Catalena Prompts- Orontes

Hama purred as he licked the juices of the cooked chicken Antioch cooked for him off his paws. The market was bustling around him, like it always seemed to be, and his dark eyes carefully tracked those that passed by. Cats of all different colors, shapes, and sizes, as well as anything they carried with them, passed in a cacophony of sounds. 

"Hama! Please stop wandering around. I don't want to have to find you when it comes time to leave."

"Wait, wait, wait. Look at that guy." Without turning his head towards his new guardian, Hama motioned Antioch over to sit beside him on the bench. As discreetly as he could, he tilted his nose to one of the cats in the crowd.

"The one in the blue cloak?" "No, no. The guy in the yellow patterned robe." Hama grinned as he took in the poor sap's figure. Distractedly, he rifled through the bag of stuff Antioch put down on the bench as he spoke. "I stole the guy's wallet out of his satchel a few weeks ago to get some bits to buy a sandwich. I mean, I did give it back, but it made him super paranoid. If you look closely enough you can see how he's still clutching it like an old lady, trying to make sure no one can get into it," Hama snickered. 

"Hama." Antioch frowned in an attempt to chastise the young kitten, but the quirk of his lips gave him away. 

"Told you from the get-go I'm a pickpocket." Hama grinned, but cleverly switched his expression into a pout as he turned wide, dark eyes onto Antioch. "You wouldn't rat on a kitten, would you?"

Antioch merely snorted, but idly looked out into the crowd as the two sat together. He hummed, short and low, in surprise. The cat really was clutching his bag like an old lady. 

Hama continued as he pulled away from Antioch's bag. Just cooking ingredients, bleh. "You'd be surprised what you can figure out from these cats just by looking at them. The guy in the yellow robe, for instance, is definitely part of a larger guild. The wallet I stole was pure caiyman leather, and you can't come by that stuff cheap. My guess is the Brigrade guild, they're sorta known for taking down alligators. Definitely a mage, too. Career mage, not a combat one; he's not wearing a speck of armor on him. And no matter how well he's dressed, no merchant would be dumb enough to be stolen from."

Antioch turned an impressed eye onto the younger cat. "You got all that from just a few glances, huh?"

Smug from the praise, Hama crossed his arms and smiled. "Only the best thieves don't get caught. And if you do your research, you definitely don't get caught." Hama, innocently sweet, then reached between the bags of food and held up Antioch's unsheathed obsidian knife in both paws. "Exhibit A."

Antioch's eyes widened as his paw immediately snapped to his, now empty, holster. With a deadpan look, he held out his paw, and Hama carefully handed the older tom his knife, hilt first. 

"You're real smart, aren't you?"