Story Card: "But Cats Can't Eat This Much Sugar!"
Level: 0
Tags: 'Animal Characteristics', 'sugar daddy', 'cat', 'cats', 'slice of life', 'romance'
Description: A modern world where some animals had evolved and became humans. Snow, a snow leopard demihuman wasted out of the orphanage, was offered a chance to become someone's pet! Aleister, a powerful mafia boss with a reputation for ruthlessness, is the last person Snow expected to take him in. But despite his intimidating exterior, Aleister seems to have a (very) soft spot solely for his new snow kitty.
The rhythmic clickety-clack of the train's wheels along the rails provided a steady beat, creating a rumbling sound that resonated through the car Furan Shi was in.
Or, he had just guessed they're in a train. Other than the sounds, it was dark all around with only the two small slits of a glass window to indicate the time based on the amount of light filtering through. These vertical, thin windows fixed on each side of the car also occasionally allowed Furan to see he wasn't alone in there as the light weakly shone over and over onto the other figures.
There were at least eleven more demihumans with him, all seemingly as young as fifteen years old.
「 Am I… abducted..? 」 Furan whispered to Raum through his mind.
Raum appeared midair only to Furan, invisible to the other mob characters. "Yes. You're currently in the last car of this train, and you're with twelve other kids."
「 Twelve..? 」
The car's frame creaked as the train ran along the curve of the tracks, prompting Furan to cover his ears. His big.. long ears..
「 I-I'm not a cat..? 」
Indeed, Furan didn't become Snow thanks to the randomizer. Instead he inhabited the body of a small bunnyboy named Jinx. At least that's what everyone calls him. As Raum explained this information to Furan, the boy's expression grew a little more annoyed.
Having a rabbit ancestry means his diet is limited to plant-based meals! How! Awful! What sugar? Rabbits can't eat sugar at all..! Furan sniffled, but the young demihuman beside him translated it as Jinx crying from fear. The demihuman gently wrapped an arm around Jinx's shoulder and pulled him closer to calm him. He could also feel the other's thick, fluffy tail hooking around his hips.
It was an unexpected warmth, but welcomed nonetheless.
The story "But Cats Can't Eat This Much Sugar!" revolves around the timid protagonist Snow, who was sold to the domineering second protagonist, the mafia boss Aleister Selvan. It was a long story how he got to where he is today, a long stretch from when he was still the runt of his clan for being merely human, and how the matriarch of their rival family, Alodia Fontaine, took interest in him and handed him the reins to both their legal and underground worlds.
Basically, his only worry now is how to court this snow leopard he 'rescued' without looking weird. Well, there'd be occasional poisoning and challenges from Alodia's son, but in all the story has a light tone, with Aleister ending up wanting to wash himself clean from all the mafia entanglement to live honestly with his beloved snow kitty.
All in all a good breeding ground for more data to record. So much potential, only to end up a 'slice of life'?
"As for your character, Jinx is a bunnyboy from the same orphanage as Snow."
As Raum continued to explain, confirming Furan's thoughts, the bunnyboy decided there's no harm in hugging the other demihuman and acting scared, so he wrapped his frail, apparently trembling arms around the other demihuman.
"Right now, all thirteen of you are the children the orphanage could no longer house because nobody wants to adopt you. So you're on your way to be sold to different underground businesses and profiles."
Furan further squeezed his small figure into the hug.
"Snow will be sold to a loveless mafia boss, and Jinx will be directed to a red light district." It was Raum's turn to grimace. That is, if its crow face could. "Er.. according to the story, which barely mentioned the side character Jinx, the bunnyboy is a mischievous little twat. Add that to the bad luck that follows him around, it was no wonder not even the orphanage wanted him."
Furan was silent for a while, his big ears picking up the steady heartbeats of the demihuman he's cuddling with in the darkness of the car. Steady.. as in steadily rapid.
The sound of a heart beating also made Furan realize something. 「 "You've said I inhabit the bodies of dead characters..?" 」
He could somehow hear Raum whirr, not something a real bird could do unless they're mechanical. It took some seconds before the system agent could supply a proper response.
"That is partially correct. We configured the timeline to when Jinx was still in his optimal state. That is where we are now."
「 "But you also said… these worlds are real..? Where does the original Jinx go now that I'm in his body..?" 」
"..rrr.. d-ead." Raum buffered again, but nonetheless answered in full.
