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~ ~ ~ From Alpine’s POV ~ ~ ~
When I was being trained to be a ‘therapy cat’, against my will I should add, I never really cared about the humans around me. Why should I? They never asked if I wanted to be held and snuggled or deal with tears and snot. They never asked if I even wanted to be around random people. What cat wants a bunch of strangers coming up to them to touch them? It takes hours to clean the dirt that’s left behind by these humans. Do they not wash their hands at all?
Whoever decided that cats should be trained as therapy animals, should reevaluate their life. Who wakes up and decides that cats want to do the same stuff as dogs? Humans. Only humans would think something so idiotic. Have they forgotten that we cats decided to domesticate ourselves? We wanted to be pampered and treated like deities, not help humans who cry and dirty up our fur.
I was dropped off at a shelter when I was a kitten and for whatever reason, the humans around me ‘saw potential’ in my abilities to be a therapy cat. I’m not paying attention to how you humans feel so I can help you, no. I’m paying attention so I know when I can get extra treats out of you, or when I should go hide to avoid the constant touching and crying. You humans should go to actual therapy with a human, not cry into your cat’s fur.
Well, that’s what I used to think, anyway. Until that day…
~ ~ ~
I was just minding my own business, off to the side while the other friendlier cats were fawned over and shown off. I had hissed at some little snot nosed brat who pulled my tail, so I was on the ‘time out’ cat tree. The one with a warning sign to give the cats on there some space. We get stressed out too, you know. Usually it’s just me on here, but whatever.
Then I saw them. Two adults, one male, one female. They were keeping to the edges of the room, watching everyone else interact with the other cats. One of my trainers tried to show them a few cats, but it was clear that the two humans were just uncomfortable being in a room with so many other humans.
Even if I didn’t want to notice, I did. I saw how the man kept looking around, nervous, a little twitchy. He was hiding it well, I’m sure the other humans didn’t pick up on it. The woman tried to reassure him that no one there was going to say anything negative to him. Which was curious to hear. I didn’t know who these humans were, but clearly the man was someone who people would recognize, and most likely had problems with. Which made sense why he seemed about ready to dart out of the room. He was overwhelmed, and the woman next to him was doing her best to help him, but she was getting overwhelmed with him. They were feeding off each other’s heightened emotions.
So, taking pity on this large man, who was acting like a skittish alley cat, I hopped down from the cat tree and made my way over to him. Skillfully dodging any grabby hands coming my way. One of the trainers seemed to realize where I was going, and told the others to let me be. At least one human here wasn’t completely brainless.
The man and woman were sitting down on a bench off to the side, talking quietly to each other.
“This is stupid. I don’t need a cat to help me manage my emotions.” The man seemed to be as happy to be there as I was.
“Dad, this isn't to fix your problems, this is to find a companion to give you comfort when you’re having an episode. I can't always be there with you to help you calm down, and unless you want to go to even more therapy, I suggest you figure this out. I worry about you when I’m gone.”
“But a cat? You want me to keep a pet alive, when I can barely keep myself alive most days?”
The man was getting more agitated, so I decided to step in. I meowed at the two humans who had been ignoring me as they talked. Both turned and looked down at me, the woman smiling instantly.
“Aw, she’s cute. Hi there, sweetie.” The woman carefully reached down, making me think she was just going to pick me up or start petting me, but she didn’t. She held out her hand for me to sniff first, giving me a choice to be friendly or not. I appreciated that. Not many of the humans here care about our comfort. So, I sniffed her, she smelt of something I didn’t recognize but it wasn’t bad. I then nudged her hand with my head, giving her the okay to touch me. She picked me up, but I didn’t stay on her lap, I moved over to the man.
“Okay, hold on. What…” The man lifted both his arms up as I made myself comfortable on his lap. “This was not a day to wear all black…” He grumbled as the woman with him chuckled.
“Don’t just stare at her like she’s going to eat you, dad. Pet her.”
The man hesitantly lowered his arms and with his right hand, began to gently pet me. He wore thick gloves, which didn’t feel too nice. The texture of the gloves tugged on my fur with every pass of his hand, but he seemed to realize that quickly and removed the one from his right hand.
“This is Alpine.” One of the trainers spoke as he approached the three of us. “She’s… She’s a sweet girl.”
“Is she? You don’t sound confident about that.” The woman clearly knew better than to just outright believe these humans. Which was good. I’m not sweet. Just this morning I clawed up that trainer because he wanted to trim my fur.
“She’s difficult, to be honest. Not like some of the others we have here. She doesn’t seem to want to help people. She’s a little too unfriendly, and this is the last chance we’re giving her before sending her back to a shelter.”
