Swinger in the Pridelands

[July 10th, open to all Heroes, Scat Cat's intro thread. Would be great if O' Malley showed up!]

Scat Cat padded towards Pride Rock with a spring in his step. "Everybody wants to be a cat," he sang to himself, as he came to the foot of the mighty monument of the Pridelands. He looked up at it, and whistled admiringly. "These Heroes sure know where to find a classy pad," he commented to no one in particular. "This place sure is fancy."

He had looped some old string around his trumpet and had somehow tied it around himself, so that he wouldn't have to leave without his beloved brass friend. He wouldn't go anywhere without it. His alley originated music was his life.

[Gah. Inspiration flow is blocked...for the first post too. >.< Help me out guys, bring in the characters and hopefully it will open the Scat Cat floodgates!]

Playin' his horn, the green skinner gator was having a rare good day. Nothing had freaked him out, he'd not entered any battles. It was glorious. His trumpet bounced to the beat of someone singing. His eyes widened and he grinned. Someone had a cool cat of a voice. He bounded over towards the voice and found it was a cool cat singing. He played a little bit before grinning down at the black kitty cat.

"Hey there," he said, lowering his trumpet, "Y'all new?"

It appeared to be one of those days when Naveen couldn't make himself stay in one spot. He'd been moving about camp in an attempt to find something that would occupy his attention, but so far had found nothing. On top of that, he was bored. There was no training going on, Tiana was elsewhere doing whatever it was she needed to be doing, and Ray had gone off on a little expedition to retrieve herbs in one of the nearby jungles. In short, Naveen had been left to his own devices. Again. He was, admittedly, tired of getting pushed to the side because he hadn't yet found his niche in the heroes camp. What else could he hope to do?

Naveen's mind seemed to be put at ease after a few moments when he caught the sound of someone singing with Louis accompanying them. Now that was something he missed being able to do. He had missed being able to hang around with his friends without a care in the world. Maybe now he could at least spend some time with Louis. Naveen followed the sound until he finally spotted his alligator friend and a black feline that he didn't recognize. Naveen supposed it was a new addition to the heroes.

"Hello, Louis! Lovely day, is it not?" Naveen asked. He waved a little in greeting to Scat Cat as well. "And hello to you, too. I do not believe I have seen you around before."

Scat Cat heard the sound of a familiar instrument in the distance, mingling with his singing. He grinned widely, and continued his song, turning to see who was the player of the jazzy tune. His yellow eyes widened a little as he saw the big gator standing over him. But with a taste in music that good, he had to be a brother, not an enemy!

"Yeah, I'm new. You play the trumpet too, hah? Anyone who plays like that is a friend of mine! Scat Cat's the name, brother!" He raised himself up onto his back paws and extended his front one to high [or in his case, low] five Louis' claw. He grinned up at Naveen too. "Good to meet ya."

[Is it ok if he stands on his back paws occasionally? Because he does in the movie sometimes...if it's not, I'll edit my posts.]

Louis flashed a sharp toothed grin as he high fived the cat. "Nice to meetya," Louis said, holding his trumpet under his arm. "Mah name's Louis. This is Naveen." He peered at the cat and was delighted to learn that he was a fellow art lover, a fellow trumpet player. He grinned wider with delight.

"We'll have to play sometime, friend," he said, "If we get some time in this war. You here to join the heroes right?"

O'Malley looked better than he had been. The old cat was sliding out of his depression- it'd been 4 days after all- but he still wasn't completely healed. At least, he thought, it isn't raining anymore. At least the sun is shining.

At least Duchess is watching over me.

The ginger cat yawned and stretched, deciding that he wanted to take a walk. His white-tipped tail flicked back and forth in the breeze as he strolled along, humming a tune to himself. His raspberry nose twitched as a scent caught his nostrils. Something familiar; was it another cat? It smelled of trash and cheap beer.

Wait a second. There was only one cat O'Malley knew of that smelled like that! The tomcat quickly broke out in a brisk run, approaching the group of human, alligator, and...Scat Cat! O'Malley's face lit up and a smile formed on his maw. It was him! His old band-mate; his best friend!

He padded towards Scat Cat, a grin as wide as the Cheshire cat's. He just couldn't believe it! Scat Cat, big man in the alley, was standing right with him in the middle of a war. Remembering his skills from Robin Hood's training, O'Malley got up on his hind legs; a feat easier now that he remembered.

"Well well," O'Malley meowed playfully and considerably happier than his tone was a few days ago, "looks like the greatest cat of 'em all decided to join me in the war!" He extended a white paw, expecting what always happened when he offered for a high-five. "Lay some skin on me, Scat Cat!"

"I'd love to jam with ya, Louis," Scat Cat said, sitting down and pulling his trumpet from his back. "Yeah, I'm here to be a Hero. Wouldn't have it no other way!" He froze as he heard a familiar voice behind him.

