Chapter Text
You learn something new every day! For Slingshot, this was to never buy suspiciously cheap food from suspicious looking street vendors. Ever again.
Shiiitttttt…
There he was, happily eating his pastry as he made his way through the rain over to Skateboard’s place, and then poof! Suddenly everything’s bigger! Or rather, he was smaller. His umbrella lay in a heap next to him and— okay, cut to the chase.
He was a cat. Like, a literal cat. Not just a demon with cat features anymore, no, he was an actual fucking cat.
He had long fur, and patches of color breaking up his white colored coat. They were black and blue-grey, and shaped like splotches of paint. His horns remained the same, sitting on top of his head between his ears.
Slingshot was panicking, to put it lightly. He quickly dashed under him umbrella and out of the rain, shaking off a few droplets of water. He already hated getting wet before, he wasn’t about to test how he felt as a cat.
Crap!
Actually, scratch that. Yes he was:
Slingshot squinted as a large gust of wind blew directly into his face. In addition to pelting him with raindrops, it swept away his shelter. He could only watch in dismay as his umbrella was whisked away into the sky, twirling around in a mesmerizing yet heart dropping display.
He shivered. He was completely soaked from head to toe now, and absolutely miserable. The fluffy fur he’d been granted along with this cursed form was doing nothing to help, and was in fact making things worse, allowing cold to cling to him like a remora to a ray. It was frustratingly heavy when filled with so much water, and made movement rather tiring.
Where could he go? Home was too far to be reasonable, so… Skateboard’s? He was heading that way anyways, might as well continue.
Ugh, this is gonna be so embarrassing…
Slingshot scratched at the door, hoping Skateboard would hear him over the downpour of rain. He honestly doubted it and began to question why he’d even bothered to come in the first place. The overhang of the roof helped a little, but it wasn’t very significant.
Wait a second. I’m stupid. Slingshot mentally facepalmed himself.
He leapt up into the air, hovering a few feet off the ground. Huh. So he could still do that, even without the shoes. That made sense, he supposed, as it seemed like his clothes has been absorbed into his cat body when he transformed. This had subsequently lost him his phone and any means of long-distance communication, but hey! Optimism!
He rung the doorbell and hopped back down to the ground.
Hearing faint footsteps approaching from inside, he shook himself free of as much water as he could, not wanting to get everything too soaked.
The door swung out a crack, before opening fully.
“Oh!” a voice said. “Hey there, lil’ kitty cat! Did you… ring the doorbell…?”
Slingshot looked up and saw… orange. Not Skateboard’s usual red. The inphernal standing before him wore an obnoxiously bright orange hoodie with its sleeves ripped off, showing off their muscles, which had strange glowing pipes connecting their wrists to their shoulders. Their curved horns came in two colors, oddly enough. One a bright cyan and the other matching their hoodie. They also had a bandage across the bridge of their nose.
Who the fuck…?
Slingshot was confused. Partially by their atypical appearance, but mainly because Skateboard would have mentioned if he had other guests over, right? He always had in the past, it didn’t make sense for him to change his mind now. So who in all of inpherno was this?
Were they an intruder? A robber maybe? He backed up a little, getting into a defensive stance just in case. The stranger tilted their head slightly, not unlike how a dog would.
Wait a minute— isn’t that the guy from those wanted posters that keep getting torn down?
A wanted criminal broke into Skate’s house!?
It was, in fact, the guy from those wanted posters. They matched the description Blackrock gave perfectly— and it wasn’t like dual-toned horns were common anyway.
Slingshot stepped back, hissing.
Get OUT of my friend’s house, you freak! Slingshot tried to say, only for it to come out as an indignant yowl.
Damn it. Of course I can’t talk…
They crouched down, beginning to reach out to him curiously, but withdrew their hand when he batted them away with outstretched claws.
“Aw, don’t be scared, I ain’t gonna hurt you!” they cooed.
“Hissss!” I’m not scared of you! You should be scared! And leave Skate’s house alone! You can’t just— Wait—
Before he could react, the stranger swiftly scooped him up into their arms and brought him inside, shutting the door behind them. Slingshot had gone completely still out of shock. Not fear, to be clear of course. He could totally take a wanted criminal in a fight! Just because he was smaller and weaker and soaking wet and shivering and without his gear and this stranger was obnoxiously buff and…
Okay, fine. Whatever.
“Let’s get you dried off!” the stranger said cheerfully. “Wouldn’t want all that water warping the floors, haha. Skateboard wouldn’t like that. He likes using his gear around the house, the absolute idiot. Can you believe it? I keep telling him he’s gonna hurt himself one of these days. Which I guess is kind of hypocritical considering the kind of shit i get up to, but I’m not wrong!”
Slingshot blinked. Was… Well, he couldn’t remember their name from the posters, but was this strange inphernal *not actually an intruder? They spoke as if they were Skate’s friend. Actually, they spoke almost as if they lived with him. Did Skateboard really have a secret roommate he hadn’t ever mentioned to Slingshot? And speaking of which, where was Skateboard?
“He’s out looking for his friend right now. He was s’posed to come over today but never showed up, and apparently isn’t answering any calls.”
Oh. Well that answers that question.
Slingshot felt a pang of guilt upon hearing that. He hadn’t meant to worry Skate. Sure, he hadn’t meant to get turned into a damn cat, but it was really stupid of him to eat that pastry.
