Cat astray

“Not cat.” He just said after a moment of consideration. He already knew that Vinnie was a good guy. He actually liked him a lot more than his previous owners’ son. The difference in them was just on such a large scale. The question about his name made him sigh. He had already tried once to say it. “Gas…p..ra.” He mumbled, still looking away. He somehow felt embarassed, first the change ever happening and then the shirt that he couldnt even put on. And he was also starting to feel hungry. There were just so many pressing factors. Like, he wore the shirt now with help, and it felt so irritating on his barren skin. He scratched his side to then softly hiss as something stung, he pulled at the fabric, to then grunt. “Want cat. Not this.” He sighed.

The words of comfort didnt seem to soothe him and hadnt Vinnie gotten up and approached him, then he probably would’ve slumped down and curled into a ball to wait for his life as a cat to return; which it probably wouldnt for a while. But he could hope. He took the hands and was helped up on his feet, not having much trouble standing. He accepted the help without a word, liking being covered now that he didnt have fur. It was a little colder being a person, he realized that now, even small goosebumps already forming on his bare arms that wasnt covered by the shirt. He felt a little unsure about walking so it was nice that Vinnie helped him. He turned to lean a little up against the couch, watching the seraph in the kitchen. The mention of salmon did make him look a little more alert, moving his hands up to rest on the top of the couch. “Salmon.” He repeated, his voice having warmed up to at least some of the words he had kept repeating. “Day?” He asked. When he was a cat, he had gotten to hear a lot of things about Vinnie’s day. It had always been pretty nice, and if he just had to listen then at least he wouldnt have to think of how to form words or even what to say.

He did sometimes wonder what it was really like out there, at least more than he had when he was unaware that there was so much outside. Though it was too scary to venture out and he hadnt liked having no where to go once he had been out. So it felt better to listen to what others had experienced. Not that he could imagine any of it. But he still listened, curiously even. “Yes.” He just mumbled at the mutter, frowning slightly. He could see what the seraph was doing from here and that kept him at ease. Vinnie spoke of his day and had no idea what colour theory was, but the sketches he knew. He had at least made the correlation from the one time Vinnie had showed one of the sketches for that class. Tasha… he had to search his mind for what else Vinnie had said about her. “Sweet girl.” He mumbled to himself, all corks and screws quite visibly turning in his head. “Why?” He then asked. Why didnt she like that?

He did listen to Vinnie explain and yet as much as it made sense, it also seemed far to complicated for a simpleminded creature like Gaspar. “Makes no sense.” He sighed. Why were they forced to only choose one thing? Like Gaspar came from the cat world and though he didnt understand all the aspects, it surely didnt seem like any of the other cats kept to one cat. It was definitely more free. “Hungry.” He said as he carefully walked over to look down into the pan, standing next to the tall guy. It definitely felt weird to have height, to not just see everything from the ground and up. He didnt quite enjoy it.

But what he did enjoy was getting some salmon. And once his hunger was somewhat quelched, he yawned and stretched. A nap would probably be in order for him now. And yet he felt too long and present to just hurl up into any corner and sleep. Now he actually had to consider where to sleep! He was visibly annoyed again by the fact.

Gaspar had ended up sitting on the couch, curling up until he felt at least a little smaller than before. Vinnie sat down not far and Gaspar carefully watched him. The seraph broke the silence between them and the mutter made him sigh. “Guess not.” He mumbled, looking at Vinnie as he looked at him. His name? He had been trying to say it a million times, pr so it felt like. “Gaspa… Gasp…ar.” He tried again with a frown as he was already struggling. He was starting to like his own name less and less just because he didnt know how to pronounce it. He just looked away and then down, looking at his hands. He felt awfully in control of every part of himself and he didnt enjoy it. There was an itch in his fingers that he tried to soothe on the fabric of the couch.

