"Here we are, guys. Our new home.."
I looked over towards Mom as she said that, giving her the most incredulous look I could muster. Home was not this house, because home was with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Alyse and was where the heart is. I don't know this place, and my heart is not here. I'm not real big on change, either. This wasn't my home, and it wasn't ever going to be my home, it was just going to be the place that we had to come to because of.. I guess I should start at the beginning, huh?
My mother's name is Zyanya D'Amore, and she is the most beautiful woman I have ever known, though Grandma and Aunt Alyse come close. Maybe that's just bias on my part, since I hear from others that she's not beautiful at all, but rather "homely." I don't get that word, homely.. like I said, home is where the heart is, and if someone is homely, shouldn't that mean they're lovable? I don't know, maybe that's just me. My sisters tell me I think too much, but I can't help who I am, just like how Mom can't help who she is. When she was a little girl, the mean children at her school always called her an old lady because of the white in her bright red hair, and the fact that she preferred reading to playing. When they realized how much she loves cats, her nickname became 'Crazy Old Cat Lady' and I don't know why. She's not really crazy at all..
When she was in high school is when she adopted my birth mother, Soliloquy D'Amore, and Mom was overjoyed to have her very first just-her's cat. Her family had adopted cats before, but they were always the family pet; my birth mother was her cat. She'd found my mother in the subway, where she was looking very bedraggled and uncared for. It broke her heart to see her looking like that, and so she took her home and cared for her until my mother was well enough to take care of herself for the most part. They became the best of friends, and were nearly inseparable - especially when Mom switched from public schooling to homeschooling.
In Mom's second to last year of high school, my birth mother had her first litter of kittens - which I can proudly say I was the first born of. The next year, my mother had her second, and last, litter of kittens, which is the litter that my two sisters that Mom kept were in. Most of our siblings Mom had to reluctantly give up because Grandma and Grandpa refused to have too many cats in the house. After all, we did live in Bridgeport, a not terribly pet friendly household.
Mom graduated last year. There was a party for her, and during the party my birth mother disappeared because she wasn't big on crowds. None of us thought much of it, but when a week passed and she still wasn't back, we really began to worry. Well, I didn't really because I was just barely an adult and was still in my selfish tom cat stage. Mom would go out searching every day for weeks, but she never found my mother. Things went back to normal for only about a month, until things went weird again and I have to admit, I don't understand quite the same as I would if I was a human. Aunt Alyse - Mom's sister from an earlier litter - went missing, like my mother did. It had happened with the humans a lot more than with us cats, so I figured she'd just come back like they always did. But Grandma, Grandpa and Mom were bothered a lot more by her disappearance than they were by my mother's, and they cried a lot. Most of the time they were gone, probably looking for her. And then, Mom was packing our things, and I hated that. She put my favorite things into boxes and seriously, boxes are only good for playing in.
That leads me to where I began. She was packing up our things to come to another house, here in whole other place that does not smell anything like where I'm used to. It smells better here, and there isn't as much car noise - that's the one thing I like. But this is still not my home.
This is me. My name is Aeviternal D'Amore, quite a name for a cat isn't it? My Mom likes weird names like that, as you could probably tell from my birth mother's name, Soliloquy. I don't know what any of them mean, but I have heard that they are human words that mean something. So are my sisters' names.
This one is my older little sister, Oubliette D'Amore, and the gorgeous one. With her long golden fur and silvery blue eyes, all the guys back home, when Mom would take us to the park or PetSmart, would try to impress her. It's a good thing I was there to protect her. They all really wanted her attentions, but none of them caught her eye because she's not interested in a relationship right now. All she's really interested in is hunting and having fun, not being a mother. Because we all know what relationships lead to.
This is the last member of our now much smaller than it once was family, my youngest sister Xysti D'Amore. I thought my name was hard to remember to come to, she had way more trouble with her's. Of course, that may be because I'm the smartest member of my family - I've been told I'm a genius, but I don't like to brag. Mom tells me sometimes that I'm too smart for my good, and sometimes too much like a human, but I don't think I'm quite that good.
So this is my family. As you can probably tell, I'm the man of the house - unless you hadn't figured out I'm a boy by now, and if you hadn't.. well, I did only give you one clue to my gender. It was Grandpa before, but we left him back in Bridgeport.. I don't know why him and Grandma didn't come with us, because Mom has never had to live as the only human in the house ever. I worry for her.
I watched Mom as she walked inside, presumably to put food in our dishes because she liked to make sure our food was always available. I sighed lightly to myself, knowing that she was going to miss her blood family. Why did she take us away from them? I kept wondering that to myself, because no matter how I thought about it, it didn't make sense.
"Are you over thinking things again, Aevi?" I heard my sister chuckle at me, and I turned my gaze to her as she walked around so she was in front of me. In embarrassment, I averted my gaze - just to get a tongue on the neck.
