8BIT!

Norm was walking home from a hunting trip, dragging along a deer. It was some nice game, would last him quite a bit. Of course, that also meant he didn't have to sneak into town with the stares. 

He heard a soft meowing coming from a bush, and he set the deer down at his back door, slowly making his way to the bush. "Wha' in tarnation is that...?"

He moved the branches aside, revealing a small kitten. It was a calico, probably a girl. And much too young to have been dialed... a wild stray, it seemed. You didn't see much of those anymore.

Norm smiled softly, gently picking up the kitten. "Hey, lil feller, yer a bit too young to be on your own, aintcha..?" He petted its small cat. "You're too young to be away from your mother... looks like you're large enough for solid food, thank God... I don't have any kitten for ya, little lady..."

Norm looked around before slowly picking the kitten up, warmth surging through him. He felt paternal. Norm had always had a soft spot for young things, perhaps filling the child-sized gap in his old heart.

The man walked started opening the door to his home, the bloody deer dragged behind him being a strong contrast to the soft fluffball in his other hand. He creaked the door to his old shack open, smiling softly beneath his paper bag.

“Hmm, perhaps i have somethin’ lyin’ round ‘ere…”

He murmered, more to himself than to the feline. He dropped the deer in the middle of the shack, kneeling and beginning to rummage through his hoard with one hand, gently cradling the young cat in his other calloused hand as if fearing it would break.

"ya hungry? I got just the thing" he said to the kitten, immediately shifting his usual mumblings to himself to something that might actually respond. The cat meowed just as he pulled out what he needed to carve the deer up (idfk I don't know my meat), and a bundle of cloths. He sorted the cloths into somewhat of a nest, and carefully deposited the kitten on it, "ya ok like this, little buddy?" 

The kitten meowed.

"Now, it's gonna take a second for me to get this, " he nodded at the carcass, "sorted up, ya ok with that?" 

The kitten merely curled up into a ball, still watching him.

He turned to the deer, blood flow having stopped at some point and

Norm sighs. He had his work cut out for him with this deer. Still, he's glad he's got it. He picks up the cleaver he had set on the counter next to the sink and gets to work, hacking away and trying his damn best to get as much meat off this thing as he could.

He takes another small glance at the kitten, before taking a moment to cut off a couple of small chunks of meat and setting them to the side. He turns around, searching through his cupboards for anything that could even vaguely resemble a cat dish. He huffs, settling for the hollow bowls. He grabs two of them, filling one up with water (and washing his hands in the process; carving out a deer was not an easy task) and tossing the small chunks of meat in the other. He's pretty sure cats can eat raw meat.

Norm approaches the cat, kneeling down in front of its makeshift bed, carefully setting down the two bowls.

"Here ya go, lil' guy," he says softly, petting the thing softly on the head. "I know it's not much, 'm sorry 'bout that."

The kitten purrs, rubbing up against his hand. Christ, it's enough to make a grown man cry.

Norm sighed, thinking carefully about his newly acquired companion. "You and I are in the same boat, Ya know.." He said, solemnly. Inspite of the feline's inability to understand him. He scratches it begin the ears, his eyes growing misty.. there was no way he was letting this little angel fall into the hands of someone else. No way  he was letting some surgeon to make them a keyboard. Over his dead body. 

He lifts the cat into his arms, looking into those bright pools of wonder. "It would be nice to have a friend to keep me company.." Norm said, his eyes misty. He would give this cat the life he couldn't have. Show them the care he so desperately craved. 

"Ah, what the hell.." He pulled the kitten to his chest, holding it like a small infant child. "Looks like yer here 't stay.." He sniffled.