Simple Introductions

Bringing her knees to her chest, the Queen sat and took measured sips of her cocoa. The heat of it slightly scalded her tongue, but it didn’t bother her. Her attention was on Connor, her ears perked forward in interest. From the way he spoke, Willow was impressed. This man surely knew how to use both his works and his manners to a wonderful quality. She could see how genuinely interest he was when he asked the questions, and she wondered if he was an actor. Willow wanted to take a great observation of him, but she was too excited. The Queen couldn’t express how relieved she was at just the sight of another Mora. Not to mention that he was nice to look at, but she quickly shook that thought away. This was Connor, someone she freed and had only just now seen again. Attraction to him would be from the excitement of meeting another like her for so long. Willow couldn’t deny that she wanted to hug him, but she knew she didn’t and couldn’t feel that way about him. Willow ignored that little thing nagging at her in the back of her mind and brought her cup to hover by her mouth. She listened until he finished his first set of words and replied with her own. “Yes, these types of years are ones worth savoring. In my view, the Mora have a better sense of the world because of their experiences. Thank you, Connor. I love my home and personally find it one of my coziest places. I have been ‘walled away’ in these lands for about four years. I have had enough time to establish my own business and work at least three jobs on the side. I payed off every inch of land and house you will see soon in full amounts. Of course, I had some help in paying for all this but it was working to a better cause. I have missed the likes of my race and have made friends among the humans. There is this one old woman that I visit at the nursing home. Her name is El, and she has grown to be like a mother to me. I don’t expect anyone to be too fond of the humans, but we must at least act like we like their race in order to fit in. I cannot thank you enough for not leaving me alone, Connor. If there is anything you need, don’t be afraid to ask.” Her calico colored tail slid out from behind her to curl around her wrist like a bracelet. Willow’s eyes looked to the fire, watching the flames dance and flicker as the burned the logs. She had chopped them herself, done all the house work by herself. There was a heater in the cottage, like all the others but she preferred to use natural heat. There was also an air conditioner, and it was a great convenience. Willow had made sure her Mora would be as comfortable as possible and would want to take the lands as a safe haven.

Willow quietly brushed her fingers against the fabric of her chair as Connor spoke once again. His words made her smile, but it soon faded with his questions. She settles back into her chair and looked at him with both quiet and sad eyes. “Thank you for your compliments. It is lovely to hear your opinions and I would appreciate you recruiting more of the Mora to save. This place is a place of peace and safety for those who are hiding because it goes highly unnoticed. It has been well hidden from my friends in high places. There are more Mora in the universe than anyone could think, in fact it is incredible of how many there are. I wasn’t the one who had come up with all the plans for escaping, that person would be my brother. I was simply the one to perform what he wanted to happen. For weeks upon weeks, I watched the humans unlock each cage. They found us too weak to even use padlocks, which was a very stupid decision. The time came when I was going to be fed and they opened my cage. Instead of cowering or laying there nearly dead, I instead attacked the human in my human form. I beat him until he was unconscious with what strength I had left and then unlocked my brother’s cage. I remember you being one of the very first that I let free. Your eyes are what I remember most in fact. Grey, my brother, knew the way to the doors that would let us free. Somewhere and somehow the humans found us out. We knew from the start that this escape would be fatal for many, but we also knew that it was bette than all of us dying. We opened those big doors and set our race free. That was, of course, when the gun shots rang out and our kind began to fall. The Mora are sneaky for mainly that reason. We were all scared into hiding and I hid until the gunshots stopped. I know you didn’t ask for me to tell you this part, but I know this question will come soon. You were in the cage across from mine so I know that you knew Grey. I am going to tell you now that he is dead, and I buried him in a place within my lands. He was the one that was supposed to lead and I was supposed to help him. Our true leader is dead, so I will just have to do.” Willow let out a troubled sigh and looked back to Connor. She didn’t know what expression he would have, but she hoped he didn’t leave on the spot. The Queen couldn’t help but also hope that he didn’t see the hidden tears in her eyes.

