A ship gets closer to the docks of Katzlenian.
A land of Cat People. Human appearances with ears, tails, and instincts of a cat. It is unknown how these people came to be. But even so. This island is known for its welcoming hospitality to those who are nice, its blooming economy, and its interesting culture.
But other than that, there is little information about such species, for in the past humans have been proven to be untrustworthy which caused them to hide away in the safety of their island and destroy their relationships with the other normal human beings.
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A boat gets hauled into to stop at a sturdy dock of the island of cats, Katzlenian. The sun shines down upon the land and seagulls caws while hovering above the sky, hoping to swoop in and steal their next dinner. The ship that stops at the dock belongs to a crew of pirates which is more commonly known as the Crimson Pirates, because of the captain's red hair and his favor for the color red. Even though they are pirates which are infamous for their raids and obsession with treasure, the citizens doesn't seem to be scared of the group of pirates. Then again, good tales about the pirate group are known all around the world which gives them a more favorable and likeable reputation.
The Captain, Abelard Navarra, has red hair with bangs that's parted in the middle, framing his face nicely, but is mostly kept short. He also has tan skin for being in the sun a lot, black charming eyes, and a noticeable scar that looks like it came from big claws on his face. He has a tall and lean but muscular physique, looking be to about 6'4. He's wearing an off white polo shirt with the buttons unbuttoned, a dirty red sash around his waist and keeping the sword attached to his hip close,brown pants rolled up just under his knee, and a pair of brown boots. He also has a small green kitty clip on his bangs
There's a small kitty…. There is small kid—-kitten…? —cat girl. A small cat girl follows right behind him who sported raven hair that looked like unkept bed hair, bright and cute green eyes, pale skin that makes you worry for the amount of blood the kids has in her body, and a big burn scar on the left side of her forehead. She's wearing a white jabot shirt underneath her short brown unbuttoned vest, she also has a dark navy red bandanna around her neck with a matching red sash around her waist, she is sporting black shorts that reaches her knees and finally she has black boots for her feet.
"My homeland..." Katze, or the captain, Abelard's kid, muttered to herself. She looks all around. The people here are like her. Everyone has cat ears and a tail and... unlike Katze, a distinctive mark on their cheeks.
Whispers fill the docks from fisherman and others alike who stared at Katze. From what she heard. The people here doesn't travel far from the island. So a person that's like them, a Katzen, being in a pirate group, a child no less, is unexpected.
"So this is where I came from...?" Katze looks around and analyzed the other people around, feeling excited for a new adventure. Abelard ruffles Katze's already messy hair, which causes her to jolt out of her enthusiastic yet anxious state. "Pa...?" He grins at his daughter "Go explore kid. Don't you wanna look around where you got born? We'll just be here restocking on supplies. Just be back before dinner okay? Koch will try to make a Katzlenian specialty he said" Abelard looks around the docks "You don't have to wait for me and Ruhig to explore an island, you're a big girl aren't you? Go on now. I went through a hell lot of trouble from the king just ta get you here." Abelard tenses when he realized that may pressure the kid into doing something she doesn't want just to make Abelard happy "n- no pressure though!" The red hair laughs awkwardly, before realizing that he already messed up and sighs.
Katze looks up and smiles while nodding. She's used to exploring on her own at the first day they dock on an island. She always wanted to help restocking, but they won't let her since she's 'just a kid'. She'll just try to find good scenary or a place to eat to show her dad and Ruhig tomorrow instead.
With her newfound excitement, Katze runs off into the main village through the help of some strangers pointing her the way to the main town. "Huh… this island looks to be in still in the medieval age."
In this world, the land has been divided by countless island due to a massive earthquake that shook the Earth. Each island has their own culture, religion, beliefs, time periods, technology, laws, rules, species (though it is mostly humans that overtake most of the islands), history, etcetera. No one knows why each island is different, the majority of the people who inhabitant the islands don't even know that there are other islands and other people in the sea, far, far away. The island of Cats seems to be one of those islands, the world outside this cramped land being unknown, only knowing few details from tales and stories humans who visited in the pasts have told them. Being a pirate truly is amazing. Being able to see different islands and learning something new with each visit. Every island truly is special and filled with new adventures! That's one of the reasons why Katze loves being a pirate and traveling so much.
