"What're you doing, Melissa?!" Shadow is behind her.
Melissa ignores him and shrinks back into her form. "Darling, how long have you been in there?" she asks, her voice softer than Anna has ever heard her before. "Come here, darling. You poor thing. Come here."
She mewls and stumbles into Melissa's open arms, shifting as she unfurls from her little corner and she hears Shadow's sharp intake of breath. He backs away, eyes wide with shock.
"I didn't know- I didn't know she's-" he starts but Melissa's rumbling purr drowns away whatever else he has to say.
Anna hides her face in the larger woman's bosom, finding comfort in her warmth. She feels safe here. Her arms and legs ache from being shifted for so long and it is nice to have fingers and toes again.
"Poor baby. Are you alright? Have you had anything to eat?" Melissa sniffs and must have smelled the can of tuna that has been smeared all over the sides of the cage and on her face where she couldn't really clean herself. It's a little comforting to see her little prison now shattered in pieces all around them. Melissa swears in a foreign tongue that she can never quite catch and then, still carrying Anna like she doesn't weight a thing, turns to Shadow. "Do you have anything in the fridge?"
Shadow nods. His eyes are locked onto her, wide and glazed over, like he can't believe what he's seeing. Anna clings to Melissa, curling her tail around herself and ears perked back, ashamed of her nudity even though she knows, logically, that she has nothing to be ashamed of. "I'm sorry. I didn't know," he says. "I thought you were just my father's cat."
"You would know if you had read the letter he wrote for you," Melissa brushes past him. "Come now, Anna. You're too big to be carried like this."
"Should I change back?" Anna asks. She rather likes being carried, but she's a little afraid that if she's small, she'll be caged again. She doesn't want to change back just yet.
"No, puppet. I can't very well cook with you here, can I?" Melissa laughs and carries her to the living room. She dumps her unceremoniously in the couch. "Stay. I'll see what I have to work with." And she's off, probably making a feast out of the meager supplies in Shadow's fridge. She curls her tail around her and mouths at the tip grumpily. The couch feels nice. She kind of wants to scratch it up a little bit and she does. She sinks her claws in the edges and picks at the seams a little bit. It used to drive Master crazy when she does this, but he's gotten used to having furniture that's all sliced up and indulges her. Her eyes burn with tears but it's satisfying to see the inside of the couch. She had been staring at the back of the couch for the past several days and it had frustrated her so.
"Anna?"
She startles. She has forgotten about Shadow. She is a little bigger now that she's not a kitten, so she can meet his eyes, but he's still very big and imposing and she feels so much like prey. It relaxes her a little bit when she notices that he's not looking at her like he's planning to eat her with a side of fries. She quickly pulls her claws back and stop cutting into his expensive upholstery. "I'm sorry," she mumbles, curling up even more, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tight. Her tail is even fluffier in this form and she can curl it all the way around her, giving her a sense of being hidden and her hair is long enough to cover her breasts. She's still a little bit embarrassed though. He doesn't know her and she doesn't think he's interested in mounting her, so she shouldn't show off her lady bits like this. Master insists on clothes.
He crinkles his forehead as though Anna was the most confusing thing he has ever come up against. "I'm really sorry, Anna," he says.
She shrugs and looks back at her tail. Hair is beginning to gather on her tongue. She hasn't been groomed for a while and there's an itchy spot between her ears. Her gaze drops onto his large hands and she drops from the couch onto her hands and feet. She slides up to his legs and lifts her head up until she is butting his knees. "Pet me," she demands. pushing her head into his palm.
He's holding his hand in tight fists and she watches as he turns a panicked look towards the kitchen. She meows at him to get his attention, and when he's still frozen in spot, she bats at his hand, careful to keep her claws hidden. Her tongue darts out and she licks his hand.
He yanks it away sharply. "Melissa! What do I do?" he calls out in a state of panic.
"Best do what she says, Shadow."
Shadow looks torn for a second, indecisive and uncertain. And then, his fingers brush between her ears tentatively. The fur is mixed with hair there and she knows it's soft to touch. She turns her head a little, guiding his touch to the spot beneath her ears where it feels good and purrs when he gets the right spot. He's still standing, which makes it a little harder for her to climb into his lap and demand better scratches. Maybe she can get him to train her better.
She gets distracted by the way his hands brush over her ears, though. She thinks of her Master and how he would do this for her when she's stressed too. She wonders how many days she's been here.
"Have they buried my Master?" she asks, voice trembling a little. She doesn't really know if she wants to hear the answer, but it feels important to know they dealt with his body properly. She doesn't want him to get eaten by the animals that roam in the forest by their home.
"Yes," Shadow answers at length. "The funeral was this morning," he says.
"Oh," she says. She wishes that she had been there. Did they bury him with his phone? He's a little obsessed with that silly little thing. What if he gets bored? What if he gets lost without having her around to boss him around and guide him places? He gets lost in the house, sometimes. He's almost a hundred years old and even though he puts up a strong front, but he's really very weak. What if the other dead people make fun of him? "Do you think they would let me be buried with him? What if Master gets lonely?" She doesn't realize she's said this out loud until Melissa gasps and drops something. It doesn't even have the decency to break. Shadow stops petting her.
"No, darling," Melissa says, marching out of the kitchen towards her. "No," she says, looking brokenhearted, eyes filling with tears. She looks as though she wants to come over and hold her again, but she's curled into herself and leaning closer to Shadow.
"Pharaohs in ancient Egypt would mummify and bury t
heir cats," she tells them softly. It doesn't sound like a bad way to go, to follow her Master.
"Master Monty loves you, darling. He would never allow that," Melissa says. "You know he would want you to live, darling."
She doesn't know what. Master Monty loves her, but he had gotten so confused towards the end. He didn't even remember her name on the bad days, so she turns into a cat during those days and kept him company that way. She kept him entertained and kept his mind from wandering too far. She didn't want him to die.
"My father must have loved you a lot to have sent you to me," Shadow tells her suddenly and she frowns at him, not knowing what he means by that. "Both of us, we have more money than we can ever find use for," he starts. "And we've stopped giving each other gifts because it's just things. We can buy everything we need on our own and anything else would just feel insincere. The old man, he didn't really know what he's supposed to do with me. He had gotten so used to using money to fix things that he didn't know what to do once I no longer needed it. It told myself I didn't need him because it's true. I didn't. He had other sons, younger sons and grandchildren."
She nods. She's met them before. They're not very pleasant people. She doesn't tell him that but she has a feeling he knows. She had been staying with Master for years and nobody really visits.
"He promised he won't give me anything unless I couldn't put a price to it." He squats down so that he's looking at her straight. "And he's given me the most precious gift he has."