- Spiderstrike smiled. This was an opportunity like no other. Her, Shadowfang, Owletfur, and Finchchirp searching the twolegplace for catnip like the good old days. Except now, under Mottlenose's request. The lights danced on the avenue in its core, an explosion of color unlike anything seen in the wilds of Cascadeclan's sprawling territory. Lingering in the air was the sharp tang of smoke and grease. They carefully traversed the thunderpaths that crisscrossed the twolegplace. Not that it was very hard ; the monsters were muzzle to tail with each other, hardly moving more than half a cat length at once. Occasionally they'd let out a loud, piercing bark that sent poor Finchchirp skywards a few times.
And once they hit the grey stone slabs that led to the little fenced off meadows the twolegs liked to play in, they were in an even better spot to take in the nightlife. Strays of the clowders that dotted the twolegplace mingled on the streets, trading fish and trinkets for scraps and bedding materials. Twolegs were far too distracted by their own kind to pay any attention to the four cats rushing under their feet.
"Hey, watch your paws!" Shadowfang hissed.
She looked back to see a twoleg stumble away from her best friend. Shadow felt up the length of her stepped on tail and shrugged. Thankfully, not broken.
They carefully treaded past large noisy dens that emitted strobes of light and an intense reverberating cloud of sound. It quite literally shook the ground where they walked in some spots. Finally, they started spotting what they were looking for ; the little dens that served as tiny camps for the twolegs. They hopped up onto the fences to see which ones had kittypets as friends, and more importantly, which ones were nice enough to grow catnip for them. They muttered to themselves as they went. About how dark it was. About why they keep porcupine plants in their territories. About how Spike and Dagger moved from one side of the street to the other side for no apparent reason. About how cute that white and black tom on the second street was.
Okay, maybe it was just Finchchirp muttering about that last one.
"Hi! What are you guys doing up there?"
They halted. Finch almost knocking the rest of them off in the manner of, as a twoleg might say, dominoes. To their right stood a chubby blue classic tabby molly, with prominent white paws and a large splash of white on her chest. Their eyes quickly shifted to something very unusual about her. Her ears weren't straight, they were curled all the way to the back of her head.
"Hello there, miss. We're searching for some catnip. Must be a bad growing season this year," Spiderstrike replied.
"I know, right?" The molly put both front paws against the wood fence, looking up at the clan patrol. "My housefolk hasn't found any for me lately either." Owlet subtly pointed out the black collar around her neck adorned with fake claws and a star shaped tag with twoleg language etchings. The rest of them nodded, acknowledging that the stranger was a curious kittypet.
Finchchirp cut in with a nosy question, "What happened to your ears." Spiderstrike glared at her.
The kittypet giggled, unoffended. "They started curling when I was barely born. I don't know when they stopped curling though! Don't know why they curled, but I think it's really cool because I've never seen another cat like me."
"Neither have we!" Shadowfang remarked. "Can you hear the same as a cat with straight ears too?"
"Yes I can!"
Shadowfang chirruped, "Now that's even more fascinating!"
The curly eared cat leaped up onto the fence with them with surprising ease. "Hey, mind if I tag along for a bit? I'm bored and I'd love some catnip too!"
Spiderstrike chuckled, amused at her exuberance. "Certainly," she replied, "as long as you tell us your name."
She smiled widely. "Kit!"
"Kit? Would be an odd name where we're from, but it fits you. My name is Owletfur. These are my friends ; Spiderstrike, Finchchirp, and Shadowfang, who's also my mate," Owlet purred, motioning to his friends as he introduced them. "Nice to meet you Kit."
-----
"Stupid cat."
A Harley revved violently as it roared to life under a short twoleg.
"Like I needed another wild goose chase tonight. I got enough of that from the boys."
Kat shifted into gear and took off searching. Her cat eared helmet concealed freshly permed auburn hair that stuck out as if she were part of a hair metal band. Her night just wasn't going right. First, the band she managed slipped out to cause some late night mischief under her nose. Second, she ended up searching all over for her phone just to realize she never actually unplugged it. And now third, her beloved blue American Curl Kit ran off to who knows where.
She sighed. Couldn't be that hard to spot. A red light flared in front of her. As she waited for the green light, she intently scanned the surroundings for a possible lost cat. All she could see was the late Saturday night crowds and a small cinnamon ferret making off with a bit of a french fry. All she could hear over her motorcycle's growl was a cacophony of club music. One played Havana, another latched onto the K-Pop craze with Call Me Baby, yet another leaned into the rap god Eminem. No, literally, she could hear Rap God from here. And over on the other side of the street, she could faintly hear Live Wire and grinned. Now that, that was a club she could vibe with.
