Chapter Text
The jungle had always been their home, an ancient and unconquered place where creatures dangerous and wild thrived in the dark heart of the nascent world. Civilizations had risen and fell, toppled and extinguished by the feral intensity of the jungle and its inhabitants that overtook them. Felide would tell them long, bloody stories about the history of their home as they piled together in their crumbling tower, warmed by the dying embers of their hearth, her rasping voice floating into the comforting stillness of the night.
Nepeta had grown up in the tower, cut her teeth on the vermin that dared to scuttle around its lowest levels. It reached to the sky, a monstrous hollow stone pillar that Felide thought had once been white, but had dulled to gray over the years, crawling plants and jungle life over taking it. It was gorgeous, she had always thought, the strange swirling carvings that decorated it comforting and familiar. A seemingly endless spiraling staircase traced up the inside, bits of it crumbling and giving way to tree roots or jungle vines or creeping plant growth, but for the most part, structurally stable. She'd never feared the stairs, racing up and down them with her sister from her very first steps, learning to be nimble and quick footed to avoid the vines and roots and loose chunks of stone.
The outside of her home seemed to be nearly overtaken by the arching canopy of trees, holes that had used to be windows now serving as entry ways for searching branches. The moat had probably once been useful, but had become so full of rock and earth and who knew what else that it was little more than a neck-deep personal stream. She and Meulin had learned to swim in it, since Felide wouldn't let them anywhere near the adjoining waterfall and its deep pool until they were competent.
They were lucky to live near to a fresh water source, Nepeta knew, and was aware that perhaps they took it for granted. Or would, if they didn't have to work so hard to ensure that it continued to be theirs.
Few things were stupid enough to venture so far into the territory of werecats, though, another thing she was thankful for.
She sprawled in the sun near the pool, the gentle lapping of water on the earthy shore lulling her into a sleepy kind of half-consciousness. Her ears pricked, catching the sounds of Meulin splashing around, no doubt attempting to catch a frog or fish. Their mother was elsewhere for the time being, and Nepeta wondered what she was hunting this time. She hoped it had a big enough pelt to make a new head-dress from – hers was starting to become a bit small for her head, her horns poking out awkwardly as they grew.
She eyed Meulin, wondering how long it would be until she started catching up with her sister in terms of growth. The pair were separated by about a sweep or two, Felide wasn't entirely sure.
They had different fathers, Nepeta knew. She could tell from the subtle differences in their heights and builds, facial features. Meulins horns were slightly blunter than her own, though they retained the same basic shape, both reminiscent of their mother's. She wondered who they were, why they had never known them.
Apparently in Felide's youth their family had been much larger, a sprawling population of weres related both by blood and by necessity of survival. Their 'species', she supposed, had had a much larger population before they'd started being hunted, seen as threats and, occasionally, supernatural monsters by the civilizations that tried to build themselves up in the jungle. One evening when the clan was weak from a botched hunt the tribal village had set fire to their tower, burning and slaughtering most of Felide's family before her eyes. She'd taken to the trees and escaped with a few others, but had been the only one to ultimately return and reclaim her home. That had been many many sweeps ago, she reassured her brood, but always seemed sad when she told the story, like it was still fresh pain in her heart.
A threat they certainly were, since Nepeta considered herself quite lethal, thank you very much. Supernatural? Well, she wasn't so sure. She'd been born the way she was, as had Meulin, perhaps because Felide always bit and turned her mates before she deigned to breed with them. Couldn't raise weak daughters in the solitude of the wild jungle, after all.
One day, Meulin would hunt down and turn a mate of her own, and bear her child to add to their clan. Nepeta would as well, though it was slightly further off. Felide was trying to rebuild from the catastrophe, but seemed to be having little luck – not everyone was strong enough of spirit and body to be able to ultimately survive the turning when the next full moon dawned, and even though her mates had ensured the continuation of their line, they themselves had died when the change took them.
Either that or Felide herself put them down. Nepeta was never really sure what happened. She was somewhat afraid to ask.
