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blorbologist · 1 year

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Cat’s Cradle - Chapter 13

Ch 1 … Ch 12

It occurs to Percy, with great delay, that he’s in a heap of trouble.

This may or may not be in regards to the cat currently wedged behind the toilet.

Curio has been in Vex’s bathroom for a grand total of twenty-seven minutes. The only reason she has not spent all that time in her current hiding spot is because it took her a solid ten to find the courage to leave the cat carrier and bolt for cover.

Percy isn’t sure he has much of a heart to work with, but whatever is in his chest is beating painfully for the poor thing. Her pupils are blown wide behind her wincing eyes, thankfully drugged out of her little mind. Thank gods for that - Percy had caught one look at the stitches and nearly swallowed his tongue.

It’s one thing for the vet to tell you they’re amputating a leg, another to see the result. Something striking, about how easily such a huge part of her anatomy could just be… gone.

There’s more to it, of course: Curio’s middle is also shaved, stitched here with a neat incision that Percy was told would dissolve on its own. She got spayed while she was under anesthetic, which - good, it will hopefully make it easier to find a home for her, too.

She’s also, as it turns out, on several medications for the next ten days.

Meds Percy has to administer, at least for now, because Vex is working ten-hour days (good gods, woman).

(She’s so run down it makes him want to throttle every occupant of every chair she has to deal with, though he knows it would do her no good. Vex’ahlia is competent, and brilliant at her jobs, and she has no need for a knight in sour armor like himself. He knows something, little somethings, of how her father would throw money at problems to solve them, and Percy is loath to be in any way like that man.)

(But she’s tired. So tired, the bags gathering dust under her eyes. They were lighter, this morning. Like she set them beside his glasses to sleep.)

(That’s the other sort of trouble, consumed by every other beat of his heart, stuttering between sympathy and self-pity. It’s why he’s very determined to focus all his attention on the cat and the kittens and maybe some code later, because these are problems he can solve. And it’s not a problem, anyways, so it’s not like it needs solving.)

There’s a cramp in his leg. Percy shifts, slightly, and Curio’s eyes lock on the movement, ears swiveling.

Thirty-three minutes, now.

“Come here, darling,” Percy murmurs, nudging the plate of wet catfood a little closer. It stinks up the space horribly. Maybe he’ll buy her some fancier stuff. Or some tuna. He knows she enjoys tuna.

Curio does not come here. She does not do much at all, hardly seeming to dare breathe.

This is going to be a long day.

“I’m sorry!”

Curio wails something that sounds, to a disconcerting degree, like WHY?!

He’s very thankful he bit the bullet and decided to do this before the painkillers wore off.

Even burritoed, drugged and down one limb, Curio is writhing viciously - he can see where her kittens get it from. The towel bucks and distends with her one-legged kicks and attempts to get her paws free, her dark face pulled back as she tries to free herself of this cruel embrace. If she were not so horrified, the alien grimace would be very funny.

She howls again.

“This will be so much more pleasant” - Wail - “for both of us” - Wail - “if you’d just” - Wail - “stop wiggling!”

Vex’s neighbors must think him a torturer.

It takes a little shifting to get her head back, and get the catfood-covered (ugh ugh ugh) pill shoved in the back of her throat. He runs his thumb at her throat until she swallows.

A long-suffering sigh. The ordeal is over. Curio gets a quick once-over, to be sure she’s unharmed by the whole ordeal. He’s fairly sure it was all dramatics, but… he can never be completely sure, especially with her stitches.

Curio stares up at him with eyes more black than blue, whiskers pulled taut.

Percy can say with great confidence that he’s been looked at with seething hatred, before.

From Vax’ildan, once. Cassandra, when she’d thought he had left her to die. Delilah, when she realized she and her husband would be separated and it was because of him. Ripley, literally every time he’d had the misfortune of seeing her.

He knows the look.

This is… different.

There’s nothing quite like the pure, all-consuming terror of something that does not understand why. Why is this happening, what’s happened, when will it stop. Not directed at a person per say, but the circumstances, and wanting to do anything to seize a moment of control.

He can relate to that.

Percy lets her slip loose as soon as he’s certain she’s swallowed the pill. “I’m sorry,” he repeats, quietly, when Curio hurls herself behind the toilet so quickly the plunger topples.

He’s forgiven quickly enough when he creeps back in with a can of tuna.

Thank goodness.

Percy is very grateful that one of the three small windows of the apartment overlooks the parking: it means he can keep an eye out for Vex’s return while he speaks to Keyleth.

