Bó had always liked to wiggle his ears for, just as with the Folk, it was an ability not very common among Mokeu. Today however was the day he once more noticed just how limited to mere aesthetic effects this was for he really would have preffered to turn them away from every fireworks explosion altogether. That however was something only the felines in this city could do, but those had been clever enough to seek refuge from the neverending stream of visitors flooding the place altogether. It was loud, the plazas overcrowded and the air malodorous because of all the meat being cooking in an unimaginable number of variations.

How could they even eat this ? Bark and plantlife in general were just so less complicated to grow and prepare, but maybe they were just too many people in too crowded a space to have any forests left to feed off ? Yet at the same time Bó could also just admire those in the Empire, for the whole situation of festivities he found himself in right now was a very strong symbol about what his own kind lacked so badly: unity. Compared to the steady in-fighting, the Empire and Folk in general were a miraculously efficient entity.

Unless it came to actually serving some damn meals, that was... Bó had positioned himself in front of a rather large stand with several men hectically serving food to their guests, but by now he felt some strain in his legs coming up for they weren't accustomed to stand still for so long. Or was that just a fake feeling made up by some other part of his mind to convince him to give up the effort of eating something here and go on ? It must have been a lot of minutes by now and still one bowel after the other found its way into the hands of some individual who he was convinced had only started waiting for it [i]after[/i] him. They were doing this on purpose!

So very efficient again after all, just not the way he liked ? Inadvertently ignoring yet another fireworks' explosion somewhere above his head, Bó dared to step closer and started to track one of the men staffing the stall with a distinct stare of his amber eyes. He'd get this individual's attention one way or the other...

"What do you want ?" the man's chesty voice ultimately asked, exposing a fair degree of annoyance along with his words.

[color=ff9900]"Food."[/color] Bó borderlined on just snapping back because he onyl realized at the last moment that adding provication to one's own provication would do no good to stop the other one from provoking. He slightly rolled his eyes as if they actually featured much of a clearly distuingishable pupil to make that visible. [color=ff9900]"A more orderly handling of the queue would suffice for the moment as well though."[/color]

The man laughed and some others behind the counter joined in, but not all in the queue did. Some of them just turned their heads and dared to give a subtle nod towards the Mokeu towering over their heads. Bó figured it really didn't take a genius to discover that most of those seemingly agreeing with him had spent a lot of time here as well without really getting to move forward. What was this here ? A competition of who was the most cunning and audacious ?

"Food ? We don't have any tree parts here, just rice and meat! But... some of the city's more outside parks might be pretty unguarded at the moment. You could try there!"

Bó hissed, baring his sharp teeth that had more in common with that of a feline than his ears, probably. There were some alley trees around here, too, but... harvesting them ? The man with the rice and meat had a serious point about the guards. And who knew if their bark did even have a good taste to it! Maybe it was even riddled with worms and bugs and whatnot he didn't like!

On the other hand his stomach was on the verge of starting a clearly audible rebellion at this point, so he had to do something about it now. His place in the queue was worthless anyway give how things were handled here the Mokeu deemed, so he set off -- for one of the alleys. He'd just have to wait for the right time and snatch away at one of those lovely plants. What did he have this knife for after all ?

As Bó proceeded, the large mass of people seemed to ignore him for the most part. It was such a dense and steady stream of people that those unfortunate enough to be inside of it had their vision blocked by the remainder, and the remainder in turn was too busy talking or admiring the fireworks to divert significant attention to a reddish-brown Mokeu casually leaning against one of the alley's trees. Yet as he slowly pulled his knife out of his pocket in order to start carving up a bit of the soft bark in the somewhat hidden space between his flexed back and the tree itself, one very guard-like looking individual worked his way out of the masses indeed.

Or rather: crept. A single glance revealed that the person, without the involuntary support of other people cramped around him, was listing even more badly to one side than a sinking ship. Yet at the same time some residual traces left on the man's beard also told a story about that state having persisted despite at least one very successful effort to get a lot of excess liquid off board again.

Bó discarded the guard theory. The city guard just couldn't be rotten like that, this had to be a visitor in arms. So he proceeded with his plan and found his worries taken off him completely when the drunkard just stretched out his arm to find some desperately needed support at the tree and bent down in a very foreboding manner. Fine! That would leave behind a perfect distraction until it'd be impossible to backtrack him.

Bó felt triumphant as he returned to the stand. He waved with the small chunk of bark and stretched his arms over other people's heads as far as he could so to get his meal into the vision of somebody who was serving stuff. [color=ff9900]"Here I am! I want that fried in some decent fat, covered in rice and garnished with some good spice! You didn't tell I couldn't just bring my own food, did you ?"[/color]

Did he have their attention now ?