[NC] On top of the world

CLANG!

Poe spun with a hiss, every bit of the fur on her body puffed up as she searched and searched for the source. Back in the direction she’d come but beyond her home something, no the shape was feline, someone was moving. Just a cat. She told herself over and over. Along her spine the hairs settled but the back of her neck was still prickling with residual fear. The breeze once so playful now moved with menace; pushing and pulling rather than merely tousling her fur.

As her companion slipped into the cascading light of a lamp-post Poe got a good look at her for the first time. Tall and sleek with a ragged cut in one of her ears, the skinniness to her body along with the scar identified her as a feral or a stray. The young kittypet held her ground, she’d met kind ferals before, but the other encounters, with cats twice her size threatening to claw her eyes out made her blood run a little cooler. As if seeing her for the first time the stranger stopped and stiffened. Poe kinked her tail in greeting, a thoroughly non-threatening purr rumbling from her chest. Despite the friendliness to her voice, Poe’s posture was tense.

“Hello?” Poe called, voice shaky yet crisp.

Bast moved past the wall of her twoleg den, letting her black fur fade and become one with the shadows. The golden glint of her sparkling neck brace caught the light of the moon. It looked like one of those strange things ancient Egyptians wore, or whoever her twoleg had called them. Whatever, Bast was proud she wore it. She also like the way the single golden hoop hung from her right here, dangling down. When it first was put in, it hurt a lot and was horribly uncomfortable, not it was like a part of her pelt and she liked the way it caught the light and dangled. It made her like the Egyptian goddess Bast; she took pride in that. She leaped up to the twoleg fence, the neck brace weighing her down a little, but she was still graceful in her movements. The neck brace swung slightly as Bast landed neatly on the twoleg structure before leaping back down on the other side. The way she moved fluidly and gracefully reminded her of how she thought Bast would move in feline form, further strengthening the thought, the belief, that she herself was the goddess. After all, why would her twoleg dress her up like one the goddess, and then give her the same name? She moved easily along the dimly lit sidewalk, the hard surface scraping her paws. She stopped as she smelled the aroma of other cats, but kept her fur calm and relaxed. A goddess didn't get riled up over something so trivial. And a goddess certainly wouldn't be afraid of the very things she ruled over. Bast slipped quietly along the twoleg fence till the other two cats came into view. Bast stepped delicately away from her cover, revealing herself to the other cats. She walked smoothly past the feral and came into both their views, her golden jewelry shining brightly in contrast to her sleek black pelt. "Hello," she greeted with a respectful dip of her head.

Lily loosened her aggressive stance and tried to calm her ruffled fur without having to release her fine catch. She stepped forward a few pawsteps to get a closer look at the cat shining brightly underneath the lamplight. She looked well-fed, and dazzling under the buzzing fixture. How embarrassing! To get all riled up by a house cat. She thought angrily. Although she knew that not all house cat's were defenseless. The brown she-cat had placed her food beneath one paw, and was about to answer the cats greeting when a large shadow stalked past her. A startled hiss erupted from Lily. "What is this? Are you not strong enough to fight me one on one?" She growled, feeling threatened by the two cats who now stood before her like looming boulders, ready to plow through her for treading on their land. The dark fur along her spine stood tall. Her blue eyes narrowed suspiciously at the black cat who had recently arrived. It didn't seem possible for her to fight the both of them if it came down to it, but Lily couldn't damage her already diminishing pride by fleeing. 

Bast turned around as if realizing the loner was there for the first time. She stared at the hostile cat calmly. "No need for hostility," she purred, completely confident. Her tail drifted from side to side as she gazed at the other cat. She glanced down at the piece of twoleg food gripped firmly under one paw. "After all, kittypets have no use for garbage." Bast turned back to face the other kittypet. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name?"

At first Poe was confused, fur bristling as she searched for the newcomer to the standoff, and then she got a glimpse of her ‘backup’ and couldn’t stop her whiskers from twitching. She looked from the feral, bristling over a scrap of garbage like there was no tomorrow, and the kitten, calm as anything.

“Yes, because I need a kitten, too young to be without her mother’s milk to back me up.” Past dealings with this breed came flooding back and Poe caught her tongue; it was better to make this kind of cat think they had the upper hand. “Look, I don’t want any trouble and I have all the food I need.”

She couldn’t help but glance over at the kitten, weighed down by some kind of heavy glittering collar, some kind of eccentric owner she supposed. It wasn’t worth replying to the kitten; the older she-cat was the real threat here and Poe gave it a minute, max, until a crow decided it wanted to play with the collar and swept the kitten away.

Bast glanced at the other kittypet, how dare she insult her. Bast could be threatening! She turned to glance at the feral cat, the golden hoop swinging at her ear. She caught the scent of the twoleg junk and wrinkled her snout in disgust. She'd rather eat a skunk than that. "Don't call me a kitten," Bast stated calmly without turning around to look at the kittypet. She could handle herself in a fight, after all she was a god. She kept her fur flat and her gaze serene, the non-violence clear in her look as she addressed the feral. She cocked her head to one side. "If you wish to to be on your way then no ones stopping you. So why are you stopped? You obviously want to take your catch somewhere to eat where no one will steal. I'd say this is the perfect place for that. No kittypet will want junk," Bast said disdainfully, glancing down quickly at twoleg trash once more.

