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Publicity

I could smell the ribs from a mile away, so even if I didn't know how to get to victoria park, I could follow my nose.

Like Toucan Sam, I suppose.

After leaping from building to building, I found myself hesitant to actually dive in once I got to the park. I mean, yeah, it's nice to think about doing something, but doing it is another problem altogether. I did jump in front of the crowd on the city street, but that was a quick 'in-and-out' job.

I saw the hundreds of people milling around. Some sitting at picnic tables, their ribs on the tables in front of them; others were walking around, white Styrofoam containers in hand.

But best of all was the smell. Spicy ribs, tasty ribs, smoked ribs.

It was a delectable smell, even my feline body wanted a piece. I figured my best bet was to steal some ribs. I'd make myself remembered, and I'd get to eat. Besides, who's gonna say no a giant rib-stealing tiger?

I wouldn't hurt anybody. Promise.

DODODO, DEDEDEDEDEDEDE, dedededededededededede!

My phone was ringing, so I picked it up. I was a little upset though, I didn't know who it was calling me. The display on the outside of the phone was shattered, so as soon as I opened the phone, I would be answering it. No call display for me.

I sighed and opened it after it rang for a few seconds. "Hello!"

"Where are you!?" My mom bellowed from the other end of the line. Aw shit, I knew this was going to happen.

What kind of excuse could I make up? "Um, I'm in London right now." I said calmly, cringing as I said it.

"What the hell are you doing in London?!" She screamed. God, she needed to chill out.

"Something came up, Tron picked me up last night. I met him uptown."

"What's so important that you had to leave in the middle of the night without telling us?"

I let out a deep sigh. "Look mom, it's kinda important, but I can't really explain it to you right now. If I could I would, but trust me, I can't."

"And why the hell not? I'm your mother. Don't you trust me anymore?"

I pulled the phone away from my ear and growled a bit. "Mom, trust me, this is personal. It's not something I feel comfortable talking about over the phone. Can it wait till I come home?"

"When are you going to be home?" She asked, almost sobbing. I could tell she was hurt a little, felt a little betrayed. How typical. I want privacy, and she's flipping out.

"I don't know when I'm going to be home. I have to get things sorted out here first. It could take a long time." I explained, regret in my voice. I knew she wasn't going to like that.

"You were supposed to make supper tonight, way to tell us in advance." I could tell she wanted to hang up, but she didn't.

I thought for a moment before replying. I thought, hey, I'm gonna go public anyway. "Mom, if you saw me, you wouldn't recognize me. I woke up this morning and wasn't myself, trust me, it's better to not ask questions. You'll see me soon enough, just watch the news, stay tuned to London." Then I hung up. I didn't want sentimental bullshit, or her yelling at me. She wouldn't understand.

Though I'm sure if she knew what happened to me, she'd be interested. She loves the supernatural shit. She loves the stories of vampires and werewolves. She actually doesn't mind furry, she finds it kinda cool.

It's just that damn CSI episode she watched. Too bad she's a huge CSI fan.

Either way, she would likely call back to yell at me, but I wasn't planning on answering. I had a crowd to surprise.

All the rib stands were laid out in front of me in a line. There were lines of up to 50 people per stand, and it smelled so good.

I launched myself over the side of the building and onto the street below. The people walking around stopped and backed away gasping. I gave a little salute and walked calmly across the road to the park.

As people saw me, they backed up and gasped. I rolled my eyes and smiled. "What are you guys doing? I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."

A little girl tried to come see me, but her mother stopped her. "We don't talk to strangers." The mother said.

I took in a deep breath and walked towards the people, who continued to back away slowly. "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Runa Merone. I'm here for some ribs!"

I tried to stand in line, but because everyone was gawking at me, there were no more lines. I got to be first in line as everybody formed a bit of a circle around me, all whispering and chatting amongst one another.

I saw the flash of a camera in the distance. Good, publicity.

I looked in the direction of the flash. "Come on, let the people with cameras in closer to get a good look." I pinched a bit of my skin under the fur. "It's not a suit."

I turned back to the rib stand, but I didn't see the people who were manning it. As I walked forward, I heard people calling on their cellphones, people shouting to their friends to 'come here and see this'.

