Cat's Got Your Tongue

by wolfpawn

Imagine Like Prompt - Imagine that while stuck in the form of a stray black cat, whom you take in, Loki can still verbally communicate in his normal voice. You find out by accident When you open a can of cat food and dump it out onto a plate, he glances at it and says, "Well, that's not fancy, or a feast, at all."

"He's a bit of a lively one." Becca warned.

"Thanks for the heads up. Is he still out of it?" You asked, getting the travel box ready and putting a fresh fleece blanket in it.

"He should be awake but groggy; best to get him into the box before he wakes fully." She recommended.

Taking the cat box in hand, you walked into the recovery room and to the animal cage with a towel outside the door to keep it dark. Pulling up the towel you looked in. "Oh, hello beautiful boy." You cooed, seeing the creature inside, half asleep. "Aren't you the most handsome man in this place?" Slowly and calmly you opened the cage and listened to him make warning noises akin to grumbling. "I know baby, I know." You spoke slowly and calmly. "You're confused and here I am coming to annoy you. I'm a mean human, aren't I?" Gently, you took the edge of the blanket he was lying on and wrapped it around him carefully before lifting him out and into the waiting box. He seemed to realise at the last moment what was going on, but by then you had placed him in the box and you were locking it up as he tried to get to his feet. "Whoa there beautiful boy, stay down, I am going to spring you from this joint." You smiled. As though understanding what you were saying, he eyed you carefully and ceased struggling to his feet. "Yeah? You want to come to my place for a few days while we see if anyone is missing you? You're too big and well looked after to be some scraggly stray aren't you; I bet you are used to the good things in life; like a little king."

Walking out the door, you swiped your key card and walked back to reception. "He's a beauty isn't he?" Becca asked as you came in.

"And he knows it, you can see the big smug head on him." You smiled.

"He had medetomidine, but he is clearly coming around again." Georgie grinned looking into the cat box.

"So what am I putting him in the book as?" Becca asked, holding the pen in her hand.

"Khal." You smiled.

"Apt." Georgie chuckled. "He acts as though he's a king."

"Georgie, you have been a vet for six years, haven't you figured it out yet, all cats see themselves as royalty." You joked.

"Well this guy seems to be fully convinced of it." Georgie pointed at the box. "Rather you than me."

"We'll be fine, won't we Khal?" You looked in and blinked slowly at him, hoping to calm any anxiety he may be feeling. "I better go, what good is a long weekend if I spend it here, gossiping with you guys?"

"Be honest, you can't leave, you love us too much." Becca commented.

"I love ye, this place however, I have a healthy dislike for."

"An animal love that hates the place where animals come to be healed, care to explain that one to us?" Georgie laughed.

"Yes, I hate seeing them here, because nineteen times in twenty, it is because they are sick." You explained with a shrug, holding the box carefully and making for the door.

"Can't argue that logic." Georgie conceded. "Have a nice time with The Khal, call us if he gets too much."

"He won't, he's too proud of his handsome looks to be troublesome." You replied clocking out and heading for the door.

Outside was getting chilly, so you walked quickly to the car and placed the box on the passenger's seat, securing it with the seatbelt. The short drive home was taken up with a news report of some suspected sightings of Loki, the alien God that had tried to destroy New York a few years previous, but the sighting were rubbished as scare mongering, with a statement from Stark Industries that there had been no activation of the system they had put in place to detect the God. Getting out of your car, you hummed to yourself as you walked up the steps to your place and fought with the lock, swearing for the millionth time to get it changed. Once inside out of the cold, you put your coat on the rack and switched on the heating before finally shoving on the kettle to boil. When all that was done, you returned to the hall to the indignant looking tomcat glaring out at you.

"I know, I know, you want to see what your new abode looks like, don't you?" You half sang. You brought the box into the lounge area and unclasped the door and opened it. "Come out whenever suits you and have a sniff around." You offered, stepping out sight to give him some time to settle, but watching him from the hole in the wall that connected it from the kitchen. With a fresh warm tea in hand, you watched slightly shocked as he walked swiftly enough, albeit on shaky legs, out of the box and straight to the sofa, his front paws first, then the back ones, one by one, kneading the blanket that covered a few times before walking across it and making his way to the window sill, watching the world outside.