“I’m glad that’s sorted, at least,” he admits, scratching absentmindedly behind Ratchet’s ears before handling her little paws.

He had read somewhere that it was good to desensitize kittens to all sorts of handling and was doing his best to get ahead of that curve. From common vet prodding to future nail trims, and some of the less gentle petting children are prone to. Being mostly-blind fuzzy potatoes more than cats, they took to this regime with little grace but little protest either.

There’s a sneaking suspicion he’s shared with Vex that Screwdriver is not the only cerebellar hypoplasia kitten. Though not nearly as noticeable, Sprocket and Spanner both wobble more than their siblings. Convenient, that it’s all the Ss.

“Yeah,” Keyleth says, backlit by bright sunshine that left this corner of the world hours ago. “I mean - obviously it’s… a lot, and will be, but at least we can stay.”

Vax’ildan and Keyleth had decided, together, to remain in Zephrah another month or so at least while Vilya gets settled. Percy is relieved that his best friend can dedicate her time to supporting her mother and navigating their relationship after over a decade on hold.

He was just… somewhat banking on Vax being back, soon. Good on him for being by Keyleth’s side through all this, and completely in character for the man.

It just means Vax can’t take over the half-dozen cats in Percy’s stead.

It just means Percy would remain in his friends’ room, for the time being. Down the hall from Vex.

It just means… he is not sure how good a grasp he will have on his sanity after practically being roommates with the woman he is in love with. A woman who, he must underline thrice in his mind, he has kissed. And snuggled with him last night.

Well. Not like he was a shining example of sanity to begin with, but he’d really hoped to cling to more of it.

“Percy?”

“Yes.” He startles. “Sorry, Keyleth. It has been a long few days.”

She shrugs beyond the screen, used to his wandering mind. “You’re telling me.”

“Keyleth - are you alright?” Percy loves the woman dearly, like a sister, but she’s prone to giving her every waking moment to a stressor until she’s left shaking and too anxious to sleep.

“Actually? Pretty good, all things considered.” Her giggle is earnest. “Honestly wouldn’t be without Vax, but he’s been dragging me out for fresh air, or getting me to sit and eat something. He’s been great.”

Keyleth’s hazel eyes flit up to the camera.

Here we go again.

“Sooo… how’s Vex?”

He glances out the window (this is exactly why he’d decided to guard this post). No Vex.

“She’s well - stressed, but well - though you could ask her as much yourself.”

“How about… you and Vex?”

“That’s none of your business, Keyleth,” he says, clipped.

“I mean,” Keyleth looks like the cat who got the cream. “That totally sounds like it’s going well, too -”

“She crawled into bed with me!” he hisses, like Sprocket might snitch on him. The grey tabby just demonstrates a good crawl of her own - he repositions her on his lap before she treads air.

“Congrats-”

“No, not congrats.” Percy interrupts her, watching for Vex’s Jeep with somewhat manic energy. Diverting down to the kitten who is very insistent on taking a tumble - just hold still. “We agreed it’s not a good time! With her work schedule - and the kittens! - and without Vax around she’s -”

Keyleth tilts her head in thought, like a bird. “Percy, come on, just - oh!” Her pleasant smile becomes something absolutely stunning, even made dark by the stark sunlight behind her - outshining it, even. “Vax! Hey, honey.”

The video feed wobbles as Keyleth cranes her head upward, beaming, as Vax’ildan presses a delighted smack to her cheeks. He then turns his attention to her phone. “Freddy! How’s Simon? Are you keeping my room tidy? Don’t let Trinket on my bed. Are the kittens walking yet?”

Percy takes care to note the order those came in. “Excellent condition, he ate yesterday. Of course, I’m not a Neanderthal. It’s cleaner than you left it. Trinket is a free agent and I have no control over him, take that up with your sister.” He holds up Sprocket, who mewls in complaint. “Not for lack of trying - but not quite.”

It’s nice touching base with Vax, too, when Keyleth hands him the phone (Vax tends to walk around while on call). Nicer, still, to hand him off to Vex when she walks in, Jeep now resting precisely in its spot in the lot. Right next to Percy’s truck, monopolizing half the guest parking.

(The men both very, very studiously pretend Vax didn’t overhear that bit about Vex.)

#it's been a while since I've posted more Cat's Cradle. i sorry ;; v busy with uni #this is the longest chapter yet? i think? hopefully that makes up for it #cat's cradle au #perc'ahlia #percahlia #critical role fanfiction #cr fanfic #tlovm fanfic #critical role #the legend of vox machina #tlovm #percival de rolo #vex'ahlia #keyleth #critical role au

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