Housebreaking the Cat (Naledi)

[Skylar]

Day 42 of Spring, 510

To the casual observer, the girl must have looked asleep. She was, in a sense, her body was certainly unconscious. But it was not really sleep, not as mortals knew it. It was dreamless and strange. For over a week she'd lain there, her new body struggling to work as the ichor began to settle in her veins.

She awoke finally. It seemed like it got easier every time. Less waiting, less pain. Then again, perhaps she was simply getting old. Skylar smirked as she examined her new form's perfect naked shape. The brunette had seemed distant, but once Skylar'd gotten to know her she found her rather kind and warm. When she died, she barely screamed at all. It was really rather refreshing to be so noble.

Skylar would enjoy being her.

She looked around the room, home sweet home. It was her little windowless 'cell' in the castle. There wasn't much in the way of furniture, but Skylar got by. Then there was a moment of confusion as she looked around the room at how, well... lived-in the whole place looked. Not that unusual, except Skylar didn't live at all.

Then she spied another naked woman. Oh right, the Kelvic.

"You're still here?" She asked, bored.

[Naledi]

“Unfortunately, yes,” she smiled, glad to see he – no, not any more, her master was female now – had woken up, finally. “I hope your… sleep, was it? I hope it was refreshing. Your new body is very beautiful.”

The indifference Skylar showed to her presence did not perturb her. Undoubtedly, her master was still not all that happy about having her. The younger woman moved closer, holding out the well-made coat Skylar had draped around her shoulders what seemed an eternity ago. “I had it washed, I could smell your old body on it… not the best of scents.”

She had spent the last week or so in a state of boredom. The first couple hours were interesting to watch – the slow drip of the ichor, the intricacy and understanding of the ritual… eventually she’d felt as if she were intruding on something private and left, prowling the streets in cat form, trying in vain to forget the unfortunate girl’s screams and perhaps catch herself some food.

“I also cleaned a little. I didn’t go through any of your things,” she said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. There were no personal affects to be seen – nothing for her to go through. “But I did dust a little. Nothing too invasive. Just done out of boredom…” Her words became a sigh.

“What now, though? Is there anything you need? Anything? I don’t know if you eat, or drink, so I didn’t go hunting for two.”

[Skylar]

Skylar listened to her hollow praise without twitching a muscle on her new features. The same bored, dull expression remained on her face. She regarded the Kelvic with something between distaste and disgust. What had she been thinking, bringing this loathsome little brat along with her to the depths of hell? Had Skylar entirely taken leave of her senses in her old age? Without answering her question, Skylar wrapped the coat around her new body and then began rummaging for some kind of clothing she could wear underneath.

"Ugh, it's pathetic, really." She complained, shooting the Kelvic a harsh glance. "I don't think anything about wasting a decade or two, but you Kelvic can hardly waste even a single day. I can't believe you spent a fortnight waiting around here for me. You're so reactive, what a waste of flesh and meat. Apathy is death. Worse than death, since at least a corpse feeds the dogs."

She stared over at the cat with a pensive look and then sighed. "Still, I suppose there's no harm in training you for a few years until your mortal body inevitably fails you and you collapse into eternal slumber. It might do me some good to impart some of my oppressive philosophy onto a little brat such as yourself. I wonder if your brain could handle the shock of the absolute truth... something I only discovered after centuries of living."

Skylar then smirked and walked over to the creature. She embraced the thing and whispered into her ear: "The Gods do not love us. Our creators, our judges, our mothers and our peacemen all are born out of a pure selfishness. There is no good nor evil because the concept of good is impossible: All acts are committed out of selfishness. The only sin is death, the only virtue is living. If you outlive your enemies, you have won." She grabbed the girl by the waist and began dancing around the room with her, clumsily, with Skylar taking the male part:

"All that has any worth is surviving! Survive forever and you win every battle! There is no such thing as an immortal. Every creature that has ever lived must die. Kelvic and Nuit and Gods alike will all perish, and their spirits which are reborn or which haunt others are nothing more than shadows of their real selves. They are dead! They lose while I win! All creatures in this world are sheep bleating for survival and meaning in a dark world which neither cares nor understands while beings far beyond our power play with our existence with motivations we cannot know or comprehend. Life's a play, death is the punchline and the only creatures that could possibly help are the ones in the audience who dare not interfere with the show!"

