Chapter 2 Cattitude

As Ludwig ran a comb through his gorgeous, heavily sprayed and delicately taken care of hair, he hummed a melody to himself. He was in a good mood, which was ironic considering the notes he hummed painted a sad, audible picture. They were low, deep, melancholy. In other words, they were just how the Koopa prodigy liked it. He could listen to emotional, tear jerking songs for hours, and he would write those songs for even longer intervals of time.

"My soul yearns for the day," he sang along to the melody, "that release will be granted it. Tired and…." he struggled over the right word to sing next. "Tired and…" his face lit up. "Lonely, it weeps through the night until morn."

As Ludwig sang these dismal lyrics, Lemmy came into their shared bedroom. The second eldest gave Ludwig a puzzled, concerned look as he continued on this improvised journey.

"Hallelujah I won't say. Nights and days I will still pray. Give my aching heart a break. For and endless nap I long to take."

"Wow," Lemmy said. "That's depressing; are you alright, Ludwig?"

Ludwig stopped as he swept one lock of hair to his left side. He gave his brother a smile. "Oh, I'm fantastic." He placed his comb down on the dresser. "Just spitballing ideas for a song."

Lemmy nodded. He didn't look entirely convinced, as indicated by the worry lines in his forehead. He came forward and patted Ludwig's arm, the gesture adorable and comforting at the same time.

"Those ideas sounded sad," he said.

Ludwig chortled. "I know! That's what makes them so good!"

Lemmy shook his head, clicking his lips as he did. "I know you better than most, and yet, I still don't understand how you like piece together such melodramatic music."

Ludwig continued chortling. "Well, when you have the time, I'll set up a multimedia event tailored made specifically to explain it to you."

"Okay." Lemmy's eyes lit up as a smile appeared on his face. "I'll make sure to take a lot of notes." He laughed. "I want to make sure I don't have treble following along!"

Ludwig laughed alongside his brother. He had developed an appreciation for his brother's pun based humor and jokes. Even as someone who's favorite style of humor was dry, sarcastic, and witty, these puns still put a smile on Ludwig's face and put a glimmer of joy in his normally dismal and curmudgeonly heart. This was especially true when said puns were references to the beautiful and profound art of music

"Clever," Ludwig said. He turned back to the mirror, adjusting one last strand of his heavenly blue hairdo. "Well, since I look objectively gorgeous, I think now would be a good time to make my exit." He telekinetically pulled his royal blue cloak off of the door handle, taking his leave once it was securely fastened into place.

"Where are you going?" Lemmy asked, bounding after his brother.

"I was thinking about heading to Sparksville," he said. "I wanted to see what flowers are blooming on the Bridge."

"Oooooh!" Lemmy's eyes glittered, as they usually did whenever he was in the vicinity of someone mentioning the Bridge of Flowers. "That sounds fun. Can I come?"

"Sure." A smile spread across Ludwig's face as he hummed another piece of music, this one an already established tune as supposed to an improvised jumble. Lemmy hummed right alongside him as he skipped down the hallway. Once they got to the staircase, the littlest Koopaling sang the lyrics that accompanied the tune.

"It's springtime! A great time! A happy, and full time!"

"A good time," Ludwig sang along. "The best time! The time of the sweet RHYMES!"

Ludwig placed his hand to his mouth. His voice had cracked when he said the word rhymes, creating an high pitched, hiccup-like sound. Lemmy burst into laughter as Ludwig's face heated up.

"Shut up!" he told his brother.

Lemmy didn't even bother following his brother's request. He just continued on laughing, hugging his sides as the laughter became wheezy and hoarse.

Ludwig's face grew even warmer. "IT'S NOT FUNNY!" His voice had cracked when he said that too, coming out as a string of high pitched squeaks. This caused Lemmy to fall to the floor. Ludwig shook his head as he put his hand to his throat.

"I can't believe," the koopa prodigy grumbled, "that I'm turning twenty one in less than three months and I STILL get voice cracks like this." His face rested in a scowling position before he too started chuckling. "I guess I've still got a little bit of angsty, hormonal teenager in me."

Lemmy, now finally running out of breath, ceased with his laughing fit and rose to his feet. "Wow, Ludwig. Just when I was starting to think that you could do no wrong when it came to music, you broke your voice THAT badly." He grinned, a cheekiness present in the action. "I almost wish that was recorded."

Ludwig sighed. "Thank the Star Spirits that it wasn't." He continued down the stairs, holding his head up high to both show that he was royalty as well as compensate for the voice cracks. He and Lemmy were silent until they made got halfway down the first floor hallway. That was where they ran into Morton.

"Hey guys," the dark skinned Koopaling said. In his hands was his cat, Toasty. The cream colored cat purred like a lawnmower, content as a canary as his owner scratched behind his ears.

"Hey, Morty." Lemmy jumped right into petting Toasty too. "How's my favorite furry gentleman today?"

Toasty's purring got louder the more Lemmy pet him. Ludwig snorted; like every other furry feline friend, Toasty loved being the center of attention. All high and mighty, leagues above the mortals who had the audacity to call themselves his owners. Toasty didn't just have attitude, oh no. He had certified, bona fide cattitude.

"Did he try to escape again?" he asked Morton.

The dark skinned Koopaling nodded. "He's trying to pull off the escape attempt of the century." He scratched under Toasty's chin. "He's lucky he's cute; otherwise I would have lost my temper with him ages ago."

Ludwig snorted, the sound even louder than his last one. "I think that's how he keeps everyone wrapped around his finger." He pet Toasty, running his hand down the length of his body. "I can tell you that I was never fawned over like this."

Lemmy sent a beaming face toward Ludwig. "Sounds like you're jealous."

"HA!" Ludwig guffawed. "Yes, the majestic and talented Ludwig von Koopa is jealous of a hairball spitting, snobby animal. CLEARLY I'm green with envy every time I watch Toasty use the litter box."

Morton snickered. "Actually, I've trained him to lose the toilet."

Ludwig shook his head. "Whatever." He continued walking away. "Just remember this, Toasty. DOGS ARE BETTER!"

Morton rolled his eyes and walked back up to his room. Lemmy, meanwhile, giggled like a gremlin as they continued on their way down the hallway. Once they got to the doorway, Lemmy let out a longful sigh.

"I wish I was a cat."

Ludwig snickered. "Really? You wish you were a cat?"

"Uh, YEAH!" Lemmy's smile was so bright it could almost be described as shiny. "Cats are awesome! They clean themselves, they're stylish, they make the cutest noises…the cat life is the way to go, man."

Ludwig rolled his eyes. "I still think dogs are better."

Lemmy giggled. "I bet I could make you change your mind."

"Not likely." The corners of Ludwig's mouth turned up in a smile. "I'd like to see you try though."

"Okay!" Lemmy said. "As soon as we're back from Sparksville, I'll present you with an argument so convincing that you'll HAVE to admit cats are better."

Ludwig smiled. "Is that a promise?"

Lemmy bounced up and down like his rubber circus ball. "It's a guarantee!"

"Alright." Ludwig didn't see how anything could convince him that cats were better than dogs. But hey, at least he could be entertained by Lemmy trying and failing to convince him otherwise.