The main village looks like a middle aged village, just a bit more colorful with all the greenary and flowers, there's a giant fountain in the middle of town too! Countless shops and places to eat all around the municipality. Everyone seems... nice. Kids running around, laughter could be heard even from such a distance away, music and card games with money being thrown at the table in the bars Katze pass. For once.,Humans are the abnormal ones here. Not as many people is staring at Katze, no whispers about her unique appearance, no criticisms being thrown her way.
It's weird yet welcomed. It's kinda nice. Not that the small kitten ever let the criticism get in her head with the help of her pa. It's still nice to not be talked about behind her back even if she doesn't know those strangers.
The small girl simply got herself a snack with the allowance Abelard gave her and sat on a bench. She looks around, trying to find anything that may catch her attention.
as Katze's eyes scans around the area, one person catches her attention. Weird hair with white bangs with half of her white bangs being red and black as the back of her hair. She has brown skin, a scar across her right eye and a chip of her left ear is gone, red eyes with the left eye looking to be half blind, causing it to be a sort of white pinkish sort of color, with her pupil im the left also being white. This girl was also wearing some fancy suit with a blue gem necklace— She seems to be watching over someone? Katze looks over to whoever the weird haired lady was watching. Long golden brown hair with half of it fixed in a fancy bun with flowers around it to keep it intact and hime cut bangs. She also has green emerald like eyes eyes with one of the longest lashes Katze has ever seen. Pale skin, a fancy green and white dress that looks beautiful enough for royalty, but hot and uncomfortable looking, and a different type of markings on her cheeks, one spiral circle for each of her cheek. Weird... Overall, she's one of the most beautiful woman Katze has ever seen in this land as of now.
The one in green is playing with children in the small bed of flowers. Laughing and smiling along side them as they made crowns out of flowers. Their fun is cut short though as the kids noticed Katze staring at them and got weirded out, not only the kid, the weird haired lady also noticed Katze… Probably much earlier than anyone else, but didn't pay attention to her. "So- sorry miss... We gotta go now! right guys?" the group of children agreed with their friends and sped walked away. Katze doesn't realize that her staring is the reason. But now that the kids left the two fancy people alone. Katze felt it again. Her natural pirate-y instinct of adventure! She just feels the adventure when she looks at that weird haired girl and the fancy one. So, in the hunt of an exciting adventure, she approaches the two
"Weird." The one with weird hair muttered, the brunette couldn't help but agree "Hi! Your hair is weird!" Katze appeared suddenly, smiling cutely behind the weird hair lady who flinched because of her sudden appearance. "What's your name." the younger tilts her head to the side and stared up at her target of interest. "Uh...." hesitation is evident on her face. "Her name is Meri. I'm Adhelina. What about you little one?" Weird haired lady panics as the brunette just told her their names. "Katze!" She said cheerily
The taller one, or the brunette's face contorts in a hopeful and shocked expression, but she quickly covers it with a smile and a slight melancholy look. The small kitten didn't expect for the fancy lady, a stranger no less, to smile at her like that. So warm and bright like the sun itself is hugging you. Katze started feeling warm, it was a nice feeling…
"I see! Where's your parents Katze?" The one in green leans down a bit to properly face the short girl. "Restocking." The brunette nods at the small kid's simple answer. "Your dad is the Captain of the Crimson Pirates yes? I looked at the very limited information about your crew." It seems like this fancy girl is knowledgeable in about Katze's crew... People that live in an island with no real knowledge about the outside world, nor do they know that there is an outside world, normally they wouldn't know about pirates or that people could travel off their islands and into the sea, other than boats that travel a small distance away for fish.Wonder how she got the information.
