probably wouldn’t be able to remember it anyway.

She swallowed. The real risk wasn’t any immediate threat, or danger directly to her pack. She could handle that. She could fight. But if the school got mad... how could she protect them against that? Against what would happen next? The hair along the back of her neck, as well as the fur on her ears and tail, stiffened with worry. What did people do when they’d done something that other people might think was wrong, to keep from those people acting badly against them in response?

Feral shivered and bit her lip, unintentionally with a sharp tooth. With a dash of metal in her mouth, she abruptly tried to bow over Crow, while trying to contain his renewed protests (halfhearted at best), and maybe trying to maybe make him bow too, and half-whispered, half-shouted at the ground: ”Sorry!”

The long-eared mystery student flinched, and Feral’s ears caught the movement even if the floor took up most of her visual field, and she nearly bolted herself. Her muscles were already tensed, so the sudden tension did very little, and she forced her feet to stay anchored to the ground like they had sunk into fresh concrete. Not to trap her, but to keep her from being dumb. Slowly, slowly, she flexed and then stretched out her toes and her feet, carefully shifting her weight to loosen her legs before anything cramped.

Hanako Miruku. A name. This person had a name. And she offered it. She wasn’t trying to hide anything or run off to report Crow’s bad behaviour. The apology had worked, at least so far. She just had to keep going like this. It would be okay. It would. She could make it be okay. ”I-“ Names. She wasn’t relaxed enough for this by far. Just thinking about names was bringing her tension right back up, even more than usual because if this Hanako did decide to report it, it would be even easier to bring all the consequences down on Feral if she knew her name. Except no, it wouldn’t make a difference, because the school knew about her and Hanako had seen her face, so she was very identifiable. She swallowed. ”I’m Feral. My name is. Um.”. A slow breath out. ”I, uh. I came to get Crow.”. She lifted the limp, flat-eared cat slightly. ”He jumped between the balconies. I’m sorry if he caused any trouble!”

The offending cat grumbled petulantly, coming through to Feral as had to find smell. Feral’s ears flicked, and her own nostrils flared, and she looked around the room until she caught sight of the cage. ”What do you have?” she asked, pure curiosity seeping into her voice.

A little part of Feral withered when Hanako slouched, as if disappointed, upon hearing Feral’s name. One of the few times she didn’t worry that a new person would judge her for it, not that she would ever willingly admit her concerns, and there it was. Disapproval. Dislike. If they understood, they wouldn’t... but why would they care to understand?

Lost in her head and her worries and her sinking emotions, Feral almost missed when Hanako continued to talk. With a small start, her attention flicked back up. Yuki? Crow had been looking at something or someone called Yuki?

A rabbit?

Feral had heard of rabbits. She had even seen cartoon pictures of them before: a convenience store in her old territory had had one on their sign. Wolfdad had used it back when he started teaching her about reading. Rabbit Moon Store. There was a picture of a rabbit sniffing a crescent moon, and it was a store. She still remembered it, all these years later. She had not, however, ever encountered a live rabbit. Ever. She had actually encountered more dragons than rabbits. So now she tilted her head, somewhere between confused and curious. Hanako’s description wasn’t making anything make any more sense either. Raise her ears? Weird to have her? This was somehow something worrying?

”I’ve never met a rabbit before.”. Feral’s tail waved hesitantly. ”Is it weird to have a rabbit in your pack?”. She spoke with an honest and open lack of understanding; she had a human in her pack, so how could a rabbit be strange? She tilted her head the other direction, then looked down at Crow. There you go. Rabbit. Satisfied now?”. She took a long moment to stare at the cat, and then, not entirely satisfied that he wouldn’t go right back into trouble, repositioned him in her arms, supporting him more comfortably for them both.

”Hm? Oh, er.” The need to protect herself and her pack from Crow’s dumb stunt warred with general honesty, and the pragmatic reality that she could hardly hide from a new neighbour forever, and getting caught in a lie would be as bad, if not worse, for their security. ”Yea- Yes. On, er, that side.”. She gestured with her chin, since her hands were busy with Crow. ”I, uh, I wouldn’t have come over that way if it weren’t for Crow. I don’t normally - other people’s - I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

Hanako’s confusion quickly reminded Feral that most people didn’t use the termpack, especially in relation to the members of their family. It wouldn’t stop her from using it, though, because that was what they were, but she had forgotten that it might confuse some other people. There was too much going on. She was too stressed out.

