Alley Cats

Legendless

Legendless

Netherworld Overlord
Six months of your lives you have lived this way. Becoming an animal. It isn't your choice. It isn't all that fun sometimes either. But it happens. Every single night. No way to stop it. No way to know why. No one you can turn to. No way to know that the force behind it has sinister reasons and very soon your world will become even more chaotic. But enough of that. Let it begin...


Jin yawned as she looked at the clock. She dropped her pencil and stretched, not taking her eyes away from it. She watch it as the minutes passed. She had been keeping an eye on it lately, always around the same time. She knew it was futile. No matter how observant she was of the time or awake or anything, she never was able to fully experience the change.


Jin knew this was for the better. She was sure it was not pretty, nor good feeling. She felt lucky to be able to just skip over it, but at the same time she was never home when she was a cat. She was always outside, the same place in the city as always. It was a discomforting feeling to know she somehow changed and moved without being consciously aware of it. But Jin was getting use to it. Having it happen for six months straight would do that to a person.


Jin looked at the clock again after putting away her work. It was currently July 24th and while she actually had no homework as nothing was assigned before she went back to college (she did no summer classes), she felt like working out her mind. She didn't want to slip in any of her classes. Besides most of her work now was mostly designs and ideas for games. She kept them out of reach from her family.


The clock read to her 12:58 am. So soon would she experience the sensation of blacking out and then coming to as a tomcat. She didn't want to feel it. She didn't want to change, but she had no choice. Jin hated this. She always hated it when people decided things for her. She had thrown a fit many of times for this reason, but there was no one to yell at. She had no clue why this occurred and that pissed her off too.


Yet Jin knew there was no way of finding out information. It seemed no one else was aware of her changing. Did her parents not check on her? Well she'd be pissed if they did, but someone had to notice her disappearing at night. Yet Jin was 20. Surely they thought she was probably doing whatever 20 year olds did.


Jin looked at the clock. Then everything went black for a moment and she was no longer human.


(Will post with Daniel soon)
 
Alina cackled greedily as she ran into her apartment, giggling as she stroked the package of venison in her arms. Neighbors stared at her as she shut her door, locking it with her elbow. She ripped up the packaging, threw it into the microwave, and watched as the venison sizzled. She waited for 10 minutes, turned it over, and started it again. Eventually, she was chomping into a slightly burnt chunk of venison, when suddenly the alarm rang.


Oh, why? Why now? Why not lat-
 
Julian found it hard to go to sleep before 1 o' clock came around. In theory, it shouldn't have been a problem; just go to bed, don't bother waiting, wake up later the way he always did and do whatever he felt like doing that night. Whether he fell asleep of his own volition or not, he'd black out at 1:00 AM anyways.


But he still found himself sitting on the edge of his mattress, staring at his alarm clock. It felt weird going to sleep when you knew something crazy was just about to happen, you know? Besides, he hadn't regularly slept before 1:00 since he was... Fourteen, about. He also couldn't attend late-night events anymore; for the matter, he couldn't be around anyone when the time came for him to change.


He hadn't told anybody. Not yet. not even Aubree, and he hardly had any secrets from her. She had begun to notice him getting more tired every day, however, and Julian had made an effort to spend more of his nighttime sleeping. Hawks were diurnal anyways.


Diurnal. Weird word.


Julian felt restless that night. The day had been spectacularly boring; spent stuck indoors by the rain, bothered by his mother about finding a college, unable to watch TV as the repairman still hadn't come yet. Not to mention he still had that summer report to do. As the school year drew closer, the assignment hung in the back of his head; his brain had been constantly nagging him about it. Or maybe that was Aubree. One of the two.


With a good part of an hour still left to spare before he blacked out, Julian decided he wanted to do something. He quietly eased himself off of his bed, aware that his parents' room was almost directly under his, and tiptoed past the mess on his bedroom floor. Sliding on his sandals before he left, he opened his door and quietly slipped out.


Julian was practiced in sneaking out at night- not that he made a regular thing of it or anything. Just once a month, maybe. He traversed the stairs and the kitchen silently, easing open the back door and catching the screen door before it slammed. He made an act of dusting his hands off outside in the moonlight, then took off at a jog towards the heart of the city.


