Think of the children!!!

[furtitude]

What the hell, I need help. Like lots of help.

[The mirror opens on Little Cato's face looking scandalized and distraught.]

[Then it turns to show some of the cat colony, lying around on some rocks sunning themselves.]

They're babies! Who would leave babies just - just by themselves! They didn't even leave them clothes. Someone abandoned them.

[He is not the type to think cats are children, he thinks they're actual baby Ventrexians. He knows about cats but there's no reason to go human-centric in a world that apparently has lots of species. Of course his brain went to his own species first.]

And something is wrong with them, they look weird. Their legs are all busted and mutated.

[He points the mirror back at himself.]

I keep trying to catch them but they're freakishly fast. I need help, we can't just leave them here.

Comments

[furtitude]

[He finally gets it.]

Ooooooh.

So that's why my dad always compares Ventrexians to cats. Wow, they really do look just like us.

Well, little mutant Ventrexian baby us's anyway.

[Now that he isn't trying to chase the cats, he's able to edge in closer. His mirror hovers along as he crawls over and then sits down, scooting in slowly. He holds out a paw while looking away, knowing instinctually that direct eye contact will be considered a threat. An angry stare absolutely is a threat on Ventrexia.]

[One of the friendlier cats sniffs his hand, and then immediately rubs its face against it. Some cats are natural foster parents and this one is interpreting the smell as "very large kitten" and assuming it's a new kitten to be communally cared for. It starts grooming his arm.]

Ewww, you weirdo.

[But he's smiling and he doesn't move away.]

[slowmotionbuscrash]

Yeah, they kinda do.

[ He’s not one to think in terms of cute and endearing, but Tommy assumes a certain amount of youth and unfamiliarity with Earth-things like cats from this whole scene (and Ventraxians. Gotta ask alien friends about Ventraxians).

Which is why he doesn’t get too snotty about the usage of the word mutant. ]

You say mutant like it’s a bad thing.

[furtitude]

I guess I don't really mean that in a bad way. It's just weird seeing something that mostly looks like your baby pictures but the legs go the other way and they can basically break into a sprint when normally they'd be learning to walk.

[A pause.]

Actually, the creepiest part is the sprinting, honestly.

But even if they were actually mutant Ventrexian babies, they'd be cute mutant Ventrexian babies. And I'd still want to take them somewhere safe.

[The cat that was grooming him takes his arm lightly in her teeth to try to take him somewhere, but finding him too large, he gives up and wanders away. He focuses on gradually greeting and petting the other cats, and before long the cat that ran off comes back scruffing a kitten. It's not shaky-small, only just small enough to still scruff. She piles the kitten against his leg and then runs off to get another one.]

[The cat couldn't bring him to where she had her other babies so she's bringing her other babies over to him, to keep them all together.]

[He gasps a little gasp of delight and picks it up in his hands. Despite being feral, it doesn't hiss, because it's not interpreting it as being picked up by a human, regardless of his size. The smell is just too cat-like, despite his alien-ness.]

[The kitten greets him by booping its nose against his. His sparkly, big-eyed look of delight could only have its essence truly captured by anime.]

[slowmotionbuscrash]

[ oh.

It’s unavoidable.

It’s all really so cute. ]

Don’t look now, but I think you’re getting adopted. Mazel tov.

Let me know if you need to be saved from the kitten pile.

[furtitude]

I don't think this is a thing where I need to be rescued.

[There are many kittens in his lap.]

Do humans just see these guys in the wild or do they actually hang out with them?

[slowmotionbuscrash]

They usually adopt them.

[ And just in case the vague pronouns confuse it. ]

The humans adopt the cats. The cats you find in the wild are huge, like lions. They’ll eat your face.