He whirled the Kelvic around then pushed her away. "You know what I'm saying is true, don't you?"

[Naledi]

(Ehhh, sorry for taking so long to reply, life's been really hectic and my electricity keeps shutting off. -dies-)

Naledi had to sigh as Skylar pulled her into a dance. The strange, dead woman changed moods like clothes. How was she to know what mood her mistress would be in next? She took the abuse without complaint. It was futile to argue – how could she possibly bring some kind of sanity to such an ancient, insane being, whose mind had been made up and possibly lost long, long ago?

As they stopped dancing and Skylar questioned her, the Kelvic tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at the floor. During the time Skylar had been in her unconscious state, the girl had been restored almost to full health. Her body was less emaciated every day and her natural shape was beginning to show through again. She’d been unable to find anything resembling a brush, but had done the best she could with her fingers, teasing knots and burrs from her hair and threading her fingers through it until it looked passable.

‘I believe what I believe,’ she said quietly. ‘You contradict yourself. You say you win because you live. Is this what you call living? At the same time, you say everything dies, so everything loses, but you have won, so you live forever… also, perhaps we do what we do out of selfishness, but that’s how life has existed for so long. Then again, you probably wouldn’t know about selflessness… or if you did, you’ve forgotten.’ She raised her eyes to Skylar’s. ‘But, of course,’ a hint of sarcasm took root in her voice like a weed, ‘how would I know what is and what isn’t? I’m just a pathetic, apathetic waste of flesh and meat.’ Hate and an expression that mingled pity and disdain showed on her face.

‘Who am I to lecture you, though?’ She looked away again. ‘A waste of flesh and meat…’ she murmured to herself, seeming to find it rather amusing. She stared into the flickering light of one of the candles. It was so pretty, and dancing like it was alive. Without really thinking what she was doing, she put out a hand to touch it, stopping her fingers about an inch away from the candle at the point where the heat was hardly bearable. ‘You didn’t answer my question, though, Mistress. Is there anything else you need?’

[Skylar]

Skylar was so bored by this creature. Perhaps she was simply unusually unintelligent, because she seemed to genuinely believe that in all her mad existence Skylar had never encountered someone being passive-aggressive. Skylar grabbed her by her hand and pulled it towards the candle's flame. The Kelvic was faster and stronger, and could easily pull her hand out of Skylar's vice-like grip, but the intent had been clear. Skylar had been trying to hurt her.

Her voice raised into a haughty lecture. Skylar activated just the tip of her hypnotic ability and the Kelvic would feel a vague, unknown happiness gently pounding inside her head. Skylar gave a light, arrogant laugh, filled with a sadistic mirth.

"Oh, you believe what you believe do you? You believe what you believe and I believe what I believe. You believe what you believe and I believe what I believe. You believe what I believe and I believe what I believe." Skylar turned the italicized phrase into a gentle hypnotic suggestion. Her words were honeyed and warm. Her skin was less so. She pushed the Kelvic onto the makeshift bed and lay on top of her. Her new body far smaller than the cat's, and she lay there silently.

"You must choose, Janene. Serving me half-heartedly is pathetic. Either embrace despair and become my living avatar upon this world or cast yourself into the eternal cleansing flame."

[Naledi]

The girl let her fingers be drawn to the flame. It began to hurt, and a strange sort of defiance rose in her – she kept her hand near the flame until her pain threshold gave and she had to pull away. She had been able to keep them in the heat for a surprisingly long time before it burnt too much.

It did register in her mind that her mistress had been intent on causing pain, and she couldn’t help but smile – indeed, it had caused her pain, but she had been the one who decided to bear it. Of course, the smile was also because of the beginnings of warmth in her mind, soothing her thoughts.

‘Why do you play mind games?’ she asked absently as her mind said yes, of course, I believe what you believe… She began to believe it, too, and had to fight to say, ‘I’m already fully devoted to you, so why do you feel the need to control my thoughts?’

The stone slab was cold under her bare skin and Skylar was even colder. The girl turned her head away, uncomfortable with the close proximity to her mistress. For the first time, she cursed her nakedness.

