Tama of Tomeowrrow

Egg MacGuffin

The mummy rumbled and growled as Zari, Sara, and I escorted it through the Bureau. Its guttural noises echoed off the walls, making the whole place feel like we were in some ancient tomb. "Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say," Sara responded casually, as if she could understand every word coming from the living corpse.

"Oh, hey, ladies. Is he giving you any trouble?" Ava greeted us with a cheerful smile, her gaze shifting downwards as she noticed me. "And hello to you, Tama." She bent down to give me a quick pet, her fingers scratching behind my ears in that perfect spot that made my tail flick happily.

"Slam dunk. Honestly, with Neron gone, catching fugitives has never been easier. I thought it was gonna take all week," Sara replied, tossing a confident smile back at Ava.

"That's great! It means you won't have to miss book club tonight." Ava's smile was bright and full of excitement.

"That's right... Book club," Sara echoed nervously, glancing back at Zari and me with a look of pure distress. I licked my paw to hide a grin, feigning innocence with my best wide-eyed cat expression.

"Whoa, smells like somebody hasn't showered since birds were letters. That's a hieroglyphics joke..." Nate remarked as he entered, chuckling awkwardly as he eyed the mummy. "Ha, nice," Zari added with an equally awkward laugh.

The mummy growled and snapped its decayed jaws towards Nate, its teeth clacking together ominously. I quickly used my shadow to pull the mummy back before it could chomp Nate's head off.

"Whoa, buddy, don't talk with your mouth full, am I right?" Zari added with another strained chuckle. Nate joined her, both of them laughing in a way that felt completely unnatural and out of place.

I leaned closer to Sara and Ava. "Uuuuh..." I meowed softly, ears tilted in confusion.

"Yeah, me too, buddy. Me too," Sara whispered back, her eyes narrowed at the bizarre interaction.

"Um, what the hell was that?" Ava asked, eyebrows furrowed as she watched Nate and Zari part ways, seemingly forgetting we even existed.

"Mhm, on it," Sara nodded, scooping me up in her arms as we moved to catch up with Zari. "Z... how's it going?"

"It's going super awesome," Zari replied, her voice overly enthusiastic.

"Uh-huh... And how are you and Nate?" Sara continued, studying her friend's reaction closely.

Just then, we heard the unmistakable groans of the mummy echoing from behind us. Nate, with impeccable timing, raised a thumbs-up as he herded the struggling mummy back to its cell.

"Ah, Nate Dawg? It's, uh, going totally great... in a super platonic way," Zari added, fidgeting.

"Then why are you guys being so weird?" Sara crossed her arms, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

Zari sighed deeply, finally admitting, "It was that awkward, huh?"

"Even the mummy thought it was awkward," I quipped, flicking my tail.

"Look, I mean, you like him, right?" Sara pressed.

"Yeah, I think so, but... I don't know what the next step would be," Zari murmured, dropping her gaze to the floor.

"Oh, that's easy. You just jump his bones." Sara's nonchalance made Zari's jaw drop.

"What if I do that and it screws up our friendship?" Zari fretted.

"Look, Z, sometimes for the good of the relationship, you have to put yourself outside of your comfort zone. For instance, I became an assassin for Nyssa—"