This, Adam was starting to realize, had been a mistake. He hadn't planned to adopt one of the kittens before he'd come by tonight, but the boxes of mewling black fur balls had caught his eye as he walked by, and he'd thought perhaps it would be a nice gift for his family. It would give his sister something to have responsibility for, which would be good for her, and could keep his mother company when she was alone in the house all day with her laundry. There had been a few boxes with five or six kittens playing together, and one where every cat had already been chosen except one, who looked terrified. Of course he'd chosen the one lonely kitten — but now he was starting to think there was a reason it had been overlooked.

"Don't you — agh," he said as the kitten wriggled out of his hands, leaving him with a nasty scratch and fleeing towards the door. It may have been small, but it was fast, and Adam had to depart the group he'd been conversing with at a near sprint in order to reach the door around the same time. The kitten slipped out into the street, snaking through the feet of someone entering the bar. Adam dodged left to get around the other person — but immediately ran into someone else in the street beyond.

"Ah — apologies," he said, righting himself quickly and casting an eye around to see if he could find the kitten. "Sorry, did you see a cat?" he asked, before spotting a streak of a black shadow heading beneath the table skirt of a vendor selling caramel apples. "Ah!" he declared, heading after it.