Astral had sat himself on the ground. Before him, sat a cat. It was one of Cathy's cats, the most peculiar of them all. Unlike the others, which all sported various shades of grey and brown, this particular cat was oddly blue. Not only that, but Astral felt an odd sense from it.
Yuuma had told him tales about cats before, apparently they were much more attuned to the world than humans were, and could see things like ghosts and spirits. To many, Astral would be considered a ghost of sorts, so he wondered whether cats could see him. He felt as though this cat could, at least.
The cat waved it's tail about before opening its mouth slightly to let out a slight mewl. It was looking directly at Astral, as though it was trying to communicate with him. Astral wasn't exactly versed on cat language however, but he felt he should at least try.
"Meow," he said, in a blank tone. It wasn't really the noise that cats made, but it was the noise Cathy made sometimes, so maybe this cat could understand. The cat looked at the spirit with an odd - almost patronizing -expression. It opened it's mouth again and meowed, just a little louder than last time, as though it were urging Astral to copy it. Astral paused for a moment before letting out an odd sound - it was kind of like a meow, but not exactly. It was a weird imitation of one, that's what it was.
The cat appeared to shake it's head and stood up, walking over to Astral and rubbing against his leg, purring just a little. Astral shifted away a bit, he wasn't really sure what the cat was doing, and what was that sound it was making? It was really weird, nothing he had ever heard from humans. It must of been some kind of weird cat-only thing.
But then he noticed something. The cat was able to touch him, did that mean that what Yuuma had said about cats was true? It must of been, there's no other way it'd be able to interact with him at all.
That gave Astral a weird feeling, down in his chest. It was kind of like⦠joy.
Cats were nice creatures, they didn't want Astral's head on a plate unlike a lot of people, and they gave an odd sense of comfort. Above all else, these creatures could see him, and hear him, and most importantly, touch him.
Astral had seen a lot of humans have cats as companions, especially elderly and lonely ones. A lot of humans had cats as friends, sometimes even best friends. A lot of humans lived with cats until their final days. Maybe cats were all a human needed for companionship? By that extent, maybe they were all Astral needed, too. It would be a lie to say that he didn't feel lonely from time to time. He had Yuuma, of course, but there's only so much one person can do for you, and Cathy had a lot of cats, so that was a lot of potential companions right there.
As Astral had lost himself in thought, the cat had squirmed its way onto his lap, and was curled up, its soft blue fur softly brushing against Astral's stomach. As he felt it move a little, Astral broke out of his thought and looked down.
Astral raised his hand slightly, he knew that cats were often petted, but he wasnt sure if he'd be too rough or not. He didn't want to hurt his new friend, but he did want to know what it was like to pet a cat. He softly pressed his hand against the creature's fur - it was incredibly warm, not like anything he had felt before. Astral carefully ran his hand down the cat's body, evoking the odd sound from before to come out of it. He put two and two together and figured that it was some sort of way for others to know that it was happy, or content, or something along those lines. That must mean that he was doing the stroking thing right. Slightly excited by this new accomplishment, Astral stroked again, and again, and again and again and again.
Cats were nice creatures, they made nice sounds and were soft and warm. And most importantly of all, they were Astral's new friends.
