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( jiji's first few days at saltburnt have been exciting, overwhelming, overstimulating, and a million bajillion other adjectives that the cat can't possibly name. it's a house — a real home, even! with lots of food and lots of people! and jiji even has a bedroom of his own, something he hasn't had for a long, long time.

he prefers to traverse the halls for now in his feline form — it's comfier, he guesses, and lets him sneak into places he wouldn't otherwise dare to go. the kitchen. the library. after a long, exhausting morning of exploring, it feels like a good time for a nap, his paws weary from his adventuring, and he thinks he knows which way leads back to his room, but — sniffing the air? he can't quite catch his own scent. huh. he's heard about the house's layout changing all the time, but this is ... not ideal.

instead, he catches something sweet in the air that his paws start to follow without thinking, stronger the further he goes down the corridor, but as he gets closer, it shifts. it's deep and it's rich but he can still catch that hint of — something beneath it that makes his little legs move even faster, utterly drawn to it. there's a door left just barely ajar and jiji's quick to dart inside, only to find ... a bedroom that's not very dissimilar to his own.

huh. weird. the sun's filtering through the curtained windows absolutely perfectly though, and jiji's never been able to resist the draw of a warm sunspot. so, he jumps up onto the bed and curls up right in the center, paws tucked in, tail curled around himself as he drifts off to sleep. )

[Skye wanders back to his room from breakfast slowly. He's still kind of drowsy, frankly, and even without the hangover something about this house is disorienting.

The way things randomly move around sometimes probably doesn't help. He thought his dad's mansion was big and strange, but this place really takes the cake. At least his dad isn't around to breathe down his neck about his prefered interests. Small blessings or whatever.

He eventually finds his way back to his room...which he apparently left open this morning. Oops. He should probably pay more attention, but without his violin he doesn't feel particularly protective of anything.

As for his violin...he needs to get the library thing figured out. And explore more, too. Maybe he should make a to do list. With a sigh he slips out of the oversized cardigan he put on this morning and tosses it on the bed next to the cat. There was a nip in the air this morning but now......

Wait. Cat?

He does a double take. What the hell? Do the Balfours have pets?]

I didn't know anyone here had a cat.

[not that he's been around long enough to know much, but still. Wouldn't someone have mentioned it?]

( who's to say how long he's been sleeping? minutes? hours? days? jiji flinches awake as the cardigan ends up landing beside him, eyes blinking slowly as he tries to remember where the heck he is.

oh, right. the mansion. his bed.

... no, not his bed, but good enough. maybe possibly better? because that scent that drew him here is even stronger now, and. oh. there's a boy who's talking to himself. whoops.

the cat yawns and pushes himself to his paws, showing off a biiiiig stretch as he pads across the duvet towards the boy. it would be easy to simply leap off of the bed and dart right back out the door, but why would he do that when there's someone here whose sweet smell almost tickles his nose as he sniffs the air? he's curious, so he gets closer, sitting down at the edge of the mattress with his tail curled around his paws and looking up expectantly because — aren't you gonna pet him? )

[Skye watches as the cat stretches and sniffs at the air. And then pads closer a d sits, staring at him expectantly in the way that cats do.

The problem is it can be hard to know what exactly a cat is expecting. Food? Petting? Cat nip? He doesn't have a lot of cat experience, really, aside from feeding the occasional stray. He does know not all cats like to be approached but this one approached him first, so maybe it's fine. He holds his hand out experimentally to see if he's interested in being touched.]

Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I wasn't expecting...a cat.

( ohhh, this boy is a real cutie. and he's polite, apologizing to jiji and looking so very sincere about it as he tentatively holds out his hand. it makes his tail curl at the end, swaying happily from side to side.

the cat doesn't hesitate to bump skye's open palm with his wet nose before fully pushing his head into his hand for pets as if to say, it's okay, you're forgiven.

jiji finds himself purring before he knows it, eyes closed contentedly. keep it up and skye may just find a cat sleeping in his bed more often! )

[Well, it seems the cat isn't offended by his presence, so that's something. Skye takes a seat on the edge of the bed next to the cat as he starts to purr.]

I wonder who you belong to. [Skye muses to himself as he gently scratches the kitty's ears.] I guess I could ask around.

( the cat is the picture of contentedness, eyes closed, absolutely purring up a storm. this boy is sweet and soft-spoken and — honestly? his energy is calming.

jiji's never really been good at respecting personal space, especially not in this form. it's easier to seek affection that he so desperately craves like this, maybe. so, forgive him for deciding to lay down pressed against skye's leg, eyes closed, chin stretched up so it can rest against his thigh.

and if skye stops petting him, jiji may or may not open one eye to look up at him expectantly until he resumes — at least until he drifts back off to sleep. )

[It is a truth universally acknowledged that if a cat falls asleep on you, you simply do not move. So Skye stays where he is, content to pet the cat for awhile. It won't hurt to wait a little before getting to work on that to do list.

While the cat naps, Skye decides to scroll through the network to see if anyone is missing a cat or maybe someone mentioning a cat that they may not have realized has wandered off this morning.]