Being outside at night felt nice, especially in summer. It was pleasantly cool and the streets were refreshingly empty; usually, Julian loved to have people about, but sneaking about after midnight had its own sort of charm to it. It was like being a ninja; an urban, adolescent, sandaled ninja.


They did tell him he was childish at times.


He padded along for quite a while, a car occasionally driving by, before he reached his destination. Julian had begun to be a little worried that he wouldn't make it there it time. What would happen if he was caught in a public area? Would his body just disappear? Would it slowly transform? He knew, from visiting his house as a hawk, that his human body always disappeared- as did his clothes, strangely enough.


He was there. Julian trotted down the narrow alley, appearing in an overgrown courtyard; the windows looking in were boarded and the only door present was rusted shut.


He looked about, appraising the area. "Yep," he said to the air. "This is the place." he looked down to regard the weeds; "It looks smaller, though."


Julian didn't know what time it was; he lowered himself to the ground to wait, his back against the wall. What would he do tonight? Maybe he should explore more. He'd flown all over the city before, but he'd never strayed too far out of it.


It didn't matter how far away he flew, anyways; he'd just appear back in his room. With this thought, Julian decided that he wanted to see how far he could get in the allotted time- he'd make an adventure out of it! Now all he needed was a hawk-sized bindle and a marching song. And maybe a voice. Having a voice would be useful.


The moon was almost full tonight, Julian noted, looking upwards. Or was it actually full? He didn't know. The sky was nearly cloudless, and the wind was calm. It was a good night for flying.


His vision suddenly faded.
 
Alina awoke in a robin's nest. What a unfortunate place to come to. She barely avoided getting mobbed by a robin mother's claws, diving off the tree.It felt good to fly. The lights of the city glittered brightly below her, as if the stars had moved from the sky to the ground. She spotted a hawk in a alley, standing on some clothes. Another lycan-person? That was what she came to call them. Huh.


She flew towards the hawk, ignoring her instincts protesting that this animal was a predator.
 
Alexander was tired, hungry and not entirely focused as he padded his way along street after street at a leisurely gait, body at a slight angle as his claws tap, tap, tapped gently against the concrete under paw. Every now and then he would stop to sniff at a lamp post or investigate a shop entrance though for the most part his journey was aimless, without specific direction.


"You've no idea how grateful I am that you covered tonight"


The young manager professed gratefully, and Alexander shook his head, smiling as he unfastened the apron at his waist, tossing it into the locker without pause for fold, before tugging off his work shirt, placing it into the duffel bag inside as he simultaneously shifted it's contents, searching to replace it with something cleaner, fresher, for the journey home. . . well . . . he glanced at his wrist to the watch fastened there. Twenty minutes to countdown.


Perhaps not home. Not yet.


"It's really no problem Moira." He responded easily somewhat amused by the apologies that seemed never ending as his eyes were drawn to the label of a top he had just produced, dark in shade almost black; ‘navy'-, proceeding to flap it out and pull it overhead.


He knew why she was acting this way of course, he had stressed when starting that he had a little sister that he had to take care of, that it was difficult, nigh impossible for him to work after midnight. A lie of course, but convincing nonetheless when coupled with anxious words and as it was Moira now felt the villain, because while she could be a witch from time to time, ruthless and cold, she was not without heart and her actions and words not without just cause when the talons came out and her tongue was dipped in poison. He almost felt sorry for tricking the woman. Almost, because he could hardly transform in a bar dull of people in for their AM drinks.


The slam of the locker door reverberated about the small staff room come changing room, sounding loudly in the din and turning the key Alexander left it hanging from the lock, what would they steal after all besides a shirt in need of cleaning and several changes of clothing. He had no need to carry his wallet; it wasn't like he lived far, as for his house key-,





The terrier froze, ears twitching in time to the sounds around him, looking up and observing with dark orbs the oncoming car, its head lamps spot lighting the Jack Russell in its path, reflecting in flash against the single key that hung from the thin silver chain about its neck. The occupants of the car ignoring Alexander's presence, or more likely, not noticing it at all and he bolted with a yelp for the opposite side of the road as the metal beast roared past him, the rush of wind brushing against his flank and taking several steps as he hopped the single step; who knew that a pavement could be such an intense source of security and relief-, he glanced back at the retreating car before turning and setting off at a steady run.


