Sour Puss and Grey Fur Meet Bob

Note: This is a continuation of a previous story, found here, though my intention is that they can stand alone. I am writing this series as both a tribute to my favorite children's story, The Owl and the Pussycat by Jan Brett and in the manner of telling it to my son - who's four at the time of writing this. 

After escaping from the castle and her very irate family, Sour Puss and Grey Fur take to the road.
"So, what's in the purse?" Grey Fur asks, unable to contain his curiosity.
"Some money, and some honey. It was my mother's."
He nods solemnly. "Your mother is a wise kitty. Honey and money always travel well together."
Just then, a scrawny cat wearing boots that are far too large for him and a wide-rimmed hat bursts from the bushes, pointing a sword at Sour Puss. "Did someone say... honey?"
Grey Fur moves to protect Sour Puss, but she moves even quicker, going down on all fours for extra speed and pouncing on this intruder. "No one threatens my honey." She hisses.
Grey Fur whistles (quite a feat when you have such large canines). "Whoa, milady, I did not expect such a fierce attack from someone who can't even catch a mouse!"
"You can't catch a mouse?" The scrawny cat croaks, considering laughing, but then remembers that Sour Puss is on top of him and has her claws out.
"I may have gotten a little carried away. But I do mean it, this honey is mine." She stands up, then, smoothing down her dress and playing with her hair. She points to Grey Fur. "You can take over, now."
"Right." He puts his paws on his hips, one foot on Bob's chest. "Who are you?" He draws his own sword.
"I am... Puss... IN BOOTS!" The scrawny cat announces entirely too dramatically.
"Oh, no." Grey Fur mutters.
"Oh, yes! So you'd better let me go, or I'll tear you from limb to limb!"
"Oh, I didn't mean it that way. I meant, oh no you are not!" Grey Fur's grey fur is standing up, prickly as a porcupine. "Though those boots might be his, you are not he. I knew Puss in Boots. He was a good friend, a mentor. We sailed the seas together. He would NEVER attack a lady for her honey." His shoulders relax ever so slightly. "He would ask her kindly for it, and rogue that he was, they would share it with some tea and biscuits." He tenses his shoulders again, his voice stern. "So I will ask one more time. Who are you?"
The cat puts his paws up, finally dropping his sword. "Ok, ok, I'm not! I'm Bob. But he WAS my grandfather, and these ARE his boots... Wait, if he was my grandpa, and you sailed the seas together, that would make you super old!"
Grey Fur folds his arms across his chest. "I am NOT super old, I am only- Well, that's not your business. You must be super young, if he was your grandpa."
Bob whines, " I happen to be 6 months old, I'll have you know. I'm almost an adult."
"Oh, dear you are just a baby." Grey Fur picks up Bob's sword, inspects it for damage, then takes his foot off Bob's chest and stands back.
Bob stands up, brushing off unseen dirt from his fur. "I am not!" He pouts. "Did you really know Grandpa Puss?"
"I really did. He was a brave and noble cat, excellent with a sword but even more impressive at bocce ball. He really knew how to throw."
"You really DID know him. Only his true friends knew how much he loved that game."
"And you really must be his grandson. Well met, Bob in Boots. Now, why did you accost my friend for her honey?"
Bob nervously cleans his paw. "Well, um... I... I wanted to find adventure, yeah. And, you know, um, live up to my grandfather's name. But I have no money, or food, and, um... I heard your friend say honey, and well, I ... I need it! I need that honey!"
Sour Pus steps forward. "Then you should have learnt better from your grandfather, and asked me kindly for it. But I will forgive it this time. Come, it's getting dark, why don't you two make camp and I'll, um, you know, watch?"
Grey Fur nods. "Yes, yes, excellent plan. Come, Bob in Boots, let us make a fire. I imagine we may even be able to rustle up some forest mice for dinner, and then for dessert, I have some biscuits that would go splendidly with that honey."

