Daylight

Chapter 2

The pale yellow she-cat known as Butters lounged in the sun. "So you're saying, you want to save random kittys' lives because you have nothing better to do?"

"Well I have plenty better to do—" Rusty began before he cut himself off. "Okay, so maybe I'm low on things to do, but these cats need help!"

"It sounds to me as if they're well-fed, Rusty. Are you sure that's the best idea? I understand the allure of adventure and all, but really..." Princess trailed off, concern lacing her features as she gazed at her ginger-furred brother.

"The she-cat who attacked me—" he had intentionally left out the part about the tackle. They didn't need to know that part for the story to make sense, right? "—was skinny! She wasn't well-fed at all, Princess! Filou, did you see any forest cats when Tommy got his tail caught in the trap?"

Filou blinked, bringing his full-length, almost-sand-colored tail around to his side. "Well, no," he admitted, giving an uncomfortable shrug. "But it's not like it was in the woods! It was right outside my housefolks' house. You know how they are about mice. And besides, Tommy was looking for the wild cats, that's how he got chomped in the first place." Filou ruffled his pelt, a look of sheer fear crossing over his face before it quickly dissipated.

"Right, but think about the cats who are starving! Even the big fluffy cat—Whitestorm, that's what he was! I told you I'd remember, Filou—wasn't like us. It wasn't like he had food or anything."

A contemplative expression had come across Butters' face as she thought and listened to all of Rusty's words. "Rusty," she began, her raspy voice like how Rusty would imagine a piece of the soft cloth that lined his nest if it were rubbed against rough tree bark, "you say these cats... live in the forest?"

The flame-colored tom's head bobbed up and down as quickly as it could go. "Yes! And they eat mice and birds and voles and shrews and mice and—and— shrews—"

"And did you by chance catch sight of a big, angry-looking cat, brown-and-black, with evil-looking stripes and nefarious-looking amber eyes?" Rusty's mind was at a standstill. What do evil-looking stripes look like? And what does nefarious even mean?

"Um... no?"

"Good. Stay away from him if you ever see him. I've seen him tear kits to shreds." With that, the older she-cat stood up, shook out her long pelt, and stalked back to her house.

"You... what!?" Rusty exploded after a moment, starting to dash after her only to find the catflap in the door of the house close in his face.

A horrified look was on Princess' face, and she began to quickly groom the fluffy plume on her chest, something she did when she was particularly worried.

"Rusty, I really don't think this is a good idea! You're going to get killed!"

Rusty straightened himself, bringing his fluffy ginger tail around and making his shoulders as stiff and broad as he could, something that was hard with his lanky, though slightly plump, form. "I'll do whatever it takes! Even if I have to leave my housefolk..." he trailed off. Am I really prepared to go that far?

Yes, a subconscious voice in his mind answered, and he straightened up a bit more. "Even if I have to leave my housefolk, I'll do it! Who wants to come with me?"

"I—I don't know, Rusty. It's a big decision. Besides, my housefolk got me a new toy recently, and I really don't want to leave that..." Princess paused a moment. "But if you want to go... I guess I'll stay back and help you?"

Rusty beamed, an excited tingling bouncing around his body, from his tail-tip to his muzzle. "Yes! What do you say, Filou?"

"Um. Well. It's a big decision, like Princess said... I have to—uh—talk to Tommy—. He's getting back from the cutter soon, and I have to get home to be there when he gets back—sorry." With that, he bounded off, scrambling up the fence and to the thunderpath that separated the various siblings' houses from one another's.