7159/Reining Cats and Dogs

Reining Cats and Dogs
Date of Scene:	31 July 2021
Location:	Central Park
Synopsis:	Madison introduces Spider-Man to Alderic, I.E. Another Mouth to Feed.
Cast of Characters:	Madison Evans, Peter Parker, Alderic

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Madison Evans has posed:
    "He was over here," Madison is saying as she walks through the park. She has a packet of hot dogs with her - because she //knows// the cat-man-thing had liked those, but she's also brought some steaks from a local supermarket. I mean - that's proably healthier, yeah? And sure - they're a cheaper cut, she's on a budget. But meat's meat. ... isn't it? "Like - //this// tall," she gestures to indicate a height taller than herself, "and with fur, and ears, and everything and couldn't talk at all, I don't think, at least he didn't talk to me - but he seemed nice, once you fed him, it's just a worry someone's going to see him and freak out and call animal control or the cops or something, and who knows what happens then, or what if he gets so hungry he's desperate to like... go after the hot dog cart or something?" She's talking a mile a minute as she walks - the same Jedi Academy backpack on her back, only now it's meat-scented, as she approaches a fairly well wooded section of one of the paths.
    "Alderic? Alderic, you still here? I brought a friend! And hot dogs! You like hot dogs!"
    What if he's no longer there? What if something happened to him? She's almost jittery with excitement and anxiety. "Alderic? It's me, Madison!"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey had met her at the park edge. When you don't have buildings, there are trees. And trees have a bunch of branches.
So, Spider-Man is walking next to Madison as they stroll through the park. He gets a few odd looks, but not many - most are wondering if there's a villain in the park, but he is sure someone is wondering if it's cosplay. The girl with the Jedi Academy backpack might lend credence to that.

He brought his OWN lunch - three chili dogs from Big Jake's chili dog stand on the way here, in the small plastic box with the homemade heating element to keep the food hot.

Alderic has posed:
    There really was no telling whether Alderic was still there or not. Maybe he had moved on. Maybe he was off terrorizing a hot dog vendor! For a few minutes, anything seemed likely, as Madison called out for the cougar-man in the park, not knowing if he would reply.
    Finally, there's a rustling in the branches above them! A large weight shifts in the branches, and a tan-furred figure moves among the leaves. A moment later, Alderic drops down in front of them, landing with a firm thump on his hands and feet. It wasn't an ungraceful landing, he's just heavy! "Rrowwr!" Alderic vocalizes excitement at seeing Madison again - or maybe it's the promise of meat? Regardless, he's quickly bounding over to Madison, probably bowling her over with affectionate head-rubbings against her!
    After he so enthusiastically greets Madison, the cat-man turns his attention to the spider-man. He leans towards him while staying out of arm's reach - a precaution. Of course, the scent of chili dogs has got his curiosity piqued!

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Hey Alder- whoa!" Madison gives a startled squeak, then a laugh as she's bowled over. "Easy! Hey, easy!" It takes her a moment to get the cat-man off of her so she can get to her feet - something she only manages when she concentrates her attention on trying to increase her strength.
    No, not trying. Do or do not. There is no try.
    Once she's back on her feet, she brushes herself off and remarks, "Alderic - this is my friend Spider-man I told you about. I promise, he's super nice and helpful. Right Spidey?" she asks - beaming at the man as she swings her backpack around to unzip it, and start unloading the food she brought.

Peter Parker has posed:
Well, arm's-reach is a lot longer with web-shooters, but he's seen enough feral cats in Queens to be wary of them and how to approach them.

And, of course, none of them were the size of a mountain lion.
But, when in doubt, go for absurd.
"Uhm...what she said, Alderic. Gotta maintain the whole 'Friendly Neighborhood' part of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Uhm...nicetameetcha."

Alderic has posed:
    Despite his size, he's pretty easy for Madison to push off. He doesn't fight her, but he does nuzzle on her a few times before he relents. When he's introduced to Spider-Man, Alderic responds to the greeting with a vocal "Rrraow!" It's a little loud, and might draw attention, but he's not exactly in full view of the public here either. It might be why he chose this spot to hide out, after all.
    Arm's reach is certainly subjective, but Alderic doesn't know anything about Spider-Man, or the web-slinging skills he possesses! Instead he just seems curious but cautious, like most people would be meeting a stranger. Of course, he's distracted from all that as soon as Madison starts unloading food! Though he only needs to eat every couple of days, rather than several times throughout, it's still been a few days since his last meal and he's hungry! This is pretty evident in the way he immediately helps himself to whatever Madison first pulls out of the bag, be it hot dog or steak!

