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"Meow!"
Darcy grumbled and shifted to roll over when something fuzzy whipped across her face. "Pffft!"
"Meow!" And another fuzzy thwap across Darcy's face.
Darcy cracked an eye open and found herself staring into the face of an orange tabby cat. It was around then she also noticed the tapping on the window of raindrops. She rubbed her eyes. "Okay, how did you get in here, Kitty?"
The cat rubbed its head against her and then thwapped her with its tail.
"Yes, thank you, tail in face." Darcy pushed herself up to sit and rubbed at her eyes again before looking around. "I didn't leave any windows open."
She got up and went over to more closely inspect her door, it seemed to be locked, just as she had recalled doing the night before. The cat hopped down and followed her over and circled around her feet.
"So, how did you get in here? What's your collar say?" Darcy knelt down and reached out to read the little tag. "Goose. Where do you belong, Goose?"
There was no information beyond the cat's name. She scratched Goose's head and smiled before standing up again and going to check her phone. There was a string of texts from an unknown number saying they needed someone to look after their cat for a while, duration undetermined. The cat's name was Goose, and there was a list of things Goose liked to eat and other things to be aware of. The most important of which was if Goose seems irritated with you, to give Goose some space until she's relaxed again. That usually was good reasoning with a cat, but it seemed to be emphasized extra, so Darcy figured perhaps the cat had a habit of getting especially hostile if not given space when she wanted it. Darcy could appreciate that. However, she did not plan for tending an animal in her day to day routine.
"Who left you here? Why can't your person look after you? And what makes them think I can? And how the hell did they get you in here?" Darcy crossed her arms for a moment as Goose trotted over to the big window near the bed and hopped up to have a look outside.
"Well, the text says you'll eat eggs. How about I make some eggs and you can eat while I see if I can figure out who left you here." Goose looked over at Darcy and seemed to make eye contact before blinking and turning back to the window. "I'll take that as a yes."
"It would have been nice if your person had at least said how long you'll be here for. Because I don't know if I should be stocking up or what. But I'm definitely going to need to do some shopping. I was running low on food even for me. And this text says you're a hungry kitty." Darcy started making some eggs, not just for Goose, but she could use some breakfast too. Especially given she'd planned to sleep in a while longer, given she had the day off. Jane had promised the day to Thor, which left Darcy free to do as she pleased.
After some eggs and coffee for her, just eggs for Goose, Darcy got dressed and ready to go, grabbing up her umbrella as well since the rain hadn't let up. It wasn't heavy, but it was steady. Goose followed her to the door. "No, Goose, you stay here. It's all rainy out anyway."
"Meow!" Goose circled around Darcy's ankles rubbing against her and then sat down right at the door.
Darcy pulled out her phone to find some new texts from the same unknown number. More instructions for dealing with Goose. "So it says I can let you come with me places. Is that really true, Goose? Can you be trusted not to run off chasing something? You promise me I won't have to climb any fences after you and you'll come follow me when I ask?"
"Mow." That one sounded like 'wow' with an 'm'.
"I hope that means you promise." Darcy narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose regarding Goose. Not knowing whose cat this was, and knowing she'd never had a cat who didn't at least sometimes try to dodge attempts to be herded in a certain direction she was a bit hesitant to trust she could let the cat accompany her out.