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From the start, Rose Lalonde knew she was far from normal. Normal kids didn't live in mansions, to start, but that was beyond her control. Normal kids didn't follow their pet cat around on all fours, trying to mimic every step he took. Normal kids didn't talk to their pets, consider them closer to them than biological family. Normal kids don't meow alone in their room.
Her mother either didn't notice her strangeness around Jasper, or simply didn't care enough. Her daughter was probably fine. Yet Rose was trapped in a web of mimicry, finding that imitating Jaspers was far easier than trying to wrap her head around the social cues of her peers. Humans were difficult, she concluded, and being a cat would simply be easier.
But Jaspers was gone, and Rose had to settle for the hard truth. She was human, her body was human, and she would have to fit in with the other humans. It was a truth she hated, one that left a bitter taste in her mouth. Yet she "sucked it up", as some might say, keeping her feelings secret. No one would ever know, and they didn't need to. It was all in the embarrassing past, the "stupid stuff everyone did as a kid".
Her friends didn't know either, although she nearly let it slip a couple of times. Sometimes Jade would woof or bark in their chats, and Rose would meow back. Ironically, she claimed. Jade claimed the same. It was all ironic, all a game. They were human, after all. As human as anyone else around them. Sentience made them human, animals couldn't talk or write or use a computer.
The game changed everything.
---
Nepeta Leijon was an outcast, yet it was a purrfectly fine situation in her eyes. She had enough friends, she had trolls to roleplay with whenefur she felt like it, and she had her lusus.
Pounce was a fine guardian. Nepeta learned how to hunt and survive all from Pounce. Most trolls considered their lusus to be more of a pet or an annoyance, but Nepeta was Pounce's loyal student. Other trolls didn't imprint on their lusus like she did. They didn't hunt for their own food and live in caves. They didn't "pretend to be a cat" online while roleplaying with their friends. But Nepeta wasn't a normal troll, and she was just fine with that.
It might have annoyed some, or intrigued others, but Nepeta never stopped letting herself be herself. As much as Vriska or Karkat might complain, she tried not to care.
And whenefur she did end up crying in her cave, wishing so badly that she could just be normal like every other troll, Pounce was there to comfurt her.
The game changed everything.
---
"What's it like?" Rose asked one day. "To be raised by a ca- I mean, a purrbeast?" She was still getting the hang of troll terminology. The trolls outnumbered the humans one to four.
"You don't know?" Nepeta tilted her head with a bright smile, looking like the ":3" emoticon purrsonifyed.
"No, I'm afraid I don't. I thought you trolls had access to any point in our lives to spy on us. Surely you should know that I had a mother to raise me." Even if she did a terrible job.
"But what about Jaspers?" Nepeta inquired. "I did see you following him, like I always did with Pounce! Didn't he teach you how to hunt?"
"I never got the hang of it. Besides, he was an indoor cat, not much for hunting, I'm afraid. This body doesn't like being on four legs much." Rose sighed.
"Yeah." Nepeta stuck her arms out. Despite their many differences, humans and trolls had a somewhat similar body shape. Arms too short compared to their legs for either species to walk on all fours comfurtably.
"But Jaspers wasn't my guardian, unlike you. You lived in a cave. ...What's it like? To hunt?" Rose had a gleam in her eye. She wanted to be this troll, to be able to hunt her own food and eat her meat raw.
"It's fun! Exhausting sometimes, but fun. Although sometimes I'd go days without catching something and my tummy would hurt for a while. That kinda sucked." Nepeta stuck out her tongue.
Right, starvation. She should be grateful for her endless supply of food. Her mother took care of her well enough physically, she never had to worry about food. How could she want a life like that?
And yet she still did. She longed to be wild.
"Nepeta." She began. "Have you ever felt more like a purrbeast than a troll?"
The troll blinked in shock for a moment or two. "...All the time." She confessed. "I wanted to be just like Pounce. But I nefur admitted that to anyone else. They'd just make fun of me."
"I know." Rose sighed. "I know all too well."
She shut her eyes, memories flooding back. Of wearing cat ears once at school and being relentlessly teased. Of spending time in library corners reading. Of taking naps in the sun. Of chasing a laser pointer once, "ironically".
"Nepeta, I think I'm a cat."