xp_logs | Sharon and Felicia: Lounging

Two cats finally meet, poolside.

The soft scrape of the adjacent chair's aluminum frame on the concrete. A squeak of plastic cushioning stretching beneath new, sudden weight. The light against her closed eyelids disappearing beneath the new shadow that fell across her face. And then, a voice.

"Are you the one mysteriously engaged to Warren Worthington III?"

Felicia exhaled, closing the laptop that she'd been poised over, willing a reply to her fellow board members that went beyond "let me do my fucking job you absolute idiots" and into something less combative. It hadn't been coming anyway, and when she opened her eyes she pushed her sunglasses up on her head in the same motion, curious. "Wrong blonde. Hers is longer," she said, then held up her left hand. "Wears an engagement ring I think."

The face next to her was purple. And feline, but more to the tune of "The Lion King" than "The Aristocats". Both of these things at once.

It said:

"Was mistaken. Apology. I see you around him often."

Tilting her head, Felicia made a soft humming noise. She slowly slid her laptop into the proper bag at her side without looking, holding green on green with only a steady blink. "Childhood friends. We grew up together, basically siblings at this point, so whatever revenge you're thinking of against him, I already approve."

"Have yet to be wronged. If he offends me I shall simply bite." The cat snapped at the air, her jaws closing with a solid pok.

"That will work. You'll forgive me for assuming. He's an idiot." Felicia smiled, soft and without teeth. "But my idiot, you know? I'm Felicia, by the way."

"I am Sharon, the new one." The cat was still studying her, although the attention didn't seem predatory. "Look familiar now that I see you alone. You on social media, maybe?"

"I am, thank you for noticing," Felicia replied smoothly, turning her face back and forth to show multiple angles. "Not as much lately, Youtube isn't worth the time versus effort for me anymore and TikTok requires so much daily... tenacity but. My team is trying to make it work."

Sharon flicked a tail. "Have heard the pressure to produce content is unbearable. Many burn out or resort to clickbait. But I do not recall hearing of a scandal where you adopted an Asian child only to return them two years later, for example, so clearly your standards are still intact."

"Nor have I seduced minors and then played the ukulele or launched a terrible makeup line that definitely didn't go through proper stability testing. An attestment, these days," Felicia replied easily, a sound clip without her PR manager. "I'm overall not the worst. Sorry, when did you get here again?"

The cat stretched herself across the deck chair in the picture of ease. "An auspicious day. International Cat Day, as it transpired. Obviously intentional and not coincidentally the day I decided dumpster diving loses its charm." She twitched an ear at Felicia. "So you are an influencer and friend to Warren Worthington III, who is a noted businessman and not a horny seagull. Why are you here?"

Felicia made a meme of a face, shifting between confused, accepting, before settling on benign. She tilted her umbrella to give Sharon a little more sun, conveniently putting her calves back in the shade. "Someone murdered my father and I needed to slowly pull together a group that would feel compelled to help me make them suffer."

She smiled. "Also, free lodging and healthcare."

The cat was silent for a moment. Possibly to absorb Felicia's statement, possibly to watch a passing dragonfly. Finally she turned her leonine head back to the blonde.

"Spite," Sharon said. "Acceptable motivation. Were you successful?"

"Still work to do, but," Felicia started automatically then paused, smiling further, the bridge of her nose wrinkling before she relaxed, sinking further into her lounger. "Overall success so far. I made a good family, if accidentally. Though, that should possibly be a warning label here. Everyone is very good at getting into the crevices, even when you don't mean to let them."

"Not my crevices. I will bite." The cat slitted her eyelids and turned her face to the sun, basking in the summer light. A weak breeze touched her fur. "But it is good that you found people to help. Hard to lose a parent. Natural, but hard. Worse when it is too soon." Sharon opened her eyes again and gazed across the pool. "Murderers should pay."

"Right, the biting," Felicia mused, stretching just enough that her toes were in the sunshine, shiny black nails reflecting. She took a deep breath, letting it out through her mouth in a sharp sigh, something familiar but abrasive. "We learn, we're supposed to learn, to grieve from our parents. There's so many ways to have that stolen from us, but it's never fair. So why not, when we can, make them pay too?" she answered, a long agreement.

"Why not indeed." Sharon spent another few heartbeats contemplating the pool. The turquoise water rippled like silk in the wind. Then, when it seemed as if the conversation had concluded, she spoke.

"For me there is no one to blame," Sharon said. "Wish there was, sometimes. But there was no one. Just gone in the night." The wind ruffled her fur like a hand as a cloud passed over the sun. Sharon watched the darkness travel across the sky. "Gone."

Felicia slowly raised up a loose hand near Sharon's face, the place between her cheekbone and higher than human ears. A casual offer, sympathy and comfort. "There are no words. I'm sorry," she said quietly, eyes flicking up to follow the clouds. "You're strong but that is very hard."

Sharon hesitated at the hand in a way she had not over the others she'd been offered so far. Then, slowly, the cat pressed her cheek against Felicia's palm and nuzzled.

Felicia gave her a soft scritch, slow and soothing but using her long nails in a satisfying way. "Have they already set you up with a roommate?" she asked finally, the edges of the clouds going too bright as the sun tried to push through.

The cat lingered against Felicia's hand for a long moment before pulling away. She gave the woman a long, slow blink, and then turned away to resume her inspection of the sky.

"In theory a guest-suite was given. Rarely use. Those I favor are graced with my presence. Often Sooraya and Alani. Recently Terry and Darcy. Excellent food. Several other candidates are under consideration." Sharon's tail gave a too-casual flick. "Do you live here as well?"

Humming quietly, Felicia nodded. "I have several residences, but one of them is here," she said. "My main one I suppose, these days. Suite 13."

Sharon made a sound of approval. "Another who sees the value of roaming. That is the way. Must never be where we are expected. Your suite is 13? Unlucky number."

"Maybe for other people," Felicia replied with a casual shrug. "Things usually go my way."

"Yes, think they must. Or else." Obviously pleased by the blonde's response, Sharon stretched long across the deck chair and gently kneaded her hands against the vinyl straps. "Approve of your view of the world," she remarked. "Extremely feline. We shall be friends."

Felicia watched, equally content, her features softened. “I’m glad we are agreed.”