xp_logs | [Delphine, Bella] Natural enemies, my ***.

Delphine and Bella team up to fight the evil of being abandoned by their Papas. Mutual admiration ensues, and only one small hitch along the way. Set before these posts. Nate worries. Paul frets.

Delphine sniffed mournfully at the door to the flight deck, then rolled around on the floor in front of it, because sometimes doors opened when she did things like that. This time, there was no such luck. There was another door that smelled very, very good. It smelled like outside, only a little wetter. She rubbed her face on it, marking it for next time, then pranced downstairs.

When Delphine got to the hallway, she paused, ears pricked. There was a terrible ruckus. It sounded like a person, but not. Tail curved in a question mark, she made her way toward it, sniffing the air cautiously. Curiosity got the better of her every time.

"Disgraziato!" Bella shrieked. He had gone out and left her again. What was this? Was she to be brought across the ocean in that terrible box, only to be ignored for whole hours at a time when he chose? "Disgraziato! Maleducato! Figlio di puttana!"

There was something scratching at the door. "Fatti i cazzi tuoi!" Bella squealed at whatever it was.

Delphine had heard Italian before. Such words were spoken by people who cooked things, loudly. They would give her bits of things to eat, wiggly things with drippy sauces, like worms, only better. She butted her head hard against the door and it swung open. Now, to find the source of the words and see if it was cooking anything good. The room didn't smell like cooking, but maybe the yelling person would open the refridgerator and give her some grapes or a strawberry. That sounded like an excellent idea. She started to look around.

It was a cat! Bella immediately stopped shrieking and starting cooing. "Gatto! Gatto grazioso," she chirped. She missed the cats she had known. So entertaining, even if they sometimes lept at her cage as if they wanted to pretend they were hunting her.

Gatto! That was her! Delphine's tail and ears went up. It knew her! She didn't remember the big blue bird, but it remembered her. Hello, hello, her tail said, as she trotted over to the bird's cage. Cages were very, very sad. Delphine didn't like hers, it made her cry, even when Papa put his fingers through the bars for her to bite and made nice words at her in French and said she was the best cat ever. She knew that. It didn't make up for being put in a cage. "Yow?" she said sadly at the bird.

Bella trilled, jumping down to the bottom of the cage. "Gatto," she chirped wistfully. "Pretty gatto. Play? Kitty play?" Nathan, the beast, had bought this new cage and she had not yet figured out how to let herself out.

Pretty! That was her too. Delphine purred and rubbed up against the cage. What a nice bird; she wanted to play with Delphine. Papa did not want to play with Delphine. He went out like a bird and she didn't get to come. Bad Papa. Nice bird.

Cages had bits that made them come open when you pushed on them. She knew that, because that was how hers opened and closed, and the screen door, too. "Mew!" she said to Bella, standing up with her paws on the bars, looking for the bits to push.

The cat had an idea! "Good!" Bella chirped enthusiastically. "Pretty! Yes! Play!" She hopped back up to the perch, then climbed upside down and down the side of the cage, sticking her beak through the bars to indicate the lock. "Push! Gatto push!"

There was the pushing thing! The bird was smart, only you couldn't push it from the inside, oh no. Tricky humans. Delphine pawed at it and it went click and sprung out a little further, but nothing happened. Maybe it was like the bathroom door. You had to pull it down with both paws. The bathroom door was important because Papa shut it and he could get hurt in there without her. She worried about him and had to keep reminding him not to close it. Delphine stretched up and put both paws over the latch and pulled down. CLICK!

The door swung open and Delphine tumbled back a little, twisting gracefully and landing on all fours. I meant to do that.

Bella gave a joyous cry and flew out of the cage, gliding to the floor. "Bravi! Bravi, gatto!" She folded her wings and waddled tentatively over to her lovely savior, cooing and bobbing her head. "Pretty! Good!" The cat looked pleased, and Bella cocked her head, considering. "Fruuuuit?" she inquired. Never let it be said she was not a gracious hostess.

