A Tale of Two Kitties
Dolce stared blankly at the computer in front of him, hands hovering over the keyboard. The word document was blank, white, blinding. It was almost painful, seeing how little work he had put into this book for the past seven hours of sitting in this chair. Seven hours of nothing but staring at the computer screen, typing a few words, and backspacing them. Seven hours of frustration and annoyance, thinking about everything but a possible topic for this next book. He knew Silas and their publisher were waiting for him to finish his next writing by next week, as he’d had six months to write it by now. With the deadline looming, he felt even more at a loss for good ideas than ever. The furo swished his tail side to side on the ground in annoyance, narrowing his eyes at the screen as his ears drooped to the side of his head, only to perk again as he heard footsteps approaching.
Silas gingerly stepped up to the door, tapping on it before slowly pushing it open, ears perked to listen for any possible sound of Dolce picking something up to throw at him (something he commonly did when interrupted.) But, when he entered, all he saw was a downtrodden mocha-swirl furo, staring helplessly at an empty document. His own ears flattened as he approached, gently placing his hands on Dolce’s shoulders. “How’s it going?” He asked carefully, after a moment of silence.
Dolce simply sighed in response, looking down at the keyboard and letting his hands fall back to his sides limply. “Bad. I can’t… Think of anything. I…” he frowned, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. “I don’t want… To let you down.”
Silas’s ears immediately drooped at that, tears welling up in his own eyes. “D-Dolce? I’ve never heard you talk like that before… It’s okay if you can’t think of anything right now. We can get an extens-“
“You have gotten four extensions for me, Silas. I can’t keep putting it off.”
Silas stood in silence for a moment before leaning down and resting his chin on Dolce’s head. “Okay, so then instead of an extension… How about we brainstorm? You never let me help with storylines, so maybe…” He smiled as an idea popped up in his mind. “Maybe I have some ideas.”
Dolce’s ears slowly perked again, tail slowly swishing across the ground. “….Fine. Tell me your ideas, then.”
Silas stood up straight suddenly and began pacing in one quick motion as Dolce spun his chair around to give him his full attention. The beige furo poked at the butterfly sprinkles in his hair as he paced, humming quietly before he stopped suddenly and looked at Dolce. “Alright. I’ve got an idea. If I was able to write as well as you could, I would definitely write a story about a lonely cat.”
Dolce’s slightly annoyed expression slowly shifted to a perplexed one, eyes widening a little. “A… A lonely cat?” His head slowly tilted to match his expression.
Silas nodded confidently. “Yes! A lonely cat who has lost his owner! Only to find, later on, that he doesn’t have to be lonely. A lonely cat who finds a friend, but doesn’t realize how much they mean to him until the end.” He leaned down closer to Dolce with a sweet smile. “A lonely cat… Who isn’t so lonely anymore.” He said softly, kissing Dolce on the forehead before turning and walking back to the door. “Well…. That’s all I’ve got!” and with that, he left the room.
The last thing Dolce saw of the taller furo was his tail slipping out of the room. He had to sit and ponder exactly what had just happened as he felt his face get colder from a blush. A lonely… Cat. “A lonely cat…” He whispered, turning back around to face his computer, eyes brightening as the ideas came flooding in. His fingers began to type on the keyboard, and his lips curled up into a small smile.
“There once was a cat named Silas…”