Meulin's victorious cry echoed off the rocks and stones that lined the waterfall's pool, sloshing out of the water with her prized fish and slamming its head against the earth, bringing its frenzied twitching and flopping to an end. “Lunch time,” she trilled, flicking drops of water from her claws at Nepeta.
“I ate a frog,” Nepeta mumbled, feeling too sleepy and lazy to dodge the water that sprinkled across her face.
Meulin shrugged and stretched out naked on the ground to begin nibbling at her catch, tail waving in lazy contentment. She'd slipped out of her clothing and pelts before sluicing into the water earlier, disliking the smell of wet or damp fur.
Today the air smelled like sunshine and rain, Nepeta thought idly, prying one eye open to peer up at the sun-spotted canopy. There'd be a storm rolling through before tomorrow's end, meaning Felide would probably be coming back soon with whatever she'd caught to tide them through.
“I hope she brings back a pelt big 'nuff for a new headdress,” she muttered to Meulin, watching the girl's ears twitch. Due to an incident soon after her birth her sister's senses were somewhat dulled, nowhere near as sharp as the average were's and more on par with a normal troll or very sensitive human. “My horns are starting to get too big for this one.”
“Yers are wider than mine,” Meulin observed, licking a spot of blood from her lips. “Wonder if they'll get as big as mom's.”
Nepeta hoped so. Their mother was the epitome of ferocity, danger dripping from her every move. She was a feral beauty with animal and troll teeth strung through the braids in her wild hair like beads, hanging from her neck and wrists like precious jewelry, the pelts she wore stained with multiple colors of blood , painting her like some kind of deadly rainbow.
She was everything Nepeta wanted to be.
Her nose twitched at an approaching scent and she suppressed a grin, subtly inching further away from Meulin and waiting.
Her sister screeched and yowled when a large carcass dropped from the treeline, thudding half on her legs, a flailing paw nearly clipping her horn. The rasping, cackling laughter of their mother sounded through the trees, and Nepeta giggled, watching Felide leap from the branch she'd hidden herself on, landing with silent grace beside her latest kill.
“Good to see you kittens alert as ever,” she teased, hauling the body off of Meulin and laughing some more when the girl hissed her displeasure at being made the butt of a prank.
“I was eating!” She whined. “Nepeta, why didn't you say something!?”
“Thought you'd smell the blood,” she quipped innocently, drawing closer to investigate their newest guest.
Felide had apparently been feeling feisty, having stalked and brought down some kind of bulky feline, its long thick fangs curling over its lower lip and leaving ruts in the earth from where it had been dragged. Nepeta dug her fingers into the plush snowy fur, smearing the rich brown blood around claw wounds. Definitely big enough to use its head as adornment, and Nepeta couldn't wait to see how she looked with those massive teeth framing the sides of her face, coming into points past her chin. She could probably craft a new skirt from it too, and she admired the gorgeous tuft on the tip of its tail, already planning what color she'd like to dye it. Maybe she'd stripe the pelt this time.
Meulin grumbled and went back to her lunch, more than content to allow Nepeta to stake her claim on the animal's skin. Felide usually took the claws and any extra teeth her daughters had no interest in, though every once in a while would decide she needed some other new kind of adornment or wrap. This time, however, their mother had retreated to the interior of the tower, probably seeing to stoking their cooking fire. That meant Nepeta got the whole thing to herself to do with as she pleased.
Purring, she lapped at some of the blood that dripped from the animal's mouth, shivering appreciatively.
The storm raged on for more than a week without any signs of slowing its onslaught, and Nepeta was thankful for the distraction of crafting her new additions to her wardrobe. Meulin was helping out of boredom, and even Felide was taking up some of the workload, though she seemed much more enthusiastic. Nepeta had certainly inherited her mother's fantastic fashion sense.
She'd saved some of the beast's blood in a carved wooden bowl and was currently using it as face and body paint, liking the rich warm brown tone. She'd given herself stripes, brown slashing here and there over the cool gray of her skin, and then, feeling playful, had spattered Meulin with spots, much to the girl's joy.
