Your first thought when Nepeta tells you about why you didn't see her in your last incarnation is "holy shit i killed my soulmate by dropping a book on her".
“Oh god,” you say, covering your mouth in horror, “I am so sorry.”
“It’s fine!” she says, waving a hand and laughing the same laugh she’s had for hundreds of years, and you realize that this body suits her better than any other one you’ve ever seen her in. Especially her last one, you think, and then push the thought away as she leans in closer to you.
“Besides, there were good things about being a cat! You spent more time with me than mew spent with anyone else as fur as I could tell, and it was sort of nice sometimes, just lazing around all day.” Her eyes get a sort of dreamy, sad quality to them and you can tell she’s remembering what it was like. You swat her a little to bring her out of memoryland and back into the present- excuse you, purrsent.
“Earth to Nepeta, come in Nepeta.” She snaps back into herself immediately and giggles slightly, embarrassed. “Sorry.”
“So, back to the point. Why didn’t you try to tell me?” you ask, waving your hands to make a point. “I spent so long looking for you, you could have at least tried to send me a message or something.”
She frowns and reaches for your arm. “I did! I tried ofur and ofur, Roxy I purrmise I did! But I couldn’t figure out how to get the message to you. I mean, paws aren’t exactly ideal fur writing or typing! And then later, I just decided I wouldn’t beclaws…. Well, even if I did, it wouldn’t change anything. I’d still be a cat! And having a cat soulmate would just be weird fur you.”
“Fine,” you say, and sulk slightly, dropping your gaze to the tabletop. (Even as you do, you register that she’s still using the cat puns, even after five straight lifetimes.) She’s right, of course. Nepeta’s almost always right, in your experience, and you can’t stay mad at her long. You look back up at her and smile. “OK. But I’ll have you know, you owe me for one very lonely life.”
Nepeta snorts. “You owe me too,” she says. “Remember all the times mew took me to the vet to have a thermometer stuck up my butt? Or the time you stepped on my tail? Or, oh, how clawbout-“ You cut her off before she can recount more experiences.
“OK, OK, I get it. We both owe each other one. Or, like, five billion.”
“Yeah.” She sits back in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest, looking at you, and you smile. Still the same Nep.
“I missed you,” you say, trying to pour all of the feelings of your past life into those three words. “I missed being able to talk to you.”
She smiles then too, a sad half-smile. “I missed you too, Roxy. I wish I could have been there fur you.” And then, as if saying this has dried out her mouth, she takes a sip of soda and you smile again, because she was there for you, just like she always has been. One of the only constants in your life.
She resurfaces from a longer-than-usual dive into her soda with a slurping noise that indicates that the cup is almost empty. “What I don’t understand,” she asks, taking the straw out of her mouth, “is why on earth you named me Frigglish?”
You groan and thunk you head down on the table, covering it with your arms. “Look, I… It was a phase! Just a phase!” you protest, knowing your words will be muffled but not particularly caring. Nep giggles.
“No, silly, I’m not accusing you of anything! I was just wondering why Frigglish? It seems like a weird name for a cat, to say the least!”
You sigh and lift your head from the table. “There was this bestselling series, Complacency of the Learned. It was all about wizards, and I was a huge fan. The books were pretty densely written, but Frigglish was my favorite wizard and he was such a kindly bumbling guy and I just thought it made sense to name you after him, OK?” You say all this very quickly, hoping she won’t catch what you’re saying, but no such luck.
She brushes her thick black bangs out of her eyes and says incredulously, “You thought I was bumbling? You thought I bumbled?! Wow, Roxy, I never knew you had that in you. I feel a little insulted!”
You know she’s teasing you now, and you can’t help but return the favor a little. “Remember that time you were sniffing the inside of my shoe and you got your head stuck?”
“It was one time!” she squeals indignantly, and gestures widely with her arm, accidentally knocking over her soda cup. She’s finished the soda in it by now, thank god, but the top does pop off and send a cascade of ice all over you. You jump up to get away. “Ahh! Cold!”
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Nepeta exclaims, leaping up to help you. “I’m so, so sorry!” She leans over and tries to pick up the ice from the chair. “I didn’t mean to do that, this body’s so clumsy!”
You look at her as she picks up ice cubes. In addition to her choppy black hair, she has green eyes in this body, green like bottles and the needles of pine trees, and a spray of freckles decorating the pale skin around her nose. She’s wearing a cat-eared hat that must be new, because you’ve never seen it on her before, and it makes her look so adorable that you’ve been repressing the urge to either steal it or kiss her all afternoon.
You join her in picking up ice pieces, trying to ignore how they’re so cold they’re burning you or how they’re melting uncomfortably in your hand. Finally you manage to gather all the slivers and toss them in the trash, and you wipe your chilly, drippy hands on your jeans. Nepeta’s been apologizing for the past five minutes now, and she’s still looking at you nervously and biting the inside of her thumb. She’s never done that before, either, and you marvel how she acquires new nervous habits with each incarnation. You reach out and touch her hand, and she lowers it away from her mouth.
“Hey,” you say quietly, looking at her.
“Hey,” she replies, blushing adorably. You love her blush. Like her smile and her laugh, it’s the same in every body, and it's another reminder to you that she’ll always your cutie kitten.
“You don’t have to be nervous,” you say. “I’m not mad at you. I love you, Nep, now and forever. Wait, sorry, I mean furever.”
She half-smiles. “Even when I’m a cat?”
“I still loved you then, too. It was just a different kind of love,” you murmur. The half-smile on her face becomes a whole.
“I know, Roxy. And I love you too.”
And right then, on the floor of a crappy fast-food restaurant, your heart feels like it’s melting right out of your body.