Nickel hated earthquakes.

Ever since he was a young kitten on Briterica Island (one of the islands surrounding the mainland where the City was situated), he had not been a fan of them. His parents would attest.

It wasn't because an earthquake had killed or destroyed someone or something he loved, or anything like that. It wasn't because he didn't understand them - in fact, he knew quite a bit about them. It wasn't because he had seismophobia, or even basophobia. He just, quite simply, didn't like them.

That was how it appeared.

In truth, he hated them because he could feel them. Being usually unusually averse to contact, Nickel hated that when an earthquake occurred, he could feel it happening, even at minuscule levels of vibrations. And him feeling that stayed with him for much longer than the actual quake.

One day, he was sitting on the couch, inside the house where he lived with his little friend Lily - she was playing in another room, with a few toys that Nickel had picked up for her. He, meanwhile, was simply relaxing, using his screen to play a game and barely paying any attention to the few notifications he was getting - they didn't matter, anyway.

Presently, Nickel sat up sharply, his heart skipping as he waited to find out whether he'd really felt an earthquake. He'd been wrong before, maybe it was just paranoia or even rubatosis.

But no, he continued to feel tiny tremors through the couch and floor. "Lily!" he called. "There's an earthquake!"

Silence fell over the house, before Lily started giggling. "Mister Nickel," she said, appearing around the corner, "it's not that bad."

Virtually immediately, as though the quake had heard her, the tremors suddenly spiked in intensity. Nickel didn't care to make a smart remark, choosing instead to bolt out of the house as fast as possible, beckoning Lily to follow him. Thankfully, the living room was next to an exit.

After making it outside, Nickel turned to look at the house. He wasn't all that worried about it collapsing, the earthquake wasn't that strong, but there might have been damage done on a smaller scale. That was not the case; Nickel sighed through his nose in relief.

"Mister Nickel, why'd we go outside?" Lily asked when the vibrations had died away. "I heard you should "drop, cover and hold" when an earthquake hits. That way, you won't get hit by anything falling."

"Well, if you're outside in open space, it's basically the same thing. What's gonna hit you out here? A cloud?" Nickel replied. Lily giggled for a second time. "If you're not close enough to an exit, that's when you should definitely drop, cover and hold."

The xanthic feline nodded at the vermilion one's words, before asking, "How'd you know there was an earthquake so fast? Even after you told me about it, I barely felt it."

Nickel shrugged. "I can feel stuff really easily, remember? Plus, I don't like earthquakes at all, so I always try to make sure I know when they hit." He paused. "It was like the earthquake heard you, wa'n't it?" Lily smiled as he went on. "As soon as you said it wasn't that bad, it decided to show us what it could really do."

"Do you think I hurt its feelings, mister Nickel?" Lily asked jokingly.

"Possibly. No one likes being told they're weak, do they?"

Lily shook her head no, before seemingly remembering something. "I hope nothing fell down inside," she said, going back through the door. Nickel followed her, also wanting to see if everything was alright in the house.

.

That night, whilst lying in his chair, Nickel had a visit from Lily.

"Mister Nickel?"

"Yes, Lily?" he replied, his voice coming out almost as a mere purr.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure." Nickel moved to get up from his lying position, but he stopped before he'd even really started. He'd felt more vibrations - these ones, however, were just the feeling of rubatosis. They were nothing to worry about. He put that to the back of his mind and focused on the little girl in front of him.

"What is it?" he asked after sitting up.

"Well, you were acting weird today, after the earthquake. You kept, like, stopping and waiting a lot."

"That was just me trying to make sure no more earthquakes were gonna hit. Sometimes, you can get smaller ones after a big one, so I was just keeping an eye on that."

Lily didn't look like she bought that, very truthful, answer. She put a hand on his arm, and on reflex he pulled it away, rubbing the spot she'd touched. He gave her an apologetic look.

"Are you scared of earthquakes, mister Nickel?"

"No, 'm not. I just hate them." Lily still didn't look convinced. "When the earthquake hit today, did I look scared? Did I run away screaming like a baby kitten?"

She giggled a little. "No, mister Nickel."

"Exactly. I'm not scared of them, I just don't like them. At all."

"But why?"

"I can feel them. You know how much I love feeling something touch me," he voiced sarcastically. "That's basically what earthquakes do."

"They touch you?" Lily sounded confused.

"Yeah, pretty much." He paused. "Again, weird person alert," he said eventually, pointing to himself.

"Yeah, you are weird," she agreed.

"Aw, Lily. You're supposed to tell me how I'm not weird and make me feel better about myself," Nickel joked. "Now my self-esteem is lower than my voice."

"Mister Nickel!" she exclaimed. "Go to sleep. You're so tired that you don't know what you're saying."

"Says the one who's up well past her bedtime," he rebutted. "Let's be honest, we both need to go to sleep now or else we'll just end up talking nonsense till next week."

Lily giggled again. "Good night, mister Nickel."

"Good night, Lily," Nickel answered. Lily returned to her room, and Nickel shut his eyes, deciding to fall asleep in another silly position.

.

.

.

Lily hated spiders.

