Kitty Kitty Neko?

[aldersprig]

A sequel to a feral cat-girl and Here, Kitty, Kitty

“Easy, easy, shit, easy.” Luke almost lost his hold on the girl as she did her best to scramble out of his hands, over him, and onto the dog-boy. Or, at least, he was pretty sure that’s where she was going. Mike, on the other hand, shouted a Working so fast that his words blurred together and so loudly they might have heard it back at Addergoole, and the dog-boy fell asleep.

Almost abashed, Luke remembered he could do Workings, and, in a much quieter, much more soothing tone, did a Calm Down working on the cat-girl. “Easy, easy. Okay. There.” She was looking at him, sleepy now but definitely calm. “Okay. So, do you understand me?”

She shook her head no. Luke managed not to laugh in her face.

“Do you have a name?”

She had to think about that. After a moment, she offered “Cat.”

“Well, that’s a label, at least. Hello, Cat. I’m Luke.”

“Loooo-kuh,” she tried, and nodded. “Luke.” The second time, it sounded almost an echo of how he’d said it.

“This place, it’s not safe. There’s-”

“Bad things,” she agreed, and then a string of something that Luke only belatedly recognized as Japanese.

He peered at her. Blondish, maybe, under all the dirt. Had Leo passed through here recently? Would have to ask.

“Easy, easy. My Japanese is pretty rusty. If you come with us, we can find you a safe place to stay.”

“Dog?”

“He’s going to have to come too. Sorry.”

“Dog good,” she nodded. “Better than -” she hesitated, and then offered uncertainly, “-the bad things.”

“Well, that’s an endorsement all right. Come with me, then, Cat?”

She nodded. Hesitantly, Luke released one of her wrists.

Comments

[lilfluff]

Aww. But if they head back to the village then they might be able to get some hot chocolate if someone has the right Words. And warm rooms with solid walls and lots of blankets.

[siliconshaman]

Hot chocolate might not be a good idea, depending on how cat-like her metabolism is.

Warm rooms and a big pile of cushions, that'd work.

[aldersprig]

Warm cream!

And soft things. :-)

[siliconshaman]

Aye, that'd do it!

[siliconshaman]

Aww, poor Cat! much better to go with the humans and not stay where there are bad things...

[ok, I'm a sucker for ferals.]

[aldersprig]

My baby cat (she just turned four) was a feralish farm kitty, so I know the feeling!

[inventrix]

...Japanese???

[aldersprig]

I do not know why the semi-feral catgirl is speaking Japanese.

I cannot think it’s actually Leo’s fault.

[siliconshaman]

Morphic resonance perhaps? The universe expects cat-girls to be Japanese. Either that, or whomever created her was weebo.

[inventrix]

Me either! Leo would've just adopted her.

Maybe her mother was Japanese and fell through a portal.

[sauergeek]

When I said "dogs and cats, living together", I didn't expect it to actually turn out that way! But good that she seems to get on with dog-boy, though I wonder about her trying to climb Luke to get at him.

Is Luke's Japanese enough to know whether what she said was a list of specific Japanese monsters? I'd certainly think that would be a distinct possibility after "bad things". And I'd like that sort of warning, even if it's something as small (but troublesome) as a kappa, and definitely if it's a classic oni.

[clare_dragonfly]

Luke would forget he can do magic.

I wonder if she's just really good at learning languages...