Chapter Text
Talking- as a cat- is hard and often causes far more trouble than its worth.
Thackery Binx knew this from experience. It had after all taken him at least 20 years from when he was first cursed to begin to form phonemes again and it had then been another 30 or so before proper sentences were easy. It was why his frantic screams and cries for attention during the Sanderson sister’s trails had gone unheeded. In the chaos and fright of everything going on he had forgotten his new state and desperately tried to get his families attention, hoping against hope that they would save him and find some way of reversing the spell. One of his bigger regrets in this cursed half-life he was currently living was that speech came to him too late down the line to speak to his parents or even to bid them goodbye as they were lowered to the earth. Understanding human speech wasn’t the problem of course but speaking required tricks and twists of the tongue unnatural to the cat palate.
Which is why in 1939 after 246 years as the self-proclaimed Protector of the Black Flame candle it shook Binx to his core to run into not one- but two speaking cats.
His day had started so normally, Binx had gotten himself into a pattern these last 200 or so years, the candle only needed guarding one night out of the year so roaming the historical district of Salem and keeping an eye on things had become his favorite way to while away his time. The district felt homey and the architecture inviting, all the shopkeepers new him by sight and paid him respect with little treats and friendly pats.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t stand modernity, but any building under 30 years old always seemed to fluff his fur the wrong way what with all the strange new devices in them. He really should get used to them he supposed but in his current state of existence time seemed to be both dragging on and going extremely fast, empty days full of no one to talk too and yet he’d blink and suddenly there were electric lights and cars.
It was a lonely life but as long as he kept mind of his purpose (keep the Black Flame Candle from ever being lit) he’d manage. He’d tried reaching out before (after he’d learned to talk and all...) but after sending one of his “owners” to the sanitorium Binx had stopped trying with humans. Ordinary cats were also unappealing conversationalists, they did have a language of a sort, but it was simple and mostly body language and pheromone based. Not the sort of thing you could hold a proper conversation in really.
And so it was that after a long day of patrolling Thackery Binx found himself walking alone through the Salem back alleys when the silence was broken by the sharp crash of glass around the corner.
Binx froze, it was around 3 am and all of the surrounding storefronts had closed hours ago. The sound of breaking glass at this time of night meant only one thing... Burglars! Ears swiveling and whiskers twitching he located the source of the disturbance. It was coming from the side entrance of the knickknack store; he was currently passing. Taking advantage of his sleek black form Binx hid himself behind some nearby trash bins. He could hear mumbled voices getting closer and while he knew he probably couldn’t stop the robbers Old Towne Salem was his territory, and whoever was ransacking sweet old Mrs. Abel’s trinket store was going to leave with some vicious claw marks on their ankles at least.
The voices had a distinctly cockney accent and began to draw nearer and nearer to were he lay in wait
“Seriously Mungo! What were you thinking trying to lug that all the way back home?”
“It was sparkly Teaser! I would’ve been perfect over the mantle,”
“It wouldn’t have even fit on there, you got’s to steal smarter Jerrie, else we’ll never get away with anything”
Whoever they were they were right around the corner, body tense and tail stiff Binx unsheathed his claws, ready for a decisive strike.
The moment there was movement in front of him Binx pounced, sending him crashing headlong into two calico cats-one male and one female- who were bedecked in shiny jewelry and standing on two legs. Expecting human combatants Binx skidded forward with far too much momentum and crashed into them before tumbling and land head over heels on the pavement. The two bipedal thieves were also already in rather precarious stance due to two pillowcases hoisted over their shoulders and crashed into each other with both parties ending up sprawled on the flagstone road. The loot bags hit the ground and split spilling shiny mood rings and brightly colored amusements from the local gift shop on the ground with a clatter.
There was a second of silence before both parties got their bearings and then a whole lot of things happened at once
“Did you just- “began Binx
“BOOK IT JERRIE!!” Screamed the female calico hissing and puffing up her fur out to its fullest potential.
The two thieves were on their paws in seconds, sprinting away on four legs and abandoning the bags. Binx blinked his mind not processing for a moment and then gave chase not wanting to lose these strange talking cats.
They were fast and agile ducking in and out of shadows, over and under parked cars. Binx pursued them with equal fervor though as thousands of unanswered questions echoed in his mind, how did they learn to stand? Were they humans like him? Had some witch taken the term cat burglar just a little too literally???
“Wait! Please! - “Binx called out as the two striped terrors scrambled up a fence pole and kept on running
“I just want to *huff* ask you a few- “
He pulled himself up on the fence and continued the chase.
“-Questions!!”
