I figured kitties always cheered people up and a lot of cheering up was required at the time.Kitty Trouble
"Put that cookie on the table and move away from the jar, little elf," Karis said, amusement apparent in his voice. The tiny Drow withdrew her hand from the cookiejar and slowly turned around.
"How'd ya know I was taking cookies, daddy?" a pouty Vierna asked.
"Well," Karis grinned as he took his little girl in his arms, "seeing you wait until Olma left the kitchen and then climb through the kitchen-window were some dead giveaways. If you want a cookie you need only ask, Vierna."
"I know," Vierna smiled. "But getting it this way is much more fun!"
Karis smiled. "Ladies and Gentlemen : Vierna DeVir. My daughter and future benevolent leader of the Shadowthieves' Cookie-division. Planner of the greatest cookie-heists this century...."
"Oh, daddy..." Vierna giggled. "It's for Kitty and, ermmm, perhaps a little for me. But Kitty has been really hungry lately."
"Hungry?" Karis asked. "Why would she be hungry? She's been getting very fat lately."
"I know," Vierna replied, "but she keeps rubbing against my leg and purring when I give her some breadcrumbs and such... And I wouldn't be a very good girl if I wouldn't feed my Kitty!"
"You're too good for this world, kiddo," Karis said and kissed his daughter on the forehead. After putting her down, he took a cookie from the jar and gave it to Vierna. "Here. Take this. Half is for you and the rest you can feed to your cat."
"Thanks, daddy," Vierna smiled and took the cookie. When Karis saw Vierna running to the door and into the corridor, he thought to himself how lucky he really was. A peaceful home and a wonderful family. It was more than most starting adventurers would ever achieve...
---
"Here, Kitty," Vierna called as soon as she entered her room. The tiny Drow saw her pet lazying about in her basket near Vierna's bed. Smiling, Vierna broke the cookie into pieces and prepared to feed them to Kitty. Kitty lay on her side, even when eating the pieces of cookie-crumbs. "Hey, are you hungry?" Vierna giggled. "You're hungry all the time now!" Vierna petted Kitty across her back, but this was answered with an annoyed purr. "Oh, come on, Kitty! Doncha wanna play with me?" Vierna said and started to pet Kitty over her tummy.
Vierna was not prepared for what happened next. A threatening hiss sounded through the room as Kitty slashed with one of her paws. Vierna was too surprised to yelp when sharp pain exploded through Vierna's hand. The tiny Drow cradled her wounded hand as she watched her cat slip out the door with sadness.
---
Viconia DeVir was in her bedroom going though her dresser, trying to decide what clothes to wear tonight. Right now, she could not decide to go for the black robe with the white linings or the suede tunic with the green pants. A soft meow sounding from behind her, interrupted her musings.
"Hey!" Viconia shouted as she moved to chase away Vierna's cat from the shrine in her bedroom. "Don't even think about using my shrine as a scratchingpost again!" she said angrily. Kitty, who had only just entered the room, shot the Drow a blank look and brushed right past her. Viconia never made any pretenses about liking her daughter's cat. In fact, she had an intense dislike for the orange-striped feline...
Viconia sighed. "Sure... go ahead. Wreck the place you live in and get fed to boot..."
'And you've been growing a lot fatter lately...' Viconia mused and wondered if a dog might have been a better pet for Vierna. At least dogs knew their place and understood loyalty.
Then Viconia's keen maternal hearing alerted the Drow to her child crying in the next room. Deciding her change of clothing had to wait, she put the clothes back into the dresser and sped out of the bedroom. She found Vierna lying on her bed, her face buried into her pillow.
"Vierna?" she asked gently. "What happened?"
Vierna looked up from her pillow and flew into her mother's arms. "K-kitty scratched me, momma," Vierna whimpered. Viconia looked down to Vierna's hand and saw four superficial cuts on the back of her hands. She found it odd Vierna had been crying over these simple wounds, since she knew for a fact that she had had far more painful cuts from playing outside than this little scratch. Viconia considered her daughter's pain of another nature altogether.
"Why did Kitty scratch me, momma?" Vierna sniffed. "Why doesn't she want to be my friend anymore?"
'Ah,' Viconia mused, 'that's it... The sting of betrayal... A feeling I know all to well... A harsh lesson to learn...'
"Sshhh, ssinjin eoul, dry your tears," Viconia cooed and put her hand over Vierna's wounds. A blue light emanated from Viconia's palm and a few moments later, Vierna's wounds were completely healed. "Hey, let's go see if we can find some candy in the kitchen..."
"Okay, momma," Vierna sniffed, but she seemed happier... if only a little bit.
---
After an hour of talking and playing with her daughter, Viconia returned to her dresser to commit herself to the arduous task of finding something to wear tonight. As soon as she entered the room, however, the Drow noticed soft mewing sounds coming from the back of her dresser. When she opened the door, which was slightly ajar when she came in, a threatening hiss alerted her to the presence of Vierna's pet cat.