Over a dinner of roasted forest mice, our three young newly-made friends try to get to know each other better - though, it would seem from an outside observer's point of view that only two of them are actually interested in that, and maybe too interested, as it does cause them to miss valuable clues.
"Hmmm. " Grey Fur purrs. "This is delicious, Sour Puss. What made you think to wrap the mice in the bong tree leaves before roasting them? They have come out so tender, so juicy, but just the right amount of crispy!"
If cats could blush, Sour Puss would be bright red. But everyone knows cats don't blush - not only because of their fur, it's just so... undignified. "Well, um, there was this chef in the castle when I was a little kitten, and she'd always roast fish and mice and birds wrapped up in leaves. Bong tree leaves are the best, luckily, but when she couldn't get a hold of those, a few others worked almost as well... I just remembered, you know, nothing special..."
"Well, I would never have thought... And what is that flavor? There's something extra..."
She shrugs. "Just a few herbs I found while you two made camp. I used to help her, before... Well, before. You know."
"Well, it's amazing, thank you." Grey Fur licks his paws clean, then finally turns to Bob - who has been rather lost in his own world, sad, morose even; and maybe a bit jumpy, too. But Grey Fur and Sour Puss have been too caught up in each other to notice - and still are, Grey Fur's eyes on Sour Puss even while talking to Bob. "Don't you think so, Bob in Boots?"
"Hm? Yes, yes, it's delicious..." And again, if only our two heroes had been able to notice anything but each other, they would notice that for someone so reportedly hungry as to attempt robbery, young Bob barely touched his mice and so would have no idea their level of deliciousness.
"So, Bob, tell us about your family. Is your mother ok with you adventuring?" Sour Puss asks, her eyes on Grey Fur.
"My mother?" Bob sounds scared at the mention of her, which should leave anyone to question if there's something else going on, if only they were listening. "Oh, um, yes, yes, she's fine with it, of course she is, why wouldn't she be fine? She's totally fine..."
"That's wonderful, Bob, must be nice to have a mother who supports you, not one that would rather stay behind with your brothers and father who fight all the time, but one that really wants to be involved in your life, right? That must be wonderful."
"Um, sure?" Bob is broken out of his reverie by her rambling outburst. "So, um, Grey Fur... what about you? Do you have family?" But instead of looking at Grey Fur, he goes back to staring at the firelight, again caught in his own world.
"Oh, well, they're all wonderful. We all love to be on the water, just like my great-great-great grandparents. Well, except for Leroy, he prefers to be flying off on his own, rarely ever lands. Which is for the better, you know, we've tried involving him in our adventures and he always flies in too soon and botches things."
Sour Puss puts her paw on top of Grey Fur's. "That sounds tough, like you miss him."
He nods. "Well, yes, I suppose I do. He is my big brother, you know, he took me under his wing for awhile when we were kittens. But then..."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. I think I'm going to turn in, getting a bit tired, and if we want to make it to my ship tomorrow we really should get some rest."
"Yes, that sounds good, I think I'll join you... Good night, Bob, nice getting to know you..." And together, Sour Puss and Grey Fur wander off together, to the beds that Bob and Grey Fur made. If things had stayed quiet, anyone observing them would not be surprised if they woke up cuddled together. But things don't stay quiet for long...

