[lone]

Originally Posted by Beau

Bubbles formed a smug smile as Barracuda admired her collar once again. She didn't notice the lust in his eyes, and was still blissfully ignorant of his intentions both towards her and her collar. Her housefolk treasured her collar almost as much as she did and it was their favorite too. They usually only put it on her for shows and when they had company, but sometimes, if she mewed particularly loudly, they'd allow her to wear it on regular old days. She preferred to never take it off, but her housefolk had other ideas when it came to the tinkling little thing. She had a whole armoir dedicated to her many collars, which some found odd and extravagant, but Bubbles wouldn't know how to live without one! Usually, her housefolk removed her collar at night since all cat doors were locked and she couldn't get out. Not that she'd want to! The forest was scary at night. But it was far more comfortable to sleep without one.


Bubbles was growing more nervous by the second. It was getting dark and this Barracuda cat was starting to seem as if maybe he didn't have the best intentions... Bubbles didn't like to judge, though, and forced herself not to show that she was afraid of him. The Siamese couldn't help it though! She was afraid of pretty much everything. Bubbles was far too meek for the outside world and every noise and movement frightened her. Having no way to know of Barracuda's dark thoughts, Bubbles forced herself to think the best of him and gave the tom a bright smile, if a somewhat nervous one. Bubbles was a fairly young cat and probably wouldn't even have started thinking about having kits for another couple of years if she wasn't a show cat. But show cats were only good for two things: Winning awards, and producing expensive offspring with other award-winning cats. She had been conditioned to having kits since she was basically a kit herself.



"That's not very nice..." Bubbles murmured at the tom's description, feeling her nerves swell. His next words did calm the Siamese, but she was still on edge. "Oh!" Bubbles exclaimed, "You're housefolk? You're a house cat?" Bubbles nodded along, "Being a show cat can be tough, but no one's ever tried to sabotage me! I don't think any cat could be that rude." Bubbles was hesitant, but felt bad for the poor tom and therefore answered, "Well, I suppose... As long as you're a show cat, I doubt my housefolks would mind. Show cats are always well bred and polite.... You can stay for the night." With that, Bubbles turned to lead the way strutting along towards her house. Perhaps tonight she'd keep her collar on since it made her look so nice.

Her sudden exclamation made Barracuda start, but he nodded a moment later. "Well, let me know if they ever do. I know how to handle a saboteur... and we wouldn't want someone as pretty as you getting involved in such a rough business, now would we?" Barracuda's silky purr sounded out, flattering as ever, but there was an underhanded struggle in it. She had never been sabotaged? Either her housefolk kept a close eye on her or she wasn't very hard to beat. And a show cat that wasn't hard to beat didn't deserve to be there. Competition was one of the three reasons Barracuda liked competing, the other two being winning and attention. Even a show cat had his limit, but Barracuda's was pretty high. He tolerated lots of attention. "Oh thank you, Bubbles! You've just made my night." In more ways then one, that was true.

Right now the tom was practically scheming... thinking of ways to get the collar, of ways to win Bubbles' affection so that he could break her heart later on (his favorite activity), and ways to find out why she had never been sabotaged. If she was a good show cat, well... Barracuda was confident he could find somebody who was just itching to make that she cat lose. And if she wasn't, well, he would keep her around for a while. The tom could use some pathetic, naive little cheerleader who was willing to stand by his side win or lose and make him feel better. And besides, she was pretty... a pretty cat was one thing that never failed to cheer the tom up. He would need her even more if he ended up competing against Iris at his next cat show.

Despite what the humans might think, it was a cutthroat world for the competing cats - impossible to tell who would win and lose until the last second, and there were saboteurs everywhere. Barracuda never risked it... he would always find someone willing to do the dirty work for him. And he was never blamed, despite the cutthroat name that he sported. Honestly? The tom lived up to his name. Preying on the emotions of she cats, nobody stood in his way, he was a predator - the predator of the cat show world. Almost everyone knew that he was not to be trifled with despite his lies and acts. Almost everyone who had stood up to him before, that was. Anyone else? They would soon learn if they dared to defy him.

Right now Bubbles was doing just what he wanted. Another naive victim, one that would soon be in love with him, one that he would soon be able to manipulate into doing what he wanted. Into doing whatever he wanted. Soon, Bubbles would be nothing but another helpless puppet, putty in the tom's paws... and Barracuda would have won once again. That was, if she wasn't too stupid to fall in love with him.