---
"So this is why your cat was so cranky, Vierna..." Viconia said, thinking back to her own pregnancy. Karis, Viconia, Imoen and Vierna had opened the door to Viconia's dresser and found Kitty and her newborn offspring curled up in the back of the dresser, snugly placed between Viconia's winterboots and on top of one of Viconia's old clerical robes. Kitty was lying on her side, while a number of fuzzy kittens lay between her legs, nice and warm between their mother and the robe.
"WOW!" Vierna said happily. "Kitty had babies! Does this make me an aunt or a grandmother, momma?"
"It'll make you whatever you like to be, Vierna," Karis answered for her.
"...nine, ten, eleven, twelve, THIRTEEN! Wow..." Imoen grinned. "That unknown tomcat Kitty met must have been quite virile!"
"And, like the male he is," Viconia mused, "he left the pregnant girl behind to find another female to impregnate. Typical surfacer behavior..."
"Hey," Karis chuckled, "I stayed with you!"
"What I don't know, Viconia," Imoen chuckled, "is why you didn't know that Kitty was pregnant in the first place! You're supposed to be a cleric and know such things!"
"Cleric, yes," Viconia replied sharply. "Druid, no. I can't be expected to know when it's going to rain by reading the whiskers of a hamster. If you want to know about the due-dates of cats, go find Jaheira!"
"But momma," Vierna said pensively, "I thought you called miss Jaheira a dog-lady. How would she know about cats?"
"Well, look at those little fuzz-balls. Cute aren't they?" Karis said, while looking at the thirteen tiny orange kittens closely lazying against their mother.
"An army of cats!" Vierna broke in. "I can't wait to play with them all!"
"You'll have to wait for a couple of tendays, Vierna, until they are strong enough to stand. You see, kittens are born blind and deaf until about ten days after their birth and their mother guards and takes care of them until they are strong enough to stand," Karis said.
"How do you know so much about cats?" Viconia asked.
"Tell her about that mangy stray cat we adopted back in candlekeep," Karis said.
"Not much to tell really," Imoen smiled. "I found a stray cat hiding under the logs stored for winter when I was nine. We thought it climbed over the wall, or slipped through the portcullis. It was a big gray tomcat, almost wild, but gorion told us we could keep it. He said having a pet could learn us about responsibility and such, but for us, he was more of a playmate. I started to read a lot about cats and their habits. Truth be told I wasn't very interested in reading until I needed to know stuff about cats. So that mangy old cat was actually responsible for me becoming a mage! Old Tom was with us for six years. If only that mouse in the stables wouldn't have insisted on making Tom's life miserable, he might have lived longer."
"Nice," Viconia muttered and moved to grab the suede tunic from the dresser. Immediately, she heard the threatening hiss of her daughter's cat.
"Ermmm, I wouldn't do that if I were you, Vic," Imoen giggled. "Not unless you want a furry tornado with claws flying in your face. Cats pick a nice warm spot to have their kittens and defend it with their lives. Kitty might pick a new spot, but not until her kittens can see and hear."
"But... That'll be a tenday!" Viconia said. "And what will I wear?"
"What you're wearing now, Vic," Imoen smirked.
"Great... Just great," Viconia sighed. "I've fought Mindflayers, Dragons and Demons only to end up being beset by a cat..."
"Aren't you happy Kitty had babies, momma?" Vierna pouted.
Viconia sighed again. "Sure, little one, sure. But if I ever find the tomcat who did this to her, I'll turn him into a miniature rug!"
---
"Viconia?" Karis asked as he entered a darkened bedroom. "Are you in here?"
"I'm here," he heard his lover say from their bed. He smiled as he noticed she had snuggled herself in the blankets.
"Lazying about?" Karis asked with amusement. "It's noon..."
"No," Viconia purred. "The maid has taken away my clothes, the only clothes I have right now, to be washed. It should be ready in about... an hour or two, so I decided to crawl back into bed..."
"Kitty still hasn't chosen a new nest? Has she even been looking? It's been five days..." Karis mused.
"No," Viconia replied. "I still can't get to my clothes. Mind you, I've come to believe that life at De'Arnese Keep has left me a bit spoiled perhaps. During our adventures I only owned a single robe, which wasn't even near as fine as the ones I have now. I remember that dipping it in a stream was usually enough for a wash."
"Maybe," Karis replied. "But there was also constant danger, betrayal and backstabbing lurking around every corner. We've earned a peaceful home, have we not? If not for ourselves, then for Vierna."
"Speaking of whom," Viconia interrupted, "Vierna finally decided to take her midday nap. She's been sitting with her head in that dresser for hours. She didn't even slip out to raid the cookie-jar today!"
"Whoa," Karis said. "I can't remember the last time she skipped a chance to nab a cookie..."
"Exactly, but Vierna is taking a nap and my clothes won't be done for another hour, so... I hate to waste those hours doing nothing," Viconia purred and pushed the covers from her body as Karis leaned in for a kiss. "Lock the door..."
Karis smiled and oblidged.
---
"Wait until you see this!" Imoen said with a characteric touch of youthful exuberance as she and Viconia walked to the small broomcloset between her bedroom and Vierna's.
"What did you say this thing you conjured was? A 'kitty-mansion'?" Viconia asked.
