Chapter Text
I slowly woke up to the sounds of shuffling near me. I felt a pair of something warm press down on my head. It felt familiar and caring as it gently rubbed and patted me for a few moments before leaving. I audibly groaned as the warmth that abruptly encapsulated my head was suddenly gone. Stretching my stretchy body, I sluggishly stood on my hind legs and hoped that the pair of somethings would come and touch me again.
I heard a quiet chuckle before being granted the blessing. I slowly open my eyes to find a… hairless scavenger smiling at me? What did they say again? Ah, right. They called themselves Mark. A… human? Yup. A human.
‘What a weird name. Well, then again. This new world is pretty strange, so I guess this is their normal,’ I thought to myself as I felt my ears being flopped around with their warm but rough hands. I began to emit a low purr as the human gently squished my face. I felt their finger tapping my nose every so often before I felt a hand leave from the left side of my face and felt their hand appearing on my butt.
I’m so glad that I entered that weird red thingy inside of the rooms, as being held by someone thrice your size and being cradled by that someone gives you a sense of comfort and safety no shelter can compare to. ‘Well… being piled by other slugcats back in the colony does beat this, but…’ I felt their body moving me somewhere, and at this point, I trust them more than I trust my brother with my food.
My thoughts were interrupted as I felt my body being placed down on something smooth and cold. I slowly open my eyes to reveal the human had transported me to their food area. It always amazes me how much food they always seem to have as they pulled on the door of the large metal opening. Light emitted from the structure, and a cold breeze swept out of it, making me let out an involuntary shiver and meow.
The human chuckled softly once more as they pulled out two containers from it. Standing straight to get a good visual on what they were holding, I pointed to the one with a bright fruity color. I think they called it blue. I saw them nod before returning the container with the darker color and grabbing another container, most likely food for themselves, and closing the door. Stretching once more, I saw their back turn towards me and saw their shoulders wiggle lightly.
Understanding the signal, I pounced on their back and wrapped my arms around their neck and my legs around their torso. I heard them grunt before sighing. I chirped happily as I rested my head on his right shoulder and saw them walk towards the humming food warmer. After they placed the container inside the thing, I decided to hum along and earned a muffled laugh and quick scratch of my ears.
‘He grew some inches, eh? ’ I mused as I lightly scribbled just above the creature’s head with a pencil. ‘And some weight too, ow…’ Arching my back backwards, I watched as the cat slug walk from the wall to my leg. They latched onto me like a scared child as we saw how much he has grown. “You are now as tall as my leg, eh? ” I chuckled softly as I scratched their ears. When they first arrived through that weird freaky portal, they reached up to my kneecaps. Now? He has now reached up to half my thigh! Also, weight. He is quite the hefty boi now.
Placing the pencil back in my pocket, I tapped the slug on its head and gestured for him to follow me. Walking over to the kitchen, I grabbed the containers out of the microwave and grabbed two sets of utensils. Turning around, I saw the slug now atop the container. “Food time,” I said as I hovered their fair share of grub in front of them. Seeing them accepting the food, I gave them their fork and spoon and walked towards the couch.
After sinking inside the couch slightly, I sat up properly to place my microwaved grub on the coffee table and pulled it closer. Matthew sat beside me and nodded. Smiling back at the gesture, I powered on the T.V. using the remote near me and opened the container. I decided to eat some spaghetti I made yesterday. Twisting some of the noodles onto my fork, I saw Matthew happily poke his lasagna and purred loudly from the taste.
Same, little dude. Same.’
‘So good! ’ I don’t know what this kind of food is called, but it tastes incredibly sweet! It’s like, like the blue fruit just before it expires! It’s also meaty like the uh, noodleflies yeah! Plus! Using this ‘fork’ is incredibly convenient! I don’t have to wash my hands every time I eat!
’Heh heh, I bet Lucas is so jealous of what I’m having right now~’ Matthew happily thought to himself as he watched the moving pictures show him what he presumes are the animals and fauna of this world. Although he could not understand what the voice of the other human was saying, making him turn his head slightly to try and understand it with his current thought, he understood the music and animals in front of him.
