Here's Your Ash and Dust (Kajetan)

Even the offset of his pale coloring to the dank, dark shades of the forest was not enough to make him visible. He had practically dissolved into a backdrop of decaying shrubbery, positioned at the base of a half-rotting log so as to dapple his fur with shade, and allow his spots to blend with the backdrop of bi-colored wood. The ground of the location he had chosen was mottled with sand, rather than dirt, and the rain had already darkened his fur.

He had been hunting until he had crossed by the unnatural smell. Kajetan had stopped abruptly when the wind shifted, blowing the scent in his direction. It had taken some ten minutes to draw him from his standstill to hide. It was not a coward's way out--it was the instinct of self-preservation that drove the leopard stalk carefully into the alcove he was now in, peering over the felled log to lock eyes on the crumpled form where the smell originated, towards the shape of a of a... a...

Kajetan didn't know what it was. His shoulders rolled and his paws kneaded the earth. It was the color of the log he hid by, a mix of browns. It smelled like that... that place, that place that was so white it hurt his eyes. That place where they had ripped his original body apart, and added the DNA of some eastern feline, what he learned was a tiger. For a moment, Jet thought that it was dead.

His lips peeled away from his teeth, but he did not snarl. He remained hidden. Was the creature a danger? It looked like the canines northwest of Analoya territory, in a way. But he did not recognize the coloring or the build. He waited for Life knows how long, simply observing. Was it dead?

The rain changed from a drizzle to a violent downpour, as though the clouds were tired of holding their burden. It slid off his fur and dripped into his eyes. Kajetan laid his ears back, watching as the puddle around the canine grew and grew. The precise smell of the labs faded with the rain, and this comforted him some. Kajetan eventually began to realize that this little thing would not be able to hurt him, and it was no trap, he thought. The leopard-tiger prowled over the log, rising to his full height. He was hulking, suddenly, muscles bunching as he took a leap from the log to the earth near the strange animal.

He paced a lazy semi-circle. When he neared her face, he reached out a paw and nudged her muzzle up out of the water, his expression disdainful. "Pathetic," Jet sneered, with a felinesque chuff. Without waiting for her response, he shifted abruptly. He scooped her from the ground with human arms, only so that he could dumb her unceremoniously, several yards away, on higher ground. Upon which point he would stalk back a few feet, and return to his feline form. He examined this strange creature with unabashed curiosity. "You are not injured." It was not a question. He smelled no blood. "Why is it you lay there as though you have no hope, dog?"

If she had been ugly, he would not have asked the question. But strange as the little thing was, he found some semblance of beauty in her coloring and purposeful body.

Kajetan did not understand the concept of pity, or mercy. He has never been taught it, and it was a skill (to him, a weakness) that he would loath to learn. Staring at this pathetic creature he felt nothing like that. Merely a spark of curiosity, of interest derived of boredom. Her lack of vigor only curled Kajetan's lip once he set her down, an expression that conveyed all that his words did not; disgust, lack of empathy, the contemplation of eating her for a snack.

"Lies. I didn't give up." The cat chuffed, his tail flicking. Kajetan had never stopped to feel bad for himself, and thus he could not evoke a bit of compassion for this individual. Contempt, on the other hand, came more freely. The feline rolled his shoulder in a half-step, as he paused.

He did not break eye contact as she sat up, water dripping from her fur. "If you're going to eat me, mouser, I'm afraid there won't be much more than bones to gnaw on."

Renewed lust for life? Kajetan responded in a quick snap in the face of her sudden "liveliness". She had said that mere seconds ago, but he thought she was a fool to act with insolence a breath or two later.

There was no pause between his breath and his movement, as he launched himself at her, over four hundred pounds of rage. His hackles rose, and he stopped a hairsbreadth from her face, a trembling foreleg braced to either side of her. His jowls were drawn up, shaking with his snarls.

"Bones are enough for the starving." The cat threatened, before he abated in one fluid movement, stepping a mere few feet away so that he could recline on his haunch, lazily. That was how much he did not care for her. The insolence in which he regarded her presence with, the utter ease with which he relaxed. Kajetan went so far as to raise a paw and clean his toes with a few swipes of his tongue, pausing with his claws unsheathed. "Do you even know where you are, mongrel?"

The only thing keeping him there, now, was her strange scent.