When he turned, he was grinning again, from whisker tip to whisker tip. "Big man O' Malley!" he cried, elated to see his friend. "Where ya been all this time, brother!" He leapt up and gave his friend an enthusiastic high five. "Didn't know you'd be in this war! What about Duchess, and the little kids? Well, hope the kids aren't in the war! I still remember that awesome night you brought 'em all to the pad, and we had a swingin' time!" Scat Cat said a lot in a short space of time. It had been ages since he'd seen his best buddy.

O'Malley beamed at the high-five, but his face fell at the mention of Duchess and the kittens. How would he be able to break it to Scat Cat? He lowered himself, now sitting firmly on the dusty dirt ground, ears back against his head. Taking a deep breath, he started. It was time for the truth to come out.

"Duchess is dead. S-she died about a week ago. And the kittens...the kittens are all villains. They're all fightin' against me, Scat Cat. I just don't know what to do, man." O'Malley paused, taking another breath.

"I'm just not the swinger I used to be."

Scat Cat's grin faded as Thomas told him the news. When he had finished, Scat Cat let himself fall into a sitting position heavily. He sent up a cloud of dust as he landed on his rear, and stared blankly at his paws as he took in what his friend had just said. Duchess dead? The kittens villains? But...how? How could that have happened? How could it be possible?

Scat came back to his senses a little and shifted closer to O' Malley. He laid a paw of comfort on his shoulder. "You'll always be a swinger at heart, bro..." he said quietly. "I'm...I'm sorry 'bout what happened...the kids, why did they...? And...erm...Duchess, how did she...?" He trailed off from both questions awkwardly, not wanting to cause his friend more heartache, but feeling that he had to know what happened.

Louis lowered his head. He'd obviously intruded on a reunion, even though the black cat seemed like he'd be a cool trumpet playing partner. Hearing of the death of the white cat made Louis even sadder. Blinking large eyes, he shuffled next to Naveen and fiddled with his trumpet some more. He wasn't sure what to say, unsure of how they'd react. She'd died about a week ago, probably killed, murdered by a villain. It made his skin crawl. Villains were horrible. Obvious thought was obvious.

"Maybe we should go," Louis muttered to Naveen.

Naveen found himself feeling just the slightest bit uncomfortable as well upon realizing he had kind of just barged in on a reunion of sorts. It became even more so when the discussion of death was brought up. At length, the Prince gave a nod at Louis' suggestion of going. He didn't really know quite how to react to the matter of Duchess' death being discussed, anyway.

"Perhaps you are right, my friend. I do not think there is much we can add to this conversation, anyway." Naveen said. He was a bit disappointed, he would admit, as he had kind of been looking forward to the prospect of listening to Louis and Scat Cat jamming, but it did seem rude to just kind of stand there while such a sad topic was discussed.

O'Malley's ears drooped at the sound of Louis and Naveen's words. Guiltily he turned his head towards them. "Sorry guys," he meowed in apology. He somewhat smiled, trying to show that he meant no harm, but he felt it only added tension to the situation. He shifted his attention back to Scat Cat, trying to muster enough strength to inform him on the situation.

"I...I don't know why the kittens would turn to the villain's side. I jus' showed up- Toulouse was here as a hero, originally- an' when I went out to the battlefield one day, there was Berlioz hangin' out with a couple 'a lions an' Marie was a tiger. Eventually Toulouse left behind my back an' Duchess showed up, but then she left too..." O'Malley paused for a minute, taking another breath.

"E-eventually one day last week I was takin' a walk through the middlelands and I heard her screamin' and fightin'. I ran to try and help and saw that she was gettin' attacked by a wolf. I tried to fight him but by the time we scuffled she was..." He trailed off, daring not say the word. It was not a word he wanted to say. It only made him feel more broken, more incomplete.

"Well...y'know."

"Yeah..." was all Scat Cat felt he could say in return. He heaved a heavy sigh, then brought his trumpet to his mouth and began to blow a slow, mournful tune. 'Poor Duchess...' he thought to himself as he played. 'And the kids...how could they be villains?'
His yellow eyes drifted to Louis as he played. A sad-eyed invitation to join in if he wanted. Sure, this wouldn't be the jamming session they had briefly talked about...but Scat felt that it was important to express oneself through music no matter where you were or what you felt.

O'Malley's ears drooped at the sound of Scat Cat's beautiful horn. Man what a sound. That sound had always got them through; through thick and thin, through hard times and easy parties and everything in between. Mimicking Scat Cat's motions, he looked to Naveen, a sort of invitation. They were welcome to stay. It didn't matter much to him.

The orange tomcat lifted his head to the sky, and let out a solemn, single note. "Ooooh..." A tear rolled down his cheek, making the fur on his face damp. He didn't care.