Heathens

Why did it seem he always found himself in Philadelphia? It wasn't even his favorite city. He had had the pleasure of watching most of the East Coast cities rise from the ground over the years. From the first lonely settlement of Jamestown to the now sprawling metropolis of New York. He did like New York. It was busy, filled with people and possibilities. There was always something for him to do. Philadelphia, on the other hand, was just lukewarm.

At least it's not Detroit or, Helheim forbid... Anywhere in New Jersey.

The small black cat shivered at the very thought. Fjorlagg, The Lord of Death, the New God who's very name means "Death", padded along a concrete walk way, his small paws barely making a sound as he walked along. His whiskers twitched a bit and he sniffed the air. He was getting hungry. Where was he exactly. He looked around and recognized a few buildings. He couldn't miss the young ones walking all around him with their bags on their backs. Some seemed happy, others depressed, still others simply absorbed in there books.

Ah yes, college. Not quite what the Greeks had in mind, I think, but it does the job.

Continuing to follow his nose, Fjor wandered about the campus. The smell was getting stronger. It smelled like... No... Could it be? He sniffed again. Yes! It was tuna! Wonderful, wonderful tuna! Fjor absolutely hated it when his form's urges overtook him like this, butting could not be helped. He began to sprint towards the intoxicating smell.

He approached a large, square building with many windows, still following his nose, he hopped up on a window ledge and there it was. Sitting inside some young girls bag was a beautiful tuna sandwich. Fjor licked his lips. He stared at the girl as he plotted a way to get his lunch, his black tail swaying slowly back and forth.

Early morning in Philadelphia. The quiet within the bedroom of a small, three room, open-concept apartment on the campus of Drexel University was suddenly shattered by the opening chords of "Lies Greed Misery" by Linkin Park as a college girl's morning phone alarm started going off. The girl in the bed however, did not respond. She lay motionless; almost as if she were dead.

"I'mma be that nail in your coffin
Sayin' that I softened
I was duckin' down to reload
So you can save your petty explanations
I don't have the patience
Before you even say it I know..."

The first verse of the song droned on, the iPhone's volume set the loudest it could be. The girl however, still didn't even flinch. Her form lay completely and eerily still under the covers, and not in a peaceful way. It was more like something had a hold on her, something she couldn't get away from.

"I wanna see you CHOKE ON YOUR LIES-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" The girl screamed loudly as her eyes flew open and she jolted upright in her bed, covered in cold sweat. She panted heavily clutched at her heart as though she was in pain, staring with fear and panic-stricken eyes into nothingness. A few lose tears finally rolled their way out of her eyes, and down her cheeks, the cold sensation they left behind snapping her back into reality.

Nomina (typically known as "Mina") Torres wiped her eyes with one hand and shut off her alarm off with the other, then forced herself to peak at the clock on her phone. Still 6:30. At least she hadn't slept through 2 whole minutes of her alarm like she had Monday.

"Cripes alive... That's the fifth time this week." Mina sighed exhasperatedly as she slid out of her little bed. "If this keeps happening I'm gonna have to see a specialist about the possibility of chronic nightmares. I feel like I barely slept at all." she mumbled sleeply as she stumbled towards her little bathroom. She reached up to scratch her head, only to get her fingers tied up in her disastrous jet-black hair.

"Ow ow ow!" Mina yelped as she tried to pull her fingers out of the chinese finger trap that was her hair. "Jeez, exactly HOW unsoundly did I sleep last night?!?!" she exclaimed as she grabbed her shower tote and adjusted the water to her favorite temperature.

One much-needed and refreshing eight-minute shower later, Mina stood in front of her bathroom mirror wrapped in a towel (ignoring the option of putting on a robe) as she tackled her messy hair head-on. Her hair was rather light in thickness, despite the fact that it hung down to about mid-torso, so it generally stayed pretty neat throught the day without much effort on her part.

Mina check the time again. 6:41. She would have just enough time to make her way over to the bookstore and ask her boss for the night off so that she could finish the project she had to turn in tomorrow and then grab her usual breakfast from Seasons (a nice little cafe on campus) before she had to be at the URBN Center for class. Hopefully she could work double hours at some point to pay off all her boss's kindness... Mina wasn't one to live off people's charity.

