Catfished
The sun was setting over the village, the sky was a beautiful shade of orange as the lanterns were beginning to be hung outside of houses, coincided with the villagers doing the last of their daily activities, such as purchasing from the shops, unloading cargo from the docks, or having finished walking their pets down the road. While activity was winding down, there was a group of people who were still as spritely as ever. Well, they weren't exactly people, but a group of cats, the sounds of meows and yowls, to human ears, could be heard from an alley that was located just on the side of the royal palace. A Siamese kitten was running and jumping over a few crates as a creme cat with black markings, a dark orange cat with stripes on his back, and a black cat wearing a hat were following him.
"You can't catch me, I'm the one with royal blood in me!" The Siamese taunted as he jumped up onto the wall.
"Like that matters, you're still kitty chow, Dongwa!" The cat with thick eyebrows called back, being the first of his group to jump onto the wall.
"Ha, funny coming from you, Jet-Jet, you're getting a bit slow back there", Dongwa teased as he continued to run and only just managed to get around the corner. Unfortunately, he had unestimated the distance from where he could go, as now Jet-Jet was able to corner the Siamese, with his cohorts; Wing-Wing and Lik-Lik on the ground, serving as obstacles if Dongwa tried to go down.
"Well, well, well, looks like you've got nowhere to go, eh, Dongwa?" Jet-Jet taunted as he edged closer.
"Uhhhh, hehe, um, I was just playing around, guys, wasn't that funny?" Dongwa chuckled, losing his confident demeanor
"Oh, yeah, what a joke, I think jokes are funny, especially when I'm the one laughing", Jet-Jet smirked as Wing-Wing and Lik-Lik climbed up on the baskets.
"Look, if this is about snagging the fish, we can work things out, right?" Dongwa asked as he felt himself being backed against the wall before the palace.
"Huh, why should we? We were gonna save that for our meal tonight, not enough food in that palace of yours?" Wing-Wing sneered.
"Guess he thought since he's royalty, he can take what he wants", Lik-Lik added with a scoff.
"I didn't even eat them, I just…touched them", Dongwa said, being somewhat truthful.
"I saw the look in your eye, fish don't come easy to us, not that you'd know", Jet-Jet sneered, getting right up in the Siamese cat's face.
"Uh, I can get you all some fresh fish", Dongwa suggested, "yeah, I'll even fish it myself."
"Is that so…" Jet-Jet inquired before a smirk spread across his face, "so, you'd be like our little servant, am I right?"
"Well, sure, I guess…" Dongwa replied, feeling a little indignant about being referred to as such.
"So, we get to tell you what to do, and how we want it done", Wing-Wing grinned.
"In that case, you'd better fish out me a nice big one", Lik-Lik purred slyly, "I'll be checking exactly for size."
"Yeah…" Dongwa sighed, having fully regret his previous action, but knew he was in no position to argue. The four headed down to the harbor, Dongwa at the front under the watchful eye of the three alleycats. He dipped his paws into the water and set to work, while Jet-Jet, Wing-Wing, and Lik-Lik remained on shore to oversee the operation.
"Make sure it's nice and big!", Lik-Lik called out.
"I want mine to last a full meal!", Wing-Wing added.
"Make sure you give us enough to last, say…about a pile", Jet-Jet announced.
Dongwa groaned as he caught his first fish, he knew he was in for a bit of work. Every time the Siamese cat gathered a fish, he put on the beach to add to the pile, and soon it became larger, and larger. The sun had gone down completely by the time Dongwa had caught yet another fish, by now, he was soaking wet all over, and none too pleased.
"I think that's enough labor for one night", Jet-Jet said as Dongwa set down the final fish.
"Thank Goodness", Dongwa sighed in relief, plopping onto the sand.
"Now you know what we have to do day in and out", Wing-Wing teased as he walked past the Siamese to claim a fish.
"Huh, looks like you didn't do too bad, I'll give ya' that", Lik-Lik said as he dug into a particularly large fish.
"I'm just glad that's all over, I'm so hungry", Dongwa groaned, looking up at the sky, "and I'm supposed to be back home by now."
"I'm sure you can stick around for a meal or two", Jet-Jet suggested as he tossed one of the fish towards the Siamese. Dongwa looked down at it, surprised at the hospitality, but decided not to say anything against it.
