Welcome to Puma Point {CLOSED, 1x1}

New beginnings, huh? What is it people say about those? It’s a time to reinvent yourself, something to be excited over, something fun and challenging albeit scary at times but soooo worth it! Sasha agreed on some points, but he wasn’t looking to ‘reinvent’ himself. This cat had been through some fires, banged into shape by people he didn’t know would turn into great friends. And the outcome: a person he is happy with. A well balanced, not looking for trouble or any kind of excitement past trying out new recipes kind of guy.

But then it appeared. 

The reason for the sudden upheaval of his whole way of life. 

A title he now felt weighing heavily on his shoulders: Father. Whenever someone used that word to reference him, he got a little light headed. Even after six months of living with the little fluff ball, he was still getting used to planning his days out by what they could do together. And it took him aback everyday how excited he was to see what new thing she had learned. Watching her mind grasp onto the oddest angles of concepts was fascinating. He remembered when he had introduced her to puzzles, little building challenges with Legos. At first he was convinced he made a mistake showing her something outside of what she was ready for, but Natasha stubbornly refused to give up. Failing over and over again until she could figure the puzzle out. Stubborn little thing.

Sasha smiled at the memory, refocusing his attention to the winding road they were traveling on. He checked the GPS again which had been silent for the last three hours, suspicious he made a wrong turn somewhere. Nope, the map confirmed. Still on the same road heading in the same direction the pair had been driving for the last four days. Away from their old home. 

“Take the next, left, on-to Beach Front Way,” the Australian accented robotic voice cut through the gripping track of tires humming on the road. Letting out a breath, Sasha obediently followed the given directions, eventually passing a slightly wind weathered sign which read: 

Welcome to Puma Point!

Someone had graffitied paw prints over the o's he noticed. Snorting out a chuckle, he drove into town, looking for somewhere to eat that wasn’t a stale bag of Cheetos from the night before. Coffee! his brain demanded.

Carefully he woke his daughter up; like him she was not much of a morning person and grumbled until he promised some freshly made sustenance. Then made their way into what looked to him the singular eatery in the small town. It was only after grabbing his coffee and settling his daughter down with some colouring materials that he began relaxing from the morning drive, ignoring the stares he knew were due in part to him being new and his purple hair which matched the mini-me sitting across from him. Luckily for her, it was just the tips of her blonde hair. Since his hair was short, it had to be all or nothing. He silently thanked the waitress for not saying anything and politely thanked her for the drinks. Signing, Sasha ignored the rest of the stares and continued planning the menu to his dream restaurant while they waited for their food.

Seth stifled a large yawn as he hopped out of his favorite tree, which hung over a serene lake not too far away from Cougar Point. His stomach grumbled unhappily, and he growled back in response. He decided that he'd go town to Hana's to get something to eat. She had the best chocolate-chip muffins, no argument required.

As he got there, he noticed a new car. Curious, the brown-haired male continued. Looking to his side as he entered. Indeed, he saw two new faces. They looked quite identical, except for the hair color, of course. Still, there were purple hints in the girl's hair, towards the bottom. She definitely got it from what he suspected was her father. 

Seeing that the newcomers were getting bombarded with some judging and curious stares, Seth cleared his throat and caused their attention to drift to himself. Seeing as it was only him, they continued on with their meals. Smiling, he sat at the bar and gestured Hana over, the beautiful lioness owner of the small joint, as well as his good friend. "The usual." He said, smiling. She needed no other words as she got to work getting his coffee and muffin together.

Glad their food was now sitting in front of them, scrambled eggs and some sausages for both him and Nat, Sasha could relax. The food smelled good and, after assisting Nat with cutting up her sausages, he took a bite. The scrambled eggs were made well, if a little under seasoned for his tastes. He could appreciate the soft textures but wished they had been made in a skillet instead of on a flat top the breakfast sausage was obviously also simultaneously prepared on. A commonly efficient way of preparing simple comfort foods. 

Sasha cleaned his plate, waving the waitress over, Hana she had called herself, again for his check and small to go box. He didn’t understand how kids could grow when it looked like they never ate more than a few bites per meal but had learned to not argue with Nat about it. She had proven she would eat if she was hungry. Still her lack of interest in food concerned him some days.

