Leonard was lying in bed unable to sleep. How could he sleep? How could anyone sleep at a time like this! This was the absolute worse situation anyone could be in. There were so many thoughts running through his head, though mostly it was on just how ‘helpless’ he was. He had no control, absolutely none. He asked for it to be ‘taken care of’ but that request was declined. Why? Why the heck did she have to decide it? Didn’t he get a say?!
“It’s not fair!” He suddenly pressed himself up against the bed. He paced in his bedroom and found his head resting against the wall. It was hardly any better to help him sleep then the pillow but at least it was cooler. It didn’t seem to matter what was ‘best’ for all involved. He wanted to cry but- what would that accomplish? He had to convince her! Maybe… Iris could be convinced to.. to fix it.
He felt her words still screaming inside his head. While he had not ‘heard’ her words, seeing them lit on the screen like that… they might as well have been red lettered with angry emotes in bold double underlined and in capital letters. He felt something inside him break- it was an insanity inside him. He couldn’t understand it and neither could he quell it. He wanted to laugh not cry now. “God- What do I do?” He fell back onto his bed in mental anguish. This was the worst thing that could happen. If only it -was- up to him! How dare she claim its all up to her just because she’s the one carrying it- if things were reversed he would do the ‘right’ thing. He would put their own futures before… condemning the both of them.
Well- there was usually one task he could do if he couldn’t sleep but… even the fun in that had been taken away by the situation. He got Iris pregnant and now his entire life was over. Just like that- one senseless act, one moment of enjoyment and now it was all over. “God I swear if you get me out of this I’ll never have sex again. I’ll do anything you want. Just anything. Please make this go away.” Why did she have to call it his ‘daughter’? It was just.. cells. He knew that- it was just… there was time to get rid of it ‘before’ it became anything more right? There were rules about this…
Leonard tried so hard to legitimise his thinking. It was so damn obvious to him what the best course- and moral action of course was to be yet there was one nagging doubt. One very small… flicker of a candle that lit his soul, catching a fire that burned away the dam-wall and quenched by thoughts spilling into his consciousness. He froze… staring up at the blank ceiling and barely breathed. He stared so hard at it that his mind started to play tricks on him. Little dots of light playing inside his head to fill the void of sensory deprivation.
Perhaps he closed his eyes… dreaming of trying to sleep.. or he was really trying to sleep.
Leonard thought of a cat-girl… a little cat girl- so cute. Pointed ears and she seemed to have his nose. That was kinda neat. He was holding her… looking into her eyes that was a mesh of himself and Iris. She would smile at him right? The young human teenager felt more tension as his heart raced. He breathed slowly… his hand went to her neck… one squeeze and it would be over… his life would be back to normal… KILL-
‘Daddy?’ a child’s voice rang in his head.
Leonard cried out in terror. He felt sick suddenly- his stomach wanted to heave its contents but he held himself. He was slick with sweat. A nightmare-
There was a knock on his room. “Leonard?” His mother’s voice called out.
Leonard gasped as his mother came in suddenly. He must had been very noisy.
“Are you alright?” She asked. “It’s three in the morning. Did you have a bad dream? That was one hell of a scream.” She sighed.
Leonard shivered slick in sweat under the covers. “I’m- I’m fine.” He stuttered.
His mother gave him a strange look. “Leonard, I know something is seriously wrong.. you want to talk about it?” She gave him a gentle look. “You’ve never looked like this- whatever it is, I’m sure I can help.”
“.. not with this mom,” He sighed. “Just- I’m okay. Really. I just want to sleep...”
Leonards mother looked sympathetically- as much as one could at being woken up at this time. “Well… alright. Try to sleep...”
Bernie was all set to sleep. At least… he thought he was.
A sudden motion caught his eye and he was suddenly tackled out of bed. He gasped shocked but relaxed at the faint glint of green eyes and tail. It was just his step-sister.
