The "VVV"s indicate the next chapter.*ba-dump* *ba-dump* *ba-dump*
Shyanne bounced in his seat as the bus drove over the rocky ground. Not that he could complain though; the jostling was only slightly more uncomfortable than the stiff, cracked seats he had been sitting in for the past hour and a half. The bus ride from the city to Babylon Gardens had so far been riddled with convoluted turns, two mechanical failures, and several passengers who felt Shyanne to be the perfect person for unloading their emotional baggage and concerns about various body parts being infected, the latter of whom having thankfully gotten off at the previous stop and the former was currently sitting next to him and explaining every failed relationship he had ever been in.
“...I mean, it’s not like I’m asking for much. I just want someone who’s dependable, right? Someone who’ll be there when you call, who’ll listen when you have a problem, and who won’t act like you’re insensitive for wanting to try something new. So what if I planned a night of dancing a week after her accident—only one leg was broken! Y’see what I mean? It’s all about putting other people before yourself.”
Shyanne, having already tuned his neighbor out three words into the “conversation”, merely nodded reflexively. He glanced down at his watch and noted mildly that it was nearing six. According to the bus schedule (and the corrections to said schedule due to the aforementioned mechanical failures) that would mean his stop should be coming up just about—
*bing*—now. Shyanne scurried out of his seat, gave the driver a quick “thank you”, and made a rather impressive stretch upon stepping out onto the sidewalk. Several worked-out spinal kinks later he scanned the addresses of the houses until he found the one he was looking for. After two knocks and ten seconds the door swung open.
“Hey, Shy! Glad you could make it! Please, come in—was the bus ride ok?” Jeff asked as he and Shyanne shook hands. “Felt longer than it took.” Replied Shyanne conversationally as he stepped inside. “Maxwell and Bino here?” he added, referring to Jeff’s cat and dog respectfully.
A shaken head was the answer. “Max is out playing with the Sandwich cat—I think you saw her last time you were here? And Bino’s off with his club. Anyway it means dinner has a lower chance of being swiped.”
Shyanne’s stomach growled just then, and it was all the response needed. After several more pleasantries mandated by social grace, Shyanne and Jeff began exchanging reminiscences between bites of steak and potatoes that Jeff claimed to have cooked himself despite a suspicious label poking out of the garbage can. Such was the way their get-togethers usually went. Former high school friends, Jeff and Shyanne kept in touch mostly through an occasional email along with inviting each other over for dinner on those rare occasions when their schedules aligned into free nights that were not otherwise taken up.
“...but enough about old times.” Jeff said after mentioning the grapefruit incident from Drama class. “There has to be something new going on with you, Shy. I’ve mentioned a bit of what’s going on here in Babylon in my emails but with what you send it’s always a big blank.”
Shyanne shrugged. “I guess that’s because there just isn’t much going on with me. I get up, I eat, I go to work at the temp agency, not much else.”
An eyebrow was raised. “What, that’s really it? No dates, no going out to watch movies, no accidentally setting coffee machines on fire?”
“No time, money’s too tight, and one time that happened.” Shyanne replied in order. He swirled his fork in the potatoes absently. “Rent’s due each month, food has to be bought, gotta keep pushing myself at work to stay ahead of the layoffs. Can’t really stop for anything or else I get run over, y’know?”
“Sounds like you could use a vacation.”
“I could, I really could, but I can’t afford to put anything on hold. Like juggling plates or something—have to keep it all moving or else it comes crashing down.”
Jeff chewed a piece of steak thoughtfully. “Why not get a pet?” he suggested after swallowing.
Shyanne nearly choked on his mouthful of water. “Me? A pet? After all you email me about Maxwell and Bino driving you nuts?” He asked incredulously.
“Oh, sure, I rant a bit to you, but that’s like teachers or camp counsellors ain’t it? They go on with each other about how horrible the kids are but in the end they still love ‘em and it’s a good relationship. Same thing with pets.”
The conversation rotated around this topic until the joint consensus was reached that, even if having a pet would do Shyanne’s some good, his life and finances would make it range from awkward to chaotic and/or cruel to the animal involved. By this time it had gotten dark and the last bus had already left. Jeff lent Shyanne some money and gave directions to a conveniently nearby motel along with a promise to drive him back to the city the next day.
As he made his way to the motel, Shyanne couldn’t help reflecting on the talk. He was fine with going through his life’s routine, but it was incredibly draining. Only being able to do what kept him employed and with a roof over his head was all well and good for living, but it had no point to it. Going through the motions just to be able to keep going through them day after day was not a concept Shyanne had thought of before, but what he had said to Jeff made him realize—
*whump*
“Yipe!”
Shyanne’s train of thought had become suddenly interrupted by the Pomeranian he had just tripped over.
“Oof!” he grunted as he pulled himself off the ground. Turning his head he asked, “You ok?”
“Yea, fine. Honestly I should have seen this coming.” The dog replied with a tone that suggested more personal responsibility than the situation warranted. She looked up at Shyanne and tilted her head. “Oh...”
He blinked. She continued to stare, her green eyes feeling like they were boring straight into his innermost secrets. Was green a natural eye colour for dogs?
“I wouldn’t worry. It will happen very soon.”
“Eh?”
“Just be sure to have a good night’s rest. It’s very important for your complexion.”
And with that, she left. Shyanne could do little except watch the strange animal turn on the spot and round the corner. What a strange creature—must take after her owner. After all, anyone who’d use an Eye of Ra as a dog tag would have to be a bit out of it. Shyanne shrugged, paused a moment to remember the rest of Jeff’s directions, and then finished the rest of the walk to The Tower of Babyl—an unusually tall motel with a possibly inevitable name. The money Jeff had given him was just enough to cover a night’s stay and soon Shyanne was lying down on a somewhat stuffy mattress, glad to have a place to rest.
VVV
Two glowing yellow eyes stared out at Shyanne through the morning darkness.
“BAH!” he yelped, shooting straight out of bed. The eyes shook with a sly laughter that Shyanne remembered from his previous visit to Babylon Gardens.
“Maxwell!” he hissed, “Don’t... don’t do that!”
“I would, but you see, it’s far too entertaining.”
As his eyes adjusted to the dark Shyanne could see the semi-familiar grin of Jeff’s cat, and as his brain adjusted to being awake he remembered that he had locked the hotel room’s door last night.
“How did you get in here?” He asked at once.
“I live here, duh.”
“No, you live at Jeff’s house.”
“This is dad’s house. I know you’ve only been here two days but you gotta start remembering that you ain’t in a store anymore.” Maxwell shrugged and turned away. “Eh, you’re no fun when you’re out of it like this. C’mon downstairs when you get your head straight.”
Two days? Store? Shyanne had no idea what was going on. He looked around to find Jeff’s couch behind him—he really was in his friend’s house. But Jeff’s couch wasn’t this big—even when he got onto his feet Shyanne’s chest just barely reached the cushions. Actually, everything was a lot bigger. Horribly confused, Shyanne mentally pieced together a vague series of events involving a great deal of alcohol that provided a semi-plausible explanation for his presence in Jeff’s house and messed up perception. Operating on the belief that a face-full of water would clear things up, he made for the bathroom and tried very much to ignore that he had to reach up rather than down to reach the door handle. Shyanne experienced a great deal more difficulty, however, in failing to notice that he reached up with an orange and fuzzy hand.
“The heck?”
He rubbed his eyes and checked again, but his hands were still covered by orange fur. Shyanne’s fingers were stubbier too, and tipped with small claws. His eyes traced down and saw faint white stripes spread out among the orange, triggering the realization of a singular and irreproachable possibility.
Shyanne threw open the bathroom door and ran to the sink. He stood on a stool to reach the mirror, an almost impossible question on his mind. The glass did not speak, and his reflection was as transfixed as the person it showed; but the muzzle, the peaked ears, and the orange fur with white markings, they all shouted a nearly inconceivable answer: Cat.
“Woaaah...” Shyanne thought, staring at his reflection with the shocked awe usually reserved for skyscrapers or air shows. He waved a paw-like hand at his reflection and watched it wave back. He grinned widely and saw a mouth filled with sharp teeth. He poked his pink, wet nose and—
“Yow!”
—found that it was very sensitive to being poked with a claw. It all felt real enough, but it was just so strange. Shyanne reached behind himself and pulled around a long ropey tail and ran a hand along it. Oooh...fuzzy...
“What are you doing?”
Shyanne started, dropping his (his!) tail and almost falling off the stool as he spun around to see Jeff looking curiously at him from the doorway.
“I can explain!” Shyanne blurted at once, but his mind instantly blanked. He couldn’t explain it—hadn’t the closest thing to an idea as to why he was three feet tall and covered in fur. Jeff was going to mistake him for some wild animal and chase him out, and then what would—
“Your breakfast is getting cold.” Jeff said. “I think it’s best that you spend a bit less time grooming and more time getting to know your new brothers.”
Jeff turned and left, Shyanne followed, not quite sure what was going on. Brothers? That could only refer to Bino and Maxwell? He vaguely recalled that pets sometimes used family titles as a sign of affection. But that would mean...
