As a creature who saw city life as nothing but being underfoot of others (Well, the feet were quite diverse, but they could only hold so much appeal), a certain orange cat was quite content to lazily watch the city go to sleep from the little rooftop she was currently occupying. Now, dusk was certainly no time for a little cat to be waking, conventionally, but Hattie's sleeping patterns seemed to be growing more and more erratic these days; defying the laws of both diurnal and nocturnal beings, she'd elected to stubbornly defy sleep as much as she could. Yes, she'd never been one to loaf about since always, but then the nightmares had come and everything had changed.

Hattie's only prior experience with dreams had been nothing but flowers and happiness, so the first venture into the depths of hell - ironically whilst the physical Hattie were at the coldest place in Arda - had come as quite a shock. And since then, slumber had been no more a pleasure than that time Hattie had fallen into the ocean. And this was why she'd been sleeping in the city anyways, despite her usual resting spot of the peaceful grasslands; her convoluted reasoning had been that the noise would wake her up if she started to have a nightmare. It hadn't worked in the end - she'd slept through it all - but in the end, no demons plagued her, so she really couldn't complain. But as if her subconscious had been sapped of all its strength in its forgotten battle against the dark spirits, the druid cat hardly felt rested at all. In fact, she really felt quite lethargic, hence her watching the creatures of Arda below her, instead of frolicking through a meadow as she usually would.

Needless to say, a vantage point above those who would have towered over her was a much more interesting place to be – watching the crowds break apart as people went their separate ways was much, much better than just looking at feet. Stifling a yawn, the feline finally forced herself to get up, magically stabilizing her black mage’s hat as she rose. And, with a large intake of both air and magic, Hattie bounded down first onto a lower ledge, and then onto the ground. And already did her thoughts begin to wander.

Well, Hattie reasoned, she’d missed out on most of the delights that daylight had offered, having slept through most of it – not that Hattie would complain. The luxurious warmth the sun had cast upon her sleeping fur had been immensely pleasurable – but she was determined to squeeze the last drops of adventure from the day before it ended. It was way to late to leave Lómëdor, she decided, though she did play with the fleeting idea of playing super ninja cat again. Ah, it was these lonely, boring times (seconds) that made Hattie miss Superduckie, who was no doubt off on some superhero mission at the time.

How dare he not tell me! No superheroes ever go anywhere without their sidekicks! I even gave him his superhero name, and he never shows any gratitude!...Except he had given her those yummy yummy chocolates that had been super tasty. Mmm…Yes! The playful little cat decided at that moment that she was in the mood for some chocolate. Do you know the muffin man? Hattie certainly knew the muffin man; he always pretended to be bossy and mean, but Hattie knew that he was really such a pushover, ‘specially when she gave him her cutest kitty face. Anyhoo, it was quite easily to wrangle a treat or two or three from him, and that was exactly what the mage cat was intent on doing right then.

Mmm…Muffins.

Riya's hands balled into fists, face contorting into her best glare. "Wha' do you think I am, some little errand-boy for ya?!" she snapped, leaning forward into the face of her employer. The man, a muscular lupine, was obviously not amused.
"I have no room for whiners. You go clean up the tunnels, or you leave," he rumbled, his own calm demeanor appearing to diffuse the sheer fire he faced. "I gave you a way to get some money, so I should hear nothing but gratitude from you."

She regretted returning to Lomedor, but word had reached her that the jobs available in the massive city paid well. This was not what she had in mind. What kind of job was that, anyway? Playing maid for a sewer seemed incredibly counter-intuitive. But Esdras had the money, and that was all the urban druid wanted. There was also the problem of her family. They were probably still looking for her even after her five-year absence, but Riya chose not to worry about it; she looked much different from her past girlish self, instead outfitted in somewhat loose men's clothing, her worn but prized hat with its characteristic hawk feather remaining on her head after at least a year or two.

Trying her best not to let the defeat shatter her pride, Riya pulled back carrying a mere scowl of defiance. "Yeah, I'll do it." Looking optimistically, at least sewer tunnel-cleaning was significantly less painful than her waitressing job at the Sanctuary of Angels. Waitressing wasn't necessarily painful in and of itself, but the girl quickly found out the hard way that angels really, really don't like unholy creatures. They also know what said unholy creatures are especially weak to. While she got the job, she was forced to keep a silver fork tied to her torso under her clothes during the hours of the day she was inside the restaurant. The burns were still there.