Lucy wiggled her tail and smiled. “Hi big sister,” she said with her big eyes.
Bernie was starting to think Lucy was going to call him that all the time from now on. “...hey. You know it’s bed time right?”
Lucy gave an awkward look. “Well… I want to go out.” She stated matter of factly.
“Huh? At this time?” He glanced at the clock.
“Hear me out!” Lucy explained. “Okay- Mom has gone out to patrol. She does that for an hour and comes back later. It’s a cat thing. She said when I’m older I would understand...” Lucy started to lick her paws.
Bernie yawned. “..Right. So maybe you should wait until you’re older and mom can explain it?” He wasn’t quite sure where this was going.
Lucy leaned in again a bit closer with a conspirational look about her. “She said I ‘could’ if I have another cat-girl with me. Since you’re my big-sister now, you can take me out instead! Please? Let’s do a real night patrol! Just us two. Please please please!” She bounced on the bed begging Bernie. “I promise I won’t fight other cat-girls.”
“… huh?” Bernie blinked. What was she on about. “Lucy, I have honestly no idea what you’re talking about. You can’t go out! You’re too young to be out at night- and you’re not going to get into fights like a cat!” Bernie pulled the covers over his head. “Just go back to your room and get some sleep.”
Lucy huffed a bit. “Fine. I will just have to go out myself. You know what happens when I get a little bit curious. You can sleep, I’ll just sneak out one night all on my own… hopefully I won’t get into a fight with some bigger cat-girl...”
Bernie groaned as he pulled the cover back over to look at her. “We’ll just go once around the block… okay?” He got out of bed.
“Yay! You’re the coolest big sister ever!” Lucy hugged Bernie.
Bernie was still not sure it was a particularly good idea. However he guessed it would be better if he was around. “Just- let’s do it quickly, and we come right back. No crazy stuff.”
“No crazy stuff!” Lucy agreed with a flick of her ears. “You’ll get to show me all the ropes. I can’t wait to learn from you. You can fight all the bigger cat-girls instead big-sis!”
Bernie wondered what he got into. Still it was a small block, and surly if other cat-girls were around… well he was sure he could talk them out of any actual confrontation. It wasn’t as if cat-girls became wild at night right?
Jon quietly brushed her teeth. She quietly wondered how Karyn was getting on… it must be interesting to have someone new in the house. She was glad her own family was mostly the same. Tabby was perhaps the most different but.. she could see Mikey in her. The inquisitive and curious nature seemed a bit stronger perhaps but not really out of line.
She hoped she wasn’t acting too different to their expectations. She quietly inspected her incisors. She had not really looked at the face much. So much seemed to be defined by her body but… a lot could be said of her face. Her ears were as expressive as her eyebrows for one, slightly flattened such that a little bit of irritation was obvious. She didn’t want to be irritated and she certainly didn’t want to show it when she was. Looking for pyjamas in her drawer brought out a very thin garment of light blue gown. The night-wear looked comfortable though. She wondered if she should just sleep naked… she didn’t really want to.
She slipped on the clothes, looking down at her refreshed body. “Just another 364 days to go,” she mused. Maybe she best get a calender. This shouldn’t be -too- bad… right? She could handle this. So what if she had different bathroom arrangements? That’s not exactly how she wanted her year like this to be defined. She would catch up with her homework, study, continue and this year would be over and.. she could laugh about it later on.
She looked curiously in her drawer and to her surprise she did have a calender! What a stroke of luck. “Hm.. I wonder what I was supposed to do next week,” She scratched her hair. The calender seemed pretty basic… looking back at it she found ‘slumber party’ marked in with a heart a couple of months ago. Urgh! Well- that was pretty weird. ‘Jen’ might have had a very slightly different past after all. Looking forward she found a few Crosses that seemed to be a code? Well- it didn’t matter. She guessed she might have had a slumber party with Karyn? Hm… well she could ask her later.
She slipped into bed… “Just another… another 364 days...”
