Mason followed Sid wordlessly just smiling lightly as he went along.

Arin's pupils shrunk to the size of thumbtack needles as she stared at Butch attacking Alexander. And then Spike barked at the Butch, which made her hair stand on end. It was very rare that he got like this. But for some reason, she wasn't as afraid of this as she knew she could be. Like he was taking control of something, or trying to, and that made her feel alright. Slightly. All she could do was watch.

Still, all she wanted was for this weird happenstance to be over and for her and Spike to still be okay and together when it ended.

Eventually, she'd work up enough courage to cry out, "Please stop! You're hurting him!" This was weird for her to react like that... wouldn't she normally just curl up in a ball and shake until the problem went away? Not this time. It was almost like the one thing that made her this way was slowly disappearing as well...

Alexander jerked and thrashed beneath the screaming cat, clawing desperately at the paws gripping his neck as his vision and hearing started to go out. Desperately, he threw weakly-formed fists at the cat's face, but it didn't do him any good: Butch had been capable of taking quite a few hits from weaker animals, and Alexander was in that category...

"DIE! JUST DIE!" the cat screamed, shaking Alexander and smacking his head into the floor...


The rampaging feline didn't even look up until Rion had actually made contact with him, finally breaking his grip on Alexander before he passed out from lack of air. Butch let out a screech of rage, "MANGY CAT! GET OFFA ME AND LEMME KILL THE #### MONGREL!!"

Alexander grabbed his neck and gasped for air, coughing and sputtering as he rolled over onto his stomach. Still coughing, he slowly started to drag himself towards the cabinets again...

"Insults won't fix teh things... an the only mongrel now is you!" Rion said, struggling to keep his sight focused, while keeping the other cat pinned to the ground "Calm down... whoever ye are!"

~~~~~~





The twins looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and simply followed the strange, but rather amusing cat.

"You overgrown furbags build the outside and I'll model the inside" Max said as he climbed down to look at all the sand. To him it was more like a mix of a soft gravel material and tiny powder that fit between even his tiny toes and got all over under his fur. And the stuff still stuck to him too. Sand's messy at any size.

Peter-Rabbit nodded slowly, unsure of how to treat the random insult, and started clearing out a flat area, putting the sand in a pile at the center. "Does... this work?"


======== A few blocks over ========

Sid led them down the street towards the forest, restarting the conversation after a moment. "So.... sorry to pry a bit, but you guys said you were from Tricana, right?"

"Kaneka." Jack said "We are from Kaneka."
"What's Tricana?" Johnny asked

Mason just continued on, listening to their conversation. He didn't have much to offer really but found it amusing.

Pepsi gave a slight smile "Its a good amount to start with, we can add on as we go" he nodded and began to work on the sand, slowly molding the sand into a square shaped base, making sure it was symetrical, not wanting to have a bout with his small case of OCD

Copper chuckled softly, looking at the raccoon, "You could say I just moved in. Want to get a lay of the land, and the more peaceful and quiet, the better with me... you'll probably be seeing me quite a bit."

Rikki nodded as they reached the source of the running water, which was a natural trench in the land lined with smooth rocks, at the bottom of which flowed a gentle stream of clear water. "Lake's not far from here: this stream is coming from it. Like I said it gets deeper in the spring..." he shrugged, "So... You move into the development over there? I remember when they built it a few years ago..."

======== Brookshire Meadows ========
"Tricana's another non-human-ruled island in the South Pacific, I think it's run by wolves or something..." Sid shrugged, "Anyway, you said you weren't comfortable talking about some things about it, is there anything you are comfortable talking about? I've been interested in places like Kaneka ever since I first heard about 'em..."


-------------------------------------
======== Yorkshire Fields ========

"HE'S TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM ME!!" cat-Butch screamed, "I was one of the top show-cats in the tri-state area! I was bred from a hundred years of pedigree Abyssinians, and now he's turned me into..." he cat stopped, tensing up and going blank as he realized what he'd just said...

Copper smiled and started off on his own, following the stream. "Thank you for your time, Racc... er, Rikki, but I think I can make my way from here."

"Turned you into what, exactly?" Rion asked "As far as I can see, even with such a blurred vision, you're still look like a cat to me.... crazy, but still a CAT!" he added, hissing.

"If he did anything to ruin your chances in cat shows, I understand your anger," Spike chimed in. "I felt the same way when I had to retire from racing. But beating him up won't fix anything. We don't even know what's happening, and he has the best chances of any of us for figuring that out. He can't do that if you kill him."

Max watched and waited for a good point, then ran up and began to carve his way into the castle, making a door and internal dwelling.

Peter-Rabbit nodded and started making little mounds on top of it which they could make into towers later....


======== Yorkshire Fields ========

Butch finally stopped fighting and started crying as a sense of cathood started rushing over him, as much as he tried to fight it, "NO! I'm not a cat! What's he done to my mind?!" he grabbed his face, "That crazy dog's ruined me! I'm Butch and no one will even know it!!"

Nearby, Alexander panted as he hoisted himself to his feet and leaned over thhe counter to steady himself, his vision returning to normal...

"You are that overgrown mutt?" Rion said, sitting between the cat and Alexander "Hard to believe."

Pepsi chuckled, his head began to throb, making him pause for a moment, his head felt like it would split apart at any moment, he hated when his head got like this, he was told to come home if his head got like that, but he was having too much fun, he didn't want to leave now, especially since he just made new friends, he felt like he had to stay

"It is. but..." Spike paused for a moment. "When I looked at you earlier... Butch was the only name coming to mind. I can only vaguely remember who Butch even is. when I try to remember, I get side tracked into thinking about... you," he said to the cat.

"It's Butch," Kat said, having just barely stopped her crying. "but also not Butch. I can't explain it, but somehow, it feels like I have memories from two realities. like that one episode of that British sci-fi show when they had to figure out which reality was a dream, and they both were dreams. except now both dreams are reality. and in the other reality, Butch was in this room with us, and Rion and I were the only cats."

Rikki blinked, "You didn't answer..." he sped up a little to keep up, "You sure you don't want me to walk you there? I mean, I could use new company..." beside them, the stream continue to trickle as the trees ahead started to thin out a little...

The Setter's long hair blew in a slight breeze as he walked along the stream, following the bank as he headed toward the lake in question. He didn't even look at the raccoon as he replied softly. " Company? Are you all alone, little one? I understood you to be old enough to fend for yourself."

Rikki gave him a bit of a confused yet stern raise of the eyebrow, "Pup, I'm old enough to be your father." he shook it off and kept walking, "No, I just felt I could use a new distraction... I'm not busy..." He glanced over at the dog, "Unless, you don't want company and you're avoiding telling me for some reason..."

The Setter sighed, doubtful that this raccoon could ever leave him be. "Distraction? What might you mean by that? You need entertainment?"

"...'Entertainment'?" Rikki thought about it, "I guess... What I meant is that it's been a slow day, and I always enjoy meeting new people." he gave Kip a friendly smile...

The setter just gives the raccoon a look from the side of his eyes. " Is that all?"

Rikki blinked. There was kind of another reason he didn't want to be alone right now, but he really didn't want to bring down the mood with it: that had happened two years ago anyway, and maybe one day he'd learn to wash his hands and bury it, but it was his burden to carry and not this housepet's. "Yeah. I just felt like some company. That's all."

"Hmm..." The Setter knew Rikki was holding back, but decided to let it go. He continued on in silence, deep in thought, his curiosity with the raccoon growing by the minute.