Ji’bassa instantly pouted and began twitching his tail in annoyance when Juniper landed her jump perfectly. When she jumped up onto an arm of the throne and began daintily licking a paw, his orange eyes narrowed, and a devious plan formed in his mind. He was the bigger one here, right? He should be the leader, right? She shouldn’t look so smug. Maybe he would knock her down! Yeah, that was it! He would knock her off her perch and then look down at her and laugh. These thoughts were all in good fun, of course. He wasn’t being malicious or anything, and if he ever actually hurt her feelings he would probably feel terrible. But he was a cat. And cats played.

He faced her without trying to make it obvious what he was about to do, and then pounced at her, attempting to knock her down off the throne…

Though she didn't even look his way Juniper could tell that Ji'Bassa was planning an attack. Her tail twitched curtly behind her in anticipation as she continued to casually lick her paw. While she had planned to dodge his attack he was too fast for her and before she knew what was happening she was falling. Luckily she was a cat and cat's always land on their feet. Still, she was shocked from the sudden dethronement and stayed still where she had landed.

When Juniper was sent to the ground, Ji'bassa didn't care that she landed on her feet. He still thought it was hilarious that he had actually knocked her down. He peered over the edge at her, orange eyes shining with delight, and he let out mrowrs of laughter. He laughed so hard that he fell over onto his side, and doing so caused him to fall off the seat of the throne. He landed with a whump back on the cold stone floor. It knocked the wind out of him, but still he wheezed out a few more laughs.

Eventually, he stopped laughing, and when he calmed down, he rolled over onto his back and looked at his new friend upside-down, pawing playfully at her. "What now?" he asked, wondering where they should go next. He was glad he found Juniper. Cats were independent, sure, but it was good to have friends, regardless.

Juniper tucked her ears at the laughter from above and then looked up at Ji'Bassa with a glare. She wasn't mad, not really, just embarrassed. She looked away from him and began to groom her side. But when he fell from the throne and landed beside her it was her turn to laugh. Funny Ji'Bassa. That was the word for it - somehow she knew.

She sat and playfully batted away the paws that reached out toward her until his question. The young calico lowered her paw back to the ground and looked out beyond where they were. Yeah... what now?

END