「 "And I died, too, no? Where did he go if I'm here?" 」
"...you live in a different reality," Raum finalized with a firm nod. "I cannot translate for you where he went."
That's… eerie enough, and Furan Shi had no plan to push his system further. If it's stubborn not to disclose such information, then he won't pry! Hmp..!
Aside from Jinx's passing frustration, everyone in the car was unsurprisingly scared. They were suddenly loaded up into this dark car with no assured destination, and with no assuring promise they'd be in good hands after this trip. Not that the orphanage had treated them "good" to begin with.
"Jinx was untouchable because of the bad luck that lingered around him. It was also due to this reason that the orphanage readily disposed of him by selling him to a brothel, with young, tender bunnies being a highly sought after meat in the red light district to boot."
Furan grew nervous hearing that new side information, and at how calm Raum's voice was as though it didn't buffer just seconds ago, although he was acutely aware his feelings were only being amplified by the body he's inhabiting.
「 Well… at least Jinx has a skill related to bad luck, right..? 」 he asked back, but he sounded just as unsure as how the original Jinx felt, just with less fear.
Raum nodded. A holographic window materialized before Furan, but somehow the light emitted by it couldn't help with illuminating the dark car, even by a tad bit.
"As Jinx, you momentarily gain his passive skill, [Harbinger of Nuanced Inconveniences] at level 3—" the system agent froze mid-sentence, realizing its own words at that moment. And then it suddenly released this harsh, high-pitched sound that's guttural.. and jarring for Furan's ears. Apparently crows could laugh, or cackle, even rasping intermittently with the air seeming to grate against a sharply textured patch somewhere in the system's synthetic vocal chords.
In a simpler description that actually mattered to Furan at the moment, Raum was laughing at him. Raum was mocking him.
「 Shut up and just tell me what it doessss..! 」 he heavily groaned (in his mind), embarrassed not about the skill itself, but by the way the system agent was laughing at it.
The cackling died down, although Furan wasn't sure if he could erase the memories of that god forbidden noise from his brain.
"Ahem.. you basically disrupt the status quo in a way that matters the least. You just inevitably and indirectly annoy the hell out of the people around you in subtle ways, even if you don't mean it."
So it wasn't anything serious. Furan Shi concluded that the orphanage was just being petty with him when they decided to sell him to a brothel. Just as he relaxed in the other demihuman's cuddle, the car's wheels screeched, making the passengers within collectively shrink into themselves like scared little children. Because they are.. children. Huh.
「 That's.. all the skill Jinx has? 」
"Pretty much," Raum swiftly replied with a quick nod. "But as a black rabbit, your passive skill [Natural Charm lvl7] became [Natural Charm lvl5] thanks to the debuff [Superstitions]. As you may know, black bunnies are just as indicative of bad luck in this world as black cats in your original world. And with Jinx being a Harbinger of… pfft.. inconveniences… [Superstitions] is ramped up for this poor creature."
Furan Shi subconsciously gritted his bunny teeth. 「 Can I change into a white bunny? 」
"White ones aren't preferable, either," Raum was, again, quick to deflate Furan's hopes. "Demihumans with white fur are more typically discriminated against in this world compared to their colored counterparts. Regardless of species, the whiter your fur is, the weaker you become as the beliefs go. Genetics, dear. You'd make a more vulnerable prey with poor eyesight and even poorer thermoregulation on top of being unable to camouflage.
The White Snake Clan were highly respected because they're still formidable opponents, but the others don't have this privilege. This world may have become civil, but there are still people who take advantage of loopholes in the laws and dark corners in the streets. Please refrain from recklessly adding more disadvantages to the ones you already have as a natural prey and a harbinger of.. h-harbinger of.. inconveniences.. pfft-"
Furan switched his attention to the demihuman he's cuddling, with Raum seemingly just mocking him through its explanations. But truth be told Raum was not. It just couldn't get over the name of Jinx's passive skill and what it does.
He could hear the other demihuman purring, feel its soothing vibrations as they stuck close together. But somehow Jinx could feel it was their way of trying to calm their own nerves down. The moment he stared right at the young demihuman, trying his best to see through the dark with squinted eyes, a window popped up at the side of the other's figure.