He appreciated the sentiment of the words, if nothing else. But Kajetan could not help it. "Yet you are not a wild thing. Merely a dog." Oh, yes. He knew enough of Nilda to distinguish between the wild and the tame--the wolves from the dogs, or the dogs from the wolves, respectively. Not that he cared. She was not a cat; therefore she would never be much in his eyes, aside from an interesting plaything. He would have to remember her little... what was it? A song? It sounded like something his people would sing on dreary nights.

Kajetan mentally applauded her for her response, even if his face did not twitch to show the line of his thoughts. When he had been released, he had been confused and disorientated and wholly uncertain as to where he was. "Cage" was something that had not occurred to him, until Eden had further explained.

He watched her stand on a fawn's legs. He remained reclined, merely flicking his eyes to keep track of her movements. "The Menagerie." It was spoken with far more distaste and contempt than he had regarded her with, which was saying something. "It is, like you said, a large cage. People watch us for... entertainment purposes. If you go far enough you run into the walls."

Jet stretched, his claws digging furrows in the earth, his back arching. The feline yawned before he erected himself with a sense of ease, trailing lazily after the dog. "There's also no way out... So abandon all hope, ye who enter here." The last bit was dry, a mixture of mockery and a tinge of cruelty. It was a phrase he had picked up from an older Analoya, a house-cat.

While he did not believe in wallowing in self-pity, he also did not believe in false dreams or desires. The sooner she realized that this was the world, now, he figured she would be better for it.

Kajetan's expression did not change much, although he did yawn a second time, his pink tongue curling with all the delicacy of a housecat's. "Quite contrary, dog. I don't care if I'm in the Menagerie or out of it. My happiness is not tied to my "freedom", as hard as that is to believe." His tone was dry. He had nothing left outside of the Menagerie, frankly. Not to say that he hadn't thought of his past mate, his stillborn children, or his old tribe. But... he wasn't obsessed with the idea of escape, like many were. He was happy enough in the Menagerie. He had a purpose, a place to sleep and eat and live, even if he occasionally missed the ways of his old life.

His yellow eyes followed the canine as she began scrounging through the underbrush. His nose wrinkled as she began to eat the insects. Jet was far too proud to lower himself to such standards, but then again, he ought to feel some pity for the brindle creature. She was not born with the elegance of a feline, with their raw strength. Kajetan snorted.

"Kajetan." He paused to examine a fore-paw, before trekking into the underbrush beside the canine. "And if you're done with your little snack, I can escort you to Nilda territory, where you can live with other dogs." Kajetan's tone did not leave room for argument. "That, or I could eat you." The idea still pleased him. He was hungry.

The feline paused, contemplative. But he seemed insolent while doing it, as though he were giving a child his time of day when he had much better things to do.

However, Kajetan was honestly thinking about his answer, and whether or not it was worth telling the dog what he thought about "freedom" and the "cage". He found it exceedingly ironic that a domestic animal had the courage to say such things. What did she know of freedom? She took orders from humans, and as intelligent as they seemed to be, Kajetan had never lowered himself to that extent. What did she know of the world? His tail flicked, and he licked his chops. "What is the world to you, dog?" His eyes narrowed. "Is it far-flung human empires, countries that you would never visit? Beaches, mountains, human machines and human cities and things that seem to stretch for days? Wild forests and deserts and grasslands?"

He laughed for the first time, and there was some real contempt now, not just a feline's superiority. "What was your stretch of the world? Was it a man's leash, a front yard for you to shit and piss in? At the beck and call of some human idiot?" He chuffed again, and shook his head, ears laid back. Kajetan had stalked closer, stiff-legged, hackles bristled. His tone never rose, but it was a bass rumble in his throat, deep as thunder. "No. There is no "world" beyond this cage. In this "cage", dog, I have purpose and territory and a pride. I have food and water and, even if it is not easy, even if some Keeper god may pluck us from the dome at any time... I do not waste my days pining for an escape, to go back to a world where the wilds are dying and my kind live in cages as it is. It is a man's world wherever you go, dog, and it is merely a matter of picking the lesser evils and contenting yourself to what freedom you can steal. But what would you know of that, human-please? Do you even know how to hunt, or will you die during the first snowstorm of the Menagerie?"

