xp_logs | Log: Clea and Sharon

xp_clea posting in

Sharon request an audience with her majesty, Queen Cata. Clea is just the messenger.

"It has been said you are companion to the Faerie Cat."

There were a number of things one would not reasonably expect to hear from the frost-limned branches on a bright winter's day, and these were among them. Likewise, one would also not expect the request to issue from the throat of a man-sized purple cat perched on one of said branches, but such was the current reality..

A long, bushy tail flicked at huge yellow eyes focused on its target. The creature leaned forward and spoke again:

"An audience is sought."

To say that Clea had a mini heart attack was an understatement. She nearly jumped out of her boots when she heard a voice above her and her heart was racing. "Bloody hell, you scared me." Holding a hand over her heart.

She looked up and cocked her head to the side. She expected to see a human-like race, not a giant purple cat race. Shame on her for assuming. She could tell from the voice this being must be female, and from what she had heard around the school, this must be Sharon.

"You seek an audience with her grace?" Clea's heart was slowly returning to normal, and she nodded. "She has her favorite spot where she can hunt freely, not far from here. I can show you the way. I figured she would be out here when I didn't find her in her other favorite spots around the mansion."

"Yes. I want that." The cat's hindquarters gathered, and suddenly she launched herself from the branch in a shower of frost and dead twigs. She landed on the ground lightly beside Clea, her tail swishing from side to side, and craned her head back to regard the older woman.

"You will show me," Sharon said, and although there was a hint of a question to it there was also the sense that this would occur regardless of Clea's explicit consent.

"Follow me," Clea said, looking at the feline beside her as she started forward again. "May I ask what you hope to accomplish from this meeting?" It was rare that someone sought out Cata's presents and Clea was curious. "I am Clea by the way. Just in case you were wondering." Clea didn't think she was.

"You are known to me. Clea Lake. Former resident, newly returned with the one who is not to be called Steve. You do not cook. This was noted." Sharon padded beside her with the swagger of a lion striding across the prairie. "Some research was done on Cath Pulag. Is folklore only, I thought, but here also is cat with wings of a bat. Is from the world Illyana may access. Your Cata comes from another dimension also, maybe?"

"Impressive Sharon. But don't let Steve hear you call him Steve. It is a touchy subject for Steve. I call him that because I've known him since I was eight. You can call him Steve when he can't hear you. I'll allow it." Clea laughed at the horror on Stephen's face if he found that out. That very much amused her. "I know Cath Pulag's were known during King Arthur's time and were known to roam the area where we found her as a kid. We tried to find her family, but she was the only one that we found. I am not sure what happened to her parents. Between her and me, I am the one who is from another dimension."

This seemed to give Sharon pause. One ear twitched. "Like April Parker?" she asked curiously. "You also came through the Wormhole, which I am not allowed to touch?"

"I don't remember a Wormhole. I remember a tear and being pulled through to that other Dimension. How did I get here originally? No idea. I was raised in England with my parents; finding out that I am adopted is another story." Clea looked over to her, "My past is still shrouded in mystery. I was really young; from the adoption records, I was just over one when I went to live with them. I only know parts from being over there and from the Ancient One who likes not to give out the whole truth. Damn that old man." She said the last part under her breath. "Not that you need a full history on a stranger."

The cat regarded her with her steady yellow gaze, weighing this new information. "Subject is painful, maybe. In return, I shall reveal to you my deep lore. This would be proper." Sharon paused. "Except I have none. I was homeschooled."

Clea loved the way this woman spoke. "Homeschooled? Nothing wrong with learning on your own terms. Do you have siblings?"

"Three brothers were mine. These were cats also, but still my brothers. To consider them otherwise would be racist." Sharon's tail flicked easily. "I have now two sons, Toothless and Lightning McQueen. Currently they reside with Darcy and Terry. Kyle said I must surrender custody. He fears consolidation of my power."

"That does sound very much family-like to me. And people always fear what they don't know." Clea stopped when they came into a clearing. "This is her spot for field mice. Cata!" Clea called out and a moment of silence before there was movement in the tall snow covered grass.

Sharon slowly bent to press her belly to the snow. Eyes fixed on the movement, she lowered her head to rest against her hands, and waited.

The rustling in the grass stopped and Clea watched both Sharon and the emerging Cata. Cata slowly walked out of the tall grass, her fluffy tail high in the sky. She looked at Sharon and then back at Clea and then back at Sharon. Cata walked over to Sharon and sniffed her before sitting down in front of the purple looking feline. "Sharon meet Cata. She has a formal name but it is long."

Animals, Sharon knew, had their own type of intelligence no lesser than that of humans, but there was something very unusual about this one. Her long, immaculate calico fur and piercing green eyes gave her an undeniable air of nobility, but it was what lay behind those eyes that caught Sharon's attention. It wasn't strictly feline, but nor was it human.

Sharon kept her head low and body flat to the ground, body language deferential to the other cat as was proper when approaching a queen on her own territory. Whiskers fanned to their fullest extent, Sharon extended her neck towards Cata for a cautious sniff.

Their noses touched, and Clea had already taken a picture. It was too cute not too. "I could die of cuteness right about now." Cata started to lick the top of Sharon's head and another photo was taken. Another one for the collection.

At this benediction Sharon lolled onto one side and began to purr. She lay there with eyes half-lidded and stomach exposed as the cat tapped gently at her face. Despite being easily ten times Cata's size, Sharon felt privileged to be so received.

"Her Grace is most gracious," Sharon said with something like relief as Cata, satisfied, began to wash herself. She gazed up at Clea with her huge yellow eyes. "The honor is mine."

"She is one of a kind." Clea was having a moment with her impromptu photoshoot, Clea kneeling down on the ground, not caring her jeans were getting wet. "And so are you. So that is something you both have in common."

"This is truth," Sharon agreed with absolutely no humility. The great cat peered at Clea's phone curiously. "You have taken photos? I wish to have these also. Such a meeting must be commemorated."

"I'll make sure to grab your number before this all ends and I'll send them to you." Clea reached out to pet both cats. "This means the door to my suite is always open to you."

Sharon leaned into Clea's hand with a pleased purr. Arching her neck, she regarded the older woman through slitted yellow eyes.

"This promise shall be remembered," the cat intoned, meaning every word.