The moon is high, it's filtered light shining brightly through the forest canopy,  the only sounds the screeching of owls as they catch mice, crickets chirping, rustling leaves as something larger stalks something small... Then, an ear-splitting yowl, followed by a whimper, and another yowl, then some rustling as cats wake up.
"What's going on?" Grey Fur whispers.
Sour Puss is already sitting up, her right ear cocked forward to hear better. "I think someone is not who they say they are..."
"What do you mean?"
"We might as well go confirm..." She crawls on all fours, sneaking quietly back to the fireside, back to where her belongings were stored. To her purse with the honey they forgot to eat. Grey Fur follows suit, the two cats creeping like their wild counterparts, their large paws padding through the thick leafy carpet.
They find Bob curled up  next to their belongings, whimpering and pawing at the purse stuck to his right paw.  Sour Puss crouches down next to him.
"You didn't want the honey because you were hungry, did you?"
He growls low and shakes his head, his eyes pleading with her to remove the purse.
"It's a simple trap, really, but very effective. It was my mother's purse, and she always put this trap on all her purses, to keep my father out. He never did have self control... After the first couple of times, he stopped trying to get to her honey without asking. I forgot about it, honestly, until I heard you yowl."  As she talks, she pushes on various buttons, in random order, each push seeming to relieve the pressure on Bob's paw. "There's a needle, and it injects just a tiny bit of poison, to incapacitate the robber in case the pain isn't enough. It'll wear off in about an hour." The purse falls off and she picks it up, closing it, then attaching it to her hip belt.
"So, Bob in Boots, you are a liar."
Bob nods, continuing to whimper.
"Why?"
"My mother..."
Sour Puss, still sitting next to him, gets angry. "Don't make this about her! You chose to lie, and to try to steal - twice! So why?"
He shakes his head, pawing again at his injury. "She's been catnapped. A bear... A bear named Noir. He catnapped her, and is holding her ransom..."
"Why would he do that?" Grey Fur demands.
"You don't remember why Grandpa Puss left the rogue business, do you?"
"Um... Oh! Bees!"
Bob nods. "Yes. He took over a beekeeping business... Nunya's  Beeswax."
"I didn't truly understand why... He said being a rogue no longer held the thrill of danger anymore, that it became too easy. He wanted something that could truly challenge him... I guess working with bees was it."
Bob shrugs. "It can be intimidating, walking in for the first time, the bees swarming around you, trying to protect their honey... Anyway, the Bear Noir catnapped my Uncle Pete and sent us a ransom note for two gallons of honey."
Sour Puss scratches her head. "Ok, but if your family runs The Puss's Honey, why would you need to steal mine?"
"Because we're all out of honey. The bees have all flown away, it's been months. We ran out of honey just last week, we didn't want to tell anyone... And then Pete got taken, and I have no way to fulfill the ransom..."
"Why didn't you just tell us?" Sour Puss starts massaging Bob's paw, trying to work the poison through faster.
"Because the note said not to! If I told anyone, Noir said I'd never see him again... He's my only family. I couldn't risk that..."
"Right. Well, Bob, how long do we have?"
"One week now. He gave me ten days, it's been three. But I don't know what to do..." Bob sits up, seeming to feel better. "Wait, you said we?"
"Of course. Grey Fur and I will help you anyway we can. Won't we?" She turns back to look at Grey Fur.
"Oh, of course, of course... But if you're lying again... Well, Bob in Boots, it won't be pleasant."
"I'm not! I'm not! I'm really telling the truth this time. Please..." He cries.
"Chill out, Grey Fur. It was my honey he tried to steal, not yours."
"I know, but, well, you're... You're my... I mean, we had...?"
"We'll deal with that later. Right now, we need to save Bob's uncle. Any ideas on where the bees went?"
Bob shakes his head. "I mean, maybe? There was a cockerel who came by a month ago, wanting to buy our business. Uncle Pete said no, business has been great lately so why would we want to sell?"
"What was the cockerel's name?" Grey Fur asks, his voice thoughtful.
"Kevin."
"Hm... Well, I think I have an idea... We need to go see the turkey on the hill."
"I thought... I thought that was just a legend."
"Oh, he is very real, but only comes out for the right people... I am the right people. Come, we don't have much time."

They pack up and leave within an hour, no one able to sleep with the recent outpouring of knowledge.
"Where to, then?" Sour Puss asks.
"The nearest hill."
"Any hill? He'll come to any hill?" Bob asks, doubtful.
"Yes, that's why he's known only as the Turkey on the Hill. There's no hill specified because he'll come to any. If you know the right way to call him... But, we might need a ring."
"A ring? Why?" Sour Puss sounds concerned.
"It is part of the ritual..." He looks thoughtfully at her. "We may need to figure out 'us' sooner than you'd like..."
Bob chimes in. "Look, I may still be... a kitten, but it's clear you two have something special. And if you two getting married helps me save my uncle, then that's what you need to do. You can always get it annulled later. But right now, I need your help. Please, SP."
"SP?" Sour Puss questions.
Bob shrugs. "Well, you don't seem very sour to me. So I'm not sure what to call you..."
Grey Fur nods. "You do seem to have lost your sourness..."
"Hmph." She huffs. "I can still hold my own, if needed. I took you down, twice, I'll have you know."
"Yes, but not because you were sour..."
She tosses her hair back. "Well, my name will be a discussion for later. For now, just call me Sour Puss. If it will save your uncle, I shall marry Grey Fur." She turns to him. "But we'll still need to talk about 'us' later. Now, I do know a good jeweler... He's in town, in the market district."
Grey Fur gets down on one knee.
"Oh Sour Puss, Sour Puss,
 I am truly falling for you
You used to be a sour puss
But now you're truly sweet
I promise I'll be true.
It may be to save Uncle Pete
But I'll hold onto you like an octopus."
Bob paws at his ear. "I'm not sure about the octopus part, but it's something."
Sour Puss nods. "Yes, it might need some work... Um, you go ahead and think about that while we find a ring..."
"Adventure, then." Grey Fur smiles, and the three cats walk through the woods toward the market, two paws trying to touch and not touch at the same time.