Let's Get This Party Started |Sable&Moon|

[yoyo]

She knew they were nearing their destination when the mouth-watering smell of tiny tidbits of decomposing food were just able to be picked out from the overwhelming smell of tons of garbage. When she had first caught a whiff of this place, she had wanted to stay far away. Run away and never come back. The smell had brought tears to her eyes. But not anymore; Now, strangely enough, it smelled like home. Because her home was underneath all that garbage. In a sort of underground compartment of air space. The walls and ceiling were tightly compacted with garbage, the only thing keeping the ceiling from caving in some old human things conveniently placed in a way to hold up the garbage piled above.

Juniper had never really thought of the possibility of a cave-in before. It had just never crossed her mind… While she was last in her home, she was panicking and fretting about how they were going to get out. But, of course, she hadn’t been there alone. It was also Moon’s house too. The first stray cat she had ever met and the one who had basically introduced her to her new life as a stray. Since then they’d been on crazy adventures together.

But anyways, Moon was there while Juniper was worrying about being trapped underneath all that garbage and, ultimately, dying. But Moon had found a way out. And the rest was… Wet history. But that was a story for another time. A smile appeared on Juniper’s face as she saw the mounds of trash stacked upon mounds of trash. ”This is my home,” She said to Sable, not bothering to tell him about her actual ‘house’ just yet. She wanted to ok it with Moon first before she showed Sable their secret little cave. She was pretty sure she would be ok with it, but she still wanted to ask.

Speaking of which, Juniper wasn’t even sure if Moon would be coming. She hoped that Moon would happen to come here while they were still here. Juniper’d give it an hour or two before she decided to celebrate her first birthday with her best friend some other time. But she really wanted to celebrate it with all of her friends. Which meant Sable and Moon. Sure, there were other cats she was friendly with, but they weren’t really friends. There was a big difference. And she didn’t want to invite just anybody to her ‘party,’ either.

Her party. What was this party going to consist of? Sable had suggested gathering her friends(which she was doing) and then go exploring or stealing some human food. Juniper planned to just go a random direction she hadn’t ever gone in before and seeing where it led them. That sounded fun! Then they could explore this place and hang out and talk and things like that. And afterwards, if there was time, they could go to a human house(perhaps back to Chocolate’s) and steal some tasty things from their kitchens. Maybe mashed potatoes. Now that would be a fabulous birthday treat. Mashed potatoes, her favorite human food. Actually, her favorite food out of anything edible, really.

Opening her mouth to inhale the scents and try and see if Moon was somewhere nearby or if she had just been here, she wondered if Moon and Sable would like each other. Well, not like like each other but like, like each other you know? Become friends or something like that. It would be interesting if her two friends became friends with each other. Then they could all be friends together and hang out togethers and do things together! Again she felt that same stab of jealousy, but she had learned to deal with that and it felt distant now as her hazel eyes sparkled with excitement at the new things opening up to her with this meeting of Sable and Moon.

Not smelling any recent scent of Moon’s, she turned to Sable. ”Let‘s find some stuff to eat,” she said to him and shrugged. As a stray, you learned to eat whenever and whatever you could. So even though she was pretty much full from that chicken she had caught for her and Sable at the chicken coop, she was still going to try and eat more. Because you never knew what life would throw at you next. And you always always always had to be prepared. And if you weren’t, then, well. You weren’t.

[Moon Coldbite]

The over-sized white paws of the little white kitten Moon Coldbite were struggling to get over a particularly large oven, and after a minute she leapt over it before falling into yet another hole. That was the problem with the dump; it wasn't the easiest place to navigate.

Climbing out from underneath an old towel, she faintly traced the scent of a day-old muffin, picking it up and carrying it with her. She wasn't that hungry anyway, but who could waste something as delicious as a muffin?

Moon finally found a flat surface, walking along the edge of what looked like a large discarded piece of linoleum. The violet eyes looked around, hoping to find the hole she had fallen in with Juni a few weeks back. Ever since she had been born, she had been more dependent on her other senses rather than he sight, because the color of her eyes was one reason they weren't as sharp as other cat's.

