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It was stormy that night in the manor. Stormy and too loud for Catterina to get a proper nap in, along with the fact that a maid was hounding her for most of the afternoon, that dratted human only thought to stop after she retreated to her safe room of sorts. It had a nice bed, and a nice human that paid attention to her most days, but she seemed too distracted today and wasn’t giving her nearly enough attention.
Catterina let out an exasperated mewl, pressing her head against her human’s side in an attempt to get her to pet her. Her human companion relented finally, running her fingers through the cat's fur and earning multiple purrs in response. Catterina however did not appreciate being thoughtlessly picked up as the human started talking to herself and pacing the room. She didn’t try to escape her arms as attention was attention but it was quite clear she wasn’t enjoying herself.
“What am I to do Catterina? I’m sure you would know if you were able to talk“, Lenore bit the nail of her thumb, talking her cat, or herself rather as Catterina was too busy swatting at the hair that was sticking out of the style the maids tried their best to tame it into.
“That man… I couldn’t possibly no, he’s the farthest thing from who I wanted to be wed with,“ Lenore paused her pacing, and started to pout, “Not that any man would truly meet my standards. All of them are tragically uninteresting, facially challenged too I might add. There hasn’t been one I’ve been attracted to“, Catterina let out a soft meow, as if in response to Lenore's words. This only seemed to fuel Lenore’s clear madness even further, if anyone caught her doing this they’d surely think she’d gone crazy, talking to a cat and all.
“Do you perhaps have any male cats that come your way Catterina? I’m sure they treat you with some respect“, Catterina shifted uncomfortably in Lenore's arms, not quite understanding as she was just a cat, but provided Lenore with the comfort she needed.
“You could just swat your suitors away with no repercussions, oh what I’d give to have that sort of ability,“
Catterina gazed up at her with wide eyes, wriggling in her grip once again in a sudden manner that made Lenore laugh to herself.
“Perhaps I have been too cruel, you've never been the biggest fan of being picked u—,“ A sudden crash of thunder rattled the windows, causing Catterina to leap out of Lenore's arms in a flurry of fur. Lenore groaned, looking over her shoulder as Catterina’s claws dug themselves onto her bed as if it were going to fly off. Poor thing, it hated the rain.
Lenore watched as Catterina darted under the bed covers as another bolt hit the ground, it was a horrible storm, the entire manor was on high alert andshe could tell. It was evident by the bustling sound of frantic maids in the hall right outside her door. There was then a sudden knocking at it, and before she could even open it Theo let himself right in, seeming to be in a rush as he was putting on a jacket of sorts as he opened it.
“Lenore, is everything alright in here?“
“Is it not rude to barge right into a soon-to-be-married woman’s room Theo?“, She laughed as he rolled his eyes.
“I apologize but the lightning was close to the manor that time. We’re trying to confirm if there are any fires before me and the other men start securing the area.“
Lenore raised an eyebrow, finally turning to face her brother, “Is it that bad tonight? How tragic, the weather hasn’t been this hazardous in years.“
Another crack from the storm made everyone in the room jump. “Speaking of which I really must get going with father,” He glanced at the cowering Catterina under the covers and then back at Lenore, “I’ll be off then.“
"Theo, where in the devil do you think you’re going? I believe Catterina here deserves a commendation for her bravery," Lenore teased, earning a chuckle and an eye roll from Theo, but he reentered the room regardless. He approached the bed and knelt down, peering under the covers and successfully prying Catterina from under them.
Catterina squirmed in Theo's arms, clearly not pleased with the change in company. She let out a series of disgruntled meows, her tail flicking back and forth in annoyance. Theo chuckled softly, scratching behind her ears in a way that Lenore never seemed to quite get right. The cat's protests gradually softened into content purrs under his touch.
“I don’t think this cat of yours was ever quite fond of me Lenore.“
“Nonsense, she loves you,“ As sweet as the moment was Theo took too quickly putting the cat down when his father yelled for him through the manor. Much to Catterina’s protest as she tried to follow him right out the door for more attention. Theo paused, picked her up, and put her back into Lenore’s arms as to make sure the cat stayed out of the way of any frantic maids, petting her one last time before he departed.
“You’ll get more petting when I return, Catterina, for now, stick with my sister and protect her from the scary rain okay?“
Lenore watched Theo leave, a sense of unease settling in the pit of her stomach as she held onto Catterina tighter. The storm outside seemed to be growing more intense with each passing minute, but it would be fine. It was just a terrible day for her is all, a terrible and downright maddening day.