"Uh, thanks", He said awkwardly, digging into the fish as a look of relief spread across his face.
"Well, you worked hard enough for it, I think you deserve a treat", The creme feline replied as he bit into his own meal, "who knows, we might see fit to have you as our regular fish catcher."
"Awwwww, c'mon", Dongwa groaned as Wing-Wing and Lik-Lik chuckled.
"You know, there's enough to last us the whole night", Lik-Lik observed, "we could feast this whole pile."
"Yeah, you feasting, and ending up as a big fat cat", Wing-Wing teased.
"Ironic when I'm thinner than you", The black cat jabbed back.
"Oh, you twig!" The orange cat retorted.
"You guys don't come up with the best insults, do you?" Dongwa quizzed, slightly bemused.
"Well, it's mostly these two, even when they try to uphold that tough guy image", Lik-Lik replied, "speaking of which, I'd have made an appearance at that tea party if I knew it was fancy dress."
"Ugh, that was humiliating, that girl put flowers on my head as if the dress wasn't bad enough", Wing-Wing cringed at the memory.
"I don't know, I thought you two looked pretty cute", Dongwa teased with a smirk.
"Hey, we don't do cute, cute's for little kittens, not grown cats like us", Jet-Jet rallied.
"Says the one who's only older than Dongwa", Lik-Lik grinned smarily.
"S-Shut up!" Jet-Jet retorted with a slight blush on his face, gritting his teeth as Wing-Wing snorted with laughter. "I didn't know you were a pig, Wing-Wing, maybe you should go roll around in the mud."
"Wow, that's the best you've got, bushy brows?" Wing-Wing quizzed.
"At least my brows are striking", The creme cat boasted with a paw to his forehead.
"No, I'm striking", Lik-Lik smirked as he stretched out his figure.
Dongwa watched the discourse with an amused expression, sighing contentedly as he removed the last pieces of meat from the fish and tossed the bone aside.
"You guys can be pretty weird sometimes", He said, "but I like that."
"Says you, eye shadow", Jet-Jet jabbed, though this time without any malice attached.
"It's not that noticeable, is it?" Dongwa quizzed with a paw to his eye.
"Oh, we can see it, it's adorable", Wing-Wing said playfully.
"Someone's got good taste", Lik-Lik purred.
"Yeah, well, I think I should be getting home now, it's getting late", Dongwa said as he stood up.
"Wait for us", Jet-Jet replied as he and the other two cats picked up a few fish in their mouths before setting off back to the alley. The full moon was high up as they made their way across the village, but on the way, Dongwa had found he was more tired than he realized and was beginning to nod off.
"Need a hand?" Lik-Lik offered.
"Huh…oh, yeah, that'd be nice…" Dongwa yawned as the black cat positioned himself for the Siamese to lie on his back as they continued on their way.
Standing on the gate between the palace and alley was Baba who was looking rather concerned as he looked out for his son.
"Where could he be, he's never usually out this late", The elder Siamese murmured until he spotted the familiar sight of the alley cat trio with his son nodded off on Lik-Lik's back, "there you are, I was wondering where…"
"Shhhh, you'll wake up sleeping beauty", Jet-Jet gestured to the younger Siamese still perched on Lik-Lik's back.
"I promise I made the ride comfortable", Lik-Lik said with a wink.
"Well, I appreciate you got him home safely, I'll take it from here", Baba replied as he and Lik-Lik did a swap, transitioning Dongwa from the black cat to the other Siamese cat.
"You take good care of him", Wing-Wing said with a grin.
"Being his father, I intend to do just that", Baba replied simply, "still, I wish you all a goodnight." With that, Baba set off back to the palace with a still sleeping Dongwa in tow as the three watched them go.
"If only I could be carried like that", Lik-Lik mused.
"You wish, don't expect us to carry you around", Jet-Jet remarked.
"Instead, you can carry me around", Wing-Wing teased as he got up close to Lik-Lik.
"Mmmmm, let me think…no", Lik-Lik replied as he leaned down on Wing-Wing, causing Jet-Jet to leap up and lean on him, resulting in the three playfully tussling about, and not exactly being quiet about it. But then again, that was just in their nature, while they settled for a night of wearing each other down, Dongwa settled into the comfort of his bed at the top of the Magistrate's office, without a single stir.