Title: Ship’s Cat
Author: jordannamorgan
Fandom: Drifting Dragons (a.k.a. Kuutei Dragons)
Characters: Ensemble.
Setting: General.
Rating: Very mild PG.
Length: 1,787 words.
Summary: The Quin Zaza acquires an unlikely new crew member.
Notes: Also for “Pets” at genprompt_bingo.



“Hey, what the hell is that?”

Soraya’s yelp startled Takita out of her concentration on the cow-sized dragon carcass she was up to her elbows in. Having encountered an entire herd that morning, the Quin Zaza’s crew had brought in over a dozen of the glossy yellow-and-blue beasts, which they were currently butchering just outside the nearest town. Judging by Mika’s level of drooling, the meat was of high quality, and would fetch a good price from the townspeople who were already lining up to purchase it. For the drakers finally seeing another payday, the prospect of enjoying fresh food and soft beds on solid ground that night made for a festive occasion as usual—which is why Takita’s heart plummeted at the thought of anything being wrong now.

Rising quickly, she approached Soraya. The same impulse was shared by each of their crewmates who happened to be working in the vicinity: Mika, Giraud, Gibbs, Niko, and Vanabelle had likewise abandoned their work to drift over and see what the matter was. Considering they had never seen this species of dragon before, and still couldn’t be certain there were no weird and potentially dangerous quirks hidden in the carcasses, a sudden query of What is that? was an entirely reasonable cause for concern.

Soraya was pointing to one of the limp dragon bodies laid out in the grass, at the edge of the workspace they had set up around the airship. As Takita moved closer, she could see that its side was faintly… undulating, as if something was moving underneath the dense hide.

“Is it still breathing?” she gasped.

“…No.” With head tilting and eyes fixed warily upon the movement, Mika slowly advanced upon the carcass. “I killed this one myself, so I know it’s dead.”

Takita didn’t bother to ask how Mika could tell his own kills apart from a dozen other carcasses that all looked the same to her. No matter the species, the man knew dragons better than he knew his own goofy face. For that matter, she wouldn’t be surprised if he could smell them apart.

Giraud watched the squirming inside the dragon’s belly with an uneasy expression. “Could it be… pregnant?”

“Are there even any dragons that give birth to live young instead of laying eggs?” Vannie wondered.

It unsettled Takita that no one had an answer for that question.

Fifty years of draking history, and how little we still know about these creatures we hunt…

As the writhing under the skin grew more pronounced, the staring drakers unanimously edged closer, as if drawn by a mutual fascination and dread.

A few short jerks of motion rippled out across the hide from one of the lance-holes that penetrated it, as if something was pushing on it from the inside. With a damp and slimy-sounding shlop, a small black head suddenly erupted through the hole—its mouth filled with pink shreds of dragon flesh.

“A cat!” exclaimed Gibbs.

Mika’s howl of disgust nearly drowned out the older man. “Augh, get it out of there!”

Giggling, Takita ran forward and proceeded to extricate the cat from the carcass. With its fur slick with noxious-smelling dragon entrails, it wasn’t hard to pull it from the lance-hole. Once it was free, she found this also owed something to the fact that the cat—an inky-black male—was fairly scrawny. He did not struggle in her grasp, but continued all the while to greedily munch his mouthful of stolen meat.

“Aw, poor thing, no wonder you’re hungry enough to go crawl inside a dragon carcass,” Takita crooned, running her hand over ribs she could plainly feel beneath the matted fur. “You don’t have a home in town, do you?”

The cat swallowed his last bite and mewed plaintively.

Niko chuckled. “I guess we can take that as a no.”

Gibbs, Vannie, and Giraud were likewise stifling smiles. On the other hand, Mika still looked righteously indignant.

“That little monster was eating my meat!”

“Oh, calm down, Mika. He couldn’t have eaten much.” Takita patted the cat’s oily head. “That wasn’t the only dragon you caught, so you’ve still got plenty. And besides, you shouldn’t be eating our profits anyway!”

“It’s still my kill. That cat owes me for every bite it stole.” Mika narrowed his eyes and fondled his knife. “I wonder what cat tastes like…”

Vannie gaped at him. “You can just put that thought out of your mind right now, mister!”

Gibbs uttered a put-upon sigh of a chuckle. “Takita, you might as well get that cat cleaned up. Then take him over to the edge of town and turn him loose there. It’s not safe for him around here. If he managed to crawl inside another one of these dragons before we go to butcher it, he might get hurt. …Hopefully, someone in town will see him and decide to take care of him.