「 A male demihuman with snow leopard ancestry. Approximately older than Jinx by three to five years. 」
It wasn't Raum. It was a passive skill of his working, although he couldn't accurately point which. And half of the info was from Jinx's memories installed in Furan's mind.
The floating screen then detailed the snow leopard's possible diet, leading it to next detail the snow leopard's measurements. Height being barely a hundred and fifty-five centimeters, weight being frightfully alluding to a severely malnourished health, and there's also other stuff Jinx would rather not mention.
But then it started pointing out the snow leopard's weak points. The sides of his neck, the base of his tail… Jinx really had to look away and not let the holographic screen finish assessing the poor, oblivious creature.
Right before he forcefully detached himself from further reading, the wall of text left him some good final description for the snow leopard.
「 This must be "Snow"(main character), the kind demihuman that treated Jinx better than the others had. Not an enemy. 」
The train finally left the underground passage it had been treading on for the past hour, the light pouring in through the thin windows on each side illuminating the inside of the car. It was still dim, but it was enough for the demihumans to detect each other.
There really are thirteen of them, Furan Shi just didn't see the last one earlier because it was small and hidden behind some dirty pillows at the side.
「 Male hamster demihuman. Younger than Jinx by seven years… 」
「 "That's a demihuman????" 」
Raum followed Furan's gaze, towards the round brown hamster perched on the topmost pillow among the dirty pile. "Yes, he's just in his full beast form. In this world, you can morph into your full animal counterpart on command.
However, your body will be forced to morph into it anyways when it's weakened."
The little light also allowed Furan to make use of his passive skill to give him a short summary of each one of the demihumans present. The hamster, Snow, Jinx, five dogs, a fox, a pig, a horse, and two cats. Only the hamster was in its beast form.
Maybe he felt safer when he was smaller?
「 Well, what do you know? It is Snow! 」- his uncharted passive skill
He can also see all of Snow in its full glory. But instead of a majestic splendor like what Furan Shi had been anticipating, Snow looked rather.. dumb. In a cute way, definitely. The tuft of fur at the tips of his big, slightly pointed ears were already giving him this perpetually perked up look, as if he was demanding Furan of headpats. His upturned blue eyes weren't helping either, especially when they seemed to be enlarged slightly by the way his wild, spotted white hair framed his heart-shaped face.
Jinx had to pinch those cheeks to see if they're real.
"Ow.."
They are.
Furan Shi could feel the power of the protagonist of this world just through his face alone. Even that light pinch caused Snow to tear up cutely. CUTELY. Who the fuck even does that???
"When you said bunnies were the bestsellers in the red light districts.." Furan shifted the topic to something that's, in his opinion, lighter— "do they fuck them in their rabbit form?"
Even Snow had to do a double take. Apparently Jinx had said that under his breath, loud enough for the snow leopard to hear. He hasn't mastered speaking through his mind yet.
Raum paused, its stare part thoughtful and horrified. "I refuse to answer that," it firmly settled for this answer. "I knew we should've consulted a therapist first before transmigrating."
Snow, meanwhile, hugged the bunnyboy tighter, kissing the crown of his small head and rubbing down his back.
"You're not… you're not thinking of escaping to a brothel, are you..?" he weakly whispered to Jinx, his pretty face contorted into a frowning one. He patiently waited for the black bunny to answer.
Of course, Furan Shi wasn't really thinking about that. The thought of escaping didn't even cross his mind in the first place! He's too busy imagining… things. But Jinx's innocent face never allowed a hint of anything about it.
"I'm not…!" he whined as he hugged Snow back. It was just as Furan thought: Snow is a fluffy little thing..!
He added, "plus… I-I don't want to leave big brother Snow…" He didn't forget to make his tone sound cuter, more innocent and small. Snow easily cooed at the cuteness he wasn't aware was contending with his own.
Raum took his turn to remind Furan again about something, just as the bunnyboy was being squeezed by the snow leopard. "Right… I should tell you about getting OOC."
「 "You mean out of character?" 」
"Well, yes. You seem to be informed already about that condition."
Furan had, after all, read a lot of web novels in the past, including the quick transmigration ones. No, especially the quick transmigration ones. They may not have any literary value to most people, but it's what allowed Furan to have a group to belong in, a.k.a. the fandoms.