Lily gritted her teeth, feeling their harsh words like claws across her face. It was true, she was eating trash, but it was much better tasting than any kittypet food she had been given before. She felt an embarrassing heat sweep across her body, wishing she could be somewhere else. She didn't want to leave the two to gossip about her haggard appearance and give her a bad name across Twoleg place. She wanted to come off as strong and independent. Lily gave her short chest hairs a few quick licks, wiping away all feelings with her sand papery tongue. "Well, if you two kittypets don't care for my meal, I will enjoy it here along with your company." She sneered, taking a giant bite from her catch. The meat pulled apart easily, but was dry in the middle and smelled a day or two old. Not wanting to let them win, Lily took another hasty bite and looked at the first cat through narrowed blue eyes. "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be curled up with your twolegs at this hour?" 

Poe was torn between laughter and respect at the younger kittypet's indignation and pretence of solemness; at twice that age she would have been shaking like a leaf confronted with a feral. Poe, still entranced by the whispering of the trees chose not to push the matter of age but her whiskers twitched with amusement.

The kitten wasn’t the only one inexplicably collected, after another tense moment all signs of aggression fled the feral and the prickling along Poe’s spine ebbed away. Poe found herself copying the loner’s gesture of nonchalance; rasping her tongue over the same patch of fur on her chest over and over. It was hard to shake the feeling of shards of ice sidling back into the conversation.

“Well, we can go as we please, you know.” Poe said lightly. “Would you really be cooped up inside on a night like tonight?”

Bast noticed how the other kittypet was calming down and how all the tension had left the air. "I would never let my twoleg coop me up," Bast commented calmly, her voice controlled. "She lets me go where I please." She stared at the feral digging into the twoleg trash an slightly wrinkled her nose in distaste. She preferred it fresh when her twoleg would sneak her a few pieces of chicken or some other flavored food. That's when it was really good, not something even the twolegs didn't want. Bast certainly wouldn't be caught dead eating that disgusting stuff, it would be undignified for her. Though she did have to admit that the stuff tasted a lot better than kittypet food. "You're write," Bast agreed directing the comment to the feral. "Twoleg trash probably tastes a lot better than what they give us, but twoleg food when its fresh is a lot better than both. I'll take that any day."

Lily twitched her ears, somewhat interested in the two kittypets. She barely remembered her own life with her twolegs before they vanished. The brown she-cat had spent most of her time in the green garden. The plants were fragrant and tall. On the sunniest of days, she spent her time catching butterflies or watching the fluffy white clouds above. She shook head, clearing the sweet memories from her mind and taking another aggressive mouthful of twoleg trash. "You get used to it. It's better than going hungry." She meowed gently, well aware of how disgusting it was. Her long brown tail lashed back and forth with amusement. "I hate to admit it, but I was once a kittypet just like the two of you. I never spent any of my time indoors." Lily left out the fact that she was young and hopeless with the thoughts of seeing her mother again. It was all the kept her going for moons. Quickly finishing the rest of her meal, she started to groom her ruffled fur, uncomfortable with the memories flooding back. 

“Well, there are alternatives,” Poe tipped her chin slightly.

Did she really have to eat it like that, as if it might be snatched out from under her? The stranger wasn’t a bad looking cat and Poe could sense some fine breeding, somewhere deep inside. A good looking cat like her could easily make a go of it with humans. Put up with the pats, come back every now and then, train them to only feed the wet stuff. All in all it wasn’t a bad life and for the life of her Poe failed to see why any cat would run away from it. Had she imagined the tinge of regret to the words, it was best to try in any case.

“If you’re looking I might be able to convince my humans to take you in. Wouldn’t be hard.” Poe let the offer hang for a moment. “I’m Poe by the way.”

A deep rumble erupted from Lily's throat, a choked chuckle bursting in to the air. "I could never!" The thought of her spending all day basking in a window, watching the rest of the world pass her by seemed...boring. Besides, I'm doing just fine on my own. I never needed twolegs to look after me. She thought with a hint of indignation. The days were lonely, and so were the nights, but nothing beat sleeping beneath the stars. The adrenaline rush of waking every morning somewhere different filled her with warmth from head to tail tip. She softened her icy blue gaze at the kittypet named Poe. "I may not eat like a King every night, but at least I can live freely. This is where I belong." Lily sat up, licking a messy tuft of fur along the base of her tail. The twoleg nest she resided in was not her home, and nor were the savage clan cats in the forest. She may have been a part of both of those worlds, but they weren't where she needed to be. The lengthy she-cat released a heavy sigh and sat up tall with her chest puffed out. "My name is Lily. I was born a kittypet, but that wasn't where my heart had truly settled. You should give this lifestyle a try, you might realize it suits you much better."