Policeman and the cat

21 - Nose kiss

Nelly didn't want to run from Leum because he was strong. Nelly could tell he meant them no harm and the same with the ghost and many others around who were far stronger. She wanted to run because she felt uneasy with Ian's feelings towards the person in front of them, she was afraid of the person in front taking a liking to Ian - then Nelly would be stuck in second place again.

But as soon as she learned that Leum loved his master, Nelly could feel at ease, then he was the same as her and wouldn't show such interest. And as Ian later stroked her head to calm his feelings, Nelly figured, too, that Ian would not pursue the impulses he got.

Aether had told her that human responses towards beings of might - heroes, gods, magical beings - reflected what they were within. If all was fine, they admired and worshipped, beings of might were both valuable and examples. If there was an emptiness within then they craved to be touched and acknowledged. If there was a rejection of the world itself, then they resented and wished to destroy all that was noble.

Ian craved confirmation that he was real and alive and that he had the right to be. Nelly knew because that was the prayer he made to her over and over. Ian confirmed that she was real, alive, and had the right to be before he even learned to properly speak because he longed for someone to do that to him. Giving away the thing you wanted to get was a way to receive and Ian felt better after he had confirmed these things to the ring. The fact that he could give that to her meant Ian had received these feelings from someone, but not nearly as much as he needed.

Nelly wanted to surround Ian with signs that he was real, alive, and had the right to be, but feeling his impulses, she knew her attempts weren't going too well. If his first impulse to a mighty being was to be touched... her master didn't stop at touching, he wanted the most intense touch possible, then what it said was that he wasn't quite-- aware that she was there for him. No god would love Ian more than she loved him, that Nelly was sure off - after all, she had received his love and his prayers, and there was no one closer to him than her.

She now had eyes to look, a beating heart, and hands that could touch him. She snuggled close, looked at him, and was there. What was missing? Sex? But sex had only made him feel emptier in the end whenever he had done it. He didn't need less reassurance after, but more of it.

Even when her ability to reason was poorer than it was now and she went by hunches, she had reasoned that being his pet would make her closer to the thing that assured him than being the other thing this shape allowed her to be - a lover. But as she taught him aether drain and picked up more knowledge on it, she learned that her first reasoning wasn't accurate. She wouldn't get babies if she drained the aether he would give her.

It didn't need to be with her teeth, after all, Nelly thought as she reached out to a snarling and made it scatter, then let her hand take it all in.

***

Ian snapped out of his thoughts seeing Nelly 'eat' a snarling without using her teeth.

"A new skill?" Ian asked as they headed out of the alley and onto the main street, they were almost home.

"Not really," Nelly said. "An upgrade. I understand aether drain better now." Then she added that it would still be easier for Ian to first learn to do it properly with his mouth because breathing with lungs was easier than 'breathing' with hands. When it becomes easy for him to eat astrals through his mouth, then it would also be easier to learn draining aether with other places.

Ian could understand that logic - start with something easier to understand the basics, then move on to something more advanced. Ian started getting undressed to head to the shower, even if he was tempted to just head to bed, but then he recalled that--