"Who are you?!"
Garfield shoved the black cat in his arms away in alarm, scrambling backward.
"No~wait, what kind of cat are you?!"
The black cat stretched languidly, arching her back in a way that was far too enticing for something claiming to be just a cat.
Gulp.
Garfield swallowed unconsciously.
"…Right. Where are you?" he asked hurriedly. "Shōkyū? Pandora?"
The little black cat turned her head, glanced over her shoulder, and winked.
"Names?" She said lightly. "Around here, they call me Goddess."
They…?
A realization struck Garfield making his fur exploded outward.
With a terrified yowl, he leapt straight onto the ceiling, clinging to it with all four paws.
"Brother~no, sister don't joke like that, okay?! I'm an ordinary orange cat passing through! I don't know anything!"
The little black cat covered her mouth, laughing softly.
"Passing through?" She teased. "I don't believe that for a second, Apprentice of the Ancient One."
"…Okay."
Still stuck to the ceiling, Garfield released one paw and scratched his chin thoughtfully. His eyes narrowed as he studied the suspicious little black cat.
"I think you're extremely suspicious." He said seriously. "So let me ask you something first."
He pointed with his tail.
"What do you know about the prehistoric beast squatting in my house, not paying rent, and biting people?"
The little black cat blinked. "…Prehistoric beast?"
She genuinely didn't seem to understand what he meant.
Inside Garfield's soul space, a vast white world stretched endlessly.
'Pandora~~' Garfield called out.
'Pandora, are you there?'
'Pandora~ why are you hiding and eating little fish again~'
'Hello~?'
'Is there a Godzilla here~?'
'…Strange. Where did that fierce Godzilla go?'
The moment the last word left his mouth… a murderous aura erupted behind him.
Garfield stiffened, he turned his head.
A colossal Red Pandora loomed inches from his face, teeth bared, claws extended, eyes blazing with fury.
'OOOO~!'
CHOMP
Garfield's face was bitten flat into a perfect cat-shaped imprint.
Several seconds later, he staggered back, face wobbling, speech slurred.
'Woo, Pandora, why are you crazy?! Why bite me this early in the morning?!'
Pandogzilla straightened and pointed at him furiously.
'You stinky cat! Your will is weak, your lust remains unchanged, and you disgraced yourself before sunrise!'
She snorted. 'I actually thought you had integrity and a bottom line. How naïve of me.'
Garfield paused.
'…You're calling me a pervert.' he said slowly. 'So what bottom line did you think I had?'
Pandora jabbed a claw at his side. A familiar presence manifested beside them.
The black cat.
Garfield stared at her soul-projection in disbelief. "…Oh. It's her."
"The seductive black cat." Pandora growled.
Garfield turned to the uninvited guest and asked seriously, "Alright. Who are you, really?"
The black cat stepped forward. Her feline form dissolved in a shimmer of shadow and moonlight.
In its place stood a tall, beautiful girl with sleek black hair, golden eyes, and upright cat ears.
"I wander this land." She said calmly, "earching for what interests me. Special creatures. Singular existences."
She inclined her head slightly. "I am a clone of the Black Panther Goddess. The guardian spirit of Wakanda."
"…What?" Garfield blinked.
She continued, unfazed. "I am not a refined existents like the Ancient One or Odin."
"I was born wild, formed naturally by this land. Such gods must evolve to survive. We grow, adapt, and… reproduce."
Garfield understood immediately, his ears flattened.
"…And what does that have to do with me?"
Ignoring Pandora's furious glare, the cat-eared girl stepped past her, scooped Garfield up effortlessly, and hugged him against her chest.
Garfield froze.
She rubbed him affectionately.
"You carry the genes of an advanced cosmic creature." She said softly. "Along with other rare qualities."
Her golden eyes gleamed.
"If I combine with you… our offspring would be born stronger than I ever was. Stronger than my original form."
This cat is… looking for a husband, isn't she?
Garfield's mind went numb, he was king. Messing around was practically written into the handbook.
And to be fair, this cat-eared girl was pretty.
She perfectly matched Garfield's aesthetic preferences… tall, elegant, divine, excellent figure, and most importantly a real goddess, not some bargain-bin 'five-hundred-coin reincarnation package.'
As one of the universe's top-tier orange-eating beasts, Garfield firmly believed in helping others.
However.
Standing right in front of him was Pandora…
When he remembered being stomped flat by her back then…
…Yeah. Let's not remember that.
Life is precious. Garfield straightened up, expression solemn, and rejected her decisively.
"No." He said. "I am not a casual orange-eating devourer."
The cat-eared goddess didn't speak.
Pandora, on the other hand, exploded. "What do you mean casual?!"
An awkward silence followed.
Garfield sighed inwardly.
Honestly, tearing down the stage like this is too cruel. No wonder Pandora was single for thousands of years in her past life.
The cat-eared girl covered her mouth and laughed softly.
"I understand." She said gently. "I wouldn't force something like this."
She tilted her head, golden eyes warm.
"My original plan was simply to stay by your side. I didn't expect you to like me so much. I'm… very happy."
Garfield stopped breathing.
"After we marry." She continued cheerfully, "You'll become the Wakandan Black Panther Goddess's partner~ the Primordial Orange Beast God."
Garfield desperately wanted to explain. He just rolled over in his sleep and hugged something fluffy on instinct.
But reason told him that saying this out loud would result in him being pinned down and clawed to death by a wild goddess.
Forget it.
A wise orange does not argue with a black cat, especially a feral one stronger than himself.
Pandora pointed at the cat-eared girl angrily. "Agreed. Until you reach that level, you are not allowed to mess around."
The cat-eared girl spread her hands innocently.
"I'll honor our agreement." She said. "But you must honor yours as well. No deliberate trouble-making or I'll go complain to the Ancient One."
Pandora bristled. "I Dark Lord Pandora, always keeps her word! If you don't believe me, go ask anywhere in the multiverse!"
The cat-eared girl squatted down and pouted, looking genuinely aggrieved.
"The multiverse is so unfair. Can't it stop bullying panthers? The multiverse is really annoying."
Garfield's ears shot straight up. Gossip.
This was definitely gossip.
It seemed that when the Panther Goddess of this world had ventured into the multiverse while young and ignorant… her life had not gone smoothly.
Pandora hesitated, then flew up and landed atop the cat-eared girl's head, patting her gently.
"There, there. Don't cry," Pandora said gruffly.
"When I recover my full strength, I'll bring my endless army and hunt down every bastard who crossed me."
She paused. "…I'll avenge you too."
The cat-eared girl hugged Pandora tightly.
"Thank you, Sister Pandora."
And like that… the two became sworn sisters.
Garfield was unceremoniously tossed aside.
Abandoned and discarded.
"Women." He stared at them blankly.
"I really don't understand them."
After the intense and extremely one-sided discussion between Pandora and the Black Panther Goddess…
Garfield's future was decided.
By the two of them, without asking him even once.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
PhantomDream