I was a bit of an attention whore. I liked making a scene, which is why I reached over the front of the nearest stand, which nobody was in, and grabbed two slabs of ribs. I walked over to the nearest picnic table and sat down, dropping the ribs straight on the table. I didn't care that it was dirty and gross, I was hungry, and for some reason, the dirt wasn't bothering me that much.

I was becoming something of a spectacle. People were still standing around me in a circle, watching me eat as they chatted amongst one another.

One punk looking dude and his girlfriend came up to me. "Dude, is that real?"

I rolled my eyes. What kind of a dumb question is that. "Of course it's real. I wouldn't be here in a suit. Suits look dumb. You want to see for yourself?" I pulled my coat up and showed my tail. I flicked it around and made little loops. "See? Can't do that with a motorized tail."

There was a collective 'oooh' from the crowd, then people got in a little closer to ask a million questions.

"How long have you been like this?"

"What happened?"

"What's it like?"

"Can you hear my thoughts?"

I looked up to the guy who asked that. "No, I can't read your thoughts, if I could, I'm sure I'd be afraid of what I'd hear." I laughe, then looked to the others. "It's been a few days, I don't know what happened, but it's cool."

I flicked my ear and scratched it, which elicited an 'aww' from the crowd.

I bit down into my ribs, which tasted delicious. Meat in my mouth, I smiled and gave a thumbs up to the cameras that were flashing at me. It was a lot of fun, being in the spotlight while at the same time getting some food in me.

I knew the feeling of fame wouldn't last. I just wanted to be in the spotlight long enough to get the public aware of my existence. I also wanted enough time to eat a portion of the ribs.

I licked off my paws after eating a few ribs. "So, does anyone have a video camera on them?"

I heard a girl in the back yelling as they were jumping up and down. "I do!" I heard her say enthusiastically.

"Well, bring it here, get a video of this!" I encouraged her. She made her way to the front of the pack and got her camcorder out of her purse. She turned it on and turned it to face me. "Watch carefully. Is it recording?" I asked.

"Yep." She answered.

"Don't lose me." I warned, then jumped in the air, backflipping over the crowd and into a tree. I grabbed onto a branch, flipped around, kicked off the stump, did another flip and landed on two paws back on the ground with the precision of a gymnast. "Tadaa!" I did a little bow.

There was a round of applause. More and more people were coming to see me. I smiled and looked through the crowd. There were people of all ages and races. Young ones were being held back by their parents, who still didn't want them getting too close to the strange tiger man.

It was just then, after the clapping subsided, that I felt like something bad was going to happen. Like my little fun was about to end.

"Excuse me, comin through." I heard a familiar voice say. A few moments later, I saw Tron break through the crowd. "Aww, Runa, how did I know you'd be here."

One of the women asked Tron, "You know this....guy?"

"Yeah, he's a friend of mine. He shouldn't be out like this either."

"Whoa, Tron, come on dude. You said so yourself, people were gonna find out eventually." I protested.

"Yeah, but we took it to a vote, that's what democracy is. You vote, and that's that. You were supposed to stay secret until we got to find out more." he pointed out. He did have a point, and I really didn't feel like arguing with him.

"I know you're right, but I don't care. This is my life, these people seem to like me just fine. I'm not dangerous, I'm just cute, and that's that."

"Leave the tiger man alone!" I heard someone in the crowd yell.

Tron just sighed, and a few seconds later, Stitchwolf and Sunie both broke through the crowd after him.

"Oh, wow," Sunie said. I'd say he was shocked, but he knew what he was expecting.

"Well, this is interesting." Stitch said.

I smiled. "Come on guys, this is awesome and you know it."

Stitch smiled, doing some hand motions. "Well, yeah, but that's besides the point. Look, we gotta get you back to Strype's place for a while. You've already exposed yourself too much."

I was about to protest and whine, but then I saw what looked like a camera crew coming towards us. I raised a claw. "Excuse me, I have some business to attend to." And I raised my paws to the air, welcoming the TV crew.

Stitch, Sunie, and Tron all let out a collective sigh.

