A Dreary Day in the Market [Leo and Hope]

[carbonflight]

Grey light stretched through the shutters on Leo's bedroom, waking him from his sleep. He opened one of his eyes slightly, groaning at his wake up call and flopping over onto his face. He lay like that for a bit longer, but the damage was done, and he wasn't going to fall back to sleep, so he got out of his bed, walking on all fours over to the other side of the room. It was a sort of small room, just the loft to his shop, because he didn't have the money to keep up his shop and house. He had left his old house when his sister had gotten married and her husband had moved in a few months ago, and, in truth, found that he was better suited for living in his shop. It meant that he didn't have to make the commute every day, plus he could stay up as late as he wanted building things.

Leo stood up on his hind legs and opened the pantry, getting out the loaf of bread his friend, Fennel had made him. He smeared a bit of butter on it, then some raspberry jam, and walked over to the stairs in the corner. They were actually more of a latter, he had made them himself, and they were steep enough to need to go down facing them, but not quite enough to be a real latter. Back in the main room of his shop he got a fire started in the hearth and swept a bit of sawdust away before bringing out the wooden sidewalk sign he had made a bit ago.

Outside, there was still a bit of snow left from the last night that hadn't been turned to the slush it got to be after cats had been romping around in it all day. However, looking up at the grey sky, Leo could see that it would be raining soon, which would only speed up the process. He returned to the warmth of his shop, where he got out a block of cherry wood he had been carving the other day to continue chipping away at. It was always best to look busy when customers came in, it made them think that he was important, or had real things to do.

[alphabetzoo]

This morning, like most every other morning, Hope was out before anyone else in the orphange. He took it to his advantage to make an escape without anyone asking where he'd be off to and in all seriousness, did not really feel like talking to anyone here. A loud creek of the door gave him a welcome which made him flinch and quickly turned back to see if anyone had heard. Heaving a sigh, he was greeted by a chilling breeze that sent shivers through him. Puffing his coat out slightly, looking rather silly for a few moment, then gave a grunt and walked out the door, closing it behind him. Once outside, his feet felt the cold snow. 'That's right...It snowed.' he thought in his head with an irritated look. Hope tightened his scarf slightly, but a flap behind lagged, making it look slightly like a bandanna. He grabbed that fold and pulled it over his head to shield himself from the chilling breeze.

"Maybe I could take a quick trip down to the market...Maybe even find something." he said to himself, hugging himself tight as he walked through the snow. It wasn't thick or deep, which made him think it'd be an easier tread, but snow is snow and snow is frozen water and Hope just hated water. At first, he flinched with a shiver with each step but ignored it after awhile once he got used to it. A wind greeted him from behind and looked to the sky to see the clouds gathering. "Well isn't that great." he grumbled to himself. He was too close to the merchant market to head back so he kept going forward.

Finally arriving to the market, a drop trickled on his nose and shook his head vigorously. "I thought I could get back before it would start!" he said with an irritated hiss. He began walking at a faster pace as the rain began to pour, making the ground beneath turn to slippery slush. At point he slipped in one of these slush puddles and went tumbling forward with a splash and groaned at the sudden flash of pain. Sucking it up, he got up quickly and sought out sanctuary under one of the slim roofs of the shop. He huffed as he was finally out of the rain and slunk down, dragging his back on the side of the shop till plopping down on the ground. He went to look at his leg, he bumped it pretty bad with a small cut, but the cool temptature helped numb it. He heaved a sigh and looked forward at the street infront of him at the cats bustling inside to their shops to escape the rain. He blinked, watching the rain-drops fall and heaving a sigh, unknowing of the shop's wall he was laying against but inside looked like a pretty good wood-carving shop. (I forgot what kind of shop he has sorry lD)

[carbonflight]

Leo paused for a moment, he though he had heard something; could it be the jingle of the bell on his door? Had someone actually wanted to buy some wood? During the cooler winter and spring months, few visitors came to his door, not many liked the thought of being outside on a boat in the middle of the ocean when the weather was like this, though the toyger cat couldn't think of anything he would rather be doing. Besides maybe selling someone something, that would be a nice change of pace. Boats were expensive, even little rafts, and though he didn't have all that much competition, it seemed that it was not often that the bell hanging above his door would jingle so. He tried to play it cool for a few minutes, pretending he hadn't noticed the customers entering. He continued his carving: it was turning out to be what looked like Grimalkin and the Peacock, which he didn't mind, he rather liked that story. This continued on for a few moments, before Leo in fact realized that what he had heard had not been someone entering, but someone bumping it.

Somewhat discouraged, he sighed and continued to his carving, however, he continued to be distracted, he looked out the window, leaning over to try and see who might have bumped his door. It appeared that a small, slightly cold looking tomcat was sitting outside in the cold all alone. Leo furrowed his brow, wondering what some youngster would be doing out in weather like this without a parent, before he realized that it must be an orphan. He sighed at himself, losing focus entirely and breaking the head off of the peacock. Swearing to himself a bit, he turned to the door: now having nothing better to do, he might as well invite the young cat in for a scone; Fennel's were still sitting on his desk. He quickly walked out, and turned to the orphan, "Would you care to join me?" Leo asked, "You'll catch your death standing out in this cold."