“This one!” Cheshire demanded as she pointed at the storefront. It was a big, tall building with lots of glass on the front, the view within only slightly marred by vertical bars that ran from the floor to the ceiling.

She looked up and glared at the big sign hanging above the door, silently moving her lips as she sounded out the words in the name. Jason's Sports Emporium. She didn’t know what that last word meant, but there was a big hockey mask behind it, and she could see all sorts of cool camping equipment and bikes and gear behind the windows.

“Are you sure?” Big Sis asked. She had her hands in her hoodie pockets and was looking up at the store too. She had probably never been in there, Cheshire figured. Her Big Sis was all sorts of things, but sporty wasn’t one of them.

Tail wiggling under her skirt, Cheshire nodded.

She didn’t like the skirt. It was airy, and wavy, and it wasn’t as warm as proper pants, but Big Sis had said it was either that or she could go pantless. And then when Cheshire said she’d rather go pantless, Big Sis had put her foot down and said she had to wear the stupid skirt because she wasn’t going to cut holes in any more pants and her onesie wasn’t good enough to be worn outside.

Big Sis even forced her into one of those potato sack hoodies to cover her cool predator ears. Which was silly. How were people supposed to know that she was an alpha predator and that they had to hide if she didn’t show off her cool new bits? “Yeah, I’m sure,” she said. “This is where I wanna shop.”

“You know, it’s not actually shopping if you don’t have the money to buy anything,” Big Sis said. She still reached down, grabbed Cheshire’s hand and started towards the shop.

Cheshire allowed it, like a kitty allowing itself to be petted because pets were a sort of way of telling someone that you liked them. Big Sis holding her hand was like that, it meant that Big Sis liked her. Which was obvious. She was way too cool not to be liked.

The bell by the door jingled as they entered and a boy behind the counter looked up at them before he returned to stacking boxes behind a glass cabinet. Cheshire ignored him except to take note that he was a boy and that she might have to fight him if he tried any of that flirting stuff Crochet was always on about.

The store was way bigger than she had thought, with a wall covered in small boat-things in the back and an area filled with tents in one corner. There were racks of guns chained in place and counters where they were selling bullets and things.

“Awesome,” Cheshire said. She felt her fang poking at her lower lip and only smiled harder. “C’mon!” she said before dragging Big Sis along towards the back. “Let’s look at the guns.”

“Um,” Big Sis said. Cheshire glanced up to see that she looked the same way she did when Pop suggested killing someone again. “I can’t stop you from looking at them, but I would really, really rather you not have a gun. For a multitude of reasons.”

“Y’er no fun,” Cheshire said, but her heart wasn’t in it. Guns weren’t a real predator’s weapon. They were too noisy and stank and they were just unfair. So she steered Big Sis towards the knives section instead.

There were all sorts of them, but the type of knife didn’t matter as much as how pointy and cool it looked. Her Big Sis leaned in to squint at the little price tags next to the prettier ones and winced. “Pricey.”

“Well, yeah,” Cheshire said. “But you can stab all sorts of folks with those. They’re like claws, but less cool.”

“Let’s try to keep the stabbing of people at a minimum,” Big Sis said. “It’ll land us all in hot water and I’d rather not spend the rest -- or any part -- of my life in prison.”

“Bah, you’re no fun, Big Sis. I bet you want to work some boring job, like, one of those tax people. That ain’t what I’m gonna do in the future.”

Big Sis looked at her. “And what do you plan on doing?”

“I’m gonna be a big predator, an alpha cat, like a cougar.”

Big Sis stared, then her lips twitched, and then she started laughing.

“The fuck you laughing at?” she demanded, hands on her hips and glare fixed up at her stupid Big Sis.

Her Big Sis laughed even harder but shook her head the whole time. “No, no, it’s okay. You can be a cougar if you...” she stopped and giggled some more.

“The fuck?” Cheshire said. “Stop being so stupid and explain why that was funny.”

“No, no, I’ll... I’ll explain it later,” Big Sis said.

Cheshire glared even harder. That was the same lie she had told them about explaining where babies came from and what puberty was.

“Come on, we should go,” Big Sis said. She wiped the corners of her eyes, then patted Cheshire on the head between her ears. “But thanks for making me laugh.”

Cheshire perked up. “Does that mean you’ll buy me a knife?” she asked.

“God no,” Big Sis said right away.

Huffing, Cheshire tried to slip her hands into her pockets, but she was wearing that sissy skirt, so she just crossed her arms instead and stomped off.

She made it three steps before something caught her eye.

It was gorgeous.

Nearly as tall as she was, with sleek curves that reminded her of the whippy tail of a tiger. There was a sharp bit sticking out of the top, reflecting the lights from the ceiling with a glint of chrome. The handle was made of that cool checkered black and white stuff that race cars were made out of.

“I want it,” she said.

Taylor stepped up next to her and looked into the glass display case protecting the piece of art. “That’s an impressive looking crossbow,” she admitted. “But there’s no way in hell that we’re getting it.”

“What? Why not?” she asked. “It ain’t a gun.” And it was pretty and she wanted it, she didn’t say.

“Yeah, no. It’s bigger than you are,” she said. “And that price tag has about two numbers too many for me to be able of even thinking of affording it.”

Cheshire pouted. “Yeah, but I could use it to pin bad guys and then take their shi-- their money to pay it off, right?”

“You’re set on being a hero now?” Big Sis asked. Then her lips twitched. “I thought you wanted to be a cougar.”

“I can be both,” she said.

Big Sis snorted. “Sure, why not.” She looked around, then pointed off to the side. “How about you start with something like that, and work your way up?”

Cheshire turned to stare. There was a rack with little boxes on it, each one transparent on one side to show off the metal and rubber tubes within. She squinted at the label and sounded out the two syllable word. “Blowgun? Like, to spit darts at people?”

Big Sis nodded. “Exactly. Isn’t that all... stealthy and predator like, and also under twenty dollars?”

“I dunno, is blowing stuff cougar-like?” she asked, then glared extra hard when Big Sis started laughing again. “Fine! I’ll take it, we’ll see if y’er still laughin’ when I’m blowin’ bad guys left and right.”