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[countthecats]

Leave a message, and try not to bore me.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

[Per her discussion with Hanna, Donut paws at the door to the Cat King's room]

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[countthecats]

The door, she might be surprised to find, is actually a cat flap, and opens to her pawing easily. The cabin inside is dimly lit, a short hall that opens up into a round room filled with beds, scratchers, and perches. A few toys lay scattered about, and there's a little room off to the side that appears to house the litterboxes - well kept, though of course her nose can still tell.

The Cat King is hard to spot at first, until an orange tail flicks in the opening to one of the covered beds. He's hunkered in there, next to his communicator, back to the door.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

Oooh.

Donut's eyes grow wide with envy as she paws at one of the jingly balls on the floor. No! She won't be distracted!

Mentally and physically dragging herself away from the toys, she continues to walk up. She spies the tail, wiggles her little butt, and pounces for it.

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[countthecats]

Oh, no you don't. The Cat King snatches his tail away and turns enough to glower blearily at her from his hidey hole.

"What do you want, Donut."

Not the warmest welcome, but it'd be a lot nastier if she weren't a cat.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

She sits back, licking a paw, ever the show cat.

"Well, I was coming to visit per your invitation, but if you've rescinded it, I can leave."

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[countthecats]

He sighs dramatically.

"It's not rescinded. But I'm not in the mood to play. Do you need to be brushed, is that it?"

He had promised, after all.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

"Of course not. I was brushed before I left." She turns in a circle, to show off her flawless coat.

"If it's not too much trouble-" Donut says, a flair for the dramatic herself, "I would love to get some food. Have you eaten?"

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[countthecats]

"I'm not hungry. Surely you've figured out how the dining hall works, by now?" Especially at breakfast, with that butler fellow who always dotes on any cat who comes by.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

She scoffs, tail lashing, hiding her worry.

"I asked if you wish to come get food, not if you were hungry." Honestly: do you cat or not?

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[countthecats]

"Then no. I don't wish to go anywhere." And certainly not somewhere he'd be likely to run into Iago. "I'm perfectly comfortable where I am."

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[queen_anne_chonk]

A skeptical silence. You look very comfortable there in your bed with your butt sticking out, pouting dramatically.

Donut decides to change the subject.

"Someone here told me you had a human form."

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[countthecats]

"Of course," he answers mildly. "I thought you knew. Or did you think the form I was in when we first talked was some kind of fancy filter?"

Before she came here. When the communicator glitches were happening.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

“I did.” She says, stretching her body out. “Plenty of people use holograms these days. I didn’t realize you were a shapeshifter.”

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[countthecats]

"Well, I can be anyone I've seen. But the form you saw then is just for me."

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[queen_anne_chonk]

"It's a nice form." She decides. "Very 'noir New York'. I like the eyeshadow you used."

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[countthecats]

"Getting to play with fashion is a benefit of human form," he admits, but he still sounds flat. Tired.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

Donut sits down on the floor, rolling a ball with one paw, back and forth. She’s worried and afraid, but seems to want to stick with easier, less heavy topics for now.

“Plus, you can wear rings.” She says, after a beat. “I’ve always wanted to wear rings.”

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[countthecats]

"They're fake," he says blandly. "Part of the shapeshifting. I choose the clothes and jewelry."

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[queen_anne_chonk]

"What!" She gasps, offended through sheer envy. "That makes it so much better. You can wear whatever you like!"

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[countthecats]

"I suppose." He watches her listlessly, wondering if she has an ulterior motive for being here.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

Donut continues to sit, watching the Cat King right back.

"I for one would love to be able to accessorize with a wave of my paw. Alas, I must conform to the dungeon's standards. But I suppose you've never been judged in a contest."

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[countthecats]

"It's an amusement. Little more. But no. Even before I became what I am, I was always a street cat."

And that's all he'll ever be. The idea that he'd found 'his person' is so silly, in retrospect.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

She clicks her tongue, sad.

"No wonder you're so protective."

Donut sighs, dramatic, then walks a little closer.

"It's perhaps time to tell you a secret of mine, Cat King. You see, while I was always living in the lap of luxury, I once loved someone very dear to me. His name was Ferdinand and our love was not to be. He was a moggie, a stray. Most nights he would sit outside my window and call mournfully to me, and I could not answer, because the window was shut. He called me such beautiful names."

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[countthecats]

"How difficult for you," the Cat King answers, flatly. "I'm sure he was very charming." It's only because she, too, is a cat that he keeps his crueler thoughts to himself - that she's a fool if she thinks he wasn't spending his time with other queens, as well. That what he felt for her was anything special.

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[queen_anne_chonk]

He sure was. Donut ignores the rude comment.

“The POINT is…he had nobody. He had to make his own way. I know I’m lucky. We cats are not exactly social creatures. But I’m trying to tell you that being sapient and having human thoughts in a cat’s body also makes you feel very alone. And I don’t want you to be.”