I am Kerensa Nile. You can call me Ren. My story begins what seems like an eternity ago, but was actually not that far back. I considered myself a normal girl, growing up in New York City with my three friends, Tessia, Ariana, and Kariana. We went to the same school and did everything together. We still do, but what we do now is not by any stretch of the imagination normal. We fight evil now.
I suppose I'd better explain how all of this came about. It's not a short story. As I said, I was living in New York City with my friends. Perhaps I should introduce us all properly. I'll start with myself.
I'm Ren. I'm 16 years old, and an only child. My father died when I was young, I don't remember him very well. My mother works at a big corporation. We aren't close. I have short auburn hair, and big hazel eyes. I'm extremely petite, but looks can be deceiving. My personality is, in a word, colorful. I'm considered intelligent, and definitely talkative.
My best friends are (in no particular order): Tessia Teraina, and the twins, Ariana and Kariana Cosmos. Tessia is a sweet girl. She's almost too nice for her own good sometimes. She's taller than me, with shoulder length blondish-brown hair and deep brown eyes. The twins have long red hair and gleaming green eyes. Ana is a little taller than Kari, and they're both taller than Tess and myself. Ariana is zany; she always knows how to have fun and make the best out of any situation. Kariana is sarcastic. While not always an optimist, she is as smart as a whip. The two of them together are a riot. Almost makes me wish I had a sister or brother. Tess and Kariana have pet cats. Their names are Hoshi and Eclipse, repectively. I always wanted a cat. That is where this whole thing started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The four of us were walking home from school one day when we heard a faint mewwing on the steps of my apartment building. Looking down, we saw a little grey kitten. It had no tags, and so we brought it into my family's apartment.
"Aww, look at it! Isn't she the cutest little thing?" Tess said, as I placed a saucer of milk in front of the cat. The kitten greedily lapped it up.
"I hope Mother will let me keep her," I replied wistfully. I had always wanted a pet cat, but never mentioned it to my mother, who was never home anyway.
My friends and I did our homework, and then they went home. I sighed and looked at the kitten, who had been sleeping soundly for almost an hour. Just then my mother came home.
"Mother, there is something important I need to ask you. I found a kitten today and would like to keep it. May I please, Mother? I've always wanted one," I gave her my best puppy-dog eyes.
"Kerensa, I didn't know that... Well, I suppose you could. But you had better take care of it yourself. I am not going to clean up after some cat. If you don't, out it goes." My mother had been taken by surprise but was too tired to actually argue. I couldn't believe my luck.
"Thank you!" I sang, and carried the now drowsy kitten to my room and placed her on my bed.
"Now, what can I call you?" I thought out loud.
"Diana..." It was a faint noise, and I spun around quickly. The kitten was staring at me with questioning eyes.
"You didn't... I couldn't have... I must have imagined that. All the same, I like the name Diana, and I think I'll call you that." I swore the cat smiled at me.
Life continued as usual. My friends and I became very attached to Diana, and frequently took her to play with Hoshi and Eclipse. Until the fateful day we found the three of them in deep conversation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I think it's time to tell them!" Diana was saying in a high-pitched voice.
"We need to be sure they're prepared. This is no easy undertaking, Diana!" Hoshi's reply was not harsh.
"I agree with Diana, Hoshi. I feel they are ready. They have been preparing, even though they don't know it yet." Eclipse had a soft, delicate voice.
The four of us had just walked into to Kariana's room and stood gaping at the talking cats. They turned around and saw us standing there, their eyes growing wider.
"Oh dear, now this is a bit of a quandry." Hoshi was the first to speak.
"You... You can talk?!?!" Ariana cried incredulously. The cats merely nodded in reply.
"But how? Why? You're... Cats!" I had finally found my voice. Apparently, so had the rest of my friends.
"WHAT is going on?!" That was Kariana.
"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my..." Tessia didn't know what to think.
"Well, maybe we had better, er, start from the beginning, shall we? Let's sit down." Eclipse was gentle and persuasive. We all sat on the bed, staring at the cats at the foot of the bed.
"Hoshi and I are your guardians. Our friends, Artemis and Luna, are guardians of the Sailor Scouts, and Diana is their daughter. She was sent with a message for us to prepare you to become the new Sailor Scouts because there is a problem in Juuban, where the Scouts are!" Eclipse finished with gusto.
