sticks and bones [ocean]

[sorcerer]

Now here was a place Flurry hadn't explored yet.
The small orange cat padded through a strange place. The sign on it read, as far as she could sell 'mousem.' And there were mice. So many mice. And dogs, but they were off doing their own things. She'd eaten one for dinner already (a mouse, not one of the dogs), and now she was wandering around the evening hallways of this strange mousem, staring at the wierd pictures and little models and huge skeletons of monsters.
She was almost, but not quite, certain that the giant skeletons belonged to dragons. This was exciting. Stupid Monty always would insist that dragons didn't exist and were fake animals, but there was definitely a proof here that there were some somewhere. Maybe..maybe they were all dead like the humans, like in a plague or whatever, like the humans had died in. Flurry had seen a painting on one of the walls with some of the dragons and a giant sun crashing to earth, but she was pretty sure dragons couldn't die from the sun. They breathed fire, after all.
No. It was definitely a plague. A plague made by..unicrons. Flurry knew about those as well, although she hadn't yet found any skeletons of them in the mousem. They were undoubtedly around somewhere, though, because if there were dragons there had to be unicrons.

She danced brightly through the semi-dark, green eyes studying the shadowy skeletons as she went. This place was like the best ever. Flurry didn't know why she'd never come here before. There was the dragon room, and now she'd come into a hallway full of more monsters. They looked like real animals, but they didn't move. Magic.
The small cat hummed cheerily, studying the magic statue animals. They were behind windows, so she couldn't touch them like she wanted to, but there was a mouse, and some foxes, and a striped horse (clearly a relative of the unicrons), and two white bears, and a wolf. The wolf scared her slightly. She moved on quickly.

It took her several minutes to notice that another live animal was in the room. Flurry was, to be fair, busy examining some interesting magic duck statues and wondering if they still tasted like ducks or what when she spotted what seemed to be a cat statue in the middle of the room. One that hadn't been there before, or she'd have already looked at it. How did that get there?
She stared nervously at it for a minute. There was no way it hadn't noticed her, considering that she'd been traipsing around the room talking to herself a minute ago. So either it was just one of the magic statues and she hadn't noticed it, or it was a ghost, or just some other cat.
Flurry crouched down, eyes fixed on the dark shape, fidgeted for a minute, and announced loudly, "LOOK AT THE DUCKS!"
There really didn't seem to be anything better to say in this situation anyhow..

[solarsonic]

Ontario

Ontario reluctantly took one step, then two, then three, into the almost pitch dark building. His stomach rumbled deeply, and Ontario twitched. Since he'd escaped his house after the humans disappeared, he hadn't been eating like a king. You could say he was still, edgy. He had become Bipolar and ended up with PTSD because of the humans, so you would think he would be happy now. But truthfully, he felt the same. Since the humans were gone, nothing was different to Ontario.

He was still the same quirky, bipolar, scared stiff long haired tortoiseshell cat he'd always been, and Ontario felt that that would never change. Maybe that was just how he would stay forever. Ontario would never be sure, but he had to hope for the best, no matter how unlikely it seemed.

He peered his head slowly around one of the walls of the museum, still not letting his tense shoulders ease their stress, then gulped almost silently. Oh god... Why am I doing this.... I swear, someone's gonna come out with a bat and beat me again... I swear it... I CAN FEEL IT... Ontario thought, feeling himself almost want to whimper with the fear of being hit again.

He'd been hit his whole life, and yes, he was slightly more calm now that he hadn't had to worry about humans anymore, but his PTSD didn't let him forget about why he was such a careful cat. He couldn't quit reliving the moments over and over again, he'd let it take over his life. Ontario wished he hadn't let it a long time ago, maybe if he'd not let it bother him as much as it did a long time ago, he wouldn't be as a bad off as he was now. Boy, he wondered, what would that be li--

"LOOK AT THE DUCKS!"

Ontario felt his throat close slightly, and he felt his PTSD kick in. He uttered a simple whimper, since he couldn't manage a word beside it, then yowled out of panic and snapped himself to face the noise, his fur all fluffed from Panic. NO... NOT THIS TIME.... I'M GONNA FIX THIS! Ontario thought, then squeezed his amber-yellow eyes shut, and snapped his head towards the animal talking to him, then screeched:

"WHO GOES TH--Ducks?" Ontario asked, feeling his mood change drastically at the spur of the moment. Great, He wondered. Looks like that's my bipolar attitude again...
Ontario wasn't truly bothered by his Bipolar mood swings, in fact, he kind of liked them. It made him forget easier, like if he was angry, it would usually suddenly change, and then in a few minutes, he'd forget why he was mad in the first place.