"Oh come on, Liette, do you have to groom me outside where everyone can see? You're not my Mom, I can groom myself," I whined, sounding too much like a kitten for my liking, but I didn't try to fix it because I really did get tired of her always grooming me. It was like she didn't think I did it well enough, or didn't do it often enough.
"Sure you can, Aevi." she replied, and just kept right on grooming me. I batted at her to get her to stop, but she just went right back to doing it so I eventually just sighed and gave in. "So, are you going to answer my question or what?"
"Yeah yeah, I'm 'over thinking things' again, at least in what you call over thinking. But really, I don't think that Mom should have taken herself and us away from Grandma and Grandpa. We were happy there, and they're not going to find Aunt Alyse if they aren't around to try. Unless Aunt Alyse came here, but she liked the big greyness of Bridgeport." I explained, letting out yet another sigh, and looking into my sister's large grey blue eyes.
She paused in her ministrations just long enough to give me a look that I could only describe as.. well... as a look, her eyes half lidded in a mothering half-patience sort of way. "Aeviternal, I'm sure Mom had her reasons for taking us away from home. And we'll probably go back someday, this is just a temporary thing. Stop worrying so much, Mom will be fine, and we'll be fine. Let her do the worrying, she is the human after all."
Oubliette had a good point. The humans are supposed to do all the worrying and fretting and taking care of things, and pets are just supposed to sit back and occasionally freak out about things being different. That's how my birth mother explained it to us at least.
"I guess.." I finally conceded, and looked towards the front door, getting to my feet. I was going to go inside after we decided the conversation was over - I had yet to inspect the house, and I needed to make sure it was good for my Mom and sisters. I would mark it as our's, but for some reason I get in trouble when I mark things, and I had getting scolded so I try to avoid those scenarios.
"Good boy," Oubliette snickered at me as she proceeded to stand up and wipe at her own face, obviously having gotten dirty from grooming me. Or maybe it was just her paranoia about germs and needed to look her best making her do it. I let out a teasing hiss, before maneuvering around her and into the house - through the cat door that Mom had installed for us. She likes to make sure we can get in and out when we want to, after all.
Instead of actually inspecting the house yet, I followed my nose to where Mom was. I found her in this.. wonderland. Wall to wall things for us cats to play with and enjoy - well, and the litter box, which is just a necessity, but it looked like a very, very nice litter box. Nicer than our old one at least. I couldn't wait to test out all of these fun things, but first I had to watch Mom and make sure she was okay. Sitting in the doorway, I watched as she sat down next to this amazing, feathered wall object and beckoned to my youngest sister.
"C'mere, Xysti, let's try out your wall dancer," she cooed to Xysti, and my sister cautiously crept up, unsure of what was going on. That's the way my sister is, she's overly cautious and jumpy about everything. Because of her, Mom doesn't leave the radio on anymore when she leaves - Xysti would freak out and hide from Mom for days because of the mysterious music floating from nowhere. At least with the TV she could see where it was coming from. I find it kind of hilarious, but irritating at the same time.
"Xysti, if you aren't going to play with Mom, I am," I called over to her, and she glared over her shoulder at me, before finally starting to play with the feathers at the end of the.. wall dancer, had Mom called it? I believe so.
The interaction between my Mom and sister looked like a lot of fun, and Mom kept laughing lightly, so I figured she was okay. At least for now. I stood up after I was positive she was okay, and turned, walking out to explore the rest of the house.
Too bad I'm easily distracted. As I walked back out of the room to go check out the rest of the house, Oubliette came inside and went into the room that Mom and Xysti were in, and I found myself longing to be in the same room as my family, so I followed her back into the room. Naturally, being the huntress she is, Oubliette went straight for the catnip mouse. I think she has a bit of an addiction to catnip, but I would never mention it to her because she'd deny it vehemently and probably ignore me for a while.
Mom was now petting Xysti instead of playing with her, and I walked over to them, trying to look my cutest and get her to pet me, too. "Mommy, I love you too!" I purred, giving her my sweetest kitten face.
The first result I got was a fluffy tail slap in the face, and I spluttered, then glared at Xysti, who looked as sweet and innocent as she wasn't. Mom laughed at us, before reaching over and scratching the top of my head, which I loved. "Oh, you three and your sibling rivalry.." she chuckled, walking over and giving Oubliette a quick pet as well before heading out of the room to do.. human-y things.
"Why were you trying to steal her attention, Aeviii?" Xysti whined, turning around to face me, glaring and flattening her ears. I just tilted one of my ears back at her - much similar to human eyebrow raising, if you're curious - and shook my head.
"You're the one who always wants to be by herself, Xy, I thought you wouldn't mind." I stated, before sighing and turning towards the door, sauntering towards it. "Whatever, I'm going to go explore some more."