She had just finished dipping the tuft of the tail in the blood for the final time, the fur now stained a deep brown that made her happy just looking at it. She looked up from her work in order to demand praise for her skills, but Felide was drawn up in a taught line, uncanny green eyes boring out the nearest window past the invading branches. Her mother's unease bled over into her, and she stilled, ears perking and straining for noise.
Meulin paused, catching on to the strained atmosphere and slowly quieting, her sentence falling off halfway finished. The older were watched her mother while Nepeta watched the staircase, slinking slowly from the landing they were sprawled on and peering down into the abyss that the dark night created.
Rooms branched off from the staircase every few flights, and sometimes entire suites of them, furnishings and décor long swept away and gone. Felide had made do, crafting what she could from wood and stone and bone and pallets of fur, passing on the skills that she'd been taught to her daughters. The room they were in presently was were they did all their crafting and building and jewelry making, currently lit with the flickering flames of a bright fire to chase away the chill of the rain.
A strange scraping noise grated across her ears from several stories down, and Nepeta slithered down a few steps, glancing over her shoulder for her mother's permission before noiselessly descending. Of Felide's two daughters Nepeta was the most adept at silence and sneaking, and of violent close quarters combat. For all that Meulin had terrible hearing by were standards, her nose was impeccable, and she was an adept tracker and trap setter, a brilliant thinker and planner and hunter.
Nepeta put thoughts of her family from her mind as she slunk down the stairs, moving along silently on all fours, feeling her body shift in order to accommodate her. The claws on her feet were already growing out, but not long enough to scrape against the stone, she was too good at being quiet for that silly mistake. Her prey, apparently, was not.
She drew closer to the sound, eyes narrowing. There was a troll struggling to stand, leaning heavily against the wall of the landing, ragged breaths shaking his chest. His horns were strange and twinned, two sharp points rising out of his rain-slicked hair on each side of his head. His scent was sharp and it stung her nose, almost like it crackled, with an under layer of sweetness that she wasn't sure she could identify. He was swearing to himself, words lisping around his odd doubled fangs, something about the rain blocking out his 'psionics' and making flight impossible. He had a companion, a much shorter and more muscular troll, who was providing the scraping noise by his claws raking against the walls of the tower as he struggled to hold himself up on quivering legs.
Nepeta kept to the darkness of the upper flight, staring down at the intruders with cautious curiosity. The smaller troll smelled of the tang of blood and of stale sweat, and his mouth was running a mile a minute, cursing up a blue streak. From what she gathered they'd been chased into the relative safety of the tower by a marauding group of jungle cats, and she smirked at the irony. Right into the lion's den, as it were.
When she peaked quickly out the window she could see that the animals were still out there, prowling as close to the base of the tower as they dared press.
“Why the fuck aren't they coming in here, Sollux. It's creepy as shit. Why haven't you ever seen this tower on your scouting expeditions? It's fucking HUGE. How do you miss a goddamn monolith, Captor?!”
“Shut up, KK,” the taller troll lisped, and Nepeta fought the urge to giggle. Wow, that was unfortunate.
“Thut up, KK,” his friend(?) mocked, staring out the large arching doorway at the cats that were slowly pressing closer, emboldened by the fact that no screaming were had descended on them yet. “Oh shit, they're getting closer. Fuck, damn it, I always knew I'd die because your incompetent ass got us into something. FUCK.”
“Not my fault you dropped your sickles, KK,” 'Sollux' spat. “And it's still not my fault it's raining, no matter how many times you decide to blame me. My psionics don't work in the wet, and you had to go and lose your weapons. Shittiest leader, it's you.”
The largest jungle cat had gotten brave, and bared its massive fangs at the trapped trolls. Nepeta wondered why they hadn't thought to start scaling the staircase yet, and if they were truly stupid.
Then again, the infinitely more dangerous predators lurked a few more stories up. She could smell Felide's quiet amusement and tension, and Meulin's confusion. 'KK' snarled right back at the cat, earning himself a growl for his efforts.
“You're just making it mad, numbnuts,” Sollux muttered, slouching against the wall. Exhaustion rolled off of him in waves, making her nose twitch. “I only have like two throwing stars left.”
