Log [Catseye, Lockheed] While the mice are away...

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

Catseye gets her actual first look at Lockheed... and vice-versa. The hunt for the Dragon's Hoard and Chasing the Shiny Crinkly also features in all of this. No rats were harmed during the writing of this log.



Catseye curled up in the sunspot, the very best in the house at this particular hour. Kyle couldn't try to steal it since he was in class, while she didn't have any this afternoon. There was smugness for that, oh so much. Sun spot is all Catseye's, yes. Purring a bit to herself she stretched, smiling a cat's smile that had everything to do with the ultimate contentment. Until something caught her attention, in the corner of her eye.

Kitty was in class, which meant that now was the best time for hunting, gathering and hoarding. After all, a dragon had to entertain himself somehow. He'd been in the kitchen earlier, and though he was no longer allowed to stage attacks on the 'Fridge, home of All the Food in the World, that didn't mean he couldn't investigate in there. And he had made a Find. Someone had left a piece of the Magic Thin Metal which sometimes covered food out on the counter, and now it was Lockheed's. It was shiny, and crinkly, and made interesting sounds. It was a perfect addition to his hoard. Even if it didn't have any food smells on it. Although really, that was probably best so no one would be able to follow the smell to find his hoard.

He flew secretively through the halls, having gotten much better at indoor flight through necessity, carrying the little scrap of tin foil in his paws as he made his way to where his hoard was hidden.

Oooh. The flying form was already tugging very much at Catseye interest, since something relatively small and flying usually wasn't part of the mansion scenery. At least as she was used to it. But the crinkly sound and the brief sparkle as it caught a stray ray of sunlight... well, that caused her to go from half stretched out on her back to flipping over on her stomach, to carefully padding after Lockheed in a second flat. Pretty shiny. Oooooo.

Most predators are not used to being hunted, so it was unsurprising that Lockheed didn't notice that he had picked up a stalker. After all, he had none of the standard 'prey' habits and instincts to warn him he was being watched. Of course, he did have a dragon's natural caution when it came to his hoard, so at least he wasn't taking a direct route. Instead he took several turns, looping back on his path a few times and in general giving Catseye quite a tour of the school.

This, Catseye decided, was fun. The flying rat was up to something, not a single doubt about it and he kept digging his claws in the ball of aluminum paper, making those neat crinkly sounds she adored oh so much. The temptation to hop and pounce was overwhelming, but she knew what the circuitous route meant. Oh yes. And that meant only following, until they reached the flying rat's secret stash.

The closer he got to his hoard the more carefully Lockheed was behaving. He glanced about several times, and back a few, causing Catseye to have to be even more stealthy to keep up with him. Luckily, she was well up to it. Sure he was safe, Lockheed headed up the stairs towards the attic - once he'd mastered his indoor flying he'd moved his hoard from it's old hiding place in the back of Kitty's closet. After all, Screaming Pillow Girl 'Yana sometimes went in there, and Lockheed still didn't quiet trust Screaming Pillow Girl 'Yana.

This was, Catseye decided, a very crafty flying rat. Maybe it wasn't a rat at all, even if it did have a rat's tail. Then again, rats were crafty, in bad ways at that. Still. More observation was required before making a final judgment on that. Rats were not tolerated on her territory. Ever. Rats were meant for hunting and killing. Still. He had wings and flew. Maybe he was a mutant rat? The aluminum chose that moment to twinkle at Catseye invitingly and she stopped her wondering in favor of being stealthy and following.

In the attic, Lockheed was even more careful, flying back and forth through a few different rooms, stopping and hovering to glance over his shoulder and listen for feet - after all, usually there was no one in the attic, so anyone up here must be after his hoard. Finally he zipped into a different room, dropping onto the top of an old chest of drawers just out of sight of the entrance and watching the door to make sure no one followed him into the room. Hoards were death before dishonor type things.

Eventually, a hint of purple peeked through the doorway, following the set of whiskers which had been carefully sampling the air for movement nearby. None so far - with that, Catseye cautiously peeked inside the room, intent on finding the flying rat. And the crinkly shiny, too. And well - generally figuring out what was going on and whatever else in the lines of interesting and stealable might be in the room, while she was at it.

Settled high on the chest to the side of the door, it would be difficult for the small intruder to spot him for a while, but Lockheed had no question that the intruder would find him eventually. It was just a question of whether it would find him or his hoard first (a terrible thought), and what he should do about it, either way. It was a small, purple thing, so maybe it was people like he was, but on the other paw, it was small and fur covered, so maybe it was a pet like Juanita-puppy and the terrible nose-chewing Frank-not-dragon. Either way, he probably wasn't allowed to eat it.

Well, maybe it would be best to distract the creature and see what it did.  Carefully, he set the shiny thing down, doing his best to be quiet, then leaned forward so he could see down into the whole room, and let out a soft, "Meh!" It wasn't quite a growl, although it was decidedly challenging and inquisitive. After all, the intruder had followed him to his hoard room, which was a Bad Thing.

Gleep. Startled, Catseye did the inexcusable - jumped three feet high and twisted in mid air, in those startled jumps of surprise cats did so well, to land facing the flying rat. Which, she reflected, even as she started at it with an arched back, thankfully not hissing which would have been a horribly kitten like thing to do, didn't sound like it was a rat. Even if it had a rat's tail. "Mrr!" Sneaking up on cats like that was rude.

Lockheed was impressed. It might not have flying, but the purple one did seem to have a good grasp of aerial maneuvers. The arched back was a predator sign, and Lockheed was tempted to open his wings and hiss at the creature, but it wasn't showing teeth and being the first one to bar teeth was not necessarily a good idea. Particularly if you knew in advance you weren't allowed to eat it. Instead he "Mrr!"d right back at the creature. After all, it had intruded on his territory. And he did hold the high ground.

