Author's note: This chapter is a bit different. It is the first part of a much longer Chapter 17 that was published on Christmas day. Chapter 17 is 4 times the size of the regular animal café chapters. So if you think this chapter 16 ends oddly, that's why. :)
Enjoy this first part!
TS
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I was sitting on the floor, my back against the wall while holding Oreo in my arms, both of us waiting to see what her best friend, Misti, would look like.
After our round trip to the suburbs and meeting Elizabeth, the artist who had created all the pet costumes, we returned to the café. As soon as we gave the box containing the new mystery suit to Lucy, she had asked me to keep an eye on her pets while she went upstairs with Misti. There was no doubt about it; not only these two had to discuss the lessons learned, and Misti would wear the brand new costume that none of us knew anything about.
I explained what was going on to Oreo, Trixie, Meeka, and Vix, and now we were all looking forward to finding out what kind of animal would cross the lounge door in an instant. Asha and Accalia, who were not at the café today, would undoubtedly be pissed for having missed that reveal.
My understanding was that Misti would only wear this new costume temporarily until Elizabeth repaired her black catsuit. From what we've been told, it would take at least a week. So this situation was inclined toward a good question.
Once Misti got her black cat costume back, who was supposed to wear the new one? Me? I didn't think so. As Asha had told me, Lucy liked to use me as a swiss army knife. I didn't think she had any interest in turning me into a permanent pet, and on top of that, I didn't think I wanted to be one full time either. It was occasionally fun to help out, but I didn't have the profile to be a pet as good as the others.
I squeezed Oreo in my arms some more due to my febrility. For some reason, I never spent a lot of time with her in the past. She was an adorable black and white cat, and her black eye patch was just sweet. Outside her latex color, her mask was identical to Misti's.
Oreo was often the one ending up with a red collar around her neck, which meant she was either punished or needed rest. For some reason, she seemed the troublemaker of the group. Trixie also caused a lot of trouble, but she always seemed to find ways to get away with it.
But right now, Oreo was cuddly and calm even though she certainly would want to play with Misti as soon as she got back. Meanwhile, Vix was lying on top of Asha and Trixie, who quietly petted her.
And then, it happened. The loud door handle's noise startled all the pets, showing how alert they all were despite how quiet they were only a moment ago.
Oreo jumped off me and rushed to Lucy, and so did the three other pets. That was the meaning of my earlier thought when I said I didn't have the profile to be a good pet; I wasn't as spontaneous and naturally excited as them. Maybe if I were wearing a giant sloth costume it would fit my personality better... but still.
Right off the bat, Lucy scolded her pets, telling them to stand back before she let Misti in.
"Shoo! Shoo! Don't stand so close else you won't even be able to see anything. Come on, all of you, step back!"
Only half-listening, the petgirls walked back a bit, but they were still jumping in place.
"Alright, everybody. Let me introduce you to the new Misti!"
A small animal that we had never seen before shyly walked around Lucy and stepped in the lounge for us to admire. This must have been the loudest I ever been in my life, but I just had to let it out.
"... A CHEETAH! Awww..."
How incredibly adorable. It was another big cat like Asha. Her latex skin was of a beautiful tan color fading on a white chest and under-chin. A million little black spots covered her, and her face markings were just incredible. If she had been walking on her four, she would have looked like a real one; it was mind-blowing.
The other petgirls were probably in awe in the face of this new pet portrayed by Misti. Under normal circumstances, they would have jumped on her like a bunch of savages, but instead, they approached her slowly, carefully touching her with their paws. I could tell that they were in total admiration with the new costume, and for a solid reason, Elizabeth had created the most beautiful pet girl costume so far.
The next half hour has been really fun; Lucy and I helped Misti find the most cheetah-like poses, and she was very good at it. Her cat experience showed, but she was doing some new things that I had never seen her do before. We compared her sitting posture with cheetah pictures from the internet, and once corrected, we made Oreo the cat sit next to her to compare. I couldn't get over how real she looked.
After our fun, Lucy and I let Misti play with her friends while we were having a coffee. They all knew she was the same girl inside, but there was a sense of attractive novelty in the air.
"Lucy, I love the cheetah costume."
"It's amazing, yes. It's so much better than the picture Elizabeth had sent me. She is so talented."
"Why... Why did you... buy a new costume?"
"Hehe... Oh? Do you want to know if it was for you?"
"..."
"No, Clara. Don't worry. It's not for you. As you know, Apricot left not long ago, so I can't really use more than five pets at a time while two are resting. It's a bit too much to my liking. I know you can help from time to time, but I don't think you'd have something to gain in doing that full time as they do. You are more MY backup than theirs. Because of you, I'm able to take some time off without worrying about them. You are so good with the pets, Clara."
"So, you are going to hire someone else?"
"Possibly, yes... But it's hard... It took me over two years to put this little group together. Most of them came to me. It's an extraordinary job, you know. It's a lifestyle more than a job, and I would not hire someone who doesn't need to be a pet."
"Need?"
Her use of the word need surprised me. I knew Vix liked being a pet because she wanted to hide her scars. Trixie also said that she was a pet for a reason without going into details. But everybody had problems, so I never associated the fact that they were playing pets directly with their problems.
"Yes. Take Apricot for example. She was just a very nice client, but one day, her parents told her that they were moving to another city for work and that they would leave her behind until she finished her college degree. She must have been very close to them because she took it very badly and felt abandoned even though she was a grown adult."
"Awww..."
"No, Clara. It was not supposed to be a sad moment. Parents are just people, and they have to make the best decision for themselves. I think your parents are out of town too?"
"Yes, they moved out a while ago... It was too expensive here. But I decided to stay."
"See, you took it the right way, but Apricot didn't. So I decided to let her try to be a pet so she could escape her sadness for a while, but it was also a way to force her to spend time with people and listen to them. Apricot was incapable of listening. That was her main problem. While being a pet, she couldn't talk anymore, and listening was all she could do. It gave her an opportunity to understand that life is not all black or white just by hearing what people had to say without interrupting them."
"So... Apricot... Did she reconcile with her parents?"
"Yes. At some point, she restarted to call them and talked it over. And then, as you know, she decided to move back near them. She enjoyed her time as a pet with us, but she needed to move on. Her parents are just too important to her."
It was very rare that Lucy and I had an opportunity to talk like this. I had never really interacted with Apricot the doggy, but I was still sad when I heard about her departure from the café. Now that I had heard the full story, it made me understand how Lucy selected her pets and why I was probably not a good candidate to be a permanent one.
My life was not that great, but a lot of it was due to my communication disorder; it was the reason why I had a shit job and why my landlord had easily abused me with his incessant rent raises. But I was slowly improving, thanks to my rubber friends.
That said, Lucy was right. If I were to wear a pet costume all the time, it would take away my ability to talk, and then I wouldn't be able to work on my speech. It was preferable for me to stay out of costume and use the café as a safe zone to grow as a person.
Lost in my train of thought, I didn't see her coming...
"Aaaah! Misti!"