The words were accompanied by a brief sneer, but then he looked away from her. When Kajetan walked past, it was at such a proximity that when he began to trek up a small incline, he brushed her haunch with a sharp flick of his tail. He was obviously showing her the way to Nilda territory, but with much disregard. The quicker he be rid of her, the better, strange brindle-creature that she was. He could not help but think his past lover would have liked to paint the dog.

Kajetan had finally pushed her, and if he had been human he would have smiled. Instead he threw back his head, ears forward, tail raised and twitching idly as she continued her voice quiet but intense.

Oh, if nothing else he could respect the show of raw emotion. Some animals were not capable of it. "Tell me cat what do you know about losing the only person you've ever loved, the only person who ever loved you." That deserved his anger, however. Such naivety! Why was it that everyone though ttheir sorrow was unique? That their tragedy was the only one? He had lost everything! Not just his family but his children! The love of his life! His very life! And what had she lost? A master? Kajetan's lips pulled back in a snarl. His ears laid flat again, his muscles went from fluid to tense, and he perhaps would have done something then had she been worth his time. But to Kajetan, the fool had just become scum under his feet, defending a human. They were brilliant animals, but his rule was to never look to them to companionship--them, with their soft, worm-like bodies. Did this dog think she had been his partner? His companion? She was still his forsaken dog, for Sun's sake!

He was brushing off her rage, disinterested, until the dog lunged at him. Kajetan saw the movement from the corner of his eye, and rather than flinching backward he ducked his head and rolled his right shoulder into her gaping jaws. They took hold, ripping holes into his flesh, and the leopard-tiger let loose a genuine snarl, one that shook his core. He unlocked his his right leg, buckling it as he tossed his weight sideways, aiming to roll the right side of his body (and hopefully the dog) into the ground.

Kajetan was waiting for a snap or break, but none came--the dog loosened like a ragdoll, the bite on his shoulder only slackening once his body came completely on top of her. He felt the breath rush from her lungs, and he laughed in his own mind. He did not move from on top of her, merely shifted his weight and dug the bone of his shoulder into her face and jaw, his size a sheer advantage. Pathetic, he thought again and again. He could not shake it. This was pathetic, pitiful, disgustingly weak. He could not even remain angry at a creature that was now sunk eye-deep into the earth. Kajetan hissed, a sound that came out quick and violent through his teeth. Oh, it hurt. He felt her teeth sinking deeper, ever deeper, but he was not about to stand. No. Kajetan aimed to keep her face there, her nose and mouth muffled by the fur of his shoulder, knowing all-to-well that with him pressed so firmly against her, it was unlikely that she could breathe.

"It seems to me that you're life is going to become very dark in the Menagerie, my dear." His tone was soft as velvet. "There is no man to want or love you here, merely animals." For good measure, Kajetan shifted again, using his hind legs to push himself harder into her. Kajetan thought that she was very fragile beneath him--just bones and skin.

But now was not the time or place to kill. He was not needlessly violent, if he could prevent it, and there was no point in wasting Life. No matter how pathetic. He would not eat her dirty carcass, merely let it rot on Analoya land. Frankly, he didn't want to deal with the stink. He did not stand normally--instead, he tucked his shoulder and attempted to roll over her body and dislodge her grip on him. If it worked, Kajetan would stand and shake out his fur.

He had to give her props for her tenacity. His words had little to no effect--the cur merely tried to grip him again, this time between the shoulder blades. He felt the sharp bite of her, but before her jaws closed completely Kajetan wrenched himself away and onto his feet. He snarled some distance away, all teeth and savagery. "Enough, mongrel! I will kill you." Jet did not deliver it as a threat. Rather, it was a statement, remarkable in its apathy. His shoulders had hunched and his legs had stiffened, ears pinned to the base of his skull. All of it bespoke of aggression, of hostility. His shoulder smarted and his pride merely told him to finish what this mutt had started. Simply go for the jugular, kill her. Watch her life bleed out on the forest floor and, perhaps, when her spirit was recycled, she would come back as something with a bit more in the means of wit.

Kajetan did not stalk closer, but kept his distance. He was calming himself to some degree, although his body language said something else. His tail lashed angrily, his eyes narrowed to slits. "You are a fool if there ever was one. My better sense tells me to put an idiot like you out of your misery. A shame, considering prior to this little emotional lapse, you seemed clever enough for a dog." His lip curled in a sneer. "Go to Nilda before I change my mind." He jerked his head in the direction she should go, before the growl into his voice grew into the mangled, choked roar of a tiger. "Go!"