( maybe it's the slow, repetitive movement of skye's hand against jiji's fur that lulls the cat into a deep, deep sleep, or — maybe it's the magic that jiji can sense (smell), even if he doesn't quite realize that that's what it is yet.

he has a tendency to dream a lot when he sleeps. sometimes it's trivial cat things. chasing after a chipmunk in the woods, whiskers and little paws twitching like they do right now. other times, it's a flood of memories that span, well — lifetimes. he's running down the sidewalk of his village, a bundle of herbs held tightly in his mouth as he bobs and weaves around people's legs, hurrying as fast as his little paws will take him to cross the road and then a woman screams at him as he passes by her and he's so startled by that and the honking of the horn that's about to collide with him —

his whole body jolts in his sleep and he doesn't even realize that he's shifted into his human form, head still on skye's thigh, dark bangs hanging in his eyes and cat ears twitching as his brows furrow deeply and his hands curl up protectively under his chin. )

[Skye chews at his lower lip, humming softly to himself as he looks through the network. He's scrolled back a few weeks now and no one has mentioned a cat of any kind.

He sighs, wondering if he should make another post asking about it when he feels a light tingle in the air. Magic? It feels a little like magic. There's magic everywhere here, though...

And then, the cat seems to twitch and suddenly there's an entire person sleeping on his bed. With his head in his lap. Skye cries out, so startled that he falls off the edge of the bed, sending his phone tumbling to the floor.]

What the fuck?

[Skye isn't really prone to cursing, he always tries to make some effort to be polite. But in this moment he's too surprised to censor himself.]

( jiji's pillow decides to vacate the bed in favor of tumbling to the floor with a yell, jolting the cat awake with a confused sound of his own. he clambers further onto the bed, ears sticking straight up and hair disheveled, black tail puffed out to the maximum as it lashes back and forth behind him.

what the fuck indeed. his heart's racing in his chest, eyes wide as he looks down at the boy on the floor, panting, trying to comprehend how they got here when they were cuddling so nicely. he holds up his hands to show that he means no harm and —

wait. where'd jiji's paws go? oops. no wonder he looks so freaked out down there. (and very cute, all wide-eyed, full, soft-looking lips parted in surprise and confusion.)

— anyway! )

... Hi! ( he tries to smile warmly, but it falters quickly. ) Sorry. I, um. Had a bad dream.

What?

[The word is out of Skye's mouth before he even processes what the guy (cat??) is saying. He's still trying to make sense of what just happened. The cat is a boy? But also still kind of a cat judging by the ears and tail.

Skye blinks a few times, staring at those ears and the tail which is still kind of puffed up, proof that he is just as startled as Skye is.

Magic. This is magic. But maybe not the house's magic because the catboy on his bed seemed more surprised about Skye's reaction than by his own transformation.]

A magic cat?

Edited (Typos) 2026-04-01 17:19 (UTC)

I'm not a magic cat! I'm just — a cat!

( which probably isn't very convincing, coming from someone that's mostly person-shaped, fingers grabbing hold of his own tail so he can try, in vain, to smooth down his fur — because it's, like, so embarrassing. )

I like magic, though! You kinda smell like magic. ( which jiji guesses is how he ended up here, in retrospect. maybe it's not any kind of magic the cat has ever smelled before, but it kinda makes sense.

except for the fact that he just told the very cute boy whose bed he crashed that he smells. not wanting to offend, he stumbles over his words, hastily blurting out: ) But I — I like how you smell! You smell so good!

But--

[Skye starts to argue, but he just transformed! That was magic! But then the boy? Cat? Catboy? is talking about how he smells and Skye looks down at himself perplexed, and then back up at his new acquaintance.]

Magic has a smell?

[He's never thought about it before. It's never occurred to him that people might be able to detect his magic in that way. He's not sure how he feels about it, though to be fair, he's not sure how he feels about his magic in general.

And then the boy is trying to reassure him that he doesn't smell bad which is nice, but now he can't help but be curious.]

What does it smell like?

It depends, ( wooji explains with a nod, visibly relaxing since it doesn't seem like this boy is gonna yell at him again or chase him out of his room or something. ) Magic always smells kinda different depending on the person.

( it's kind of silly that jiji's sitting on this stranger's bed while he sits on the floor, so with a small smile, he gets up and proceeds to flop down crosslegged on the floor beside skye, just about as comfy here, to be honest. ) And the kind of magic.

( the cat is probably pushing his luck a little, but hey, skye asked — so jiji invades his space again, leans in close to give the side of his neck a big ol' sniff, tip of his nose ghosting against his skin, ears probably tickling against his jaw. ) You mostly smell nice like a warm pile of laundry! But your magic's kinda ... different? It's, like — subtle! I have to reeaaally concentrate to pick it up. ( he scrunches his nose, trying to describe it. ) It's warm and rich and kinda smokey but still sweet, like I wanna curl up inside.

[Skye immediately feels kind of guilty when the cat moves from the bed to the floor. He should have moved back to the bed, or at least stood up again, but he had been too distracted. And now of course, it's too late because if he moves it might seem like he's trying to keep the cat away from him. Which he isn't, really. Even if this is all pretty weird.

But then the cat is answering his question and sniffing at his neck. The latter of which makes Skye stiffen for a moment before he realizes he did kind of ask for it.]

Right. Okay. I never knew that. It doesn't sound bad, though.

[Which the cat had already said, but it's nice to have to extra reassurance, since he's not sure what would actually smell good to a cat.]

What's your name?

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