“Ah, who am I kidding,” the criminal sighed. “You’re a cat, you can’t understand me.”
…
“One sided conversation it is then!”
Slingshot groaned internally.
Swords, am I gonna have to listen to this guy yap for the whole time I’m here?
[]
Coil giggled and the seemingly annoyed expression on the formerly aggressive creature’s face.
“What a strange cat! You’re weird, y’know that?” He booped the cat on its nose and it leaned back a bit.
He wasn’t entirely sure what to think of it. Originally it had hissed at him, but now it couldn’t be more calm. It didn’t squirm as he carried it inside, just lightly hooked its claws onto his sweater and stared at him like it was judging him. Not to mention the whole thing with the doorbell.
“I’m Coil by the way— hey, I wonder if I should name you! What do you think?”
“…”
“Eh, we probably can’t keep you anyway. No matter how cute you are…” Coil sighed, gazing at the cat as he held it up from under its arms. It chirped proudly as if it was agreeing with his statement. He walked over to a nearby couch and sat down, placing it on a fluffy towel brought over as well.
“‘There’s only room for one stray in this house, and he sleeps in the basement,’ as Skate says. Not my fault I’m a wanted criminal!”
“Mrrrr…” the cat tilted its head and let out a trill as he continued to dry it off. He rubbed its fur the opposite way that it naturally faced to better warm it up faster.
Coil frowned as it stared at him with a seemingly deadpan expression. (As deadpan as a cat could be at least.) The fact that its fur was sticking up ridiculously all over the place sort of undermined the seriousness, but it was clearly trying.
“Okay, fine, it is kinda my fault,” he admitted. “…Mostly my fault. But what would you know about that, huh? You’re just a cat. Just a lil’ guy! Itty bitty, hehe.”
He scooped up the cat and hugged it close to his chest as he stretched out to cover the whole couch. It was still shivering, so it could probably use the heat. It began purring as he started lightly scratching between its horns.
Coil continued cheerfully. “Anyways, we’ll probably give you to Skate’s friend— the one I mentioned earlier. He runs a cat cafe! I haven’t been yet but he says it’s really good! You’ll fit in just fine there. Y’know, being a cat and all. And I can visit you!”
“Mew!”
[]
Slingshot purred, sinking his claws into the orange fabric below him and shifting his paws around a bit.
Sure, he might be messed up in the head due to being a cat. Coil was warm, and cats loved warm. Plus he was freezing cold before.
Honestly, Slingshot wouldn’t mind that. The whole visiting thing, he meant. While he definitely didn’t trust him much at the start, Coil seemed like a rather nice inphernal. Plus Skateboard obviously liked him well enough, considering he was literally hiding him from the law.
Slingshot was still kinda salty about that, though he understood that Skateboard couldn’t exactly have told him about Coil.
Though, he’d told Coil quite a bit about him as it turned out, along with his cafe. All good things too! Coil was looking forward to meeting him apparently, and Slingshot couldn’t help but feel a little excited at the idea of meeting him for real, as an inphernal instead of a cat.
…He’d change back eventually, right?
He yawned, his teeth making a quiet clicking sound as his mouth closed. Surely he would. The pastries had been advertised to “leave you content for at least a day!” which was probably some convoluted version of “this will last twenty four hours” so they could still claim they told the truth. Hopefully. Plus, he had only eaten part of it, not the whole thing. He’d probably change back earlier if that was the case.
Speaking of which, he should leave before that happened. Goodness knows how awkward it would be if he just— poof! Appeared in Skate’s house.
After about an hour, the rain gradually came to a stop. Relatively short rainstorm, Slingshot supposed. Coil had long since fallen asleep, so he had to carefully wiggle his way out from under the arm draped over his back. He yawned and stretched his legs, feeling the satisfying burning sensation as his muscles woke up for the first time in a while. He hopped off the couch with a quiet thump.
Time to get out of here.
Slingshot padded over towards the front door and crouched next to the side opposite the hinges. He leapt up into the air and activated his shoes, (or were they his paws now?) fiddling with the round doorknob a bit before managing to finally turn it.
Avoiding puddles if he could help it, he ran home as fast as his paws could carry him.
“Oh thank the swords holy shit,” Slingshot breathed, clutching his jacket.
He’d finally changed back. After running home and sneaking in through Shuriken’s open window, (Who, by the way, wasn’t there! He’d have to have a little talk with him about this later.) he had spent the next couple of hours panicking in his room. Once he calmed down though, the wait had been rather short. Within a few minutes, a puff of smoke had engulfed his vision, and once it cleared he was back to normal.
My clothes are back! Yes!!
And that meant…!
He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out his phone.
Skateboard:
dude??
where r u
u said u would come over at seven
are you okay??
Skateboard:
bro why aren’t u responding did ur phone die or smth
did YOU die??
fuck it im going out
smh can’t believe you’re making me look for you in this weather. traitor </3
Slingshot giggled. Skate was a bit dramatic sometimes.
:Slingshot
heeeeyyyyy bro uhhhh mb my phone lwk died and i git lost </3
i was relying on google maps sob
*got
made it home eventually andim fine sorry i couldn’t come over today
Skateboard:
!!
suspicious
but okay! glad you’re safe :D
gn bro
love you <3
:Slingshot
gn!! ilyt :3
Slingshot sighed and set his phone down. What an… interesting day it had been.