Learning the Ways of the Kittypet

It had already been a few days since Poppyheart's imprisonment within the Twoleg den. Well... more like his rescue, but it still felt like an imprisonment. The den was so incredibly stuffy; he was desperate for fresh air! And no matter how highly his new denmate Carat spoke of the 'chicken and cream' food, it still tasted awful to him. At least he was slowly getting used to the strangely flavored water, so he wouldn't dehydrate. And he would eat the gross wet food if he absolutely needed to.

Now, the tom was sitting on the... oh, what did Carat call it? Was it called a couch? Sitting next to Carat, he shuffled a bit uncomfortably as the, uh, collar around his neck pinched at his skin and tugged at his long fur again. He sat up to scratch at it wildly with a hind paw, granting him minimal, temporary relief from the itching. The injuries he had acquired from fighting Coldgaze at Fourtrees were still sore, especially without Morningpaw's remedies, but all that disgusting junk the Twoleg would force down his throat seemed to be helping him heal. He just wished they wouldn't force-feed him the stuff that tasted like death.

Poppyheart looked over at Carat, who looked to be laying on the couch in total, blissful relaxation. Wanting to use her as an example on how to behave like a proper kittypet so her Twoleg would let him outside sooner, he shuffled in his spot on the couch, trying to get comfortable himself. It felt really weird laying around doing absolutely nothing, having his food and water served to him as if he were an elder. He was itching to do something productive like hunt or train or patrol!

Finally, he gave up trying to relax and he let out a soft groan. "Carat, no offense to you or your kittypet ways, but this just can't be all that you do all day long! Laying around doing absolutely nothing? I can't take it, I feel like I'm gonna ricochet right up the den walls!"

The past few days had been very... interesting, to say the least. Despite her beliefs, Papyrus- or Poppy Heart, as he called himself- did not immediately take to her lifestyle. He balked at the delicious premium food, paced restlessly around the halls, and tried to scratch off his expensive collar at every opportunity. She could tell that domesticating him would take some work, but she considered herself up to the task. She'd make a real housecat of him yet, no matter what it took!

Carat was half-asleep, lounging in a warm haze of dreams on the softest cushion when Poppy awoke her. She blearily opened an eye, then the other one, lazily stretching her tiny white paws forward to bat his nose. "Of course, it isn't all that I do, silly," she purred sleepily. "I just do it a lot, because I enjoy it. A lovely lady like me needs her beauty rest. But if you're bored, sweetheart..." The lithe, cocoa-colored she-cat stretched her hind legs up, then her front legs forward, and yawned, showing perfect tiny fangs and a curled pink tongue. Then, flicking her tail, she leapt gracefully off of the deliciously comfortable cushion with regret. She'd be back later, of course, but resting was one of her favorite pastimes.

"Of course, I go out in the garden, but you can't do that," Carat meowed lazily, her tail sashaying back and forth as she waited for the red tom to follow her. "Which is a shame, because the crocuses are delicious. And the dirt in the yard is so soft... You can't meet the neighbors either. But there are plenty of things for me to do! I have toys to play with, posts to scratch, shelves to climb, a dog and a fish to bother... And of course my housefolk pets and feeds me when she's home. But she won't be home for a while, so what do you want to do, Paps?" Her diamond-shaped, sapphire-blue eyes glittered as she watched him clumsily attempt to get off the high couch. "I can tell that sleeping bores you, and you probably don't want to eat any more food. Which I would be offended by, but that means there's more for me, so I really shouldn't complain."

Poppyheart, thankful to be doing something else other than sitting around doing absolutely nothing, stood up and bundled up his muscles before leaping down, wincing as he landed awkwardly on his wounded hind leg. He padded after Carat, listening to all the rather boring activities she listed. Well... at least the scratching thing sounded like a little bit of fun. At the mention of the dog, he stopped completely in his tracks, and his long russet fur fluffed up in fear. "Wait, what?! You live with a dog?!" This cat currently in his company was either the bravest cat he had ever met, or the stupidest.

