Sweetness was a character trait Alice learned to emulate to perfection from a tender age. The youngest and smallest of a litter born of a malnourished mother who couldn't fend for her kittens, she soon found herself on her own. Alice lacked the skills to properly convey the horror, pain and fear she felt during the time she was on her own. Despicable humans crossed her path, she tried hissing and chasing the malevolent twats away, but that seemed to entertain them. Had it not been for her enchanting green eyes meeting the eyes of the grimy old man passing by, Alice was sure she would have found her demise.
Fortunately, she had the ability to dazzle human beings, at least the ones with a heart. Under the care of the unkempt human who first adopted her, Alice blossomed into a beauty. Eating regular meals and living in relative safety, her little heart had the opportunity to dream of higher altitudes. Curious kitten that she was, Alice wanted to go out, explore and own more, be more. Her attentive eyes hadn't missed the visitor who always stopped by. The nice enough woman who smelled of better food, of more comfortable beds, of a better life…and Alice wanted it, all of it.
It wasn't that she was ungrateful to the man who had saved her life. Or even that she didn't have a measure of affection for him. It was simply that she was a survivor, forever striving to better her living conditions. But there was little she could do, especially when the object of Alice's hopes and dreams paid her little to no attention, even though the kitten did her best to enchant the woman. So, Alice sat and waited patiently, what was a feat in itself given her restless nature, until the day lucky turned her way and she was thrust under Bella's care. It was obvious the woman wanted nothing to do with her, but Alice wouldn't be deterred. Not even when she was almost abandoned to her own luck–again.
She followed the woman and didn't relent until her new human took her home. Of course, the foolish woman thought that she could banish Alice to the outskirts of her life, like an unwanted dog. Alice disabused the silly human of that notion by making herself absolutely need, indispensable to the broken woman who liked to call herself "mom". Being hugged breathless and cried upon wasn't exactly pleasant, but Alice thought it wasn't such a high price to pay for all the luxury and overpriced food she enjoyed. Not to mention the absolute bliss of being the undisputable mistress of the house.
Throughout the years there had been some attempts at invading her domain, but they were promptly rebuffed. Having her privacy invaded wasn't something Alice took lightly, as her opponents quickly learned. The cleaning lady was tolerated seeing that her presence was a necessary evil, but she made sure to ascertain her dominance by ambushing the woman every once in a while. The other employees were viciously scratched if they walked by her, and those who dared to complain were promptly dealt with by her human. Alice kind of liked Bella's friends, for they quickly learned to respect her limits and pay tribute in the form of treats and toys.
A whole other issue was the few men Bella dated. Neutered at a young age, Alice was ignorant of what one might describe as sexual drive, others as the search for a life partner. Therefore, she was extremely resentful of what she saw as a deep betrayal of the bound established between her and her human. She told herself that she wasn't jealous, merely annoyed about the indignity of having her belly scratched by strangers who hoped to fall into Bella's good graces…More than once, Alice repaid such absurd behavior by leaving a brown surprise on the offender's lap or, if she was in a hurry, a golden one on his legs. Bella always scolded her halfheartedly, but her frown always turned into a smile upon seeing the adorable look on Alice's face.
It was a blessed existence, but since it was life and not a fairy tale, there was no happily ever after–it eventually had to come to an end. Time passed and Alice's health faded. She didn't understand why her appetite was gone or why her body didn't respond to the commands of her brain—all she knew was that her trips to the dreaded vet's office were becoming more and more frequent and her human, who had been all smiles for quite some time now, started to be sad and teary again. One February morning Alice was taken to the vet for the very last time. All she remembered from that encounter was that Bella was crying when the doctor pierced Alice's skin with a needle, and then the little cat felt a pain like she never had before. She tried to scream for her human mom, but she couldn't anymore.
For a while after that, everything went dark—she couldn't hear or see anything, but then a voice of long ago called her name. With great effort, she opened her eyes and recognized the man staring back at her.
Jasper.
Feeling surprisingly young, Alice stretched her paws and prepared herself to put on a show. She didn't know where she was, nor did she care—all she knew was that she had a human to charm into doing her bidding.
Survival of the smartest and all that jazz.