OOC, or "Out Of Character," was a condition common in this type of web novel. As hosts inhabit an existing character's body, they are required to act like the character to avoid consequences such as arousing suspicion from surrounding characters or from the world itself, keeping the plot intact…
"Or in your case, host, unless you are playing as yourself, getting OOC would disrupt the data I'm currently translating for you and this reality, and it would prompt us to restart the story."
「 "Wow… so you're like… S*perm*n holding the world together as you interact with me at the same time. Cool." 」
"Why does your censoring feel… wrong somehow…?"
「 "But your explanation sounded too anticlimactic." 」Furan clicked his tongue in the middle of his mind dialogue, causing Snow to tilt his head sideways with a confused, yet accommodating, expression. 「 "Couldn't you be more dramatic like the ones I've read…?" 」
"I'd rather not sugarcoat," Raum was quick to dismiss him. "Besides, the conditions in those novels you read are different from ours. You can OOC, sure: but you'd make my life harder."
Raum sounded really exasperated at its explanation, even though it was a new system with no other real experience being an agent. At this rate, it will never experience being a real agent outside of translating threads after threads of world data, with how invested it is in babysitting Furan Shi.
"The train is approaching Snow's destination. And then you're next. The brothel will surely use you thoroughly. As Jinx, what do you think that mischievous little twat would do?"
Sure, Jinx may be a little brat, but at times like this, he'd have panicked if he knew Snow would be leaving him. The only demihuman that never treated him like the… like the harbinger of something so ominous as minor inconveniences. And Jinx is a side character — Furan wasn't even sure if side character is the appropriate term, or they're just being polite. Because Jinx wouldn't be mentioned again in the story after Snow exits the train.
In fact, the story frame only mentioned Jinx twice. Once for the sake of specifying examples as to why the orphanage had to send these unruly children away in the first place, and the other was when Snow took one last look at the inside of the train cab before being forcefully pulled by the orphanage staff that would escort him to his buyer. In that scene, Jinx was supposed to be hugging himself, finding no need to put up a brave facade anymore now that he realized they were about to be sold to shady people.
These descriptions weren't enough to solidify Jinx's character profile, especially with the ambiguousness of the second one, which somehow confirms Jinx's measly pre-established mischievous personality came crumbling down the moment he looked out of the train. It means Furan Shi could never OOC now the moment he looks out of the train himself.
He's not really that good with logics but he hoped that was enough conclusion to bullshit his way to getting OOC without consequences.
Jinx sniffled again, much to his surprise. And Snow's, too, with him even instinctively tightening his hold around the smaller demihuman.
"What's the matter?" Snow coaxed quietly, pink, thin lips stretching slightly for a small, toothless smile. "I'm here, Jiji.."
Furan Shi sniffled again. "Don't… don't leave me, okay..?"
Snow, despite not knowing what Jinx was talking about, still felt worried and more protective of the younger demihuman. "I promise I'll never! I'm your big brother, no?"
Snow knew the bunnyboy's tough personality was just his facade. His defense mechanism. Inside, Jinx was still a troubled child, neglected by the orphanage like the rest of them. But as a figure of bad luck, he's even more ostracized. He had panicked when Jinx had mentioned the brothel earlier, and his mind was immediately flooded by images of the frail bunnyboy being… well.. taken advantage of.
He may be beaten up, injured, bleed, or worse…
"I-I…" Snow swallowed dryly, his eyes beginning to water up again. Furan was momentarily dazed by how charming his near-crying face looked before he schooled his expression back to a broken, scared bunnyboy.
Jinx's crying was also affecting the other children in the moving train car. Some even hugged each other for comfort, the others morphing into their full beast form and hiding somewhere. As the only adult among the group, barely eighteen, Snow had an inkling of where they might be going. Snow also knew the orphanage had categorized these kids as the least desirable ones, so them being on a train together was suspicious enough. As much as Snow wanted to save all of them, he is only a powerless, weak cat that was also starved for long periods of time.
Last night, he was given a feast in his room, but Snow only felt it was for something. And now he's on this train, too. The fact that he was even bathed thoroughly and put in this nice, new sweater was already telling of his own fortunate fate. A comparatively fortunate fate much unlike those of his younger peers. He glanced down at the trembling bunnyboy in his arms, and an idea formed in his mind.
If he can't save twelve, maybe he could at least save one. He could feel Jinx would have the worst outcome among all of them somehow with him being a black rabbit. The best outcome would be Jinx being delivered straight into the city, where superstitions about black rabbits aren't as prominent.