But she was still thinking about the first time in the cave. First came panic, then came confusion, and then glee when they figured out both the entrance and the exit. Suddenly, the ground caved, and she found herself lying on that familiar old mattress, boucning up and down from the force of the fall. It didn't hurt, it was just a bit of a shock. She sure had found it quickly.

Dropping the muffin beside the huge oak wardrobe, she took her time as the white paws made their way over o the long, shallow-watered tunnel that led to the outside. Perhaps one of her friends was visiting the dump. But I'm all dirty, she realized, warming up. Then again, none of my friends really care about that stuff besides Choco. And I doubt someone like her would show up in a place like this.

When she got to the outside, carefully slipping out from behind the piece of cardboard that concealed the hideout, she couldn't believe her eyes. Juniper was standing right in front her with, with another cat she didn't recognize.

'Hi guys!' She called out from beside the entrance, bringing a paw over her ear just in case she had a banana peel sutck to her or something.

'Whatcha doing here? I didn't actually think that I would run into people I know around this place.' She said, accidently voicing her thoughts without noticing.

'Mind introducing us?' She asked the silver cat again, tail flicking over towards Sable. She waited for a response as Moon swiped her paw over the other ear.

[pandakat]

He resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose at the rather offensive smell of masses of rotting garbage. Instead, however, he lowered his head and attempted to silently gasp in some air without taking in the scents. Needless to say, the only thing he succeeded with was looking the part of one slightly mental.

After a while he gave up and instead diverted his attention into trying to figure out why Juniper was leading him closer to the town dump. Was she hungry again? He sighed, 'Or maybe...this is just where she decided to meet up with her friends? Kind of an odd place though.' He blinked at a sudden thought, 'Wait, what sort of friends does she have anyway? I hope they're not all as odd as her. I don't think I can handle two Junipers.' He started to fret slightly, glancing around and trying to pick up any signs of other felines. 'Her friends are other cats, right?' Suddenly he was feeling very apprehensive about this whole birthday celebration.

"This is my home."

He nodded, about to mutter a reflexive "Interesting," when he did a double take. Okay, he had definitely not been expecting that one. Sable took in a good look of the mounds of trash that was now in view, eyes widening. 'This is her...home?' He felt an urge to laugh hysterically at the idea that this dump could be somebody's home.

'Hey, hey,' Another voice in his mind chided him, 'You're the new stray roundabouts. Maybe you're the one that's actually being ridiculous. Get used to these sorts of things, Sable Frozenleaf, 'cause this is going to be what you'll deal with for probably the rest of your life.' He blinked, realizing the truth of what that little voice had said. And maybe it would be better to try not to judge things too quickly anymore; after all, he still largely viewed things from a house cat's point of view. Sighing, he attempted a take at the dump with a brighter outlook. Well...it would be easier to always get food. Someone like Juniper would probably appreciate that fact.

"Where do you sleep?" He wondered aloud, casting a sweeping glance about the garbage. No place looked really comfortable, unless you counted that stained and shredded pillow that lay in a sea of banana peels and other scraps. Sable frowned, thinking that any home should enable the resident a nice napping spot. Naps were a must in a cat's life, house cat or not. But, at the same time, he couldn't really picture Juniper laying still and all peaceful unless she absolutely had to in order to function properly.

"Let's find some stuff to eat."

So she was hungry. But they had eaten not too long ago and he was still quite full. She couldn't have digested it all that fast. Sable frowned but decided to look around anyway. 'Never explored a dump before.' He perused the closest objects, trying to pick out each individual scent. Drifting over to a wilting bouquet of flowers nestled into the opening of a weathered boot, he tried to name the dying blooms. 'That's...a tulip.' He brushed his nose against one of the dry petals as he tried to figure out the next ones, Violet, 'nother tulip, and...' He paused, confused by the scent. "Cat?" He said aloud.

"Hi guys!"

Another cat? He turned, looking towards the source of the voice in silent surprise. It was a she-cat with a white coat and startling violet eyes. He blinked his own sapphire eyes in surprise, having never seen another feline with such an eye color. He turned to face the mystery cat, head tilted in question. Was this one of Juniper's friends? Where'd she come from? It was like she had popped out from the trash itself.