Madison Evans has posed:
    The steaks come out first - in plastic wrapped, styrafoam containers from the supermarket. Blazoned with stickers that say 'daily deal!' The hot dogs are after that. Cold, unfortunately. But look - buying 10 hot dogs from a vendor had been pretty pricy. Madison unloads her bounty while explaining to Spider-man, "I mean - I think you can see why I was concerned. He's nice, and he seems intelligent - at least, he seems to understand English. But it's hard to know how much, on account of him being unable to talk and all - and it just doesn't seem like a good idea to leave him here. I was wondering if maybe there was a way to move him to King's Landing or something? I mean - if you want to go, Alderic. But I think it'd be a good idea."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey blinked at what Madison was saying, then looked back at Alderic. His built-in camera took a picture of the collar. He didn't recognize the designation format - he'd seen a few items for KordCo and OsCorp, but this didn't match those.

"...Okay. If he can comprehend English, we can see if his visual comprehension extends to pictures and surroundings, as well. There is a place in the office area that could be converted into a space for him...I'm certainly not using it."

He stepped forward. "Alderic? Can you understand what I'm saying? Nod twice for yes." If the answer was no, it would be evident...

Alderic has posed:
    Alderic is already tearing into the packaging of one of the steaks before Madison manages to get the rest of the items out of her backpack. He could smell the meat in there, and he was gnawing on the plastic to get it the meat out of it. He settles down in front of them to gnaw at the chunk of beef, chewing pieces off of it with the side of his maw.
    When Spidey wants his attention, though, Alderic lifts his head with a curious trill. He looks up at the red-and-blue clad man, head tilted a little and eyes wide and curious. The question is immediately answered with two nods, before he goes right back to devouring the steak. It's gone in a matter of seconds, and he's left licking at the empty packaging before moving on to the next one!

Madison Evans has posed:
    "See?" Madison answers. "He's smart. It's just hard to tell, exactly, //how// smart, you know?" She watches the cat man eating with fascination. She still doesn't understand where such a being could come from, or how he could get to Central Park - but he was here and they obviously had to do //something// about it.
    "But he gets scared, I think. Right, Alderic?" She smiles at him, then turns her attention to Spider-man as she clarifies, "He didn't much seem to lke it when I met him, and said we should probably move him somewhere else - but maybe I just didn't explain it right."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nodded to Madison. "Well, we'll see how his comprehension levels are."

He looked back to Alderic. "Okay..Alderic, there's a place where you can stay, where no one will bother you. You can stay there, sleep there. Would you like that?"

Alderic has posed:
    Alderic nods to Madison. "Rrowr!" He bumps his head against her with another friendly nuzzle, before he starts sniffing around the package of hot dogs. He's just starting to pull at the plastic with his teeth, holding it down with one hand, when Spider-Man asks him about going somewhere else. He lifts his head again, tilted with a curious expression on his feline face. "Rrow?" It's almost like a question, in the way the inflection rises at the end. It might be he understands that much of the language, at least, even if he can't form the words himself.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "It'd be a lot safer than living here, Alderic," Madison offers, as she rubs at his head with one hand. "There'd be blankets - a bed. A refrigerator to keep food in. A bathroom. Maybe we could figure out a way with like... a computer or something that you could talk to us." They have ways for people with language problems to communicate with others - right?
    "It's just I really worry that something really bad could happen if you stay here..."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey blinked. "HEY, now..."

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a tablet, one of those relatively-cheap units with a diagonal crack in the screen. He also takes out a rectangular flat piece of plastic, then pushes a switch on it.
In the next moment, the second object is revealed to be a wireless Bluetooth keyboard.
"Let's test this." He opens up a typical word-processing app on the tablet, then places the keyboard in front of Alderic. "Let's see what you can do. I'd like you to type the word 'park.'"

He wasn't sure if this would work or not, but his comprehension worked. But does he have command of the language?

Alderic has posed:
    Alderic rumbles warmly at the pat on the head, a deep and rich purring coming from the feline man's chest. His attention is back on the hot dogs while Spider-Man is setting up a keyboard for him, and he manages to get one of them out of the packaging. It, too, is gone in a second.
    When Spider-Man asks him to type something, Alderic looks up at him with a quizzical "Rrrowl?" He doesn't seem to know what to do - or at the very least, doesn't understand the concept of typing. Or possibly spelling. He may not even be able to read!

