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Phyre cocked his head in confusion. Fabien, on his hands and knees in the alley, peered underneath an overflowing dumpster. This was admittedly not how he had expected the night to go. The detective made an odd, rhythmic hissing noise, stretching out a bit further before heaving himself back onto his haunches, his coat pooling around his feet.
'He should be around here somewhere…' He said, chewing lightly on his lip.
Phyre raised an eyebrow. 'Is the person you wish for me to meet likely to be under this "dumpster"?'
The detective had met him that evening with a pleased glint in his eye. After the last few nights, it was good to see him smile. Good enough that, when Fabien claimed to have someone he wanted him to meet, Phyre did not question him very closely. He had brought them to an alley close by the Police Station, Perhaps to meet one of his herd? Phyre had wondered.
But that had seemed progressively less likely when the Malkavian had dropped to the ground and began searching under a trash receptacle.
Fabien cleared his throat. 'Well, not a person per-say…but he's usually hanging around here this time of night-'
The Nomad sharply tuned him out, tilting his head as he focused on a soft pad of steps creeping down the fire escape above them.
Oh.
Fabien chirped a delighted sound when an orange cat landed with a thump on the dumpster's lid. 'Hello! Phyre meet Joey.'
An unconscious smile twitched at the elder's lips. Joey blinked slowly at him. Phyre blinked back.
In the corner of his eye Fabien grinned at both of them.
Slowly, gently, Phyre reached out his hand for Joey to smell. Cats were intelligent creatures, proud, and generally quite wary of Kindred. The Nomad attempted to project a nonthreatening aura. Not a skill he had much practice in, truth be told.
Carefully the cat sniffed his fingers. For a moment, his tail flicked nervously, then…
'Aw, I knew he'd like you.'
Joey's fur was soft beneath his fingers as the cat nuzzled his hand, a rusty purr beginning to rumble up in response to the petting.
'Is he yours?' Phyre asked, attention unwavering from the happy feline before him.
'Well, I mean, not really. He's a stray.' The detective closed the distance to run a hand down Joeys back. 'And, while I am familiar with the old adage of "don't feed strays or they'll never leave"…well, he just seemed so hungry! And who wouldn't want this feller's company, hmm?'
The cat in question was pacing in rings between them, purring like a car engine, trying his best to maximise the amount of pets he was receiving.
'He is a fine specimen. I have always had a fondness for cats.'
'Yeah, me too. I feel bad about leaving him out here in the snow but…' Fabien huffed a self deprecating breath. 'I can't exactly keep him in the precinct.'
'Hmm' Phyre's hand paused. There was something…a faint pluck of memory. 'I think…I used to do this.' A vague haze of golden light, the joy in his chest an he knelt on cracked tile, still a child and surrounded by cats eager to trade affection for the strips of meat in his hands.
Phyre could not recall the last time he had thought of his childhood. Until that moment, he had vaguely assumed he'd lost it to time. It had been so long ago. To unearth such a moment, small and bright as it was, felt precious.
Fabien's voice snapped him back to the dark and icy present.
'What, feed strays?'
'…Or something similar, yes. When I was mortal.' Phyre's hand twitched back into motion at Joey's affectionate headbutt. 'I had not realised I still remembered.'
A look of understanding crossed the detective's face. 'Memories are funny like that. More ephemeral than people want to believe, but then there's a smell or a sound and wham!'
He scratched under Joey's chin thoughtfully. 'Y'know, I've always wondered where they go when I'm not remembering them. Taken by the same things that's been stealing matching socks out of the wash?' He bent down to get to Joey's eye level, pitching his voice up. 'Have you been eating them buddy? You've gotta tell me if you are.'
Phyre chuckled, the melancholy shedding from him in the face of Fabien's good mood. Somehow the Malkavian's empathy still caught him by surprise. Such a rare trait in their kind…he could not help but admire it.
'Perhaps he would like to spend the night at the Haven.' Phyre suppressed a smile as Fabien's head shot up in surprise.
'You'd do that?'
'Of course. It is close by, and I would not see such a fine creature left to the elements unnecessarily.'
Phyre realised with a start, that there was much he would do to see such joy light up in the detective's eyes.
'What do you think, huh?' Fabien picked the cat up, gently cradling him in his arms. 'You wanna room with the Nomad?'
The cat stretched his neck to nuzzle under his jaw, still purring his heart out.
'I would say that is a yes.' Phyre huffed good naturedly, reaching over to pet Joey's head. 'Come, let us get him settled in.'