Moving to the sink and leaning over it, Sasha ran the cool water over his palms in rinse, drawing a cupped hand up to his lips and flicking out a tongue before tipping the clear fluid more effectively into his parched mouth, repeating several times before rinsing and drawing it up a final time to smooth over his face, dampening.


Despite the routine and months of adaptation, he felt anxious and hot, the room stuffy as the time of his change neared the way he always did when away from the safe confines of his home, and with his final words of farewell and reassurance to his manager, Alexander made his way off of the premises, forgoing the front entrance in favour of he back, basking in the crisp early morning air before setting off to place safe distance between him and potential witnesses regardless of how drunk as the first shudders of he change hit him.


Rounding a corner, slowing at the mouth of an alley, the terrier's head lowered, nose skimming the floor as he took several cautious steps beyond, a sneeze releasing as it dipped into a discarded coffee cup before moving about, investigating a cardboard box. It was empty inside and uncomfortable, and yet the terrier settled there, curling up, eyes open and head down. The underside of his jaw upon the ground as it relaxed in the makeshift kennel as Sasha contemplated his next move. Thats if there was one to make.


Just another ‘stray', tired, lost, hungry and hopeless in the city as far as humans were concerned. . . Or at least tired and hungry.
 
(Myst you need to edit your last post. They do not come to at their house. They are always somewhere else in the city)


Daniel looked down at his paperwork. He had never taken to doing late night work before, but then again he hated falling asleep before 1 am. It felt weird to fall asleep and then suddenly to be awake, perched somewhere and then taking off and flying. Daniel just couldn't fall back asleep. Not then. He was an owl and owls were nocturnal. It would feel weird to fall asleep as one.


Daniel laughed out loud at that thought, glad he lived alone. Sure he lived in an apartment building, a few stories up, but he was the only one living in apartment 407. That he was glad for. After all transforming in front of people? That didn't sound like it would go down well. Daniel would have no real explanation for it. He didn't understand it anyways.


He was working on plans for his new school year, but he was having trouble staying focus. The closer the time got to when he would no longer be on the ground, but flying, filled him with a sense of excitement and anticipation. He rather liked what happened, even if it did sometimes interfere with plans. He was getting older though, so less things to attend to explain why he couldn't, but his girlfriend? What was he going to do when they started sleeping together? All the possibilities of that going wrong played through his head and he decided he couldn't work no longer.


He got himself ready for the change. His vision darkened and soon he was feeling the wind under his wings.


----


Jinn turned herself around a few times, getting a sense of her surroundings. No matter how lost she got in her big city, she always ended back in bed. It was kind of nerve-wracking to know she moved without being aware, but there was little she could do about it she found.


The alley she was in smelled of another cat and, not wanting a fight tonight, Jinn moved out of the alley. She thought she spotted another tomcat, this one in bad conditions, peering at her. Jinn moved down the street, not sure where to go. Her cat body was hungry, so she thought maybe she'd find it something to eat.
 
There was something probably odd about this picture, or even comical in that effect. Here Aubree was, sitting up in bed, in her pyjamas, painting her toenails and looking at the clock nervously after every digit was done in the navy blue. Not that the girl enjoyed doing this so late at night, but it was something to do, something to take up the time as she waited for the clock to reach the destined time.


A time that she had come to know over the last six months of going through the change, in a few minutes she would be a ferret. Champagne in color, and with male parts that she hardly understood even with sexual education understanding. Something else she couldn’t understand was why it was happening…


Originally, she thought herself to be crazy or believe it to be a dream, but every night without fail it happened, and she would skitter about, dooking* in her…his..? Frantic behaviour. A series of sideways hops and bumping into things whenever she got excited; a ‘weasel war dance’ as an invitation to play.


Words she knew by now, due to the research of the mammal that occurred after she had told herself that this was indeed happening. Anything she could do to prevent herself from spraying like the first night, much like a skunk would. It also made her meticulous behavior easier to enforce if she knew how the body worked, for she usually set about tasks for the night.


