zimothy:
palalife:
David 8 and cat!Charles on a mission, but being chased by Alien, just doodling
So what if Prometheus originally wasn’t going to have any form of pet life on the ship, but then one of the scientists was talking about how they haven’t really put David in charge of any life form before, not really. So then they decide to let him have this kitten so he can keep active in caring for something for the two years that the rest of the crew is in ‘hibernation.’
Well, David gets way attached to Charles, to a point where he’d honestly rather save the cat than all these stupid fucking humans. Charles is kind and sweet and he lets David pet him all the time, and David likes it best when Charles kneads his paws or starts purring because he knows its a sign of happiness, and that means David is the one making Charles happy. When David sits at a console, Charles likes to curl up and sleep in his lap, and David’s maybe gotten into the habit of holding a snoozing Charles curled up in one arm and using his other to hit buttons on the computers and datapads.
damn you, pala.
TAKE TWO. Even though I’m not nearly as satisfied with this as I was with what I lost. Oh well!
———-
Two blue eyes peered out at David through the carrier grate.
“A cat?” he asked.
Doctor Shaw was smiling when he straightened and turned to her.
“Yes,” she said. “In seafaring times, it was traditional to bring a cat along so it could help control pests on the boat.”
“The Prometheus is outfitted with several state-of-the-art methods of pest control, as well as stronger measures for larger, more hostile, creatures.” David paused, momentarily confused by the doctor’s amusement until he deduced the reason behind it. “Ah. You’re not bring it along to control pests.”
“No,” she agreed. “Some would say it’s silly for me to worry about an android being lonely, but I thought it might be nice to have company while the rest of us are asleep.”
“Has the captain approved this?”
“I managed to convince him,” Doctor Shaw said, but David predicted there was more to her answer. When she didn’t elaborate, he decided it would be considered rude to question her about it. Instead, he bent over to look into the carrier on the table.
Those blue eyes were still watching him. After a moment, the cat issued a trilling chirp and rubbed against the grate, looking expectantly at David. Curious, David reached out a hand and slipped his fingers through the grate. The cat chirped again and this time when it rubbed against his fingers instead of the grate. Its fur was soft but the muscles beneath moved with easy strength. David heard a chuckle and looked up to see a pleased Doctor Shaw watching him
“His name is Charles and I think he likes you.”
~~
Charles was on the small side for a cat—at least, according to David’s data files—and had brown fur with white markings on his paws and tail, as well as around his mouth. He let David pet him frequently and often tilted up his head to allow David to scratch under his chin, his eyes closed in apparent bliss.
Charles wore an electronic collar that monitored his life signs and location within the ship, but it hardly seemed necessary when he rarely left David’s side. David had tried only once to lock Charles up so he could check the Prometheus’ systems and crew. Charles’ persistent cries, growing louder the further David walked down the hall, had been too distressing for him to ignore. In the end, he returned to his room and opened the door.
As soon as he did, Charles bolted free but he quickly came to a halt once he realized David wasn’t trying to stop him. Then he walked over to David and twined about his legs, purring the whole time. He came to a stop with his front paws on David’s foot, tail curled around one calf, and face lifted upwards. Charles seemed so genuinely grateful to be let out that David was left awestruck by the display. As he knelt to pet Charles, he decided it would be unnecessary to lock him up ever again.
~~
Occasionally Charles would wander off to investigate on his own, but only after he had determined David was staying in one place for a time. When Charles did explore, David would hear calls of “Mrow?” from wherever he had gone. Without considering whether it was unusual to do so, David responded.
“What have you found?” he asked once and heard a short meow in response. He reasoned that Charles had determined there was nothing to report yet, but would continue investigating.
Whenever Charles returned from exploring, he always trotted over with his tail held high, blue eyes trained on David. Often, he chirped to let David know he was back and then he would stand by the chair expectantly until David reached down to scratch his head. It became almost habit for David to reach out and find Charles within arm’s reach, happy to let David pet him. David enjoyed it just as much as Charles seemed to, for he found Charles’ fur fascinating. It was softer than anything David had felt before and surprisingly clean. He was intrigued by the feline bathing process and often watching the meticulous process unfold with great interest. Charles seemed unconcerned by the attention, although he did tilt his head at David the first time the android paused his work to watch.
~~
In his attempts to become the best owner Charles could have, David had read that cats often looked for places to sleep that were soft and warm. By their second day on the ship, he had devised a small bed for Charles using a blanket and square, metal container. However when he set it on the floor, Charles circled it, bent his head to sniff at the fabric, and then looked up at David. Confused by this reaction, David knelt beside the makeshift bed and patted the blanket.
“It’s for you, Charles,” he explained. Charles obligingly stepped into the container and sat down on the folded blanket, but he still looked up at David as though he had a question he couldn’t voice. David was still puzzled by his behavior but since Charles didn’t appear unhappy, he stood and left him to get comfortable on his own.
He took a seat at the ship’s console began pulling up menus on the screens before him, running through the usual diagnostics. He was surprised to feel something softly batting at his knee a moment later. When he sat back and looked down, he found Charles standing on his back feet, one of his paws on the chair as he pawed at David’s knee. As soon as there was space between David and the console, Charles leapt up into his lap.
David was momentarily at a loss for how to react but in the half-second it took him to reference his data files, Charles began kneading David’s thigh with his little white paws. Now this was something David had researched and he felt a smile stretch across his face in response.
Cats exhibited a kneading motion when feeling content or at ease. Charles looked very focused now, eyes closed as he slowly sank lower in David’s lap, purring and kneading the whole time. Eventually, he paused, turned around twice until he had found the right spot—David was intrigued by how cats determined this—and then he curled up across David’s legs. Within moments, he was seemingly sound asleep.
David knew he should return to his duties but he allowed himself a short break to watch Charles sleep. The smile on his face never wavered, nor did the warm glow of joy in his chest.
———-
Wasn’t able to comment because I was using ipad and for some reasons the caption dialog was all messed up if I tried.
Imagine how cute it will be seeing David 8 walking down the narrow and dim corridor of Prometheus, and then cat Charles following him by the heels. David chats with the cat as he goes through daily checks of the ship, and the cat will meow and squeak back as if replying.
David seems like a bit of a smug bastard towards other humans in the trailers, it would be so cute if he has an entirely different attitude toward Charles and all other crew members was like “….WTF” lol Or when other people try to pet or do something to Charles, and David goes “Don’t do that, he doesn’t like it” and just takes the cat away lol