“What?” The man didn’t like that one bit. I could feel his body tense up as he glared at the trainer. “She’s a cat, not a dog. Since when are cats known for being friendly? If she doesn’t seem to want to be here, why are you making her?”
“Um… She’s an animal… I don’t see why-”
“She’s a living being, and if you know she doesn’t want to be here, why force her? She’s bad at a job she never wanted, so you’re going to send her to a shelter? A no-kill shelter or one that’ll put her down when they realize she isn't friendly either?” The man was angry, which scared the trainer, making him take several steps back.
I just remained purring in the man’s lap, enjoying how even though he was mad, he was still gently running his fingers through my fur. But I could tell his heart rate was going too high. He was getting too upset as the trainer tried to explain that if I wasn’t friendly, it was my fault. Stupid human.
Before the man could get too angered, I stood up and swatted his face. It made his words cut out immediately, making the three humans around me stare at me. I then meowed at him and nudged his face with my head. He seemed to get the point and leaned back on the bench again, calming down. So, I made my way up to his chest, where he was forced to move his left arm to cradle me, so I didn’t fall off of him as I curled up.
Just because I didn’t want to be trained as a therapy cat didn’t mean I didn’t pick up on some things. The trainer seemed both terrified and relieved. Not that I cared, but the sooner he shut up, the better.
“We want her.” The woman spoke up as the man calmed down. I lifted my head up to look at her, as the trainer seemed nervous again.
“Like we were talking about before, a dog might be better for him. Service dogs can do more, they are more suited for-”
“No, I don’t want a dog, I told you that already.” The man found his voice as he petted me again. “I live in a small apartment in Brooklyn, so I have no space for a dog and don’t have the time to go out on walks… I’m better with cats, anyway.”
~ ~ ~
That’s how I ended up here. With a metal armed man, and his daughter. Both have serious problems, but they give me plenty of food, treats and toys, so it’s okay. I guess I didn’t hate being a therapy cat after all, since most nights I’m curled up on his chest. When I don’t sleep on top of him, he ends up with nightmares or silently cries in his sleep. He’s gotten better over time, but there are still bad days where he really needs me.
In the early days, I watched him break a few lamps and a TV once after waking up from a nightmare that left him confused and disoriented. Even then, he never got violent with me, nor his daughter. I don’t think he realized it then, but he scared her pretty bad sometimes. After he’d be talked into going back to sleep, or going out for a late night walk to calm down, I’d end up with her.
She never cried, but she was shaken up. I don’t know what they mean when they talk about their pasts, but I know it was bad enough to leave permanent scars on my two humans. Something broke them, and I do my best to help comfort them when possible.
Even now, those scars remain. We live in this big tower that I’m not allowed to roam around in (I still do though, since my humans loosened some vents for me to go through to travel between certain floors) with even more broken people.
My humans leave their rooms open all the time, so I can pick where I want to sleep. They seem to have a competition going on to see which one I like better. Though the female seems to know I prefer my male human. She makes sure to never keep me in one place when there could be a possibility her dad might need me to help him. She usually makes sure to keep an eye on me whenever the male is gone. She’s even made me appear on camera so he can talk to me.
As much as I hated thinking about humans whining about their problems while holding me, it seems that’s become my main job. The female in particular likes to talk to me about her problems. I respond the best I can, but I’m a cat. I don’t know what she thinks I’m supposed to say to her. Then again, she does seem to understand what I’m trying to say when I meow, but she could just be insane, so…
My male human likes to read and watch TV with me on his lap. He likes knowing where I am on days it rains. He seems to have trouble with loud noises at times, so I normally stay close to him if he seems tense or anticipating something. On days he returns from extended times away, he’s bruised and bleeding sometimes. He likes to have both me and his daughter with him those days. It seems like he needs to make sure we’re both okay, even though he’s the one injured. The female does the same.
Whenever the others see me, they usually give me treats, or extra food, even though my humans say I’ll look like a ‘volleyball’ if they keep overfeeding me. One older man who tries to befriend my male human picks me up sometimes when I don’t want him to. He doesn’t seem to care that I scratch him up and hiss at him every single time. He just laughs and apologizes before setting me back down. He’s loud and doesn’t understand personal boundaries, but he’s not that bad, for a human.
His daughter makes sure he doesn’t pick me up too often. She seems to be broken similar to my humans, so she understands boundaries better than most humans do. She has a pet of her own, but I’m not allowed around it, because she thinks I’ll try to eat it. She gives me snuggles sometimes when both my humans are away, but she tries to not show that softer side of her.
