Purrfect Arrow glanced at the clock on the wall across the street from where he stood in ankle-deep snow, comparing it against his own internal sense of time.
As usual, he noted to himself, he was dead-on; and also, Kitten was late. Not by very much, but she'd been the one to set up the meeting, so he'd
thought that maybe this time--
A sudden change in air pressure alerted him. He threw himself to the side, dodging the blow, and whirled to face his attacker... then burst out laughing.
Sammy gave him a half-hearted glare from where she lay sprawled in the snow, her attempt to pounce on him from behind having failed abysmally. She scrambled
back to her feet and swiped at the snow crusting her features. "You dodged!" she complained, and frowned, staring cross-eyed at a dab of snow
adorning the tip of her nose like icing. She shook her head, flinging it off, and smiled brightly. "Hi Arrow!"
"Hey, Kitten," he said, and watched the cold bring a slight flush to her cheeks.
"I wanted this to be a surprise but it's really hard to surprise you, and you don't even have a locker or anything at your base -- Aunt Nene
helped me look -- and I couldn't figure out any other way to get this to you today, so that's why I had to call. I'm not ruining your Christmas,
am I?"
Arrow shook his head and chuckled. "No. I thought it seemed odd that you wanted to bust goons on Christmas day, heh."
Sammy beamed at him and dug into the sack at her feet -- a sack that matched her Christmas Kitty outfit, as she'd called it once, large and made of red
velvet with white trim. Arrow couldn't help but grin. He was starting to wonder if maybe Kitten enjoyed Christmas a little -too- much.
"Merry Christmas!" she proclaimed, pulling a box out of the bag and presenting it to him. It was about two feet square and a foot deep, and bore a
large ribbon holding it shut; he couldn't help but notice it looked exactly like one of the boxes that had held a Winter Lord and his entourage, and eyed
Sammy with a raised eyebrow.
"This isn't going to pop out a bunch of anti-social snowmen, is it?" he said with a grin as he took the (surprisingly heavy!) box from the
catgirl and teased gently at the ribbon.
"No, silly!" Sammy clasped her hands behind her and rocked gently back and forth on her feet, obviously impatient. "C'mon, open it! Merry
Christmas!"
He chuckled and removed the ribbon. That seemed to be some sort of cue; as soon as the ribbon fell away, the box suddenly began to emit a low hum and became
light as a feather -- in fact, the lid lifted away on its own, and Arrow took a step back, startled, as the paper stuffing and the bottom of the box fell away
from the contents.
It was a hovering machine of some kind, wearing the lid of the box as an impromptu and slightly-askew hat, and it spun lightly in place to regard him with a
glinting targeting array and twin multi-barrelled chainguns. He regarded it cautiously as it appeared to do the same to him, and Sammy chirped from behind the
death-machine, "Do you like it?"
"What IS it?" he inquired, reaching out tentatively to tap lightly at the device, which bobbed gently at his touch but otherwise did nothing.
"It's the latest model I could find, the guy at the first store was kinda a jerk but the next one was pretty nice and he said this was a
state-of-the-art top-of-the-line Gun Drone, he said it was compatible with all sorts of gadgets and since you use all sorts of nifty gadgets but I never saw
you use one of these I thought maybe you'd like it! It's got a remote control and it flies and it can be like your sidekick when I'm not around, I
mean, I'm not your sidekick but you know what I mean, it's like reinforcements and I didn't mean to say you needed reinforcements I just wanted you
to be safe out there and I'm going to shut up now."
Arrow blinked. "You got this... for me?" he said wonderingly. "I don't know what to say..."
Sammy grinned and stuck her tongue out at him. "Say Merry Christmas, silly!" A sudden beeping noise sounded from her belt; she frowned and removed
the device, regarding it with a scowl until the message flashed up on the tiny screen. "Aw, rats," she said. "I've gotta go, Aunt Nene
says they're about to start opening presents and I need to quote get my furry butt back there now, unquote, I'm sorry Arrow." She looked downcast
for a moment, then brightened. "You can, um, you can come join us for Christmas dinner if you want? I mean, if you're not already doing something,
it's okay if you are, I don't want to intrude, but if you aren't doing anything you shouldn't be alone for Christmas and we've got TONS of
food, Aunt Ifrit is a great cook, and I even made chocolate mousse the RIGHT way this time." She looked at him inquiringly, but before he could respond
the beeper went off again in an even more strident tone, and Sammy winced.
"Okay I've really gotta go but if you want to come just give me a buzz, you have my number, I'll give you the address, okay? Bye, Arrow, and
Merry Christmas!"