Mina pulled on her clothes for the day, her main outfit consisting of a short-sleeved white blouse and a pair of neatly ironed khaki capris. She grabbed a hair and and slipped it into her shoulder bag, just in case she needed it later, and then bent down and pulled a fairly large metal lock box out from under her bed. She really needed to find a more creative place to hide this thing... That is, if she could find a place where it could fit. For now, she at least had it chained to the bottom of her metal bedframe with one of the strongest chains she could have possibly gotten, so even if you slid it out from under the bed, there's be no easy way to detach it.

She pulled the key out of its much less obvious hiding spot (in the lining of one of the pockets of her bag) and opened up the box. Inside was contained a number of papers, folders, documents... As well as a medium wad of spare cash and a book of food cards from the campus dining plan. They were only good for about 7 locations on campus, but that was fine because Mina wasn't too picky on food and those 7 locations happened to be satifyingly decent. The cards came in three different amounts; $7.00, $9.25, and $11.75. Mina grabbed one of each amount, then thought for a moment and put the nine dollar one back. She would pack her own lunch today so that she could eat in-studio.

After rummaging through her meager foodstuffs and cobbling together a somewhat substantial-looking lunch, Mina gathered all her things together and left her apartment, locking the door behind her as she did.

One trip to her boss's office later, Mina was well on her way to the Seasons Cafe, located on the ground floor of the Papadakis Integrated Science Building. She scanned her ID card at the 33rd street door and entered. She walked past the beautiful glass spiral staircase and the green wall, all the way over to the cafe located at the front of the building. She entered and found (to her surprise) no line, so she walked up to the glass case where the food was displayed. She was greeted with a welcoming "Hello, how're you?" by one of the two women who worked there. Nomina had come to know these faces by heart, and they hers.

"Good morning; I'm doing okay. Not a lot of sleep." Mina yawned, looking over the menu. She had gotten a coffee from the Rival Bros. Coffee truck earlier as she had passed Buckley Feild, so she didn't really want that...

"I'll just have my bagel with cream cheese." Mina half-smiled sleepily.

"Plain again? Honey, we do have other flavors you know." The first lady joked. Mina shrugged, still holding her grin, and the Lady just laughed. "You want that to go?"

"Yes please. And I'd like the bagel toasted." Mina nodded, pulling out her $7.00 food card. She moved to the end of the line, where the second woman rang her up.

"Are you sure this is all? You still have five dollars to spend on this." the lady asked.

"Yeah I'm good. I just want something to snack on in the studio." Mina shrugged. As she went to pay, the food card slipped out of her hand and fluttered to the floor. Mina sighed and bent over to pick it up, only for it to slip again. "Drats." Mina grumbled, reaching to grab it. She only managed to push it away a little more. "Bloody hell!" Mina cursed very quietly, finally snatching the ticket off the ground. She handed it to the lady and then the lady handed her her bag... Although something felt off. Was it heavier...?

Once she navigated her way into her studio in the URBN Center, Mina opened her bag to find... Gelato? Mina just grinned and shook her head; leave it to the Seasons women to suprise you with the occasional treat.

---
AT NOON
---

Mina pulled out her packed lunch from earlier, pushing away from her desk and closer to the window. She laid out her food and just stared at her work for a while, not really paying attention to much else. She was trying to calculate in her mind how much more work she had to do before turning it in tomorrow, and if maybe she could sneak into work for a few hours after all...

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. Something she hadn't thought of before. She rolled back into her desk, shoving the now unimportant tuna sandwich aside and hammering away furiously at her keyboard. "Yes.... Yes! YES!!!" she exclaimed, the sleepy and nightmare striken stupor now fully shaken away. Without looking away from her monitor, she grabbed a window marker and uncapped it, then swiveled herself over to the window in an excited rush. This idea might just make her whole proje-

"AAAAHHHHHMAIFAAAKENGUMDROPS" Mina screamed as she came face to face with possibly one of the most unnerving black cats she had ever met. ...Not that she had met many. She was so startled she fell backwards into the chair and flailed her limbs in an attempt to get away from the window. She got about two centimeters of distance.

She clutched at her heart again and panted hard. She leaned in a little to get a better look at the cat; too startled to do anything other than return the cat's gaze.