Everything about them was disgusting. The eight legs, the tiny beady eyes, the webs they spun... everything just made her get that awful feeling of bugs crawling on her fur. She guessed it was fitting to describe the feeling like that.

On a rainy day, Lily happened to spot a spider scuttling under her bed from some corner it was taking refuge in. She let out a miaow in alarm, hopping up onto the mattress to avoid being on the same level as the critter.

Not long later Nickel appeared in the doorway, looking a bit concerned. "You okay, Lily?"

"There's a spider under my bed," she complained. "Can you get it for me, please?"

Without another word, Nickel lay on the floor to get a view of the area under her bed. It wasn't long before he notified her that he'd found the arachnid; he shot a bolt of lightning at it, lighting up the room a little.

"There. Now that that fine gentleman is now deceased," he said as he stood back up, "you may come down from your place of refuge."

Lily did so, looking around to make sure that no more spiders were around to ambush her. There didn't seem to be any, so she looked back at her big friend.

"Thank you," she spoke.

"Y'welcome," he replied. Lily knew that that meant 'you're welcome'. Nickel talked funny sometimes, and it wasn't even his accent. "Don't really like spiders, do you?" he continued.

"No, they're so gross! I hate them, just like you hate earthquakes, mister Nickel."

"That much, huh?" Lily nodded yes. "Well, you don't have to be grossed out by them while I'm still here. I can get rid of them for you when you want."

"I'd like that, mister Nickel. Thanks again."

"No problem, Lily." And he turned to leave the room.

.

Lily decided to pay another visit to Nickel late at night. She was still a bit worried for him given the recent earthquake - he had still been "checking for more", as he said.

"Mister Nickel?" she quietly asked. There was no response from from him. She tried again, and got a similar result to her first attempt. She shook his shoulder, expecting him to jump up at her touching him, but even that was not the case.

"Mister Nickel?" she asked again, shaking him once more. Still no reply from her vermilion friend. Lily let out a breath in confusion and exasperation at the lack of response she was getting.

Suddenly, his form started to shift and transmute into something else. His head and willowy frame became much bigger and rounder, his gangly legs and arms multiplied, and his tail disappeared.

Lily stumbled back in fright, letting out a tiny mew, as she realised just what the transformation was. Her caretaker-friend was now a gigantic spider. And she hated spiders.

The spider was looking around the room, and Lily was suddenly grateful that it was dark. If she could slip away without being seen -

The creature turned toward her as soon as she moved an inch backwards, all eight of its eyes zeroing in on where she was. She gulped and tried to run away, but to no avail as she was caught in a strand of spider silk.

The spider moved upon her, wrapping her up as she wriggled and writhed in fruitless attempts to escape her prison. She wanted to scream, but no sound came from her lips - and even if she could scream, Nickel wasn't there to save her from it because he was the one who'd been transformed into this monster in the first place.

Lily felt the trap she was in constrict even more, and she felt like she was losing grip of reality. She tried one last time to shake herself free, and -

Lily felt the thud of her body hitting the floor, and she gasped as the impact rippled through her. Quickly she scanned her surroundings, finding no giant spider in sight. Had it run away?

She noticed a large silhouette right next to her, one she could just make out to be her bed. Strange: didn't she already go out of her room to check on -

Nickel. Was he okay? Was he back here instead of that spider? Lily got up from the floor and made a dash to the living room, finding a peacefully sleeping Nickel where he usually would be on a night. She sighed in relief as the realisation hit her. The scary experience had been a dream.

She practically threw herself at Nickel, wrapping him in a hug and surely waking him from slumber, but she didn't really care at that moment.

"Lily? What's wrong?" Nickel's low, tired voice entered her ears, further confirming that he was real. "Why are you crying?" Lily suddenly felt the tears streaming down her face.

"Mister Nickel..." she murmured, just happy that he hadn't transformed into a kitten-eating spider.

Nickel simply let her lie there with him, in a chair much too small to hold him let alone them both, crying her eyes out. His presence comforted her a lot more than he probably realised, and soon her tears subsided.

"Mister Nickel?" she asked.

"Lily?"

"I had a nightmare."

Nickel stayed silent for a few more seconds, before saying, "What was it about?" She could feel his left hand on her back, soothing her worries and willing her to tell him.

She recounted her dream to her big friend, with the silent encouragement of his hand on her back and his almost undetectable purring.

"That was quite a nightmare," Nickel said when she was finished. "And with it involving spiders too, I know that must have been extra scary."

"Do you ever get nightmares, mister Nickel?"

"Everyone gets nightmares sometimes, Lily." He yawned, and Lily caught a tiny glimpse of a small scorch mark on his tongue before her own yawn came through. "And they can be pretty terrifying. But they're only dreams. They'll pass." He paused, before adding, "I sometimes get sleep paralysis after nightmares."

Lily had no idea what that was, so she asked.

"Basically," he yawned again, "you wake up, but you can't move or talk at all."

"That's scary."

"It can be. Especially when it's dark, or when..."

Lily tried to listen to him, but his sleep-addled voice was just so deep and the vibrations emanating from within his chest were so comforting - not to mention his long fur that she was currently buried in - and she ended up falling asleep with Nickel. The last thing she felt was his head crowning her own, and his big left hand holding her close to him as he surely drifted off too.