The girl was going to figure this out front, back, and upside down before she went about telling anyone this was happening. Even Julian remained in the dark about this new secret of hers, and she told him everything, well unless she was angry that day. The girl slightly smiled to herself remembering her best friend and got slightly dizzy before realizing that it wasn’t from the nail polish, but that it was that time again.


--


Now in her four-legged form the girl skittered about, finding herself in a park this time, and ran across the grass into the mild bush area. The girl continued her expedition, today she would check her house to see if her body still remained. The lights had been left on after all…


If only being a ferret improved her sense of direction…


(*Dooking is the normal noise that ferrets make, but they can also hiss when they're freaking out xP')
 
Jin walked a female cat walk down the street. One thing that irritated her the most was that she had to be a male. She couldn't even understand what to do about this gender change that happened to her. It wasn't like it was entirely easy at first. Finding out that her cat form could go into heat. Would want to mate with another cat. It was not a pleasant experience, but her human mind kept a lot of her more animal urges at bay. Of course Jin had gotten into fights with other toms. She also marked a few alleys that she had won in.


Jin moved as fast as she could on her short feet. Cats were pretty fast she learned. It was one thing to watch a cat run, it was quite another to actually be a cat running. She passed the female cat, trying to see if she could do something else to satisfy the tomcat mind that she shared the body with. She ended up in the park. She saw what appeared to be a ferret. Curious and ready for a fight, she moved to it, pouncing.


----


Daniel loved this feeling. The feeling of flight. At first it was an unwelcome feeling. He was afraid really. It was weird to be in the air with nothing under you. Over and over, Daniel thought he would fall to his death, but he was actually quite fair at flying. If he didn't have the owl mind with him he was sure he'd would have had a lot more problems. He moved over the town, flying high in the air and watching it below.


The city was still full of life even at this time of night. He saw not only people moving around, but animals as well. Was he the only one, he wondered. The only animal/human thing to be roaming his city. He had thought he was not, but he never really made an effort to be sure. He was always distracted by things when he thought about it and when he remembered he was human again.


Maybe this time he could really figure it out.
 
Alina suddenly crashed into another bird, squawking in alarm as she tumbled through the air. She regained her balance and turned around, looking at the owl she crashed into. There was something about the eyes, but they was probably just normal, regular owl eyes. Or were they?
 
Julian was always jarred by the sudden clarity of his vision when he woke up. It always felt like he had been blind his entire life, and was seeing clearly for the first time. Or- he did some quick calculation- for the 180th time. Had it really been that long?


He was certainly used to it by now. Julian let the hawk's consciousness seep into control, just enough so that flapping his wings and rising into the air felt completely natural; instinctual. The split-mind thing had been difficult to control in the earlier days, but he had it in check now. Mostly. It was always present, urging him to scare away other birds, claim his territory, hunt... Mate. Sometimes. Yeah. Ew. And the hawk was female and everything, which was its own special brand of weirdness. Thank god there weren't many hawks around; Julian could control it, but it became sort of hard when the hawk became agitated.


Or hungry. His body harshly reminded him; yeah... He was hungry.


Julian noticed a commotion above him long before he would have as a human. He angled outwards from the courtyard, ignoring the bird- prey! the hawk insisted- that was so brashly nearing the red-tailed hawk. It must have been a spectacularly stupid crow, ignoring a bird that snacked on pigeons. He didn't think the sleek black avians were really part of a hawk's diet- but he was hungry, and heck if the animal in him was going to be picky.


Julian diverted his attention to flying away, not without a bit of strain, only to be surprised as the crow suddenly collided with an owl- which, idiot, could also eat other birds. Hunger changed to vehemence towards the rival bird of prey, who was stealing his meal.


There was something off about this crow. It shouldn't have been out during the nighttime anyways, even ignoring flying up to predators! Maybe it had a mental defect or something- well, no, it wouldn't have survived. The owl, too, hadn't come swooping in to kill the crow, or even tried to scare it away.