“Can we go to the beach?” Small dark eyes stared at him with unrestrained eagerness. His brow furrowed before he realized it, ‘could Natasha even swim?’ another unknown about his own daughter. Nat seemed to wilt away at his expression, diverting her attention to her favorite stuffy she insisted had to come everywhere with them because otherwise Uni felt lonely. ‘Bad Sasha,’ he scolded himself. Carefully he schooled his face into what he hoped was supportive interest. 

“Okay Kitten, but only for a little while.” Her instant joy was heartwarming, an addictive feeling his friend had warned him to not overindulge in. “Do you know where your swimsuit is?” The rate at which she nodded her head had him chuckling under his breath. “”Alri-” Before he could blink she was out of her chair and headed towards the door. “Natasha, Wait!”

Seth was taking some big bites out of his muffin when he heard the bell on the door and a retrieving call. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the little girl from earlier racing out the door. He chuckled to himself, turning his eyes to her father.

His mind wandered to where the mother was, or if there even was one. He decided to himself that he'd take the time to get to know these newcomers, and he wondered if they were just visiting, or were here to stay.

"You've got yourself a little firecracker there." He told him, smiling.

(sorry its short I'm on a time crunch rn)

He almost ran to catch her. Almost. But managed to stop himself with great effort and gritted teeth. She was just outside where he could see her out of the diner’s big front facing windows. And he knew Nat wouldn’t go too far away… Not usually at least. Sighing, Sasha relaxed his shoulders as much as he was able and headed towards the counter hosting the register. 

One of the patrons spoke to him and it took a few seconds for the words to penetrate the worry. Sasha blinked a few times, turning his gaze around to look at the stranger for a moment before locating his daughter again.

“Tell me ‘bout it,” Sasha extended his hand, “Sasha. The ‘little firecracker’ is my daughter Natasha, though she’ll probably try to get you to call her Nat or Tasha,”  he pronounced just like his name but with a T. The cat’s first impressions of this stranger was that he seemed to fit in this place, belonging to the ambiance here in a way Sasha immediately envied. Though it did explain how a simple clearing of his throat was enough to quell the overt curiosity of the other patrons here. 

“You seem like a local. Any suggestions where we should go swimming around here?" Sasha's interest stayed divided Between Nat and the stranger.

*sorry for the late reply. I thought I had posted this about 2 days ago >.<

(It's all good! :3)

He chuckled, listening to everything the purple-haired guy had to say. When he finished with a question, he took Sasha's hand with his own and shook it lightly.

"Name's Seth. I had a feeling she was your daughter. And, indeed, I've been here pretty much my whole life, actually. I love swimming, and I'm glad you asked. But first, let's go make sure Natasha doesn't find it first." Retrieving his hand, he stuffed it in his pocket. He then paid for both of their meals without question before walking out.

He turned and saw Nat. Crouching down, he offered his hand to her for a high-five.

Sasha wanted to protest the charity of Seth paying for the meals his small unit of two just devoured, but one glance at his wallet had him pull up short from actually stopping the man. That and Seth moved fast. He didn’t even have time to say thank you before they were both out the door.

At first she didn’t notice them approaching, distracted by some glittering thing from a store front display next to the diner. “Hey Kitten,” Sasha called. Natasha turned around all smiles and good natured little kid almost running into the strange person directly in front of her. For just a moment fear sparked in the back of her eyes, and her smile faltered. Then she saw his hand raised in what was suspiciously a signal for fun. Wearily Natasha hesitated, looking to her father for guidance. Strangers were supposed to be dangerous, right?

Sasha acknowledged her unspoken question and gestured that this man was okay, for now. Elated at the possibility of a new friend, Nat quickly struck Seth’s offered hand and had Uni join in too, explaining non-stop how they were both really excited to go swimming ‘cuz Papa said they were gonna be going to the beach so they needed to find their towels and swimming suits and a bucket for collecting things and on and on. Pausing only long enough to breath on occasion.

After a minute or two of this, he decided to step in. “Natasha, this is Seth. He’s going to give us directions to a beach near here. What do we say to him for his help?”

Natasha frowned at her father, “Papa, it’s Tasha!” Then she turned to her new friend with Sasha grumbling in the background about using her real name. “Thank you, Seth,” she said solemnly before picking up her tirade of beach themed words again. Sasha watched the exchange and chucked, ready to step in if Seth felt somewhat overwhelmed by Nat’s unbaiting and mostly one-sided conversation.