From where he'd been enjoying a nice, long nap lying in the warm sunlight shining through the backyard window of a recently-purchased California suburban ranch home, Xander Harris uncurled himself on the floor and took a good stretch. Every muscle, joint, and sinew flexed and extended.
This included Xander's tail and his retractable claws.
After making sure all ten talons protruding from underneath his fingernails were as sharp as ever before returning these weapons back inside the fingertips, an anthropomorphic feline almost six feet tall got up onto his feet and spent several lazy moments for more practice in cycling through his dozen new forms, with their accompanying personalities, abilities, and fur coats.
Once he'd felt confident that enough exercising had been done for now, Xander reverted to his default form, the Munkustrap costume which had changed him for the first time on that really weird Halloween night a couple weeks ago. Standing there, a tall, silver with black stripes tabby cat bared his fangs in a reminiscent smirk.
And to think he'd been so sure back then that this was gonna be embarrassing beyond belief, dressing up in that skintight outfit bought at Ethan's costume shop due to losing a dare with Wils and Buffy. This giggling pair next proceeded to slather stage makeup purchased at the same place all over his face to the accompaniment of the musical's album loudly playing in the Buffster's house.
The totally incredulous expression on Principal Snyder's own face at catching sight of him for the first time in Sunnydale High later that night made everything worth it, though. There was nothing that little troll could do about it, even with him clearly wanting to toss a disrespectful student into lifetime detention. It wasn't like Snyder had specifically forbidden anyone shanghaied by him into escorting trick-or-treaters against dressing up as one of the actors from the long-running Broadway musical concisely named Cats.
However, Xander was very grateful afterwards that he'd worn one of his old t-shirts under the costume with his own name on that shirt's tag. Without that, Ethan Rayne's Chaos spell might've completely taken over this Scooby Gang member's personality just like all the other costumes sold by that British wanker out to sow pandemonium and mess up everybody's night. It'd also probably kept Xander from losing his magic afterwards, as had happened to his school friends with their own costumes when the Janus statuette was destroyed.
Getting the two young women to understand Xander was completely fine with his humanity gone probably forever had taken him hours of patient discussion with them before Buffy and Willow finally accepted this. Even so, it'd still taken plenty of furry embraces bestowed by him with additional loud purring before his girls accepted Xander's mind was quite set on looking the rest of his life like an assortment of anthropomorphized felines with human traits.
Hey, cats were really cool. Especially all the ones Xander could now turn into.
Old Deuteronomy was wiser than even the G-man and moreover Buffy would accept his kindly advice when she wouldn't listen to her Watcher. Rumpus Cat could definitely hold his own while clearing out several Hellmouth vamp nests in partnership with the Slayer. Macavity was the one who'd pointed out that looting these same ash-strewn nests of every bit of cash and other valuables would set Xander up nicely in his new digs.
Still, the best cat of them all had to be what Xander turned into now in his living room. A midnight-hued feline from the ears to the tip of his tail showed off then a truly evil grin, with Mr. Mistoffelees happily remembering what'd happened to one of the Scooby Gang's biggest pains in their ass just last evening.
Black cats were supposed to be bad luck, as Spike had found out for himself right before abruptly combusting in his crypt without any evident reason for this in the middle of that vampire's final confrontation with the soddin' Slayer and that bloody moggy.
The only discouraging part of the whole otherwise splendid experience was that Drusilla still got away in one piece. Even more worrisome, when this vampiress had escaped into the graveyard night, she hadn't been calling threats over her shoulder during Dru's hasty flight after her lover's dusty demise.
Nope. What made Xander a tad nervous then and now, was how that insane female fiend had vowed to hug and squeeze and stroke and cherish for eternity her adorably wonderful "Kitty Kitty Kitten!"