The Cat that Leaps, is Not the Cat That Lands "
By: Krystal, Pixie Hologram , [RNPC]
Chester , The Captain's Cat , [NPC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58205.18 1315

==Holodeck==

Chester amused himself watching the fish swimming in the creek for a short time, however, he became bored and decided to look around. He stalked though the trees and tall grass. He had a great time; he had managed to capture several flying bugs, and even a small furry creature. While he was pleased with himself, he found that he was confused. Chester could not figure out what happened to them when he caught them -- they just disappeared.

After hunting, Chester found a nice patch of dirt and began rolling around it in. It felt good, very good, he thought. Chester started to purr, life was good.

"You're a cat," a tiny voice above him announced. It came from a nearby tree, but since when did trees talk? "Chester. Captain's cat. Male. Age, unknown Family Felidae, subfamily Felinae. Which is a small cat as compared to a large cat. Which of course, you aren't."

Chester jumped quickly to his feet, his back arched. Chester looked at the tree closely. The tree never talked to him before. Tentatively, Chester crept closer to the tree.

Krystal giggled in a purely delightful and Pixie kind of way. It was light and musical and tickled the senses. She poked her head out from the branches and leaves that'd kept her hidden and wiggled her little fingers at him. "Hihihi. M'Krystal," she announced, leaving trails of pixie dust with every movement she made.

Chester watched the strange bug with curiosity. He had never seen such a thing before. It even talked like Captain --sort of. He watched the streams of sparkling dust fall to the ground. It sure looked like it might be fun to chase. He sat still and waited for his chance, all the while wondering if this bug would disappear like the other ones; or would he be able to eat it.

Being programmed into a "Pixie", or at least Maxine's understanding of what Pixie's and Faeries were from the research she did, Krystal was a hyperactive little thing. She flitted from where she was to perch on a much better looking branch about a foot or so away. "You don't talk much," she twittered and tilted her head to watch him. Her wingtips fluttered and she crouched on the branch to study him.

"OH!!" she exclaimed and bounced up and down, clapping and showering pixie dust everywhere. "Cats like Catnip!!! I can do that!" she told him with a giggle and clapped her hands again, sprinkling the plant below her with dust and exclaiming, "Catnip for Chester!!" And the plant shimmered and changed into Catnip.

"Hello," thought chester. Perhaps this bug might be a good thing, he walked over to the catnip, gave a quick glance at the bug and stick his face into the catnip. "This is good stuff," thought Chester and soon he began rolling around in it.

Krystal clapped and giggled and plunked her bottom on the branch where she crossed her ankles and swung her legs as she watched him.

::Record mode activated: Input new data. File name: Chester and catnip.::

"Meeow," said Chester as he leaped onto the tree trunk and climbed up past the pixie. He no longer felt any desire to eat the bug. He climbed as high as he could then then crawled out onto the nearest limb and layed down. "This is fun," he thought. He was not sure how he would get back down, but decided to worry about that later. He began to lick his paws.

"Meeow," she giggled back and stood on the branch, fluttering her wings and peering up at him as he crept out above her.

::Input new data. File name: Chester climbs a tree.::

She was intrigued when he started licking his paws and fluttered up to perch cross-legged on the limb in front of him.

::Input new data. File name: Chester licks paws.::

"What are you doing?" she asked him curiously. Her wingtips fluttered and she tipped her head as if that would help her to better understand him.

Chester looked at the pixie, he was not sure what she was saying. He was starting to get hungry though; he always got hungry after catnip. Perhaps she would get him a nice fish to eat. Chester let out a soft meow and continued bathing himself.

"Meow?" Krystal questioned.

::Language mode activated: Engage Universal Translator. Input new data. File name: Cat language.:

"Are you hurt?" she asked, trying to understand this newest meow because it was different from the last one.

Chester thought about Captain. Captain was a sucker for the purr. Captain would do anyting once Chester started purring. Just maybe this magic bug would be the same way. Chester said, "Meow," and started purring very loudly.

::Language mode: Unable to comply. ::

Krystal frowned at the error message and "hmphed" quietly as she propped her little elfin chin on her fist and narrowed her eyes at Chester in concentration. Till he started purring, that is. And then she blinked and sat up straight, fluttered her wings and inched closer to him.

::Input new data: File name: Non-Vocal Audio Emissions from Chester.::

She twittered and fluttered up to her feet, bouncing on her toes actually and quivering with excitement. "Ohhh!!! Hold on, hold on... I'll get it!!!"

