Luminary Institute

18: It’s Nice To Pet A Cat Who Won’t Bite You

The conversation with the three boys ended not long after they decided on the afternoon plans. In particular, the three boys wanted to go to one of the smaller cafeterias, so they split off to... as they said: “Face their own destiny.” 

Deciding to not go along with the boys, Celeste and Nyssa made their way to the main cafeteria, grabbed some food, and left with it to find a more secluded place to eat. Their search, though, placed them back near the Class Zero building. 

Shading her eyes as they sat outside under the sun, Nyssa poked at her food with her food as a sigh slipped through her lips. She wasn’t... hungry. Her nap had caused her appetite to fall to a minimum. 

The food looked good though. Drenched in a bowl of broth, pieces of meat decorated a background of rice noodles. Even its seductive aroma did nothing to her slumbering stomach. Sipping from her cup of steaming tea, stared at the food with sleepy blinks. “I’m too sleepy to eat...” 

“You should eat,” Celeste squinted, reaching over and booping Nyssa’s nose. “Think about it this way, if you eat quickly, you can nap sooner.” 

“But if I don’t eat, I could also nap sooner. In fact, I could nap right now,” Nyssa tilted her chin up while miming a biting motion to chase off Celeste’s finger. A few seconds of pondering later though, she sighed again. “No, you’re right. I’ll eat...” 

Noodles were good... 

Her monkey brain enjoyed the warm slurping. They were just very soft and very flavorful. What more could she want? 

Food like this was the one advantage of being human. Cat life was great for napping, for getting random people to dote on her, and for easy stealth travel, but cat food was infinitely worse than human food. As a random plus, the vegetables in her noodle soup tasted amazing for some reason. Maybe because they were fresh? 

Dismissing her thoughts, Nyssa continued eating while trying to hold a conversation with Celeste. Struggling through the meal, she put her tray of bowls and utensils away before transforming back into a cat and returning to heaven. Snuggling up on the perpetually-warm lap of Celeste, she dozed off within a couple minutes. 

Celeste, finishing up the last bits of her food, couldn’t help but enjoy herself a little and run her hands through her new lap occupant’s fur. Scratching its chin, she felt her heart flip as Nyssa rolled over and followed her hand. 

Soft... 

It was nice to pet a cat she knew wouldn’t bite her. 

Pulling out her phone, she snapped a couple more pictures before opening the Luminary Institute’s cat page dedicated to Nyssa—not that anyone knew the white cat was a human. Saving her pictures from the morning to keep Nyssa’s identity anonymous, she posted the pictures she had just taken. 

People were going to be jealous! She just knew it! It was rare to get Nyssa to come close to you, let alone have her fall asleep on your lap!

Watching the page blow up with new comments, Celeste grinned and put her phone away. 

What now though?

She was done eating and her plates weren’t going to put themselves away. Yet, she couldn’t quite stand up to put them away due to her new obligation as a pillow... 

Stuck between two choices, Celeste sat there for a couple minutes before deciding to bunker down and just spent the next hour sitting there. She could put her plates and utensils away later. For now, she could just have as much fun as she wanted with the little kitty on her lap! 

She really needed to remember it was Nyssa though... Otherwise she’d start cutesy-speaking to her and... well, that’d be both embarrassing for her and a little dehumanizing for Nyssa. Scaring off her newest friend or only seeing her as a cat would be a horrendous situation. 

Zoning out as she pulled out her phone and scrolled through some social media, Celeste continued to pet Nyssa. Reading through the comments on the cat page, she responded to a couple before returning to social media. 

Zombie-like scrolling was Celeste’s speciality. Whenever she was stuck in a conversation with the boys and they started talking about... random abstruse topics, she would whip it out. Nothing against them of course, but she really did not care about the newest tank that so and so country had begun to use to fight monsters. Who cared that it used the new impact absorbing what-what armor made of something or another ceramic plates and boom her ears had fallen off at that point. 

Just as she lamented her past conversations with those three boys, Celeste’s head perked up. Speak of the devil. There they were! Waving them over, she apologized while making a shushing motion. 

“Why quiet?” Titus asked while jogging over with Albion and Conrad trailing behind him. “Oh, I see now.” 

“What’s up? Oh,” Albion came to a stop. Grabbing Conrad and keeping his mouth shut, Albion pointed at the sleeping cat on Celeste’s lap while staring at Conrad. “Understand? Yes, okay, we’re gonna be quiet, okay? Understand? Nod twice if you do.” 

Nodding like a bobblehead, Conrad took a seat where Nyssa had been sitting as Titus and Albion filled the other two sides around the square table. 

“You three were heading back already?” Celeste asked while stroking Nyssa. “It’s a bit early isn’t it?” 

“We were thinking of checking back in with Angelica early,” Albion shrugged. “We could then get down to the training room before Electra and Ryker and begin sparring a little earlier.”

“Oh, sorry I won’t hold you then,” Celeste apologized before pointing down at Nyssa. “I’ll probably be late then to your sparring session.” 

“No, don’t worry. We can hang out here for a bit,” Albion checked his phone for the time. “We’re not in a rush anyway. My guy Titus is still going to whoop ass, as usual.” 

“Good... to know,” Celeste shook her head as she turned towards Conrad and Titus. “So what’s the schedule for fighting then this afternoon? Are you going to fight anyone other than us three, Titus?” 

“Not sure,” Titus murmured. “I want to start hosting more widespread sparring sessions during our afternoons. Especially maybe with Class One people. But they usually have lessons during the afternoon until three or three-thirty.” 

“Plus, we’d need Ryker and Electra’s support in organizing it, we won’t be able to sway the Class One elite with just us,” Conrad pitched in. 

“Oh that’d be interesting, I’d support,” Celeste gave a thumbs-up. “Fighting is always fun. Best way to improve as they say.” 

“For sure.” Albion agreed as he drummed his fingers against the table. With faint patches of the table being transformed into ice, he unfroze the table in a hurry as Celeste glared at him. “Sorry, habit overtook me.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Celeste shrugged as their conversation shifted. “I’ll just let Nyssa nap a little longer, then we can head back. Are you three okay with waiting with me?” 

“Yeah, we have nothing urgent to do, as you know already.” Albion breathed out a faint cloud of mist as he slumped against the table. “Though a nap does look nice... Nyssa looks like she’s in heaven right now...”

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