"I heard there was a hell of a story....whoa!" The reporter backed up when he saw me, then just laughed. "Aww, man, it's just one of them furries."

I rolled my eyes and looked over to Stitch, Sunie, and Tron, who were all smiling and nodding in my direction, as if to say, 'go ahead, do your thing'.

"Actually, come check this out." I instructed them. "I'm real. This is me. You wanna come over and see for yourself?"

He shook his head, but came in closer any way. I pushed up my lip to show my teeth. "Shee thasht? Thasht cnt be fked." I mumbled, because my claws were in my mouth. "This either." I added as I wrapped my tail around a stick and picked it up.

I saw his eyes widen as be backed up. "Whoa, this can't be right. Cody, get that camera rolling!" He wiped off his jacket and he got a mic ready.

The reporter was talking into his mic. "Testing, one, two three."

"Audio levels are clear." The cameraman said.

"Don't forget to white balance." I warned them nonchalantly.

Both the cameraman and the interviewer stared at me coldly. "We know what we're doing." The cameraman said. "We don't need our interviewee telling us what to do."

I shrugged. "Alrighty then, ask the questions." I encouraged them. All the crowd was still standing around, some had dispersed, but most of them still wanted a good look at the freak. Maybe a chance to be in the news.

I loved how I could manipulate the people, just by being different.

"Okay, camera is rolling, ready in five, four, three..." He stopped talking, but instead counted down with his fingers. Two, one, and ready!

"I'm Josh Newman with A Channel news, and something spectacular has emerged here at the Ribfest. Here we have a real, walking, talking tiger man. Tell me, what's your name?" He asked.

"Well, my name is Runa Merone, but that's just my adopted name. Im not going to tell you my real name, you know, identity and stuff."

The Reporter nodded in agreement. "I see, so, how long have you been like this?"

"Well, this is my second day like this, actually."

"How did this happen?"

"Well, truthfully, I don't know. I felt sick on Monday night, and when I woke up Tuesday morning, this was what I was."

"And how did that make you feel?"

"Well, at first I was quite nervous, then I thought I was still dreaming, but then I realized I wasn't. It was then that I felt as if a dream had come true!" I did a little fanboy squee, and tried to purr, but it sounded more like a low growl.

The reporter backed away at the sound of my 'purr' so I stopped. "So, um, you're telling me you like this?" He asked nervously.

I smiled, enjoying the reporter's unease. "Yeah. See, I'm a furry, so when this happened, it was like my soul had manifested itself in physical form. Now I'm this, a feline who walks and talks, and I have enhanced senses, and I'm very strong and fast. I wouldn't give this up for the world!"

"So, now that you've....changed... what do you plan on doing now? I mean, I'm sure the Hamilton Tigercats need a new mascot."

I glared at the reporter. "Don't ever recommend that to me again. I've gotten enough taunts like that before I actually had the power to do anything about it." I paused for a few moments to let that sink in as I shook off my anger and smiled at the camera. "You can edit that out in post production."

"Well, um, sorry about that."

I laughed a bit then looked at the camera. "Actually, I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who needs someone with brute strength, or agility. I mean, there's a lot I could do if people could get past the stripey fur." I grabbed some of my skin and pulled it out, showing that the fur was real.

"Well, that sounds like a heck of a tough road to go down, but I wish you the best of luck with that!" He reached toward me to shake my paw, which I could tell made hum uncomfortable. "This is Josh Newman for A Channel news with Mr Runa Merone. Have a good day!"

He smiled for the camera for a few seconds, then they shut it off.

"Well done sir!" The cameraman told the reporter.

"Thanks for your time." Josh told me. "Could we get you to spell out your name on this piece of paper so there's no typos?"

He handed me a pen and pad, which I wrote the name 'Runa Merone' on. He thanked me, and off he went.

"So, did you have your fun?" Tron asked as he approached me.

"Of course. Where are Stitch and Sunie?" I asked, looking around.

"They decided they'd take advantage of the lack of lines and they'd get some ribs." He informed me. "Come on dude, it's time to get back to the furs. Apparently there are more than we thought that changed."

I cocked my head to the side. "Like whom?"