::Compare File: Non-Verbal Audio Emissions from Chester with all known audio emission files.::

"Weee!!! Got it!!!" she twittered excitedly, clapped her hands, fluttered her wings, hopped up and down, lost her balance, and plopped onto the branch, landing on her cute little pixie butt. "Ooof!" She blinked several times and then looked at Chester as if asking 'how'd that happen?'. A moment later and she was back on her feet and shaking like a dog, spraying Pixie dust everywhere.

"Well..." she placed her little hands on her hips and tapped a foot as she studied him. "You're not hurt... Tired?" She shook her head cause he didn't look tired.. "Nooo.. Not tired... Cold?" She shook her head again, cause he didn't look cold... "Hungry?"

Chester stopped licking himself and watch the pixie with much curiosity. He had heard her talk about Hungry, Captain sometimes talked about Hungry right before he fed Chester. His purr weapon was working. Chester looked the pixie in the eye and purred even louder.

Krystal blinked huge blue eyes at him when he started purring louder. "That's a yes! Is that a yes? It looks like a yes!" she exclaimed and started pacing along the branch, wingtips fluttering as they helped her keep her balance on the pivotal turns.

"Ah-Hah!" she stopped and clapped and waltzed up to him. "Want some nectar? That's what I eat. Nectar." She nodded enthusiastically and clapped her hands again, producing a thimble full of nectar that she held onto with both hands. She inched closer to Chester, being as careful as she could and not wanting to spill any of it. Her tiny pink tongue peek from the corner of her mouth in concentration.

"Here, try some," she held it out to him and grinned. "It's the *good* stuff," she confided with another nod of her head and spray of dust.

Chester looked at the little thimble, then gave it a little snif. He did not think it was somethign he wanted to eat. Maybe she would try again. Chester looked at the pixie; his tail slowly swaying back and forth.

Krystal blinked and peeked around his body to his butt and swaying tail. Her AI program inputting this new data as the little pixie interpreted it.... "Ohhh... So that's a no, huh?" she looked back into the cat's face and tipped her head a bit. "You don't like nectar? Then what do you like?" she asked, but her subroutines were already accessing the data files for the 'eating habits of cats'.

"OOHH!!! Fish!!! She exclaimed and nearly fell over in the process. "Whoops!!!" she juggled the thimble, managing not to spill any of the nectar and then wrapped one arm around it, holding it securely against her body. "Okie doke. Fish it is!" she nodded and waved her free hand with a flourished, "Fish for Chester!" And with a snap of her fingers and a pop of pixie dust a fish flopped on the branch between them. Course, it was still alive and proceeded to flop around in an effort to get back to water.

The little pixie squealed as it nearly knocked her off the branch and then looked like it was about to fall itself... "Catch it!!! Catch it!!!" she squealed and pointed and hopped up and down and got nectar all over herself.

Chester's quick reflexes allowed him to pin the floping fish against the tree limb. This was what he wanted. Much to his disappointment however, the fish just disappeared the moment he treid to eat it. Just like the other creature he was chasing. Chester began to lick his paws.

Krystal blinked when the fish disappeared and even tried to peer under Chester's paw to see where it went. She straightened and scratched her head as she processed this little tidbit and accessed the holodeck's programming parameters to find out what happened.

"Sushi!!" she snapped her fingers and giggled. Then she *poofed* the thimble and nectar away, licking her fingers afterwards and then bounced and pointed at Chester. "We can do Sushi!!" She clapped her hands with a, "Sushi for Chester, please!!" And a little Sushi bar appeared with all manner of raw fish decked out for Chester to choose from.

Chester looked at the fish, it looked real. He cautiously, prodded some of it with his paw. It did not run away and it did not disappear; this might just be what he was looking for. Chester speared a bit of the sushi with is claws and ate it. It was good. Chester busied himself eating his fill of the suhi.

Hunter was full. For some reason it seemed, her replicated was much better than any other. He entered the holodeck, the program was still running. "Chester!" he called clicking his tongue.

Chester, hearing Captain calling looked down at the ground. Now, he had another problem, how was he going to get down. He looked again at the ground and tried to crawl down, however, he scampered back to the limb of the tree when he realized that he would fall.

"Oooohhh!!!! It's the Captain!" Krystal exclaimed excitedly and hopped up and down clapping. Then she started flitting around and encouraging Chester to, "Come on!!" complete with hand gestures and liberal sprays of pixie dust. When she saw him head down and then scamper back up, she accessed the data banks on cats: climbing....

"Uht-oh!! You're stuck!!" she exclaimed and held both hands out to him, palm facing in the universal 'stay' motion. "Stay there, Chester!! I'll get help!!" she told him and flittered off.

