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countthecats

Leave a message, and try not to bore me.

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From:

countthecats

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

From:

queen_anne_chonk

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

From:

countthecats

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

From:

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.”

From:

countthecats

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

From:

queen_anne_chonk

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

From:

countthecats

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

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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.”

From:

countthecats

"You only think that because you've been deprived of a colony your whole life. Cats aren't social like dogs, or like humans, for that matter. But we are social, nevertheless." In a way, he feels sorry for housecats. Especially those who've never known otherwise, didn't get the chance to choose between a life with other cats and a life with humans.

"I've been lonely hundreds of years, Princess. All I have to look forward to when I leave here is hundreds more."

From:

queen_anne_chonk

She tosses her tail back and forth in frustration.

Finally Donut walks forward and curls up directly in front of the covered bed, her back to him.

From:

countthecats

"You're determined to be annoying about this, aren't you." He can guess what she's really here for.

From:

queen_anne_chonk

"I'm a cat." Donut says, licking her paw. "I'm determined about everything."

From:

countthecats

"Of course you are. But I'm just as determined to be a lost cause, so you're wasting your time."

From:

queen_anne_chonk

She's silent for a moment, thinking on this. Before Donut becomes suddenly less 'on', and more herself. She paws at the floor, uncertain if it's all right to be showing vulnerability this early.

"If you leave, I'll be by myself."

From:

countthecats

"No, you won't. I bet half the Barge already adores you. And Kahl doesn't have plans to go anywhere anytime soon, as far as I'm aware."

So she'll still have a magic cat, even.

From:

queen_anne_chonk

"Adored, sure. Admired, fawned on." She says, still hushed.

"But not understood."

From:

countthecats

"There are worse things than being alone." He shifts, turning around until he can nuzzle his face into her side.

"This place only holds pain and suffering for me, now. If I stay, I will be undone."

From:

queen_anne_chonk

She nuzzles back, with a sigh. Donut can't keep him here. This is terrible. Her first actual other sapient cat and she's losing him.

"Can I stay until you're gone?"

From:

countthecats

He grumbles, eyeing her. "You can visit while I'm still here. I'm not closing my cabin to any cat. But you need to be out there, too. You're not a broken being."