Cam catches a summons while he's in the middle of Atriama. He's seen it before, it's fine.
"Awesome. Uh, I should probably let you get back to saving the world or whatever, lemme think of other stuff you might need . . . here's a business card for the shelter, I'll put my number on there too; I'm usually volunteering here five or six evenings a week but which ones they are changes all the time, call ahead if you need something and don't feel like explaining all this to other people - here's a pamphlet on general cat ownership stuff in addition to the nutrition one, legalities and whatnot . . ."
"Great, thank you." He has enough pockets in his coat, though maneuvering to get to them all might make his tail slightly visible.
"The word is 'demon' but we bear little resemblance to mythological creatures of the same name."
"Tails are popular, but not universal. Nearly all of us have wings though." He sticks the tip of one out of his coat.
She gasps. "Can I see them out of the coat - actually someone could walk in at any moment and I shouldn't take up more of your time anyway. That's really cool though!"
Cam flips to a picture of himself with his wings out playing violin and shows it to her and then heads out. He makes a sidecar for Cricket, and swings back to Jackie's house.
There's a car in the driveway that wasn't before; Princess and an unfamiliar man are waiting at the door for him. "Hi you're back you're back! - Who are you?" she asks of Cricket.
"Cricket," says Cricket, leaping to and draping himself over Cam's shoulder before Cam dismounts the motorcycle.
"Nice to meet you, Cricket. This is Jordan. What did you learn at the shelter?"
"Not all cats talk! Cricket in particular remembers eating weird catnip and becoming able to. Hello Jordan, nice to meet you, I'm Cam and this is Cricket."
"Hey Cam, hey Cricket. I've heard a lot about one of you; come on inside."
"I have learned so much reading come see! But I got stopped because I didn't know what enough of the words mean to keep going even though I could type them by hearing."
She appears to have managed to navigate to a word processor.
Jackie is a good [housefolk]
(Cam can read the transliterated cat word, though presumably the locals cannot.)
Jackie is a good kitty
Good good good good kitty
Jackie is a good jackieIans home
Outside outside outside outside now now now
Ian is a good ian
!
!!!!!!!!!
Ian is a good good good ian!!!!!!
Kisses for princess now now!
More kisses!Jordans home outsi
Jordan is a good jordan!Supper now now now now now now now!!!!!!! Supper time now!!!!!! Now now!
Cams home!
"You'd want to spell 'housefolk' h-o-u-s-e-f-o-l-k. Or you could write 'human' or 'person'." Scritch scritch. "Did you get your dinner?"
"Yes, but no treats yet. Treats happen at bedtime but I think I should get extra because it's an exciting day; I got extra when I had my kits. And Cricket should get some too. What are human and person? You keep saying person but I don't know what it means."
"A person is - it's sort of complicated but you won't go far wrong if you say 'someone who can talk'. Human is the twoleg word for twolegs."
Jackie ian jordan is a good person!
More treats good princess cricket now wanna!
She's not as fast as a human typist but she already seems to have some sense of the keyboard layout over hunting and pecking.
"I don't know the words to say the rest of what I mean."