“Itchy…” he mumbled, rubbing his arms a little, feeling goosebumps. Air just felt weird on barren skin, he didnt like it one bit. Vinnie offered to help but Gaspar just sat a bit in his own bubble, rubbing his arms a little firmer, red marks surely forming. He might even rub his skin off if he kept going but if Vinnie tried to interfere, it would only scare Gaspar, having him flinch so profoundly that he’d fall off thr couch with a hiss. No, he couldnt really stay here where he remembered being a cat so clearly, it just felt weird. He quickly got to his feet, oddly aware all of a sudden of his own body, right before he bolted. He just yanked at the door, not quite knowing how a doorhandle really functioned but in his panic to leave he did manage to flay it open. He ran out and down the stairs, bumping right into no one else but Mickey who saw him run off in a hurry, no shoes or proper clothes for the cold weather.

Mickey had been an ass lately and she had come to make ammends for it. Actually, by ammends, she had bought some cheap yet rather nice cake and then some sort of cat treat for Vinnie’s new cat. Because Mickey wasnt inherently bad. She just had so many emotions that she barely knew how to control. On the way up the stairs, some guy bumped into her, looking as if he had seen a ghost or rather was running from someone. She was confused, but figured it at worst could be a noisy upstairs neighbour or someoneone weird, that didnt seem too uncommon around here. She continued back up the stairs to Vinnie’s apartment once the guy had made it all the way down and found the door out.

The seraph tried but words didnt quite cut it. At least Gaspar couldnt use the acknowledgement for anything. It didnt make him less scared or irritable from being in this body. He felt the fingers in his hair, scratching his scalp in a way that did make hin relax a little from how nice it was. He leaned into the touch, closing his eyes as the sobs slowly died out, to only follow when he felt small shivers or how the inside of his nose had swollen up a bit now that he had been crying. He sniffled and kept his eyes closed. Vinnie could help? He wasnt so sure. But he also knew that the seraph was one of the few people he trusted in this world. “I… stay..” he spoke softly, sniffling, opening his eyes to look at the seraph.

“Ye..s.. go back..” he repeated in agreement, nodding a few times. He didnt really like standing out in this cold and unfamiliar hallway. It was a little too spooky for him. The notion of music made him shake his head but the mention of TV clearly had a reaction. “T…V” he mumbled, following Vinnie’s lead if he led them back to the apartment. However, entering, made him frown a little as he could hear someone retch quite loudly and he knew that Mickey had gone up just a few minutes ago. He went to the couch to sit, pulling his legs up, looking down at his toes and touching them one by one. It was very weird to him but he chose not to freak out now, just take things slowly, feeling the very human parts of him.

While Vinnie had gone after the guy, Mickey had just gone into the apartment, getting some water to rid herself of some slight nausea she hadnt been able to let go of on her walk. But it was like the feeling just intensified and before she knew it, she stood squatting over the toilet with her head almost in the porcelain bowl, throwing up a bunch of liquid and what seemed to be some smaller meal she had had. She felt awful. And the water didnt really help in other regards that it made it a bit more bearable to throw up. She sobbed quietly, resting her head on the top of the seat, feeling drool just dribble down her chin and into the disgusting mix of all the fun she had had a few hours back.

She felt pathetic most of the times when she was like this. But sje also wasnt usually up for having someone take care of her, much less when she knew it wasnt just them anymore. “No I’m fine..” she spoke in a slurred manner, waving a weak hand at him. “Just go to your boyfriend.” She told him, moving away from the toilet to just sit and calm. She dried her eyes and drew in a few deep breaths. She still felt so nauseous while her stomach also felt as empty as it could get, it was a very weird feeling.

“Well someone had some pills. And we had some alcohol.” She said, but that just meant that she didnt even really know what she had had. All she knew was that now didnt feel as good as it had a few hours back. Even if he was just being nice to her as always, she couldnt really see much beyond her own nosetip at the moment. So he was annoying her, and it showed rather quickly. “I just came because you were available and wont ask me a bunch of questions. But apparently I was fucking wrong.” She hissed, trying to get to her feet but she was very wobbly legged and weak amongst the things that kept her on the bathroom floor.