A Cat of Nine Tales

[Gregory White]

Gregory lay platonic in the middle of the field, furry feet sticking up in the air above a body that really wasn't meant for lying on one's back. He scratched his broad chest idly with a paw and stared up at the sky with strange baby blue eyes, continuously wondering where Audel, Effie and Gabrielle were and what they were doing at the time. That was all he ever did and was all he ever had done before, only it was Adrianna he had been worrying about and not his new found (yet newly lost) friends. Before that, he worried about what Artemis was doing, and before that, nothing. Yes, so many years had passed that Greg had forgotten what it was not to worry about the shoes on your feet getting holes, or whether you were strong enough to catch a deer or lazy enough to catch a rabbit. Life before lionhood was plain and deliciously ordinary. Life with lionhood ... no, he practically was an animal now.

All Greg had left were the memories of brief happiness, when he thought he'd had a chance to begin again. He knew better now. Audel should have considered how little Greg had left to hope for without the aspiration of gaining Gabrielle's affections. Without the endeavour, Greg was once again both lost and free to ascend (arguably) up the food chain and to decrease his IQ points by wiling away the weeks getting his paws dirty. He looked, felt and in fact smelt exactly as a wild lion ought, but as a human should not. Greg stretched luxuriously and relaxed into the extremely satisfying belly rub that he was receiving. In flexed his claws, and out. The white lion's whiskers began to twitch pleasantly and he gazed up in dopey abandon at the face above him. Hang on, thought Gregory. Someone, in the middle of the wild countryside, was petting him as if he was simply a house cat on steroids. He promptly rolled over to eye the person beadily, wondering what on earth he'd gotten himself into now. For a brief and heart-wrenching moment, he thought it was Gabrielle come to bring him back to the Snows, but it was not. This lady didn't look dissimilar though, apart from being a brunette. Whoever it was had given him quite a fright, yet it only registered as a flattening of the ears. They were brave, whoever it was. She. Her. Another beautiful angel come to torment him.

 

[Katarzyna Snow]

Katarzyna had decided to take the long way home from work instead of the usual long route she had become so accustomed to taking when her day at the office was done and over with. Perhaps it was the right thing to do though because by the time she had reached an enormous field that separated her cute little house from the town she noticed something that was quite normal about it. It all started when her icy teal eyes locked on what appeared to be large furry feet sticking out of the grass, what on earth would have feet such as that? 'No Kat go home...don't check...oh okay go check it out!' Katarzyna grinned as she set her bag down onto the ground and also ditched her shoes so she could make her way over to the... object more quietly and quickly. She hated work shoes anyways since they pinched her toes and made her feet all sweaty as well. With graceful pixie like steps she made her way over to the furry thing and gasped softly when she saw it was this gorgeous looking lion! It never occurred the the brunette that it was abnormal for an actual lion to be in London but she was far to awestruck by the fact that she was actually see a lion to even consider it not being normal. Without haste, thought, or worry she gently crouched down in her work pants and shyly put a hand on the lion's fur. When he did not growl or attempt to bite her she softly began to pet the large creature, he was so fluffy and big that it reminded her of giant stuffed animal.

When it perked it's head up at her she jumped back for a moment. "Heeey Mr. Lion." Katarzyna responded shyly as she tried to be weary in case it wanted to chase after her and try to eat her. When she didn't notice any bit of hostility from it for a bit she slowly crouched down again but didn't start to pet him again. Instead she peered at him closely with her icy teal eyes before suddenly a girly giggle escaped her glossed lips. He was way to cute to be considered vicious.

 

[Gregory White]

Gregory's immediate thought was that he was dreaming. His next reminded him that when he slept as a lion, he didn't dream about much more than grass tickling his nose or a nice juicy rabbit. The third told him that his huge golden eyes were indeed open, and the woman was just as crazy as he thought she was. What kind of woman, or any person for that matter, would approach a fully grown white lion in the middle of the countryside and not call the aurors? Indeed, even if she recognised him as an animagus, it would be quite rude to start petting a person whom you didn't know. Animagi still worked on base instinct too, so she could have been scratched or bitten before he had gotten his bearings. Luckily she gave a good scratch herself, only a more pleasant version. Greg had been poised in a half-crouch long enough and tilted his head to one side at her. She didn't look frightened. He gave her a sniff, placing his wet nose directly into her palm and licking it. The woman smelt nice (though he didn't dare think she tasted nice too, for fear of either being sleezy or blood-thirsty) and looked it, too.

So why didn't you change back? Greg would ask himself many months later. If you had just shifted back into human form, it may as well have been a dream and none of what had happened, would happen. Yet things happened as they did and he placed his head on her knee where she knelt next to him. Greg considered rolling over for another belly rub, but something more interesting tweaked his nose; food. Somewhere on Katarzyna's person, something smelled very doughy and good. Not his usual feline diet, but enough to make him interested. Snuff, said Greg, poking his pink nose beneath her sweater rather rudely in search of whatever was making his stomach growl.