Chapter 8: Chapter 8 – Just Kitten Around

A soft digital chime announced Morgan and Chloe’s entrance into the sunny and warm cafe. The gentle aroma of coffee permeated the air, stronger now in Chloe’s nostrils than she remembered. It was as if every scent had been amplified these last couple days, but in the distraction of everything else, she had simply dismissed it as being over-sensitive due to the stress. However, as she stood in this cozy space, she realized it was her.

Cat furniture had been placed along walls, near the human couches and chairs, and even built along the windows so the cats could sun themselves. Here and there, pots of carefully cultivated cat grass sat low on the floor for the felines to graze upon. There looked to be about a dozen cats lounging here and there, ranging from tawny to black, skinny to chonky, and from hairless to fluffball. Upon Chloe’s entrance, all the slitted eyes were upon her.

“Do you think they know?” Chloe asked Morgan in a hushed voice.

Morgan faced her petite partner and smiled warmly. “Know what? That you’re one of them?” Her reply was sarcastic, but playful. As they walked further into the store, the cats returned to looking back out of the windows or napping.

“This is honestly so weird, now that I think about it. Should I wait in the car? I don’t want the staff here to think I’m some kind of–”

“Oh my god, your ears and tail are so cute!” cried a voice from the side. 

Chloe turned to face the source and found herself looking up at a very tall woman with shoulder-length auburn hair and deep brown eyes. She blinked in surprise, unaccustomed to women towering over her like this. Reflexively, she pushed into Morgan’s side.

“I’m so sorry, did I scare you?” the woman asked as she backed away and put her hands up reassuringly. “I didn’t mean to! I know I tend to be a bit intimidating.” Her voice was on the huskier side, but still had a feminine inflection. Her blue floral-print frock was actually quite pretty. Chloe relaxed and her tail swished less in response.

Sensing her partner’s discomfort, Morgan said, “I’m sorry, she’s recently been through a lot so her social anxiety has gotten a bit worse. Don’t worry, you’re fine, she just needs a couple moments to adjust.” Morgan put a calming hand on Chloe’s shoulder and continued, “My name is Morgan and this is Chloe. We’re here about the litter of kittens you posted on your website?”

The tall woman clapped her hands in excitement and smiled. “I’m so glad! I know we usually prioritize trying to find homes for the older cats, but this litter was dropped off with us unexpectedly and we really don’t have the resources to take care of them right now.” She gestured toward a nook between a pair of large bookcases that contained several beanbag chairs and small tables for drinks and snacks. Farther back in the nook stood a boxy fort covered in carpet and rope from which a multitude of eyes peered out of dark recesses.

“They’re around 10 weeks old, as near as we can tell. They’re fully weaned, but still lack some of the socialization they should have had, so they’re a bit skittish. We’ve done our best to spend time with them, but we’re only a team of three people,” the woman stated. “We’re hoping to find someone that can really bond with them to get them out of their shells.”

Morgan approached the cat fort slowly, not wanting to startle the kittens. Chloe, on the other hand, plopped down loudly in one of the beanbag chairs. “Sessions are $12 per hour, right?” she asked as she fumbled with her phone.

The hostess nodded and said, “Yeah, but we’re pretty slow this time of day, so I’ll only charge for one of you since the other looks like she belongs here already.” Her smile was genuinely infectious.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that!” Morgan insisted. “That little brat is the main reason we’re here, after all!” 

Chloe’s ear twitched but she gave no other reaction before cheering triumphantly and thrusting one arm into the air. “I have booked us both for the next two hours!” She immediately rolled onto her hands and knees and began kneading the beanbag chair with her knuckles, her tail swishing slowly. As she did so, several of the kittens began to venture out of their shadowy spaces, entranced by the sinuous movement of her tail.

As Morgan watched curiously, the hostess moved closer to ask, “So what’s up with the ears and tail? They’re so lifelike! Are they AI-controlled or how do they work?”

One of the kittens, a fluffy gray tabby, jumped and batted at Chloe’s tail, causing it to reflexively jerk away, twitching in annoyance.

“Oh, they’re real,” Morgan replied candidly, smirking playfully. “She got them as a gift from my Kemetic patrons a couple days ago after she fell upon my athame.”

The hostess blinked in confusion for a moment before suddenly smiling and blurting out, “You had me going for a minute, there! All right, then. Keep your secrets!” A loud buzzing noise came from her pocket and she retrieved her phone, sparing a glance at the screen and nodding affirmatively. Apparently, the reservation had been received.

By this time, Chloe had climbed over the other side of the beanbag chair and was watching the kittens over the top of it, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated as her ears flattened down to the sides to try and hide them from view. The kittens appeared to be getting into the game, because one stalked around to the side of the beanbag where Chloe’s tail was visibly whipping back and forth.

