Fur and Feathers ((open post, slow tagging))

[sharpcompassion]

Fǫnn has been checking up on Loki's cottage while he is away periodically, tidying up here and there, making sure the weeds and vines aren't overtaking it too much. There is no need or desire for a mowed lawn or a manicured flower bed; berry brambles are allowed to climb the wooden fences beside the meadow and mice and snakes are welcome in the woodpile, but the children's play equipment is kept cobweb-free, and anything living in the chimney gets promptly, if gently, evicted.

So it's a surprise to her when she enters one afternoon to check that the electricity and water are running properly, and finds the sofa a mess, cushions askew, stuffing on the floor, with tiny sounds coming from within the framework. An investigation turns up a little of kittens, eyes-open but not quite weaned, in an array of colors, each with a pair of bitty feathered wings.

She's seen the winged cats around this place before, but they seem to keep to themselves. She never imagined they'd sneak inside for any purpose. Unwilling to just snatch the babies away, she sets out a little food and water and waits. No sign of a mother appears before she leaves for the evening, and the next day when she returns to check, the food and drink are untouched.

A lot of things can happen to a small animal in the Nexus, this close to the Wilds. Maybe the mother's uncharacteristic behavior in hiding the babies indoors is a sign she was in danger? Or maybe winged cats lay eggs and they just never realized? She doubts that, but stranger things have happened.

She carefully removes the outer layer from the sofa and extracts all the kittens, checking them for injuries or illness. The rest of the day, and the next, are taken up with treating eye infections and fleas, feeding them with eyedroppers and preening their wings. Not until they're reasonably healthy does she wander to the edge of the plaza with a box of mewing and purring and flapping wings. On the edge of the box, she puts a sign that reads: CATWINGS: UNFLEDGED, NEED RESPONSIBLE HOMES.

She has no intention of charging anyoneto adopt, of course, but she's not eager to give them away to someone untrustworthy, either.

Comments

[the_rebel_son]

The mewing of kittens drew her from across the plaza. It was instinct more than thought pulling the huge winged lioness into the plaza. She left scorched footprints and a spark of fire danced on the end of her tail. Lucifer was a bit feral at the moment after running in the wilds and there was a distinct nesting instinct brought on by the sounds coming from the box. She didn't ask but snatched the whole box of kittens.

Carrying it gentle, she plods over to the shade, flopping down on the ground but the box she sets down gently. With a big paw she tips it to spill out the kittens. Immediately, she starts grooming them and, if necessary, allowing them to nurse. This wasn't the angel's usual behavior but things were not usual in her life at the moment either.

[sharpcompassion]

Fonn has been absorbed in her work, but it's impossible to miss a fiery, winged lioness approaching. She's not sure what to do! She should protect the kittens, but she shouldn't just assume a strange creature means them ill, and anyway the anti-violence field ought to protect them, right? Maybe if she talks to the lion, it--

"Hey!" She squawks, startled by the unexpected snatch-and-grab move. "Wait, no! Stop, you can't just..."

Her outrage stutters and dies when she realizes this is a mothering instinct in action, rather than a theft or a hunt. Well, this can't be their actual biological mother. Fonn has seen the adult winged cats and they're...not burning lions. Still, the similarity, on a much smaller scale, is undeniable.

Leaving her bag and her crochet where she was sitting, she walks toward the makeshift nest, hands out so the lion can see she's not threatening any of them. "I mean...they do need some mothering, but I actually wanted to keep the little white one," she protests quietly. "She keeps falling asleep in my apron pocket."

She really hopes the lioness can carry on a conversation, because negotiating is going to be tricky here. Meanwhile, it's clear that she's done as much as she could for them. They're all flea-free, hydrated and clean. One of the blue ones has a mild respiratory infection that's been treated but hasn't cleared up yet, and while they may smell of dish-soap rather than the nesting-babies smell they ought to have to an animal's nose, they seem content enough.

[the_rebel_son]

Lucifer instinctively covers the kittens with her wings, ears dropping back at the approaching woman. It's not particularly aggressive but more of a stubborn child that is unwilling to share.

There's a bit of a staredown while Fonn speaks. The angel can't help it with her instincts burning so hotly. Slowly she retracts her wings to tuck them against her body comfortably.

"Sit with us." the words are clear in the rumbling purr from the lioness. It's not quite speech or telepathy, more an ability to allow others to understand the language of animals. Lucifer then returns to systematically checking the kittens, grooming and encouraging them, gently, to nestle with her.

[sharpcompassion]

A lioness is a dangerous animal, even to an Asgardian, and Fonn is aware she's being incautious, but she took responsibility for the kittens in the first place, and she can't just abandon them now. She rests her hands on her hips, straightening her spine and puffing out her chest a little, facing the staredown without a flinching, but it's possible her pounding heartbeat is audible to the lion. She can certainly hear it in her own ears.

It's a huge relief when the lion speaks. They can at least talk about this, then! Lucifer may find it's easier to allow Fonn this ability to speak with animals than it would be with most people. Asgardians have the benefit of the Allspeak, which sometimes encompasses at least the auditory parts of animal languages, if not the body-language and scents they rely on.

"...all right," she says, and relaxes, walking a few steps closer and sitting on the ground cross-legged near the sheltering wings. "I don't know what happened to their mother. I looked."

[the_rebel_son]

She shifts her wings to give the young woman space. Lucifer realizes that there was an instinct, something in their sound that told her they were without a mother. She couldn't place what but looking back could recognize she felt it.

"I know." She purrs, watching the kittens carefully as they do what kittens do. The longer she sits the more the animal side subsides a little and the more human intellect reasserts itself. "I could hear that they had lost their mother."

[sharpcompassion]

They're a bit confused, the kittens. They've been through a lot of changes in the past few days, and being tipped into the warm arms of a Giant Mom is one of the nicer ones, but it's still perplexing. None have settled in to nurse, but many are snuggling up against the furry flanks, and a couple of the more adventurous ones are batting at feathers.

"They were in Prince Loki's sofa," she explains, tilting her head to watch little paws and tails. "I'm not sure why their mother put them there. There were so many, it may even have been more than one mother, though I think they're all the same age."

[the_rebel_son]

She flicks her wing feathers, using the control she has over each individual feather, to tease the adventurous kittens. Lucifer nuzzles the ones against her flanks with her own muzzle.

"Loki?" The name gives her pause, a flick of ears and her eyes come up from the kittens for a second. "There are many trees being felled in the wilds for various purposes. If they nest in trees, the nesting sites may not be safe."

It was only one possibility. Either way, she's happy to care for them.

[sharpcompassion]

Fonn nods. "Yes, do you know him?" She thinks Loki would have mentioned a fiery winged lion, but then again maybe not. Maybe there are a lot of them in the Nexus, too, the way there are cats and angels...and Lokis.

"I was wondering if perhaps they were drawn to magic. I know he wards his place heavily, for the sake of the children. Maybe their mother thought they'd be safest there."

She reaches out a hand toward the nearest kitten, which is in more of a mood to play than be petted, so it rolls over and bats at her fingers. She bites her lip to keep from laughing. "A few people adopted some of them already. I was going to try to manage the rest as best I could. Do you really want to raise them?"

[the_rebel_son]

"Yes, I would call him a friend." Lucifer tells her though the lioness is paying attention to the kittens more than the woman.

"...and someone to care for them if the mothers were unable to return." She adds with a smile in the sound of her purr.

She nuzzles them and briefly wonders what Balthazar will think of her carrying a bunch of kittens home to mother. "I have raised my own children."

Beneath it all was her biological clock, which an angel shouldn't have, but maybe this would dampen that drive a little.