My brother & I friended a cat.
19 September 2016.
1 Year ago, I (said 'Sister' in the post) followed my brother on his Pokemon journey... and we made friends with a cat (seen in his profile pic of his page)
That was a random night. I just reached home, when i saw my brother heading out for a walk. I said I'd follow, thinking it was a short walk around the neighborhood.
Instead, we walked from our home in Toa Payoh, to the MacRitchie Reservoir. It was not a short walk, I should have worn better shoes.
It was a night to remember. We conquered the gyms, collected our coins and caught many Pokemon.
- Chelsea, sister ❤️
CATSTORY 4 - I Friend A Cat
CHESTER TANYEO / NOCTURNE·MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2016
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I and my sis were on the way back from MacRitchie when this cat started following us.
The sis who said this-
"He doesn't understand English."
S: "Kuching, duduk sini."
"Now he's walking away."
S: "His name is not kuching, I don't call you human. See, he's walking away because he's insulted. Good cat."
If you’ve been keeping up, you’ll know random cats have gone - like a horror movie - from appearing in the background to appearing obviously to, now, full-on follower mode.
It’s not unknown for cats to follow people. We hear stories. But the reason the stories exist is because it’s rare; no one tells stories of common events. I’ve never been followed before.
He did it for a full hour.
Let us take a moment to appreciate the confluence of random event-
+ I had just complained the very day I haven’t changed my profile pic for a year (Mid-Autumn to Mid-Autumn).
+ Chelsea has never gone on a walk with me.
+ Stuff happened during the walk to delay time of our return.
+ Cat shows up. Follows. Poses for pic.
+ I’ve never been followed by a cat before.
CONCLUSION: My huat game is strong. Chang’e We Can Believe In!
(If it’s Bast or some other deity responsible for this, you shouldn’t have done it on the very night of Mid-Autumn, should you? Chang’er gets all the credit on Mid-Autumn! I walked to MacRitchie for the sole purpose of getting a shot of the Lake and the Moon.)
Now that my prophet-cred has been established, back to the story-
If you play pokemon, you’ll know we got an update two days ago which lets a pokemon walk with you.
The cat ran ahead, he lagged behind, running to catch up. When we stopped, he roamed around sniffing at things.
I patted him for a while before he got bored. He climbed rocks, walked on the concrete fence, poked his head into every drain.
He disappeared at one point and I walked back. He ran to catch up.
The route in the pic is not correct at all, but you see the two points. This is far. Like twenty-thirty minutes.
You understand throughout, there was no communication, he just followed along, lagging behind, running in front. At one point it was like “Where’s the cat?” We turned to look. “He’s in front.”
See my hanging pokeball? It's knitted!
Chelsea was saying we should walk him back. I said “it makes no difference, if we walk him back, he’ll follow us again.” She kept scolding me for telling him to “come” (“don’t encourage him!”). I was literally planning to adopt him, figuring I could take him on my walks, was already planning to get a clicker so I didn’t have to pat my leg and say “Come” repeatedly. This is a familiar level follower, the kind with an invisible leash (the true bond of friendship). Even rarer because you understand cats, as a species, have resting bitch personality.
We finally got to the road and figured this was goodbye. He ran across the road.
Perhaps ten metres from my lift, he stopped, started to meow. He had been mostly silent throughout, though very friendly (you tell by their tails). Now it’s constant, almost plaintive meows. If you have a cat, it’s the one when they need something: urgent and pathetic and non-stop.
Chel: “He’s lost lah.”
“Okay. Walk him back across the road.”
A lost child once NPC-followed me.
So we did. He ran ahead this time. Chel pointed out he was following his scent trail.
We walked him across the road. Then he stopped and looked back. I mentioned before this means follow. We were too tired to walk him all the way. So we waved goodbye. A taxi stopped at the side of the road and my sister said: “Oh no! People will hear me talking to a cat.”
“People talk to cats all the time.”
“Not to this extent! ‘Just keep going straight and you’ll reach home!’ Oh no!”
We walked back across the road. I thought I heard him meowing but wasn’t sure.
We started back and… Yes. He crossed again.
It is 2:40 in the morning and we were tired, we had already walked for two hours. He stopped further this time, ~50m from my lift, sat there catposing and meowing like he didn’t understand why he was being abandoned. We waited a while to see if he would run up.
He didn’t. And he didn’t like being carried, I didn’t think to try deactivation.
So that’s where we left.
And that’s the story of how I almost got a cat to follow me home.
I think we can all appreciate “liking someone a lot and failing to bring them home” as a very accurate metaphor for my lovelife, even down to ideas for things to do in the future.
I made a new friend, then heartlessly abandoned him. Though very much not by choice. It was amazing.
Pokeballs painstakingly hand-knitted by the amazing
Sheena-Chan. $25. PM me.
New book is out!!! https://www.facebook.com/notes/chester-tanyeo-nocturne/book-release-new-story-boom/10153751112077343