"Well, May turned, but she's a feral housecat now. Tiny little cat. She's at my place. Hawk turned, Ether turned, and so did Welnis."

My eyes widened. That was so awesome! "So, where are they all?"

"Well, Welnis and Ether are in Woodstock with Ether's mom. They'll be here this afternoon. May, like I said, is at my place with Hawk and Madius." He explained. "Look though, we need to get you back to the apartment. Stitch is gonna ask you a few questions, like he did with the others."

I shrugged. "Can't do that man, I'm doing my own thing, tell Stitch to watch the news, I'm outta here!" And with that, I did a huge jump back over to my slabs of meat which still lay on the picnic table, I grabbed them, and bounded of to the nearest building for some privacy.

It was nice to be able to just get away from people. I look over to the park, people were still trying to watch me, some were pointing at me, but none of them could see me well, the sun was right behind me.

DODODO, DEDEDEDEDEDEDE, dedededededededededede!

Aw shit, not again. I considered not answering, but I let my gut tell me to answer it. "Ola!" I said enthusiastically.

"Hey man, it's Welnis."

"Oh, hey Welnis. So, Tron just told me."

"He did, eh? Dammit, I wanted to tell you myself. So yeah, Ember's there, right?"

"Yeah, she's back at Strype's place. At least she was there last time I saw her."

"That's cool. Hey, so, what's it like for you?"

"Oh, it's totally cool. Super strength, great reflexes and agility, super jumping ability and balance. It's everything I could ask for. I'm like spiderman without the webs!"

"Yeah, me too. And this tail, it's so fun to play with. Anyway man, they were saying you'd left them, and were planning on telling people."

I hesitated. "Uh, yeah. I did. I went right to ribfest and told everyone. Apparently there was a news crew on location, so I even got an interview. Chances are that I'll be on TV later today."

"Um, dude, are you sure that's the best thing to do? I mean, people tend to not like weird things like furries."

"Yeah, I know, but this isn't just normal furries. This is something sensational, people think it's cool. I mean, sure, furries on the net can be creepy, I guess, but this is someone with a real animal body. It's so much different when it's not just in your head. You gotta know the people."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Look though, one thing is for sure, we gotta stick together. Ether's here, his mom brought him after he changed. My parents know, and they don't seem to think too highly of it."

I thought again about what my family would say. "Well, I just didn't tell my family. My Bro would love it though. He'd be jealous. As it is, I'm here in London, you should convince Gemini to bring you here." Gemini was Ether's mother, who also happened to be a furry. "Maybe we can chill as a group, but for now, I am gonna go around, maybe cause some more havoc."

"Dude, are you sure you shouldn't just wait, I'm not sure it's a good idea to just scare people like that."

"It's cool man. As long as those who don't want to be seen stay in hiding, my actions shouldn't affect them in any way."

"Suit yourself man, I just hope you're right. Anyway, Gemini is bringing us to London later tonight."

"Awesome man, see ya later."

I hung up the phone and looked around town. I was in London, the heart of London, seven or eight stories up on a roof, and I could see just about everything. I could see the general area that Strype lived in, I could see the apartment complex that Stitch and Sunie lived in.

Well, I'd already had one hell of a day, despite it not even being noon yet. I was well known now, the public knew of me; now I could only hope I become some sort of sensation. That girl that filmed me could put it on youtube and there's gonna be a news story on me.

I had achieved my goal. I wanted the world to know. I've always been one to want my own self to be known. Not necessarily famous, but known. Ask any of my friends, they know I don't like hiding my true self, and this was me not hiding my true self.

Granted, I guess I was exaggerating a little, making it a bit bigger than it should be. For all I know, this was something that was temporary. I woke up a tiger, I could wake up a human any time I sleep. There's always that possibility.

Then again, nobody saw my magic. I was planning on keeping it that way. If people saw what I could do, they could panic.

I didn't want panic, I wanted publicity. Not the bad type though.

So much to think about. Too bad I was too stubborn to actually think about my actions. Next on my agenda, I needed to get a hold of a television or some internet.

I'd done my part, I'd made myself well known, now it was time to see the news and what people thought.

I put the hood back on, and I leapt again from building to building until I made it to Strype's backyard.