#cursed 22

“This is a waste of time,” he starts now. “You an’ I both know there’s no such thing as werewolves.”

“Do we?”

It’s only the withering glare Muta directs at him that gets Baron to smile apologetically and respond otherwise.

“It’s unlikely, yes, Muta. But according to the vast majority of humans, there’s no such thing as a Cat Kingdom, either.”

“Yeah, well, humans aren’t the brightest, either.”

“Still. It may prove to be wise to see what’s going on with this particular stray human. If nothing else, then to ensure they don’t come to any harm by admittedly well-intentioned cats.”

“Aw, we wouldn’t hurt her,” interjects the voice of their escort— a little tan cat with what seems to be an ever-present, sunny smile.

Muta’s glare is turned now to her. “Listening in on private conversations, uh?”

“I wanted to know!” The escort admits readily. “You can’t go around whispering in the Cat Kingdom and not expect to attract some curiosity.”

“Curiosity killed the cat, and so on, I suppose.”

“And satisfaction brought it back,” the escort agrees with a nod. Then, “Is it true, though? Are werewolves really just a fantasy?”

“Yes,” Baron says. “At least, as far as my knowledge goes.”

Their escort waddles a little further out ahead of them, paws joined behind her back now.

“Boy, Natori’s gonna be pretty embarrassed when he hears that.”

+++

Natori, despite the similar name, is a quite disparate sight beside his apparent coworker, being not only a tall and thin cat but prim as an aged governess as well.

He greets them shortly after they enter the castle doors, expression trained into one of aloof formality, and regards their escort, who seems to be struggling not to spill the beans on the apparent embarrassment coming his way, with no small amount of disapproval as she smiles innocently at him. 

To Baron, it’s rather evident the two have worked together for some time.

“Just this way, gentlemen. I’m afraid it’s a relatively lengthy journey.”

The human they’re led to is no more than a teenager. Her chocolate brown hair is tied back into a ponytail which at one point must have been rather neat and tidy but now sits upon her head in loose straggles due to her short (but no doubt trying) confinement. When she sees them all approach her cramped cell, her hopeful expression drops, and the exasperation in her voice can not be ignored.

“Oh, not more cats,” she starts. “You said you were bringing in a human expert.” 

“Yes,” Natori responds with no small amount of perplexity, glancing back to survey his new companions. “These two are experts on humans.”

Here the teen hesitates for only a second before putting her face in her hands.

“...That’s on me, I guess.” Then, with more vigor, “I’ve already told you all I don’t even know how many times that I don’t know what you’re talking about! Before today, I didn’t even know cats could talk, much less that they had a whole kingdom to themselves..!”

Baron looks to Muta, who quite pointedly looks away.

“What is your name?” The ginger cat then eventually asks their human companion.

“Haru,” she answers with a good deal of caution.

Baron inclines his head politely and continues. “If you don’t mind speaking with me, Miss Haru, how exactly did you arrive here? From what I understand, it’s something of a rarity for humans like yourself to appear here. Isn’t that right?”

Here he turns to regard Natori behind them, who quickly nods in agreement.

“Yes, you’re correct! It is quite rare, particularly for us to entertain a human who has already aged out of childhood.”

“I’m not that old,” Haru mumbles. “And I don’t know how I got here, exactly— I was just walking home from school like normal, and the next thing I know I’m surrounded by cats all accusing me of being some weird monster.”

“You don’t remember anything in between that?”

“Well… yes, but it’s a little hazy and confusing.”

“That’s understandable. You’ve learned a lot of strange things in a quite short amount of time, Miss Haru. Just try your best.” 

Haru seems heartened, and starts, “Like I said, I was walking home from school like I usually do. My best friend, Hiromi, usually walks with me, too, but she was on cleanup duty after school today, and she couldn’t get me to take her place for her. So she can be there to support Tsuge, fine, but I’m not letting her bribe me into it willy-nilly.” 

Then, continuing in a more chastened sort of manner, as if concerned she’d overshared, “...Um, but, anyway— don’t think I’m a bad friend, okay? I usually do all kinds of things for her, really I do. She’s my best friend.”

“Of course,” Baron agrees, sympathetic.

“Well, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, just a little shadow or something. It had me curious, so I followed where I thought I’d seen it— down an alley. I don’t… um, I don’t understand how it happened, exactly, but I swear it seems like I just turned a corner somewhere and suddenly there were cattails and grassy hills everywhere.”

“Does that sound feasible to you, Mr. Natori?”

