I have a feeling that whenever I say not to do something, you take it as a personal challenge.

Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Foreign Songs – Over the Rainbow
Current Date: January 29, 2024

Character: Kaleb Willems
Race: Human
Age: 42
Current residence: Moscow, Russia
 

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There are kittens in the house. I don’t know who brought them in. I don’t want to know who brought them in, either. I’m not looking to place the blame on anyone or point any fingers. There are kittens in the house, the necessary items to take care of these kittens have been bought and placed and momma cat has been nowhere to be found after that first day.

All in all, I honestly think that it was a general decision to bring them inside. Their mother had been coming and going around the neighbourhood for a while, but she ended up giving birth in one of our bushes. It was tightly sheltered against the house, there were just about no drafts to be felt and the kittens looked to be in mostly good shape when we first spotted them.

Except, you know. Near-end of fall, it was fairly cold. I recall that someone set things up to keep them warm until their mother came back but she didn’t. So, they were brought into the house. From that moment onward, there was plenty of rushing about being done. Getting them set comfortably and even warmer, going to the store to get the formula, milk, and whatever else these still-young kittens would need. Their eyes were just barely open, so they were very, very young.

It only took a few hours before everything had been bought and brought inside and without really needing to say it out loud, we all sort of started taking turns.

They’ve grown since and they’re a handful most of the time. I see that as a good thing, it means that they’re healthy—or so the vets say—and they’re playful. They tend to all end up sleeping in a pile most of the time and it’s fairly cute.

I’ve lost count of how often one of us has sighed at their antics, though; an amused sort of sound more than anything else. How often I’ve thought to myself that I felt as though if I were to tell these little bundles of energy that there was something they shouldn’t do—somehow make their way up to the top of the fridge, for one—they would see it as a personal challenge to do just that.

Now, I know that these cats might eventually understand a few words that we might teach them—I can see the way some of us have already gotten attached to them, they’re not going anywhere—but I don’t know that they have the cognitive ability to really formulate plans. Certainly, nothing to the point where I might have imagined them taking every reminder to not do particular things as personal challenges.

I can see children, teens, and even other adults have that sort of behaviour, but I’m having a hard time imagining cats as being that way. I think we would never hear the end of it all. Can you imagine? Go on, tell your pet not to do that one thing that you know they love doing, and then watch in potential horror as they go out of their way to do exactly the opposite, and that, as often as they possibly can because why not.

My mind is a strange place, at times. The fact that these have brought a slight sort of chaos into our home hasn’t been easy for me, but I’ve done my best to adapt. My brothers know that my attention needs to be on a single subject matter at once, and this is one of the reasons why I haven’t really been the one to handle their feeding months back when we first got them.

Now that they’re older, I can handle things a little easier. Filling their food bowls is easy. Clearing out the litter box is easy. Checking on their water fountain, easy. Simple things that don’t require that my attention be on more than one thing at once. That works out well for me. Do I wish that I would have been able to participate in the feeding of them when we had first gotten them in? Yes and no. I know my own limits and I’ve watched my brothers handle the tasks just fine without my help. I did burp them now and again while it was still a necessity.

I went with Simo when he took them to the vet. Mostly because, try as he might, he never would have been able to handle carrying all of them himself. We had a single, large carrier that we’ve since changed into something more comfortable for them but that is for future visits.

If there is one thing that all of us have set our mind upon is that we’re going to keep them as indoor cats unless they absolutely make a show of wanting to go outside. We’ll check on things otherwise from there onward but, for now… they’re indoor cats and I guess that our family has gotten bigger.

Final Word Count: 828

It’s important to know that I can’t stand you.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Foreign Songs – Over the Rainbow
Characters: Kaleb Willems
Race: Human
Age: 39
Current residence: Moscow, Russia
Final Word Count: 771 words
 

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I am the mellow one of the group. There is little that gets to me, but I also need to be able to usually focus on my set task and have as few distractions as possible. Cobwebs find their way into my mind easily if I lose my focus and I can lose my focus easily if there is too much happening at once. My brothers have long since accepted that I am as I am, and we all accommodate one another’s quirks.

So, I’m sure that more than one of them was perhaps a little surprised as they witnessed the little scene that happened at the park.

It had been a gorgeous day, the weather had been comfortable but not hot, there were clouds floating about in the sky, in no hurry whatsoever to get to whatever their destination might have been. We had packed up a picnic, something that we hadn’t done in at least two, if not three years. It was also somewhat rare that all of us were home at the same time as of lately, so it was the best time.

When we got to the park, we found a spot near a copse of trees. With the sun as it was, we settled along one side and we knew we would have shade for at least an hour or so, moving slightly as necessary if we stayed longer.

It was as we were settling out our food item that this young woman—I believe she may be my age but that doesn’t change things—came up to us. She held her head up high, as though she thought herself better than us and started complaining that we were taking up too much room and that she wanted this spot and that she’d seen it first.

