Percy
Percy was exploring. The little Siamese kitten was padding through the mansion, hiding in the shadows, and occasionally levitating up to the ceiling, so that nobody would notice him. He spotted a small black cat, and faced off with him, sniffing.
Cousin? he asked Faolan. Are you my cousin?
Faolan
Faolan eyed him carefully. Spose so. He licked a paw thoughtfully. What can you do?
Saku pounced his brother. TAG! You're it!
No fair! I was distracted. Faolan complained as Saku raced off. He wheeled to go, then looked back at Percy. Wanna play? We can Hunt him. With a flicker, Faolan was wolf shaped.
Percy, Draco and Orion
Yeah!? Percy said. My brothers can come play too, but not my sister. No girls allowed! Percy said, and he called for Orion and Draco, who ran up toi their cousins. They all touched noses, greeting each other.
I'm Percy the Siames kitten said, levitating about a foot into the air.
I"m Draco, the little orange tabby said. That's Orion. He can't run very fast, but he's better at 'porting than me.
There're mice in the basement. I was down there earlier, heard the heartbeats, Orin told his brothers and cousins.
Faolan
Mice? Pffft. Rabbits! Faolan said descively.
Rabbits? Saku said carefully.
Oh yes! Rabbits! Faolan bounced and yipped quietly. I can feel them, so scared.
We're not allowed out of the house...
Pfffft! RABBITS! HUNTING! Let's go!
Orion and Draco
Orion giggled. Didn't say we couldn't go outside, just said, 'don't go out the door.' So we won't go out the door! Draco smiled.
See what I can do! he made up a spell, and out of nowhere, a portal appeared that lead out to the woods behind the mansion. Let's go! The three litter-mates hopped through the portal, waiting for their cousins to follow.
Faolan
Faolan and Saku cowered back from the portal. NO!. Faolan yelped loudly. NONONO!
Bad portals! Saku sniffed. C'mon, Fao. The two brothers loped to a window and clambered out, Faolan kitten shaped for the moment. They ran swiftly to the woods, Faolan's legs lengthening as he became wolf and running faster.
Hunt! He howled, and then his nose went to the earth, sniffing for traces of prey.
Bird! Saku slowed down and started stalking.
Draco and Orion
Racoons! Draco cried, as he stalked after them, and then broke into a run, chasing them. Orion 'ported over to Saku and faolan.
Why you no like portals? Hapi teached Draco to make portals. he's good at it, Orion spoke proudly of his big brother.
Faolan
Faolan shuddered, then shoved the thought at Orion. FIREBLOODPAINAGONYGRIEFDEATH! BAD!
Bad bad bad. Saku agreed, shivering miserably. Then he lifted his head and sniffed. Fao...
I smell it too. The brothers stalked over to a hollow tree and sniffed it over carefully. Mama. And male.
Smells like Kanny.
Kanny's daddy, you think?
Yeah. Do. And something else... Faolan sneezed, then sat down on his haunches. Can't you smell the blooddeath of prey?
Yes. And wolf scent, and a girl...
Alpha.
Oh yeah. Mama's alpha, and so's Kanny's dad. And this girl is alpha too. The wolf is...beta. To the girl? Saku thought for a moment as they sniffed carefully around the clearing. Faolan found a square of sundried hide and batted it with a paw.
She smells nice though.
Orion and Draco
Orion was happily disembowling the quail he had just caught, munching away.
Sissy is alpha bitch. Has Daddy rapped around her paw, Percy said pouting.
Faolan
Don't have to share my daddy with anyone. Faolan said. Saku sniffed.
Meh. Saku stalked away, tail waving slightly as he disappeared into the shadows.
Faolan shifted into wolf, and scratched vigourously at his ear with his back leg. Gonna go hunting now. He padded off in a different direction, away from everyone else.
Cassie
Back in the mansion, Cassie decided she was going to be a tattletail.
"Daddy," she said, leaning on Sabre's shoulder. "Boys are being naughty. Brothers and cousins went outside hunting without any grown- ups."
Sabre, Faolan and Varian
"Did they now," Sabre said slowly, one hand running through her hair in soothing motions. "Should we go find them, do you think?"
Faolan had found and killed a rabbit. The poor thing had been quite befuddled by his empathic and telepathic talents till it didn't know which way was up. He yawned, licking bloodstained jaws with an agile tongue. He was full now. Faolan wandered off to his place in the woods where he slept on occasions such as this.
Saku crouched in the top of a tree, cleaning his paw of feathers. Then he jumped to the next one. Hello, Varian.
Hello. The hyrbid opened a purple eye, then closed it again. Good hunting?
Yeah. You?
Alright. Varian was coiled up around the treebranch in kher T'ien Lung form. The tip of kher tail twitched lazily and khe yawned displaying daggerlike teeth. Varian's growthspurt was proceeding quickly, until khe could now reach the size of Shetland pony in kher draconic forms. Khe looked like a seven or eight year old child in kher human forms. Deer.
Yeah?
Good hunt. Dropped down on it out of the sky...
Saku crept into the coil of the dragon's tail and curled up there, Varian exuding heat.
Percy and Cassie
I like to do that, Percy said, now floating about four feet off the ground.