Natori seems reluctant to answer. “...Well. Yes, there are actually countless, ah, gaps in the boundary between our world and hers, you might say. It’s not at all unlikely she might have accidentally passed through one without realizing it.”

“I see.” 

“What do you think, then?” Natori asks under his breath.

“...I do regret being the bearer of unfortunate news, but the creature you’re thinking of— this ‘werewolf’, is merely a product of fiction in the human world,” Baron begins gently, looking from Haru to the other cat. “While her presence in your kingdom is admittedly unusual, I don’t believe she is your monster.”

The way Natori’s expression falls is almost comical— a mixture of disappointment, surprise, and embarrassment, much as Natoru had predicted. When he speaks, however, it’s with the same composed formality he’s exhibited thus far.

“Ah, I see.” Then, after another reluctant pause, “As the, ah, expert on humans in this case, what do you propose we do with her, then? Is it prudent to simply send her back to her home? Will she find her way back here in a vengeful haze..? I imagine it might be wise to offer our sincerest apologies and a gift basket as consolation, at least.”

“I’m not certain the gift basket is necessary, but I imagine an apology shall be quite appreciated,” Baron whispers back. Then, aloud, he adds, “However, yes, there is likely to be no harm in sending her back to her home.”

“Oh!” Haru says upon hearing that, her hands clasped in relief. “You ended up being my knight in shining armor after all..! I was so scared I’d be stuck here forever!”

“We wouldn’t have kept you forever,” Natoru says. “Eventually we would have shot you with a silver bullet or something.”

Beside her, Natori appears to struggle through a silent test of faith, but ultimately seems to see fit to say nothing to offset his shorter coworker’s blunt claim, much to Haru’s dismay. Instead, he clears his throat and addresses her directly as Natoru flips through the heavy key ring at the door.

“On behalf of the esteemed Cat Kingdom, I offer our most sincere apologies. I’m afraid you came upon our dominion at a quite trying, inopportune time.”

“You know, if any of you had just said werewolf, I would have understood. I could have told you myself those don’t actually exist,” Haru says plaintively, but her laments don't last, not when she hears the door to the cell clinking open. It takes a little bit of maneuvering, but she manages to crawl through the exit, standing slightly hunched against the higher ceiling outside the cell. For the first time, Muta finds himself wondering how a bunch of cats had even managed to get her in there in the first place.

“Even so, it’s doubtful they would have taken your word for it,” Baron tries to reassure her. Natori coughs.

“Well… thank you, anyway,” she says, tucking a stray hair behind her ear self-consciously.

“Think nothing of it.” Then, “By the by, Miss Haru, you said you saw something out of the corner of your eye and that it led you here.”

“Yes.”

“Do you happen to recall what it was? Any particularly strange features, anything that stuck out to you?”

“It was small, but not as small as a cat. I think maybe that’s why it caught my attention. I thought someone had maybe lost their dog. Sorry, I wish I could remember more.”

“That’s quite alright.” Then, to Natori, “If you don’t mind, my colleague and I would like to offer our services— those outside our expertise on humans and their world, that is— in order to uncover your mystery creature and help you to regain some sense of security in your fair kingdom.”

Somewhere behind him, Muta speaks up.

“We would—?!”

“Yes,” Baron responds without hesitation, without so much as a glance back at the cat. “I believe we may have some other insight to offer the situation.”

“Oh—!” Natori practically claps his paws together. “We could only be so fortunate to receive your continued help in this matter! I was going to do this anyway, you must understand, but do please let us treat the two of you to a banquet in gratitude for your trouble, and your future assistance.” Here he looks to Haru, as well, addressing her with the same deference, “And you, as well, Miss Haru— as a most sincere apology for your confinement, of course.”

“A banquet? Okay.”

Baron’s smile isn’t directed at Muta himself, but it’s clear the cat’s sudden willingness to entertain a longer stay is what brought the expression about.

“Yes,” he agrees, too, “I believe such an occasion may prove to be a fertile ground to gather more intel as well as repay kindness. Will the king be present?”

“Of course.”

+++

The Cat King is perhaps not quite as stately as his regal title might lead one to expect. He’s rather tall for a cat, like his advisor (or at least Baron surmises he would be were he standing), but covered in long lavender fur which seems to point in whatever random direction it pleases, giving him an appearance that might almost be unfortunately described as slovenly. At the moment, he lounges idly in an ornate chair at the head of the table.

When Natori introduces them all, the king merely mumbles something to himself, and then greets them with an indolent, almost sullen-sounding, “Hey.”