The brunette looks up at the sky, trying to gauge what time it may be. "Hm... It is nigh time we should get going. Don't you think Meri?" The one in the suit nods "Well. Get going back home now Katze. Goodbye~!" She stands up straight towering over the small girl. As she leaves, she turns around. "Tell your crew that I send them my greetings! We don't really have much visitors but I do hope that you lot have fun!" And at that, the two fancy people finally left, leaving Katze to herself. Katze nods at the kind brunette's words, kind of surprised that they just welcomed the group of pirates just like that. Most would find them scary and dangerous, immediately finding a way to get out of a conversation with Katze once they found out about her pirate life, but she doesn't mind, in fact she's smiling quite cutely. She's glad that they don't find her scary.
Once the two are really out of sight, Katze also turns around, going back to the ship early, finding no more motivation to continue exploring today
——THE BUTLER'S POV——
"That kid is weird." The weird haired girl, aka Meri, thought to herself. "She's got that weird aura... and her eyes are weirdly just like Adhelina's. Not only that but she's the child of the captain of the Crimson Pirate's. She's definitely bad news even if she seems friendly, I shouldn't get too close to her." She was jolted out of her thoughts when Adhelinda, or the brunette nudges her, they're back at Adhelina's home.
They approach a grand castle, standing tall and proud. It is where the royalties live, the Castle of Unity. It is said in history, that it is called that because after the Great War that happened between different groups in Katzlenian, they all bonded together and built this castle for their chosen ruler to declare peace over the land. Other than that, nothing else is said.
They soon got to a giant castle's back garden. Meri helps Adhelina.... Or well... Queen Adhelina over the fence of the castle garden. They sneak back inside the Queen's room and sighs "Good thing my husband didn't catch us this time...." Adhelina pouts slightly as she remembers the scolding she got from her husband for going out. "I'm sure you'd be fine even if you got caught." Adhelina hums. "I don't think so... But... You're really the best butler, Meri! You always join me whenever I escape." Meri seems distant and cold. Looking away from Adhelina and muttering out. "I guess so"
Adhelina didn't ask about Meri's sudden change of mood. She always acted like this when Adhelina stated that she is the best butler the green eyed lady ever got. Like she's guilty of something.
"Let's go get you changed now Queen Adhelina. It's almost time for you to go to sleep." Adhelina's eyes widens a bit. She looks out the window only to notice the sky already turning black. "Oh. It's already turning night. That's fast." Adhelina said while looking out the window "The walk from here to the village does take a while." Meri replied while nodding. Adhelina pouts and whines "I hate this curfew… why do I have to sleep so early!" Meri's eyes narrowed "she's acting like a kid" she couldn't help but subconsciously think. "King Gegner likes it when his maiden sleeps early. He said that it makes women look younger" Adhelina doesn't stop pouting but stood up. "What a stupid reason! Hmph. Well… I shall oblige I guess." The two headed to the brunette's walk in closet to get her changed.
Soon. The sun fully sets and the moon quietly rises, blessing the now dark world some light to see the way.
——THE VERY NEXT DAY——-
Adhelina sneaked out again. Meri sighs. "How annoying... Why do I have to get dragged out here with her whenever she sneaks out..." the weird haired lady's eyebrow twitched when Adhelina walks back to Meri. The Queen brought ice cream. "Thanks." Meri took it even if she didn't like chocolate since it is rude to refuse a gift from royalty. Adhelina seems happy, though Meri can't understand why one would be happy simply just because she accepted the gift.
The taller's cat ears perked up which caused Meri to also tense up. "It's that little girl we saw yesterday." Meri follows Adhelina's eyes to wherever she may be looking at. "Hm? Oh. The pirate." Meri looks at the small girl who is swinging on the swing while also eating ice cream. "Hm. Well it's best to not stay here for long, Queen Adhelina. We should go back an-" Meri cuts herself off when she realized Adhelina isn't with her anymore, but in front of the small pirate. Meri groans but walks towards the two.
