The Villain I Appear To Be
Prompt: You adopt a stray cat. The gifts it leaves on your bed are getting more concerning.
https://pikapoka99.tumblr.com/post/674010585582714880/you-adopt-a-stray-cat-the-gifts-it-leaves-on-your
“Hey, Cammy! Over here!”
Justin waves down his friend, beckoning her to the last booth seat by the windows. She comes over, holding her backpack close to her chest as she has a seat.
“It’s been a while, huh…”
“I’ll say. None of us could get a hold of you all week!”
He takes the time to look over his friend. Cammy looked pretty ragged, and she was littered with scratches all over her face and arms. She offers an apologetic smile as she carefully places her backpack on the seat next to her.
“Yeah, sorry about that. Stuff has been…weird.”
Justin tilts his head.
“Weird?”
Cammy nods, patting the backpack.
“Did I ever tell you about that cat I got recently?”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The initial few weeks Cammy spent with Mittens were peaceful enough. The black tuxedo cat was a mess when she found him on the streets near her school, with little wounds all over his body. Despite that, though, he still acted sweet and calm towards her, almost like he’d never been on the streets at all. It was an instant hit to her heart, and Cammy spent as much time (and money) as she could doting on the little angel. Mittens seemed to have appreciated the affection and started to show it back. In his own way, of course.
Mittens was a cat after all, so Cammy found herself getting many small, fortunately still breathing critters tossed on her bed. It was sweet, even if she went to sleep dreading waking up to mice staring up at her every morning. She even had a towel dedicated to transporting them back outside after a while. Mittens seemed to noticed that the gifts kept getting returned, however. A few days passed without Cammy getting anything from him. Then, she started to notice different trinkets being left by door. Rocks, bottle caps, small chains; if it was shiny, Mittens was going to collect it for her. She definitely liked these more than the small zoo she was starting in the backyard. A whole day was set aside, dedicated to decorating a treasure box to keep it all in. Mittens helped, kind of. It was a poorly planned jump on the table, right into all the paint. The added paw prints added something to the whole piece though, so Cammy considered it a win.
For a long time, the usual faire from Mittens was stuff clearly dropped or thrown away, so nothing too concerning. That changed recently. The first instance of it didn’t raise any alarms. It was a simple silver ring, nothing engraved on it. It was easy to accept as something lost during a day out, so Cammy thought nothing of it when she thanked Mittens for it. Things got shakier soon after, each gift taking longer to come her way. He brought bangles, a chain bracelet with charms to match, more intricate rings, and things became very worrying when he somehow procured a necklace with her name on it. It was harder to brush off the clear thievery going on with her new cat now, but saying that out loud made her sound crazy so she’d have to handle this alone somehow.
First, she needed to get proof of what was going on to…confront him, she guessed. She went the simple route of affixing a camera to Mittens’ collar. It was quickly made apparent that he was covering the camera with mud. After coating it with a waterproof film, she thought she’d finally get at least some answers. But she noticed that the camera would cut out for a minute or so a few times a day. Suspicious. She took some time early one morning to go over to a neighbor’s house, to see what was up, only to find that Mittens would cut off the camera, put it on one of his “accomplices”, and have that cat wander around while he went off to do who knows what. Cammy was starting to question her reality at this point, but she pressed on. It was around this time that her friends started to wonder if something was wrong with her. She moved to doing classes online for the time being, and between her essays she was hard at work coming up with some way to catch Mittens in the act. She even considered catching one of his many comrades, but something about cornering and interrogating a cat to get answers did not sit right with her.
After many failed attempts at surveillance, and one too many bags of precious stones later, Cammy soon started to notice something more concerning. Somehow. Outside her house, she saw what looked to be several cats, all of which were…burly? Buff? Either way it was concerning, and during the times they came around, Mittens was nowhere to be found. She could only suspect it had something to do with the evolving gifts he’d been getting her. It’s not every day that you get want can only be described as cat-sized art gallery pieces. Unlike the jewelry she’d started to wear, she had a feeling those pieces were better left in her closet. As if it hadn’t been already, the situation escalated just yesterday. Cammy watched Mittens come back towards the house, but then saw the buff cats from before coming up next to him. There was even more now, and before she knew it, she couldn’t even see her cat anymore. The next thing she knew, she was outside herself, diving into the cat swarm to get Mittens out of there. Holding the shocked feline over her head, she leapt over the angry cats and ran into her house as fast as she could, slamming her door closed with her foot. She laid on her floor for a while, with Mittens worriedly licking the wound she’d gotten because of him. Looking up at the worried feline, it was clear that he was still the same affectionate cat she’d picked up all those months ago. She had to wonder…how did a cat so sweet get roped up such a mess?
So she asked.
“How did we even get here?”
“…it…I’m sorry…”
That woke her up. Cammy jumped up, looking wide-eyed at the feline.
“You…why am I not surprised that you can talk too!?”
Standing up, she picks Mittens up, facing his towards her.
“I want an explanation, right now.”
“Y-yeah, of course!”
Mittens starts to tell her a tail, er, tale, about how he got into this situation. Before Cammy had found him, he had already had a run in with those cat-thugs from before. His mother was apparently a famous painter in the cat world, a thing Cammy wasn’t aware was a thing, and her fame pretty quickly got to his father’s head. After passing away, his father went and sold a bunch of her paintings, including the ones she’d made for Mittens and his littermates. In order to get them back, he needed to get information on where they were. The jewelry he’d been taking was used as payment for the information he’d been getting, but he was setting pieces aside for Cammy because he was so grateful for her help. This didn’t sit well with the informant he’d been working with, and he was ratted out right after he managed to get two of the paintings back. That’s when all that happened earlier went down.
“I’m really sorry about all of this, Miss Cammy. I should’ve been more careful.
Offering a comforting pet to the worried tuxedo, Cammy thought for a moment. She was not expecting there to be a whole cat society, let alone one with this much going on behind the scene. She couldn’t help being pretty interested in learning more. So, she did the only thing she could think of.
“Well…I’m sure dealing with this stuff would be a lot easier with thumbs.”
“What do you mean…?”
Picking up the slightly confused cat, she continued.
“How about I help you with this problem of yours?”
“Really?! Are you sure?”
Cammy nods, getting a cheer and hug from Mittens. Then, she got on the phone with her advisor. This was going to be a long break from school.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Justin was left in stunned silence by the time Cammy was done. He looks at the backpack, a cool sweat along his brow.
“That’s…not something from his ‘escapades’, right?”
“No no, don’t worry.”
Sighing in relief, he leans back against the chair.
“It’ll help with hiding it though.”
“…you really need a normal hobby.”
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