[Open] Catgroove.

[regalduchess]

The cat; small, lithe, and scared; runs through the aviary chased out by chirping birds, their beady eyes vindictive.

Once upon a time, there was a cheerfully tinkling bell on her collar. Now, it lies on the aviary floor as a trophy to the birds. The entire castle she runs through has a strange feeling to it, like everything is dead. Or asleep, or in mourning.

She finally comes to the throne room. Even cobweb-encrusted as they are, the silk seats are soft and comforting. The musty warmth reminds her of Bonfamille and her pink boas, her soft skin, the perfume she always wears-- always used to wear.

With a soft sigh, Duchess curls into a circle with her tail hanging off the edge of the throne, and tries to sleep.

Comments

[dustless]

Frisk is quiet, watching from the doorway. They'd seen the pawprints in some of the dust and followed the trail, but they hadn't really been expecting to see a cat. This castle takes in strange visitors, after all.

She looks so tired, so they don't call out despite that being their first instinct.

...What a pretty cat. They quietly grin as it occurs to them they can finally show Sans-Serif what a "kitty" is.

[regalduchess]

Duchess hears the tiny footsteps through her light catnap and soon enough raises her head, swiveling around to look Frisk in the eye.

A child! Considering the avian denizens of this place, she was expecting... something worse. Duchess rises to her feet and looks over the small human, noting with concern the pale, rippling scar across their throat.

She holds back from commenting and merely offers a purr, tail curling over her paws. Will they approach?

[dustless]

After a moment, they will.

"Hey, kitty," they say, voice even softer than usual. "New here, aren't you?"

They crouch by the throne, putting their head in line with hers. They reach out to give her a gentle pet on the head--though she might find it the slightest bit uncomfortable anyway. Frisk's more used to patting dogs than cats.

[regalduchess]

Not to worry! Duchess presses her head up into Frisk's hand happily and purrs, the sound as soothing to her as it hopefully is to them. She can talk; but it might be smarter to keep that a secret.

A child can't cause too much trouble, can they? She decides to speak, no matter.

"Oh~! That feels nice. Hello, little one."

[dustless]

Oh! They pause in their petting, just for a moment. This cat doesn't look like a monster, but they suppose they shouldn't be surprised at this point.

Little one. Sounds like Toriel. Frisk likes her already.

"Hi. Welcome to the castle. --If you are new. It's big, so sometimes I miss people for a while," they explain.

[regalduchess]

"I am new." She doesn't mention her three kittens, deeming a child too young to know about them. They might be here-- though she hopes not. They would be so much safer with Bonfamille, who would care for them in place of Duchess.

Once Frisk stops petting, she insistently butts her head up into their hand for more, soft whiskers tickling up against their palm.

"I am Duchess. What is you name?"

[dustless]

An unexpected Lesser Dog impression, if mild. They obediently keep up their petting, instinctively starting to scratch behind her ears.

"'M Frisk. And you're in a castle in the sky. We've all woke up here and don't know how it happened yet. Still. Been here for a couple months now." It's good to get the biggest questions out of the way first, of course.

[regalduchess]

"Oh." She hops down off the throne and winds around Frisk's feet, letting the agitation out that way; and the scratching was getting a little overstimulating, anyways. "Is there a way out? And are there any other people here?"

She settles into a sit, tail folded daintily over her paws. "You seem like a perfectly nice young..." pause. "Gentleperson, but those birds..."

[dustless]

Frisk straightens up. "...Not yet. I'm sorry. There is--are people. Couple human kids--Chara's one of them, though. They look like me, but with a different sweater. They're dangerous. Everyone else is nice, though, especially the monsters." They'll wait to see what her reaction is to that. What's a monster to a cat, anyway?

"Birds? Did the ones in the bird tower scream at you?" The macaws in there don't care for Frisk much, for some reason. Or the peacocks still.

"Iaul" means, unsurprisingly, "cat" in Tauriel's first language of Sindarin.

[lightofthestars]

Passing by the entry to the throne room, it would not take the eyes of an elf to see the snow white patch upon the cushion of one throne. It...is it--it is a cat, crept inside from...from where must have it come?

She steps closer, her movements slow and careful. "Iaul, iaul," she calls gently, then makes a soft sound with her tongue.