"Hey, Kid? What are you doing alone?" Adhelina tilts her head when she asked the kid. "Oh… Hi green eyes And I'm not alone. Waiting for my dads." Katze continued to swing while eating ice cream. "Oh! Your dads? With a plural"
"Yeah. My dads." Katze clarified that there were more than one. "Hey Katze we're back~" a red haired man waved to her. Meri tensed up. The tall tanned man is obviously not weak duh, this man is the captain of one of the most feared pirates in the seas. But being actually in front of the man is on a whole different level from the stories, Meri could just feel it. Katze seemed to notice despite the reaction only being small. Damned observant kid… There's also another man behind the red haired one. Taller than the already tall red hair, long black hair with a couple of grey hair here and there, a fade haircut with the back left uncut and tied in a low ponytail, a similar green cat pin on his hair (one just like Abelard's), slightly tan skin, dark circles under his sharp blueish grey eyes. He's wearing a pair of baggy cargo yellow pants, a black compression shirt, and two guns on each sides of his hip. Meri gets that Humans are generally taller than Katzens, but man are their heights terrifying. They're terrifying. Well…. They are pirates…
"Oh! Uhm… nice to formally meet you!" Adhelina smiles, not as sweetly as she did with Katze, she offers her hand to Abelard for them to shake hands. Abelard raises an eyebrow, clearly not knowing what she's talking about. "Nice to meet you too…? The names Abelard, and the grumpy pants over here is Ruhig." Abelard points at Ruhig with his thumb. Ruhig being around 6'11.
Ruhig himself nods his head in greetings. "Nice to meet you! I'm Adhelina." Adhelina smiles politely and bowed slightly. "Adhelina? Cap, that's the queen." Ruhig elbows the red hair who seems a bit shocked "oh shit! Didn't realize I was speaking to fucking royalty?" Ruhig and Katze looks at Abelard with a deadpanned look "I don't think cursing is appropriate when infront of a queen, Pa." Katze said, making Abelard smile sheepishly.
"I didn't realize you were a queen, Tall lady." Katze turned over to the green eyes lady. "No no, it's okay really!" She waved her hands around as a sign of dismissal. "Sorry. We know jack shit about the things around here." Katze's adoptive father scratched the back of his neck. "It's okay, Sir Abelard. It is to be expected. Since we never really give you humans any info about us." Meri finally spoke up again "don't call me 'Sir', we're just mere pirates" Abelard chuckles awkwardly.
"Hm. So I'm guessing Katze doesn't know either?" Adhelina asks. "Oh. Yeah. She's never been interested in her homeland before. And she never had any memories before about this place. I'm not even sure if she was born here." The red hair confirms Adhelina's suspicions. "If that's the case. What about we take her to places and teach her about some things?" The brunette offers.
"Oh fuck no." That thought came into Meri's mind at that moment. "If we don't go back to the castle now. Not only Adhelina but I will get in trouble at this rate." That other thought followed through. "Why are you even acting like this Adhelina? You're never this straightforward and bold!" She asked herself in her head
"Well-" Katze's father started, but she cuts Abelard's sentence off "sure." Abelard seems surprised. That look quickly got replaced by happiness. "Oh look at you socializing! Well! Guess you could run off with them then if you want! Ruhig~ c'mon! Let's go to a bar!" The red hair already walks off which caused Ruhig to sigh but he nods "fine. I'll play the role of taking care of your drunk ass if you drink too much."
——KATZE'S POV——
I watch as my two dads walk away. Well, Ruhig is not really my dad, but I like to think that he is. I turn to face the two people I am now left with who volunteered to show me around. They're apparently royalty? I guess that makes sense due to their outfits.
"Are you guys just gonna stand there?" I blurted out which made them put their attention back on me. "Right! C'mon! Let's start at the monmuments!" The Queen seems way too excited. It's not like Katze has ever really been curious about her homelands before, but she always have loved learning about different islands. So she won't treat this one any different.