“Of course it's only two,” KK grumbled, with just a trace of exasperated amusement.
Nepeta felt irritation bubble up inside of her when the junglecats slunk even closer, one's massive head clearing the threshold of the tower, rainwater dripping from its sleek snout. This was HER territory (well, Felide's, but by extension hers). When it slunk to the side, beginning to shepherd the two exhausted trolls further against the wall they were planning to make their last stand against, she hissed quietly, getting more and more upset with every cat that joined the first.
The sharp stink of fear and anger pervaded the air, the hopelessness of it smacking her across the face. What was she doing just sitting there!? These boys were going to get themselves killed being so helpless!
Nepeta leaped forward noiselessly, her claws neatly sluicing through the throat of the nearest predator, moving on when it dropped heavily to its belly, dead. There were five in all, now that the sixth was taken care of, and KK was threatening the one nearest to him with his claws and teeth, his only weapons. A troll's claws were nothing to underestimate, but they were also nothing compared to hers.
She grabbed a cat by its tail and hauled, gratified when it screeched in pain. Sollux's head whipped to face her, but she was still cloaked in darkness, so all he saw was the junglecat being dragged into the shadows, scrabbling in terror.
“KK what the fuck,” he breathed, “There's something in here with us.”
“NO SHIT,” the troll hollered, taking a swipe and earning himself a raking of claws across one thigh.
“No, no shit,” Sollux warbled, finally spotted the bright gleam of Nepeta's eyes as they glowed at him from the dark, slitted pupils darting back and forth, picking her next victim. She'd have to come out of hiding sooner rather than later, and she knew from the hitch in Sollux's yammering heartbeat that he'd seen her, the stink of his apprehension.
She sprang, powerful legs carrying her forward as she slammed bodily into the animal that was about to take KK's head off, a fierce cry ripping itself from her lips. The troll she'd just saved staggered backward with an alarmed shriek, nearly falling over.
“Where the great nookwhiffing FUCK did SHE COME FROM!?!?” He screamed, gesticulating wildly at her as she buried her teeth into the animal's neck, ripping savagely, its blood fountaining and splashing down her front.
Coated in the slick yellowish green, she whirled, her grating roar of challenge attracting the attention of the remaining three. One charged her immediately with a yowl, and they went down in a clashing of limbs, wrestling on the floor. KK moaned at the crunching sound of breaking bones when Nepeta crushed the thing's skull against the wall with a swift kick, spinning away from it and launching herself for the one that was taking a swipe at Sollux, grabbing it by the shoulders with one clawed hand and raking it across the face with the other.
The last junglecat took one look at her covered in the blood of its allies and promptly fled, dashing back out into the storm without even a single look back.
“I have the weirdest boner right now KK,” Sollux whispered dimly to his friend, and received an elbow in the ribs for his efforts. Nepeta wasn't sure what that meant, but apparently it had been mean, so she hissed at him, showing off her blood drenched teeth, her long pointed canines dripping.
“No, woah woah woah, he's an idiot but he didn't mean it, oh god,” KK babbled, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. “Please don't fucking kill us whatever the fuck kind of amazonian goddess you are, we come in peace!”
Nepeta paused, licking some of the blood from her lips and off of one of her fingers as she considered the two trolls she'd just saved, squinting critically. When they both smelled like they were perhaps about to piss themselves in fear she propped a hand on her hip and dissolved into giggles, shaking her head.
“Wow! You two were like weak little mewling kittens! Lucky thing you decided to hide in my tower, huh?” She laughed out, then added, “Well, my mom's tower. Same thing, really.”
“WHAT,” KK sputtered out, looking like she'd physically slapped him across the face. Sollux wavered like he was about to faint, and then pointed silently when Meulin came padding down the stairs, nose quivering.
“Oh, wow, Nep, we'll eat for a month with all this,” her sister crooned appreciatively, “Good job.”
“WHAT,” KK repeated, head swinging back and forth from her and her sister.
Nepeta grinned rather smugly, tail flicking. She'd never had guests before. She really, really hoped that Felide let them stay for a little while. At least until the rain stopped.