“Your Majesty,” Natori then continues, in a pressured way that belies some amount of exasperation, “The Baron von Gikkingen and his colleague, Muta, have decided to continue to offer their expertise— that is, their expertise outside that which they possess on humans, in their own words— in order to help solve our creature mystery.”

“Oh, yeah?” The king all but drawls. “That’s cool, babe.”

At this, Natori seems to deflate, asking them all to sit while he checks on the meal. It’s only after he’s left that the conversation continues.

“I do hate to seem as if I’m all business, if you will,” Baron begins, “But I’m quite interested in your own opinions on this mystery creature business, Your Majesty.”

The Cat King sniffs a time or two, resting the side of his head against his paw propped against the arm of his chair. His attention seems drawn to the shiny metal of one of the forks sitting beside the platter before him as opposed to any of his kingdom’s guests. When he does finally respond, it’s with a bored tone, and spoken while combing absentmindedly through his mustache.

“It’s not a fun time, I’ll tell you that much. Haven’t had an upset this annoying since that time I tried to implement taxes. If you ask me, the sooner it goes away, the better. I’m tired of hearing about it.” Then, before anyone can respond to any of that, he eyes Haru blearily a few seconds and asks, “How come you’re so huge, babe?”

Haru, sitting upon a low bench with her knees hopelessly drawn a couple inches above the table and admiring the tiny silverware, reddens a little. “I’m not, sir..! I’m short for a human.”

“Huh. Didn’t know that about humans. I always pictured them like little garden gnomes.”

“I’ve known a handful of garden gnomes,” Baron adds thoughtfully. 

Muta clears his throat loudly, staring at Baron with the —.

“...but I suppose that’s not important right now.”

[ insert dinner arriving, as well as natori coming back probably ]

“Baron,” Haru suddenly whispers from beside him. When he turns to her, he sees that she’s staring down at the array of forks spread out upon the tablecloth with a palpable amount of abrupt apprehension, no longer simply admiring them.

“The one farthest to the left is appropriate for appetizers,” he whispers back helpfully, guessing what her conundrum is, and seemingly correctly at that, as her manner noticeably relaxes.

“Oh, thank goodness.” She gingerly picks it up.

“What can you tell us about the monster so far, anyway?” Muta asks as he inspects the plate set before him hungrily, soon after wasting no time in gulping down his first bite.

“Not much, babe. Just sorta showed up a couple weeks ago and started terrorizing the place. Lune was the one who’d seen it the most,” the king recalls, lazily spinning his fork in his paw. From her seat, Haru notices it’s the wrong one (at least, according to Baron’s advice).

“The prince,” Natori supplies quietly from his standing spot behind the Cat King’s seat. 

“...Was..?”

At this the king gives a vaguely discomfited noise, leaning back to talk with his advisor in low tones. Eventually, he answers in a pressured manner that speaks to some uncertain annoyance, “No one knows it yet, but we sent Lune on some made-up errand this morning to get him away from the castle.” He levels his fork this time at their guests, eyes narrowed and lip curled. “And that means you three can’t go blabbing about it now, either. No one outside this room needs to be getting any ideas about some monster stalking the royal family.”

“Is it then safe to assume you yourself have had encounters with this creature?”

Baron’s question seems to catch the king off-guard. What had been a narrowed, almost unimpressed glower very quickly relaxes. The king shrugs.

“Sometimes I’d think I saw something outta the corner of my eye, but it’s always turned out to be something else. You’ll have to ask the servants and other riffraff who’ve seen it to give you a description.”

“Or Natori,” Natoru pipes up from her own station by the door. “It stalked him once, he told me.”

“Only from a distance,” Natori is quick to correct when attention then turns to him. “I’m afraid I didn’t see it very clearly. My own experience is likely to be of little help compared with the likes of Lune’s or even that of our head chef’s.”

“What, is your monster just looking for a snack?”

“If it is, it’s looking in the right place, babe,” the king responds without so much as a sniff of offense, and continues on with his usual casual vernacular,“Our chef’s the best in the kingdom. Knows how to roast a sweet potato the same way the humans do.”

“Oh,” Haru perks up. “You mean yakiimo?”

The king points his fork in her direction. “That’s the stuff.”

“Perhaps we might shadow your head chef tonight, then— not for his no doubt exemplary cooking skills, but since he appears to be the monster’s main target at the moment, with your son on an errand.”

[ insert continuing conversation and a transition scene to natori going about the castle at night. last minute checks and all. baron and muta stay with the chef for the night as they planned but i. admittedly don’t know where haru goes. natori has a run-in with the monster ]

Heat explodes over the top of his head and runs down his spine as his heart plummets with it. With an iron-clad calmness, the likes of which he’s certain he’s never experienced before, Natori reaches mechanically, gingerly, for the curtain covering the door to his right and inches toward it. Shuffling footsteps grow closer by the second, and he just manages to slip through the split in the fabric relatively soundlessly.