The Girl had screamed. He hadn't been expecting that. Very skittish. He understood that black cats had a bad reputation here in America, but very few people had ever screamed. It was odd. Still, the tuna called to him. Looking over to his right, he saw a stream of the students going into the building. Hopping down from the window, he padded across the grass and slipped into the crowd, careful to not to get in the way. Being stepped on was so unpleasant.

With the children, he slipped in through the front door and immediately ran underneath on of the numerous staircases to hide. It would do him no good to be thrown out now. The buildings interior was beautiful in its own way. It was an odd mixture of old and new. The stairs reminded him of some surreal paintings he had seen before. Quickly, he looked around, trying to spy the girl again.

He caught a glimpse of a black head of hair. That was her, he was sure of it. Fjor licked his lips and trotted over to the girl, taking a seat next to her in his most dignified pose. She failed to notice him after a few moments. Irritated, Fjor meowed. He hated hearing that noise come out of his mouth, but now it was necessary. He stared at her with his golden eyes, waiting for a response.

Mina blinked and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again, the cat was just suddenly... Gone.

"Well... That was weird" Mina thought, blinking a little more. She peaked cautiously down at the street where the cat had disapeered to, but said cat was gone... Mina peeked around and saw a number of people in the studio giving her strange looks, but they all turned back to their work and she just shrugged the event off. She had notes to write.

Mina started drawing on the window, becoming fully immersed in what she was creating. She drew things here and there and wrote words by them, quickly and skillfully weaving together her ideas with grace and skill. With a steady hand and a light heart she-

"Meow"

Mina jumped in her seat and her heart lept into her throat. She didnt make a sound this time, but her head spun quickly down to where the sound had come from, only to find...

"You!" Mina exclaimed lightly as she found the same black cat from before sitting next to her. She wasn't a huge fan of animals, but at the same time she didn't hate them. "You followed those people in huh... But you can't be in here." She muttered. "Lord almighty... Look at me, talking to a cat." she groaned to herself under her breath. She could tell by the look it was giving her that it wasn't about to leave. "Jeez... Fine I'll bite. What do you want?" she muttered, putting her face in her hand as she spoke and then looking back at the cat.

She said something about "Lord Almighty". Fjor's eyes narrowed and he suppressed the urge to hiss. Then she chided herself for talking with a cat. Sadly, most humans found it in bad taste to talk to animals. Granted most would never talk back, but it was the principle of the thing. It had been ages since Fjor had had a good conversation.

Then, the magic words. "What do you want?" Fjor's eyes lit up and his ears perked up at the very words. Compliance! And with a black cat, of all things for an American to do! Fjor liked this girl already. Without a moment to spare, Fjor lept onto the girl's lap and pilfered her bag besides her. After a momment, he found that the tuna was encased in a plastic bag. A bother, but only a minor set-back.

Summoning every cuteness instinct in his body, Fjor yanked out the bag, holding it in his mouth. He then turned around and tilted his head at the human. They found that cute for some reason and it also implied a question. He purred softly, trying to entice the human to open the bag.

This is going to taste so much better than city mice.

"Jeez!" Mina exclaimed as the cat jumped up into her lap. "Pushy..." she grumbled quietly. She watched the cat with her head cocked to the side slightly, seemingly invulnerable to the cuteness. Perhaps she had her slightly-less-than lukewarm feelings towards animals for thank for this. In any case, she had no trouble reading the cat's thoughts.

"Wow, you sure do scream everything loud and clear, 'specially for a cat." Mina commented. "You want food... That's understandable. I should have figured you wanted the tuna." She sighed quietly and calmly, taking the bag and ripping it open. "Help yourself... cat..." she continued, not sure what to call the creature exactly. "I'm so sick of tuna it hurts just to eat it... But it'd be horrible to waste food on my salary. At least someone'll enjoy it..." She mused, preparing to put the sandwich on the ground.

Mina stopped. That cat had somehow found it's way all the way up to her floor just to eat this sandwich... Did she really want to make him eat it off the nasty floor where people put their shoes and even bare feet on occasion?

Nomina blinked. She took a cautious look around. Everybody in the room was just minding their own buisness and working on their projects... so Mina set the sandwich and the cat on the table. She also went to the mini fridge and pulled out the small bottle of 2% milk she had gotten with breakfast but never drank.