You said nothing but continued to watch him; he was odd, even for a cat. Usually they are curious creatures, looking around, but he was analysing things, studying his surrounds. Deciding that he was of little risk to himself, you went into the kitchen and prepared a snack. Humming the same song you had been humming before, you paid little attention to your surrounds. As you turned again to you jumped and shrieked to see Khal sitting in the hole in the wall staring at you. "What the hell?" You took a moment to settle yourself and taking deep breathes. "You scared me beautiful boy." He looked almost proud of himself for it before looking at the food on your plate. "Want something to eat?" Walking over to the cupboard and took out a small tin of cat food. "Here you go; apparently it is a fancy feast." You read the tin before you placed the food on a saucer and walked over to where he was sitting. "Enjoy."

Looking at the food for a moment, he then looked up at you. "Well, that's not fancy, or a feast, at all."

Your eyes went wide and your mouth dropped open. "What?"

"If you honestly think I am going to eat something that smells like rotten meat while you eat that." He looked at the sandwich you had been making.

"You…How…But…" Your voice was shaking and weak.

"Wait, isn't the norm for this creature to say, what is it, meow? What sort of odd noise, don't you think?"

"I hit my head, didn't I? Yeah, I hit it off the cupboard." You nodded, voice getting higher pitched.

"Not that I am aware, but you mortals are not renowned for your sturdiness."

"You're a cat." You declared terrified. "You aren't supposed to be talking."

"Well I would have spoken sooner were it not for whatever was in the confounded stinging thing, it made me fall asleep. Thor mentioned that from his first time on the Norn forsaken realm."

"Thor, that Thunder guy?"

"Ha, if he heard you, he'd be indignant." The cat scoffed.

"Why am I having a conversation with a cat?"

"Lack of social ability with your own species?" He suggested.

"What is happening?"

"Well let's see, I miscalculated and ended up on this horrid place again, and rather than having that eclectic clan of misfits annoy me over a genuine mistake I may have copied the appearance of a local fauna and been struck by some sort of a weird contraption."

"A bike, you ran out in front of a bike." You found yourself informing him. "Wait…" You recalled the reports about the sightings and jumped back a few paces. "You're Loki?"

"You heard of me." Again he seemed proud, you nodded. "Good."

"What are you going to do?" You asked fearfully.

"Find the nearest portal and get the Hel off this realm." He replied. "So you don't want to hurt anyone?"

"Well I would not mind a moment or two alone with that bike thing to rip it asunder and the mortal called Georgie, what the Hel sort of name is that anyway, for his giving me that toxin."

"It was just an anaesthetic, he wanted to help you."

"I do not require the help of a mortal." He snapped before jumping off his perch and landing on the floor, next to your feet. "Now, if you could get the door for me, I shall be on my way."

"What?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "The door, lest you are not very astute, and since you seem to actually elect to work with these creatures, I do question your intelligence, but I am unable to open it."

"No." You shook your head. "If you really are Loki and I am not going mad, how can I trust you will not harm other people?"

"Honestly, for creatures with such pathetic life spans, you do hold grudges." He sighed. "I just want to get away from here, trust me; I want to be here as much as you want me here."

"I can't risk it." You were still shaking your head.

He looked at you for a moment analytically. "A brave move." He sat down. "Let me make myself clear. I want to get to a place on the realm where ancients here used look to the heavens so to connect with their pathetic Gods. Where is the nearest one?"

"Newgrange."

"Take me there."

"It's a three hour drive."

"Well then show me the way and I shall walk."

"That would take you days as a cat."

"Well I best get started then, hadn't I?" His voice was strained as he spoke through gritted teeth.

"But you'll get killed. A bike is one thing, a car, a truck, even a train is another."

"Then drive me."

"Why should I?"

"You care for these creatures, do you not?"

