Chapter Text
Tuefort had a single animal shelter. As expected from being the only animal shelter in town, it was fairly large. Inside was clean but of course smelled of animals. The dog’s barking could be heard from inside the cat room; a large room with a row of cages on the wall containing cats of all shapes and sizes.
The only non-human or alien animal Benrey had ever interacted with in person was Sunkist. So by default that made him a dog person, right? Because he liked her. But Gordon wanted a cat and having never seen a cat in person before, he wanted to try it.
Approaching the nearest cage containing a cat, he phased his hand through the bars to pet the large fluffy black cat inside. The sign said his name was Midnight, an appropriate name given his fur colour. Before Benrey could make contact though, Midnight hissed, his fur puffing up to make him look twice as large as he pulled back into the corner of the cage.
Pulling his hand back, Benrey turned his head to look at Gordon. “That means he’s angry, right?” He hadn’t done anything though so why was the cat mad at him?
“Eh, maybe but probably he’s just scared. When you’re reaching out to pet an animal, try to let it sniff you first before touching it. Also uh… maybe be a bit careful about sticking your whole hand through the bars, there’s a security camera in here so… yeah, just be careful.”
Right, yeah, because Benrey had be careful about not being caught as a non-human lest problems with Black Mesa or the government arise as a result. It was the one downside to being free. Worth putting up with for sure but still kind of annoying sometimes. Like now when he wanted to touch the cats but couldn’t with the cage bars in the way.
Having already scared one cat, he moved onto the next one. The sign in front of the cage said her name as Lucky and that she was a tortoiseshell – an odd name for a cat breed as she looked nothing like a tortoiseshell. This time he stuck his fingers through the bars, only phasing through a little to get them a bit deeper in. Lucky sniffed his fingers and… also hissed before swatting at his hand. Not hard and not with much claws but enough to make clear how she felt about him.
Benrey retrieved his hand and moved on to the next cage. … Another hiss and a puff up. Same with the one after that. “I don’t think cats like me.”
Gordon had wondered over to look at the cats on the other side, keeping his wrapped up gun hand held close to his chest. He’d stuck the fingers of his other hand through one of cages, allowing the cat inside to rub up on him. He looked up at Benrey, his smile turning into a slight grimace. “I guess I didn’t think about that. Since you’re not human, you probably smell funny to them so they don’t like you. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.”
“Nah, let’s keep looking. Maybe we can find one that uh… doesn’t have a sense of smell or something.” They were cute and Gordon had seemed excited by the idea of having one as a pet when he’d brought it up. And it seemed like a fun idea to not be the only being in the house capable of purring.
And so Benrey set back to approaching the cages, sticking his fingers in to let the cats sniff him. The hissing, puffing up, and occasional swatting – a couple times with claws that drew blood, easily healed of course but the insult still stood – continued. The cats truly didn’t like him. It was… a humbling experience. He was a cool fun guy and yet even the kitties that were overtly friendly with Gordon, hated him. Or as Gordon had put it, were afraid of him and thus got defensive when he approached.
After checking with about half the cats, Gordon chimed in with, “I’d suggest maybe getting a dog instead but they’d probably react the same way. A fish tank or a bird or something like that might work. I’m not sure how to take care of anything other than a cat really though so… maybe for now, it’s time to give up on getting a pet.”
Benrey might’ve been willing to give up too; four-legged animals were cute and nice but he didn’t feel a particular need to live with one, especially since he already had a perfectly good pet in Gordon. But Gordon sounded so disappointed and it was partially Benrey’s fault because the cats didn’t like him.
Sunkist hadn’t liked him at first either though. She’d growled and barked at him. Tommy had had to tell her that he was chill which had settled her some. By the third time they’d met, she’d gotten used to him though and now she seemed to like him as much as anyone else. So…
“Maybe they just gotta get used to me? We could adopt one that likes you and then uh… just live with it for a bit and see if it starts to not be afraid of me? I spend a lot of time in the gaming room anyway, especially when you’re off at work. It could have the living room and rest of the house and stuff.” Cats were small and thus could easily avoid him, especially if he let them. So they could surely live in the house together without it being a problem perhaps even if it never started liking him.
Gordon perked up a little. “You think that would work?”
Benrey shrugged. “Dunno, maybe. Could always give the cat to someone else if it don’t. Tommy mentioned he was thinking about getting a cat too, remember?” More accurately he’d mentioned thinking about trying to create the perfect cat, much like how Sunkist was the perfect dog. But surely adopting and caring for a normal cat would serve as good research for such a project.
“Hmm… Tommy did say that, huh? So I guess, let’s text him and ask if he’s all right with that plan first and then pick out one of the cats that hate you less than the others if he is.”
Benrey pulled out his phone and scrolled to his text conversation with Tommy. He quickly typed out their idea before hitting ‘Send’. Thankfully it didn’t take long before the response came. ‘Sure. As long as it plays nice with Sunkist. So pick one that will get along with dogs.’
After sending a quick thumbs up emoji, Benrey pocketed his phone and looked back up at Gordon. “He says he’s cool with it long as we get one that’ll get along with Sunkist.”
“Makes sense.”
With their options limited to the cats who had ‘gets along with dogs’ as part of their bios on their little plaques, it didn’t take long to find a suitable candidate. A black and white adult cat, listed as a domestic short hair who responded well to Gordon and only hissed at Benrey’s hand before puffing up a little and moving to the back of the cage to avoid him. Her plaque listed her name as Tux but since they were allowed to change that…
“Even though she doesn’t like me do I still get to name her?” That had been Benrey’s first question when Gordon had brought up the idea of getting a cat and he’d been given a ‘yes’. The cat not liking him maybe changed that though.
“Of course. I’m uh… not great at names anyway. Got something in mind or…”
“Cait Sith.”
“After the uh… Final Fantasy cat that rides the… thingy?”
“Moogle, yeah. She’s got the right colours.” Not that that was the deciding factor as Benrey would’ve likely wanted to name her that regardless of her colouring as Cait Sith was the best video game cat. Not that he knew many video game cats as dogs appeared in games far more often. Making Cait Sith the best kind of by default but Benrey still liked him so he was naming their kitty after him.
“All right, Cait Sith it is then. Let’s go fill out the paperwork and then… hope for the best, I guess.”
Two Weeks Later
