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Shez adored his cat. More accurately; Shez loved his and Arval’s cat. The two were adorable together. Ranger, his black and white tuxedo cat,was sassy and had an attitude bigger than his little body could handle while Arval’s brown tabby, Toast, couldn’t go three minutes without being given attention. The two made an interesting duo but it came as no surprise to their two owners.
They weren’t the only ones who loved their cats. The two felines were practically internet celebrities thanks to the social media page Shez and Arval ran for them. And why shouldn’t they be? They were cute, they had big personalities, and they loved being spoiled. It was the formula for success when it came to cat content.
For the past week or so though, they’ve lacked the inspiration they usually had when filming their cats. Arval loved creating cat safe versions of human dishes for them but hadn’t come up with a recipe that satisfied them for several days now and Shez can’t find a new unique cat toy to review. Their followers were kind enough not to demand new updates, but the two were beginning to get frustrated.
“Hey look, Claude posted this just now,” Arval said from his side. The two were only about twenty minutes into their day, Shez was still finishing his morning coffee while his friend sat on the other side of the couch, scrolling through their social media. Looking at their phone he was greeted with a picture of Claude with his massive fluffy white dog trying to squeeze into his lap. He laughed under his breath. “I can’t imagine how much that hurts.” He commented.
Arval took their phone back. “His caption says ‘the things he does for love.’”
“Cute. Couldn’t be me though.” Shez couldn’t imagine the energy a dog like that took to take care of it. That’s what made their cats great. Just now, Toast was curled up happily on his lap while Ranger flicked his tail lazily in front of the window. He was perfectly content with the demands of a house cat, even if it meant giving up his laptop so one of them could curl up in his lap instead. Now that he thought about it…
“Maybe we could do a walkthrough of our day with the two terrors.” Shez suggested.
Arval sat up, looking slightly perplexed. “What, like, film what our schedules look like?” They questioned as Shez nodded. “Well…we never did a daily walkthrough before. But it wouldn’t exactly be exciting. They don’t do much unless we engage with them.”
For once, Shez felt like he was one step ahead of Arval. The thought brought a wide smile to his face. “Which is exactly why we should do it.” Arval still seemed confused. “We should plan a fun, exciting day for them. I could pull out some of their favorite toys and you can make some nice meals for them. Maybe we could even take them to the park. It won’t be like our normal day, we could call it, um, maybe like a ‘fun day walkthrough’? It’ll give our cats something fun to do and we can finally get out of this ditch we’ve been in.”
After a moment, Arval smiled. “That’s a great plan, partner. I’m actually impressed for once.” They nudged him with their elbow. “We should definitely do something like that. Maybe tomorrow. I’ll find my recipe binder and get to work tonight.”
They spent their day planning out the next. Together, they planned out their entire itinerary; from tasty cat safe cooking, to playtime with toys, to cat rides and bikes on their favorite trail, Shez and Arval were determined to have a great day tomorrow.
The next morning, the two woke up bright and early. Arval went to their kitchenette to cook some cat safe chicken omelets while filming with their tripod as Shez dug out a few fun toys, like an interesting mat that mimicked prey movements. As Arval cooked, the cats distracted themselves with the mat, and then they went to eat.
As the morning went on, Shez felt relaxed, despite all the activity going on in the small apartment. It was like he was finally taking joy from his hobby again. For a while, filming and editing videos felt more like a chore than something he enjoyed. Maybe that was why their uploads slowly fell off. He shouldn’t have let something he enjoyed become a job. Still, he couldn’t be more happy they decided to do this. He was actually having fun.
That afternoon, Ranger and Toast slipped into their harnesses and all four of them went to their favorite hiking trail. It always delighted other hikers to see two cats walking up the trail and Shez shared in their happiness. The cats genuinely enjoyed the walk, chattering to the birds in the trees and sniffing at all the new smells.
With all filming done for the day, Shez relaxed back onto their couch, opening his editing software and beginning the task of putting all the videos together. Usually Arval stayed out of this part, since they did lots of the filming, but today, they sat at his side, offering their input every now and again.
“You know,” They began as Shez spliced two different clips together. “You seemed different today.”
“Yeah?” Shez responded, pausing to look at his friend. “Was it a good different?”
“You seemed more happy than you have been in a while. More relaxed. I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, but it was like you were back to your usual ridiculous self. Yeah you planned the whole day but you still got us lost on that hiking trail and you still managed to drain all the battery out of that play mat even though I told you to charge it.”
“Ha ha. I’m glad I can still amuse you.” Shez deadpanned as Arval cracked a grin.
“That’s a good thing! You’re not you without your quirks. Really though, I’m glad to see you loosen up.” Their smile fell slightly as they quickly glanced at the screen. “I’m…sorry if the cat’s page has been seeping the life out of you. I noticed you getting tired of it a while ago but I wasn’t sure what to say about it. I should have told you to take a step back.”
Shez was surprised at what Arval had to say. Was his disinterest really that obvious? “It’s not that I was growing tired of it. I really like running it it’s just…a lot of work.”
Arval nodded in agreement. “It is. Maybe we should take a step back after this. Evaluate what we should do going forward. We could pin a comment saying we’ll take a step back for a bit.”
“Yeah. Yeah, that might be best. Thanks for getting me, Arval.” They elbowed them gently.
“Of course. That’s what I’m here for.”
When the video was posted, Shez was admittedly nervous. The judgment of the internet came swiftly and without mercy. Would their followers be upset they would be taking a break? But after a few hours, they received almost nothing but understanding and well wishes. Of course, Arval told him he worried for nothing, but now Shez felt like he could rest a little bit easier. He was grateful for his friend, even if they could be a bit of a know-it-all sometimes.