untonuggan | My cats are entertaining and so I wrote a thing

"I've given you plenty of time," Lily said, licking her paw.

Amelie eyed the small tabby over her bowl of food. She wasn't sure what the protocol was. She never knew how to behave around these other cats. At first Chance had seemed the greater threat with his pacing outside her door and his gifts, but glancing at the self-assured queen now she wasn't quite so sure.

"I'm told he's been finishing your food," the tabby continued.

Amelie licked her whiskers nervously. "The human has been helping. The human said I could eat in the living room -- "

"The human is mine," Lily said, so softly Amelie almost missed the possession behind those words.

"I let you have the paper bag yesterday -- "

"I took the bag yesterday because the bag was also mine. You don't understand, everything is mine."

Lily blinked once, twice, lazily at Amelie. The human nearby simply watched. Nothing appeared to be happening. Was the human...smiling?

"I've given you plenty of time, but you need to decide if you want my protection...or not."

Lily washed her paw, appearing to ignore her.

Slowly, Amelie edged away from her food bowl, offering it to the other cat.

"Very wise decision," Lily said.

"Aren't you going to eat it?" Amelie asked, a little longingly.

"Hon, what you need to understand is that I could have eaten it anytime. I just needed to know if you were on my side."

"Hi, friends!" Chance ambled into the room, licking his lips. "Hey Amelie are you eating in here now?"

Amelie heard Lily sigh, turning from the bowl that sat between the three of them.

"You know what to do," she whispered.

"I don't know -- "

"I don't want to have to teach you both a lesson for disobedience."

Amelie glanced at the human and her half-finished lunch, then began to scratch the floor to indicate that she was done. She was not done, but if she was to fit in here then that apparently meant sacrifices. And the tabby had promised her better sun spots than Chance if things went well.

"Oh are you done, pookie? Chance, that's not your food!" The human picked up the bowl and carried it to the kitchen, the other cats following her. Amelie settled into the now-abandoned sun spot and hoped she would not regret her decision.

***

Lily knew what she had to do. The new minion's food was disgusting -- some sort of mush -- but she had to prove that she was Queen. She tried to be a benevolent monarch, but that sometimes meant soft displays of power so that she didn't have to enforce it with tooth and claw later.

Chance was trailing after them still babbling about how much he loved this damn food, too.

The human was scraping the bowl into the trash when Lily stopped in front of her and gave one of her time-honed, most plaintive "mews." It was one of the powers the other cats did not wield. It gave her a secret power over the humans. Chance was learning, though: she needed to watch that.

"Oh are you hungry baby? I thought you didn't like this food. See?"

The human set the bowl in front of Lily. She gulped. She had to show them her power over the humans, her power over everyone in the house.

Taking a deep breath, she licked a few pieces of the hated food from the bowl.

"Oh honey, you don't want that."

Bless this human! Her training was going well. She removed the bowl and offered Lily some much choicer treats.

She ate them quickly, forcing the bitter taste from her mouth.

Her minions did not understand the sacrifices she made for them. They would come to appreciate them one day, when she had fully united the household under her banner.

After all, she was Lily. It's what she did best.