Just Another Rainy Day

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About the Image

This post features a gorgeous new outfit from JustBECAUSE for the current round of Uber. The Poppy Dress and Poppy Boots are sold separately, with each available by mesh body in a fatpack of 24 colors. On the dress, you can use the HUD to color the sweater and delicate lace underdress independently, giving you plenty of options to create your perfect fall look.

The boots are just as beautiful, with realistic leather texturing that really shows off the design details. As with all current JustBECAUSE releases, Poppy uses PBR materials, so you’ll need a PBR-enabled viewer to fully appreciate the textures and finish.

Stop by Uber to pick up a demo and try Poppy for yourself!

Complete credits are below the story. Store and event SLurls are available on the Store & Event Links page.

The Story

Rain softened the edges of Cherishville, turning the autumn streets hazy and golden beneath a sky the color of burnt orange. Serena walked slowly along the cobblestones, umbrella balanced over one shoulder as wet leaves clung to the pavement around her boots. The cafés and little shops looked especially inviting in the rain, their windows glowing warmly against the gray afternoon.

She was passing one of the cafés when something beneath the awning caught her eye.

A cat.

Serena stopped. The cat stared at her, and she stared back. “Oh, no.”

The cat blinked.

“I know your kind,” Serena said, tightening her grip on the umbrella.

Her recent experience with Luna’s elderly cat was still much too fresh in her memory. She had innocently agreed to take the little darling for a ride in a carriage. What followed had involved hissing, growling, claws, and behavior so undignified that Serena was fairly certain both she and the cat had agreed never to discuss it again.

The cat beneath the awning stood, and Serena immediately stepped back. “Don’t even think about it.”

The cat stepped off the curb.

“Oh, no. I am not doing this again.”

The cat stopped just beyond the shelter of the awning and looked up at the rain. Then it looked at Serena, and finally at her umbrella.

Serena narrowed her eyes. “You have fur. You’ll be fine.”

The cat meowed.

“That is not an argument.”

Another meow.

Serena sighed. “Fine. But this is not the beginning of a friendship.”

A few minutes later, anyone looking out the café window would have seen Serena walking slowly down the street with her umbrella tilted awkwardly to one side while the cat trotted beneath it.

“This is only temporary,” she reminded him. “And if you hiss at me, climb me, bite me, or do anything remotely similar to Luna’s cat, you’re on your own. Also, stop looking at me like that. I’m still not a cat person.”

The cat seemed unmoved by this declaration. It continued beside her as if they’d made this walk together every afternoon for years.

Serena glanced around, half expecting someone to come running out of one of the nearby shops calling for their missing pet. No one did. Eventually, she stopped, and the cat stopped with her.

“You cannot come home with me,” she said.

The cat sat down and began washing one paw.

“I mean it. I have Fiona. She doesn’t like cats.”

The cat moved on to the other paw.

“And Gavin would have questions.”

The cat looked up at her.

Serena frowned. “Do not make that face.”

Then she noticed the collar. It was mostly hidden beneath the damp fur, but a tiny brass tag caught the light when the cat moved.

“Well, that changes things.”

Serena crouched carefully and reached toward him, fully expecting this to be the moment the claws came out. Instead, the cat leaned forward and bumped his forehead against her hand.

Serena froze. “Oh.”

A rumbling purr followed. She scratched him cautiously behind one ear.

“Well, you’re certainly nicer than some other cats I could mention.”

She turned the tag over and found a name engraved across the front: Marmalade. Below it was a phone number.

“Aha. You do have people.”

Marmalade purred louder.

Serena pulled out her phone and called. The woman who answered sounded frantic. Marmalade had slipped through the door that morning, and she and her husband had been searching the neighborhood for hours. They lived only a few streets away, so Serena explained where they were and promised to wait beneath the café awning.

By the time they walked back, Marmalade had apparently decided that Serena’s umbrella, and possibly Serena herself, belonged to him. He sat beside her while she waited, occasionally leaning against one of her boots.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” she warned.

Marmalade purred.

A few minutes later, a woman came hurrying through the rain. “Marmalade!”

The cat, who until that moment had behaved as if Serena were the only acceptable human in Cherishville, immediately abandoned her and ran toward his owner.

“Marmalade, you little monster!”

He was scooped up, hugged, kissed, and wrapped inside the woman’s raincoat while she thanked Serena over and over.

“I’m just glad he’s going home,” Serena said.

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You really don’t have to.”

But before she left, the woman ducked inside the café. A moment later, one of the servers appeared carrying a steaming mug.

“The cat lady bought this for you,” he said. “Hot chocolate.”

Serena accepted it with both hands and smiled. “That I will accept.”

She stood beneath the awning for another minute, warming her fingers against the mug as she watched Marmalade and his owner disappear down the rain-soaked street. Maybe the day hadn’t turned out quite as she expected, but one reasonably well-behaved cat didn’t change anything.

“I still don’t like cats. As a group, I mean,” she murmured.

From beneath a nearby café table came a soft meow.

Serena didn’t even look.

“Just no.”

CREDITS

Serena

WINGS EF0310 Hair
Angel Eyes Messy 20 Hairbase
Glam Affair Lybra
WarPaint Paradise Eyeshadow
AvaWay Maple Whisper Necklace
JustBecause Poppy Dress (NEW @ Uber)
Izzie’s Sheer Tights
JustBecause Poppy Boots (NEW @ Uber)