"Whatcha doing here? I didn't actually think that I would run into people I know around this place."

'I didn't think I'd meet anyone at all in a place like this,' Sable muttered silently to himself. However, it seemed that this new she-cat did know Juniper.

[yoyo]

Juniper, also, had to resist the urge not to laugh. Sable probably thought she was insane for calling this her home. Oh well, he probably already thought she was insane anyway, right? Anyway, any stray wouldn’t get it. Especially not a recent house cat turned stray. So it was actually a bit of a joke to Juniper; sort of a tiny little white lie to make her laugh at him. Or maybe it wasn’t that much of a lie, considering this was her home… Only it was under all of this smelly stuff. Oh well, either way, it confused Sable and that was enough for her. She smiled as she started to try and find the entrance to her home again; new garbage was taken here every once and a while… But she hoped it wouldn’t be too hard to find.

”Where do I sleep?” She repeated his question, hoping that she would find the entrance to her home in the ext few seconds so that she can disappear right before Sable’s eyes-- aha! There it was! Her smile widened and she looked over at Sable. ”Right here!” She exclaimed, and waited a few seconds before calmly stepping right into the hole-- She stopped before her put her wait down on the air, and plummeting down onto the familiar mattress. She heard a familiar voice accompanied with a familiar smell. Her hazel eyes instantly lit up. ”Moon!”

The she-cat quickly jumped over the hole, and landed to the right of a broken beer bottle. ’Whoa, that was close,’ She thought as she saw just how close her paw was to the glass sticking out of the mound of garbage. That wouldn’t have been good. She imaged the soft flesh of her paw landing with most of her weight on it on that glass… She winced. She didn’t want to think about it. Anyways, now both her friends were here! That was more important than thinking about your paw being sliced to shreds. Her paw actually throbbed from thinking about this.

”That guy is Sable Frozenleaf. Just be glad you didn’t have to ask him his own name; He wouldn’t have told you until you saved his life,” She said and wondered what Moon would think about that and what she and Sable have been doing until they got here. Being captured by humans, running until they collapsed, catching chickens? Maybe Moon would guess something along those lines. ”And Sable, this is my best friend Moon Coldbite,” She said, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice. Today was going to be even better than when she and Moon broke into Chocolate’s house and ate the food there!

”Guess what, Moon?” She said, and then, before Moon could answer, she answered her own question. ”It’s my birthday! Or, it was my birthday… Sometime around today!” She exclaimed, correcting herself halfway through. She wasn’t sure of the actual date of her birthday, but this was a rough estimate. She knew she was born sometime during summer, and she had kept a sort of tally, since she knew how many sun-rises there were supposed to be until your birthday. She had heard her first human family talking about the ‘solar system’ and ‘rotation’ when the little one had gotten to a higher ‘grade level.’ All things Juniper didn’t understand, but she trusted her first human family.

[Moon Coldbite]

Moon grinned her signature cheesy grin before turning towards Sable, white tail flickering. He hadn't aid anything yet, but whoever Juniper liked couldn't possibly be all bad.

'Happy birthday Juni! This calls for a celebration!' She cried, smiling. Spinning around, she searched through the trash until she finally found what she had been looking for; an old, nearly burnt out candle. She only needed one- Juniper was turning one year. Turning around again, she grabbed up a stone in her teeth and rubbed it against a dirty, dry piece of wood that looked like it had come off of the old wardrobe.

Sparks began to fly, and all of a sudden the piece of wood burst into flame. Moon jumped back, yelping, before she realized that what the TV had said worked. She pushed the candle as close as possible, but it didn't work, so the white she-cat picked it up in her mouth before poking the flames with it. The tiny nub of a wick finally caught flame, and she yelled out in joy- her plan had worked. Now they had a birthday candle! But her plan was still unfinished, so she blew it out, not wanting to waste what was left of the wick.

'Okay! So now we have the candle- Let's make the cake!'

She laughed, searching the dump for ingredients. All she knew was that cakes needed flour, sugar, milk, eggs, and heat- fist up, flour! She had heard all this on the radio once, and it had been very neat. Everything sounded very appetizing, and she had later been told by Fon that they were traditionally used on birthdays! Looking around, she spotted exactly what she was looking for- flour.

