"You kept up, right?" said Gata. "That's all you need."

She took a long sip, looking out over the city. Put the empty can on the edge, finger toying with it as feline instincts compelled her to push it off. She didn't so much resist as ride the temptation, letting her hand sway ominously back and forth across the can, never letting go.

"That's all I needed to know too," she said, slitted eyes locking onto some distant person - one amongst millions picked out for predatory scrutiny. "But it would be rude of me to leave without saying anything." A learned sentence. An artificial social ritual she is emulating using incorrect hardware. Her attention is locked up in her stare, her swaying tail, the thought of the pounce. She kept those instincts under control too. Everything like her was like those fingernails drumming restlessly on that can on the edge of the abyss. Always tempted - never falling. Cat to the bones.