Julian flapped purposefully and landed on a rooftop, his talons digging in as he swiveled to regard the two other birds. His vision, helped by the nearly-full moon, could still pick out individual feathers.


The hawk still wanted to go and challenge the owl. Absentmindedly, Julian told it to shush.
 
Daniels was stratled when something crashed into him. He went whirling a little through the air, but righten himself pretty easily. He saw that a crow had been what had hit him. This confused the man. What was a crow doing out this late? And better question, why did it come flying into him. His mind told him it could be easy prey, even if he wouldn't normally go after it. Why would it crash into the very thing that would mean it harm?


Daniels landed on a nearby street light and preened. He tended to preen when his human mind was thinking. It was weird at first, but Daniels had gotten use to it by now. Was there something wrong with the crow? No it shouldn't have survived as long unless it was new. Or maybe something was wrong with it's wing? Well despite what it may be, Daniels was going to let it go. But he noticed that he was not the only one watching. A hawk was nearby. Daniels hooted at it, wondering if it might attack. Maybe the hawk would go after the crow? As much as Daniels didn't want the poor thing to die, that was nature after all.


But Daniels had a feeling there was more to this than he thought. He couldn't put a finger on what it was. He watched the other birds, wondering what they might do next.
 
Yup. Officially dead. Alina had just announced to the world that there was a crow that had just become free food. A crow that had just been caught crashing into an owl and flying towards a hawk. She should get used to her animal form-perhaps it was smarter. Alina fluttered back from both birds, and finally allowed her animal body to take over.


And then she started diving at a hamburger down below on the sidewalk, covered in dog snot and ketchup.
 
(Sorry, I'm on a mobile device, so I do not actually know how long the posts are...)


Today was another day, just another day for Rico. He closed his eyes, restless and fell into a sleep. But he quickly woke himself up, "I can not fall asleep." he murmered. He pushed up his glasses, onto his nose ridge. Rico rubbed his eye and turned on his computer. He knew he would transform into a cat; which was the worst. He always started out hungry, and end up almost starving to death. As a clean freak, he'd rather die than pick food out of the trash.


He clicked a few pages of work that he was required to do onto the screen. Rico then heard small crawling noises around him and he turned around and saw a housefly. "How'd that get in here?" he said grabbing a tissue and wiping the housefly off the table and into the trash. The transformation made him somehow become more wary of his surrondings. He didn't know how, but it was very irritating to him. He looked around and looked back at his screen. He realized he was becoming tired, and could not focus any longer. Soon the grandfather clock in his living room chimed twelve, and he fell asleep.


--------


Rico streched his arms out and touched a water puddle. He hissed and jumped back. Rico looked around the air and realized that fur was flying around in the air. "I fell asleep? No!" he said outloud. Rico shook his head and shook his paws. "I really hate this...." he muttered walking around the alleyways. His stomach rumbled, as usual. Rico winced at the need of food began to hurt his stomach. His stomach hurt, his ears were itchy... what was the matter with this form? He heard a large racket coming from somewhere and decided to look around.
 
Most of Aubree accepted the fact that her mind was overrun with ferret thoughts, but she still tried to avoid listening to them. Sniffing around seemed to be her main objective now, and instead of smelling the feces that animals left, it was simply ‘marked territory’. The girl skittered around in the male ferret, as it seemed to be more interested in food and the sounds around him then obliging to her.


The girl was used to trying to block out the body, and she managed to dart across the park before there was a movement in the corner of her eye. Upon seeing the cat, she hissed at the animal, but it was too late; the ferret had been pounced by the tomcat, and she tried to wiggle out from under them. The surprise had caused her ferret self to spray from its underside. Much like a skunk it had a bad scent, but it would disperse quickly…


There was something weird about this cat that irked her though, so she stayed within its vicinity.
 
Jin was surprised, and somewhat relieved, when the ferret seemed to made a move to protect itself. She drew back away from the thing and let out a low growl and made a swiping moment in the air. But she stayed away from the ferret. Neither the cat nor the girl rather like the scent it had released. But she was curious about it. A ferret being around just didn't seem...right to her


Still if she was going to kill the ferret, she was glad she didn't get the chance. Sure she'd had killed a mouse or two, but it always made her twitch and feel sick on the inside. She never ate her kills, even if the urge was overwhelming. Jin watched the ferret, wondering what it would do now that it was free. She licked a paw and moved it across her head, keeping her eyes on it.


