Fate

Chapter Five

Hope was carrying a new friend, who was currently in a small basket she was carrying that she bought from a nearby vendor. Luckily the kitten didn't seem to be loud, and she was able to convince the shopkeeper not to throw the cat into the pound. Hope knew this was probably a bad idea to keep a pet, especially since it would be hard to feed it since they were actively searching for her mom, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that would need it.

"I'll name you Scrap." Hope said, petting the kitten, all it did was wearily stare up at her as though annoyed.

Hope met up with her friends, who were already near the entrance

"Who's going to go in with Duncan? We can only take one of us with." Sirius said, "Any more, and it could make us look suspicious."

"I'll go in." Hope said

"Alright, hey is that a new basket? It looks really nice!" Lyra exclaimed

"Yeah, can you hold it for me? It has something very breakable in it, so don't shake it, or anything, K?"

"Yeah, no problem- Oof. It's kinda heavy." Lyra said, taking the basket from her. Hope hoped she wouldn't see the kitten and throw it out, although she was more worried Lyra would get excited and accidentally hug the kitten too hard.

"Uhm. Don't open the basket. It's a... Umm... Surprise!" Hope exclaimed

"Oh, alright." Lyra said, looking quite surprised 

Hope wished she was a good liar, but she'd have to trust that Lyra wouldn't open the basket.

—-

Duncan went into the bar, Hope looking nervous, but they manage to get past the door after a small glance.

"I don't even think we even needed a disguise." Duncan said, scowling 

"Woops." Hope said, with a slight smile, at least there was the precaution anyways.

A man was scrubbing the plates, barely glancing at them as they sat on the stools

"Hey. What can I get for you." The bartender said, he looked tired and annoyed

"Can we get some information about... A man named Luigi?"

"Uhm. Okay. He wears green and hunts ghosts?"

"Not what I meant... I meant where do we find him?"

"Easy. I'll write the address down for you. What are you going to order?" The man said, scrawling down barely legible handwriting on a scrap of newspaper

"Uhm." Duncan and Hope exchanged glances, they didn't want to be impolite by not ordering a drink, but they didn't come here for that. Plus Hope was secretly wishing to have some sort of gun fight, like in the western movies, but everyone around her seemed not very interested in one. And nobody had guns.

"I think I'll have a... Water?" Duncan said, the bartender looked up with an unimpressed expression before grabbing a small glass for him.

"Alright. Here you go anything else?"

"Not... Really?" Hope squeaked as Duncan grabbed the cup

"Alright."

The air felt awkward, and every minute became even more awkward as Hope waited for Duncan to drink his water.

"Yeah. Done. Thanks." Duncan said, putting down the drink, Hope quickly tipped the bartender and pulled him along.

"Why do you take so long to drink a simple glass of water?!" Hope whispered furiously

"What? I was thirsty." Duncan whispered back

—-

They arrived back in the alley, and Hope felt Lyra, Sirius and Audrey look at her with questioning gazes, Scrap was poking their head out of the basket, meowing loudly.

"Why'd you get a cat?" Sirius exclaimed, gesturing to Scrap as it began to meow loudly, staring at him.

"What?! You bought the cat?" Duncan exclaimed, looking excited as he ran over to the kitten, gently grabbing it and holding it close, it started struggling as though trying to get away. He began sneezing, already starting to look sick.

"Uhm. Sorry, it looked so sad! I couldn't just leave it there." Hope blurted

"Well, we can't keep an cat if we are going in the depths of the Underwhere!" Sirius exclaimed 

"We could let Luigi keep it while we go, and then return for it?" Lyra suggested, petting the kitten

"Alright, whatever. Let's just go, did you find out where Luigi is?"

"Yeah." Duncan pulled out the newspaper scrap triumphantly

"Let's go. We can bring it along." Lyra said, petting the cat as it flinched away from her