Chapter Text
After the Shadow President Incident, along with Catsby and Murray's return a few weeks afterward, life in Ocean City and the general areas around it were in a peaceful state. Catsby and Murray continued their antique/curse finding adventures, and it seemed that all was fine.
However, is that ever really the case in this state of loathing?
"Headin' to bed, Cat?" Jessica asked, in which there was a curt nod.
"Pretty long day today," Catsby sighed while she grabbed a chair to sit on, "I had to go back to Government Valley to deal with some leftover Shadow dancers, not to mention that on the way back I had this god awful headache."
She frowned, "Well, I think I have some meds somewhere in my drawers that might help." Jessica pulled out some pills and handed it off to Catsby, who took one dry.
"Thanks, Jes. Night!"
"You too," Jessica waved.
As Catsby headed to her room, she shut off her lights, said goodnight to her various pets and companions, before she passed out. The building went dark on another starry night…
*CRASH*
Catsby awoke in the middle of the night, startled from a peaceful, dreamless sleep. There were hushed whispers coming from the main room, voices she didn’t recognize off the top of her head.
She nudged awake Trixie — the doll wasn't necessarily asleep but not actively awake either — who got up and pulled out her knife enthusiastically. The doll climbed up onto her shoulder as Catsby grabbed the magic ice cream scoop from the bottom of her bedside table. She sneaked towards the door, motioned a three-count to the maniac doll and hoped that it understood. When she reached zero, she powered up her most potent cheese spell and burst through the door.
"HEY!-"
In the lobby, right by the radio, stood two figures, one towering over the other. The shorter, she realized, was Rufus, who no longer held his device and was visibly startled. The taller was stoic, although from the way their hands started to fidget and reach for the sword hooked on their belt said otherwise. She wore a white, probably porcelain or metal, square mask that had a missing corner, dried blood coating the sharp edges that remained. Her hair was a medium gray that transitioned into white as it went down her ponytail. Her outfit was oddly western-cowboy-esque, as though they had traveled back — or forward, she guessed — in time.
"Oh- hello Catsby," Rufus said after calming himself down, "Sorry to crash in suddenly, we could only hone in on a radio near a large magic source and it just happened to be your radio. Anyways, this is my sister-"
"Catarina. Catarina Oakley," the masked stranger — Rufus' sister — held out her hand for a handshake, which Catsby took.
"As Rufus already said, my name's Catsby Oaksend."
Catsby could swear that their names were awfully similar, both first names starting with Cat and last names starting with Oak? Suspicious, but she shook away the thought. There's plenty of other Oak last names and Cat first names in the world!
Catarina apparently also ignored the coincidence. She flicked her wrist, lighting a match with something akin to Shadow Magic.
"...what kind of magic's that?" Catsby asked.
She shrugged, "You know. Dark magic. Sucks in all the shadows and condenses it to make light. You a wizard?"
Rufus looked like he's about to say something before he sighed. "Catsby, you have free rooms upstairs, right?"
"Yeah, you can go grab one if you'd like." She smiled. Once Rufus left, Catsby turned to Catarina to answer the question, "And yeah, I'm a cheese wizard. You also do magic?"
"Yeah. Kind of forgot that beanslinging sort of died after the discovery of a way to nullify it. People using cheese instead of beans?" It almost sounded like she's sad. As though mourning something lost.
"...er… yeah. There was one last trace of it left in Gray County, but I kind of had to end that since it was terrorizing some nearby people. Did you practice?”
She nodded, “Used to be a full on beanslinger. Now, a little less than ⅓ beanslinger at this point…”
“What happened?” Catsby asked, not really noticing the guilt in her tone. Catarina sighed, shrugging.
“I… don’t really wanna talk about it. ‘Sides, it’s night, and you should go back to sleep. Sorry about waking you up.”
Catsby accepted the apology and watched the beanslinger head upstairs. She waited a second longer before she grabbed Trixie by the scruff from the candy bowl and went into her bedroom. Catsby tossed the doll into the corner of her bedroom before she fell onto her bed and asleep.