"Darien isn't really Darien! You have to help us, it's your job to!" Diana was ecstatic.
"Woah, hold on there, kitten. I'm sure we have them confused enough already." Hoshi was being practical. "Eclipse has already started off well. I'll take it from here."
"As my friends have stated, you are the new Sailor Scouts. You each have your own Sailor identity and powers, which we must find out soon. Eclipse and I were sent to you when we first became aware that you were the chosen ones. We have been training you without your knowledge that we are doing so. We were waiting for Diana to begin the more, er, extensive training, which requires your full cooperation." He peered at us expectantly.
"Wait. Let me get this straight. Three cats are telling us that we have special powers? Other identities?" Kariana was having a hard time digesting it.
"I don't know if the Scouts know about you, but since we were sent to you, we must carry out our mission." Eclipse was nodding in earnest.
"I would ask you all if you accept this, but it's not a question." Hoshi stated matter-of-factly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How do you know who each of us is? What our other identies are?" Tessia was unexpectedly curious.
"Er, we don't. Yet." Diana's reply was not a comforting one.
"Can't you just ask those Scout people you mentioned? And who's Darien?" Ariana was always curious.
"I'm afraid the other Scouts have no knowledge of your existence. We must figure it out on our own. Now, each Sailor Scout has their own crystal that they use to transform. Each one of you must have something similiar..." Eclipse's voice held a pleading note.
"Hmm... Crystal... Hey! I've got it!" I triumphantly remembered our necklaces.
"Girls, remember when we were young? Our friendship necklaces? Where did we get them?" I asked excitedly. No one could remember. However, we were all wearing them. Since we were 5, we had never taken them off. None of us knew why; we just felt we should wear them all the time, as a sign of our friendship.
"They must be it!" Hoshi was excited now. "Show them to me." I removed mine and handed it to the cat, who examined it closely in his paws.
"Yes, I think this is it! We must try them. Who would like to go first?" The four of us hesitated. Ariana had a sudden burst of courage and agreed to try.
"What do I do?" She asked.
"I know! I remember Rini telling me. Oh.... Let me think." Diana furrowed her brow.
"As long as you're wearing your necklace, you can transform. That's it! You just have to shout out your identity and then 'Tranform Power!'" Diana exclaimed happily, "And the identies... There were four! They are... Umm... Let's see, Earth, Nova (Light), Darkness, oh what is the last one? Oh, yes, gravity! Of course! Now which one of you is which?" This had her puzzled.
"We'll try them in order, ok, Ariana? Yell Earth first." Hoshi was always practical.
Still somewhat befuddled, Ariana stood in the middle of the room and shouted.
"Earth Transform Power!" Nothing happened.
"Try Nova next."
"Nova Transform Power!" Still, nothing.
"Well, two down, two to go. Darkness."
"Darkness Transform Power!" Suddenly, light burst from the pendant around Ariana's neck. She was raised from the ground and surrounded by the light. She began to spin and her clothes flashed, and then changed into a gray bodysuit with matching skirt, and black trim. A silver band with what looked like an onyx stone in the middle appeared across her forehead, and black heeled boots were now on her feet. She stopped spinning and was lowered to the ground. The light around her vanished and Ariana was no longer in the room. She had become Sailor Darkness.
"Look at me!" She gasped.
"I want to go next!" Her twin was impatient.
"Go ahead, same order. Earth first," Eclipse nodded in approval.
"Earth Transform Power!" Kariana waited, "I suppose Nova is next?" The cats nodded.
"Nova Transform Power!" A light now burst from her necklace. She, too, was lifted up and began spinning. When she had stopped and had returned to the floor of the room, Sailor Nova was wearing a pale yellow bodysuit with white trim, a matching skirt, and had a silver band with mother of pearl around her head. Her boots were white. She admired herself.
"This is pretty cool. The twins are opposites!" I couldn't help myself, "Tess, how about you go next?" She obliged me.
"Earth Transform Power!" And the process repeated itself. When she had finished, she stood in a beige suit with brown trim and boots, a silver band with tiger's eye in the middle on her head.