The tallest one out of us three... The Queen She leads us somewhere. Not sure... As they walked, Katze's gaze wanders everywhere, the marks on every Katzen's cheek catches her eye once more. "Hey green eyes?" She called out to the Queen. Katze didn't really put much effort into remembering names she doesn't think she'll need to know in the long run. Adhelina doesn't seem to mind though "Yes~?" she smiles sweetly. She must be a nice person. "I have a question. Why do you guys have marks on their cheeks...?" the green eyed lady hums "well you see~ There are these things called ranks that Katzens would get at their time of age. There are about four rankings in Katzlenian. First at the rank is The Royal Family, second is The Nobles, Third is The Citizens, And Fourth The Strays."
Rankings? Even in this island there's a hierarchy.
"Each ranking can be decided by a mark on someone's cheeks. The Royal Family has a unique design that's only unique to each family member, like my swirls! The Nobles has three scar looking mark on each cheek, The Citizens have two, and The Strays have none." The Tall lady continues explaining. "So the only purposes of your marks is to signify ranks?" Katze asked while tilting her head to the side. The brunette shakes her head "no no! There's more things to it than to stabilize the hierarchy! Each rank has a special ability!"
"Is this a fantasy like type of island?" The raven haired kid thinks to herself in her head. "The strays grow slower and can't reach the physical capabilities of a normal Katzlenian when they do grow up. When their time of age arrives, the citizens and the nobles gains an ability! The nobles just being stronger and their ability is mostly related to fighting. And the royals often have more out of this world and unique abilities." Green eye lady explained with her pointer finger up the whole time.
"Yeah. This is one of those fantasy like type of islands" Katze answered her own question, again in her head.
"I see. So I'll get a cool power or somethin'?" Katze looks up at the two with excitement in her eyes, causing the onw in green to coo. "Yeah! Based on you having no marks yet, I'm guessing you haven't got your time of age yet! Don't worry though! I'm sure you'll get yours soon" the green eyed lady reassured the little one. "How old even are you?" The weird haired lady raised an eyebrow at Katze. "12." The two stops walking and looks at each other. Some people are always shocked whenever Katze tells them her age. She is pretty small for a 12 year old. "You may be a stray-" Weird hair girl got cut off by green eyes smacking her with a fan "Don't tell her that!" The brunette pouts. A stray? If that is true, it'll be a bummer. Katze doesn't wanna stay a weak and short kid forever!
"It's fine. My papa always said it's better to be truthful than to give white lies." Katze snaps herself out of her trance. "That's true." Weird haired girl seems to agree with what Katze said. "Wouldn't that hurt peoples feelings?" Green eyes doesn't tho. "Better to hurt them now than cause possible bigger problems in the future with lying to their faces." The weird haired lady seems a bit harsh, but it's a kind of realistic view in lying, Green eyes though, shows her obvious dislike about the Weird Haired Lady's view in lying. She seems kind hearted truly.
After that little conversation. Green eyes took me around the island a bit more. Showing me different places and stuff, she even got me sweets and told me that I could go to her whenever I wanted sweets. It's pretty nice here, but soon, the sun goes down soon enough and I had to go. The giant clock tower in the middle of town hits 6 PM, and Katze says her goodbyes to green eyes and weird hair. And she went back to the ship to eat dinner with her family.
——MERI'S POV——
The moment we got back. King Gegner, Adhelina's husband, was waiting. Adhelina's curfew was overdue. Meri watches with a blank face as Adhelina gets scolded by her husband. It's not in her business to care. So why should she when Adhelina knew well that she had a curfew soon but still stayed with that Katze girl who can't even remember their names?
Adhelina looks at Meri pleadingly, in which the butler looks away, ignoring the pathetic look the Queen has set on her pale face and walks off to do her tasks. She has "work" to do soon. It'll be better if she finishes her chores here and quick. She mustn't be late.