Madison Evans has posed:
    "...where would he have gone to school, exactly?" Madison asks Spider-man in bemusement as she watches him pull out the keyboard. She'd just assumed that Alderic is illiterate - it seemed the most logical conclusion. "I mean, maybe we can teach him to read, and to write eventually, but..." Looking to Alderic she clarifies, "Since it seems like you can't speak in English, like we do, Spidey was hoping you could write it."
    Looking to Spider-man she clarifies, "I was thinking we could find one of those programs with pictures that you can tap on to try to convey meaning. Like they do with autistic kids, and monkeys, and such."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man hmms. "...okay. Comprehension of English, but not two-way communication. That's okay. I've met a few human/animal hybrids in the recent past, but most of them could speaka da lingo. Okay. Let's try pictures." He pulls up a gallery app on the tablet. "Okay. Alderic...the Safe Place is called King's Landing Scrap Yard." He holds up the tablet for Alderic to see, a large-scale photo of the front of the property. "It is about 6 miles...in THAT direction," he continues, pointing off to the south-east.

Alderic has posed:
    Alderic is curious to say the least, and he looks closely at the picture. He tries to sniff at it, too, but since the internet doesn't convey smells very well, he doesn't get anything from it. "Rrow?" He looks up at Spider-Man again, then over to Madison, and then back to Spider-Man. Then, over his shoulder, in the direction Spidey is pointing. He nods his head in understanding, though. "Rrowr!" Alderic isn't in a rush to get there just yet, though. There's still hot dogs left in that package, and he's determined to get them into his belly!

Madison Evans has posed:
    "You've met a few?" Madison asks in surprise. "I've only met the one. I'd offer to take him home but my mom would //freak,// you know?" Likely, Peter can relate to that sort of statement entirely.
    "If we can get him there - I can help with paying for his food, I suppose. I mean, my allowance isn't all that big but- we can't just let him go //hungry.// And it's not like he can go hunting for his own food around here..."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey nods. "I might want to get a couple of DNA samples, though. If nothing else, to see if Alderic needs any dietary needs we need to supplement." He looks back to Alderic. "I have some old Army blankets I can contribute, and I know the air circulation in there is good...but...yeah. We are going to need to find a way for him to be able to communicate better..."

Alderic has posed:
    Alderic, while Spidey and Madison talk about his situation, is busy tearing into the package of hot dogs. The whole thing is gone in less than a minute - he doesn't seem particularly picky about whether or not they're warm. They're meat, and meat is food, and food goes in his belly. The way he tears into the package makes it pretty evident that he still has his claws, too. Big, sharp hooks that easily tear at the plastic packaging and probably would do just as much damage to the meat inside. Once he's finished the hot dogs, he finds the other steak, and starts tearing at the packaging for that, too!

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I agree," Madison answers - with the closest approximation to solemnity the girl has shown yet. "I mean, I was trying to research it. And the best idea I found was that there was this monkey - a bonobo named Kanzi - who talked using a symbol board. She pulls up her phone, accessing the image and showing it to Peter. It has lots of 'useful' words - at least useful when communicating with a monkey. There's a lot of different symbols with food words under them (carrot, banana, hamburger, peanut), and other symbols with the names of places the monkey might want to go to, with just a few verbs like go, bite, play, and look. And there's symbols for different people.
    "I mean, it would take a while to teach him different symbols, and to even figure out what words really are useful, I guess... but... Unless you have a better idea?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey looks at Alderic, but it is almost clinical and serious.
"We can start with the langugage barrier. He understands English, so we have to figure out how he can speak back to us. His vocal chords might not be capable of speech...BUT we could try other methods. One would be American Sign Language, if he could be taught to use it. I do have a plugin that can visually translate ASL in the Spider-Comm aug-reality."

He glanced around, then added, "...but MAYBE we should test how much he comprehends. You head to King's Landing, see if he joins you there. I'll websling on ahead, ready a space for him to rest. We can probably talk more openly there..."

Alderic has posed:
    Alderic, of course, doesn't know what most of the things are that they're talking about. He's only got so much of a grasp on the language, after all, and has little to zero grasp on culture-specific things. He does seem to be enjoying the steak, though, as he finishes off that second one rather quickly. Then he nuzzles up against Madison again, purring warmly the whole while. He seems really grateful for the meal, at least!

Madison Evans has posed:
    "How would he follow me?" Madison asks uncertainly, before looking towards Alderic, rubbing and scratching at his fur as he leans into her. "If I walk... maybe he can follow my scent?" But 6 miles - and through the city? That's going to take her //hours// - and how would he follow her safely? He'd have to wait until night, yeah?
    "Alderic - if I walk to King's Landing, can you follow my smell?"