"Thank God I have a full length mirror in here," Kariana said.
"I suppose that leaves Gravity for me, eh?" I grinned.
"Gravity Transform Power!" And for the fourth and final time, the room glowed.
I reappeared wearing a lilac and purple bodysuit and skirt, with an amethyst headband and high heels.
The cats were all smiling their approval.
"Splendid! Oh, this fits wonderfully! From now on, we will call you by your Scout names: Earth, Nova, Darkness, and Gravity." Hoshi was very pleased with the turn of events. He hesitated, "There is something else you should know. We don't know why, but Gravity and Nove are your, er, co-captains, so to speak."
The four of us stood looking at each other. For how new and different we looked, it felt natural. As if we knew all along we had secret superidentities, we felt comfortable in the short-skirted uniforms. I wondered why I got heels instead of boots.
"Maybe because you're so short, Ren, the boots would've been all the way up your leg!"
I threw a pillow at Kari in response. My height doesn't actually bother me, but I still pretend to get mad at me when they make jokes about it.
"I always wondered if there would be more of them... Who they would be, what they would look like...," Diana voice was soft and thoughtful.
"When can we begin training?" Kari always was up for fighting.
"Soon... We need to test your attacks and powers, but that requires room, and, er, we're in the middle of a city...," Eclipse was thoughtful, "Kari, I remember a field we went to once, where was it?"
"Oh, that's outside the city. It's about a half hour's walk if you hurry."
"Well let's get going then! Er, Shouldn't we change back first?"
"I didn't think of that. Yes, I suppose so. It wouldn't due for someone to see you walking around dressed like that, what, with us not knowing your capabilities yet." Hoshi replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Nice place," said Diana, surveying the wide expanse of quiet field they were now standing in. The girls had just re-transformed.
"Now, Tess, you first. We need to figure out what your attack is..." For once, Hoshi was at a loss.
"Hoshi, let me think... I don't know why but I feel there's something to do with rope in my attack... Something with nature. Yes, I think I can control a few natural elements," Tess grinned. She loved the outdoors.
"That could be possible. Maybe we should try some physical training first. Prepare you for the use of the powers..." Hoshi's voice trailed off. The four girls grinned.
"I'll take Ana; Tess, you can have Kari!" The cats had no way of knowing we regularly practiced fighting. We went at it. When I had Ana pinned and Tess was on the groud with Kari on top of her, we finally looked at the cats. They were staring at the four of us with their mouths hanging open, their expressions mirroring the ones we had worn when we first discovered them talking.
"Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise," Hoshi cleared his throat. Their amazement was replaced with pleased smiles.
"I suppose we can only wait for now. We should try and figure out what your powers are, but we mustn't do anything until we're sure. Powers aren't something to play around with," Diana said solemnly. Something in her tiny voice didn't sound right, but the girls let it go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The four of us had a sleepover that night to celebrate our newfound identities. We invited the cats. They were delighted to come. Long after everyone else had fallen asleep, Kari and I stayed up into the night talking.
"Co-captains? What do you suppose he meant?" I asked her.
"I don't know... I suppose that means we're the leaders, together," she replied thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I guess. That makes the most sense. Both of us? I suppose they want us to keep each other in check," I giggled.
Although we both laughed, I could tell we were both a little worried what our new lives would entail.
The next morning, I woke up to the smell of pancakes on the stove. I followed my nose to the kitchen where Ana and Tess were cooking breakfast.
"Mmgmning," I mumbled and took a seat at the table. After we had all eaten and washed up, we were more awake. We had one problem; we couldn't think of a single thing to do. The problem was solved for us.
"Girls, we've talked about it, and we've come to a definite conclusion. We need to go to Serena. Diana and Eclipse will go, and I'll stay here with you," Hoshi said. We looked at each other like he was a talking cat. Oh, wait, he is. We looked at each other like he had grown three heads. There, that's better.
"Would you be able to secure our safety for travel to Juuban?" Eclipse asked almost timidly.
"Of course, but you can't go alone, you're cats! How would you get through customs?!"
"Oh, right, hadn't though of that."
"Hmm, well this is a quandry. I don't suppose you could travel with us?"
"No that'd be out of the question." The cats went back and forth.