"But you are stating you are not one."

"You are trying my patience mortal. If you assist me, I get off this realm, and you go about your existence once more." He bargained.

Conflicted, you looked at him for a few moments, him flicking his tail in irritation. "How did I get caught up in this, I just wanted to look after a cat for a few days?"

"I would suggestion not offering assistance to pests in the future." He recommended.

"Get in the damn cat box."

"What?"

"The cat box, get in it."

"What manner is that to treat a prince?"

"Well the country doesn't have royalty, so I dunno how they are supposed to be treated, but I can tell you how we treat cats, like cats, so get in the box."

"How dare you? I am not some dim beast. You said so yourself, I am regal in appearance."

"You are feline in appearance." You stated factually.

"I am not getting in that apparatus again, there is no traction when you go around corners and it smells like a garderobe."

"Good to know, what would you suggest?"

"That I get a comfortable place to sit and you drive that contraption of yours until we get to this Newgrange. It better not be too new, it will not fit the requirements for what I need then."

"It is five thousand years old, old enough for you?"

"That should suffice."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Where is there another one?"

"I'm not sure, probably Stonehenge. Which is in another country."

"I better not have to go in those metal flying vehicles of your realm, they are practically prehistoric."

"I'll shove you in one for the sheer fun of it if you don't stop, and inject you again too."

"Mortals are so sensitive about out of date electronics." He commented going to the door.

"Can we not wait until tomorrow? I have the day off; we can go in the morning so you can do what you need to under the cover of sun up."

"Fine, but I am in need of nourishment, and that tripe will not suffice." He glared at the saucer of cat food.

"Well then, have the sandwich."

"And you? What will you be eating?"

"Nothing, I am taking a shower and going to bed, and hoping whatever I did to hallucinate this will be gone by morning."

"Not likely to happen, but I wish you luck." He commented, jumping up to the table and picking at the sandwich. "Not much better, but I have not many options, do I?" He moaned.

You woke at three, well before the alarm you had set for your early morning travel. Walking into the living area, you noted the cat looking at you from a curled up position. "Can you still talk?" You asked cautiously.

"Yes." He answered.

"So we are still going?"

"Yes."

"Wonderful." You stated sarcastically.

"Indeed, if it is any consolation, I am none to pleased by this either."

"That doesn't make me fell better."

"Well you cannot argue my trying." He stretched and jumped off the couch. "On we go."

"Why me?"

"I ask myself that all the time."

"Have you a comment for everything?"

"Yes." He called back over his shoulder.

The road was practically empty and though you went through two toll bridges, you had no interactions with others the entire way other than you more than peculiar travel companion. All the time, you argued with yourself about asking him why he had attacked Midgard, but settled on not asking in the end.

"Oh yes, this is a strong place." He seemed excited as he looked out the window.

"So this thing you have to do, this is okay for it?" You asked looking to the mound in the distance that housed the ancient chamber.

"Mortals used be far more in tune with the realms, you lost your way over time." He explained as you opened the door.

When you closed it again and stayed standing by it, he turned and looked at you. "There are cameras at the entrance to the site to prevent people going up and desecrating it, I will only bring the Gardaí here." You explained.

"Well then, I suppose etiquette dictates I should show my gratitude." He sat down for a moment.

"A thank you will suffice." You suggested.

"Well then mortal, I thank you, for your wanting to care for me, and for your assistance."

"Just don't try to destroy my home again. I like it here."

"Well they do say the simple things are what are pleasing in life. I do have one question though. My language dictates I can understand all others, yet the word you used to name me yesterday does not translate."

"Khal?" He nodded. "What about it?"

"What does it mean?"

"It is a character, in a famous book series here, the word itself means chieftain. Khal Drogo, he was a terrifying and brutal king."

"I like it." He declared, walking off towards the mound.

You waited a while, and you were rewarded with a flash of light brightening the sky for a moment. As you started up your engine, you rubbed your eyes, wondering how the hell you were going to explain how you lost the cat without getting at least a severe scolding in work.