Arrow shook his head as he tried to catch up with the verbal torrent and belatedly realized Sammy was a vanishing blur in the distance. "Merry Christmas,
Kitten," he said quietly.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
As usual, he noted to himself, he was dead-on; and also, Kitten was late. Not by very much, but she'd been the one to set up the meeting, so he'd
thought that maybe this time--
A sudden change in air pressure alerted him. He threw himself to the side, dodging the blow, and whirled to face his attacker... then burst out laughing.
Sammy gave him a half-hearted glare from where she lay sprawled in the snow, her attempt to pounce on him from behind having failed abysmally. She scrambled
back to her feet and swiped at the snow crusting her features. "You dodged!" she complained, and frowned, staring cross-eyed at a dab of snow
adorning the tip of her nose like icing. She shook her head, flinging it off, and smiled brightly. "Hi Arrow!"
"Hey, Kitten," he said, and watched the cold bring a slight flush to her cheeks.
"I wanted this to be a surprise but it's really hard to surprise you, and you don't even have a locker or anything at your base -- Aunt Nene
helped me look -- and I couldn't figure out any other way to get this to you today, so that's why I had to call. I'm not ruining your Christmas,
am I?"
Arrow shook his head and chuckled. "No. I thought it seemed odd that you wanted to bust goons on Christmas day, heh."
Sammy beamed at him and dug into the sack at her feet -- a sack that matched her Christmas Kitty outfit, as she'd called it once, large and made of red
velvet with white trim. Arrow couldn't help but grin. He was starting to wonder if maybe Kitten enjoyed Christmas a little -too- much.
"Merry Christmas!" she proclaimed, pulling a box out of the bag and presenting it to him. It was about two feet square and a foot deep, and bore a
large ribbon holding it shut; he couldn't help but notice it looked exactly like one of the boxes that had held a Winter Lord and his entourage, and eyed
Sammy with a raised eyebrow.
"This isn't going to pop out a bunch of anti-social snowmen, is it?" he said with a grin as he took the (surprisingly heavy!) box from the
catgirl and teased gently at the ribbon.
"No, silly!" Sammy clasped her hands behind her and rocked gently back and forth on her feet, obviously impatient. "C'mon, open it! Merry
Christmas!"
He chuckled and removed the ribbon. That seemed to be some sort of cue; as soon as the ribbon fell away, the box suddenly began to emit a low hum and became
light as a feather -- in fact, the lid lifted away on its own, and Arrow took a step back, startled, as the paper stuffing and the bottom of the box fell away
from the contents.
It was a hovering machine of some kind, wearing the lid of the box as an impromptu and slightly-askew hat, and it spun lightly in place to regard him with a
glinting targeting array and twin multi-barrelled chainguns. He regarded it cautiously as it appeared to do the same to him, and Sammy chirped from behind the
death-machine, "Do you like it?"
"What IS it?" he inquired, reaching out tentatively to tap lightly at the device, which bobbed gently at his touch but otherwise did nothing.
"It's the latest model I could find, the guy at the first store was kinda a jerk but the next one was pretty nice and he said this was a
state-of-the-art top-of-the-line Gun Drone, he said it was compatible with all sorts of gadgets and since you use all sorts of nifty gadgets but I never saw
you use one of these I thought maybe you'd like it! It's got a remote control and it flies and it can be like your sidekick when I'm not around, I
mean, I'm not your sidekick but you know what I mean, it's like reinforcements and I didn't mean to say you needed reinforcements I just wanted you
to be safe out there and I'm going to shut up now."
Arrow blinked. "You got this... for me?" he said wonderingly. "I don't know what to say..."
Sammy grinned and stuck her tongue out at him. "Say Merry Christmas, silly!" A sudden beeping noise sounded from her belt; she frowned and removed
the device, regarding it with a scowl until the message flashed up on the tiny screen. "Aw, rats," she said. "I've gotta go, Aunt Nene
says they're about to start opening presents and I need to quote get my furry butt back there now, unquote, I'm sorry Arrow." She looked downcast
for a moment, then brightened. "You can, um, you can come join us for Christmas dinner if you want? I mean, if you're not already doing something,
it's okay if you are, I don't want to intrude, but if you aren't doing anything you shouldn't be alone for Christmas and we've got TONS of
food, Aunt Ifrit is a great cook, and I even made chocolate mousse the RIGHT way this time." She looked at him inquiringly, but before he could respond
the beeper went off again in an even more strident tone, and Sammy winced.
"Okay I've really gotta go but if you want to come just give me a buzz, you have my number, I'll give you the address, okay? Bye, Arrow, and
Merry Christmas!"
Arrow shook his head as he tried to catch up with the verbal torrent and belatedly realized Sammy was a vanishing blur in the distance. "Merry Christmas,
Kitten," he said quietly.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs