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kotik (he/him) | loner

Unfortunately for Kotik, he had in fact, not noticed the she-cat's approach. He'd been so lost in his own mind and the sight before him, it seemed as though the rest of the world could have drifted away before him. He could have watched everything slip away for days until he floated away himself.

So when the more serious tone broke through his silence, it made him jump.

Though Kotik didn't puff out his fur entirely, he did take a quick moment to lick down his chest. He flicked his tail a few times to try and lay the fur down on its own, trying to listen to what the she-cat across from him was saying.

After a few words, he looked back up at her inquisitively, realizing he had no clue what it was she was saying. None of the words made any sense, and he had never heard any of them before. He tilted his head before curling his tail around his paws, the tip twitching with curiosity. His ears radared at the top of his head as he blinked softly at her, trying to understand whatever he could from her body language or the way she spoke.

Her stance was confident, but her tail was high. Her tone was serious, but not unkind either. Alas, he knew that he would be unlikely to understand exactly what it was she was saying. At the same time, she was the first cat aside from his sister that Kotik had met since he'd been taken from his home. Prior to being brought to this world, Kotik's relationships with the cats around him had always been so kind. There were no borders or territory, and everyone did what they could for others when they couldn't help themselves. The world that the tom had fallen into was so incredibly different from his own, not just the idea of territories and specific groupings of cats, but not living on the streets as he once had. He'd been so distracted by the beauty of the world, he hadn't even considered how different forest cats might be from city cats.

So, Kotik did what he would normally do. He simply began to purr.

He looked over his shoulder again, not afraid of breaking eye contact with the stranger in order to look out at the ocean scene. He simply had such a hard time taking his eyes off of it, his tail once more swishing slowly and happily as he admired the way the world seemed to work.

Kotik took a slow, deep breath, breathing in the scent of the forest and the scent of the water, as well as the new scent of the cat beside him. He couldn't smell her quite deeply yet, but it was a pleasant smell. When he closed his eyes and took in the smell, it reminded him of some of his favourite lyudi back home. The ones who would offer fish when he and his sister arrived at just the right time before they had to leave their stalls for the day. Sometimes they would have fish that they simply could not trade with other lyudi anymore, and it was easier to give it to the cats of the street who would make good use of it. If they didn't eat it themselves, they would take it to an older cat who couldn't get their own food anymore. They would share it with others, the way that Kotik believed the world worked best. To him, there was no use in being selfish with food. To share and to be kind was to live in happiness.

After reveling in the majesty and nostalgia that her scent brought, Kotik turned back to the approaching cat. In a language much different from the her own, he tried to speak his own set of words. "I've never seen this much water before. Is it always this beautiful?" he asked. His voice stayed as kind and genuine as his posture, his purr underlying his words. He tried to study the calico and how she took in his words, wondering if she understood his language. How impressive he thought it would be to understand both. His whiskers twitched and he slowly blinked his eyes once more, trying to give off a kind, friendly air as he would to any cat back home.

gemini ● i thought about using google translate but decided on italics instead ● 730 words

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kotik (he/him) | loner

Kotik listened to the way the calico chuckled. It was a sweet sound, one he wasn't sure when he last heard from anyone other than his sister. How he delighted in the sound of pure joy, a sound that did not need a language to be shared in order to be understood. It was nice that even if he did not understand her words, and if perhaps she didn't understand his in kind, there were still things that could be communicated. The way she moved closer in a way to show that she was not afraid. Or perhaps she was also simply taking in the view, too. Though, he wondered if she had grown up near here and had always experienced this view - how lucky she must be, he thought. Or perhaps she was someone who had seen much that he had not.

After all, when he looked at her more carefully, she certainly seemed quite fit, someone who did not spend many days sitting around and just enjoying life. Not that she perhaps did not enjoy life, but by chance her way of enjoying it was just in a more active and energetic way in comparison to Kotik's, who loved to lay out on the rocks and feel the sun down on his fur. He loved to take in the scent of the water and listen to the way it moved against the rocks. But he could remember other cats back home who were always on the move and who seemed so happy and content being that way. They were visiting every cat in the city every single day, being social and happy and active in every sense of the word. He wondered if that was the way the she-cat liked to enjoy life.

He tried to listen a little more carefully to her words, see if perhaps there was anything in them that were similar to his own. But when she slowed her words down, he stopped. "Inter-rest-ting," he repeated.

An odd word, or many words, perhaps? She seemed to say it good-heartedly, and in reference to him. At first, Kotik wondered if this was a name. In his old home, cats rarely had just one name, instead having multiple names based on the cat that they were spending time with. There were always various names that everyone understood and used - names for a sibling, a parent, a child, a neighbour or a stranger. But then, the more that one got to know another, sometimes they would get a more affectionate name adopted to the relationship. It was a sign of trust between two cats to be gifted a specific name.