"It's a new place, and Mom is familiar!" she yelled after me, but I ignored her. Sometimes my family drives me insane. But that wasn't the only reason I was going off to explore, it's also because I have boundless energy and don't like to stay in one spot doing one thing for too long. I have to admit, I drive Mom crazy sometimes because she has to keep an eye on me so I don't get myself into trouble, but she loves me for it and it's not like I can help my hyperactivity!
When I was walking past the back door, heading towards the TV area of the living room, I happened to glance out and nearly had a heart attack. There was a castle! A real, huge castle, and it was seriously screaming my name! My ear perked straight up, as did my tail, and I darted out the cat door, running straight inside the castle. To say it was amazing would be an understatement, because it was.. I don't even have words for what it was. There were these amazing toys inside, so many levels, even some beds for if we wanted to sleep inside. I sat on the top balcony for quite a while, before I decided I would go grab one of the toys and teach it who was boss on the bridge.
"Aeviternal baby?" I heard Mom call my name, and I could barely think past the jingling ball in my paws to reply, but I did manage to mewl a 'thank you Mommy for the castle!' at her, knowing she'd just hear a "mewww" or some such, letting her know I heard her. "I'm going out for a bit. I know out of the three of you, you're the one that may understand me, so, since you're also the eldest I'm leaving you in charge, okay? Keep an eye on your sisters. I'm leaving the TV on, just in case you get to feeling lonely. I'll be back soon!" And then she was off, I could hear her walk around the house and ride off on her bicycle.
By the time registered that she had actually left, I think she'd been gone for quite a while. That's what castles and jingly balls do for me. I mewled pitifully, missing her, before remembering what she said about the TV being on, so I headed inside to watch TV with my sisters - since they loved TV (yes, even Xysti loves TV). Even half the time none of us understand what's going on, we pretend we do.
I hopped up onto the couch when I got to the TV, and asked my sisters, "So, what's on?"
"I'm not sure. There's been lots of focusing on one human while they talk about.. I dunno, something that happened a long time ago. Like as if they've lived that long," Xysti scoffed, scratching her ear boredly. I tilted an ear back, and watched the TV for a few minutes, noticing that Xysti was right. There was a lot of just talking, but then there'd be these weird scenes where there was a lot of men all dressed the same, with these long, strange sticks that made REALLY loud noises. It was kind of fascinating, but I preferred the food channels, animal channels, or cartoon channels. At least with animal channels I understand more what's going on.
Being home alone for extended periods of time is bad enough. I never have liked it - and by alone I mean none of my people, because my sisters don't count at all. But when I'm stuck home alone with just my sisters for an extended period of time when I'm in a new house, watching a whole new TV channel, and outside is weird, it's practically torture. I came really close to tearing up the furniture just to get out my frustrations, but I didn't. Oubliette did, but it was actually the newspaper on the front step that she tore up, and Mom never reads those anyway.
Finally, though, FINALLY Mom came home, and I perked up, then went to greet her. Things must have gone weird, because she walked straight past me and to the bookshelf, grabbing a book off the shelf. I mewled, and followed her, staring at her as she grabbed the book. "Mom? Mom, I love you. I'm happy you're home. Love on me, please." I knew she understood THAT much.
"Aev, Mama's tired. I just want to curl up on the couch with a good book and relax until tomorrow, when I start work." she sighed at me, before walking over to the couch and sitting next to Xysti, who was still watching TV. I frowned, and walked over to her, because I still wanted attention. It would make both of us feel better, because obviously she wasn't terribly happy herself.
"Mom! Play with me!"
"Not now, Aevi. I'm reading."
"You do realize how cute I am, don't you?"
"Stop it."
"Why aren't you petting me yet? Normally by now you'd have given in and have me on your lap.."
She didn't even reply to this face. Talk about disappointing.
"Please, Mom, I love you. I'm cute, you know you missed me."
"Okay, okay, fine, you adorable little brat, come here."
"I don't know what I would do with you if you were clingy or something," she laughed, and I guessed she must be teasing me, but I don't know how that's teasing. I'm not clingy. I'm just.. a Mama's Boy, I guess you could say. She picked me up, and cuddled me close, giving me a smooch. "Are you my silly little boy? Yesss, you are. You're definitely my silly boy."
"I'm not silly, I just missed you!" I told her quite simply, to which she giggled at me and imitated me with a mewling noise that could be loosely translated as, "Funny I miss ewe." She obviously isn't very good at cattish, but I love her despite our language barrier. I just wish there was somehow I could get my concern over her well being across to her. Because, she's never been this anti-social with us, and I want to know why. "Can we go home now? You were normal there, and I didn't have to practically force you to give me love."
Needless to say, she didn't pack us right up and take us home. She set me down, and we went about the rest of our day as if we were going to be in this stupid house for a long, long time. When she went to one of the back rooms and crawled into her bed, I knew that things were going to be stuck like this - at least for a while. Dog. I thought we were going to be going back home soon..