Running up and grabbing the dandelion, she dropped it in a scratched up, dented steel mixing bowl.

'Now, I know dandelions aren't technically a flower, but I think it'll still work. Juni- I was thinking we could make you a birthday cake, like the humans do!'

There was a case of eggs over there, but they look rotten. Who cares though, it'll probably taste nearly the same. She though dismissively, grabbing the cardboard and plopping each egg in carefully. But the humans said to crack the egg, She realized, poking it with a claw hard enough that a crack appeared. She copied this on 2 other eggs before looking around for sugar.

'Sable! I bet you'll love this cake- you two Juni. I heard the recipe on the radio once, it's supposed to be delicious! But now we just need something sugary, like... That candy bar!'

She had no idea how an unopened candy bar had made it into the dump, but she threw it in. Moon and the Old Lady had actually gotten home before she heard the end of the ingredients list, but it wouldn't matter if they were missing one or two things. She just worried about how they were supposed to mix it all!

'You guys try and find some milk- it's our last ingredient, then we can bake it!'

[pandakat]

Hmm, he had definitely gotten himself into something weird. In response to his question Juniper had gone right over to another practically indistinguishable section of trash and then stood there. ’Uuuh...’ He blinked at her, wondering if she meant that she slept right where she was standing. ’Wow, that’s...a nice pile of trash. Great choice.’ He was tempted to say, but refrained.

Either way, now he was being introduced to the white cat that had popped in from the trash.

”That guy is Sable Frozenleaf. Just be glad you didn’t have to ask him his own name; He wouldn’t have told you until you saved his life,”

Sable allowed himself to roll his eyes, though he was sure to catch the new cat’s name. ’Moon,’ He repeated silently, a neutral if slightly curious expression on his face. Would this cat prove to be as odd as Juniper? Hopefully not.

'Happy birthday Juni! This calls for a celebration!'

Sable agreed, though a few moments later Moon was launching into something about cakes. And now she was holding a candle that she had just lit and doused. Suddenly the tom felt quite apprehensive and glanced back towards the exit of the dump and then about the place, paws kneading the ground. ’I doubt I’d ever willingly set a match a’flame on an old, near nub of a candlestick.’ He commented to himself, wondering what sort of cat would. Apparently the Moon kind. He watched silently and with an expression that was steadily growing to look disgruntled as the near-stranger began running about and jabbering about cake ingredients. First of all, the things she was picking out were making his stomach roil already and, secondly, how in the world was she finding all these things?

'Sable! I bet you'll love this cake- you two Juni. I heard the recipe on the radio once, it's supposed to be delicious! But now we just need something sugary, like... That candy bar!

He blinked, wondering wherever she got the notion that he was going to even try this cake. However, Sable was loathe (kind of, not really. But it was Juniper’s birthday) to upset the merriment. So he owned up and gave a weak smile, ”Yeah...Sure does sound good. And...milk? Uh...right.” He gave a half-hearted look about the trash, wondering if it was even possible to bake this thing. There probably was an oven laying about, but there sure didn’t seem to be any electrical outlets. He glanced to Juniper, wondering how she was taking to this whole cake business.

[yoyo]

Juniper smiled. The smile expressed everything she was feeling and more; euphoric that she had two great friends, even happier that they cared about her birthday. It was generally only humans that celebrated their birthdays; For not only did they have a reliable way to keep time of when their birthdate is, but it was just another reason for them to celebrate and forget about everything else. Though Juniper never quite understood whether they were celebrating the wisdom that comes with age, or a year gone by that the human hadn’t died. It had always puzzled her. Well, for cats, they didn’t really keep track as much. Age wasn’t entirely important, well, the exact age that was. Age mattered, though, for obvious reasons, but keeping track of how long you’ve been on the earth to the day wasn’t entirely a top priority.