The birds that he observed outside the window could be worse, as he remembered a particular bird grabbing fish straight from the water using its claws swiftly and silently. He would bet that the vultures of his world would have a hard time fighting them. The animals he was watching were yellow and black striped slugcat(?) running very fast to catch their long-horned prey. It reminded him of that time when Gourmand chased an injured Miros bird for taking his ration during his expedition.
He nearly choked on the lasagna after he tried to laugh with a full mouth.
‘It’s that time of the day again, hm? ’ Matthew tilted his head as the human kissed his head before waving goodbye. They dressed differently from earlier and smelled nice now. They were carrying what they call a ‘bag’ carrying their things. Hearing the door click, Matthew was now promptly left alone. The him back then would do everything in his power to leave this place. But him now? Well, it's time for his favorite pastime besides eating and sleeping. It’s time to explore the human’s place again!
”But first! ” Walking towards the flat rectangular piece of material, he made sure to point it towards the machine that makes the room cold and pressed a couple buttons in combination like the human did, and lo and behold, the machine beeped and the room began to feel cold, only very slightly. Placing the thing back down, he jumped towards the human’s room and grabbed their blanket. Walking back to where they ate, he threw the fabric on the couch before he checked the windows. He saw what the human would do right after they activated the machine and did the same.
After making sure that the windows were closed, he decided to go back to the human’s room and explore there again. There was always something new to happen every time the human comes and goes, and this time was no different. He could see and smell the scattered clothes of his caretaker and guardian, their little trinkets and objects of interest here and there, and most of all, their messy sleeping area. Taking it upon himself to be the responsible one for a change, he jumped on his bed and began organizing their pillows and their sheets. “Momma would always scold me if I didn’t fix my leaf pile before leaving. I guess this is the same with this Mark here,” he said to himself as he placed his hands on his hips, feeling accomplished that he did something besides sleeping today.
”Speaking of… where are their parents? ” he mused as he leapt and grabbed each haphazardly thrown cloth on the bed. “Are they separated like me, or did they part ways?” Jumping back on the bed, he began to fold each to the best of his memory. “Maybe he’s like Treelay, fully grown and mature and left to be separate.” He hums as he makes quick work on the clothes. “I sure hope she is still alive, though. I still have to thank her for saving me against that… pink? Pink liz… lizard yeah. Pink lizard.”
Pouting because of the memory, he jumped back down to the floor and saw his little bag leaning against a pink box. Grabbing it to inspect it, he saw that, although damaged because of his journey two cycles ago, it was now clean again. Hooray. “I gotta thank the human for gifting me this! I can hold so much food and pearls in here!” He thought back to the childlike glee in the scavengers’ eyes as he showed them the amount of pearls in his bag. They tried to steal and pester for more pearls, but thankfully, thanks to his reputation and demeanor, he was defended by other scavengers, to whom he gave a pearl as payment and a thanks. “I gotta show this to Lucas when I see him again!”
Placing the small bag back down, he decides to walk back to the main area and feels a shiver from his tail. “Okay, food area—no, clean room next.” Turning to his right and staring down at a closed door, he jumped to the wall beside the door and latched himself on the doorknob and twisted it. After feeling the twist, he lightly kicked himself away to pull the door open and went inside. Doing the same procedure to turn on the light, he saw that the bathroom was… a little worse for wear. Although it showed signs that it had not been cleaned as well as he thought it should, he was thankful that it didn’t smell like hot garbage and everything unpleasant like he smelled on his… seventh? revisit. It was probably the seventh.
Moving on!
The slugcat would make his rounds to every room, nook, and cranny of Mark’s apartment. Every time he exited, he would always feel chilly. At some point, he couldn’t bear it anymore and decided that it was time to sleep. Not hibernate. He didn’t need to sleep for that when it rained in this world. Jumping back to the couch, he sets the AC unit to 25°C since the room was already cold enough as is.
Wrapping himself with his guardian’s blanket, he lets out a satisfied sigh as he feels cold, comfortable, and full inside this strange new world he is now partially living in.
He has to appreciate this life since the portal will reopen after three more sun cycles in this world. Fun. ‘I gotta find brother first, then introduce him to Mark. Heh, I bet he would be shocked by how tall I am now, hehe! ’