To Ontario, it was a necessity.

[sorcerer]

Flurry immediately squawked and leaped backwards as the mystery animal started shouting back at her. This was not what she expected. Actually she wasn't sure if it was less scary that another cat was sitting in the middle of the room, unnoticed, or if a fake cat just popping up out of nowhere was worse. Being snuck up on by Seriol Killers or Mudderers was, of course, one of those Bad Things, but fake cats were worse than ghosts. That would be wierder than the pictures of animals Monty had one time found in a book. All..real-looking and perfectly still. Like zombies. Picture zombies.
The orange feline stopped, shaking nervously, eyes huge, casting about for a good response to the stranger's shouted questions. Uh, ducks. Right. Ducks.
"DUCKS. SO MANY DUCKS. ALL THE DUCKS. LOOK."
She spun in a circle, tail whirling everywhere, indicating the strange animals everywhere, stopped abruptly, shook the dizziness out of her mind, and tried to get another look at the strange cat. A tom, in a color she'd never seen a tomcat have before, much thinner than she was. Flurry fidgeted, wondered if this was one of those Insane Cats who, she'd heard, ate other felines and also sometimes foamed at the mouth (eww), and immediately decided that continuing to shout was the best way to dispel any ideas this Insane Cat might have about either drooling or eating her.
"QUACK QUACK. DUCKS. ALL OF THESE DUCKS EVERYWHERE. QUACK."
The she-cat hesitated, spun around again for good measure, and stopped, panting slightly, to see what the stranger's response would be. You never knew with Insane Cats. Maybe he would kill her and disembowl her corpse and then in a year someone (probably Monty, which would serve him right) would accidentally find her remains and then afterwards he would keep popping up in the background making scary faces.
And kill all the other people. Of course. All of them. When they least expected it. Like they did.
She stared for another moment, listening to the sudden silence, cleared her throat, and after a minute whispered seriously, "Sometimes I eat ladybugs."
She'd like to see what Mr. Insane Cat could do about that shit.

[solarsonic]

Ontario

Ontario felt his breath ease slightly, and he felt his nerves calm to the point of him feeling more mellow than he had in a LONG time. This cat didn't seem mean, or even remotely brave. The cat seemed, frightened of Ontario. He took a deep breath and lashed his tail back and forth slowly, then tucked it between his legs to show he didn't mean any harm, then padded forward towards the cat slightly, feeling his heartbeat quicken. He was getting nervous again.

"I-I'm no h-harm to you.... And.... Yes, those are ducks..." he said, adding a hint of playfullness to his voice. He let out a quick nervous giggle, then stopped and started trying to figure out what the cat looked like.

It was a female, and Ontario could faintly make out a ginger coat. Ontario liked Gingers... Even if he'd heard rumors about them not having souls. Ontario sat on his haunches and stared at her a moment, and blinked, then smiled a little. "Heh... Ladybugs?... I-I don't think that would really fill any cat up.... would it? I-I wouldn't know--I've never eaten one...." he meowed, trying to make conversation with the female. He wanted a friend, he longed for friendship, not love yet.... Just friendship. He would take it one step at a time, then maybe look for love once he'd made a few friends.

But now... Just friends... He liked her so far. She wouldn't be abusive, that was obvious. Ontario wasn't sure what she was truly like, but maybe she was like him... Maybe they could relate.... At least... Maybe she would listen... And care, unlike the humans, who could care less what Ontario did, and abuse him. Ontario felt another bipolar moodswing coming, this time, somewhat lonely. But he fought the urge away quickly, and meowed, extremely proud of his triumph:

"U-Uhm...My name's Ontario... And... I-I'm kind of lost.... And starving my tail off...." He felt his ears droop slightly, and he gave her sort of an embarrassed look. He felt stupid. He was supposed to be like a real male cat, dominant and cunning. He sure wasn't acting like one. He was being quirky again, and shy. Not jerky and protective. He didn't care if she was on someone else's property, or if he was on her property, he just hoped she would maybe talk to him... Help him... befriend him too...