The other female startles me quite often, just walking through walls or appearing out of nowhere. She gives me treats as an apology though, so it’s fine. She doesn’t like petting me, or interacting with me much, but she’s never rude to me intentionally. She’s quiet, but there are moments where she and the light haired woman bicker loudly over silly things.
The quiet male is nice to be around. He doesn’t try to touch me until I seek him out. He seemed very unsure of me at first, but I think he’s scared he’ll hurt me. I’ve heard the humans talk about what he’s capable of. He’s strong like my humans are, and so he tries to be extremely soft with me. My purring doesn’t seem to help him calm down when he has issues though, as my being around him makes him anxious that he’ll accidentally hurt me. He’s a very sweet man, but I guess he’s hiding something horrible inside of him? I’m not sure what though. The loudmouth male complains a lot about what the quiet one did during an ‘episode’ to the large piece of bent metal he carries around.
Speaking of the loudmouth, he’s quite annoying. He hovers around my female human, takes her with him to sleep, and then sleeps with her in her room at times. Where my female is, he is normally there too. He picks fights with my male human, and seems to annoy everyone else as well. I don’t like him.
Well, I didn’t like him until he proved himself worthy of my female human. One night she woke up screaming, loud enough I could hear her from sleeping with my male human. By the time he and I made it to her room, the loudmouth had already calmed her down.
He held her as she shook in his arms, he whispered all sorts of comforting things to her. He kept her safe, when she was scared and hurting. He was very gentle with her, and made sure she was hydrated after her nightmare and panic attack. He might be annoying, but he seems to love my female human. Even my male human seems to accept that the loudmouth is with his daughter. If he accepts the loudmouth with her, then I will too.
He still picks me up when I don’t want him to, but he is getting better at reading my moods. I enjoy sitting on his lap. He’s quite warm and petting me seems to calm him. He talks to me like my humans do, telling me boring things most of the time though. Like how his day went, or what he was planning to do for dinner. There are also days he tells me things that I don’t understand, but know they’ve left him very broken. He’s a loudmouth and likes to seem more confident than he is, but deep inside I know he is soft. He’s not too bad once I’ve gotten to know him.
Whenever both my humans are gone, I stay with him. Despite not liking him at first, he’s my third favorite human now. He even built a fancy catwalk for me, so I can climb along the walls and see out of the large windows in many places. He has a whole room dedicated to me on his floor. At least this human is worshiping me as they all should be.
I do have to put him in his place every so often. I can't have him thinking I like him more than my original humans. So, I scratch him up on purpose when I jump off of him. He writes it off as me not understanding the difference between his flesh and blood left arm, and my male human’s metal left arm. I do know the difference. I might be a cat, but I know more than these humans seem to think.
The only thing that drives me insane with these humans is when they decide to get ‘frisky’ with each other right in front of me. One second, it’ll be my female human and her lover on the couch watching a movie, next they’re kissing and being very loud with less clothing on. I always retreat back to my male human’s room during those times. I don’t have any interest in watching humans mate.
My male human brings someone back occasionally, only when it’s him and sometimes his daughter in the tower. The others don’t seem to realize that my male human has a lover, but they don’t bring the topic up at all anyway. When his lover is over, my male human makes sure to put me outside of his room for their mating. Though, they do get loud, which is normally when I leave the floor we live on, or his daughter brings me to the loudmouth’s room to avoid hearing them as well.
He is normally gone before morning, so I don’t see him often. When I do, he likes to pet me and tell me how pretty I am. I don’t hiss or scratch him, as he looks at my male human like he’s the most important thing in the world. There seems to be some sort of long history between the two as they seem to have been together for a very long time. They mentioned something about making up for the time they lost, but I don’t understand what that’s supposed to mean. Either way, he loves my human, so I’ll tolerate him, even if I don’t know him well.
Before these humans, I didn’t care about what their problems were, or what was wrong in their lives. Now though, I can't say I hate them. They can be a bit much sometimes, but it isn't too bad. I get everything I want here. I guess it is pretty good that I can tell the emotions of these humans, and know when they need help. I don’t think any of them would have survived without me here. I help keep them happy and not breaking down crying in corners.
Oh, I guess I should mention I’ve stopped a few attacks on them too. Random idiots with cameras and guns in the vents. My humans had to give me many baths to get all the red out of my fur. But yeah, I’m pretty useful. Being a therapy cat to a former assassin who permanently reeks of oil and gunpowder really is one hell of a life, but it’s far better than any life I would have or have not lived if they didn’t meet me that day.