Back at the Catacombs Cafe for your daily latte, waiting in the short but slow-moving line, you tap one foot impatiently. Why does this always have to take so long...? Sheesh, if it wasn't the best coffee in Neopia you'd never have come back to this place.

Though dimly lit and with the few windows opening onto various streetcorner poet types, the shop has something of a decadent ambience... copies of famous paintings supposedly by its clientele decorate the walls, each booth sports a plush tan leather seat and a very realistic imitation marble tabletop. Though the cups and mugs are only styrofoam, they boast an understated but rather fetching swirly pattern. Overall the place screams "delusions of grandeur".

Finally, you reach the counter and just open your mouth to order when someone barrels into you... hard! Scalding black coffee spills across your new white shirt as if in slow motion, a female yelp echoing in your ears. Before you know it, you're on the ground, dripping, lying in a pool of coffee like some heroic battle casualty. "Ugh!" you exclaim in annoyance, glaring at the culprit just now picking herself up.

Her fur would be a good match for the latte you crave, or perhaps more for well-creamed coffee. Wide bands of cream, bordered by a cinnamon color on both top and bottom, stretch around all four legs. She shakes her sculpted head, smooth-furred ears of the same cinnamon flapping. A cinnamon-and-cream swirl to match the decor of the cafe decorates both shoulders. Most extraordinary of all, however, her long, slender tail curves above her... Gelert-like, though her short ears and honey face and belly markings are those of a Lupe.

I'm so sorry!" she wails breathlessly, brushing ineffectually at the dark stain seeping into your chest. "I've got to make it up to you, somehow! I just... wasn't looking where I was going... Wait!" She dashes off as quickly as she arrived, and just as headlong. Miraculously she avoids any more collisions, though skidding quite a bit on the well-polished floor. Too confused to be very angry, you just watch.

She returns a moment later with a fresh shirt (coincidentally advertising the Catacombs Cafe in fancy swirly letters), dropping it on your lap. "Come on, you can change over here." She clamps her teeth into your wrist-cuff, tugging you to the bathroom. As soon as you've finished changing, she takes command of your coffee-stained shirt, handing it to a kindly-looking Chia walking down the hall. "Shelly will take it to the laundromat right away," she informs you brightly. "The T-shirt is on me, and some free coffee while you wait. I'll keep you company if you like." Her tone, though cheery, makes you think you haven't got an option.

A few minutes later, the strange cafe employee is seated opposite you in a plush booth, still apologizing and asking about the fresh latte in your hand, if you need anything... a lull ensues as you watch her over the latte, she having exhausted all the standard 'concerned serviceperson' questions. "So..." she ventures finally. "I'm L. L. Cacciatore... but please, call me Cacci." She smiles brightly. "And your name?"

You give it to her, smiling tentatively back.

Nice to meet you, then, guest!" she exclaims. "I can see this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship..."

But you can tell I've got the body type and markings of a Lupe, with a Gelert tail and without the thick fur. It's just how I am... but I wouldn't change it for the world." She draws herself up to her full height, looking down her brown-sugar-hued nose in a mock-regal pose. Suddenly she dissolves into giggles at her own absurd posture.

As her laughter subsides, she gives you a thoughtful look. "As for these markings? It's true that until quite recently I was just a plain coffee-cream Lupert. A few Mystery Island folks owed me some favors, and I needed a change, so I managed to secure the services of an island body painter. He was expensive, though, the very best. That's why I'm working here, to pay off that bill. I couldn't bear to ask my family for the neopoints... they have enough to worry about, and besides, I'm a grown girl!" A wry, crooked smile spreads across her features. "I can take care of myself!"

Of course, I couldn't always take care of myself, but, well... I don't want to bore you too much with tales of my youth... let's say, my parents are gone, and I thought that my little brother Urope was gone too... Though I'd been born away from humans, I came to live with one named Morgana and a veritable collection of adopted 'siblings'. I joined a pack. I even got married to my beloved Bliz and had our precious son Ty. Life seemed grand, but..." she breaks off, sighing.

It's still very painful for me to talk about this... but here goes nothing. One day, as I hung around the packlands with my adopted sibs Damie, Maani, and Vreba, and of course with Ty in tow..." She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. When she begins again, her voice shakes ever so slightly. "H-he came. A powerful adult Lupe, forest green, sprinkled with white starbursts... wearing these evil-looking snake bracelets, with glowing rubies in their golden eye sockets. His eyes..." she chokes back a sob, "his eyes were mismatched. One blue, one brown. I recognized him at once. Urope.