Sipping her drink quietly, the Queen’s attention turned to the back of her home where a soft rustling could be heard. Smiling slightly, she leaned back into her chair and listened to the soft padding thuds as Bruce made his way into the living room. Her eyes followed her alligator until he came to a rest beside her chair. Willow was quick to place her mug down and swing her arm down to brush Bruce’s head comfortingly. The albino alligator had been her only company for all those four years and he had been there for every revelation, one which had hurt most. Now, she thought that she just might tell this one thing to her companion, but his words kept her from speaking. She listened to Connor as he began to speak, giving him a both relieved and thankful look for his words. Willow held one hand within the other and kept her calico ears flicked forwards in interest. “Thanks, Connor. You’re both very respectful, and I highly doubt that you could disturb me. My door is open to all of my subjects at any time, literally. You can wake me up even if it is a small thing like, for instance, needing me to walk with you to the bathroom. Though, I’m sure you wouldn’t need any help with that. Just don’t be afraid to come and find me whenever and wherever. But yes, you are to be my Noble and that means I will trust you with my life and trust you to follow my order, not matter how bizarre what I ask you to do is,” she said and smiled slightly, nearly laughing at the thought of one of her own kind coming to her just to ask her to do what she had said. Though, she wouldn’t laugh at them or be irritated with them at all. She decided that she wouldn’t be a queen like she had read in Alice In Wonderland. That queen had ben just disastrous, and Willow wouldn’t ever want to be anything like her. She could only hope that none of her members were going to take advantage of her kindness. Willow frowned at having such negative thoughts and instead listened to Connor speak of her work and business while nodding along. She laid her tail across her stomach, stroking it absentmindedly while speaking to him. “I work three jobs to provide myself the necessities, all other money goes to either animal charities or wildlife preservation. For the most part, I am paying a great deal to keep this forest hidden and making sure it is off of the grid for anyone to even bother coming here. The minute you stepped into this place, you sort of entered Neverland.” She laughed, thinking it was a nearly perfect analogy for the circumstances. She quickly remembered he hand asked about her business and she nodded. “Yeah, I do own the place called the Lavender Lounge within the neutral territories. It brings in more money that I can really count, but no one knows that I own that place. As far as anyone should or could know, a man named J.E. Clemmings owns it and he is an extremely rich man. To the world, he does exist. He has ‘birth records’ as well as anything a human could possibly need in order to have proof of existence. I, on the other hand, don’t exist at all. Of course people could say that they have seen me and that I do, but government wont but their words a bit because they have no records of me. My name isn’t even a correct name on all job applications.” The Queen was actually proud of how well she hid herself, though every day she went over possible areas she had left unhidden or unguarded.

Willow watched Connor’s expression break and turn into one of deep sadness, and she suddenly remembered that Grey was a close friend to all of the Mora. He was, in fact, the true leader and very first among them all. Thinking back, she realized that Connor had talked to Grey in a friendly way. In the rare moments that she was conscious, she didn’t speak unless Grey wanted her to. She really couldn’t remember the times where she was conscious, all she could remember was the pain. It came upon her and colored bursts. Splashes of orange, red, purple, blue, and sometimes black. How one could see black in the dark recesses of her mind, she had no clue. That was what she saw, the most inky and deadly black she had ever seen. It came upon her in huge clouds whenever they set her up to the electricity machine. In those moments where she lost all consciousness, she truly believed that she had died only to be revived each time. For what, she had no clue. All she knew was that she had been brought back and stuck on this earth, not matter how many times she had tried to escape. With Connor’s tears came her own as she stood to go to a drawer of the built in cabinets of the wall. Looking through the files, she pulled out a specific one and brought it over to Connor before her silent tears could fall onto the manilla cover. Willow placed the file in Connor’s lap gently before moving back to her chair and sitting in it. Her throat had become thick with unshed tears, but she quietly cleared it in order to speak. “That cabinet is full of files. Birth records and certificates of every Mora that was in the labs and escaped. I stole the files after a year, but I don’t think the humans cared since we were an experiment gone wrong. The file that I handed you is both mine and Grey’s, and I will tell you why I have us grouped together. You see, Grey and I come from the same parents. We are siblings in all sense of the word. Not even half siblings, but full blooded. Grey was two when I was born, and I think he knew that I was his sister. I found our parents but never approached them because they had a family all their own. But, I knew Grey was going to tell me if he had escaped alive. He had said as much before we went to escape. I had... no clue at all. Which somehow, for me, makes all of this much worse. I am not going to sob my eyes out or mourn in front of you, that is done behind closed doors.” It had been, too. Every week she visited his grave, and every week she had a meltdown like none other. The cottage that was so pristine in this moment would be in ruins within the next few days, evidence of her pain even after four years. Of course, it struck her as possibly a very bad problem and would need serious psychological help. Though, she was able to wear her mask and would hold her secret within her until the day her life ended, if it ever did. “Yes, my brother was a great friend to everyone. I knew that much even when I was unconscious, which was all the time if I do recall. I don’t believe in this ‘better place’ you say, but you may believe what you like and I will not judge one bit. Thank you for not leaving me alone, Connor. You may stay here as long as you’d like unless you wish to find your own home right away. I can escort you, but I will have to go into the neutral lands to buy a few things today. I wish you all happiness here, Connor. You promise will be held into by me, for I see us becoming quite good friends in the future if we aren’t now.” Folding her shaky hands in her lap, she gave Connor a tight-lipped smile to hide the mourning she had been doing inside.

