Minako tapped the wasp-woman on her hard shoulder with a claw, getting a solid 'tink-tink' As the woman turned around, she put on her best smile, with extra emphasis on the wide, sparkly eyes. Artemis thought it couldn't hurt, so he mimicked her.
The Kitten of Love gushed. "You guys are giving out free eats to people like me?' she squealed. She grinned at the insect-woman's almost robotic nod. "Yatta!" she screamed, before jetting into the Diner.
The insect woman twitched, before jerkily walking back inside. "Sh-sh-sh-sugar sh-sh-sh-shock," she stuttered quietly.
Artemis was in heaven. Eats, in a real restaurant, like any other customer, and no need to worry about a bill. That, and Furry Pillows, too! Even though he was only quivering in joy on the outside, inside his head he was laughing like one of his charges' cheesy opponents.
Minako was standing by the hostess' podium, simply rubbernecking. All this fur, with only a few unSpliced here. There, a young man who was sitting with a.... well, she looks like a Gryphon. There, a little boy... no, he's got rabbit ears, so he's a cosplay-Splice.
And look there: A single green haired woman, sitting with three Spliced girls. A kitsune, a wolf and a... white skunk with stripes like a tiger. Why, the ner......
Stop.
Rewind.
Green hair?
She looked closer at the quartet. Setsuna seemed to be chatting it up with a trio of splices. Ms. Sanctity-of-the-timeline Sailor Pluto, not getting uptight at these three Splicers?
She jerked at having a woman cough beside her. Now looking like a poofball stuffed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and holding a smaller poofball, Minako turned her head to look into the laughing eyes of a grinning beagle-woman..
"Hi," the woman said with a giggle. "So, you're here for the 'Pet Match' offer?" She switched her gaze between the girl, as she brushed down her fur, and the cat that she held. "Direct Splice?" she guessed.
Minako posed, pulling her befuddled cat between her furry and cotton-wrapped globes. "Yes," she twinkled. "Does my kitty eat free too?' The wedged-in cat gave the hostess a look that mixed half "Hot Damn! Kitty Titties!" and half "Help Me! Too much titties!"
The hostess nodded. "But first," she said, before whipping out a Polaroid camera. "We would like to get a picture of our customers who really love their pets."
As the flash went off, Artemis realized that cats could nosebleed.
A flash distracted the quartet in the corner booth. They all took a long look at the furson getting their picture taken.
"Umm," Hotaru whispered, "isn't that Minako?'
Makoto put a hand/paw across her eyes. "Who else would have her planetary symbol shaved into her fur?" she asked rhetorically.
Setsuna blinked. "She got a splice from a Mausian?" The Senshi of Pluto began to sweat.
Rei sensed the worry. "Something dangerous?" she asked.
Setsuna drilled her dark ruby gaze into the kitsune-girl's amethyst orbs. "Not dangerous, so much as embarassing," she admitted. "It has to do with the Moon Cat's metabolism and access to abilities inherent to the race." She sighed at the blank look. "She's inadvertently given herself a few problems that she'll have to deal with sooner or later," she simplified.
Makoto's face twisted into a sneer. "Want to mess with her mind?" she asked in a low voice.
Two grins, vulpine and lupine, and a eyebrow rising was their response.
The two white Moon Cats slid into the booth, their waitress was right behind them. In fact, it was the same wasp-woman who had posted the sign in the window. Minako set her smaller partner-in-free-eats on the tabletop and gave the nervous insectoid a grin. "Do you have Steak Tartar made with Kobe beef?" she asked.
The beleaguered waitress couldn't blink her multifaceted eyes, but gamely gave the impression of doing so. "Y-yes, we do," she stuttered.
The cat-girl pumped a fist, then nodded. "Two full orders," she directed. "One for me, one for my cat."
Artemis preened as the waitress twitched an antenna to indicate the smaller feline while she removed the other utensils from the tabletop. "Is your cat that hungry?"
"Oh, yes," the blond responded. "If I didn't know better, I'd think he was a pig that Spliced in cat DNA." The two women shared a small giggle as the small feline facefaulted.
Relieved, the waitress nodded. "Milk to drink?" she asked rhetorically. Seeing the nods and hearing the subliminal purring in stereo, she bowed slightly. "I'll return with your drinks shortly."
The pair watched the wasp-woman depart, then the pair began to speak out of the corners of their mouths. "What awesome luck!" Minako hissed. "Tender, raw beef and yummy milk!"
Her advisor/pet sighed. "Agreed. And we get it for free!" A haze of warm, pink light sprang up around him, highlighting the neon stars and fishes. "It's good to be a cat..."
"...So, Ms. Meiou," the pair heard from the next booth over, "you will provide the proper.... prey?" The last word was sighed out, almost as if in anticipation.
Both of the felines, four- and two-footed, began to sweat. "Isn't Setsuna on our side?" Minako moaned almost silently.
The pair directed their ears to catch the rest of the conversation.
Setsuna sighed. "If I must," the woman agreed. "But there are ones that should be protected."
The wolf-girl growled, "*I WANT THE CATS.*" Her voice resonated deeply, quite surprising for such a small body. At the next table over, the felines had their hackles half-risen.
Setsuna chuckled. "Take them all," she agreed. "They're just annoying fur-balls." With a small thud., Artemis collapsed into unconsciousness.
"I want to have one of the blonds," the fox-woman seductively growled. "I think the one with the bow." She gave a throaty 'murr'. "She'll probably taste exquisite." Minako's vision began to tunnel.
"Mmmmm" the tiger-skunk 'churred'. "Agreed."
That was it for the Cat-girl Senshi. The world went dark.
The young woman slowly regained consciousness to the sound of Artemis purring. "Hey, Artie," she muttered, "you wouldnt believe the dream I just had."
"Oh, really?" Rei's voice came from directly beside her. "Care to tell us what it was?"
She chuckled. "Well, it started with me being Spliced. Then... it... oooh." Her explanation trailed off, as a set of claws gently scratched at the top of her head, working around her ears. It took her a moment to realize that at least the firat part was true. "Then I went into this diner, and saw these three Splicers talking with Setsuna."
"Do you know who they are?" a older girl's voice asked, followed by a younger girl asking, "What type of Splices did they have?"
Minako identified the speakers immediately. "I couldn't identify who they were, Mako-chan, They were a fox, a wolf and a tiger-striped skunk, Hotaru," she replied.
"That's silly," Setsuna's voice cut in. "These three have been with me the entire time."
Minako's eyes flew open. She looked up into the violet eyes of the golden fox. The muzzle of the fox twisted into a grin, as the shrine maiden's voice emerged. "Gotcha," she chuckled.
She looked around the table. There was Setsuna sitting across from her, beside a wolf-girl with a small, white cat sitting peacefully in her lap. She turned her eyes to the back corner, allowing her to see the varicolored skunk. All four were displaying wide grins, - or at least as wide as they usually displayed.
Artemis looked up, into Hotaru's eyes. "Free food and a floorshow," he sighed, contentedly. "Life doesn't get much better."
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(Posted Tue, 26 Oct 2004 18:42)
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