Syra walked alongside Naomi on the corridor and good thing that the other party was quite talkative so there has been no awkward air between the two of them.
Naomi the tomcat may be too straightforward once he talked but he was actually easy to get along with. Maybe it was because of the absence of pretense that could usually be found with humans.
The place was actually huge compared to what Syra initially expected. From the outside, no one would probably have the faintest idea that a dilapidated house was actually hiding a grander interior inside.
Likewise, the two chatted along the way as they walked and the tomcat even gave Syra a few reminders.
"Just a tip, little girl, Master Clyde hates tardiness. So as much as possible, see to it that you are never late in any of your assignments."
Naomi pointed out to which Syra nodded her head in response. Knowing that the key to having a good interaction with Clyde was to get under his good graces, Syra listened attentively to the things that Naomi was telling her.
"Master was quite generous especially once he was in a good mood. He might even grant you a wish if you were able to satisfy him or exceed his expectation. But don't ever dream about incurring his ire. He was not something you would ever wish to meet whenever he was displeased over something."
Naomi warned. Syra wanted to ask a few more questions but she no longer had an opportunity to do so because they already arrived at her supposed room.
They halted their steps in front of an old Victorian door and Naomi gestured for her to open the door.
"This room would be yours from now on. Other than our old furniture, this room of yours had never been occupied before so manage your expectation.
"Alright, thanks for helping me out. Good night and see you tomorrow."
The cat must be tired already so Syra no longer imposed at the other party and she bid her goodnight. The two finally parted ways and went on to each of their own. One headed back from the corridor where they previously had gone through while the other opened the door to her new room.
The room must be probably abandoned and unopened for a very long time already because it got stuck in a thick layer of dust. To the point that it took Syra several pushes here and a few heaves there before she was able to open a small fraction of the door, enough for her to pass through.
"Cough... cough!"
A thick cloud of dust greeted Syra as soon as she got inside the room and she used her right hand to fan it away from her while using her other hand to cover both of her mouth and nose.
It took Syra a few more minutes before her eyes finally got used to the darkness.
"I wonder if this room comes with a lighting system? A lamp or a bulb perhaps? Anything to ward away the darkness."
Since she was already advised beforehand that the room had been abandoned for a considerable length of time, Syra no longer expected the room to be tidy.
In fact, she was no longer surprised to see the room covered with a cloak of dust and spider webs, But she at least hoped against the odds that the room had some source of light.
Syra felt tired and exhausted, she wanted to rest. But as much as she wanted to do so, she also knew well enough that she won't fall asleep right away knowing that the place was unclean. So she rummaged through the drawers to check if there was anything that she could use.
She found candles, lots of them. But she found no match sticks nor anything that she could use to light it up so it was no use for her.
"Oh come on, even a flashlight will do"
She thought out loud as she desperately looked through the drawers for anything she could use.
'Knock! Knock!'
Out of blue, Syra heard someone knocking on her door. The sound was followed by Naomi's voice.
"Let me in, hooman."
"Of course, there was no way his little paws would be able to turn the knob even if he stood in his hind legs."
Syra smiled upon that thought as she imagined how cute it may be. She headed back to the door and opened it to let the cat come inside.
"I knew it, you are still awake. You must be starving. Here, have this. I reheated food just for you. Consider this as my gesture of camaraderie since we will be working together from this day forth"
Naomi said as soon as the door opened. Then she offered Syra the tray of food that he was holding in his hand. Seeing this, Syra could not help but tear up.
It was the first time Syra felt being taken care of ever since her parents died, so it was no wonder that she was easily moved by such a simple gesture of kindness.
Meanwhile, seeing her reaction, Naomi could not help but feel weird. The flabbergasted cat did not exactly know how he was supposed to react to a situation like that, mostly because he never had an encounter with another human before.
But as straightforward as he usually was, the tomcat spoke his mind loud and clear once again.
"Err... Human, sure are weird. Why are you crying? All I just want is to feed you? Do you have to make it too emotional???"