As the storm raged on outside, Lenore lay in her safe room with Catterina nestled in her arms. The cat had finally calmed down after Theo's departure, purring softly as she nuzzled against Lenore's chest. She couldn’t sleep, not that she would have even if she was properly prepared for bed. She was still wearing her day clothes as the staff were too busy to tend to her. Not that she minded, she liked it most when people didn’t pay attention to her.
Lenore stared up at the ceiling, listening to the howling wind outside and the relentless pounding of rain against the windows. She only snapped out off it with a grunt when Catterina seemed to pick up something in the corner of her eye and stand with her paws dug rather painfully into Lenore’s stomach.
It was a mouse, a mouse sitting just outside the window trying to find coverage from the rain, but it was out of Lenore’s sight. Catterina tensed up, her eyes fixated on the tiny creature. The cat's tail flicked back and forth in anticipation before she dropped down from the bed.
"What is it, Catterina? Are you sensing something as well?" she murmured, following her cat to where she was intently staring at the mouse through the foggy window. Unfortunately however, Lenore hadn’t even noticed the mouse, no she was staring at the stables. There was one lone horse still there and the path leading to the woods was wide open. Lenore's heart skipped a beat as an unwise, horrible thought crossed her mind. The men wouldn’t be back for a while and the maids wouldn’t notice if she slipped away, if she didn’t want to marry the man she could just lay low for a while.
Men were impatient, if she hid out there for long enough they would surely break off the engagement and then she could come right back! There were risks, terrible ones however, the main one being the weather, it was dangerous and could end in her getting killed—
Catterina’s loud meowing snapped her out of it, she pawed impatiently at the window, and Lenore. Lenore’s whimsical and quite idiotic ass took that as a sign from her oh-so-wise cat that she should go for it.
Without a second thought, Lenore made her decision. She quickly took a cloak off its hanger and started to leave the window, Catterina following close behind her as she was going to get nowhere with that window without Lenore’s help. Lenore slipped out of her room, the door creaking softly as she closed it behind her, Catterina being quiet as well but nipping at her heels.
“Ack-! Catterina, get back in the room you can’t come,” she pouted as she tried to quietly usher Catterina back in the room, much to the cat’s loud protest but she quieted down when Lenores petted her some more.
“Quiet now, the maids are bound to check in on me at some point and let you out. I’ll sneak you out with me soon, you just can’t come out during the rain,” she left a kiss on Catterina’s forehead, closing the door, “I’ll be back before you know it.“
There was a human in her safe room, a new one that stayed longer than a maid and whose dress had more ruffles. Catterina just stared from behind the fluffed pillows, opting out of hissing at the human but not quite letting her guard down either as she settled back down. She was out of sight and had planned on keeping it that way.
Cats didn’t know what time was, cats didn’t have the capability to time anything, but even Catterina knew it had been a while. She couldn’t differentiate between if it had been months or years but she knew that her body had enough time to begin to tire and for some of her undercoat had turned grey since the last time she had proper attention. The staff only shooed her away, some stopping to give her a quick pet and some food but that was her routine.
The other two humans in the building that used to give her attention didn’t want anything to do with her. She didn’t know why, she couldn’t possibly understand what Lucille meant when she said, ‘Get away from me, you frenzied pet,’ Catterina only knew she was loud, and didn’t want her there, so she would leave.
Catterina jolted up and hissed when the pillow concealing her was picked up, “I knew you were still in here. I thought the maid had chased you away by now.“
Annabel squinted at it, noting how clean and well taken care of it was, a bit too overweight too. Catterina eyed Annabel warily but settled back down as Annabel didn’t make a move, running wasn’t exactly on her mind as something she wanted to do. She still seemed to subtly move away as Annabel got upon the bed with the feline.
“I suppose it wouldn’t be fair to shoo you away. I’d imagine this was your room far before it was mine,“ Annabel wiped a rouge tear off her face from her earlier breakdown in the bathroom. She was still trying to recover from it, but it was hard to do so when you felt numb. The silence in the room was a bit suffocating as she tried to relax, her hair (now in curlers) sprawled out over the pillows.
She admittedly wanted to touch that cat.
Catterina watched Annabel cautiously, her tail flicking back and forth as she watched the woman struggle to hold herself back. Annabel hesitated for a moment before tentatively reaching out as if trying to sneak her and onto the cat without it trying to bite her. The cat tensed at first but soon relaxed under Annabel's touch, a low purr rumbling in her throat. Much to Annabel’s delight as she quickly sat up to pet it properly.
“Catterina was your name I believe? “