He wasn’t paying any attention to you, and it has begun to drive you up the damn wall like a skittish kitty cat. Vessel is doing what he does best, trap himself in the labyrinthine confines of his own mind, going over all his stresses and regrets. He’s been staring at his hands for the last 15 minutes, unresponsive to your gentle calls of his name, or the soft pokes you’ve given his arm. It seems nothing can pull him from the void which is his own subconsciousness. Perhaps it’s best to just wait it out, let him do as he needs. That would be okay if his attention wasn’t what you craved the most in the moment, hungering for it like a starved child craving its mothers embrace.

Vessel hadn’t been ignoring you on purpose, it’s only that there’s someone who demands his heed more so than you, her dictates much stronger than your pitiful requests . Sleep shows up unwanted and unneeded at the best of times, wiggling her way into the minds of her own, turning them into husks until she’s done with them. Like a parasite, she entered his mind. Vessel is trying to flee from the void, but her slick, uncompromising hands hold him in the vast nothingness, whispering mockeries in his ears. Her body against his, his body denuded by her for further scorn, his six eyes, made in her image locked deeply into hers as she—

“Pspspspsp, here kitty kitty.”

You snicker, trying your last damn attempt to draw his attention from his hands, and by god, Vessel jerks his head up in your direction, pulled from the thrashing waves of his mind. Mind not that he answered to a kitty call, you begin to worry something is wrong, but before you can ask him about it, Vessel lets out a shaken breath, scooting to your side, and as if nothing happened, as if he wasn’t spacing out for a good 20 minutes, he says,

“Yes?”

You stare at him, blinking in a questioning manner.

Why on earth was Vessel responsive to “pspspspsps”? What is he? A cat?