Quote:
Originally Posted by Raindancer
Silence sat down after reading his lips as he became defensive, curling her tail neatly over her small paws and blinking at him slowly. She let him examine her, used to wary stares. She did her best to show him she was not a threat. So began the charades. Silence had become quite the actress, until guests got used to her normal body language, she had to communicate with dramatic gestures.
She flicked her tail up to her chest, before letting it settle again. I am Silence. She then reached up and put her paws over her flattened ears. I am deaf. She pointed her tail at him, then tucked her front paws under her chest and closed her eyes. You can rest easy here. After she sat back up Silence asked a question of her own. Pointing her tail at him again, she tilted her head to the side, a curious light in her deep orange eyes.
Who are you?
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Letting himself relax a little bit, Hoot sat and curled his brown tail around his paws. His squinted his eyes at the she-cat and wrinkled his nose. The tom was struggling to understand what the cat was trying to get across. Why didn't she just talk like a normal cat? Hoot felt weirded out. He wanted to go home and back to the birdbath where no weird, silent she-cat where hanging about. But despite his frustration, curiosity streamed through the young cat's veins. Sure, all of this not speaking business was irritating and strange, but it did offer some kind of an adventure and Hoot loved adventures.
"You're. . ." Hoot trailed off, trying to find whatever word the she-cat was trying to communicate. "Chest? Uh, Black? Molly, perhaps?" The tom began to name off different words and names, trying to figure out which was right. But even as he said them, none of them sounded right to him. None of the names that Hoot came up with sounded mysterious enough to belong to the she-cat. He thought deeper and harder. "Shy? Quiet? Silent?" Something about that last one felt right. "Silent." He stated it this time, more for himself than anything else. It was close, Hoot knew that much. Silent, he thought to himself. That's a weird name. Silence would sound much better.
The Abyssinian perked up suddenly, a smile- a rare occurrence for Hoot in the presence of another cat- stretched across his maw. "Silence? Is that your name? That's pretty fitting for you." A hint of amusement was buried in the young tom's voice. "And there's something wrong with your ears?" Hoot breathed. "You can't. . . hear?" The tom's head retreated with surprise. He'd heard of a- he searched for the word- a deaf cat before. That cat was a kittypet and lived with Twolegs because it couldn't care for itself. Hoot never expected to meet a deaf cat himself. He wondered how she had survived up until now. And he wondered how she was understanding what he'd been saying this entire time.
"I can sleep here." Hoot translated, feeling proud that he was able to finally figure out something easily. Suddenly, the she-cat began to reflect his own curiosity. He raised his tail to his own chest, as she had done before, as if to ask, who am I? "Hoot." He said, unsure if she'd understand or not. He tried to think of a way to explain it through his body, but came up with nothing. "Hoot." He repeated, just to be sure.