Carat was sashaying along the hall when she heard the newer tom's panicked voice. She turned back in surprise to see his fur fluffed up in fear, eyes wide and panicked. Curious, she cocked her head. "Well, yeah. He's not dangerous or anything; I don't think he could hurt a fly if he wanted to. Big, fluffy old goofball. We got him when he was just a puppy, and-" her conversational tone was interrupted by a giant St. Bernard dog bounding up to them, brown and white tail wagging furiously. He licked Carat's head, then turned curiously to Poppy and barked. "Oh," the kittypet said brightly, "here's Boris!"

Instantly Poppyheart arched his back and screeched at the terrifyingly giant dog, his pupils wider than they had ever been. Okay, it's official now, Carat was just plain frog-brained! Who in the right mind would share the same den with a giant dog, let alone be content with it?! The moment the dog's nose nearly touched him, he swiped his claws at its muzzle, but his paw didn't make contact with its face, only wanting to try and scare it off before he actually did have to hurt it. "You stay away from me! Carat, do you have any idea how dangerous dogs are?! Dogs trespass into the territories and maim or kill Clan cats at least once a moon!"

Carat blinked at the tom's instant aggression. "Calm down," she told him, "he's not going to hurt you. He's not wild, like whatever dogs you have in the forest. He's been raised by my housefolk from a puppy, and he's never laid a claw on me!" She stalked between the other cat and Boris, annoyed now. The dog, for his part, was still wagging his tail in happy, stupid oblivion. He wuffed politely at Poppy, brown eyes looking directly into the former ShadowClanner's for a moment. There was no malice there. Carat rubbed her head against the dog's leg, purring, and he licked her enthusiastically again before bounding off. She turned back to Poppy, glaring. "Stop pretending like you know everything, because you don't, okay? Just trust me, and don't hate everything you don't understand." Her moment of fierce determination over, the slim kittypet turned and continued walking down the hall, letting out a huff of released tension.

Relieved when the large dog finally stumbled away clumsily, Poppyheart exhaled a shaky breath of relief as well before looking back up at Carat. ”Can you really blame me, though? I was raised and taught to know that dogs are vicious killers. Even if this one may not be nearly as violent, I still can’t let my guard down.” He sighed again and shook his head. ”Let’s just move on to something else. Uh, you mentioned something to scratch on, right? I could really release some tension right about now.”

Carat grumbled under her breath, but nodded. "Yes, I have several scratching posts. My housefolk buys them so I don't claw up the furniture. Here, they're next to my toys- I'll show you. Maybe when the housefolk comes back, she'll let us play with the catnip mouse." The light brown she-cat took a few turns and they were in a smaller side room, where the cat beds were, along with two scratching posts, a toy basket, and a large climbing structure. She went straight to the scratching posts. There was a shorter, tougher one, and a thinner, taller carpeted post with a pink stripe. Carat unsheathed her claws and began to daintily scratch the pink one, glancing back to see if Poppy had taken the other one.

The russet-furred tom tilted his head in confusion at the new mini den. There were a lot of things inside with Carat’s scent all over it. He watched as his new denmate approached one of the small strange-looking tree thing and started scratching at it carefully. He figured he’d might as well take the other one next to it, but the thin, brown thing caught his attention the most. It looked like a super smooth and thin tree trunk with three more just like it, and they were connected by a large flat thing at the top that looked like a flattened wooden canopy of some sort.

With his tail raised in the air, glad to find at least something he wouldn’t mind doing that kittypets also seemed to enjoy, Poppyheart trotted over to the smooth thing and began to absolutely destroy it with his claws, letting out all his pent-up frustrations in a productive manner.

When she'd looked back, she hadn't expected to see that! Carat let out a shriek when she saw Poppy tearing up the desk leg, and sprinted over to stop him. "No no no, you can't scratch that!" she yelped, pushing him away in panic. "That's furniture, not a scratching post! It makes my housefolk mad if I do that. I'm not sure why we can only scratch these ones, something about making sure it looks good, but please don't claw anything except those two posts," the kittypet begged, frustrated but knowing that Poppy probably had no idea of how he should behave. He'd had no proper upbringing! The poor savage. "Hey, do you like climbing?" she asked to distract him, not wanting him to make any more mistakes.