[regalduchess]

Caught in a hazy daydream, Duchess nearly misses the soft noises coming from behind her. For a moment, her heart skips a beat-- Bonfamille sometimes made mewing noises at her when she was resting, her children always made such strange noises when playing-- but the musty smell of old silk proves she is still in the castle. Her ears prick up and swivel back, and her tail swishes against one of the golden legs of the chair, but Tauriel will get no other sign that the cat is listening.

And that was basically "Here, kitty." :P

[lightofthestars]

A! It is awake!

A smile brightens her face. How close will it let her come?

"Tolo, iaul," she calls, still softly, and still slowly stepping forward.

[regalduchess]

Duchess lays as still as possible but for the slightest twitching of her tail, wanting to see just how close this person will come. It sounds like a human, and doesn't sound cruel at all-- so, she'll wait.

[lightofthestars]

Closer, closer she creeps, still beckoning the cat.

"Tolo, tolo, iaul...."

Maybe if she brought fish, the cat would come.

[regalduchess]

Tauriel will be able to get all the way to the throne before Duchess gracefully raises her head and turns to look her in the eyes, ears inclined forwards.

She gives a curious little chitter, head at a tilt.

"Hello, beautiful cat. I am Tauriel."

[lightofthestars]

A, such beauty!

Her smile grows as she holds out a hand for the cat to sniff. "Galu, iaul vain. Im Tauriel."

[regalduchess]

Duchess leaned forwards to sniff her hand, as if deigning to do so; then she gives it a soft lick with her raspy tongue.

[andthebat]

The throne room is one of what the Batman's come to think of as the more stable locations in the castle, so it's easy to try and orient himself by passing it by- and he's getting used enough to the sight of it that he notices when something's different, such as a patch of clean white fur on the throne.

He thinks briefly of Asriel, but when Batman pauses and turns his head he realizes it's a cat. Something of a surprise, considering how few animals seem to be here outside of birds and, arguably, himself.

The Batman walks lightly, despite his size. "Hunting dust mice?" he murmurs as he approaches.

[regalduchess]

Even though she's a housecat, her ears are still sharp, and she hears him.

So it's so her surprise when she turns and sees a bat-man thing, but-- ever the lady-- she refuses to be perturbed and simply sits up, eyes fixed to his. People keep coming, perhaps led here to say hello, perhaps drawn in by their own wanderings-- she doesn't mind it, especially since this place really is awfully big.

"Aristocats do not hunt. That's just awful."

[andthebat]

Oh. Well. The Batman stares at Duchess for a moment, cocking one eyebrow. He can't say a talking cat- or Aristocat- is the strangest thing he's seen, but he can't say he expected it either.

"Sorry," he says, "I guess I had you confused with something else."

He steps forward until he's respectably close to the throne where Duchess is seated, and kneels so he's closer to eye level with her.

"I'm the Batman. How long have you been here?"

[regalduchess]

She straightens up, sits like the queen that must have sat on this throne once upon a time, and looks the Batman in the eyes. Her ears point straight up, stiff and attentive. "Oh. If I may ask, who did you mistake me for?" She tilted her head.

"And it is nice to meet you, the Batman. I am Duchess. I suppose I arrived just this morning."

[andthebat]

"No one in particular," the Batman says. "Just a... different sort of cat." The kind that doesn't talk, for one thing.

He holds out a hand to Duchess, wondering if she's more likely to sniff it or shake it. "Don't expect to leave anytime soon," he warns her. "This castle's floating a long way off from the ground, as well as other magic that keeps everyone stuck here."

[regalduchess]

"Oh. I suppose some cats are different from others." Like how they can talk to people, like she can, or like they meow at their humans, like she used to.

"Have you explored this castle? It looks quite stately, from what I have seen."

[andthebat]

"Like how people are?" the Batman says lightly. (He feels a little thoughtless immediately afterwards.)

"Somewhat. Parts of the layout like to change." Which makes exploring the castle an ongoing issue.

[regalduchess]

Duchess twitches her ear. Yes, she sometimes lumps people all together; Edgar, who cares for them, and Bonfamille, who pampers them, and-- that's all the humans she spends time around. Not the commonfolk out in the streets. Nor children, excepting her own, and they're cats.

"The layout changes? Oh, how? I hope it isn't too drastic..."