“I’m your pet!?”
Jeff looked down and raised an eyebrow. “Wow, Max wasn’t kidding when he said you were out of it—must be first day jitters or something. Yea, Shy, I brought you home last night from a store in the city. It was late when we got here though, not much time for anything other than a quick dinner and bed.”
“We did have dinner...” Shyanne said more to himself than to Jeff. He would have dwelled on the subject more, but as he neared the kitchen he was overwhelmed by a rich, savoury aroma wafting from the table. It was a strange mix of butter, flour and egg that seemed to fuse together but still retain individual parts. He identified breakfast as a stack of waffles before he even saw the plate. Concerns about being small and furry were suspended as Shyanne enjoyed a big and fluffy meal.
Three waffles and a glass of milk later Shyanne felt strangely at ease. He was a cat (orange tabby by the look), he was his friend’s pet, and was apparently the only one who remembered things differently. These three facts should have caused some element of panic but they felt more like mild curiosities. As if they were little more than interesting bits of trivia. As he chewed over a stray piece of waffle, Shyanne came to the conclusion that worrying about the how and why would be pointless. Reality had corrected itself to this change and would likely do so again if it were reversed. So there wasn’t anything left to do except sit back and enjoy the ride.
It was fortunate that Shyanne had recently joined Jeff’s family in the new reality as it meant that he would be introduced to pets he would have drawn complete blanks about otherwise. Bino apparently ran some sort of social club for the neighbourhood dogs and Jeff made him bring Shyanne along for a mass introduction. This turned out to be extremely awkward for all parties involved, since cats and dogs didn’t mix often.
The ensuing weeks introduced Shyanne to life as a pet. It was similar to being a child, except that he was left alone for most of the day. Jeff had arranged a series of ‘play-dates’ with some of the neighbourhood pets to introduce Shyanne to the neighbourhood, but for the most part he was left to his own devices while Jeff was away at work. It was strange to adjust to a life without significant expectations, but Shyanne soon got over it. A usual day for the cat consisted of waking up, eating, and then wandering around the neighbourhood seeing what the other pets were up to. Sometimes he’d join in on a game and sometimes he’d start one of his own. He quickly learned that games of catch weren’t very popular, oddly enough. He found friends in Bino’s brother, Joey (who let Shyanne join the local Dungeons and Dragons group), Maxwell, and King (who Shyanne gravitated towards partly because he had an outsider-vibe to him).
It wasn’t until three weeks later that something interrupted Shyanne’s new life. It was late evening, and the cat was playing with a ball in the backyard. In the process of seeing how many consecutive head-bumps he could make, Shyanne accidently hit the ball too hard and sent it flying into a tree. Five seconds later, the ball bounced out again and rolled to a stop at his feet.
“Hello?” Shyanne asked. “Is someone in there?” He angled his ears towards the tree.
The branches rustled and a head popped out. “Hi!” it said enthusiastically. “What’cha doing?”
Shyanne blinked. “Erm, hi. I’m playing ball.”
“Well I know that, silly. But it can’t be that fun with only one person!”
A shrug. “Everyone else is busy. Just wanna play around a little bit before dinner.” An idea popped into his head. “You wanna play?”
“Sure!” The head vanished into the tree and after a few more rustles a bat dropped out. “I’m Cy by the way.”
“Shyanne.”
Cy tilted his head. “That’s a stupid name!”
“It is not!” Shyanne mewed indignantly.
The bat chuckled. “’course it is! It’s too long. You should shorten it to ‘Shy’.”
“That’s just a nickname. It’s not a real name.”
“Nuh-uh! And I’ll prove it, too! If I beat you in a game of ball you have to use Shy as your full name for a whole week. If I lose then I won’t ever make fun of ‘Shyanne’.”
Shyanne grinned. “Deal!” he yelled as he kicked the ball at Cy. The bat caught it easily before hopping backwards and throwing it. The game ensued; with fumbles, hurls, bounces and bumps. Shyanne was quicker on his feet but Cy’s wings made it hard to get the ball past him. It wasn’t until Jeff called Shyanne for dinner for a third time that the two realized neither of them had been keeping score.
VVV
“Hey, Shy?”
“Shyyyyy....”
“SHYANNE!”
The cat’s head shot up. “Wha? Huh?”
“It’s your turn.” Maxwell said pointedly. “Grape made a pair like five minutes ago.”
Shyanne blinked at the purple cat to his left like he just noticed she was there. “Oh, sorry. Uhh, have any threes?”