Even so, Juniper thought that this whole birthday thing would be fun. Her humans always had a fun time doing it. They always ate the same thing every year, though. Pizza, hot dogs, pasta, and then the sweet-smelling round-shaped… thing. The name escaped her. As she was thinking about this, Moon lit the candle that she had found. The silver cat was surprised for a moment, seeing as she thought only humans could create fire, but she relaxed. Moon was smart, she wouldn’t cause a big fire or anything and burn down Nenbrook. What would happen if Nenbrook burned down? Juniper shivered at the thought. Her home, down in flames. She quickly pushed the image to the back of her head, but she knew the image would probably haunt her later.

“Cake!” Juniper exclaimed, realizing that that had been what her humans called the big sugary circle they ate. She had tried some once, and it had been one of the best things she had ever eaten. Sugary, delicious, chocolaty, moist, excellent! And there were so many more adjectives, but she needed to get to work finding what went into a cake. What exactly did you make a cake with? She observed Moon running around the dump. She seemed to know what she was doing, so she waited for further instructions. She snuck a glance at Sable while she waited, and almost laughed out loud. He look repulsed. He wasn’t too much of a spur of the moment guy, was he? This was purely for fun! Plus, it might taste good. When Moon told them to go find some milk, she ran over to Sable and nudged him. ”Let’s go get milk!”

Her first thought was that they could steal milk from the market, but that would be way too troublesome. They could probably find some old, thrown-away milk in the dump, right? That would save them all a lot fo time and energy. Determined to find some milk for her birthday cake, she went around sniffing and searching for a carton of the stuff. She remembered what it smelled like; Sweet but not too sweet. She also kept her eyes open, though, in case there wasn’t any fresh milk around. Milk that’s been sitting in the dump for a while would still be good, right? She ripped open a trash bag that she thought smelled kind of like milk, but she found some cheese instead. She frowned and sniffed at it. It definitely smelled like milk. She shrugged and brought it over to Moon. ”Would this work? It kind of smells like milk, but I remember it’s called cheese,” She said.

[Moon Coldbite]

Moon was on a search.

A search for cake.

Well, not entirely. At this point, she realized she could easily make something of equal value as easily as any human could, right? She wasn't stupid- and she considered herself just as competent as the humans. Why shouldn't she be, if not more? She could smell better than them, and see in the dark, even moved more fluidly. So maybe the cats had originally come up with the recipe for cake- maybe the humans stole the recipe and claimed it was their idea!

But that wasn't of the biggest importance right now. Currently, she had to find something to mix it in- A bowl, like she ate out of at the Old Lady's house, or something like it. Suddenly spotting the wardrobe in the corner of the room, she got an idea. What if she used one of the smaller drawers to put the batter in?

So she put all the ingredients in aside from the milk, and then came to another conclusion- if she had to put in the fire, she didn't want it to catch on fire, therefore it couldn't be wood- it had to be metal, or glass.

So she trotted out of the clubhouse and eventually found an old butter dish with a few cracks running through it. That didn't bother her though- it was glass, so it would work.

She managed to fit all the ingredients into the small glass container just as Juniper returned with Sable and the last ingredient.

'Oh yeah, that should work just fine!'

She assured her friend before taking it in her own mouth gingerly and placing it with the rest of the batter in the dish. Then she dipper her paw into the mix and beat it together as well as she could with her unsheathed claws. When she was satisfied, she turned and shot a grin at the other two cats in the room before returning to her work.

She picked it up in her teeth and walked over to the piece of wood and placing it right beside it, then taking the stone in her mouth and grinding it against the side. It had the same effect, and the thing burst into flame as Moon grabbed up an old pillow and shredded it, adding the fluffy goose down into the fire to help generate the flames. A strange smell began seeping out of the container, and Moon wrinkled her nose. That's not what a came smelled like. That's what the Old Lady's failed attempt at curry smelt like.

It's not finished yet, she hastily thought to herself before taking a few steps back to watch. All the ingredients had begun to mesh together, melting around each other in different colors.

;;not finished- to be continued;;

[pandakat]

{{Sorry for short/late post. ;_; }}

Juniper seemed pretty happy about the whole cake thing, judging on her joyous smile and exclamation. Sable groaned inwardly, 'Well there goes my last hope at stopping this fiasco.' He closed his eyes and wondered how he ended up here. Oh wait, he knew exactly how. The real question was-- 'Whyyyyyyy?' The tom asked, 'Why am I standing in a dump with two crazy she-cats prancing about and talking about making cake from this dump? Actually, why is the only one I really know here a crazy she-cat?'

