the cat

[instar]

Comments

[instar]

"And get blood on your pretty fur? I don't know how to make coats either."

[aeskhyne]

Purr-giggle.

[instar]

Pet, pet. Sigh of indeterminate emotional content.

[aeskhyne]

Snuggle snuggle purr. Trouble's emotional content is easy to determine: he's a cat, and he's getting petted. Happily.

[instar]

Yep. He's pretty readable that way. The purring is helpful.

[aeskhyne]

It is!

Purr purr.



Eventually: <All right, I'm gonna go show off some more. See ya!>

And he jumps lightly out of her lap and races out of the room and down the stairs.

[pandion]

Andi and Ax are in the garage, and she is explaining the cultural context of the Beatles.

[aeskhyne]

<I'm a kitty! Who wants to pet me?>

[pandion]

"Ooh, me!"

[aeskhyne]

Kitty Trouble rubs his face against her leg and purrs encouragingly.

[pandion]

Andi scoops him up and pets him. "Sofffft," she coos.

[aeskhyne]

<Yep,> he says, purring louder. <Soft and fluffy and cute. That's me.>

[pandion]

"Uh-huh! What are you exactly?"

[aeskhyne]

<Part serval, part snow leopard. It took a while, but it's not like I had anything better to do. And now I look like a housecat but I'm way better at killing things! And so pettable.>

[pandion]

Pet pet. "Well, you're an adorable little killing machine, that's what you are."

[aeskhyne]

<Mm-hmm.>

Purrrrr.

[morphbox]

<Just how many animals of the 'cat' type are there?>

[aeskhyne]

<Hell if I know. Lots. Mostly you just hear about the domesticated kind, though; if somebody says 'cat', that's usually what they mean. People keep 'em as pets. They hunt little squeaky things where little squeaky things are a problem, and otherwise they're just cute.>

[morphbox]

<...What kind of problem do little squeaky things present?>

[aeskhyne]

<Eating things they shouldn't, I think.>

[morphbox]

<Ah,> says Ax, though he continues to seem puzzled.

[pandion]

"Little squeaky things like mice, Ax," clarifies Andi.

[morphbox]

<Do humans not approve of the mouse named Mickey?>

[pandion]

"Turns out," says Andi, aiming her remark at Trouble, "it is kind of hard to do just an overview of human culture for an alien."

[aeskhyne]

Trouble laughs silently.

<I think most people don't even think of Mickey Mouse and actual mice as the same kind of thing,> he says.