Tilting her head to the side, Catseye abruptly changed her stance - sitting down, tail winding to wrap around her paws even as she licked her shoulder absently. Though her attention never truly wavered from the rat-not-a-rat on the desk, she knew territorial issues only too well. Mao already considered the boathouse his, even though Catseye knew better. Just because you let someone - or something - think that the area being contested belonged to them didn't mean they'd be right. Which worked fine for Catseye, as such reasoning went. "Mreow," she finally vocalized, the
sound edged with curiosity, as she turned her head to look up at Lockheed.

Much better. The creature understood, so he wouldn't have to teach it a lesson. He settled back on his haunches and flipped his wings, settling them more comfortably. "Mre," he chirped at the creature, as curious about it as it seemed to be about him. The shiney thing still lay at his feet, but he wasn't about to open his hoard hiding place while this one was about. The shiney thing would just have to wait.

Young. This one was a young one, Catseye decided. Anyone with a bit of experience would have known to question such a rapid turnabout. The wings were making her curious and the shiny was there but hopping on the desk would startled the rat-not-a-rat, she knew. Hrm. Perhaps she could tempt it down. Raising one paw, she mewed cutely at it, pawing at the air slowly. Come doooown, rat-not-a-rat!

Oh ho! Playing cute. As if that wasn't the oldest trick in the book. Clearly this one was not as willing to give up as it had seemed. Lockheed sniffed. Like he would fall for the cute thing. He was the cutest in all the world, which is why everyone fed him. Even Crazy Metal Stick Man had given him the firefoodstick eventually. He wasn't about to fall for his own trick. He sniffed again and looked amusedly down at the creature below him.

It was good to have the high ground. This is why wings were better than paws.

Smug translated well into any expression really, and Catseye gave the uppity rat-not-a-rat a slightly flat look, before pondering her options. Going for the shiny was one. Pouncing on the rat-not-a-rat was another.

But there was always the ultimate cheat, too. And it might turn out to be very amusing, at that. It was the being stared down at which really decided her and the second afterwards, Catseye changed.

"Catseye thinks someone is looking too too smug!"

"MEEP!" Without pausing to process what had happened Lockheed grabbed his shiney (after all, hoard was hoard) and launched himself into the air. If he were slightly less of an instinctive sort of creature he would probably have been able to make the connection between Rahnewolfgirl and this new girl staring at him, but he didn't quite manage it. He got as far as a startled 'disapproving face, done something wrong' and decided it was absolutely necessary to get as far away from the strange girl as possible. He raced out of the room, the shiney dangling from his claws.

With a coo of delight, Catseye leapt for the floor, shifting in midair to hit the ground running as a cat, hoping out of the doorway and bouncing off the opposing wall before pelting after the flying
dragonet.  Rat-not-a-rat FUN! was the basic thought, after which most of everything involved not losing track of either Lockheed or the shiney at any given time. There would have to be, she decided, much cuddling when she caught him. It was only fair, for startling him so!

Within a few seconds, Lockheed's thought process caught up to what he had done. Oh dear. Predator. Running away. Whoops. He dodged quickly around a corner and shot down the stairs into the main part of the building, trying to think. Which was very difficult with the thudding paws coming behind him. Very close behind him. He quickly arched higher in the air, just missing a leap. If the small fuzzy purple cat girl was like Rahnewolfgirl, chances were good this was just a game. But, if she was not like Rahnewolfgirl, Lockheed could be in a lot of trouble right about now...

A very enthusiastic half meow, half coo trilled out from behind him, Catseye loving the challenge of chasing something that flew. And was far more intelligent than most birds what with the way it tried to dodge or lead her off, and even more so than rats at that, who did cunning well but not smarts. Maybe the flying-rat-not-a-rat wasn't a rat after all. Planning her move ahead as Lockheed flew down a hallway, Catseye prepared to use a wall as a springboard to batting the shiny out of his paws.

Well, that sounded more like a call for fun than for food, which reassured Lockheed immensely. He still wasn't sure what it was with people and pets trying to kill him, but maybe, unlike Crazy Metal Stick Man, this one wasn't actually going to kill him. Of course, as he thought this, Catseye launched herself towards the wall and bounced off it, swiping at his shiny. HOARD! Lockheed raced forward in the direction of the flying piece of tin foil, racing the purple one to be the first to get his paws on his shiny.

This, Catseye thought, even as she made a wild leap for the ball of aluminum, batting it down the hallway where it skittered wildly with lovely metallic sounds, was going to be sooo much fun. The
rat-not-a-rat shouldn't be too hard to train either, from what she could tell. It was one thing to get the humans to play with her and another to be teaching Mao how hunt (and quite another to get to follow Rahne on a night hunt!) but having a playmate her own size, who could fly to boot and clearly understood that straight lines were boring?

So. Much. Fun.

It was the batting that sealed things. Clearly this was play and not theft. And play was good. Having a new playmate for when Kitty was in class was great. Particularly one who understood shiny things and chasing. As long as he got a chance to prove that Purplecat Chasingfriend was not the only predator around who could give a good chase, and Purplecat Chasingfriend acknowledged that, after the game was over, the shiny was still Lockheed's hoard. And if Purplecat Chasingfriend was like Rahnewolfgirl there would be food, too! Excellent.

Lockheed swooped down and latched a claw into the tin foil, dodging a pounce from his new friend and, in the process, flicking the foil bouncing off the wall and around the corner.

The chase was on.