'...Maybe I should work on my social skills.' He sighed before toppling over in surprise as Juniper nudged him. Sable stumbled back to his feet as the birthday cat exclaimed to him, giving a mix between another weak smile and a look of utter despair in response. "Yeah--right!" He tried exclaiming enthusiastically back,"Some milk...! In this dump. Haha, that's so _not possible." His attempt at enthusiasm quickly died out, but luckily Juniper had already started to set off in her search for milk. Sable shook his head before setting off after her, quickly catching up in a few bounds.

He peered about, trying to think of a situation where milk would have lasted long enough to still be deemed 'milk.' The tom had once found an old carton of milk in the trash can when he had lived with Will, but once he had tried a bit of the remnants he nearly gagged. But maybe things would be different in the dump, as this place kept delivering new surprises to him every few seconds... Sable skimmed the nearby trash and wrinkled his nose. He doubted that.

However, it soon seemed like Juniper had found something. What was it? Sable trailed after the she-cat until they reached Moon, whereupon it was revealed that the thing was cheese. "Cheese?" He said softly, a slightly disbelieving look on his face. "We're substituting milk with cheese?"

"Oh yeah, that should work just fine!'

Apparently so. This was just amazing. Well, not compared to Moon's feat of cramming every single odd ingredient into this tiny butter dish. Sable settled back to watch the events, a look of dubious incredulity on his face. Soon, however, the expression was replaced with alarm as the mixture of who-know's-what began to heat up. What was that smell?

[yoyo]

Juniper nearly laughed out loud at Moon’s response. It wasn’t entirely because she was giddy with excitement at cooking, but because she could just imagine the look on Sable’s face when Moon determined that cheese should work just fine in the place of milk. Their antics seemed to drive the shy tom up a wall. A giggle escaped Juniper. He needed to learn to lighten up and have a good time. Well, when he tasted the cake, maybe that would change the way he looked at her and Mon from now on!

She watched as Moon stirred the mixture, sniffing the mixture with her over-sensitive nose. Or was it more of a concoction than a mixture? Oh well. Whatever it was it should be called, it didn’t quite look like a cake yet. It would probably need some time and an oven… Where were they going to find a working oven in this place? The she-cat shrugged. Moon would figure it out, like she always did. In the meantime, she and Sable could sit back and wait until they were called upon to do some other task. Hey, they were kind of like Moon’s cooking minions! Straight out of a novel. She mused about how the author would describe her.

Of course, she or he would have to write about how she loved mashed potatoes, of course. And how she loved her friends. But… The more she thought about it, the more she thought that she wouldn’t want to be written about. The author could see her most intimate thoughts, and would put them on paper, sometimes exaggerating the truth to make the story seem interesting and keep the readers entertained. For everyone to see. She shivered as she imagined that kind of violation of her mind and body; herself. No, she wouldn’t want that. But now wasn’t the time to worry about some make-believe person writing all about her. It was time to celebrate her birthday!

As she watched Moon go about lighting a fire to cook the cake, she turned to Sable. ”Have you ever had cake before?” She asked quietly, afraid to disturb Moon’s conversation… Setting the cake on fire wouldn’t be good… Then they’d have to start over! The silver tabby licked her shoulder a few times and her tail swished back and forth over the ground in anticipation of eating their creation. Eating the cake that they had made would be more satisfying than stealing a human’s cake, because they had made it with their own TLC. They could lay claim to the delicious thing that they had made!

But, wait, what was that smell that overpowered the rest of the garbage piled high around them? A skunk? She looked around and breathed in the scent deeply, making her cough from the stench. No, it wasn’t skunk… She had gotten up-close and personal with a skunk before, and it had smelled much different than this. So what was it? The cake? Surely not? Surely not the cake that was going to be beautiful and delicious? But, with a sinking feeling, she realized that this must be so. Her ears went flat against her head. ”What went wrong?”