"Here... Have this too. I won't drink it anyways; too busy." she sighed as she dumped the contents of the bottle into her suprisingly clean coffee cup. "Just eat fast and then go back home, okay? I gotta work."

He loved this girl. He absolutely loved this girl! It had literally been years since he had been able to get his paws on a cold glass of milk. With no regard for any sort of tact, Fjor began to lap at the milk like it was the nectar of the Gods. This completely makes up for her picking me up a momment ago!

After a moment, he rose from the glass for breath. He purred loudly and savored the taste of the milk. He licked some of it off of his lips and then took notice of the sandwich. He squinted. The bread was in the way. Though he knew it was a good source of energy, Fjor had grown tired of bread. He had eaten far too many stale slices out of garbage dumpsters.

He took a quick look at the human, mulling over what he was about to do. Would it make her suspicious? Would a normal cat do something like this? Maybe, but then again, maybe not. Some cats he had met were fairly intelligent. They left him wanting for conversation, of course, but they made good companions.

He took a moment, mulling it over and glaring at the bread.

I am not eating that.

Quickly, not caring weather the girl saw or not, he took the back of his paw and flipped the bread off of the tuna. Now, the delicious fish exposed, he began taking large bites. Going back and forth from the milk and the tuna.

Today is a good day.

Mina just watched the cat eat; a little amused by how much it seemed to enjoy the milk. "Just... Please don't get anything on my project... It's due tomorrow." she pleaded gently. "...Well, if you understand anyway..." she continiued with a sigh.

The cat then turned to the sandwich. Mina watched as the cat sat in a pensive and deliberating state for a while, then suddenly knocked the bread off the top of the sandwich. "Huh... I knew cats were picky, but I never knew they'd do something about it on their own." she mused aloud with a shrug. Her attention drifted slowly to the window and she leaned over to write a few small things, but the creative rush seemed to have died and Mina just ended up turning back to the cat to wait for it to finish.

"What a weird day... I wonder if it's linked to the nightmares..." Mina thought aloud, curling her hair around her finger in an unconscious movement.

He took a quick look at the girl. She seemed to have taken his actions quiet well. She seemed nice, useful, and accepting. As he chewed on the food, he mused over the thought of spending a bit more time with her. After all, she had said something about having more tuna.

He yawned as he finished the tuna, stretching across the table. Yes, he would spend more time with this girl. Finished, he turned back towards the girl and meowed happily. He stared, waiting to see what she would do.

"Oh good, you finished..." Mina sighed happily. She looked at the cat, expecting it to run off now that the food was gone... But it didn't. It just continiued to sit there and stare at her. She was starting to feel very unnerved by the cat's stare. Very unnerved. It was almost like the cat knew something she didn't. ...Just what was this cat's deal, anyways?

"I... I don't have any more on me right now. Sorry, maybe you can find another person to feed you..." Mina finally said after minutes of silence and staring had passed. "You need to go now though, I gotta go to the laser printer and you aren't allowed in here in the first place." she continued, doing some things on the computer. She then pulled out the hard drive and stowed it in her bag. "Ummm... So... Bye I guess?" she concluded in a manner that showed she really wasn't all that sure what to say. She turned on her heel awkwardly and left the studio, making tracks for the elevator to go down to the first floor.

He had clearly unnerved the girl. In his mind, he had already made the decision to stay with her awhile longer, if not more. Still, Fjor saw no reason he couldn't have a little fun with the situation. The girl was obviously now thinking back to all those tall tails about black cats being familiars with witches and servants of the Devil.

He chuckled in his head as he leapt down from the table and began to follow the girl just a ways behind her. He had personally met Lucifer a few times. He really got a bad reputation from the Catholics. Fjor had always felt that John Milton's "Paradise Lost" had always portrayed him better than the Bible ever could.

As his paws treaded silently along the floor, he couldn't help but think just how similar he and Lucifer were. Their realms were not even all that different. Hell, while he was still annoyed that they had stolen Hel's name, wasn't so much a place of "eternal suffering" as it was just another place. It was simply where the dead went who were not deemed "worthy" to enter God's Heaven. Lucifer, in fact, did his best to make the place pleasant

The girl stopped, waiting for the elevator to come. As Fjor waited as well, sure the girl had not noticed him yet, he suddenly could not help but compare Lucifer with Martha Stewart. The very thought threatened to make him burst out laughing. He had to fight to hold it in.

