teaser

It was only eventual that Sharky would wake up, figuring that while she was surrounded by a bunch of giant cats, that she couldn't talk to. She spoke Leonine. They spoke Jubatus. She needed to talk to someone. She just had to.

It bothered her most that one time when she talked to Vesper- the partial Komainu that belonged to the Chaos League. It wasn't very good communication, but it was much more effective than trying to use reigns.

The biggest issue is that she HAD partial komainus, and they could roar like a komainu, but they didn't have any cat who to learn the komainu language from. She wanted to have that somehow, and what's more- she needed someone to talk to secretly.

She had heard that the same cattery who had Vesper also had several other almost pure komainus... perhaps it was a chance...

Sharky threw the covers off and jumped out of bed. It was past 8:00- the Chaos League ought to be awake, and not yet saddled for their nightly races. She called Vlad.

“Hello?”
“It's Sharky. Do your Komainus need any training?”

“... What?”
“Your komainus, do they need training?”
“Sharky, are you planning something?”
“I will feed them, groom them, bathe them, train them, and not street race them or breed them at all for free.”

It sounded like a good deal, but presented terribly.

“... uh... Why?”

“I need some intelligent conversation.”

He understood that- he remembered how Sharky could talk to Vesper a little, and how effective it was... an almost pure Komainu? She could train them to do lots of cool stuff- fast.

“Ok... Why didn't you just say so? All yours, and you'd better keep your word. Just be sure you're only training them- I want to see results when we get them back.”
“Aye, that's the policy”.

“You have two months.”

“Gotcha.”

They hung up.

After some further arrangements about the next few weeks, Sharky was driving them up to Sunstorm Cattery from the Train Station. She had gone to pick them up from their cattery herself- personally choosing the sweetest-tempered females she could hoping that they would be at least a little social with the other cats-. One thing she found while on the train ride with them: there was no Jubatus lisp- she could understand what they were saying-if it was a similar word in Leonine- perfectly.

They had already gotten to know each other on the train. The big grey-brown girl's name was Varda Elentari, but went by “GRAAR” in Komainu. The slightly-smaller red cat was Vaire, called “RER” in Komainu. Sharky liked Vaire- she was always checking on how Sharky was doing if she lost balance in the slightes because the train hit a bump, and was constantly insisting that she come and sit with her in the train stable so she could fuss over her more and be “safe”.

Sharky couldn't help but to think that Vaire reminded her of her grandmother.

Varda was Vaire's daughter. She definitely knew her place- she was her mother's daughter, but she was bigger, louder, stronger, and towered over every Shedu she's ever met. She was always elegant, calm, and humble, though. She didn't talk much, but was always a good listener. A good strong queen, Sharky thought, to influence the other cats at Sunstorm Headquarters.

Sharky found herself to be rather chatty on the trip- she was nervous about how they would react to the other cats, or how the other cats would react to giant lion-like Shedus, and spent most of her time telling Varda and Vaire how chaotic it sometimes was.

And once they got to the Cattery, it WAS chaotic. There was rumor about a new auxiliary manager who would probably be hired soon, someone with a Novice Diploma. Everyone was also running about worried or stressed about how there had been a small outbreak of 'stable-cough' while Sharky was away.

Just perfect.

Excitement was just a part of the air in the cattery, and some of the more... playful... cats were running about more crazily than usual. The more reserved cats, the ones who usually kept things calmer, were nowhere to be seen. They had bailed to the noise and had gone to the outskirts of the property to have time to themselves.

The infected cats were in their stables so it wouldn't spread while most of the staff was busy deep-cleaning every inch of the cattery.

Sharky didn't even need to ask; one supercharged roar from Varda silenced everyone present.

(She couldn't help but think to herself: “Man, these cats are awesome....”)

One of the chief stablehands came over and (scared of the giant lions behind her) gave Sharky the report. Once given, Sharky told them to carry on; she needed to show the guests around the property, anyways. It was a long train ride- they all needed a stretch.

Sharky tacked up Vaire and leashed Varda for a Cross-country run through the mountains- she needed to know how well they could endure long distances before she could train them. Varda wore a pack with supplies.

They were off towards the mountains within maybe 20 minutes. Vaire wanted to stay and see the building, but didn't mind the trip once Sharky told her that they would be going to meet some of the cats first.

After 20 miles, 12 stops and 1 accidental attack from Soulfire, Sharky found herself in an area of the Property that she hadn't seen before- it was a small desert within the edges of a bowl-like canyon.

A small waterfall fed into the canyon to make one tiny little oasis at the bottom- but there was no way to get there, and the cats were complaining that they were thirsty.

Sharky unsaddled them both- warning them to stay close. She set out the food and water and sat a safe way from the canyon edge to look at it- she'd never seen one like this before and ended up staring off into space thinking about things and processing the day. She didn't notice the cats come and sit next to her until she began to smell... smoke?

She looked at Vaire. Inbetween her teeth was a small pipe.

“Where'd you get that?” she asked the cat in leonine.

“You grargelarg tell Vaire gr Bring.”

“No I didn't! What are you doing with it?”
“Home grerggereg Man grargrga Mouth”

Sharky facepalmed in exasperation to avoid bursting out laughing.

“DROP IT.”

The cat gingerly let it go and it fell into the grass before her. Sharky picked it up quickly before it set anything on fire. It was out of whatever was in it- smelled like tobacco- but it was still warm. On the side of the pipe it read the word “Slakre”.

'Hm.'

Sharky packed it away where Vaire wouldn't get to it - just in case- and rode them back shortly after. It was getting dark, anyways.

Back at the cattery, once untacked, Sharky led the cats to their new, temporary stalls. She had placed the pipe in her pocket so she could take it back to the office, but after she taught the cats what “goodnight” was and left, she took it back out to inspect it.

“Ah, I see you found my pipe.”

Sharky threw her eyes towards the direction of the voice. A young, mildly shaggy-looking man leaned against his back against one of the walls. He quickly and politely stood up and reached out his hand.

“I'm Judge. You said to come in today?”
“You're to be the new Auxiliary Manager?”
“That's what I'm told...” He replied.

Sharky smiled.

“Your interview is tomorrow.”