Title: Cat's Pajamas
Fandom: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Rating: AA
Length: 530 words
Content Notes: None applicable
Author Notes: Nobody uses the Hunter's real name at any time in game. Palicoes are a position rather than a species - they're Felynes, knee-high bipedal cats who accompany Monster Hunters in MH4U. You really can make armor for cats, although the ordinary sort may be less accepting of it. 
Summary: A Hunter presents her Palico with a prized trophy to be transformed into armor.

Afternoon sun and a warm bed of dust behind a wagon were all a Felyne could want. Shadow was soaking it in, ears contentedly folded back and eyes closed, baking out the accumulated aches of a bruising hunt, when a soft tread woke him. One ear swiveled toward the sound, and he cracked open one blue eye to see his employer and friend, taking a seat not far from him. She didn't touch him, but waited politely for him to come to his feet. Even standing while she sat cross-legged on the ground, he barely came to her shoulder.

"Nice armor," he murmured sleepily, stretching himself into a slender black arch. "That's nyew, right? You managed to skin that thing before they pulled us out?"

The hunter struck a pose, showing off the overlapping ebon scales of a new set of pauldrons. Long hide faulds reminiscent of shadowy wings spread around her hips. He eyed the set appreciatively. "Mm, enough to make you purr."

"I didn't forget you, either." The hunter opened the drawstrings of the pouch at her side and withdrew a single, curved scale, its surface unmarred by the battle that had felled its owner. "Go on, take it. You'd about fit inside if you rolled up."

Shadow cocked his head, whiskers extended to feel the surface. His little nose wriggled, and he stretched out a tentative paw to touch it. "Meowster? But... this is your trophy, from that last hunt." The Felyne remembered his confidence and took the iridescent black plate in both paws, tilting it to admire the play of light across its surface.

"You asked me for better kit," the hunter replied. "Remember? "'We'll do better with better load-out.' I'm going to hold you to that end of the bargain." She grinned, turning a bleak statement into a teasing joke. "After that last monster, I was worried I'd lost you for good, Shadow. You really must have nine lives, and I don't want to risk any more of them."

"You'd better believe it. What we purromise, we deliver!" Shadow tucked the glimmering trophy close to his body. Rather than disappearing into his charcoal fur, it stood out, throwing the sun back in a somber arc of violet and blue.  "This will make a fine breastplate. I'll have the Man pierce it for me immediately."

Light running footsteps brought both their heads around. The Hunter gave her Palico a gentle shove toward the armory wagon. "Best hurry! That's the Guildmarm. If she's that excited, something big is coming in."

Just then, a woman in green rounded the end of the wagon at a dead run, her short cape flapping behind, a heavy leather-bound book cradled in her arms. "Doodle! You won't believe what we have here!" She thumped down the book and pointed at the page, eyes wide. "It's headed our way!" 

The hunter clambered to her feet, humming behind her teeth as she skimmed the page. "We'd best stop it, then."

Nearby, the sounds of a lively caravan were interrupted by the sharp scrape of a rasp set into action, and the hunter imagined that she could hear the lower rumble of a Felyne's purr.