"Well, we could use a vacation...," Ana grinned. The cats stopped their slight bickering and looked at us.
"You'd never be allowed. Never. Not in a million years."
I suppose I'd better explain how all of this came about. It's not a short story. As I said, I was living in New York City with my friends. Perhaps I should introduce us all properly. I'll start with myself.
I'm Ren. I'm 16 years old, and an only child. My father died when I was young, I don't remember him very well. My mother works at a big corporation. We aren't close. I have short auburn hair, and big hazel eyes. I'm extremely petite, but looks can be deceiving. My personality is, in a word, colorful. I'm considered intelligent, and definitely talkative.
My best friends are (in no particular order): Tessia Teraina, and the twins, Ariana and Kariana Cosmos. Tessia is a sweet girl. She's almost too nice for her own good sometimes. She's taller than me, with shoulder length blondish-brown hair and deep brown eyes. The twins have long red hair and gleaming green eyes. Ana is a little taller than Kari, and they're both taller than Tess and myself. Ariana is zany; she always knows how to have fun and make the best out of any situation. Kariana is sarcastic. While not always an optimist, she is as smart as a whip. The two of them together are a riot. Almost makes me wish I had a sister or brother. Tess and Kariana have pet cats. Their names are Hoshi and Eclipse, repectively. I always wanted a cat. That is where this whole thing started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The four of us were walking home from school one day when we heard a faint mewwing on the steps of my apartment building. Looking down, we saw a little grey kitten. It had no tags, and so we brought it into my family's apartment.
"Aww, look at it! Isn't she the cutest little thing?" Tess said, as I placed a saucer of milk in front of the cat. The kitten greedily lapped it up.
"I hope Mother will let me keep her," I replied wistfully. I had always wanted a pet cat, but never mentioned it to my mother, who was never home anyway.
My friends and I did our homework, and then they went home. I sighed and looked at the kitten, who had been sleeping soundly for almost an hour. Just then my mother came home.
"Mother, there is something important I need to ask you. I found a kitten today and would like to keep it. May I please, Mother? I've always wanted one," I gave her my best puppy-dog eyes.
"Kerensa, I didn't know that... Well, I suppose you could. But you had better take care of it yourself. I am not going to clean up after some cat. If you don't, out it goes." My mother had been taken by surprise but was too tired to actually argue. I couldn't believe my luck.
"Thank you!" I sang, and carried the now drowsy kitten to my room and placed her on my bed.
"Now, what can I call you?" I thought out loud.
"Diana..." It was a faint noise, and I spun around quickly. The kitten was staring at me with questioning eyes.
"You didn't... I couldn't have... I must have imagined that. All the same, I like the name Diana, and I think I'll call you that." I swore the cat smiled at me.
Life continued as usual. My friends and I became very attached to Diana, and frequently took her to play with Hoshi and Eclipse. Until the fateful day we found the three of them in deep conversation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I think it's time to tell them!" Diana was saying in a high-pitched voice.
"We need to be sure they're prepared. This is no easy undertaking, Diana!" Hoshi's reply was not harsh.
"I agree with Diana, Hoshi. I feel they are ready. They have been preparing, even though they don't know it yet." Eclipse had a soft, delicate voice.
The four of us had just walked into to Kariana's room and stood gaping at the talking cats. They turned around and saw us standing there, their eyes growing wider.
"Oh dear, now this is a bit of a quandry." Hoshi was the first to speak.
"You... You can talk?!?!" Ariana cried incredulously. The cats merely nodded in reply.
"But how? Why? You're... Cats!" I had finally found my voice. Apparently, so had the rest of my friends.
"WHAT is going on?!" That was Kariana.
"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my..." Tessia didn't know what to think.
"Well, maybe we had better, er, start from the beginning, shall we? Let's sit down." Eclipse was gentle and persuasive. We all sat on the bed, staring at the cats at the foot of the bed.
"Hoshi and I are your guardians. Our friends, Artemis and Luna, are guardians of the Sailor Scouts, and Diana is their daughter. She was sent with a message for us to prepare you to become the new Sailor Scouts because there is a problem in Juuban, where the Scouts are!" Eclipse finished with gusto.