But this is not the time to just hope for the best when Snow can still do something, yes? He can't help but feel Jinx would be safer with him than be left on the train.
"Jiji, come closer. I need to tell you something."
—————————— (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧
Camilius never understood his uncle.
The Selvan clan, after allying with the Fontaine's, had been pulled deeper into the underground world. Not that the Selvans were clean beforehand, although they clearly had an opportunity to keep themselves pure in the public eye.
Aleister Selvan, the next patriarch of the clan, was only human, hence had been the runt of the black wolves household at some point in the past. But with his unparalleled genius and unforgiving nature, he quickly swept those in his way and climbed to the top, earning the trust and respect of their patriarch. All to the point of passing the family mantle to him when the Selvans were on the brink of ruin.
The clan had been known for their geniuses — all who either died after working with the government or lived after getting recruited to work for the Fontaine clan, a mafia family of white snakes. Of course, as the domineering male lead with a bright future ahead and a golden halo around his head, on top of already being cunning and erudite, he was basically adopted into the Fontaine clan by its matriarch, the rest of the Selvans begrudgingly following along.
However, not even a year in and Aleister was turning the tables around, and soon he had seized the top leader position of the unionized clans. Nevermind the Selvans being pulled into the underground world, or the cunning serpents that are the Fontaines: Aleister was automatically hailed the boss of both worlds.
That was all in the past, however. Otherwise, this story wouldn't be tagged with 'slice of life'. Plus, Aleister didn't exactly punish the white snakes. In fact, as ironic as it may seem, he wanted a healthy relationship among all his household members, both the Selvans and Fontaines.
So to this day, Camilius never understood his new uncle. Especially when said uncle had fearlessly — even fondly — ruffled his hair like a big brother would to his younger sibling, all while soaked in blood he claimed he'd obtained legally.
Or when the same uncle suddenly gave him this task of picking up someone and giving him two briefcases to, apparently, "pay for that someone" but not one explanation.
In front of him stood a frail catboy with black spots splattered along his white hair, paired by a long, thick fluffy tail that nervously hugged himself from behind. After settling the payment with the orphanage personnel, the train from whence the catboy came resumed its path along the rusty railroad tracks, perhaps carrying the rest of those poor demihuman children away to worse places.
Not that Camilius cared. No way. His main concern right now is how thin this kid is that he almost feared the weak draft could still blow him away, but ironically have a bloated stomach obvious even beneath that new brown sweater.
Snow could feel the tall, white-haired man eyeing the deformed bulge in front of his stomach, so he instinctively lifted his tail a little higher around it. Camilius simply shrugged and began leading the "pot-bellied" cat to his car. It wasn't really his job to question his uncle's weird preferences for his boy toys, and it wasn't like the weak-looking demihuman could smuggle something lethal that could be used to randomly murder him on the way.
The train ride took what felt like three hours. The car ride added another two, but when they reached a very big house (they haven't seen a mansion in real life yet, no shit) in the middle of nowhere, the one situated right at the center of other compound houses surrounded by these tall walls, the scary-looking white-haired man had barely guided them in before retreating into a room upstairs.
Snow didn't know what to do, and he would be standing frozen there, gazing dumbly around the luxurious foyer area with his mouth agape, if not for the white-haired man coming back downstairs with his steps heavy as thunder and frantic against the floorboards.
Camilius was holding a phone in his hand with the caller ID shown being "mad Selvan", his usually bitchy face betraying a hint of nervousness and maybe even panic, as he hurtled down the grand staircase.
With a new burst of adrenaline, he flung himself forward, the wind whistling past the stunned snow leopard's ear.
But before he could even grab onto at least one of the brass door pulls, the doors opened. Camilius had to force himself to stop his momentum by crashing it down to the marble floor, his beautiful face missing the carpet by a few centimeters.
Maybe it won't be beautiful anymore for a few days.
The man standing behind the now opened doors uncharacteristically winced. The audience — Snow and a few maids at the back — also winced for the unfortunate young master.
"Camilius," came the man's rich voice, surprisingly faking a baritone, but assuring of his position in the family nonetheless. "Where's the snow leopard?" His nephew clearly wasn't his priority.
At the mention of "snow leopard", "pot-bellied" Snow felt himself shrinking slightly, his shoulders tensing and his tail tightening around his torso at the possibility of having a bigger cat ready to pounce anytime. At this point he still wasn't aware that the big cat could be him, just a little on the stunted side.
