cat owner-coded caretaker & feral cat-coded whumpee
slowly gaining whumpee’s trust even while they are spitting and fighting
in the beginning all caretaker can do is leave food, water and comfort items in whumpee’s room (instead of directly handing them over). whumpee never moves while caretaker is inside, but hours later the stuff left for them is gone
consistently working with whumpee, even when they lash out and hurt caretaker
even though whumpee is technically very independent, they have no idea how to operate in this environment
figuring out whumpee’s triggers and working on desensitising them
struggling to understand what exactly whumpee needs sometimes, but doing their best anyway
giving whumpee space until whumpee explicitly asks for closeness
the first time whumpee initiates contact, caretaker freezes as not accidentally scare them off
keeping whumpee inside for their own safety, even when whumpee actively tries to leave… until whumpee succeeds once and freezes in fear before coming back inside voluntarily
even after whumpee warms up to caretaker, they still dislike and avoid most other people
alternative versions: rescue dog whumpee & zoochosis hamster whumpee & former k9 whumpee