Neither Calico seemed interested in stopping though and they zoomed onward along the fence line headed toward street. Binx was in hot pursuit, but their longer lankier forms were handing the mischievous Calico’s the advantage. The chase continued off the fence and onto the empty street.
After a while of dogged pursuit, the felonious feline pair skidded around a street corner and into the Old Burial Hill Graveyard. Binx grinned as much as any cat could grin, the two Calicos might be faster than him, but this graveyard was his home terf. He knew all the short cuts and work arounds.
Just ahead of him the male calico (who Binx had to guess was named Mungo) looked over at his Female compatriot and yelled
“Oi! Banana splits time Teaser!”
And the two cats broke apart like oil and water, each streaking off in different directions among the tombstones. Binx let out a small curse under his breath and made the split-second choice of following Mungo who was going in a much straighter path around the graves rather than the one apparently named Teaser who zipped around like a bat out of hell. Binx lost himself in the chase. This was the most interesting thing that had happened in nearly a hundred years, and he was not going to lose it just because he was too slow. A left and a right, a loop around Billy’s grave, over a fallen log and under a holly bush. Binx was tired and panting but he was so close! He could almost grab Mungo’s tail in front of him!
Then there was a sudden shove from the side and Binx nearly toppled over as Teaser shoulder checked into him while sprinting forward to join her compatriot. Binx stumbled and fell as the two cats streaked ahead of him laughing. Gritting his teeth, He picked himself back up again ignoring the dirt and leaves in his fur and ran on.
Ahead of him his quarry sprinted into a large drainage pipe. Tired and wincing from the pain of his fall Binx vaguely noted how odd it was that he had hunted mice in this graveyard thousands of times and was fairly certain that he had never seen a pipe here...
He threw himself into the pipe after them.
All at once darkness far blacker than he could imagine enveloped him, there was something wet under his paws and he could hear the laughter from in front of him reverberating strangely. Sprinting blindly forward a feeling like static cling brushed over his fur. There was a change in the air and suddenly Binx felt as though he was running down a steep incline his paws only barely contacting the ground, going far faster than he wanted. Unbidden a memory surfaced in his head of the time Elijah had dared him to sprint down the village sledge hill during summer and he had ended up breaking his arm going end over end down the last third.
Strange echoey sounds bounced down the pipe and Binx couldn’t tell if it was laughter or music. A growing light at the end of the tunnel gave him hope as he tried desperately not to trip and fall. There was a whooshing noise and a sensation of pressure all around him and then suddenly he was out stumbling in the light. Dizzy and head pounding from the pressure change he fell forward and collapsed onto the ground.
Music- and it was definitely music now- came to a screeching halt as he hit the earth. Voices that had been in the middle of song stopped abruptly and a even a few surprised half screams erupted at the strange event.
Binx lay there for a bit to let the pounding in his head subside and let out a small moan.
From his vantage point of the ground, he could hear feet shuffling around him edging closer for a look. Above him a motherly sounding voice said
“Are you all right dear? That was a terrible fall you just had there…”
Flatly Binx Replied
“Oh, perfectly I’m fine, sprawled on the ground is my favorite place to be… “
He pushed himself into a kneeling position and rubbed his head with his hand as he continued “-If I ever get my paws on those two stripey bastards I’m going to- “
He stopped. He was kneeling…cat legs weren’t built to kneel, and his head was…the wrong shape. Eyes snapping open Binx looked down at his hands…his very human shaped hands. they weren’t exactly his hands though as they were still covered in the same black fur and claws as before. Heart pounding, he scrambled backwards from the sight nearly bowling over the owner of said motherly voice.
“Oof! Careful their kitten, don’t wiggle about so much.”
Binx glanced up, the voice was coming from a striped, spotted, and furred older woman! She was part cat and part human, with triangular ears and a small feline nose but also hands and standing on two legs. She was clothed in what looked like a large knitted puffy coat and seemed to radiate concern.
Shaking Binx made his way to his feet, standing on his hind legs for the first time in centuries, yet he could still feel his ears pin themselves back and his tail fluff out as he overwhelmed blurted out
“What- who what witchcraft is- “
He could feel eyes on him and was finally able to get a good look at the surrounding scenery.
He was in a junkyard. Surrounded by an entire host of humanoid cat beings. And he was one of them.
Many pairs of sparkling eyes were focused in on him and he felt pinned like a mouse. He couldn’t stop himself from letting out an involuntary hiss.
For a moment all was still in the Junkyard.
Eventually a very fluffy silver-grey Cat Stepped forward, he approached slowly with a relaxed tail and a calming slow blink to communicate to the rattled Binx that he meant no harm and spoke
“you’re definitely not an ordinary cat, are you?”