He threatened us, threatened me... demanded the bracelet that our mother gave to me for safekeeping, the day our family shattered... he even held Ty's safety against it! I managed to get it, but when he touched it, there was this big flash of white light... it burned him. Vreba said..." she gulps, "... said that the good magic invested in the bracelet would never be at his call, that he was too," whispered now,evil..." She shakes her head, though she sighs as if the worst is over.

I learned that he had killed our mother, only half by accident... she was a mage, and she taught him, but he grew drunk with the power, would've done anything to get it... after she died, he changed his form to one more suited for his purposes than a black-and-white Lupert. He became convinced that the bracelet she had told him about held the keys to his rise. He tracked me down and then... well, what I've already told you.

Afterwards, we made an uneasy peace... he stays around, surly, sarcastic, but no longer evil. Maybe the bracelet did something more than sear his fur when he touched it..." She shrugs sadly. "At any rate... he's not the child he once was, but not the demon either. And maybe I can deal with that, just... to have the last of my blood family near again..."

Her head cocks left suddenly. "Oops... forgot to really explain my family! Sorry 'bout that, guest!"

Not much remains of the family I was born to. My father, Garedun, a shadow Gelert, has been taken in for 'questioning' since his owner was frozen... we'll probably never see him again. My mother is dead... killed by the magic that Urope couldn't control." A trace of bitterness touches her soft voice at the last sentence, and she pauses to stare into the distance. At last she sighs, and continues.

{q} Can my pet be your friend? {a} I would think that's your pet's decision, not yours... oo; But if they want to, then sure! I consider friendship more than just a mention on a page, though. I want to talk (i.e. roleplay) a lot, and we have to get along, of course... {q} Draw me something! {a} You want Morgana. And she doesn't do requests, only trades. Her lookup says if they're open. {q} Where'd you get your background/layout? {a} Morgana made it. No stealing. {q} Can I use your art/design/html? {a} Nope. It's called stealing. You can ask permission to use bits of our html, but Morgana rarely grants it. {q} Someone stole your stuff! {a} Thanks for telling us. Help us with the evidence to report them, please. {q} Can I make my own Lupert? {a} We really frown upon it. x_x I know I'm not the only one with the ears of a Lupe and tail of a Gelert, but at least make up another name for it! {q} If Urope's your brother then how come he's not a Lupert? {a} If you'd read my story, you would know why. At least you'd know what I know... Urope's mind is still a mystery to me in some ways. {q} Can my pet date you/be your mate? {a} No. *flicks* I'm married with a kid. xP {q} LyK omG GiMmE NpS!!!111 {a} First of all, we don't do chatspeak or bad capitalization. Second, if we had any neopoints to speak of, we wouldn't give them away. oO; Go make your own. {q} How did you get painted brown? {a} Well, brown is just my official color... but as to that, we were given the paintbrush by the super-mega-nice friend of Morgana named Tef/tefnutt/catbie. *ultrahuggle* {q} Gimme a Friendopt! (i.e. the adopt pictures next to Cacci's friends and family) {a} As the name implies, they're only for my friends. You're welcome to befriend me through a nice long roleplay, but there're about 839,576 easier ways to get a custom if that's all you want. {q} I have another question. {a} Check out Morgana's faq, then... it's linked on her lookup.

{¤} roleplay {¤} info {¤}
Cacci is young at heart but mature when she needs to be, feminine but with undertones of strength, elegant, graceful, and a little bit shyer now that she's older. She is still innocent enough to disbelieve true evil, and more dependent on her friends and family than sometimes she would like to be. She's a city girl, though not much of a party chick. She tends to get into arguments a lot, even over little things, and can be sarcastic when she's annoyed. It's easy to become her acquaintance but difficult to be her true friend. I roleplay Cacci in either script or narrative, though I much prefer narrative. Please be literate, descriptive, and use proper punctuation and spelling. I don't care about grammar and syntax so much... go ahead and bend the rules, but have a little style about it. Just direct all requests to morgana52 (since I rarely log on to morggey), and I'd like it if you'd start the RP right away.

Next thing you know, she's walking briskly back to work. What a strange encounter...

Checking your watch, you discover how late you are. But somehow, it doesn't matter all that much.