This one is all Cynth’s Fault. 😀 😀

“Are you sure it’s supposed to be a game?”

Theo was always the most uncertain of the three of them, or, if not uncertain, then sort of filled with a generalized nervousness.

Merit rolled her eyes.  “Base-ball.  Foot-ball.  Hair-ball.  Now, you two have a natural advantage, so hold still.”

Normally, it was Oli who was trying to climb on top of Merit.  Today, Merit reversed the roles, climbing up onto the long-furred grey-and-white cat and beginning to groom him aggressively.

As was normally his wont with Theo, Oli, after a moment of enjoying the feeling of someone getting the spots he couldn’t, twisted his head so he could groom Merit in return.

Being the unfriendly thing that she was, she growled at him immediately.

“Hairball game,” he reminded her though a mouthful of fur.

She subsided with a grumble, grooming the back of his neck and the sides, where his fur was the longest.  Theo, watching them uncertainly, began to groom his own belly.  It was better than watching.

“Now, we do it by points,” Merit said, when she needed to give her tongue a break.  How did the boy cats deal with all that fur?  Her own was a much more reasonable sleek length, and she still got tired out putting it all in place. These balls of fur… no wonder everything smelled like one, the other, or both of them!

“How do we figure points?” Theo looked up. He had the most hairballs of all of them, so he was at an advantage.

“So points if: the human steps in it.”  She licked her paw.  “If it takes the stinky cleaners to clean up.”  She licked her tail thoughtfully.  “If you can get them out of bed for it.”  She kept licking her tail.

Theo sat down, holding down his own tail, and eyed her nervously.  “The humans don’t like any of those things.”

“Ooh, I know.”  She ignored him.  “Points for getting it on a piece of clothing they know they shouldn’t have left somewhere.  And more points if you manage to cover it with something else they shouldn’t have left around.”

“But what about-”  Oli’s ears were back. “What about being good cats? Getting the hairball on the paper or the tile like they like?  Or in the tub?”

“What about it?  Be good cats when hairball season is done…. oh, all right.”  She huffed quietly.  “If you manage to get a good cat _and a treat_ for your hairball, being a good cat somewhere, then you get two points.  Okay?”

These two were no fun.  Then again, getting the humans to say you were the best and pet you behind the ears… was pretty good.  Certainly better than life outside.

Merit pinned Oli down and started grooming his ruff some more.  The humans were good, yeah.  But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun!

(Merit on top, Oli on the bottom; T thinks Merit was about a year inside and Oli thus would be about 2-1/2 years old here.)