At the same time, the word or phrase she said to him felt a little long for a simple name, right? Usually a name was something that rolled off the tongue, as far as he was aware. Perhaps it was different here. "Interesting..." he repeated, a little softer. She had clearly meant it in relation to him, so perhaps it was an adjective. That seemed more likely, right?

She asked a second question, and Kotik tried to parse some more through it. He started to grasp that 'you' was clearly a second person pronoun of sorts, as she often said it in reference to him. How thrilling to learn this new way to communicate! It was clearly a question that she had asked, but unfortunately, he could not figure out the rest of what she had to say. Even if he could, there would be little way for him to understand how to respond as a cat who never had a singular 'name'. Though he sometimes thought of Kotik in relation to himself, it was simply due to the fact that it was the name that his mother called him - an affectionate nickname for a kitten, usually said specifically with love. Of course, it would be easy for him to start thinking of himself as Bratr, the name his sister usually called him, a name simply meaning "brother". Though they had many names for one another, Bratr and Sestra were just the most common. Once Kotik could understand what it was he was being asked, he would have to figure out how to navigate the idea of having a singular name.

In the meantime, though, he wondered what it was she was asking. He looked at the she-cat, hoping that he could figure something out. She wanted to know if he had something. Had he had anything to eat? Thinking on it, he realized that it had been a bit since he had last eaten. Did he have a home? Well, the world was his home. But, there was no way of him totally understanding what she said in the end, so instead, he did his best to relay the question back and home that perhaps her answer would help him dissect the new language. "Do... you have a name?" he asked, doing his best way of inflecting the question back in a way that did not sound simply as though he were repeating her, but also trying to gauge her answer.

His voice in his new language sounded very different. It was rather heavy, yet smooth, his words almost blending together. And though the words sounded heavy in his voice, the tone was almost light and tilted forward. There was a clear joy in the way Kotik gained understanding and used these new words, an excitement to learning and broadening his world that chimed through even his language. Of course, such happiness radiated through the rest of his body language. In the way he tilted his head and pointed his ears directly forward at the she-cat, eager to hear her answer.

gemini ● 959 words

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kotik (he/him) | loner

The loner closed his eyes as he felt the breeze brush through his fur. It felt refreshing to him, a small feeling of home for just a moment. Of course, it still wasn't quite like the winds he was used to - ones so cold they would get into your bones and freeze you to the spot if you weren't careful. Cats were always looking for safe places to hide from such chills, but there was something much more pleasant about this draft. It was refreshing, casting the scent of the water over him, the smell of the fish and the fragrance of the she-cat next to him.

He turned to look at her, mesmerized by the way the wind moved through her fur, flecks of sun making it seem as though she sparkled in the light. He watched the way she, too, seemed so enthralled by the scenery around them. There was a delight in knowing that perhaps a cat who had lived here all her life still found such joy in such sights, never taking for granted the place where she came from. As he longed for his home, he was happy to know that there were others who knew just how lucky they were to be where they stood. Though, he wondered if life away from his home would be so bad if he could at least spend his time with a cat who knew just how lucky she was to know her home so deeply?

"Koisplash."

He repeated her name, really sounding it out and letting it settle in his mind. He listened to the way she said it, though he knew he wasn't saying it perfectly correct, he wanted to get it right. It was clear that there was pride in this name - a name that she had earned, it seemed. It was a name that she was offering to be called, rather than expecting a name to be given in the way that the tabby had understood names his entire life. But if this singular name was important to the calico before him, he would be sure to make sure it was said right. Though, he wondered if he could introduce her to his own way of names, to understand the joy and privilege of receiving a new name from someone as your relationship grew - for better or for worse. He knew that he would miss some of the traditions of his family and friends, but he knew that perhaps he did not need to abandon them all together.

He shifted almost uncomfortably for a moment as he tried to figure out how to navigate this. He didn't really have a name the same way that Koisplash did. "Me... many name," he instructed, struggling to find the right words to describe how he would be referred to. "Where me from, all cats many name," he explained to the best of his ability. There was a bit of a laughter not-so-hidden in his purr as his tail flickered pleasantly behind him. "To have one name, very odd!"

He didn't know if this would be satisfactory for the she-cat, though. Certainly she would want some way to refer to him, wouldn't she? It seemed that Koisplash came from a world of single monikers, and trying to describe his entire way of life when he was still getting a grasp on how to communicate would be rather difficult to say the least.

As the loner watched the wind play through Koisplash's pelt once more, his purrs became more subtle, as though he did not want to disturb the way the wind painted with the colours of her fur. "Breeze," he rumbled ever so lightly. "Yes, breeze good." Yet, he wondered if it was the breeze that he loved quite as much as the way that the breeze seemed to bring artistry to life.

gemini ● 670 words