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In a rather confusing incident involving creepers, Ash’s weird glitching and far too much lighting, Ash somehow gets turned into a cat. At least Red thinks it’s Ash. Do purple cats exist? It could, Red thinks, be a clever attempt to prank him, until of course the cat glowers at him and stalks over to claw at his pant leg. Ashswag confirmed. Red leans down and scoops Ash-cat into his arms. Surprisingly Ash lets him. Red pings Parrot on his comm.
Parrot pops over.
“Did he tame a cat at any time?” Parrot says peering down at his comm before looking over at Ash. Red remembers this distinctly.
Ash had offered a cat at the village a fish and managed to tame it on the first try. He had undid his hair ribbon and looped the ribbon around the cat’s neck. Later, when they were scaling a mountain, cat-in-tow, Red had taken off his tie so Ash could use it for his hair. Ash was complaining that the wind kept blowing it in his eyes. Red wanted Ash to focus on his footing and shut up.
“He did.” Parrot hums in acknowledgement before squinting down at his comm. Parrot starts laughing. He’s folded over, cackling about whatever. When Parrot’s done with his laughing fit, he explains that because of Ash’s odd glitching and the sudden overload of data from creeper explosions and lightning, Ash’s system had blended his and his cats system together in an attempt to keep from crashing. The data would sort itself out but, for now Ash was stuck as a cat.
“It’s odd. It says he’s a tamed cat.” Parrot murmurs. He taps a few buttons then swipes up. His eyes widen and he starts laughing again. Red can feel Ash’s claws dig into his arm. Red shakes him in revenge.
“What?” Red says impatiently.
“You!” Parrot says though bursts of laughter.
“You tamed him!” Red glances down and sure enough, around Ash-cat’s neck is a loop of brilliant red fabric. God dammit. He shakes Ash again.
Red carries Ash to his base and sets him down. Parrot had said that Ash was still sentient, just cat-shaped and with an addition of a few cat instincts in the mix. Ash spends time running around in his base, while Red finishes drawing up plans for a trap in the kitchen.
Red hears a crash in the other room. He walks down the hall to the potion room and opens the door. Ash, caught in the act freezes. One paw is up in the air. He’s walking on the top of the table, and there is a bottle shattered on the floor. About to knock another bottle over the edge of the table, he locks eyes with Red. Red stares back.
“You are acting awfully cat like for someone who isn’t really supposed to be a cat.”
Ash swats the bottle in front of him. It smashes on the floor.
“Really?” Red says unimpressed. Ash hisses at him and flicks another bottle to the ground. Red frowns at him and walks over. Ash leaps away and, in the process knocks more bottles over. Red looks at him slowly. He moves over to shut the door. Ash’s eyes locked on his every move. It’s a stalemate, until Ash flattens his ears and hisses at Red. Red takes this opportunity to chase Ash around. Ash is attempting to be rather annoying.
Eventually Red catches Ash, who’s covered in different potion materials. He wriggles in Red’s grasp.
“I’m going to throw you in the river.” Red mumbles irritably. Red walks down the hall, shoves open the front door, carries Ash to the nearby river bank and proceeds to toss Ash into the river. Ash yowls as he flies through the air, the most betrayed expression on his face as he hits the water. Eventually he makes his way back to Red and sits on the bank. Red smiles. Ash looks ridiculous as a wet cat.
“I have a towel.” He offers. Ash decides this is a good enough apology and pads over. After Red has sufficiently dried Ash off they head back to base.
It’s around mid- noon and Red has nothing better to do so he settles in one of his armchairs to work on his projects. After a bit Ash joins him, settling on his lap and purring. Red finds himself idly petting Ash. He freezes fearing that he’s offended Ash, but Ash simply continues to knead the leg beneath him like nothing had happened, a contented rumble in his chest. Red continues to stroke Ash. He also takes this moment to examine Ash.
Ash is a purple cat oddly enough. He has splotches of lighter blue-purple. It’s a very distinctive coloring and something that is very Ash. He also, Red thinks, looks like he’s spattered in paint. Which is a rather silly thought, even if it is fitting.