Companionship. A sincere request from a lonely soul. November begins and you proceed about your day as usual, embracing the cooling air as it spreads across your skin. But a sound echoes through the street you walk along, akin to a … meow? It is distorted and choppy but grows in volume as you draw closer and it stumbles toward you. It is a cat; majority of its coat black with pure white paws, chest, and tail tip. A perfect balance of the two. It rubs against your leg and releases another strange mewl.
OOC // Your wish has been fulfilled. The result of this wish will have echoes throughout your character’s journey. Answer the submit with your character’s reaction to the result; doing so will count for activity.
This cat...was it not intending to attack him?
Yiming stared as the feline approached, a strange little mewl accompanying its white-pawed steps.
“Hello,” he greeted in his typical monotone voice, a little stiffly at first as he anticipated for the cat to raise its claws and swat at his ankles. Or perhaps go in for a bite of his toes, unprotected by his sandals. To his great surprise, the cat touched its soft head to his leg, rubbing contently as if it was happy to see him. “I see...Right...” Yiming became as still as a statue the way one would on a first date going poorly, clearly uncertain about this whole thing. Animals typically hated him, and they were right to do so because he was dangerous. The scent of blood on his hands was something he would never be able to wash away and weight of sins shall sit heavy on his chest until the day he return as one to the earth.
He waited to see if the cat would leave, and when it didn’t, he crouched down and offered it a hand of potential friendship. The cat sniffed at his knuckles before running its fluffy jaw over them, pleasantly warm against the cold of the night. What a handsome fellow this one was too, all yin-yang chic and balanced.
“Do you want to come home with me?” Yiming asked, carefully giving the cat a pat on the head before rapidly extracting his fingers in fear of losing them. The cat did not attack. “You don’t have a collar on, so this isn’t stealing. And it is not kidnapping because I am asking you first. If you don’t want to come with me, you can turn around and walk away now.” He told the cat, tone serious despite the fact the cat would not be able to understand a single word. “I will give you ten seconds.”
By now, he had forgotten about the wish he made at the festival. Yiming figured this might have been one of nature’s gifts. He hadn’t received them often, but his father constantly reminded him of their existence. Now, thinking back, he could recall the first time he got something when he expected nothing. He was a child then, hungry and cold in a ditch, uncertain of his future. There was a pear tree just over his head, but he did not have the strength left to get himself out and try to climb it. Besides, all of the older kids already collected the pears from the lower branches, leaving only those that were high up.
He looked away from the plump looking pears sitting atop the branches he would never be able to reach and felt bitterness spread like venom through his chest. He hated everything in that moment - all of the people who couldn’t take care of him, all of the people that disappointed him and fate, for having dealt him such a poor hand.
And then a pear fell, just like that, onto his head. From an unreachable place, coaxed by a gentle breeze. It made him temporarily forget hopelessness and push aside hate. Nature’s gift.
Yiming scooped the cat into his arms on the final count of ten. He held onto it tightly, in case it would try to flee. “You had your chance.” He warned, a hint of dark possessiveness in his voice. This was the real him and if this cat was to become his companion, then it should be allowed to see that side of him.
The cat did not seem interested in running away. It adjusted its position and remained comfortable in Yiming’s embrace. “I will name you A-Li,” he said, and the feline meowed as if it understood. “Do you like it? A-Li. Li. It means pear.”
