a series of sbi oneshots

Kitty

Tommy’s paws ached. He had been walking for miles and he could feel the rocks that had gotten stuck between his pads digging into the sensitive flesh. Yet another house tossing him to the side of the road- quite literally. This house was rich with a couple and their young daughter, which was the first red flag. Assumedly they saw Tommy’s red curly fur and thought that a LaPerm would be the perfect way to not only show off their wealth but also keep their daughter occupied. Amazing parents, truly.

Well, two days, five scratches, and a broken smart fridge later and they had dropped him off in the middle of nowhere like he was hot coals. Part of Tommy couldn’t blame them, pompous bitches aside, he wasn’t the easiest to deal with- as a cat or as a humanoid.

It wasn’t so bad, plodding along the now dirt road, the rustling of the wind between the leaves was soothing and he honestly felt the calmest he had in a while. Tommy reckoned he could find some birds to feed on, he had done it before. Maybe he didn’t ever have to shift back and he could instead live as a cat in the wilderness. He had already had half of that down (cats got a lot more sympathy than raggedy inhuman boys) and it couldn’t be too hard to survive in the wild. Feral cat colonies had been doing it for decades, after all.

The longhaired cat pondered this for a while, it was a good distraction from the pain in his paws, until he spotted lights in the distance. What the fuck? Tommy was in fuck all nowhere and it wasn’t enough light for it to be a village, let alone a town. Who on earth decided to live in the middle of the woods, miles from civilization? Probably wronguns.

Eventually a fairly large wooden cabin came into view and Tommy approached it cautiously. It was clearly well taken care of and lived in. Petunias, alliums, sunflowers, every plant he could think of were planted in raised flower beds under windows with beautifully hand carved shutters. A windchime tinkled gently, hanging near a chair on the porch that was covered in plush cushions of all different colours and sizes. It looked homely and Tommy couldn’t help the longing that curled around his heart and squeezed.

He slunk towards the side of the building and peered up at the window ledge, considering. Eh, Tommy could probably make it. Wiggling backward and tensing his muscles, he locked onto his target. And then he leapt. For a second Tommy felt dread as he landed with his back paws slipping off the ledge. The cat scrabbled desperately for purchase and, thankfully, managed to heave himself up.

Through the window he could see that the inside was just as cosy and lived in as the outside. There were knicknacks scattered around, ranging from art projects that were clearly made by a kid to souvenirs from all around the globe- Esempii, Antarctic Empire, Hypixel, you name it. These hinted to the cabin being inhabited by Tommy’s two least favourite things, apart from men, rich people and children. On the other hand he was cold and hurt and the most important thing about the room he noticed was that it was empty.

The only problem was that Tommy had no fucking clue how to get in. That was, until he spotted it, a gap between the roofing and the top of the wall. Bingo! It likely was made in the storm that had hit L’Manberg not even a day before Tommy was thrown out. Thank Prime he dodged that bullet.

Peering around, he spotted the top of one side of the window shutters and realised that they were just below the hole. Baring his fangs in a grin, Tommy jumped and hooked sharp claws over the top of the shutters. He yelped slightly at the pull on his paws and frantically moved his back legs about before he managed to push off the side and launch himself through the gap. Damn, did Tommy ever mention how he was the biggest and poggest cat in all of L’Manberg because he was . Whatever weak money laundering humans lived in this house had no chance, Tommy Innes was on the fucking grind.

Now that he was inside Tommy could smell something… off. The scent smelt both familiar and extremely foreign, like a human and also himself- but not. For some reason it set every instinct Tommy had into fight or flight mode. Although, his body apparently chose the lesser known third option. Freeze. It was as though an invisible weight forced his body flush with the wooden floor; his fur bristled and ears flattened themselves across his scalp. All he could feel was overwhelming fear.