“Right!” With the sticky feline cradled to her chest, Takita went off in search of soap and a washtub, nattering gently to him as she went. “Don’t worry little guy, you’ll be all clean soon. And if you’re still hungry, I’ll even scrape the dragon bones, so I can give you the last scraps of meat off them.”

Behind her, she was unsettlingly aware of Mika still glaring at the cat over her shoulder.



According to plan, Takita bathed the cat—who did not take it well, but fortunately she had her thick leather work gloves to protect her hands, and he was really too small to give her too much trouble. When he was clean and dry, with his jet-black coat gleaming in the sun, she gathered him up and took him to the edge of town. Not without a little reluctance, she left him on a bench near a fountain. There were houses nearby; she hoped a family living in one of them would see him and decide to adopt the errant animal.

Returning to the Quin Zaza, she found the sale of dragon meat was in full swing, and hurried to pitch in. She spent the next two hours running back and forth, fetching smaller orders for the customers. In the end, the profit for the hunt was even better than their number-cruncher Lee had calculated, putting all of them in a cheerful mood as they headed off to town at twilight.

As they passed the fountain, Takita couldn’t help glancing around for the cat, but he was nowhere to be seen.

That evening was much like any other after the ending of a successful hunt: the drakers feasted, Berko and Vanabelle drank too much, Niko and Soraya tried to hit on the tavern girls. Late in the night, they all stumbled off to a blissful sleep on soft beds at the inn, and in the morning they dragged themselves back to the airship to prepare for departure. With no sign of the cat on the return trip either, Takita hoped someone really had taken him in.

In short order the Quin Zaza took to the sky once more, setting off in search of new quarry. Life settled back into familiar routine for two days… until the afternoon when Yoshi burst out of the galley, wide-eyed and clutching a furry black shape by the scruff.

“This little stowaway has been stealing cured meat out of the larder!”

Vannie’s lips twitched, and most of the men on deck simply gaped at the cat; but Mika growled aggressively and strode forward, reaching out for him.

“Alright, there’s only one thing left to do with that little beast…”

Takita swiftly threw herself between Mika and the cat, arms spread defensively. “Stop being mean to him, Mika! He’s just hungry! You oughta know how he feels, shouldn’t you?”

The ship’s resident glutton scowled at her. “That cat doesn’t belong here. By sneaking on board and eating our supplies, it’s just as much of a pest as a rat would be!”

“Well, he’s not a rat, so you can’t hurt him! He just didn’t know any better.” Takita turned big, hopeful eyes to Gibbs. “We’ll just have to take care of him until we land again—right?”

Gibbs wincingly rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t see how we have any other decent choice. I’ll have to check with Crocco, he’s the acting captain, but… well, we drakers kill dragons, not housepets. And it’s only three days until we’re due to deliver some dragon oil at Aldan. As long as you keep it out of the way, I’m sure we could spare enough dinner scraps to feed it that long.”

Takita’s eyes lit up in relief. “Oh, thank you!” she gasped, and turned to gently collect the cat from Yoshi’s grasp.

By contrast, Mika folded his arms and went into a sulk.



For the next two days, Takita tried to keep their uninvited guest confined to the quarters she shared with Vannie. Which mostly worked… except, well, when it didn’t.

While helping Yoshi prepare supper, Takita felt soft fur rubbing against her trouser leg, and found the cat eagerly waiting for her to “accidentally” drop a dragon-meat morsel.

Oken discovered him down in the hold, sniffing hungrily at the dragon-oil stains around the rendering pots.

Capella spotted him on the bridge, of all places. She tried to hide him until her watch ended and she could sneak him away; but she was less than successful, as Crocco soon had to investigate just what she was fussing with under the pilot’s seat.

Somehow nobody got angry, though.

…Well, except for Mika. But with the sentiment of the rest of the crew against him, he contained his hostility. When Takita caved in and let the roaming cat stay to eat breakfast with the crew, Mika merely spent the entire meal glaring at the animal. It was as if he thought every mouthful of stew dregs the cat wolfed down was one less bite on his own plate.

Silly, being jealous of a cat.

Even so, having him around was turning out to be kind of nice.

Gaga drew a picture of the cat sleeping in the sun on deck. Vadakin talked to him—thinking no one heard it, of course—when the little black shadow followed him around the ship on a round of inspection. Takita even glimpsed Giraud dangling a bit of string for the cat to chase.

By the morning they were due to land, when Takita woke to see the cat snuggled against Vanabelle’s side on the opposite bunk, she had a sneaking feeling he would not be left behind in Aldan.

She only wondered who would be first to take the final bold step of giving him a name.

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© 2020 Jordanna Morgan