"Yep... It was a high-level spell I came across when I visited candlekeep two years ago," Imoen said. "It was developed by a little old lady gnome illusionist, who had an intense love for cats. That wasn't surprising, since she owned about six dozen of the critters. It's called the 'Setsu cat-villa'-spell. A two storey cat-tree lined with warm fur, four scratching posts, saucers eternally filled with warm milk and many more stuff like that. The place even smells like catnip!"
"This gnome... She wouldn't be a Jansen, would she?"
"No!" Imoen laughed, but then reconsidered. "Actually, I'm not sure... Her biography didn't mention any turnips, but... I'll have to ask Jan next time I see him..."
"This day is getting better already..." Viconia said sarcastically. "How'd you convince the cats to leave my dresser, by the way? It's only been six days."
"I cast the spell inside that old broomcloset that isn't used anymore," Imoen said. "And then I used my magic to transport the cats there while they were sleeping."
Imoen opened the door the the broomcloset, only to be greeted by the smell of catnip and warm milk. Human and Drow watched the pink 'kitty-mansion', pondering a new mystery.
"Imoen..."
"Viconia?"
"There are only three kittens here. Where are the others?"
"Ermmm, I dunno... Around?"
"If Vierna finds her kittens missing, she'll get very upset..."
Just then, Kitty strutted out of Viconia's bedroom towards the broomcloset. Slipping past a surprised Viconia and Imoen, the orange cat picked up a kitten by the back of its neck and walked towards Viconia's room...
"Right back to my dresser," Viconia said wryly. "Nice try, Imoen."
"Maybe Kitty will accept the cat-palace after her kittens can walk," Imoen replied. "I guess, you're stuck with your old robe then, but somehow I don't think you mind much..."
"How so?" Viconia ask.
"Hey, I'm not completely dense!" Imoen chuckled. "I noticed your door was locked for three hours yesterday. And in the middle of the day too!"
"You find a coupling on the middle of the day strange?" Viconia smirked. "Hell, we coupled in the abyss once... How much more strange can you get than that?"
---
"So," Karis smiled when he saw his lover enter the dininghall. "Vierna told me Kitty and her kittens have finally moved into the kitty-mansion. You like having more than one robe again?"
After Kitty's children were able to see and walk, they had left Viconia's dresser and began their semi-long trek toward the broomcloset. Semi-long because the many of the thirteen kittens had decided to explore instead of walking towards the Kitty-mansion. Kitty had a fulltime job gathering her children and bringing them to their new home.
"Tell me about it... But now everything is covered with cat-hair!" Viconia snarled. Then she noticed yet another little cat.
"Not another one of those fuzzballs!" Viconia said as she picked up one of the kittens from the breakfast table and gently put it on the floor. "They're everywhere! In my clothes, in the food, in my boots, and instead of having to deal with one cat trying to use my shrine as a scratching post, there are now fourteen!"
Imoen came into the room just as Viconia made the move to sit down on her chair. Imoen blanched visably and screamed. "VIC! NOOO!!!"
Just as Viconia snapped her head around to see what the hell Imoen was shouting about, the pink-haired mage had already dove to the ground and was sliding over the floor towards Viconia's chair. In a split second, Imoen took hold of the chair's legs and dragged it along with her, while Viconia toppled and slammed into the floor. Karis jumped up from his seat to see if his lover was hurt, but judging from her harsh words, he figured she was alright. He had never heard Viconia use the Drowish words she spoke now, but judging from the tone, they certainly weren't flattering. Then, the cloth on the chair started to move. A little head popped up from under the blue cloth, followed by a high-pitched meow.
Viconia softened her expression. "You know, Imoen. You could have just said there was a kitten on my chair."
"Emmmm, oops?" Imoen smiled, still lying on the floor holding the chair.
Viconia sighed. "Perhaps we should give some of the kittens away to other families, so..."
"What?" Viconia heard the voice of her daughter say. 'Ouch... faux-pas,' Viconia thought when she saw Vierna standing in the doorway.
"You can't give Kitty's babies away!" Vierna said with watery eyes. "How would you feel it if someone gave me away..."
'I'd tear Fearun apart until I find you, my precious,' Viconia thought.
"Oh, come on!" Imoen said while holding the kitten in front of Viconia. "How can you resist this little face," she cooed.
"Meow"
Viconia sighed deeply. "Oh, alright.... You can keep them, at least until they've grown up. But you'll have to take care of them until the kittens are old enough to fend for themselves."
"Sure!" Vierna giggled. "Hey, maybe when one of them is a little older, he or she goes to live with Clarissa! She always wanted a cat!"
"Maybe," Karis smiled. "But taking care of fourteen cats is quite a responsibility. Are you up for it, kiddo?"
"Uh-huh!" Vierna replied. "I will, I will! Come on, kitties!" Vierna cooed as she gathered up the little cats to take them back to the Kitty-mansion.
Viconia smiled when Vierna walked towards the stairs. "A valuable lesson for my little girl, perhaps. But still... If I ever get my hands on that tomcat, I'll... I'll... I don't know what I'll do, but I'll do something!"
"Oh, don't worry," Karis smiled. "For all we know, she could even get a dog when she's older..."
