Private Finished Wait a Minute, That's no Cat

Tadashi in human form, just after classes let out for the day


Tadashi was so happy that school was finished for the day. That was his absolute favorite part of the day except for maybe when he could get a nap in after eating his lunch. That was pretty great too. Either way it was time for freedom and he rushed out of the school building with the crowd of other kids his age. He was listening as some of the others made plans to meet up or go to this and that other activity or club. It wasn't like he didn't have friends or people to hang out with but it looked like today was just going to be one of those days where he made his own plans.

That was ok though, he had already decided that he would go sit in one of his favorite spots under a tree while he practiced drawing in one of his sketchbooks. Then he would probably just end up taking a nap in the sunlight or something. So Tadasi headed out into the courtyard. He sat down with his back to the tree trunk and pulled out his sketchpad. Before he could even pick up a pencil however he was distracted by the sight of a very odd looking cat walking down the sidewalk. Aside from it now smelling or walking like a cat it was also wearing clothing. He blinked a little bit and realized it looked like one of those stuffed animals his sister had won at the fair and promptly made him carry around for her.

As curious as a cat could be be Tadashi put down his stuff and started walking over towards the cat. He tried calling out to it and, mostly by accident, was actually trying to speak to it as if it were a real cat. Effectively he was a kid walking towards a stuffed animal meowing at it. [cat] "Hi, what in the world are you?" [end of cat] *sounds like meowing*

@ArcanaFate

The closer Tadashi got to the cat the more he could tell it was a stuffed animal walking around. When it turned to address him he was't sure whether he had startled or if the thing was even sentient. He wasn't exactly used to talking to stuffed animals. Unfortunately he realized too late that he had been trying to speak in cat instead of talking like a normal person.

Looking sheepish, Tadashi absentmindedly tugged on the cuffs of his gloves. "oh no, i'm sorry. I guess I was using cat language by accident. I don't normally have that problem. I really wasn't trying to mock you," he blurted out rather quickly. He was very much embarrassed to have been talking in cat language to someone who wasn't a cat.

Tadashi stopped getting closer when he was at a reasonable distance to talk. All his school supplies remained with his backpack back under the tree. At first he didn't know that the cat wasn't just a very strange person but then it had mentioned something about being a puppet. "So wait, if this is just a puppet are you controlling it with your mind?" In a way Tadashi could do something sort of similar with his pencil drawings. But he didn't see anyone around who looked like they are controlling the puppet.

It was beyond weird to be talking to a stuffed animal. He had heard normal kids did that when they were young but he hadn't exactly grown up like a normal kid. "Oh, actually I was born as a cat. I'm a Bakeneko or cat demon spirit thing. Talking to cats just comes with that I think." He smiled as he spoke. His time as a cat was a great memory and it distracted him from his embarrassment there standing in front of the puppet.

Tadashi patiently listened through the whole explanation about the puppet. Not all of it made a whole lot of sense to him but he was able to get the jist of what the voice was saying. Tadashi nodded as the voice spoke and watched with extreme interest gleaming in his eyes as the cat moved portions of its body. "So it's kind of like a more powerful version of what I can do. I can just make pencil drawings move around and do stuff." Aside from controlling them though he had no senses or anything like that from them. They were just physical drawings that moved and could carry some weight.

Suddenly the boy realized he hadn't even introduced himself yet. Boy was he being rude. Just talking in cat to people who couldn't understand it and then not even letting them know their name upon meeting them. Tadashi straightened himself up and bowed a little extra lower than usual. "I'm sorry. Tadashi Yoshimori, nice to meet you."

This person sure did like to be really formal. Tadashi was used to other people and even his siblings teasing him for still bowing in greetings. He was the one they always claimed to be too serious. Ezra seemed like he was twice as serious as Tadashi. Or well practiced at talking like this maybe. Tadashi had met a few people who spoke a little like this and they said they learned it from training and practice so that might have been it. They were after all able to control this stuffed animal from who knows how far away so they clearly had time to practice their magic.

"It really is nice to meet you Ezra, Salem too." Tadashi smiled at the unblinking eyes. He didn't actually think the puppet was alive but he often found himself talking to his own creations so why not address someone else's? It probably made him weird but he wasn't super concerned about that.

Tadashi hid his face with one of his gloved hands in an attempt to stifle a giggle. "No, no I came from Japan. A bakeneko is a type of supernatural creature from there. My siblings and I all started as cats and then got the human thing later. I'm both a cat and a boy." He didn't mention that he had only been a "boy" for a little over 4 years. All the drama and problems and stuff that came from being a person was still difficult for him and would be for a while probably.

When the puppet stepped forward Tadashi looked perhaps a little concerned and almost stepped back to keep some space between them but ultimately held his ground. "The drawing thing though is just me I think. I use a pencil or charcoal to draw something in the air and I can make it move around with my mind." Tadashi reached up to where he normally kept a pencil behind his ear and grabbed it. Stepping back a little bit to give himself a little room he knelt down and drew out a quick sketch of what looked like a hotdog with legs. It was only about half an inch deep and it was just floating lines of pencil that had thickened to give it the depth but as Tadashi stood back up it began move it's legs and start walking around. The movements were a little clumsy but the more it moved the smoother they became, like it was learning. Technically it was actually Tadashi learning how to control it better.


Once the drawing had moved to a spot where Tadashi could see it and still make eye contact with Salem the boy returned his focus to their conversation. "So Ezra do you make a lot of puppets or just this one?" He- they look very cool. It had been made clear to him recently that assuming a gender could be a problem. even if it was a stuffed animal made to like a cat in fine clothing.

"Yeah, I was born there and lived in Japan until I was brought here a few months ago." Tadashi nodded and kept the smile on his face even though technically the circumstances under which he was brought to the island weren't the best. To relieve some of the awkwardness of his thoughts he spoke a little bit of Japanese to the cat and followed it up with a translation, "That means Hello, nice to meet you in Japanese."

As they spoke Tadashi continued keeping a portion of his concentration on the drawing so he could keep it skittering about aimlessly. He was used to doing that while carrying out any number of activities including having a conversation. If anything it helped him be less anxious because he didn't overthink everything he was saying as much. He had to think a little bit about how long he had been able to control his drawings. The truth was he didn't remember when he first noticed it exactly. "I guess it wasn't long after I started being a person so probably a little less than 4 years ago maybe?" He trailed off a bit when he noticed the cat paw moving towards the drawing and he giggled. "oh, it's ok to touch if you're gently. They can break easily," he cautioned as he made the little leggy hotdog skitter a bit closer towards the outstretched hand.

So this was basically a very special puppet that Ezra had become close to. That made sense. As did the idea that he needed to have certain features and experience with the puppet to use it properly. Tadashi looked the puppet up and down once more and giggled a little bit more. "I like Salem. He's a cute puppet. I do understand the learning process a little," he said as he gestured towards the drawing, "each one moves differently than the other ones I've made unless i'm very careful to copy something I've done before." Not to mention if he wasn't careful the drawing would be unbalanced or otherwise not fit to move around and could just collapse on itself.

Tadashi's smile waned for just a moment as he thought about how he wanted to answer the question about his family. There were a bunch of emotional layers to their story, many of which were still causing a lot of pain, but he settled on just revealing the important bits. "My sister Tomomi and brother-sister Shiro are both here too. We were split up like 14 years ago but we ended up here together again." He was truly happy that they were together and though there were obviously details he was omitting his face was otherwise showing nothing but happiness. "Do you have family here Ezra? I assume you live somewhere here on the island." They were simple questions but Tadashi had no idea whether they hit on something sensitive. Family could be a real bad topic to bring up with a lot of people on the island.