The man was, undeniably, only human. But his sharp eyes that seem to stare daggers into Camilius on the floor, and his slicked back inky blue hair, made him look all the more devilish. Not to mention he apparently has a snow leopard lying in wait somewhere around here. The devil was even wearing an untouchable three-piece suit!
Their eyes met, fierce black ones against scared blues, and for a moment Snow could feel himself becoming more of a prey than a natural predator in front of a supposedly inferior human.
He clutched his bloated belly a little tighter, the small animal inside it wiggling subtly in discomfort. That small movement didn't go unnoticed by Camilius, who had recovered strength (and dignity) and was standing back up to his full height.
He was taller than the sophisticated man who may or may not be his brother, but even he seemed to cower before the other.
In the silence of the foyer, the man by the doorway swiftly covered the distance between him and the frozen snow leopard demihuman, his heeled boots muffled by the carpet. He leaned down to make himself look friendly, which was, needless to say, counterproductive of him to do.
Snow shrunk further into himself, ears folding against his small head.
"Are you Snow?" the man coaxed, or at least tried to, carding his calloused fingers through Snow's ruffled white hair. As expected of the orphanage. They really prepared this kid just for him, his fingers easily combing through, but he could sense Snow didn't look like this on a normal day.
Maybe more… neglected. Or hungry. Or both.
His hand did nothing to comfort the poor catboy. Snow only closed his eyes and unconsciously held his breath, and perhaps prayed for a better afterlife.
Sighing, the man gave up and took a step back to give the scared demihuman space. "You're going to live here from now on." He then held a hand forward, expecting the small catboy to finally open his eyes and take it.
Snow did, after a while of heavy silence.
"Good," the man remarked with a relieved smile. "Call me Aleister. Not master. Not whatever the orphanage had trained you to say."
He may or may not have been practicing this introduction in his bathroom all night. He may or may not… expected the snow leopard to cling to him after showing him a bit of warmth and they could both run into the sunset across a golden field.
Not this… whatever this is.
"Snow..?"
As they stood in front of the other, one scared and the other curiously nervous, Camilius took it upon himself to inject himself in the middle. His movements were so fast that Snow didn't realize the black rabbit nestled securely in his sweater was already gone.
The two tall men stared dumbly at the small black rabbit in Camilius' arms. Snow could only pale at the sight.
He's screwed.
"I didn't know you came with a freebie, Snow." Camilius snickered, mostly at the bunny in his arms. Ah, this could've been a pretty sight, if not for his busted lips. Over his shoulder, his uncle was peering from behind only to see a black stuffed animal.
"Maybe that's just his comfort toy..?" Aleister unhelpfully suggested. At least his snow leopard isn't malnourished and pot-bellied.
Said comfort toy suddenly blinked, almost causing Camilius to drop the bunny had he not froze up in shock.
Snow became more unsure of what to do, confronted by the two, mostly bewildered, dangerous-looking men.
"That's…" he trailed off, his ears more flat against his head. "T-that's my brother…!" His tail whipped wildly behind him once and then tucked itself in between his scrawny legs.
Brother??? The two chorused in their minds. Their gazes carefully trailed towards the snow leopard standing at the side, and then traced back at the glaring black rabbit. Yes, it's glaring right at Camilius.
"Baby doll, are you sure..?" Aleister dumbly asked. "But this one's a bunny, and you're a… well, a snow leopard—"
"I'm a snow leopard???"
As the two were both dumbfounded at the side, Aleister and Snow both, Camilius had to shake the rabbit slightly to make sure it was really alive. Snow let out a displeased whine, so Aleister had to save his image in front of him. This was their first meeting, after all, and he needed to make a good impression in front of the snow leopard and hope he won't end up afraid of him like the rest of the household.
Even his pretend nephew was still reluctant to get close to him to this day, although he could get unruly at times.
"W-well… if Snow wants the rabbit to stay, then it can stay."
It was a bit sad that Snow had to rely on a comfort animal to remain calm, but Aleister had to remind himself this was only their first day meeting. There would be a lot more opportunities to get closer to him tomorrow. And the day after that. And then some.
In the end, Snow was his. He already bought him from that orphanage and the snow leopard has nowhere else to go, rabbit included or not.