#rutgers

Between holiday breaks, Symon and Dagmar attend Rutgers

Their new spot is cozier than the old one, and with THankgiving behind them, there is spoiled left overs aplenty for Symon to feast on if he wishes

WIthout Sylvi, it falls on Dagmar to play the extroverted one of the apartment.

Thank god she's got a rambunctious young opinionated kitten for that duty instead

Odin or whatever his name will be has youthful energy again, and is often at the windows GLARING at strange cats that get too close to HIS turf.

She likes N!Odin, she's certainly kind to him. While it is weird, and sometimes uncertain, she's even fond of him. Lovecraft's quest kept her from toppling into real grief, because she can still recognize the familiarity wrapped up in the tiny fluffball.

MUTHER FLUFFER, you did NOT just walk within ten feet of MY window! POOF goes the fur, and a dangerous threatening yowl... okay... it's actually higher pitched and cute... damn it, the one down side to being a kitten again, his gravitas is down. Still, GET OUT, INTRUDER! Bow Down or leave!

The insolent intruder decides instead to dawdle

N!Odin turns to Dagmar as if expecting her to do something about this disrespectful tresspasser

Brow? What does he think she'll do?

Transport them out of his sight. He has two eyes now, so the vision of intrusion is DOUBLY offensive!

The body is young, but the opinions are not lacking

Dagmar sees a simple wrapped package on her desk. It's not yet Yule - or maybe it's past Yule? In any case, this seems to be a private gift, and not something to put under the big tree at the Lodge.

At the sight of the package, N!Odin forgets the intruder and moves to the package, to give it a sniff before deciding to hurl it off or not

The paper does look invitingly crinkly.

Oh, she's curious. So she unwraps (crinkling the scraps and leaving them where they may be pounce)

This wrinkly paper stuff, well, that the kitten can teach a lesson to. POUNCE!

Inside, on top she sees a small, a framed keepsake. Odin’s name tag, a bit tarnished and scratched from years of wear - and his large, distinctive pawprints pressed into clay, preserved in a shadow box. The frame’s edges are dark and ornate, yet not overbearingly sluaghy.

The kiten takes the paper down to the ground!

Dagmar hugs the frame tight to her chest, tears in her eyes.

Nu Odin swats at the paper then... stops, and looks up at his person who is crying. "Mew?"

The paper that the kitten pounces crinkles but also makes a bit of a tink! sound against the floor.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." Kitten gets a scritch, and she reaches to see what made the noise.

The kitten fusses over her...just like he did when he was an old cat

She finds - Odin’s old collar, the leather softened by years of wear but now meticulously cleaned. New holes have been punched to fit the smaller neck of the kitten, and the old tag has been replaced with a new one. The shiny metal reflects the light, engraved with the name "Oski" on one side and a phone number—Sam’s—on the other.

As she lifts it, a small note drifts to the floor for the kitten to bat at. Dagmar recognizes the spidery handwriting.

"For consideration. Spirit is eternal; forms merely adapt. He - and I - with you, Always."

-S

A small smile ghosts across her features. Sad, but a kind of happy-sad.

Prrr..rub in your face, PURRR

Oski is kind of cute. And still a grumpy old cuss.

Indeed.. the other cat is no longer in sight. It must have finally learned FEAR of the mighty Odin Oski