Hunter looked around and was surprised he had not come right away. He used his fingers to make a loud whistle. Still no cat. Hunter was about to terminate the program, but then decided instead to find Chester the old fashioned way. "Now where would that cat be?" He crossed a small bridge that ended in a meadow on the other side. This is where Chester usually chased things.

When the little pixie reached the Captain, she put on the brakes with a "Whoa!!"... A rather comical sight in mid-air, and complete with a spray of pixie dust. "Help!! Help!!" she zipped up close to tug on his shirt with teeny hands as she back-winged and tried to pull him along.... Of course she had her feet planted on his chest at the same time, so wasn't going to be pulling him too far. "Chester's Stuck!!! Chester's Stuck!!"

"Easy...easy." said Hunter. "What are you doing here?"

"I was exploring," Krystal told him, still tugging, only not quite so hard as at first and trying to figure out how to actually 'pull' him along. "And I found this program running... "

Hunter gave the pixie a suspicious glance.

"...And then I just *peeked* in, honest! But then I found Chester, and he's a CAT." She finally took her feet off his chest and tried just tugging on him. "I've never learned a CAT before," she explained. "And since there wasn't anyone really here but him, I thought it would alright..." She paused for a moment to blink at him. "It was alright to interact with Chester, wasn't it?" she asked, but didn't pause long enough to actually let him answer. "Hurry, Hurry! He's stuck and you have to save him!"

"Okay..Okay, calm down and show me where he is"

"This way!!" Hunter followed the pixie as it finally released him and started to fly in the direction of where she'd left Chester. She kept coming back to make sure he was following and even hurried him along as quickly as she could, which given the size and mass difference wasn't going to be very effective. "There!!! See!!!" she pointed up at the cat.

Hunter looked up at Chester, he did seem to be about 15 meters up in a tree top. "Computer, verify safety protocol. The computer promptly responded, "Spring Creek safety parameter is set at 110%." Hunter turned and looked at where Krystal was hoovering. Putting aside the ridiculous fact that he was about to address a pixie, he asked, "How did he get up there in the first place?"

Krystal blinked at him and then looked up at Chester and back to the Captain. "He climbed up. My data indicates that cats are very good climbers," she went into data recall mode, "but they often lack the understanding of how to climb back down, hence the adage of 'stuck up a tree'."

Hunter circled around the base of the tree slowly. He had seen Chester climb this tree but never quite so high. Hunter considered terminating the program but was concerned that might bother Chester next time they returned. "Arch" said Hunter. The computer produced the holodeck arch.

"I need bring this tree down or figure out a way to go up and get him."

Krystal looked from the Captain to Chester and back, rather like watching a tennis match. She was processing the data though, and looking for a solution for Hunter. "You could climb up," she pointed out. "Or I could get him down."

"You can get him down?" Hunter looked up. "Ok, go ahead."

"Uh-huh," she nodded and flitted up to just above Chester where she proceeded to sprinkle him liberally with Pixie dust. Then she started to sing as she waved her hands around. "Salaga-doola, menchika-boola, Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" At which point Chester should start to float....

Chester tried to shake the dust off his fur, it was going to take him forever to get his fur clean again. Suddenly, he realized that he was floating. His eyes opened wide as he moved away from the tree. Chester let out a loud screech and slashed at the air with is claws. Continuing to screech and flail at the air he saw Captain.

Chester landed on the ground at Hunter's feet. He crouched low to the ground and tired to get himself under control. He did not ever want to do that again. He hissed at Hunter and began to make loud growling noises.

"Chester!" scolded the Hunter. "Its okay!" He reached down and picked him up and started soothing him by scratching him behind the ears.

"Whoops!!" Krystal stared wide-eyed at the pair of them, her tiny hands both covering her mouth for a moment or two. "I didn't mean to hurt him!" she squeaked.

"He's fine," said Hunter, "just doesn't like flying I guess."

Krystal fluttered her wings and looked like that was just the oddest thing she'd ever heard. "Maybe I could teach him," she suggested and flew a little closer to Chester and the Captain.

Chester took a look at the pixie and then jumpeed out of hunters arms and headed towards the computer arch.

"I guess Chester is ready to go home." said Hunter. "Computer, end program."

Hunter followed after Chester

The little pixie flittered alongside him, trying to follow him and Chester out of the Holodeck. "That was a 'no', wasn't it? I think it looked like a n---" Only she disappeared with a little sparkle of golden dust as soon as she crossed the arch .