The Cats of the Solar System

Chapter 28

A knock on the door jolted Jupiter out of his thoughts. The gas planet kitten looked up from his guitar and growled, "Mars, Mercury, I told you to stay away from me!" There was a small cough and then a reply, "Relax ya goofball, it's me not those morons."

"Oh, uh, sorry Neptune. Um, you can come in, just beware of the mess," Jupiter rumbled, going back to adjusting the strings on his guitar. In the meantime, the garage door opened up and Neptune walked in. Carefully hopping over a guitar case and a trumpet, the ice giant planet kitten murmured, "You weren't kidding, ya turned the entire garage into your personal musical room." Scoffing, he continued, "Why do we even have a garage? We don't have a blasted car."

"Probably cuz most houses are built with a garage," Jupiter muttered. Still adjusting the strings on his newest acoustic guitar, his ears laid flat against his head as he rasped, "Look, I don't know why you're here but I like to be left alone. Follow everyone else's example."

"Wow, this is probably our first proper interaction man. Besides, I got a gift for you," Neptune remarked. A moment later, some pieces of paper were held out in Jupiter's line of vision. Sighing heavily, the gas planet kitten set aside his guitar and took the papers. As he skimmed through them, Neptune cleared his throat and explained, "I thought of this while I was babysitting Pluto upstairs. I don't know, you're the one who's more musically inclined, figured you'd have better use for it-"

"You wrote this?" Jupiter suddenly questioned, startling Neptune. Biting his lip, the ice giant planet kitten mumbled, "Um, yeah? It's just something I came up with, no big deal. It's literally just words." Holding up one of the sheets of paper, the gas planet kitten snorted and meowed, "Dude, you literally wrote a whole song, chords and everything! I think you might be musically inclined too man."

"Oh please," Neptune protested, rolling his eyes. Standing up, Jupiter went on, "Seriously man, I know you are. You're always listening to music on your headphones, you're always humming to yourself, heck you wrote a song about our little brother! I've even seen you tap out a little beat on the table sometimes." Neptune simply scoffed in response. That's when he saw a pair of drumsticks being held out to him. "Come on man," Jupiter murmured, "Just give it a try."

"Alright," Neptune muttered, taking the drumsticks, "Just this once."

———

"Do I have to wear the cone?" Earth whined. She attempted to scratch behind her ear. However, the task was impossible with the cone in the way. Padding over, Venus gently made her sister stop as she spoke softly, "This is for your own good Earth. You said it yourself, those fleas are driving you crazy." Groaning, Earth whined, "Everything itches!"

"I know but it won't be long," Venus promised. Gently head butting the cone, the terrestrial planet kitten meowed, "Besides, you wanna hear some good news?" When Earth nodded her head solemnly, Venus continued, "I heard that you can take the cone off tomorrow during pictures. But only during pictures."

"Oh thank Celestial, I don't want to be remembered for wearing the cone of shame on school picture day!" Earth cried in relief. Purring in amusement, Venus led her older sister over to the mirror. "Come on darling," she meowed, "What color eyeshadow do you want for tomorrow?"

"Oh no, no eyeshadow. I wouldn't say no to some nail polish," Earth replied. "Dark green?" Venus guessed. Earth nodded her head excitedly. This prompted the two sisters to search the dresser top. However, their search came up empty handed. "Huh, I think we ran out," Venus muttered. Biting her lip, Earth tilted her head to the side and suggested, "Maybe Saturn has some?"

"Worth a shot, let's go check," Venus declared as she and Earth headed out their shared bedroom.

———

Mars was preoccupied at his desk when Mercury arrived. "Dude, are you still doing homework?" Mercury questioned. Not looking up from the paper he had laid out before him, Mars answered, "Nah, I finished my homework at school. Working on something else now."

"Oh, I see. Your little side project," Mercury remarked. Still keeping his eyes on his work, Mars sighed and replied, "Yep, but it's not my little side project. It's my big dream project." Ignoring the scoff from his younger brother, the red furred feline continued staring at the paper. He soon felt Mercury peering over his shoulder. Humming to himself, the smaller terrestrial planet kitten remarked, "Big house."

"Cuz we are a big family and everyone should have their own individual room. Do you wanna share a room with me for the rest of your life?" Mars questioned. Rubbing his forehead with one paw, he continued, "I just wanna build something for the whole family, you know? I want to give them something that matters."

"Then can I make one request and have a spacious room for exercising and sports related things?" Mercury asked. One eyebrow raised in question, Mark spun around and commented, "Since when have you been interested in sport- oh my Celestial!" Nodding his head, Mercury replied, "I know what you're thinking. Why am I sweaty and holding one of the school's track jerseys?"

"What happened to your fur?!" Mars exclaimed. There were clumps of yellowish colored fur clinging to Mercury's body. Inspecting one clump as if just noticing it for the first time, the smaller terrestrial planet kitten murmured, "Huh, I guess I ran faster than I previously thought. My own fur could barely hold on." Getting up from his chair, Mars helped his brother pluck off the clumps as he stammered, "This appears to be like your overcoat of fur or something, it's like your molting dude! How fast did you go?!"

"Well, the old track record was 36.5 seconds," Mercury explained, "My time was 8.8 seconds." Mars' jaw dropped. Snapping himself out of his thoughts, he stuttered, "Alright alright, I'll gladly give you all of that. Anything else?" Thinking for a moment, Mercury mumbled in a hopeful voice, "A closet full of prank equipment?" Letting out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his temples, Mars muttered, "Fine, now go get a shower." Setting the jersey down on his bed, Mercury asked his older brother, "What are you going to do?"

"Gonna ask everyone else what they would like for their rooms," Mars replied as he grabbed a notebook and pencil on his way out the bedroom door.