"Darien isn't really Darien! You have to help us, it's your job to!" Diana was ecstatic.
"Woah, hold on there, kitten. I'm sure we have them confused enough already." Hoshi was being practical. "Eclipse has already started off well. I'll take it from here."
"As my friends have stated, you are the new Sailor Scouts. You each have your own Sailor identity and powers, which we must find out soon. Eclipse and I were sent to you when we first became aware that you were the chosen ones. We have been training you without your knowledge that we are doing so. We were waiting for Diana to begin the more, er, extensive training, which requires your full cooperation." He peered at us expectantly.
"Wait. Let me get this straight. Three cats are telling us that we have special powers? Other identities?" Kariana was having a hard time digesting it.
"I don't know if the Scouts know about you, but since we were sent to you, we must carry out our mission." Eclipse was nodding in earnest.
"I would ask you all if you accept this, but it's not a question." Hoshi stated matter-of-factly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How do you know who each of us is? What our other identies are?" Tessia was unexpectedly curious.
"Er, we don't. Yet." Diana's reply was not a comforting one.
"Can't you just ask those Scout people you mentioned? And who's Darien?" Ariana was always curious.
"I'm afraid the other Scouts have no knowledge of your existence. We must figure it out on our own. Now, each Sailor Scout has their own crystal that they use to transform. Each one of you must have something similiar..." Eclipse's voice held a pleading note.
"Hmm... Crystal... Hey! I've got it!" I triumphantly remembered our necklaces.
"Girls, remember when we were young? Our friendship necklaces? Where did we get them?" I asked excitedly. No one could remember. However, we were all wearing them. Since we were 5, we had never taken them off. None of us knew why; we just felt we should wear them all the time, as a sign of our friendship.
"They must be it!" Hoshi was excited now. "Show them to me." I removed mine and handed it to the cat, who examined it closely in his paws.
"Yes, I think this is it! We must try them. Who would like to go first?" The four of us hesitated. Ariana had a sudden burst of courage and agreed to try.
"What do I do?" She asked.
"I know! I remember Rini telling me. Oh.... Let me think." Diana furrowed her brow.
"As long as you're wearing your necklace, you can transform. That's it! You just have to shout out your identity and then 'Tranform Power!'" Diana exclaimed happily, "And the identies... There were four! They are... Umm... Let's see, Earth, Nova (Light), Darkness, oh what is the last one? Oh, yes, gravity! Of course! Now which one of you is which?" This had her puzzled.
"We'll try them in order, ok, Ariana? Yell Earth first." Hoshi was always practical.
Still somewhat befuddled, Ariana stood in the middle of the room and shouted.
"Earth Transform Power!" Nothing happened.
"Try Nova next."
"Nova Transform Power!" Still, nothing.
"Well, two down, two to go. Darkness."
"Darkness Transform Power!" Suddenly, light burst from the pendant around Ariana's neck. She was raised from the ground and surrounded by the light. She began to spin and her clothes flashed, and then changed into a gray bodysuit with matching skirt, and black trim. A silver band with what looked like an onyx stone in the middle appeared across her forehead, and black heeled boots were now on her feet. She stopped spinning and was lowered to the ground. The light around her vanished and Ariana was no longer in the room. She had become Sailor Darkness.
"Look at me!" She gasped.
"I want to go next!" Her twin was impatient.
"Go ahead, same order. Earth first," Eclipse nodded in approval.
"Earth Transform Power!" Kariana waited, "I suppose Nova is next?" The cats nodded.
"Nova Transform Power!" A light now burst from her necklace. She, too, was lifted up and began spinning. When she had stopped and had returned to the floor of the room, Sailor Nova was wearing a pale yellow bodysuit with white trim, a matching skirt, and had a silver band with mother of pearl around her head. Her boots were white. She admired herself.
"This is pretty cool. The twins are opposites!" I couldn't help myself, "Tess, how about you go next?" She obliged me.
"Earth Transform Power!" And the process repeated itself. When she had finished, she stood in a beige suit with brown trim and boots, a silver band with tiger's eye in the middle on her head.
"Thank God I have a full length mirror in here," Kariana said.
"I suppose that leaves Gravity for me, eh?" I grinned.