[sorcerer]

She watched suspiciously as the other cat approached, her face twisted into what she hoped was a toughish snarl. Probably it just looked like she'd eaten something sour, but ah well. The tomcat definitely looked scared, so obviously she was ferocious enough to fool him. He was also, for some reason, taking forever to say all his words. Was he sick?
Or maybe his tounge didn't work right.
Or, or, or..
Maybe he was a Foreigner, and therefore didn't know how to talk regular, and so he had to think about everything he had to say. Yes. That seemed like the logical explanation.
Flurry listened to him talk, because listening when other people were talking was polite, or at least that was what her mom always said to her. Also if you were rude you got hit on the head, so maybe it was that being rude was bad and being polite was not as important. Either way. She was that. He was saying something about..ladybugs and..Ontario, which she was pretty sure was a far-away land in the world of Canadiana..and being hungry. After this he stopped talking for a second. Flurry assumed that was an invitation.
"I'm not hungry because there are mice here and I caught five of them and ate them all. I am a very good hunter."
Here she paused for a moment, puffed her chest out, and allowed this fact to sink into the other cat's brain. She knew she was a good hunter because one time when she was little she caught a spider and her mom said so. Therefore it must be true. Like the rudeness thing.
"You should have got some. There are lots of mice. Because this is a Mousem. I read it. I can read because I am smart. Also Monty taught me."
She added this as an afterthought, vaguely recalling that bragging was also rude.

Flurry smiled at the stranger, reflected vaguely that he looked like her sister Nutmeg, decided not to mention this fact in case it was offensive or anything, and suddenly recalled that she'd forgotten to introduce herself.
"My name's Flurry," she noted quickly. "I have other names too. Mysterious ones. That means it's like a secret."
She stared some more at the tom, slowly tilting her head sideways, smiled vaguely some more, and sat down suddenly.
"Are you a ghost?"

[solarsonic]

Ontario

Ontario's stomach growled at the mention of food again. He gulped, and tried to ignore it. He didn't want to start wailing in front of her "PLEAAAAAASE I HAVEN'T EATEN IN DAYS! SHOW ME THESE MICE!!!!"

Ontario just stared at her a moment, then blinked slowly. He had to stop stuttering. To him, it looked like she couldn't understand a single thing he had just said, well, except for him being hungry. And there was that feeling again. Ontario felt his stomach rumble once more, and he smiled sheepishly at her. "Um... Hold on just a second..."

Ontario turned and sniffed the air slightly, then pricked his ears at the sound and smell of around 4 mice. That'll keep my stomach satisfied, for now. He thought, feeling a smile prick at his lips. He dropped low onto the ground, his belly a mere inch from the ground, and folded his ears back. He'd remembered vaguely how to hunt from when his sister was teaching her in the garden when they were little. But of course, he hadn't been very good, because if he was hunting a bird, and another one flew up and cawed one of those really loud and creepy calls, he would FREAK, then the bird would fly away, leaving Ontario standing there, frowning.

But now he was almost sure it flowed natural to him. He inched forward with every pawstep, making sure to step lightly so maybe the group of mice couldn't hear him, then he tensed his legs, added some power to his back legs, then threw himself forward and felt his claws sink into the fur of a mouse. SUCCESS.

Ontario felt himself ooze with pride. He hadn't caught an actual creature in forever, and it was always somewhat hard for him, with his PTSD and all, but now, Ontario was feeling victorious, and he grabbed the mouse between his jaws, and practically bounced back over to where the female, Flurry was what she called herself, was standing. He shook his head slightly, then dropped the mouse. "Heh... I can't read... A-And no... I'm not a ghost.... I'm a real cat." He meowed, feeling even more proud that he was beginning to talk straight and less nervously.

"I just happened to be passing by here--the museum as you called it-- and I just happened to run into you..." He meowed, sitting slowly. Ontario felt, strangely comfortable around Flurry, she seemed, a little rude, yes, but Ontario didn't mind, he'd learned to either deal with it, or look past that part of a creature and look at something else, possibly a little more attractive. Then he curled his fluffy tail over his paws for warmth and shivered slightly. Ontario had never enjoyed the cold, its so-freezing-cold-that-it-burned wind always brought Ontario close to tears it was so agonizing to him.

He much rather preferred the warmth of summer, even if his fur was longer, and was meant for him to think winter was more enjoyable. Well, it wasn't. Not by a LONG SHOT.