Upon walking into the shop and blatantly trying to disregard whatever the cat was doing, I flicked a switch to turn on the dimmest lights possible. I don't know whether it was the crackling of dust and bugs in the light bulbs, or the way the electricity often made my hair stand on end, but I much preferred a dim, darker atmosphere. Candle light was far preferable to the bright, fluorescent lights that were often installed in establishments that were unavoidable. Office buildings, shops, apartments... When I could help it, the lights were properly tampered with and frequently out of order. Consequentially, there were repairs and maintenance workers often in our office building. For the Shop's owner, though... He'd learned to avoid maintenance on any light fixtures in our shop after a handful of tries. You would think he would have learned after I had broken the fixtures several times, but hey... It isn't his fault he's old, losing memory, et cetera.

It was almost like the metal of the goods that had arrived were singing to me as I passed them in order to rig up something that might hold the leopard's attention. The markets that had housed them were far more prominent than this shop... But this shop housed me, and the weapons, artifacts, and whatever else I had picked held my attention in a way nothing else ever did. Some were absolutely ancient, and I don't know how simple shop keepers in rural bazaar's had gotten their hands on them. Knives were cursed by ancient tribal Chiefs, or hexed by angry Shamans. I had loved hearing the detailed stories every vendor tried to weave for me, drinking in their tales like they might even have a speckle of truth in them. Honestly? I had known about each one before I'd procured them. They didn't have a sentimental value or anything, but they had power that could be harnessed in a way that sitting on a wooden bench in a mud-slabbed shanty town outside of Monvrovia could not acknowledge. There was nothing I loved more than seeing what I could do to some artifacts. Chiseling away their earthly glamour and refining them into displays of marvelous pieces of art... There was poetry to it that no words described accurately. I guess they ddin't have to, the artistry spoke for itself whenever someone walked out of the shop with something I had either found, made, or worked on.

The rig of a steel ball and the chain tossed over a rafter seemed like a simple and dangerous toy, but the way the leopard turned his gaze to it when I was finished stringing it up was worth it. If he got hurt, he'd shift and fix it or whatever it was weres did. The steel of the front door was enough to prove to me he handled whatever it was he didn't like, or was in his way. If he wanted to play with the steel, spiked ball, he surely would. And as clear as day, the way his tail flicked was a sure-fire tell that he was about to pounce. Pounce he did. When he launched towards the hanging ball, claws outstretched to clench into their intended destination, I snorted in laughter, half heartedly watching the display from unloading the boxes onto a counter opposite his arena of activity. Once he has his claws sunken into it, I paused my work to lean against the counter and follow the chain with my eyes, therein moving it wherever I wanted. At first, I swung it some so he would understand we were still playing. But then? It was easy to do this, as the metal was fairly pure so it didn't' take a whole lot of attention or effort to make it jerk and swing, alerting the leopard he hadn't killed it just yet.

When the leopard dropped his prey and receeded into the shadows quick enough that I became curious, the sound of a young witch's voice greeted me before I even needed to look. She came in with a flurry that would disturb any animal, and it made me grit my teeth in that I had been extremely content amusing a giant cat-man with a spiked mace in the middle of a weapons and artifact shop. She looked unphased by the leopard's distaste, believing it to be simple, antisocial cat behavior. I almost felt indignant for him, but instead I sighed and straightened, drumming my fingers on the countertop while she cooed at him.

"He is probably offended that you called him an it, and may not surface until persuaded with praise or some form of a gift," I suggested, finding it hard to keep a straight face. She might misinterpret that as good humor, but I felt the leopard coming closer to me, and brushing against my legs as if he were showing the witch that he could indeed be bribed by compliments. Somehow, she peeled her eyes from him and began explaining why she had come into the shop in the first place. A bloodstone? Of course, they existed. And of course, they existed in the building, but the way the leopard resurfaced suddenly, and exhibiting almost friendly behavior, suggested to me that perhaps he had something in mind. I leaned back against the counter, almost like I might look for one for her.

Before I could even reply that we surely had the stones, save they were more expensive than she might have thought, the witch's attention went straight back to the leopard. Could she touch him? Here I was, assuming most creatures let you know if they had a wish to be touched or not. Cats, dogs, men, whatever. They rolled on their backs and belly-up spoke a hundred words. The leopard looked complaicent, willingly showing some form of feline affection to elicit another squeal before he made his way towards the witch.

"Yeah, he did a pretty good job existing and growing his coat and what-not." I'm pretty sure every cat would appreciate hearing they did a fine job growing their coats, looking as perfect, or whatever they thought they did. " Oh, you know how it is with cats," I said, finding a smile tugging my lips as I shrugged off her surprise, " They just choose you and there is nothing you can do about it. I got lucky."

When her attention had been on me, the leopard politely went out of her reach, but not before his jaws clamped something I couldn't quite see. At first, I thought maybe he took her shoe or something... But she stood up with surprise, wondering where her money went. Oh that? Yeah, that's no surprise. A giant man-cat just stole your probably expensive purse, lady. Feigning concern, my eyebrows knit together and I shook my head.

"Of course I can hold the stone for you," I said, unable to hide my amusement as I saw the tip of his tail surrendering into the darkness. " I can make an exception for you," I mused, relating to her coffee break suggestion. How could I, though? Suddenly, there was a giant furry man-cat that was far more deserving of my attention than this witch. I smiled, wrote her name down on a small slip of paper and slid it into my back pocket, before following her to the door to see her out politely and locking it, regardless of the fact that there was a giant cat-shaped hole in the front before pulling the blind down, clearly amused.

I turned around to find coins, hair ties, perfume, lipstick, and whatever else a woman keeps in her purse lying at my feet beside a thick wallet. The grin that had been arranged for the woman's delight changed into a Cheshire grin to prove to the leopard I was, indeed, pleased.

"I have some work to get done, but it can wait. You, sir, are in need of reward. My guess is you don't do sushi, but what do you think about robbing a meat market?" I looked to the ball and chain, far more intrigued with playing with my newfound leopard-man than the prized artifacts I had been so excited about.