Jin wished there was a way she could communicate and she let out a meow as if testing something.
 
The owl hooted at him.


Julian stared at the bird for a while. The hawk had a rather imposing stare, having the best eyesight in practically the whole world- but seriously, against those large owl eyes he wasn't sure if he'd win the staring contest. The vocalization had been a neutral tone, not territorial or threatening or anything. Julian had experimented with the different things he could "say" in his hawk voice before- most of it chalked up to territory or family or food. It didn't seem like the owl meant any of those.


Julian opened his beak and gave the owl a half-hearted response, a croaking cry. It was all-around strange- birds of prey (of differing species, no less) weren't supposed to perch near each other amiably. Even now, the hawk really wanted to chase the owl away. Give a scree-ar, maybe, and spread his wings, making him look bigger. Leap off the roof and flap at the bird until it retaliated or fled. Eat the crow, at the very least! Hawks were supposed to be rivals with owls. Or, well, at least the great horned variety.


The noise of the crickets was only matched by the black bird noisily flapping for some food some ways over. What was wrong with these birds? Were they all crazy? Maybe he had stumbled over the avian asylum, where hawks and owls sat around and held pleasant conversation and birds flew into each other all the time. Maybe birds were secretly sentient and acted bestial when humans were around; they must have only just decided to let Julian into the club. Or maybe he was going crazy. That had been one of the theories six months ago, too.


Julian the human had had a habit of speaking to himself, and he hadn't stopped as an animal. Since he was a bird, this mostly broke down to thinking sentences while making hawk noises.


<I'm out of here,> he screeched, and took off with several purposeful flaps of his wings.


He was bored.
 

'Six months since its started, one month since I've been home,' Avox sat on his bed staring at the ceiling as he usually did near this time. He liked to distract himself before each change, he found it was a good coping mechanism for him. In a way he still refused to accept the change, he was always hoping that one day it would stop so he could return to his normal life. Yet each night at the same time he'd wake up as a cat, with nothing to do but wait to turn back. At least he wasn't fighting against it anymore, that was exhausting.


The male worried his bottom lip wondering what he'd do when he went back to New York for school. It was only two months away and it seemed there was no solution to his problem. He closed his eyes tightly praying for some sort of miracle to happen. With a sigh he sat up realizing the whole time he was supposed to be clearing his mind he'd been thinking of what he wanted cleared. He stood swiftly and began to stretch pliable limbs slowly, relaxing himself. As the time neared he began to stretch slower and yawn more, showing how tired he was. He was not a night person and he had a day job so his nightly activities were taking there toll on him.


The dirty blonde laid back onto his bed counting down in his mind. 'Ten minutes,' he picked at his comforter. 'Nine minutes,' his nails found there way to his teeth where he mercilessly bit them. 'Eight minutes,' Avox licked his lips continuously. 'Seven minutes he yawned more, getting to the point where he was doing it so much his eyes started to tear up. 'Six minutes,' he right leg was shaking with anticipation. 'Five minutes,' he hands started to tremble also. 'Four minutes,' he tried clearing his mind again. 'Three minutes,' he glanced at the clock. 'Two minutes,' he gave up trying to clear the jumble in his head, deeming in hopeless. 'One minute,' hazel eyes closed reluctantly as he felt the pull of unconsciousness.


When he woke up his was in a rather dirty alleyway. He instantly stood to walk away and find a place to groom himself with a sneer from the smells assaulting his nose on his round face. The male looked down at the white fur on his body wanting to throw a fit, he was filthy. Heaving the best sigh he could he made way down the street avoiding contact with anyone human and animal alike. His nose tickled with the smell of animals near him but he stayed firmly away being the antisocial person he was. He continued a little ways down the block to a much cleaner area with soft, almost velveteen grass and plopped down ungracefully. Disgruntled he began to lick himself, trying to keep his ears open for odd sounds, or footsteps approaching.

​
 
This...was...TERRIBLE. But also incredibly luxurious.


