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[skywishes01]

kalon development event

workshop 3 - day four excercise

Name of Kalon: Nymph

Link to Kalon: xxx - top left

Describe their pet/companion: A ginger cat that stays scrawny no matter how much it eats! She's named it - Dionysus - but still tends to refer to him as 'the cat'.

How did they meet their pet/companion?:


‘Come on now, I won’t hurt you.’

Nymph shook the dish of dry food gently. She’d been crouched in front of this cage for a while now. Her legs were starting to ache, but she ignored the pain as she peered into the dark corners of the cage. Was it even in there? Was she just talking to herself?

No, there it was; the dullest flash of green eyes. It was huddled up at the very back of the area. If Nymph really squinted, she could make out the fuzzy outline of the creature- enough to tell that its hackles were raised. It was definitely not pleased with her. From what she’d heard, it wasn’t pleased with anyone; it hadn’t eaten anything for a day now. From mushed tuna to milky oats, it had refused each and every one of the dishes the shelter had served up. Including the hard pellets she was trying to feed it now.

She sighed. From the time she’d taken up her position – Starve Watch, they’d called it – the thing hadn’t moved an inch. She’d tried tossing a few pellets in, walking away, even leaving the whole bowl in the cage, but to no avail. Most animals that came in went crazy over food, but this one was clearly an exception.

‘Nymph? Any luck?’ The call was like a healing bell to her ears. Because it meant that her half-hour shift was up.

‘Nope.’ She called back. She finally allowed her body to relax and flopped onto the floor. It was clean. She’d mopped it herself. And right now, it felt more comfortable than any deluxe mattress.

‘Guess we’ll just have to try again later.’

‘Yeah.’ Nymph raised her head to take one last look into the cage. Green eyes glared back. Oh, this cat was stubborn all right.

But Nymph wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

--

She tried. Yes, she tried. She practically volunteered for Starve Watch each day, even though it was the most hated shift by far. Who wants to sit and watch a cat die of hunger? Most people had already deemed the task of getting the creature to eat impossible, a waste of time and effort and energy. And maybe it was. Nymph still had to try.

She’d been at it for almost a week, and the routine was always the same: go in, wave food around, stare cat down, fail. And after three days, she’d been the only person still trying to save that stupid, headstrong cat.

It was day five now. And she hated to admit it, but she was getting a little disheartened. The cat was getting scrawnier by the second, and Nymph just couldn’t seem to change that. She felt like she was playing a messed up game of cat and mouse, except she wasn’t even sure who the cat was anymore.

‘Nymph.’ She heard the voice, but didn’t turn from her position, locked in a staring competition with the cat.

‘Nymph!’ He sounded annoyed now. Ah, well. The cat always beat her anyway.

She fixed the head volunteer with the Look. The one she was becoming famous for. The one that said, I’m busy right now, and if you had any brains in that head of yours you’d leave me alone.

He just shook his head. ‘Nymph, if this doesn’t work, you know we’ll have to…’

‘Stop.’ Nymph clapped two hands over her ears. ‘I don’t want to hear it.’ Usually she wasn’t this rude, but she was tired, and cranky, and feeling more and more like she was losing her race.

‘No one’s going to adopt a cat that won’t eat!’ Nymph didn’t move her hands. He quickly realized she wasn’t going to listen to him in this mood and left. Good boy.

But something he’d said had given her an idea. And as she stared at the cat, still skinny, in its corner, she smiled. For the first time in forever, she smiled.

The cat didn’t know what was coming.

--

‘Welcome home, little buddy.’ She closed the door of her room behind her, blocking out the noises of her three siblings at play. The cat carrier was on the floor, and open. He’d put up a fight, of course, but she’d managed to get him out of the cage in the shelter and into the carrier. He’d scrambled as far away from her as he could get, planting himself firmly at the end of his new cage. But the scratches and the hisses would be worth it, if this worked.

She placed the bowl she’d prepared – full of salmon-flavored bites - down, right in front of the cat. Well, in front of the carrier, since the cat had still not moved.

Everything was in place. Now, all she had to do was wait.

It was a last-ditch plan, and she only half believed in it herself. So when she glimpsed the cat’s little ginger head poking out of the carrier, the shock was enough to send all her nerves haywire.

The creature was hesitant. It looked around slowly, taking in its new surroundings. And, miracle of miracles, it took a step forward. Then another. And another. Soon it was fully out of the carrier, and Nymph would swear she saw wonder – and was that joy? – in the cat’s now-bright green eyes.

And then. His little delicate nose was in the air. One sniff. Two. Nymph stopped breathing as he padded up to the food bowl in front of it.

For a few heart-stopping moments, she thought she’d failed again. The cat was waiting in front of the food bowl, just waiting and looking and not moving. It was taunting her, she knew it was; she couldn’t tell whether it was going to stay or run or heck, jump out that window.

Finally, with a soft mew, the cat leaped forward and began devouring the food like it was going to run away from him.

Nymph clapped a hand over her mouth. She was screaming and crying and laughing all at the same time, and for once, the cat paid no attention to the sounds around it. All that currently existed in its universe was itself and its food. And Nymph couldn’t be happier.

‘Welcome home.’ She repeated softly. The cat licked up the last scraps of food and looked up at her, and her smile turned into an all-out grin.

‘Welcome home.’