Good! That was her, oh yes it was. Why did she not remember this nice bird? How embarassing. Delphine purred deeply at Bella and gave her best cat-bow in greeting. Fruit? Oh, fruit was lovely. It came in bowls and baskets and crystal cups and yes, please. "Mrrt!" she said to Bella, looking about for the fruit, ears pricked forward.

Clamping her powerful beak around the handle of the fruit bowl - it was cunningly shaped like a basket, as if designed specifically for carrying - Bella took off again, laboring a little under the weight. Her landing on the floor was a little less graceful than it could have been and she squawked unhappily as she banged her wing hard against the floor.

Fruit! Oh, lovely fruit. "Mew!" Delphine cocked her head at Bella and pawed at the bunch of grapes until one fell loose. A toy! Eee! It was rolly! She demonstrated this to Bella, batting at it. It rolled again! Whee! Delphine pounced it and put it out of its purple misery with a squish, leaving a blot of grape blood on the carpet. Fresh-killed grape was very tasty.

"Grape!" Bella agreed, plucking another off the bunch with her beak. Her lovely new friend was watching her, so she tossed it up in the air and then caught it. Then, whimsically, she tossed it to one side. "Fun! Play!" she urged.

Delphine couldn't resist. The round, fat grape bounced away across the rug and instinct took hold. Grape! She bounded after it and when her teeth sunk in, her mouth was full of lovely grape blood. Mm! Grape. She gobbled it down and trotted back to Bella, purring loudly.

"Clever! Clever gatto!" Bella cocked her head again, then imitated her new friend's purr. So pretty, so clever. Cats were such nice creatures.

Delphine knew better than to eat too much at once, so when she had killed two more grapes, she thought an after-tea walk might be nice. Sometimes Papa took her for walks. And sometimes she went by herself. Maybe the bird would like to go to the garden. She pranced to the door and mewed at Bella.

"Go?" Bella chirped, then waddled after her enthusiastically, following her down the hall to the stairs. The cat immediately started down, but Bella paused, peering uncertainly downwards. All the times before, she had ridden down on Nathan's shoulder - or Jamie's, this afternoon - and she wasn't confident about her ability to fly down without running into a wall. The cat looked back at her and mewed, and Bella started down. "Coming! Coming, gatto!" she called out. And tripped.

This was unexpected. Birds flew. Papa flew. The Bitch flew. WHUMP!

This bird fell. So did Delphine. Paws over claws, tail over tailfeathers, ears over beak, down they went. Somehow, Siamese agility and Bella's mad flapping slowed them to an unharmed bundle of feline and avian on the landing. Delphine's head spun round and round like her food in the cuisinart.

"Boom!" Bella proclaimed in a strangled squeal. "Go boom! Boomity-boom!" The cat was getting up, shaking herself, and Bella tried to rearrange her wings, reminding herself that she was old enough to need to be somewhat dignified. Even when she had just taken a terrible tumble.

Delphine sat down, thinking this was the best option until her head cleared, flicked her tail around her paws, and posed. Ten out of ten for style. Always. The bird was sorting herself out and complaining. When Bella's feathers were straight and Delphine's head was done spinning, Delphine stood. She looked over her shoulder at Bella, and put one paw on the next step down. Once more, with feeling! She began a slow, graceful shimmy down the rest of the stairs, one at a time, so Bella could keep up.

Bella hopped down more carefully. "Smart gatto!" she said approvingly. "No boom!" They made it the rest of the way down without incident, and Bella cooed suddenly, remembering the route Nathan had taken the other day. "Pool?" she suggested. "Splash! Gatto splash?"

Delphine liked the pool. Well, not the /water/, per se, but the pool was where there were soft things to lie on and lots of sun to lie in and it was close to the flowerbed. Definitely. She and Bella trotted poolwards.