Alina sat, nice and comfy, by the vent of a nearby bakery. She had watched the staring contest between the two birds of prey-of course, the owl won. Alina's beak and talons were soaked in hamburger juice and the faint scent of dog fart.


Oh, what's this?


How interesting. A cat and a ferret.


She fluttered over to enjoy the carnage and another free meal.
 
(Myst can you please add more to your posts. I'd like to see at least a big paragraph or two smaller ones)


If Daniel was human, he would have gone wide-eyed, maybe blinked and looked around in confusion. Stutter out a few words or something to show he was startled by what had just occurred. What he did do was hoot again in confusion and stop preening.


Did the hawk just talk to him?


He watched the crow go, slightly disappointed in that, but that was his owl mind. His human mind was confused. Did that really just happen? Was he really able to understand what the hawk had said before it left? Daniel had always got a feeling of understanding from other owls, some birds and few other animals. He could understand humans just fine, but that was different. He was still human in his mind. The body was just of an owl and of course he felt he shared a mind with the owl. But his human conscious was still there.


Many animals communicated differently as well and Daniel knew this was not one of the ways. He took off after the hawk, having to know if he was simply going mad. He would not doubt it.


<Did you just talk?>


 
Veronica knew it was pointless to even attempt to go to sleep, or even undress for bed. Why bother, when every night, for the past six months, she always ended up not only awake, at precisely one am, but also outside of the house, in the middle of the city? Why bother undressing when every night, she ended up not only outside of her clothes, but in an entirely different body...and not one that would typically wear clothes?


That was right...for the past six months, call it a curse, call it magic, or call it insane, as Veronica generally did, but it still remained true that each night, she and her older sister Rinji had both found themselves spending four hours of the night, roaming the streets as cats.


Even now, though Veronica had grown accustomed to it and expected it to occur, she could not quite accept it. The first time it happened she had been convinced it was merely a very vivid dream. The second time, she convinced herself that she must have accidentally gotten high by proxy of something her sister must have been smoking, though she could not remember smelling something even as mild as marijuana earlier in the day. The third time she was suspicious that someone was slipping some sort of drug into her and Rinji's food and even went so far as to force her to schedule them both a full physical. By the end of the first week Rinji had accepted it as just a new fact of life, in her easygoing, happy go lucky way, and even seemed to view their second life as an adventure. But all Veronica could think was that they were both insane.


She still had her doubts about her sanity, but it wasn't as if she could talk to anyone else about what was going on enough to look for alternative explanations.


Veronica could hear her sister in her bedroom next to hers, typing away on her laptop, her music faintly audible through the walls, and rolled her eyes. Rinji, of course, WOULD look at this as an excuse to stay up all hours of the night...Rinji thrived on the "different," or what Veronica viewed as simply "weird." Who else changed their name from the perfectly acceptable Lindsey to Rinji, its Japanese translation, simply because Lindsey was "too boring?" Who else was being raised by a sister who was also a tattoist, and displaying quite a bit of work on her own skin? Who else had a guardian who actually told her it wouldn't kill her to have a drink once in a while?


And yet despite her and Rinji's differences, and there were huge ones, and despite her enduring irritation with her...Rinji was there with her, every night they changed. Rinji was the only person in their lives who knew, and Rinji didn't think she was weird or crazy at all.


Even if Rinji herself, in Veronica's opinion, met the criteria for at least one of those adjectives.


So when Veronica found herself, as always, in the middle of the city, in her new blue-eyed, brown-pawed Burmese cat body, her sister's heavily orange-patterned calico body beside her, she turned the corner of the alley with her as though nothing out of ordinary had occurred. Her sister purred beside her as they walked.


Just another night.
 
The body Alexander was more or less used to, the mind though not so much, so easily distracted and illogical, though he welcomed it's simplicity. He enjoyed roaming in this form, the cares of the day forgotten as he allowed the animalistic nature to take over and lead, taking a back seat to thoughts that so easily linked the cardboard box in which he rested to a temporary home, no consideration for what may but what was, human instincts kicking in when the terrier within became somewhat . . . stupid.