Eyes widening at Carat’s sudden panicked screech, Poppyheart stumbled back when she pushed him, confused and frustrated beyond measure that he wasn’t allowed to scratch what looked exactly like what a scratching post — or whatever she called it — was supposed to look like.

Noticing she was trying to change the subject, he nodded, though he did start feeling a little discouraged now. ”Yeah, kinda. ShadowClan cats aren’t really known for their climbing capabilities — those are mostly ThunderClan and SkyClan — but we’ve still been taught how to climb trees in case we get chased by a fox, dog, or badger in the territory.”

Carat nodded, not really understanding what he said but relieved that he wasn't angry. His life sounds so boring... Is death and danger all they focus on in the forest? Do those, savages even know what fun is? She looked back at him, a plan forming in her mind. She had to teach him how to enjoy himself. "Well, this tower here is for us to climb." She gestured to the tall carpeted post, which looked like a many-branched tree with ledges and hollow boxes for resting in. The top was flat and had a cushion on it. "Race you to the top!" Without further warning, the lithe kittypet leapt, embedding her claws in the carpet and beginning to scramble up the tower. Surely, even he would find this interesting and fun.

Blinking in surprise that Carat didn't even count down to begin the race, Poppyheart leaped up to dig his claws into the tower thing, not even bothering leaping on the little platforms that branched out from it. He needed to practice his climbing abilities anyway. Actually grinning now, thrilled to be competing, the tom scrambled rapidly up the tower, his strong, honed muscles granting him long, easy strides to the top. He reached the uppermost platform just before Carat did, and his tail waved happily. With a wide grin, he struck a pose, holding his head and tail up high in the air with pride, though not at all in a showboating way. For the first time since his capture and imprisonment, he was starting to feel a little like himself again. "Nyah hah hahn! The Great Poppyheart is victorious!"

Carat heard and felt Poppy coming up behind her in the race, felt his warm, excited breath in her tail, felt the energy coming from him. When she glanced back, the light of competition was in his eyes. And just so he'd feel better, she slowed down minimally, allowing the red-furred tom to sprint ahead of her by a few paw-lengths and won the informal race they'd begun. She laughed at his rejoicing, sharing in the moment. "Well done, Paps," she purred. "We'll make a housecat of you yet!"

Suddenly, she was distracted by the sound of a revving engine. She knew what that meant- her housefolk was coming back! Quick as a flash, the lithe brown she-cat leapt down from atop the carpeted tower, running towards the front room, only calling "C'mon!" to Poppy behind her. Age had to be there to greet her housefolk. With only seconds to spare, the pretty kittypet sat on the inner doormat, waiting for her housefolk to come in the house.

Poppyheart's fur immediately fluffed up, spooked at the sound of the growling monster outside. He watched through the window on the top of the tree thing as a large gray monster sat on the end of the smaller white Thunderpath and closed its eyes, falling asleep. Then a Twoleg -- probably female -- climbed out of the side of its belly and began approaching the nest. He watched as Carat bounded off to greet her Twoleg, and, reluctantly, he followed at a much slower pace.

He reached the main room just in time to see the barricade of the den swing open and the Twoleg step inside. She looked down at Carat and emitted an annoyingly high-pitched happy noise, and she leaned down to stroke her huge clumsy paw along the kittypet's back. Watching as she closed the barricade behind her, her eyes suddenly shifted to him, and he took an involuntary step back.

Poppyheart watched nervously as the Twoleg suddenly fell down on all fours and offered out a paw to him, cooing something gently to him. He had no idea what she was saying or doing, but all he knew is he didn't want to get anywhere near that freakishly large, disgusting-looking paw! It smelled of monster anyway. His nose wrinkled.