"Gravity Transform Power!" And for the fourth and final time, the room glowed.
I reappeared wearing a lilac and purple bodysuit and skirt, with an amethyst headband and high heels.
The cats were all smiling their approval.
"Splendid! Oh, this fits wonderfully! From now on, we will call you by your Scout names: Earth, Nova, Darkness, and Gravity." Hoshi was very pleased with the turn of events. He hesitated, "There is something else you should know. We don't know why, but Gravity and Nove are your, er, co-captains, so to speak."
The four of us stood looking at each other. For how new and different we looked, it felt natural. As if we knew all along we had secret superidentities, we felt comfortable in the short-skirted uniforms. I wondered why I got heels instead of boots.
"Maybe because you're so short, Ren, the boots would've been all the way up your leg!"
I threw a pillow at Kari in response. My height doesn't actually bother me, but I still pretend to get mad at me when they make jokes about it.
"I always wondered if there would be more of them... Who they would be, what they would look like...," Diana voice was soft and thoughtful.
"When can we begin training?" Kari always was up for fighting.
"Soon... We need to test your attacks and powers, but that requires room, and, er, we're in the middle of a city...," Eclipse was thoughtful, "Kari, I remember a field we went to once, where was it?"
"Oh, that's outside the city. It's about a half hour's walk if you hurry."
"Well let's get going then! Er, Shouldn't we change back first?"
"I didn't think of that. Yes, I suppose so. It wouldn't due for someone to see you walking around dressed like that, what, with us not knowing your capabilities yet." Hoshi replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Nice place," said Diana, surveying the wide expanse of quiet field they were now standing in. The girls had just re-transformed.
"Now, Tess, you first. We need to figure out what your attack is..." For once, Hoshi was at a loss.
"Hoshi, let me think... I don't know why but I feel there's something to do with rope in my attack... Something with nature. Yes, I think I can control a few natural elements," Tess grinned. She loved the outdoors.
"That could be possible. Maybe we should try some physical training first. Prepare you for the use of the powers..." Hoshi's voice trailed off. The four girls grinned.
"I'll take Ana; Tess, you can have Kari!" The cats had no way of knowing we regularly practiced fighting. We went at it. When I had Ana pinned and Tess was on the groud with Kari on top of her, we finally looked at the cats. They were staring at the four of us with their mouths hanging open, their expressions mirroring the ones we had worn when we first discovered them talking.
"Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise," Hoshi cleared his throat. Their amazement was replaced with pleased smiles.
"I suppose we can only wait for now. We should try and figure out what your powers are, but we mustn't do anything until we're sure. Powers aren't something to play around with," Diana said solemnly. Something in her tiny voice didn't sound right, but the girls let it go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The four of us had a sleepover that night to celebrate our newfound identities. We invited the cats. They were delighted to come. Long after everyone else had fallen asleep, Kari and I stayed up into the night talking.
"Co-captains? What do you suppose he meant?" I asked her.
"I don't know... I suppose that means we're the leaders, together," she replied thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I guess. That makes the most sense. Both of us? I suppose they want us to keep each other in check," I giggled.
Although we both laughed, I could tell we were both a little worried what our new lives would entail.
The next morning, I woke up to the smell of pancakes on the stove. I followed my nose to the kitchen where Ana and Tess were cooking breakfast.
"Mmgmning," I mumbled and took a seat at the table. After we had all eaten and washed up, we were more awake. We had one problem; we couldn't think of a single thing to do. The problem was solved for us.
"Girls, we've talked about it, and we've come to a definite conclusion. We need to go to Serena. Diana and Eclipse will go, and I'll stay here with you," Hoshi said. We looked at each other like he was a talking cat. Oh, wait, he is. We looked at each other like he had grown three heads. There, that's better.
"Would you be able to secure our safety for travel to Juuban?" Eclipse asked almost timidly.
"Of course, but you can't go alone, you're cats! How would you get through customs?!"
"Oh, right, hadn't though of that."
"Hmm, well this is a quandry. I don't suppose you could travel with us?"
"No that'd be out of the question." The cats went back and forth.
"Well, we could use a vacation...," Ana grinned. The cats stopped their slight bickering and looked at us.
"You'd never be allowed. Never. Not in a million years."