Terry ran off surprisingly fast for someone wearing riding boots. You had a sinking feeling that changing out of his uniform wasn’t going to magically send him back home.
You felt a shiver run down your tail. What if it did? What if you were the only one who was stuck here? Grr… you really should have picked out a better costume. That Crimson Titan guy had tried to warn you! Hmpf, he could have been more explicit about trading in your cushy office life for that of a lonely caged beast.
Err, maybe not so lonely? You scanned your cage curiously. Terry was going to be a bit, so you might as well explore your surroundings. To your surprise, you found another lion half-asleep in the corner of your cage.
Right… Part of your tamer’s act is trying to manage the attention span of two lions. You weren’t sure what the ratings were on the Walt and Wally show, but you had the impression that the three of you were able to pull off a pretty good routine at this point.
Your cage mate… Right, Walt. Walt didn’t seem to be paying much attention to you. He certainly wasn’t trying to investigate why another lion had suddenly appeared in his cage. He gave the room a quick look to see if anything had gotten his companion this active this early in the morning, then once he was satisfied that nothing was out of the ordinary, he went back to sleep.
You paced around a bit, waiting for your tamer to come back. Eventually you settled down as well. He was taking his sweet time. Finally you heard the familiar clink of boots enter your tent.
Terry looked just as he had before he left. Maybe a bit more flustered.
“Wallace…! I’ve got-“ He stammered, gesturing off towards the circus trailers, “I’ve got a bunk here! And things!” His face was flush, “There were cans and cans of my favorite mustache wax and- I have a favorite mustache wax!”
He twirled the ends of his facial hair anxiously, “I’ve got a whole life here!”
Meow? So did you! Had he not noticed the large cage you currently lived in? You let out a grumble, lifted your paw, and gestures to-
You put your paw back down and glanced over your shoulder at your pen. You felt like your train of thought skipped a track for a second. You had meant to sarcastically wave to your pen and imply, ”I’ve got a whole life here too!”, but that wasn’t something you knew how to do.
Your ear twitched as you tried to focus on the idea. You wanted to imply frustration, show your human your current situation, and do so with an air of irony. The bewildered human who had just been turned into a lion knew the general idea, but the cat whose body you were currently residing in didn’t know how to put those thoughts into action. You couldn’t even think of smaller building blocks of actions to try and pull it off. The second you wanted to try and do something, it became parsed by a much simpler set of feline instincts.
“Look my boy, we might be stuck like this for a while,” Terry rubbed the back of his neck, “But umm… The show must go on? At least I until we can get back home and see this Crimson Titan fellow. Are you up for putting on a show? I believe we have one booked for tonight.”
You looked down at him. He couldn’t be serious, right?
“Nyao?” you mewed.
He reached into his pocket, giving you another small morsel. “That’s the ticket!”
You didn’t mean- Wait, why wasn’t he anxious? Did… Terry remember your routine?
Did you?
You scratched your ear with your hind leg. You weren’t sure you could remember the entire thing end to end. It was just a disjointed set of commands in your head. But you trusted Terry to string them together properly. It was just a matter of him opening your cage and kicking things off.
Within a matter of hours, your human was doing just that. He opened your door, attached a sturdy metal chain to your collar, and brought you out on stage. You felt his commands stir up long reenforced trainings, and when his words didn’t, it was easy enough to follow the other lion’s lead. You were a smart kitty after all.
It wasn’t long before the two of you quickly settled into your routine. Well, three of you. Your act was a three person show, but by all indications your new cage mate was completely nonplussed by your arrival. You two apparently hadn’t skipped a beat as you settled into your new lives.
You were disappointed to discover that you couldn’t talk to Walt. There wasn’t any secret feline language that the two of you could use to gossip back and forth about the circus goers. There was just body language, mews, and other subtitles that your feline half was better at managing.
Right. Your feline half. You had quickly discovered that whenever your human gave you an order, your baser instincts would take control and accomplish the task. You were a throughly tamed cat it seemed. After a few days of life as a circus animal, you realized you could ease up on the reigns and let your lion half take the lead.
He was… a lot better suited for this life. Spending hours in a cage was boring as hell when you looked at the world through human eyes. When you let yourself think like a cat, it wasn’t too hard to pass the time with a combination of playing with the toys in your cage, people watching, and cat naps.
You did eventually take the reins again whenever you spotted something interesting. You kept an eye out for banners or fliers that might give you some clue as to which town you were in. You could faintly smell the salty sea air now that you knew to look for it, but Terry had frustratingly not actually said which town you were in.
The best times were one someone walked by with a newspaper. You could usually scan a few headlines before the person got creeped out by a several hundred pound beast staring at them.
Terry meanwhile seemed to be settling into circus life. He did shows with you in the evening, then otherwise tended to the various animals during the day. It was clear from the spring in his step that he enjoyed his new work. You’d have to ask if he preferred working with animals to office life when you got this whole thing sorted out.
If you got this whole thing sorted out. You had a bit of an unnerving first day off when the circus closed for maintenance. Your human came by your cage wearing sweat pants and a worn out t-shirt. He hadn’t even waxed his mustache that morning.
It was odd seeing everyone do their mandatory tasks in casual, out of character clothes. The clowns didn’t have their makeup, your human was missing his usual posh veneer, and the strong man was- well okay, he was still strong. But this wasn’t a happy fanciful vacation anymore. This was just a life.
After all the animals were fed and the bolts on the tilt-o-whirl had been tightened, everyone sat around watching TV, playing cards, or catching up on a video game.
Grr. Only you didn’t get a day off. You were still a big caged beast. You found yourself pacing your cage. You were grumpy, and your feline side didn’t like disrupted routines. You trotted towards the end of your cage, trying to at least get a better look at one of the screens someone was lounging around with. Happy Days reruns would have to do for tonight.
Before the acrobat had gotten too far into the episode, you heard a booming voice coming from the front of the tent.
“Alright boys, rest easy tonight,” the voice was familiar. It took you a moment to place the ring leader without his hat. You hadn’t realized how much you had begun to rely on clothing to identifying everyone. He smiled, waving to the group, “We hit the road tomorrow.”