She contemplated what Skylar said, still looking at the wall. To serve completely… she wanted to, certainly. But Skylar was not a warm creature, inside or out, a fact betrayed by the cold, cold skin pressed to her. The girl struggled internally, and a thought broke through to the surface.

‘Janene?’ she repeated, the name falling from her lips to echo in the stone room. She was named, now. She had no choice, and part of her was glad and gracious as she turned her head to look at Skylar. She couldn’t suppress a gasp as she realised their noses were almost touching, and she had to whisper the next words, conviction and trust now in her eyes. She felt like her moods changed like light in water, never constant, and she was scared; she had one thing to cling to, and one place only to go, so she looked straight into her mistress’ eyes as the whispered words left her.

‘I am Skylar’s Janene, and I will serve you wholeheartedly and gladly. For you, I’d welcome despair.’

(Yaaaay she has a name I was getting tired of Naledi as a name, anyway.)

[Skylar]

Skylar's eyes darkened as Janene spoke. Her words rung hollow. They reeked of false humility and ugly, secret pride. Skylar knew she was conflicted. She also suspected the Kelvic was giving up her devotion in a desperate, stupid act to avoid further humiliation by her mistress.

It would not work. Skylar was maybe 98 or 99% in control of Janene. She would not stop until she was 100% in control. She wouldn't allow a single thought to enter the creatures head that Skylar had not placed there personally. Skylar's ambition ran wild, she would crush this creature into the perfect obedient doll. Nothing but a pet housecat that had no desire but to serve her master.

Skylar's hands, her cold hands, touched Janene upon the stomach. She ran her hands over the naked creature's body. "So thin... so broken. Remember this moment. Remember that I saved your life. Everything you do must be to serve me for your life is mine. I gave you one chance to leave, and you did not take it. So now you cannot leave. I am taking away your ability to leave. I'm even taking away your ability to want to leave."

Skylar leaned in and kissed Janene with her cold lips, before standing up. Skylar was barefoot, and wearing nothing but the coat, which was so loosely wrapped around her it could hardly be called modesty-protecting. "If you are truly devoted to me, then you should not mind any hypnotic tamperings I do to your mind. You should not care what dark thoughts I place there. You should embrace whatever I do to you as molding you to become a better slave."

Skylar stared down at Janene, her attitude judgmental and imperialist, this was a test. Everything was a test. Skylar smirked. "You may kneel before your master. Kneel, and lick my feet in subjugation towards a creature that is in every conceivable way your superior. Beg for the chance to be allowed to show your devotion in this way and thank me for the opportunity."

[Naledi]

Cold shivers raced over Janene’s skin where Skylar touched her with her freezing fingers and her lips lost some warmth when her mistress kissed them. Janene could not say she wasn’t relieved when Skylar’s slight weight was removed

Revulsion rose in Janene like a hiss. She looked away so Skylar, standing as glorious and naked as a goddess, would not see it in her eyes.

With the usual show of dancing lights, she changed into a cat, dropping silently from the stone slab to weave around Skylar’s legs, rubbing her head against her ankles. She stopped to drag her rough tongue over the skin of Skylar’s feet and felt like being sick from the terrible taste left on her tongue. In truth, she wanted to not feel, wanted only to serve so that she wouldn’t have to know what was reality: the dead, slightly deranged woman who was her mistress. She longed to be so lost in the illusion of love that she became afraid of herself. Naledi no longer wanted to exist. Now there would be only Janene. Like a tame sphinx she dropped to her stomach before Skylar, gazing up at her with large amber eyes that held only pleading. For what, Janene couldn’t be sure. All she knew was that she was at Skylar’s feet, where she wanted to be.

[Skylar]

Skylar gave a demented, childish giggle, which escaped her lips as a sort of twisted: "Tee-hee." Skylar had no doubt there was a wealth of emotions running through the girl's head at the moment, she had no doubt that however confused and frightened Janene was, her mind was now a mental playground which was the result of an inner struggle more tumultuous than probably she had ever faced before.

However, Skylar didn't care. She didn't care about this creature's personal habits or its thoughts or its dreams or its fate. She knew that Janene had a history, a real name, a past, parents, lovers, she had a life! An entire world of thought and imagination existed in this creature's head.

