The Right to Belong (Other Mother gen)

[storypaint]

Title: The Right to Belong
Day/Theme: 31_days_exchnge: 12. in tones of low menace
Series: Coraline
Character/Pairing: the other mother, the cat
Rating: G
Length: 201 words

Excerpt: She doesn't like the cat. It doesn't belong here.

She doesn't like the cat. It doesn't belong here.

But it could. Oh, it could. She calls out, "Kitty, kitty!" but he never comes to her, just a twitch of that insolent tail and then stalking around to cause trouble.

"It would only take a moment," she tells it, only once, holding up the buttons and the needles. "It wouldn't hurt." She uses her sweetest voice, her kindest face. She fluffs up her hair like his fur, and makes her nose just a little pink. She can't shift that far, and it would be a waste of time and magic, but no one can say she doesn't try.

The cat hisses at her and darts away. For some reason she can't catch it. It comes and goes as it pleases. It is a bitter mark in her perfect world, and the more she sees it, the more she hates it.

"Go away," she hisses back when it visits, her button-eyes narrowing. "You have no place here. This is a place for my husband and my daughter and me."

The cat laughs at her in the silent manner of cats, and her fur is ruffled.