If she’d seen it first, she should have either set post or left someone there to keep it. Had we been told someone else was coming to settle in, we would have left. This, however, is really a case of first-come, first-serve, in a way, and there had been no one there when we’d come up.

I didn’t feel like hearing her complain more than was necessary and as I finished placing a weight at the corner of our ridiculously large blanket, I eased back up and stretched, arms high above my head. That alone seemed to quiet her down. I am by no means a menacing person, but I suppose that my height alone is enough to frighten certain people.

I turned to her, walking around the blanket, even as the rest of my brothers were finishing setting things up themselves. The more I approached her, the more she was backing away. I only took a few steps away from the blanket itself. I watched her for a long, quiet moment. It made her squirm, and I could have rolled my eyes. There was Simo at my side, tiny, adorable, bright ball of sunshine that he is. I only saw the brightness of his hair from the corner of my eyes.

By all means, I’m sure that he was glaring murder at her, and it was amusing me more than it probably should have. I could see her eyes flicking from up my way and down to my side where Simo was, well, simmering with rage, I’m certain.

Mind you, I kept my voice low and calm when I spoke those few words to her. I had no need to speak to them any louder, but I think it really is more the words than anything else that got her to really leave us alone. I told her, in a low but enunciated manner that I needed her to know one small but important fact. That fact being that I very much so could not stand her and that I was certain my brothers thought the same.

Her eyes went around the whole little group, her bottom lip trembled—I was fully expecting her to scream—but she thankfully turned and walked away. I’m sure it was more my stature than anything else that got her to leave. Though, on that same thought, I can imagine that she thought I was going to murder her or yell at her. Either options are not things I will ever do.

Simo, at my side, didn’t even wait until she was out of sight before he guffawed. I grinned somewhat at him and shook my head, turning back around to the blanket. None of them asked me if I was all right, only looking faintly amused themselves. The day hadn’t been ruined, thankfully.

I know that trying new things is good for you, but maybe not in my kitchen and not with fire next time.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Foreign Songs – Over the Rainbow
Characters: Kaleb Willems
Race: Human
Age: 38
Final Word Count: 728 words
 

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Cooking shows are usually not my cup of tea. Though I suppose I should be honest and say that watching television isn’t usually something I do. It’s hard for me to focus on both the audio and the video content. It isn’t as though my attention span wavers but my brain has issues connecting the two elements together and keeping them that way. It’s why I focus best on things in quiet environments; it’s why I tend to not be able to focus on more than one conversation going on at once.

Some people would possibly say that this is the lasting effects of the drug study but I just don’t know. I haven’t asked to know and I haven’t dug for information to know more; I don’t care to know. All I do know is that I am as I am and that’s that.

So give me audiobooks and I’ll manage my way through them just fine. Make me listen to a movie with just the audio on and that’s going to be good too. Don’t put on a movie for me with subtitles, that’s not going to work out for me either and I don’t really care. If you’re going to talk to me, pause whatever you’re listening to because I’m not going to be able to stay focused on you.

I am as I am and that’s all there is to it. We all have our flaws and we each work with those flaws to the best of our abilities, that’s all there is to it.

A few days ago, bright and bouncy Simo offered me a new audio book with seemingly no reason at all beyond the fact that he had read the book—and knew that while I did like to read books, I tended to get bored with them rather quickly—and he had found it amusing enough.

So I told him I would give it a listen; I cleared a few spots in my schedule and I set up the book so I could listen to a few chapters at a time.

He was right; the book itself is funny enough. There is a gay unicorn, there are shenanigans and all in all, it’s been oddly satisfying to listen to the tale being told. I had to pause at one point, because something outside of the room disturbed me and I lost track of what I’d been listening to. The voices were muffled but still somewhat clear enough for me to make out that someone was complaining about fires in kitchens. I couldn’t tell who the voice belonged to and only the particular line about trying new things being good for someone, but not in this kitchen and not with fire was all I heard. I think it was the mention of fire that pulled me from my audio-reading daze.

No one likes a fire in their homes and when I made it into the kitchen, there wasn’t anyone else. So I did what any ‘big brother’ would do. I checked in with every room that wasn’t closed and asked and, as it turns out, Kail had been listening to some video or others and the Bluetooth on his headphones had failed for a few moments there.

Relief was pretty much instantaneous but my focus on the book was completely gone. I left myself a note to go back to the beginning of the chapter so I could be swept back into it and I left it be for the time being.

Kail made the most delicious oven-free custard-filled buns as an excuse later that day and the sheepish look on his face was enough for me to not even be mad at him but if I can get custard buns as an apology for something that had been easily fixed, I’m not going to complain. These things take so much time; I should know, I’ve helped make them often. They’re worth all the time and effort put into them, though, they just are. I could eat a dozen of them and not share, they’re so good.

All in all, I’m just glad it was a false alarm because I just don’t know how things would have turned out if someone had been trying something new in our kitchen and that this something new had required fire.