But, Skylar didn't care. She reached down and picked up the cat, stroking it and generally treating it like a normal cat, tut-tutting and so forth as she curled up in 'bed' with the thing in her arms. She didn't care. There was only one thing Skylar cared about: She had obeyed. She would continue to obey. For the rest of her short life. "Good girl." She said.

-

Skylar lay in that position until the creature fell asleep, then she got up. Her heart was racing. Metaphorically. Her heart didn't actually beat. This was something more poisonous than her own semi-blood pumping through her brains. Having a slave like that... yes, she needed to use her! Ambition was the dark stuff that flooded through her. Soon. Soon!

She gave an evil laugh. By the time that Janene had woken up from her brief catnap. Skylar was sitting on the edge of the bed, humming. "No more cat form, dear. Not unless I tell you to, and start wearing clothes in public mmkay?" She didn't seem all that commanding, and then suddenly she looked very nervous and shy. "Oh, well you don't have to of course... you can do anything you want to. It's just that it'd mean a lot to me if you'd do that for me, darling!" Skylar's lips pouted and her bosom quivered as she looked, shyly over at Janene.

"P... please?"

[Naledi]

Janene purred as she drifted off, curling into a small ball beside the cold comfort of Skylar. As she slept, her eyes moved beneath her eyelids and her paws and whiskers twitched. She dreamed she was sprinting, as a cat, through a huge open plain filled with dead and burning grass. She saw the girl whose body Skylar was inhabiting, her eyes defiant and afraid. Janene couldn’t remember the girl screaming – or had she? The girl’s mouth opened wide and she screamed, but Janene was sure it wasn’t the girl’s scream she heard. Somebody else was screaming, in her memory. Terrified, she ran on in her dream, until she could no longer run and her muscles burned. Before her appeared the girl, but now she was Skylar, and Janene morphed to kneel before her feet only to slash at her mistress’ shins with sharp, claw-like human nails a second later, hissing like a feral thing and pulling her face into an ugly, fanged snarl.

She woke, her claws extended, cat eyes wide. Her muscles were tensed and she couldn’t understand where she was, at first. She looked wildly around the room and a flickering candle attracted her attention. The warm light comforted her and she gathered herself, stretching and grooming herself out of habit.

A sound startled Janene and reality came flooding back to her. She was here with Skylar. Skylar was here with her. And she was being… shy?

Confused and rather amused, Janene morphed with the customary display of flashing lights. Absently running her hands through her hair to remove any knots, she stared at her mistress. Her sudden feminine behavior was strange, and Janene could not decide if she liked it or not. It was a definite improvement on a psychopathic hypnotist, though, and the simpler, cat part of Janene enjoyed being called ‘darling’ as though she actually mattered to her owner.

Still unsure, but warming to the sudden idea of a nice Skylar, the Kelvic made to shift closer but stayed as she was. Subconsciously she looked down at her hands to make sure her nails weren’t suddenly vicious claws. Her dream had frightened her. She glanced up at Skylar and looked away again, distracted and blushing at the delightful curves of Skylar’s body and the perfect expression of innocence she wore, complete with a delectable pout. Embarrassed at her inappropriate thoughts, Janene forced herself to speak to her knees, clasping her hands in her lap.

‘Of- of course, I’ll stay in human form if it pleases you,’ Janene said with a genuine smile, glad she might finally do something that would make her owner happy. ‘It’d be easier to serve you this way, anyway. As for clothes, I have absolutely none, but I’d be happy to wear anything you tell me to.’ Normally she detested the confinement of clothes, but if she wasn’t going to be morphing so often, it didn’t matter so much anyway.

All this morphing was making her hungry. She dared not say anything lest she seem like a complaining child, but her stomach was growling. Although she’d been able to hunt or scavenge for food in the huge castle and the streets of Syliras, her skills were not exactly up to par and the energy morphing used up was surprising.

'Is there anything else in particular I should know? I'd hate to break any rules I didn't know about. How embarrassing.' Another genuine smile grew on her lips like a sweet fruit. It was good to smile again after so many days and nights of frowns of hunger and famine crusting her mouth.