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Every night, Betty eagerly awaited her human’s bedtime. Sometimes, they’d grace her with their presence during the day—though Koa mostly earned that distinction. But she spent most of her days dreaming of the human’s familiar weight against her, comfortable with her covers wrapped around them in a warm embrace.
It was in the middle of one of those daydreams that she felt a tiny weight hop on top of her. Startled, Betty’s eyes flew open to notice a small, furry creature. It was gray and white in color with bright green eyes. It strangely resembled Timothy, though it had four legs rather than Timothy’s two, and a long, fluffy tail. The creature moved quietly up her “body,” eyes firmly on her pillows.
“Hello,” she greeted cautiously. But, of course, the creature had no way of understanding her. Non-objects never did.
The tiny creature curled into a ball against her pillows. Letting out a mighty yawn, it blinked sleepily before ultimately setting its chin down on its—paws? Seconds later, a loud, rumbling noise emitted from its throat.
“What are you?” she wondered aloud.
“It looks like one of the Inanimals,” Mateo offered from his spot at the foot of her. “But…different, somehow?”
“You telling me neither of you’ve seen a cat before?” Dorian questioned.
“A…cat?” Mateo sounded uncertain.
“Yeah, it’s what the humans call a pet. Gives them companionship. Given that our human doesn’t seem to like other people, it makes sense they’d get an animal to keep them company instead.”
“A pet,” Betty repeated. “Oh, how lovely!”
Over the course of the next few days, the cat had caused quite the scandal around the house. Stella was upset with it for scratching against her posts, and Drysdale loudly complained about the new stench in the laundry room, while Jean-Loo couldn’t understand why the creature couldn’t use him. Cabrizzio, meanwhile, was fascinated by the tiny creature’s behavior in the kitchen, though several close calls with Daisuke meant that he was keeping a very close eye on his fragile friend.
Like clockwork, the cat would hop up with Betty while their human was elsewhere in the house. Every day, it curled up by or on her pillows, loudly purring (Ben-hwa said that’s what they did when they were happy). She found comfort in the creature’s warmth and often lulled to sleep with it present.
When the weather began to cool, Betty wrapped her comforter around the creature to keep it warm. It snuggled into her pillows contentedly, kneading its tiny paws against her. And, through this tiny creature that had claimed the house as its own, Betty realized that she, too, had grown quite fond of the cat.