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Purrchance To Dream - Part 9
🕑 Added 2024-08-17 14:00:06 +0000 UTC<< Beginning | <Previous | > Next
Companion prose written by my wonderful co-writer Calico!
Enjoy!
***
His hands are still hovering over it, the shadows from the headlamps bathing the crime scene in darkness. It’s not—he can’t see blood, he can’t smell blood, he feels like he would smell it, right? If the cat was—
He holds his breath and lowers his hands, makes himself touch the silky fur, and finds with a sick lurch in his stomach that it’s still warm.
Because it just happened, says a new, curiously blank part of his brain. Even if he’s—even if—it’s only just happened. It wouldn’t yet have cooled down.
Crowley sucks in a shuddery breath as he scoops the cat up in his arms, tucking its head under his shoulder. It’s alarmingly floppy until he gets it arranged properly, cradling its slight weight with both arms—and then he goes absolutely still as he detects the rapid-fire tap of its heartbeat against his own chest, faint but unmistakable.
—Fuck, Crowley thinks, a tidal wave of relief crashing over him. Fuck! It’s not… I didn’t…
He staggers to his feet, clutching it in his arms, and jumps back into the driver’s seat—only belatedly realising it’s high time he sobers up.
He clicks his fingers and the thick, cosy, numbing haze across his thoughts clears all at once, like shaking out a heap of blankets that have been tucked securely around his brain.
He hasn’t forcibly sobered up in ages. In the stark microsecond that follows, he wonders how long those blankets have been there, worn thin throughout each day but topped up again every single night. Probably since—yeah.
Well, he’s eye-wateringly sober now. He feels squeaky clean. What’s left in his brain is an uncompromising, nails-on-chalkboard clarity, sharp right now with adrenaline and fear.
He fucking almost killed the fucking cat!
Crowley throws the car into gear and drives the rest of the way home one-handed, holding the cat against his chest and barely remembering to breathe.
He pulls up in his own street and sits for a moment after the engine turns off, reorienting to the small creature’s heartbeat. It’s breathing, too, he can feel—shallow but steady. But it doesn’t seem to be waking up.
Crowley arranges the cat in his lap and drums his fingers against the steering wheel.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Head injury? Coma? Internal bleeding?
He squints at the darkness outside, then wraps the cat carefully in his jacket and carries it into his building.
The bright lights don’t wake him up, nor does the slam of Crowley’s door behind them as they enter his flat.
Crowley stalks into the kitchen and then looks around, restless. He finds a tea towel - pristine, because Crowley has never washed up in his life - and lies it one-handed across the polished concrete countertop before arranging the cat across it.
He regards it expectantly.
Still nothing.
Fuck! Who knows about cats? Do angels know about cats? Angels don’t seem to know much about people physiology… he’s not sure he’d trust them with a cat. Good. He hates angels.
Demons don’t know about cats, he’s fairly sure. And as for humans—
Aziraphale would know about cats, interrupts a whispering voice in his head. Or rather, he might not know himself, but he’d know where to look. He’d know which book, which pill, which human, which—human! Ah!
“Vet!” Crowley shouts triumphantly, and clicks his fingers with force. See? Who needs Aziraphale?
There is a flash like lightning, a startled gasp and then a staggering presence as some… person materialises.
Crowley maybe didn’t think this through.
His kitchen is not a veterinary office.
A large Turkish woman wearing brightly printed silk pyjamas, with hair like molasses - thick waves of it tumbling around her shoulders - looks around in horrified silence.
The vet, Crowley presumes.
***
Comments
Mishter Goose
VEEEEET!!!!!!!!
Z.Art
VET!!!!
Mishter Goose
VET!
Z.Art
What he actually can't stand is how much he LIKES the cat 🥲
Crystal Coolidge
Oh, poor Kitty! The way Crowley brokenheartedly cradles it has me tearing up! And the prose is so sweet with how much he cares for this cat he supposedly can't stand. <3
Ashfae
Poor poor poor vet...! I love everything about this. "What’s left in his brain is an uncompromising, nails-on-chalkboard clarity," -- especially this. Ow, Calico, that is a great and ruthless description.
Z.Art
🫣☺️
Venturous
Ok I forgive you.🙀😿😻
Z.Art
He's a ruthless killer, really! He doesn't care! 😂
Z.Art
Of course he does It's the only thing in his kitchen he sometimes uses
Calico
This! ^^
Calico
Bean-to-cup 💀
Ana Lumina
He has an espresso machine? 👀
Calico
I love the vet so much
Z.Art
Thank you so so much! Hearing that so much emotion carried over is wonderful 😊 I feel like with this chapter and the one before that, I finally got a really good grasp on how to set the colour schemes!
Key
The panel with the "no no no", oh god, I felt something in my chest. 😭 Crowley would be crushed to have harmed anything. And wow, your artistic choices. I continue to be amazed at your visual storytelling, and your use of colored lighting. Just so impressed. I also love the artistic choice to have some small details outside of the colored boxes, and remain uncolored. It's also just incredibly good.
Z.Art
The jammies! They must feel so nice
Z.Art
His problem is that he's got too much heart, really 🥹
AMagnificentObsession
He’s so soft ♥️ Kids and animals and of course Aziraphale too. 😊✨
Z.Art
Poof!
Z.Art
He's an idiot, your honor
Z.Art
He really is so sweet 🥹 His hair got blown around from driving with the windows down! (Plus it shows his mental state lol)
Z.Art
Glad to hear it! Hope you enjoyed the ride 🫣
xmusiclover
The way he just magically makes the vet appear 🤣
Anna Bird
Whew 🫠 That poor vet! ❤️ and her lovely jammies 😆
DB
I love the all powerful demon can’t figure out how to miracle a cat. But glad he’s sobered up…
Bingo
the image of crowley driving home one handed while carefully holding the cat is so sad yet so sweet at the same time 😭
bluberryfields
Beyond how absolutely beautiful (and eventually funny this chapter is), I cannot get over how many times Crowley takes care to gently rearrange the cat for better comfort and security against himself during their ride home. Cradling it against his chest, in his lap, wrapping it in his jacket...it's the physical contact that he's been rejecting for so long! Also the way his hair is as wild as his mental state right now is just *chef's kiss*!
Chell
I have no words! That was a rollercoaster in the best way 😽
Z.Art
They'll figure it out! Thank you so much! We really wanted to make that part hit hard! 💜
Z.Art
I don't think he's thinking clearly 😂
Z.Art
Just as intended! You endured the worst of it! 💜
Hazel
Oh my god the poor vet! Love Crowley's "See, who needs angels!" followed immediately by, "Oh shit, maybe a vet OFFICE is needed with the vet..." And oh, the emotion in those first few pages and first few paragraphs - his grief and disbelief come across so well!!
fiddlegoblin
ps this is where we learn that this demon has never killed anything either and right now he is too relieved to be "properly embarrassed" about it
Kaini
KDKDKDK Crowley just. Ah yes I know who takes care of animals! Vet! Oh maybe I didn't think this one th-
fiddlegoblin
ok from crying to laughing is the right direction thank you (hugs very surprised vet)
✨Furat✨
My poor babyy 😔😔
