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Damian sighed and returned to checking the cat food bowls. They were getting ready to open for the day and everything needed to be ready before they released the cats into the cat room.
"Hey, Damian?" Jeremy called out to him. "There's a girl crying outside."
"And?" Damian asked with a raised eyebrow. Grayson had decided that he needed to get this part-time job over the summer to build humility, but so far he had just decided that his coworkers were stupid.
"Do we let her in?" He asked.
Damian looked at his watch. "We open in three minutes, there is a girl sobbing outside, and you're asking me if we let her in?"
"Yeah," Jeremy answered the question.
"Go open the door," Damian hissed.
Damian finished letting the cats into the cat room and then went over to the girl who was silently crying while she was petting Pumpkin. "Are you okay?" He asked softly.
The girl nodded her head and then shook it slowly as she bit her lip to hold back tears. "I-i will be."
"Can I ask what happened?" Damian asked softly as he subtlety pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket.
"My cat recently died," she whispered out. "He was a present from my best friend before I moved to Gotham."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Damian handed her the handkerchief.
She accepted it and dabbed at her eyes. "I thought... I thought maybe I could adopt one of your adoptable cats, but maybe it's a dishonor to his memory."
"Tell me about your cat, maybe we can find someone that will fit in your home but not be a replacement."
"His name was Cataclysme. He was not as destructive as his name implies though." She gave a watery laugh. "But he was rambunctious, especially when we moved here and he no longer had Plagg to play with."
"Plagg?" Damian asked, the name sounding familiar.
"My best friend's cat." She said quickly.
"So you must have put a lot of energy into caring for Cataclysme." Damian smiled at the name, it confirmed that she spoke french, and based on her accent she was probably from somewhere in France.
"Yeah, he was my world. I don't have many friends here in America, and I spend so much time working, but he always knew when it was time for me to take a break." She twisted his handkerchief in her hands and Pumpkin bumped her nose into her arm. "She's friendly."
"She's needy," Damian corrected. "She'll take up all of your time here if you would let her, but I think you should meet Chaos, I think you two would get along."
Damian stood and held out a hand. "Sorry, I didn't get your name."
"I'm Marinette."
"It's nice to meet you Marinette, I'm Damian." He smiled at her. "Now, let's find where Chaos is hiding."