[ without a word and without hurrying, the cat walks off back down the hallway. Upon reaching the corner, he rounds it and disappears from sight.
Around a quarter of an hour later, a faint meow drifts through the air, followed by the brisk footsteps of three people and their raised voices. Two men, one woman: annoyed, angry, complaining about the unreliability of the lights in this area of the aquarium and the recent blackouts that forced them to pause their work. With how important their research is and the dangerous specimens involved, isn't it past time they moved to a more secure location that didn't have these issues? Now there's strays running around knocking over samples—honestly, what a pain, trying to catch a black cat when it's so dark, they wouldn't be able to see their hands in front of their faces without these flashlights?
The cat trots back around the corner. The beams of those flashlights follow him, shining through the hallway that's nowhere near as pitch-black as the scientists seem to think it is. He meows again. The sound, pure and innocent, sounds farther away, originating not from where he is but from where he last saw the creature lurking about.
He doesn't go all the way there. Instead, in one graceful motion, he leaps onto some machinery tucked away in an alcove. The scientists go right past him with flashlights extended, fully unaware of what lies ahead. ]
no subject
Around a quarter of an hour later, a faint meow drifts through the air, followed by the brisk footsteps of three people and their raised voices. Two men, one woman: annoyed, angry, complaining about the unreliability of the lights in this area of the aquarium and the recent blackouts that forced them to pause their work. With how important their research is and the dangerous specimens involved, isn't it past time they moved to a more secure location that didn't have these issues? Now there's strays running around knocking over samples—honestly, what a pain, trying to catch a black cat when it's so dark, they wouldn't be able to see their hands in front of their faces without these flashlights?
The cat trots back around the corner. The beams of those flashlights follow him, shining through the hallway that's nowhere near as pitch-black as the scientists seem to think it is. He meows again. The sound, pure and innocent, sounds farther away, originating not from where he is but from where he last saw the creature lurking about.
He doesn't go all the way there. Instead, in one graceful motion, he leaps onto some machinery tucked away in an alcove. The scientists go right past him with flashlights extended, fully unaware of what lies ahead. ]