Alexander perked up at the sound of a door opening nearby and a bin being opened, head lifting ears twitching inquisitive at the garbage being dumped inside before the lid was dropped once more with a resounding clang. Metal grating over metal as it slipped and startled the pup to it's feet as the heavy lid met solid ground with a loud, unhindered and resounding bang, it was only Alexander's realization as to what was to come that the pup did not yelp in surprise.


Poking it's head about it's makeshift 'kennel', watching with large dark eyes as the hum-. . . man, walked away. The door from which he had come out of closed behind him with a final click of the lock as it turned from within and as it did the terrier glanced to the fallen lid, it's gaze drawn up to the open garbage bin from which it had fallen before stepping out of the box and running quickly past the appetizing meal that a part of Alexander could feel was no doubt waiting for him to snuffle out inside, the aroma of left over restaurant food a tempting meal . . .


He shook his head as he turned corner, sniffing along the wall and setting a steady trot once more as he navigated the city, hind leg raising once or twice in an unconscious marking that even Alexander did not realize he was doing before continuing on. He slowed up at the mixed laughter up ahead at the mouth of the alley, their unstable footsteps and drunken banter echoing as they passed it by, and Alexander watched as one of the men dropped his bag of chips, cursing loudly before moving on.


He could not resist this time as his stomach rumbled hungrily and creeping closer, keeping close to the shadow of the wall, Alexander peered out into the main street for signs of human life though none except the retreating forms were visible before moving closer to the fallen food. Nuzzling the packet, trying to free those chips still bound within the wrapper.
 
Wait...did the owl just talk?


This was interesting. Alina's attention was drawn towards the owl, who was now flying towards the hawk. It had seemingly asked the hawk if he talked. Ah, recursion.


<This is incredibly amazing.> Alina squawked.


Uh oh, now the predators are coming. She shuffled in closer to the vent and hid behind it, waiting for a sharp owl beak to pinch her feathers off her head.
 
Of course, Rinji, once in her cat body, was perfectly content and pleased with the situation, as only Rinji could be. Her eyes glowing in the darkness of the alley in which she and Veronica had found themselves in, she licked her paw and washed her head and ears, purring lightly, then nuzzled against Veronica, her tail held high. Veronica knew this interpretation- she wanted to go exploring. She wanted to play.


Veronica gave her a short, irritable meow, as she usually did, in response to Rinji's playfulness, and nudged her away from her, but in truth, she sort of enjoyed herself, once she started out. Being a cat every night had been freaky at first, and it still sort of was if she thought too much about it...but on the other hand, sometimes it was nice to be outside of your own skin, with everything so much simpler than it was as just another human girl.


Rinji sidled through the narrow space between the alley's dumpster and wall, still purring lightly, and Veronica followed after a space of time. It was an unspoken rule between them that they stuck together while in their cat form, every night. Veronica's ears perked up, her whiskers twitching as she caught up to her sister, whom had just stilled, her head tilted up as she both watched and listened intently, her fur bristling. Following her gaze, Veronica saw a terrior several feet away, nosing into a bag of chips.


Veronica's fur rose as well, and she hissed, drawing up her back. This was not a good start to the night.
 
It was such a cute little cat in Aubree’s eyes, something that her real self would want to nuzzle to her face and play with. Now, in this body, all she felt was defensive and afraid of the tom cat that pawed at the air in front of her. The champagne ferret extended his claws in response though and she could feel herself bear her teeth. It seemed that the two animals were at an impasse though, as neither seemed to move from the stare-down that they were having.


Eventually the cat made the first move, but it was neither an attack nor backing down, as it licked its paw and swiped it across its forehead. It was a male cat, which was what probably made him so offensive; he probably thought that she was going to mark his territory. There was something bothering her about this cat, though, there was something that pulled at her familiarity. It didn’t look like a cat that was owned by anyone she knew though, and Aubree didn’t think it was that either.


When the cat meowed at her, she seemed to perk up and her ferret body responded; teeth no longer bared and claws retracted as she went still. There was something…very odd, about the way the meow sounded to her, and almost as if in response, she tried talking. <H-Hello?> it sounded simply like weird animal noises to her, the familiar dooking of a ferret.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top