It’s only once he’s enveloped in the safety of what he recognizes as the king’s media room that he shakily rests against the wall closest to the door, breathing a sigh of relief and letting himself slide down to a hunched sitting position.

Such rotten luck, Natori thinks to himself, that he might encounter the creature after downplaying his other run-ins with the thing.

The reprieve from his fear is short-lived, however.

From the corner of his eye, he sees the curtain bowing inwards, and to his horror something peeks into the room once that curtain is parted. Despite what seems to be a lack of eyes, it immediately turns to the grey cat huddled against the wall to its right.

Having mostly seen the creature from a distance (that part hadn’t been a lie), Natori finds he’s rather unprepared for getting up close and personal with it. From afar, its cavernous maw hadn’t been obvious, though he’s now uncertain how, looking upon rows of large, rounded teeth and a broad tongue which sways from side to side as the creature barges into his space.

The noise Natori utters in response is something of a strangled, fearful sob and the wetness on his cheeks tells him his panicked tears have welled up and overflown significantly. 

“No— please—” Who is he hoping will hear his pleas? The creature? How ridiculous, he thinks.

“Hungry… hungry. Natori, hungry…”

The voice sounds familiar, albeit as if channeled through a moving fan. It’s there, at last, that he spies the king’s eye-like crown, crooked and tiny, but proudly displayed upon the creature’s massive head, as it normally would be upon a much more familiar visage.

“...Your Majesty..?” Natori breathes, transfixed in both horror and a tentative hopefulness.

The monster closes its yawning mouth, those rows of blunted teeth vanish, and it rears back in much the same manner an animal might upon being sprayed with water.

“Your Majesty—” Natori tries again, this time a touch more confidently.

Here the creature (the king..?) utters a low whine and slinks back, shies away and skulks through the curtain. It’s not panicked or quick enough to flee, but the retreat is obvious in any case. Natori hesitates, waits until the shuffling of its many feet is a distant hum, and then, with the same mechanical numbness he’d exhibited earlier upon first becoming aware of the monster’s presence, walks to the cabinet on the other side of the room, climbs into it, and silently waits for morning.

+++

It’s Natoru who finds him the next morning, and somewhere Natori feels he should have predicted that.

“I know I’ve found you in all kinds’a places, Natori, sir, but this one is… um, strange even for you.”

Natori, rubbing groggily at his face in the sudden light of the morning sun, can only agree faintly before he remembers the previous night through his sleep haze.

"H-His Majesty— where is the king..?"

"In his quarters, I'd assume," Natoru answers nonchalantly, watching as the advisor stumbles from the room.

+++

“Your Majesty..!”

It’s patently unlike Natori to enter the king’s quarters without knocking, and even more so to do so by throwing the door open, but that’s exactly what he does. The king’s room is large and airy, and his bed a disarray of blankets and pillows, some of which also lie scattered across the room. Being familiar with the Cat King’s erratic sleeping behavior (for reasons he’d rather not think about at this moment, not after last night’s encounter), Natori supposes the chaos isn’t entirely evidence of his theory on its own. The king himself appears to have rolled off the bed at Natori’s sudden intrusion, and now sits glowering at his advisor over the edge of the mattress.

“This better be good, babe.”

Natori teeters further into the room in a seeming daze, rounding the bed and reaching out for the king’s face, peering into his eyes, patting his arms as if unconvinced the other cat is real.

“You’re— ah, yourself..! You’re not— o-oh, now I’m quite confused.”

“What—? What are you rambling about now?”

“Well, er, I believe I may know who the creature is, sire.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, spit it out. Who?”

“You.”

[ insert. well, things i couldn’t figure out how to word and put together, like how they all come to the conclusion that it’s a curse which has been put upon the king, rumors of mystical and occasionally mischievous, if not mean-spirited, beings living in the woods surrounding the kingdom, and muta grudgingly volunteering himself to go speak with them since he is implied to have experience dealing with such beings. so enter toto ]

“You might think of me as a spur,” Toto says. Without any prior warning, he suddenly takes wing, alighting a few feet away on a barren branch. “One perhaps embedded in someone’s side, that rouses them into movement to dislodge it.”

“...Take it you’re the one who cursed the royal kitty cat, then,” Muta says as he follows after the crow, always a step or two behind.