There didn’t seem to be any lingering reasons to be so stressed, though. Was there? Crow was under control, and not actively trying to misbehave more. No damage had been done. She was... kind of... conversing with Hanako, who was also stressed out, but was maybe calming down. No obvious signs that there was any impending doom or threat. Right?

So.

Deep breath in. Slow breath out. Process the idea of a rabbit, up until now a mythical creature of advertisements and artwork, getting into trouble. Deep breath in. Slow breath out. Now she felt more tired than stressed, as her muscles finally relaxed properly and realized how stiff they had been. The reduced stress even made it easier to take note of the little movements Hanako was making, the rabbit girl shaking her head and twisting her hand. Fighting fear?

...

...

...

Of her? Also:

See Yuki the rabbit that was not also a person, probably with a rabbit quirk, but was an actual animal rabbit?

Feral warred with processing the realization that Hanako was probably afraid of her and restraining the excitement at the thought of meeting such a rare and strange creature, the latter winning out until she took a half step forward and she remembered that her arms were full of cat. She paused. How should she make this work? She wanted to see the rabbit. She did not want to scare Hanako. Scared people could be dangerous, but also Feral only wanted bad people to be afraid of her. A neighbour here meant that Hanako was also a UA student and therefore trying to be a hero, which made her a not-bad person, a good person. At least partially. So Feral didn’t want her to be afraid of her. And she didn’t want Crow to make trouble for her.

Her ears shot up as a solution presented itself. ”Can I? If I keep Crow away. I can lock him in my room. Won’t take long. He needs a door open to get out, and he’s too sad to be curious now anyway. And I’ll make sure he doesn’t cause you any more trouble. He just hasn’t met a rabbit before either.”. Feral’s tail bounced now, guileless in its hopeful excitement.

It took a while for Hanako to answer, and Feral couldn’t tell just what the hesitation was from. Had she expected Feral to turn down the offer? Had it not been made in good faith? Was she regretting it now? Was it related to jumping the balconies? Feral did know that most people wouldn’t consider it, even if it wasn’t very far. Heck, it wasn’t even really necessary to jump unless you were Crow’s size. Crow had to jump. He was small. But springy.

But then Hanako spoke, and it wasn’t to turn anything down. It was to include Crow! Make sure he didn’t what?

Rabbit. Scared. Cat.

The thought that rabbits might be prey animals had not actually occurred to Feral. She’d been much too preoccupied with the newness and the stress of Crow putting everything at risk for the whole pack. Now that she slowed down, though, it made sense. She had no inclination to chew on either Hanako or Yuki, and Crow didn’t seem to either, but soft fuzzy things were generally at some degree of risk of other, bigger things wanting to chew on them. So. Probable situation was that Hanako was worried specifically about Crow trying to eat Yuki. Possibly about Feral trying to eat Yuki? But she hadn’t been hungry in ages, and even if she were interested in eating something out of a cage, she’d still have to cook it somehow. Or. Well. She’d survived eating raw meat before, and worse things, but her powers kind of kicked in in a way she didn’t really... enjoy.

”Why would it be rude?” she asked, crouching smoothly (but carefully not too quick, if she was also included in the maybe-might-bite assessment). ”Have to protect your pack. Getting hurt is bad enough, but even Crow isn’t dumb enough to attack something he’s been told not to. Except feet. It’s harder when he’s playing. But I won’t let him do that either!” She plopped the black cat on the balcony but kept a hand on the back of his head and neck, scritching gently. ”Only look, no touching. Yuki is a friend[/.”. She leaned into the words, though she had no particular power to actually make anyone or anything follow orders. ”Friend.”

Crow flicked his tail, but made no protest, so Feral scooped him up again and hesitantly, slowly, stepped into the other student’s dorm room with him.