"You have until tomorrow morning to get it done." It was dusk. Excellent! She would be working all night in the literal bowels of Lomedor! Just because Riya was supposedly a "creature of the night" didn't mean she was nocturnal. The vagabond opened her mouth to protest, but quickly decided against it. A little money from an unappealing job was better than no money and no job. The brown and white lupine sifted through his belt of various-sized pockets to pull out a folded parchment map, soon placing it in Riya's thick leather-gloved hands.

Esdras gave his worker a curt nod before turning to walk away, Riya doing the same after sharply whistling into the slowly-dissipating crowds. Near-instantly the large dog sniffing about the cobblestones nearby perked up its ears, staring up expectantly at the woman. "Gotta clean up some sewer passageways, Eleri. C'mon." Riya honestly doubted her dog understood most of what she said, but it still padded over to its owner, bushy tail wagging and the side of its tongue lightly drooping over its teeth.

She knew little about the sewers and other subterranean areas beyond where the entrance was, but the map provided would be somewhat useful in directing her to the area she needed to go. As she walked through the near-empty streets of Lomedor, the urban druid unfolded it in and attempt to overview the details of her job. The writing on it still managed to fly over the illiterate Riya's head, but hopefully its illustrations were accurate enough to suffice. Too bad she didn't even know if she was holding it with the right side up.

The abrupt bark of Eleri made Riya jump, moments before her booted foot would have crashed into an unseen obstacle. After taking her eyes off the map, it was apparent that an unfortunate cat would have been the victim of a powerful kick in the ribs had she gone a single inch further. "Wha' the 'ell?!" she blurted out, lowering the piece of parchment at the peculiar sight. It wasn't the fact that a cat had crossed her path that was unusual (the felines were a common sight in populated areas), but the odd piece of clothing this particular one wore.

A hat, its tip formed into a distinct point like that of a wizard. She blinked twice in the sheer absurdity of the situation. It completely baffled Riya that an animal would have the tolerance of such an intruding object to actually wear it for more than a few moments. Eleri rounded her owner to approach the cat, sniffing it in curiosity.

What an interesting world the urban druid lived in.

Was it this street? Nope. This one? Nope. As Hattie patiently strolled up and down the main avenue, searching amidst the emptying streets for the correct sidestreet that would take her to Mulsberry Lane. Though the little cat was far from illiterate, she had long since decided not to bother with the signs, choosing instead to scan the sidestreets for familiar landmarks.

"Nope...Nope..." she murmured absently to herself as she crane dher neck sideways, pink nose sniffing for the sweet scent of chocolate. Unfortunately, despite Hattie's awesome awesomeness, however, she was thus unable to see in front of her, and abruptly bounced backwards when she'd lumbered right into something. Whipping her head back, the first thing she saw - her nose agreed immediately - was a dog, right in her face.

Now, an intrepid druid that feared neither pirates nor dragons certainly wasn't going to be phased by a dog (as long as it didn't take a fancy to catloaf or anything like that) normally, but suprise caught her off guard, and Hattie found herself instinctively retreating, eyes locked on the dog. She'd blinked as the smelly canine came closer, but relaxed when it was apparent that he in fact, was not in the mood for catloaf! In fact, Hattie realized that snuffling dog nose was kinda tickly. Heehee...She liked the smelly canine!

"Heehee...Stop it!" she giggled. "Hey - are you hungry? Do you know the muffin man? He gives lots and lots of candy to cats! Maybe he likes dogs too! You wanna come with me?"

At that moment, Hattie realized she was staring at not only a dog, but also the booted foot of someone else. tartled, the cat took a half-step back, bringing her black eyes up to see the young woman before her. Hattie hadn't known she'd been there!...Well, this pretty much ruined any chance of playing the"I don't know how to talk" game, seeing as she'd already been engaged in (a one-sided) conversation with the dog. Hattie decided to ask the one thing on her mind, as a way of breaking the ice.

"Do you know the muffin man?" she asked hopefully. But of course, Hattie felt her tongue slipping immediately; she just couldn't help talking! "I need to know where is shop is. 'Cause he gives really really yummy big muffins to me. Do you want one? He might give you one too. He's really really nice."