You always take all the credit.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – Over the Rainbow
Characters: Kaleb Willems
Race: Human
Age: 37
Final Word Count: 520 words
 

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Kaleb shook his head a little as he watched a pair of preteens arguing over a piece of very glittery cardboard. They were going on about how they’d worked together and should get shared credits but it wasn’t a team effort and—well he was trying to tune them out. He hadn’t come out this way to listen to them argue. He hadn’t even really wanted to come out today but he’d been short a few items to finish something he had been working on for the rest of his housemates and stepping out had been the only option.

As he moved to another aisle in the little store, he tried to focus on the items sitting in front of him but the arguing pair still was distracting him. He rolled his eyes and sighed. It was always that way. When he was in the middle of a project, there always were distractions, something to slow him down and no amount of focusing would get him to finish in time unless he closed himself away from the rest of the world and it was what he did when he had to.

It took him a moment to realize that his eyes had gone unfocused in his fight to keep himself—oh the irony—focused on the subject at hand. He snorted a little and finally reached out towards the yarns, his head tipped a little to the side as he looked at the possible colour choices. There just were so many. He still had to pick the right one and just the barest of detail would derail everything and he had to start over.

“Should have brought the sampler…” Kaleb murmured the words with a sigh and closed his eyes a moment. He didn’t really need the sampler, not at this point. He knew their colours completely by heart but at times; it was as though his eyes played tricks on him. He could pick one particular, get back home and realize that it wasn’t quite the right one. It was usually why he tended to keep his sampler with him.

The preteens were now speaking in hushed voices and it only made the distraction worse.

Shaking his head as though to try and shake the cobwebs off, Kaleb turns and walks out of the aisle and slowly out of the store altogether. These leftover effects from his time at the institute still bother him now and again; it perhaps was why he was so reluctant to be out in public settings on his own. The others usually were good enough anchors for him to remain firmly in place.

Once outside, the chill of the morning curls itself around him and the cobwebs fade. He tightens his coat around himself and starts on the way back to his home—their home. Spending time with them will soothe him and perhaps he can convince Simo to come with him. The little bundle of energy usually was good at keeping the cobwebs from his mind when there were too many distractions and Kaleb would welcome that more than anything else.

I thought you loved me! I thought you loved me…

Timeline/World: Birds of a Feather – Colours
Characters: Kaleb Willems
Race: Human
Age: 36
Final Word Count: 684 words

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The fragility of human emotions still baffles me. I am a pillar to my companions, those I call my brothers though there is not a single drop of shared blood between us. They are mine just as I am theirs. Not once have I allowed an outside party to think that I might have had feelings of anything more than friendship for them. So when this one lass, not even a lad, came up to me, begging me to tell her what she’d done wrong so she could change because she thought I loved her, I was baffled, to say the least.

I had only met her a handful of times. She worked at a store where I did like to stop and gather supplies for my craft and that of my brothers’ own. She was a sweet little thing, a little skinny for my taste if I had any desire to lay with women. I’d tried it a handful of times and found out that most of them just couldn’t handle the size and it simply was not as interesting with them as it had been with the other small handful of men I had been with.

Though I suppose that is beside the point. The point is that that woman—more a girl than a woman, really—somehow thought that I loved her. As I recalled it, I had never truly done anything to lead her into that direction. I was quiet and polite; I said hello and thank you. No lingering touches, not extra eye contact, just the bare necessity of good contact when dealing with a sales’ floor person. I was kind but not touchy.

I had to stop going for almost three weeks when I came down with a cold that kept me to my bed. My brothers were more than a little worried since I’d never truly been sick, not until this day and it was a strange thing for me to be unable to even just lift myself from my sheets to get to the bathroom. It took plenty of help to get me washed up, my sheets changed when I would sweat through my toss and turn sleep, my food eaten. It was an eye-opening event.

When I was well enough to wander on my own again, it was decided that Elia would be the one to accompany me. Closest in stature but still several inches shorter, he was their best bet at making sure that if something happened while I was out, he could get me back home. I appreciated their care and concerns. I still felt a little weak but I wanted to be out and about. Three weeks of being stuck to bed will do that to someone.

We went to the shop. The moment the lass laid eyes on me, it was like she’d been recently dumped and would not take ‘no’ for an answer. She came up to me, eyes wet and wondering, asking me about where I’d been and telling me how she’d been worried. She told me that she thought I’d dumped her and that one caused both Elia and I to pause. Elia because he knew she was of no interest to me and myself, well, I was certainly confused.

She just went on and on about how she would change, how she would get better for me, how I only needed to tell her what I needed. Elia walked me to one of the comfortable chairs in a nook so I could rest while he took the girl away and went to talk to her employer. This kind of behaviour was inexcusable and, again, I truly had done nothing to give her the impression that I had no interest in her.

When Red was done, he came back with the bag of supplies, his head shaken a little as he helped me back to my feet and we walked back out of the store.

“I think I’ll come and do the shopping here for a little while.” Were his low words.

I wasn’t going to argue.