“Yes, I’m the one who cast the curse,” Toto admits offhandedly, flapping his wings once, then twice, in an effort to get comfortable upon his new perch. “There’s no sense pretending I didn’t. But where it goes from there is not really in my own hands— well, wings— by now.”

“Seems kinda irresponsible to cast a curse you can’t control, if you ask me.”

“That’s the nature of them!” It’s there Toto studies Muta with an almost fond smile, though it’s cloaked in a muted amusement which the cat finds he does not care for at all. “You’ve not dealt with many curses before now, have you?”

“So what if I haven’t?” Muta asks with a toss of his head. “They just haven’t come up, is all.”

“Where are you from? You don’t have the manner of those kingdom cats.”

“That’s ‘cause I live in the human world like a normal cat.”

“That doesn’t tell me where you’re from,” Toto observes readily.

“No, it doesn’t. Are you gonna let me in on how to deal with your curse?”

“That depends.”

In the taut silence that follows, Muta defiantly refusing to break their eye contact and Toto’s smile unwavering, it occurs to the cat suddenly just how still the forest truly is. With great reluctance, as if the motion is being performed underwater, Muta looks away, gives their surroundings a stormy inspection, and when his budding suspicions appear to be supported, he clicks his tongue under his breath.

“...You got me, didn’t you. I should have been paying more attention.”

Toto only emits a brief chuckle, nonchalantly preening one of his wings.

“What do I have to do to get out of here, then?”

Here the crow stops, eyeing Muta indulgently, and answers, “I like you, Muta, so I’ll go easy on you. Here is my offer— one kiss, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know about the curse. No kiss, and, well, I’ll tell you the way out.”

Muta crosses his arms.

“That’s not gonna work for me, crow. Sounds to me like you forgot something— if I do lower my standards enough to give some birdbrain a kiss, I didn’t hear anything about that birdbrain showing me the way out of here, too.”

“Oh, shoot, you figured me out. You’re a little smarter than I assumed.”

“You know what they say about assuming.”

“Hm. Smarter than I thought but not very original, I see.”

[ insert, yes, a kiss lmao it’s nothing more than a peck on the cheek, but still, i didn’t figure out how to word it in time ]

“I don’t do riddles,” Toto all but sniffs. “Alright. Here’s the thing— the king’s curse can only be broken by someone he loves, and who loves him.”

“That’s a tall order. You met the king..?”

Toto gestures to himself with a deadpan look. 

“...right.”

“I’ll tell you this, by my observations you have three choices. But choose wisely, as I can’t guarantee just any of those three will do the trick.”

“Alright, who’re the three, then?”

Here Toto hesitates.

“The king is an inordinately hungry creature even when he thinks he’s had his fill. The three you’re looking for feed him, in whatever way he craves at that moment.”

“Thoughtcha didn’t do riddles,” Muta says, unimpressed.

“Riddles rhyme.”

“So you’re not creative enough to rhyme, got it. What do they have to do then, the three, assuming we figure out who they are?”

“You only need one.” Toto hesitates, eyes narrowed at the cat in apparent agitation.

[ yada yada toto gives muta the answer but phrased in a vague unhelpful way. muta is less than impressed ]

“Now, how do I get out of here?”

“The same way you came in,” Toto answers, and the flat stoniness in his voice makes it clear he’s no longer feeling all that chummy toward the cat. Muta feels the surrounding forest become more suffocating. “Leave me be.”

“One last thing, then, just for my own curiosity— why’d you do it, uh? The curse?”

Here Toto lifts his head so that he stares down at the cat with an imperious gaze. He’s really pushing his luck. “Do I need a reason? You implied it yourself, didn’t you? He’s a loveless lout, with no concern for anything or anyone beyond what he wants in that very moment. Perhaps one day he crossed the wrong person; perhaps I simply saw him commit some unforgivably cruel act. In the end, it doesn’t matter. It was bound to happen in any case, if not by my hand, then by someone else’s.”

“And the staff? The prince? What did they do?”

“Nothing,” the crow responds, now soft and pensive again. “But that is the nature of curses.”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time.”

“Best be on your way. Silly me, I forgot to mention time works differently here than it does in the kingdom. It’ll be dark by the time you get back.”

“Now you tell me. Thanks for nothing, birdbrain.”

“I could at least give you another insult to use on me before you leave.”

Muta grumbles to himself as he turns and treads back the way he came, ultimately giving Toto no reply, and, true to the crow’s words, the life and bustle of the forest returns as he drifts closer to the boundary between it and the kingdom, though it’s noticeably more tranquil than it had been when he’d entered closer to noontime. Night, as Toto had predicted, is certainly falling.