Pilfering from a Phoenix (Chelle)

The lenses of Tomcat's goggles flashed orange when fire erupted from the man. He tensed and was about to strike, stabbing his claws into the abdomen but before he could, the bird man lunged and pinned him down under his weight, arms held to the floor. He began spitting some truly rude words, if Tomcat had feelings they would probably be hurt right now. The man's hands were hot. Like microwaved plate hot.

"Ow.' A smug grin curled across his lips. 'Usually when a shirtless man jumps on top of me he's bought me dinner first." His eyebrows popped upwards briefly 'is this the part where we have a catfight?"

Tomcat kicked his legs, and tried to lift his arms off the floor but the man's strength was not represented by his body. Trying to lift his waist and bump the man off him, he couldn't move it, pinned to the floor.

"Wow, you're deceptively heavy' He looked at the crown. 'and on fire."

Grunting a little, his heart pounding, Tomcat closed his hands into fists.

His lips turned into a cocky grin, not a smidgen  of fear on his painted features.

"So what you gonna do bird boy? Kill me? I don't think you've got the hairballs."

"Alright hot stuff, you've got me pinned down on the floor, all alone in your apartment. What ever will you do now?"

Tomcat's tongue briefly swept across his lips

"It wasn't really a wrestling match, you just kinda jumped on me and I just kinda decided to let you sit on me." He looked to the side, twisted his wrist and admired his nails. Only 4 of them were on that hand. "Did you see where my other nail went? Like, it went in your eye you were bound to have seen it."

Tomcat sighed and crossed his legs over, bobbing a foot up and down. He had totally already planned at least 500 million plans to incapacitate the bird man and escape the metal prison, but just letting the burning bird pinch a few of his things seemed the least bothersome. And the least likely to result in second degree burns. Besides, it's not like he'd be giving them away permanently. Cats tend to covet.

"Fine, you can pick which ones you keep; just don't go robbing me blind.' Usually saying something like that would be a joke, but in Tomcat's pretty eyes, he owned these things now - he'd worked for them after all 'And I keep the Topaz one."

"Sweetie, a cat doesn't need the upper hand to be in control."
A smirk swirled across his features. He could tell he was agitating him.


As soon as the winged man released his grip on Tomcat, he curved his legs behind his head and rolled backwards into a stand before curling his spine upwards and executed an extremely slow backwards cartwheel. It was both to show his flexibility and a very impressive method of stretching. When his feet touched the floor again, he was holding the locket in his hand and he lowered down into a catlike crouch.

"You can have the locket, hate them. Their value's usually more sentimental than financial. And this one's ugly anyway.

He threw it in Malus' direction, however he deliberately caused it to the land on the floor in front of the burning birdy. He peeled the ring off his middle finger and held it in the palm of his hand and the pushed the cuff down his arm and held it between his middle and ring fingers, dangling it in front of him.

"I suppose you can have this too. Never seen one like it before though'

He examined it quickly before letting out a small scoff.

'Looking at it, I hope I don't see one like it again."

His eye's rolled at the cuff's gaudiness which made it almost seem like costume jewellery, before he flicked it through the air, landing near the locket. The way he threw it made an object that was probably worth several thousand dollars look like it was from a dime store. Finally, he took a look at the ring.

His lips parted in a gentle gasp. How on earth had he not noticed it before. He turned his back to Malus and held the ring up to the light, examining it further. The light parted when it moved through the heart, making it look almost magical. He closed the ring into his fist and sighed. His reluctance extended for a few more seconds, while his fingers fidgeted. After almost 12 seconds, he grunted and threw the ring. This time he threw it to Malus, rather than on the floor.

"Right fine, I gave you what you what you wanted. Let me out sweetheart before this gets physical... again."

His hand remained balled in a fist. His foot tapped. On his other hand, his fingers pitter pattered against his hip.

His face kept it's same smirked demeanor whenever the man fell for the trick and unlocked his apartment. He walked across the debris decorated carpet, his boots crushing some small pieces of glass into the carpet. The more he took his mind of the ring in his hand, the less likely he would be to notice the switcheroo. As he walked to the door, he turned to Malus.

"This was fun we should do it again sometime'
He winked Malus and then gave him a tiny finger wave before calmly strutting through the doorframe
'Bye bye, birdy."

He began walking down the hallway, and when he heard the door close he held the Pristine Red Heart up to the light. He squinted, a grin stretching across his face ear to ear. "Tomcat - Stealing hearts and taking names since 2002." He never even learned that guy's name. He laughed before breaking into a sprint down the Apartment block's corridor, before Malus could realise that he'd been rused and persued.

20 more seconds of Elevator music.
It's even harder to act inconspicous when you're dressed like a cat who won the lottery but he figured how weird he looked must have been enough to deter them from botherng to approach. It was too late for this shit. He opened the glass doors and then resumed running through the night.

Taking a note that the man with wings could actually use them, he decided to take the Subway home.