“Go fish. So, does this have to do with that bat you’ve been playing with for the past week? Sky, I think was the name?”
“Cy,” Shyanne corrected. “and, I guess it does? Maybe a little? He’s real fun to be with and I’m having a bit of trouble thinking about other stuff since I’m always wondering about what we’ll do next.”
Grape’s eyes glinted. “Ahhh, it sounds like the little kitty has a crush!”
Shyanne’s ears flushed. Maxwell grinned. “Aww, don’t worry about it, Shy. We’re just messin’ with ya. Got a king, by the way?”
Shyanne tossed a card over.
“Thanks. Just one pair left to go! Oh, and do y’think you’ll be telling Cy about your secret?”
“My...secret?” Shyanne felt his fur go rigid.
“Yea, you do this thing sometimes where you get halfway through saying something and then you stop all of a sudden then try to change it. Kinda hard not to notice.”
Shyanne rubbed the back of his head and gave a weak smile. “Uhh, yea, it’s not like I’m trying to hide anything, haha. I just—uhh...forget what I’m saying partway through sometimes?”
“Oh, yea, I get that.” Grape said with a roll of her eyes. “Peanut does it all the time. Mouth travelling faster than the brain. Have an ace?”
Shyanne passed another card over. Grape threw down the rest of her hand. “Hah! Victory!”
VVV
Cy looked shocked. “Whadya mean you don’t climb trees? You’re a CAT!”
Shyanne shrugged awkwardly. “Well I don’t. I fell out of one when I was young and broke my leg. Never tried since.”
The bat gaped. “But...you’re a CAT! Cat’s always land on their feet!”
“Well I wasn’t a cat then”. Shyanne thought. It was odd to think something like that. It felt as if he were recalling an old dream.
Cy shook his head. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter what happened to you as a kitten. I’m telling you, the view from the tops is AMAZING!” He bounced up and down for emphasis. Shyanne snickered.
“Well, I can give climbing a try if you really want me to. Just don’t laugh if I fall, ok?”
Cy nodded. Shyanne looked the tree up and down, took a deep breath, and launched himself up. For a moment Shyanne thought he would fall down but quickly realized that his claws had latched onto the bark. It was a neat feeling—like rock-climbing on Velcro. Effortlessly Shyanne scaled the tree, tail swinging happily below as he scampered up the bark and hopped onto a branch.
“Success!” he exclaimed, letting go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Yuppers!” Cy chimed in as he joined Shyanne on the branch. “Now for the next part.”
“Mew?”
Cy put his hands on Shyanne’s shoulders and guided him into a sitting position. “Yup, you just take a seat, relax...and look.”
He gestured outwards over the town below. Babylon Gardens stretched out before the couple, illuminated by the setting sun. The houses were bathed in a soft orange glow that spoke an entrancing serenity to the two onlookers. Rooftops glimmered in the fading light, trees rippled softly in the evening breeze, and the horizons stretched on like the ocean.
“It’s...beautiful...” Shyanne breathed. He wore a mixture of joy and wonder like a child seeing a shooting star.
“I’m glad you like it. It’s always nice to see you smile, Shy.” Cy placed a hand on Shyanne’s own.
The cat turned to face his friend. There was a sparkle in his eyes. “When I’m with you, Cy, I always feel like smiling.”
There was a brief pause as the two considered what this moment meant. One was new to these feelings, unsure of how to act. The other wondered if his past could allow the scenario. They looked out over the sparkling city, and then they looked back to each other. They knew their feelings, they knew each other, and they knew what they wanted. The question vanished almost as soon as it had arrived. Shyanne and Cy kissed as the sun set over Babylon Gardens.
VVV
That night in the tree marked a divider in Shyanne’s life. Before, he had felt like a visitor—only along for the ride until he woke up human again. After meeting Cy this feeling began to fade. Shyanne still thought of himself as a human-turned-animal, but that didn’t seem as important when he was with the energetic bat. The two would play, tell stories, and laugh together. There was just something about Cy that could make Shyanne stop caring about his past. It was in the way he smiled, that odd bounce when he was excited, and in the exuberance he showed at life in general. What apprehensions Shyanne still held from his human life melted away in the face of such energy. After the sunset in the trees, those feelings vanished altogether. His life as a human stopped mattering, and after a while it even stopped being a memory. Shyanne was just Shyanne. He was an orange tabby with an awesome dad. He had two brothers to play with and tease. He had friends who were always up for one adventure or another. He had a wonderful boyfriend who could make even the simplest thing into a fun and amazing experience. Shyanne had everything.