Just the thought of him running around Hell with a feather duster! Picking out new furniture, looking at color swatches for just the right shade of red. Oh, if I ever told him, he'd positively throttle me, but damnit, "It's a good thing!"

He and Lucifer currently had a half-and-half agreement. Half of the unworthy souls went to Hell, the other half went to Helheim for the day that Fjor could one day return. It would do Fjor no good to upset Lucifer in such a way. Sometimes the man could take a joke, but it was always a matter of chance. He was very touchy. If Fjor ever got his powers back, he really would have to pay Lucifer a visit. It had been such a long time since they had talked.

Lost in his reminiscing, the God of Death almost didn't hear he elevator door start to close. He got up and dashed in through the doorway, his tail narrowly slipping in. Chiding himself for being so careless, he sat down, stared at the girl, and meowed to get her attention.

Mina sighed and tapped her foot impatiently as the elevator took forever and a half to get to her floor. AS USUAL. This was why she took the stairs. Much faster, despite how convoluted they were. A little part of her was telling her to abandon ship and just take the darn stairs, but her legs were totally ignoring it. She couldn't help but take a peek back at the studio, just to check and see if the cat had actually left. Satisfied with the sight of her empty desk, she turned back to the elevator and was re-absorbed by her normal routine.

Finally, the elevator doors slid open and Mina stepped inside. As the doors started to slide shut she turned to the button panel and pressed the button for the first floor, then turned around...

"AHCHEESENIBBLES" Mina exclaimed in suprise as she was greeted by THAT. SAME. CAT. She backed up against the wall behind her, her heart rate through the roof. She slid down the wall until she was sitting on the ground, scared and unnerved out of her mind. WHAT was WITH this cat?!?!

"What kind of good luck charm are you anyway you crazy cat?" Mina asked in frustration and growing panic.

"What kind of good luck charm are you anyway, you crazy cat?"

The temptation was too much. She was nice, accepting, and seemed a little eccentric. Fjor had already taken a liking to her. Add on to the fact that, judging by her calling him good luck and the long black hair, she was most likely of Japanese decent, Fjor could not stop himself. Besides, they were all alone in an elevator. No camera's. No possible witnesses.

Oh well. As they say, "The slumbering wolf misses the ham." Here goes nothing.

The black cat narrowed his eyes and leaned in close to the young girl.

"The persistently charming kind..."

His voice was slightly raspy, but it had a tone of wit and playfulness to it, like he knew something you didn't and was always dangling it just out of reach.


Fjor smiled, waiting to see how the girl would react. Some went off the edge right away. Thank goodness they were nowhere near a cliff.

"Persistent is a word for it..." Mina grumbled with an eyeroll. What a little ham- wait.

"Uhh, hello?" Mina called out, looking around the owner of the voice who just spoke. It was obvious that she and the cat were the only one in the elevator, however.

"Oh my... My life is turning into an episode of House." Mina whipered in shock as her brain started to register the fact that a cat had just talked. Her breathing turned into labored panting and her heart hammered so hard it felt like it was going to explode. "I'm hallucinating. That has to be it. I gotta see a doctor about some sleep aid or something. Then things will be fine again." she sighed, calming down just a little bit. With a ding, the elevator doors slid open, and Mina quickly pulled herself off the ground.

"Take care, cat..." Mina murmured as she dashed out the door and ran for the laser printer lab.

Fjor sighed. She had handled it in the way most of them did. Shocked, confused, and running. Why did they always run?

Trotting out of the elevator behind the girl and wishing that just once he could find someone who found a taking cat to be a pleasant surprise, Fjor cast his thoughts out towards the girl. He could feel her mind. At the moment it felt like radio static.

Running isn't going to help. Over the years I've gotten quite good at following people. You should consider yourself lucky you even caught my attention. You make... Oh, what is it... Ten people after all these years? The milk definitely helped your case.

He tried to reign back the feeling of his own mind. He may have been trapped in this form, but his mind was still that of a God. Lord of Death, at that. It tended to intimidate people.