The green light came and almost went before she even realized it was there. "Focus, Kat, focus," she muttered to herself. After nearly three hours of circling, she spotted a flash of blue fur and curled ears in the park. She pulled a very sudden three-laner to the chorus of a dozen horns honking at her for a risky swerve and parked in the nearest parallel spot. The keys jangled in the pockets of her skinny jeans, her high heeled boots softly clopping on the sidewalk.
-----
"So, what are your housefolk like Kit?"
Kit trotted next to them. "They're really nice. There's a tom housefolk and a molly housefolk, they're mates with each other. The tom likes to walk in the woods and play with the picture boxes that many housefolk seem to have. I think he plays games with them! He likes to snuggle a lot. The molly likes listening to a lot of songs that other housefolk sing in her language. Sometimes she sings them too. She has a really cool voice. She's also the one who took me home when I was ready to leave my litter."
Spiderstrike nodded along, even though she barely understood a third of what Kit just said. She still couldn't grasp how kittypet kits were so fine never seeing their mother again, content living with a strange twoleg or two for the rest of their lives. It was neat though, all that these kittypets knew. Maybe this knowledge could come in use later.
"Where are you guys from then?" Kit chirped.
Owletfur started to explain. "Well, we live with a group called Cascadeclan in the mountains among the cascades. We all work together to hunt for food and keep our family safe. Even though only a few of us are related to each other, we all consider the other cats in the clan as family. We are led by a nice molly named Campionstar."
Her green eyes widened. "Wow! I've never heard of a clan before. Maybe I'll look for more ; my housefolk travel constantly. Who becomes the next leader?"
"My mate will!" Shadowfang added. "He's the deputy, which is second-in-command to leader. He organizes a lot of clan activities and learns all the leader-y stuff from Campionstar. He'll become leader when Campionstar dies. Then he'd pick the next deputy to be leader after him. Other than that, the rest of us are warriors and apprentices, kits and queens. Or if we're retired, we become known as an elder."
Finchchirp corrected her. "Actually, we have a medicine cat too. The medicine cat both heals us and interprets signs from our ancestors in the great clan Starclan." She shuddered. "Our medicine cat Mottlenose is really creepy and odd. She rarely ever comes out of her den. That's why she sent us for the catnip. Me and my best friends think she's possessed, but no one else believes us."
"We still don't," Owletfur grumbled.
Kit laughed. "You guys are really fun! I think I'd like to live in a clan for a day, just one, to see what it's like. It sounds so interesting!"
A sudden roar of thunder rumbled throughout the fields. All but Kit scrambled for cover. She looked back, confused. "Hey, where are you guys going?"
"It's a thunder monster!" Finch squealed. The calico dove further under the bush, staring at the thunderpath with frightened eyes. Kit laughed even more hysterically at that.
"Silly stray, they're neither alive nor dangerous as long as the housefolk on it is paying attention. My housefolk has one that sounds just like that!"
She stopped for a moment, looking back toward the now sleeping thunder monster. A short female twoleg with strange things over her paws and a cat eared second head on strode angrily toward them, jabbering loudly. She looked back toward the Cascadeclan patrol.
"Oooooh no."
Two covered paws snatched the curly-eared kittypet right out of the grass. She pulled her friend in closer, cooing something to it. Probably a lecture. As she started to walk off, Kit stuck her head over the twoleg's shoulder.
"Goodbye, nice strays! I hope our paths meet again one day!" she yowled. "Wait! One last question! What would my clan cat name be?"
"That's easy!" Spiderstrike yowled back. They all answered her at once. "Curlyears!"
"I think I like that! Thank you guys, for making a boring day super fun!" she meowed, as the tiny metal den-nest thing on the back of the thunder monster clicked shut.
"Farewell, Kit! May Starclan light your path!"
The thunder monster roared and ran off. They started back toward camp, until Spiderstrike suddenly stopped. This time, Finchchirp did fail to stop and did manage to knock them all to the ground. "Spider, what's wrong?" Shadowfang asked.
She turned around with a sheepish grin. "We were having so much fun with Kit...that we completely forgot to look for catnip."
They all laughed a bit, looking back toward the twolegplace. Maybe Kit lifting their spirits would bring better luck their way.
[1786 words]
The Lorekeeper wrote:A cat named Kit? Still think that's rather unusual, don't you think so?