*POUNCE*

The black and white patched long-hair was on Chloe’s tail and nomming on the fur. Morgan felt a spike of anxiety about how Chloe might react, her animal instincts clearly taking priority in the situation, but she just laughed and rolled the kitten on its back to tickle its belly before darting behind another beanbag to hide. Seeing that her worries were unfounded, Morgan took a seat in one of the remaining beanbag chairs and watched the activities with a huge smile.

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The hostess excused herself and returned to the main counter of the cafe, busying herself with an electric kettle and some other items. As she shuffled and opened various jars and canisters, she glanced back toward Chloe and Morgan, a satisfied grin plastered upon her face. The hostess hummed softly to herself as she went about her business - not that Morgan could really hear it. But Chloe clearly could. She gave half a smile and began to sing along with the well-known jingle to a cat food commercial.

It wasn’t long before the whole group of kittens was running and tumbling and rolling around with each other as Chloe sat with them and teased them with her tail. Morgan played along, taunting them with a ribbon toy to get them to jump and pounce. It was their unspoken goal to get a good look at the personalities of the kittens and playing was one of the easiest ways to do that. After about ten minutes of heavy play, the kittens seemed to lose interest in playing with the humans and the hostess returned with a tray bearing two large cups of tea.

“My name is Kelly, by the way,” the hostess said as she set down the tray. “It’s nice to meet you both!” There was a noticeable difference in the color of the two cups of tea and Chloe looked back up at Kelly inquisitively. “Oh, I thought you might like different kinds of tea!” Kelly replied to the unspoken question. “I brought a nice citrusy black tea for Morgan and a more calming herbal tea for you, Chloe.”

“Oh, thank you!” Chloe responded, reaching for the somewhat greener tea. 

Morgan grasped the other mug. She brought it to her lips and inhaled the steamy aroma with a wide smile. “This is Lady Grey, isn’t it?” she asked as she took a sip. “Oh, yes, this is lovely. You even added a spoon of sugar for me!”

Chloe sniffed her tea curiously but took a small drink of it, anyway. “This smells… very… familiar.” It tasted faintly of blueberry, but there were subtle hints of rose and lemon, with a stronger earthy and minty flavor over it all. It tasted quite good. Almost addictively so. It had cooled down somewhat in the time since Kelly had prepared it and brought it over, so it was at the perfect temperature to drink. Chloe found herself almost gulping the tea down at the end, barely savoring the taste.

When she came up for air, she realized two things. The first was that she felt incredibly good. The second was that the familiar scent in the tea was catnip. Chloe stretched languorously along the floor before promptly rolling on her side to tap the nearest kittens with her fingertips. With a husky and dull-witted giggle she then curled up and began to chew on her tail, delighting in the texture of her fur and the strange sensation that shot along her spine as she did so.

“Uh, sweetie?” Morgan asked, both confused and concerned. “What are you doing? Are you okay?”

Kelly looked on in rapt fascination. “Oh, she’ll be fine pretty soon. The effects don’t last long, usually about ten minutes or so. I just gave her some catnip.”

“You… drugged my boyfr– girlfriend?” Morgan was momentarily distracted as Chloe stalked on all fours toward her, suddenly rubbing against the beanbag chair in which she sat before rolling onto her back and giggling more. “Why would you do that?”

“I’m… I’m really sorry. Her ear and tail gestures, the way she moved around, it was so cat-like that I had to know. And you said she was socially anxious, so even if the tea didn’t have this effect, I figured it would calm her nerves,” Kelly admitted. 

“Well… it’s just catnip,” Morgan admitted, as she watched Chloe rub her head on the beanbag and flip back onto her feet. “You’re right about the effects - I use it myself for headaches. It’s just a little unsettling seeing her act like she’s on molly or something.” She reached down and ran her fingers down Chloe’s jaw, eliciting a growl and some playful nipping at her fingertips. “Don’t freak out too much. Neither of us knew this would happen. Just… please never do that again without permission?” Morgan was struggling to maintain her composure.

“No, no, I’m so sorry. I was just so curious to see how she would react that I didn’t even stop to think…” Kelly’s expression paled as it dawned on her. “Oh my gosh, I really did drug her, didn’t I?” She glanced at Morgan with wide eyes. “Am I going to jail?”

“Nnnnnooooooo…!” moaned Chloe from her prone position on the floor. “I like it. No mad, please, baby?”

Morgan face-palmed. “You are so high right now.”

“Heh heh heh hehe,” Chloe laughed in a doofy voice. “I am! High! Hi, Mo! Hi, Kelly! Hi, kittens!”

Sure enough, the adventurous black and white kitten that had been the first to bravely approach was now sitting on Chloe’s belly, looking down at her curiously. A short-hair gray tabby was climbing up to join its sibling atop Mt. Tummy. They both mewled at each other and at Chloe.

“Hey. Hey Mo.” Chloe’s speech was a bit slow and a little slurred. “They’re both girls! And I think they like me!” Interestingly, it was Chloe who was purring. 

Morgan raised an eyebrow curiously. “How do you know they’re both girls? You haven’t even sexed them.”

Chloe grinned, her pronounced fangs more evident because of the angle. “They told me!”

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