She could sympathize with the look on Connor’s face because it had been the same look she had had the first time she looked over the file. Willow stared at the pages as Connor looked through them, hoping he didn’t notice their wrinkled appearance. This was from the first time she read that her ‘brother’ had indeed been her brother. The Queen had throw the file across the room of her cottage and stamped on it in her fury. Not only was it about Grey, but that their mother had carelessly left them behind. No, not left them. She had sold her first two children like the they meant nothing. The only reason their mother had done so was to create a family with the new man she had decided to marry. Willow’s anger had only been fueled when she learned that she had given Grey up for adoption and the labs had snatched her baby up on accident. The Queen, however, was sold on purpose for money. That fact alone had made he think over many things until finally deciding. At least a year after finding the file, she had decided to visit her mother. They never met and would never meet though that didn’t mean she couldn’t watch. By that time, the young woman Willow had been expecting was now wrinkled with age of a happy life. She was married to a man who had seemed to be the same age but Willow instantly knew he was her father. They had the same hair and his daughter resembled the feminine version of him. Everything else was all her mother, especially the facial features. These things she noticed weren’t even compared to what she say running down the staircase. There were two teenagers that seemed to be seniors in highschool. It took Willow a moment for it to connect, the fact that those two humans were in fact her siblings. It felt like a stab to the gut when she realized that they were probably the same age she had been. The hope that she had been a mistake never left her, no matter what the papers had said. That hope had been blasted to tiny, minuscule pieces once she had viewed what could’ve been her family. There was a chance of normalcy that had died the minute her mother had signed the contract to give her to the labs upon her birth. It was that very day that very day she had gone to visit her grave and bury the human Willow that might’ve existed in the world. ‘But I don’t regret it either. Never have and never will’, she thought, snapping from her trance like a rubber band to focus back on Connor as he began to speak his gratitude once more. The corners of her mouth turned up into a slight smile and she almost wanted to laugh. He was too kind and was quickly becoming a sweet-hearted man in her opinion. Willow kept her eyes connected with his as she listened to him speak his encouraging and honorable words. She smiled then and gave him a thankful look, pushing a stray wave of hair behind her ear. “Thank you, Connor. I...... Just thank you,” she said. Then, like he had instantly bounced back, Willow saw the grin that had been on his face when they met. It was contagious and she couldn’t help but to give a little grin of her own.

Her eyes followed him as he stood but flicked to Bruce upon the alligator’s hiss. Mumbling beneath her breath, she silenced her pet and looked back to the neko that was now kneeling in front of her. Connecting her eyes with his once again, she realized that his were a wonderful olive color. How she hadn’t realized it sooner was a wonder to her. She was taking advantage of the opportunity to look him over from head to toe, starting with his dark hair. It looked soft, as if it would feel exactly like a feather were she touch touch it. Then her gaze went back down to his eyes again. Willow found herself admiring their almond shape and green hues. She looked further over his skin but cut her eyes off at his chin. Any more looking and she knew she would be checking him out. That, of course, was the last thing she wanted him or anyone else to think. It would be very unprofessional of her to be attracted to her first member when she didn’t even know him. Though, in a way, she did know him. She hd watched him in the moments when they all thought she was unconscious. When the others were gone, he had stayed with her. Willow had thought it was because they were both nekos and that maybe all the others nekos were there as well but she just couldn’t hear them. Grey hadn’t been the only one to help bring her back, and she took a moment to realize that Connor was actually a main contributor of getting her all of her sanity back. The Queen gazed at her Noble for a few more moments until he decided to speak again. His face gave her the feeling that he was nervous and scared to speak the words, but he bravely did so anyway. the sudden change in his facial expression as he smiled at her caused Willow to give a soft smile back. That smile only began to fade into complete seriousness as he began to speak. His held the most honest and sincere tone she had heard in a long while, which only made her listen all the more intently. With his revelation to her, her face didn’t once break its expression. Inside she was humming for some reason, though she couldn’t describe it at that time. He had been following her, watching her? Instead of feeling creeped out, Willow felt strangely comforted that he had been with her but not with her that whole time. As he finished, the Queen smiled softly and placed a hand on his shoulder. She was afraid to touch him, having not touched a male in most of her lifetime. It wasn’t that she was scared at the aspect of touching a male, but more that she didn’t know where to touch him. The queen internally sighed in frustration and gave up on trying to figure out how to comfort him with her hands. Instead, she lifted his chin as softly as she could so he would look into her eyes.

“I have not been completely truthful to you either, Connor. I had watched you as well, though it was a little earlier than when you chose to watch me. When I was dropped in the cage there was a period of time that I was aware even when I didn’t seem like it. In those moments, I watched you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do such things but I felt so interested in how you acted and how you had kept your sanity. Now that you tell me that you have been watching me and following me, I can’t help but feel comforted. Knowing this makes me realize that I was never alone, that you were there and I just didn’t know it. I can understand why you would watch me, but now I feel that you are going to be more than just a Noble for me. You are and always will be a friend, but I now give you full permission to take your place at my side like you speak of. Connor, I am putting my greatest trust in you and hoping, even believing that you will not break that. Like you said about your future, I see it for you too.” Her eyes hadn’t left his once, instead showing him what her words couldn’t speak. Willow wasn’t much for words, but she let her eyes confirm the hope he had in his olive hues. Everything his eyes told her, she reciprocated until she believed that her eyes had said enough and she looked away with a tinge of red to her cheeks.