Learning the Ways of the Kittypet

Carat grinned when her housefolk walked in the door, meowing a greeting. The housefolk responded with her usual greeting and stroked her back, causing the kittypet to purr in delight. Oh, she'd missed her! Then, waiting to see how Poppy would react, the she-cat turned to look at him. He still seemed afraid of the nice housefolk, even when she held out a paw towards him and made the sounds that meant she wanted him to come to her. "Let her pet you," Carat whispered, sapphire eyes flicking from the red tom to her housefolk. "She'll never let you out if you're still scared of her. She won't hurt you or anything, promise- and she'll probably give you a treat!"

Poppyheart quickly shot Carat an incredulous look. StarClan above, he didn't want to go anywhere near that foul-smelling Twoleg! What if he started smelling like monster, too? That'd be a disgusting scent to wash out. But... she did have a point. Perhaps pretending to befriend this Twoleg would be the only way for him to return to his Clan. Gulping nervously, swallowing his fear, and holding his breath, he took a tentative step towards the Twoleg's held-out paw.

The Twoleg made a soft, high-pitched noise and startled the tom in his tracks for a second, but he recognized there was no malice in her tone of voice. He looked up warily into her eyes. They were blue. Kind of like a newborn kit's. They were filled with kindness. How strange, he never knew Twolegs had the capacity to feel anything other than cruelty and greed. Taking another step forward, then another, then yet another, he finally reached the Twoleg's paw. Then he halted. What was he supposed to do now? It still stank, and he didn't want to sniff it.

The paw began to lift up slowly, which startled Poppyheart into tensing and freezing up in place. Then he saw it slowly descend down upon him. Great StarClan, what was this Twoleg going to do to him?! He had to be brave, though, and stay put, just as Carat told him. If he pretended to befriend this Twoleg, he would be free. It was a sacrifice of his own dignity he was willing to make for the sake of his Clan. Shutting his eyes, he felt the paw rest on his back, then stroke along it down to his bushy tail. His eyes widened, and he looked back at the paw stroking down his back, raising up, and repeating the process at the scruff of his neck. Was this what Carat meant by letting this Twoleg pet him? She was doing the same thing to the kittypet before, so it must be.

Then the Twoleg's freakishly long toes curled and began to scratch the base of his tail. StarClan above, he had no idea how itchy he was there until just now! It felt... really... good. He closed his eyes, his pink tongue poking out, as he enjoyed the feeling of the Twoleg's blunt claws scratching his itch, shifting his hindquarters around a bit so she could reach other spots as well. Was this what Carat meant to be... what was the word?... pampered?

Well... just for the time being anyway, while he was here, pretending to befriend the Twoleg... he'd might as well take the good with the bad.

Carat watched approvingly as her new friend tentatively approached, then grew to enjoy the scratches he was getting. So there was hope for him, after all! How wonderful! Maybe, she'd end up convincing him to stay. "Atta boy, Paps," she whispered, blue eyes sparkling. Her housefolk was so good, she wondered why Poppy wouldn't like her. But even as she watched the handsome tom, she kept another eye on her largest friend, eyeing her big paw to see if there were any treats.

After a little while, the Twoleg made some kind of noise that seemed to be directed at both him and Carat, and Poppyheart watched warily as she rose up to her full height and walked rather clumsily into another side-den, this one with a pretty white floor and lingering scents of all kinds of strange foods. Curiosity getting the better of him, he followed after her.

He watched as the Twoleg reached out a foreleg to grab something off a high ledge with her paw. It was a strange, colorful looking thing. Then she shook the thing, and it made a loud, clattering noise that startled him. He took a few steps back and bunched up his muscles, readying himself to flee if he needed to.

With a strange popping noise, an appendage of the top of the thing lifted up, and the Twoleg shook it upside down to deposit some small things in her other paw. Then she placed two square-shaped things on the ground in front of him and two in front of Carat for when she approached.

Poppyheart gave the things a quick, tentative sniff. It smelled a little like that dry 'food' that the Twoleg would always give the two of them. Only it smelled just a tiny bit better. He licked up one of the food pieces and crunched on the outer crust, the inside soft and chewy. It definitely tasted better than the dry food, that was for sure. It tasted almost like fish. Well, if he knew what fish tasted like. He definitely recognized the scent of it from his times during Gatherings surrounded by fishy-smelling RiverClan cats. He licked up and consumed the other piece, savoring the slightly-above-average kittypet food. He had a feeling this would be the only time he would get to eat food that tasted this decent for a while.