---
"Yeah!" Cassie said. "They didn't even invite me to go," she pouted. "Percy said no girls allowed. He says I don't hunt good enough."
Varian and Sabre
Go away. Varian thought calmly. Only like one cat at a time, thanks. Saku's muscles bunched together lightly and he cuddled in closer to the warmth of the dragon. Varian concentrated and a crackle of lightning spearheaded down by Percy.
He's my family, Varian.
Which means nothing to me.
~*~*~*~
"Ye are a wee bit clumsy sometimes," Sabre said. "Ye need to practice." His ears twitched as a boom of thunder echoed over the school. "We should go get them before it rains. Someone's calling a storm...if I didn't know better, I'd say it was a dragon."
Cassie
"Otay," Cassie said, happily. She followed her Papa out to the woods. Percy dropped down from the sky on top ofa raccoon, and ate happily. Draco was busy draining the blood ofa a opossum. Orion was full of quail meat, and started to pad back to the house when a coughing spasm hit.
Sabre and Faolan
Sabre prowled the woods, scenting out his children. You're all in such trouble... He found Draco and sent the kitten bowling end over end with a swipe of his paw. Shame on ye for telling ye sister she couldn't come.
Faolan was curled up, sleeping off his full stomach in his little den.
Saku was drowsily contemplating the sheen of Varian's scales.
Percy, Cassie and Orion
Me sowwie Papa. Percy sad she couldn't come 'cause no girls allowed. Boys only. Percy suddenly didn't want to face his Daddy. He levitated a few meters off the ground. Orion 'ported back to their room, where Hapi gave him some medicine. Cassie pounced on a mouse and was ecstatic when she caught it.
Look Daddy! I caught a mouse!
Sabre
Good for ye, lovely. Sabre sat back on his haunches and licked his paw contemplatively. Where are your cousins now?
He knew he could smell dragon musk on the wind...why hadn't he before? Dragons were not friends of cats. He should have been on the look out for any dangers...
Percy
Saku's sleeping on the back of a dragon, Percy said. And Faolan's curled up somewhere, me not sure where.
Sabre, Varian and Faolan
What say we hunt them? Sabre suggested. Good practice for ye all.
Varian stirred slightly, and opened an eye to look at Saku. It's gonna rain today.
Really?
Yeah. Want to flip you back inside?
That would be good.
With a thought, Varian teleported Saku back inside the mansion and settled down to enjoy the power of the storm. Winds rushed in and khe sat up slightly, spreading kher wings and opening kher mouth as the winds whipped up and started to howl through the trees. Lightening sang and thunder boomed, heralding the arrival of rain.
Varian crouched, then leapt into the sky, body shifting into a Western dragon form with enourmous wings tipped with black claws as khe frolicked through the lightening, letting it slide over scales and run over wings like quicksilver.
Faolan shivered slightly, then cuddled further into the dead leaves he had pushed in for warmth as he watched the heavens burst open and the rain come crashing down.
Oh dear. Inside! Sabre opened a portal to the mansion and started to shoo his kittens through it. We'll play another day. Quickly, little ones.
Cassie
Cassie cocked her head.
Smells nasty. Papa, I have a very bad feeling about this, I wanna go inside! She tried to chase her vision away, but it came on anyway.
Daddy! Cassie cried out in fear. Nasty dragon's going to scorch Orion. He can't breathe!
Sabre and Varian
Sabre picked Orion up with his mouth and bounded through the portal into the warmth inside. He dropped the kitten on the bed, and then went and got the others, one at a time. They were too heavy now for him to take more then one.
Varian roared, sprailling into the sky, then dropping as the lightning raced over kher. With a boom that echoed the thunder khe snapped kher wings open just before khe hit the trees.
Cassie
Cassie shivered. SHe still hadn't learned how to handle her emotions when her visions hit. She was in sensory overload. She could feel the pain from every kill Varian had ever made.
Daddy she wept. make it stop!
Sabre
"I can't lovely, I can't," Sabre said gently as he stroked her and then closed the portal behind him. "I need to go find your cousin. DRU!"
Varian wheeled through the sky, glorying in the elements. With a thought, kher wings lengthened then grew spikes as khe adjusted kher appearance. The lightning played between the footlong black curves.
Drusilla
Dru came and picked up her daughter.
"Cassie, just focus on a happy memory, and it will make the pain go away. Have you found a happy memory?" Cassie nodded as she shifted human, tears in her eyes.
"I found one, Mummy," she said, thinking of riding on her Daddy's back, the sun beating down on them, as they strolled around the West Bank.
"Good, Cassie, dear, now just concentrate on it, and all the bad feelings will go away." Cassie smiled big when it worked. Dru scooped Cassie up in her arms, and they laid down on the bed she normally shared with Sabre, and they fell fast asleep, Dru embracing her beloved daughter.
Sabre, Faolan and Varian
Sabre smiled and dropped a kiss on Dru's forehead. The boys clambered in as well, and he went to find their cousins. He found Saku, no problem. But he couldn't find Faolan. Sabre sighed, then decided to give it up as a bad job.
Faolan slept, paws twitching slightly as he hunted in his dreams.
Varian's storm whipped around the mansion, beating at the windows as they hybrid frolicked.