#roto oc

Roto was practically vibrating at the smell coming from the kitchen. There was shrimp! Real shrimp! Holy shit!

He purred from his place on his pillow, watching his owner cook such a large meal. One of the biggest he’d ever seen. His human was clean, dressed nicely with the dry paint washed from his hands. He had a smile on his face as he cooked. Once in a while he fed some scraps to Roto but he didn’t want those - he wanted the shrimp!

Roto meowed pathetically and tried to jump on the table as he set the food down. Each time, Gustavo put him on the floor and told him not as he lit two candles and poured two glasses of wine. “Behave tonight, Roto. Papi’s got a date tonight, and I want it to be special.”

Roto whined as Gustavo set a bowl down in front of him. He would eat it, but still despair over no shrimp.

He waited on the pillow, sulking while his owner paced near the door. He eagerly looked outside the window, then went back to the table, back to the window, then back to the table.

The candles burned lower and lower as the hours went by, and soon enough, both glasses were emptied and his owner blew out the flames to go to bed. Roto wiggled his butt and jumped over onto the table to eat the shrimp.

Roto rolled on his back, letting Mirabel scratch her fingernails along his tummy, ruffling his fur. He purred loudly as she fed him some more shreds of chicken from her mother.

“Someone’s hungry,” she mentioned. “Does Senor Pinheiro not feed you?” The teenager joked and poked his belly. Roto meowed, blinking at her while she continued to rub his stomach.

“If I had to guess, I’d say he says…no,” Antonio giggled. Her four-year old cousin leaned over to pet him too.

“Well, with as many Madrigals who feed him, I think he’ll survive.” Mirabel picked him up and hoisted him on her shoulder like a baby. “Man, he’s almost as heavy as you, Tonito.”

“Aw, are you taking him back already?”

“Yeah. Mami says Senor Pinheiro gets worried if he goes a long time without seeing Roto.”

“Okay.” Antonio said goodbye to his feline friend as Mirabel did her part of her Madrigal duties by doing her best in assisting her community.

She struggled holding him with one arm as she knocked on the vibrant red door of Gustavo Pinheiro’s house. She usually expected several minutes before an answer, and sure enough she could hear his cane tapping behind the door before it opened.

“Hello, Mirabel,” Gustavo said to her. “I see Roto made his way to La Casa Madrigal again.”

“It’s no trouble to bring him back.” She walked inside and set him down on his pillow by the window. “I enjoy the exercise and to see what all…” she looked around at all the bright colors of his home and the new paintings put up around the sitting room. “Wow…there’s a lot more than last time.”

Roto jumped immediately from his pillow and meowed at his owner to feed him lunch. Gustavo obeyed and got to work making his lunch for him.

“I’m in a red mood these days, so I’m painting a lot of roses and dresses,” he said to her.

Mirabel stopped in front of a painting half finished of a shirtless young man covered in sweat and blood. He looked somewhat familiar as he stared off into the distance with bright blue paint for his piercing eyes.

“What’s this one?” she asked - a little concerned.

Gustavo looked to where she was standing as he put the cat food onto the plate. “Your Mom thinks I should paint from memory to help with my memory loss exercises.” He set the plate on the table for Roto to jump up and enjoy.

Roto stretched his back, reaching out his one front paw as far as he could on his human’s bed. A yawn soon followed, and then his aggressive purring as the overweight long haired cat crawled up from his spot on the mattress and walked on top of Gustavo’s chest. The old cat sat there, sitting up on his back legs to balance himself while he licked his paw. His human still wasn’t waking up. He purred louder and swatted at his nose. Gustavo twitched in his sleep and grumbled, waking up to his blurry vision of a giant gray blob staring him down.

“Morning, Roto…” He sat up, gently pushing him off his chest.

Roto sat patiently while his owner put on his glasses and grabbed his cane from the wall. His locks of silver hair were down in a mess around the tops of his shoulders, and he let them be as he limped out toward the kitchen.

Roto followed along and began to meow - his morning ritual to remind his human not to forget him despite his many years on the Earth not being forgotten once. He was given a plate of leftover fish and chicken from the night before that he ate quickly, and when his human sat down for his coffee, Roto made his way out the door. It would take him almost an hour to make his way to the Velasco farms where his little human would give him his second breakfast.

By the time Briana Velasco’s breakfast ended, she waited outside with her leftovers. Roto appeared on the horizon and he jumped into her lap as she sat outside the shed and fed him her scraps.

“Good boy, Roto,” she told him. “You grumpy old cat.”

Grumpy? Roto was offended as he meowed.

The four year old kissed the top of his head and held him in a tight hug - the cat almost as big as she was.

Before he was able to escape, she put a green bow in his hair. “Now you’re pretty for Tio Gus!”

also can I draw him?

Yes, Roto is a very old, very chunky & fluffy gray long hair like this. Emphasis on old, fluffy and chonky

He is missing his front right paw ever since kittenhood, so Chepe named him Roto when he found him in his barn and then gifted him to Gus after his fall

Art by @lethalamigos

Gustavo was sleeping soundly when Roto’s ears perked up. There was someone outside the front door.

He jumped down from the bed and made his way to the window when he jumped up and outside onto the street below. He waddled around the corner and there he saw a man sitting up against the red door. Roto was hesitant to approach but saw the man holding food.

He immediately went over.

The human looked down at him when he meowed, and he offered the cat some of it. Roto ate happily, purring as the man scratched his head. The streetlamp showed a bruise on his eye and more along his arms.

“I guess midnight’s a little too late to knock, huh?” he said to the cat.

Roto barely listened as he ate.

“Well…I’ll apologize tomorrow I guess.” He let Roto eat the rest of the cold chicken and he stood up to walk back to his farm. But as he did the door opened - Gustavo appearing to see why Roto woke him up when he jumped out of bed.

“…Virgil?” He adjusted his glasses.

“Hey, Pinheiro.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to apologize for missing dinner. Your cat ate the chicken I brought.”

Gustavo looked down at him as Roto picked at the carcass. “Oh, yeah, Roto’s a hungry boy - always hungry, never satisfied.” Roto purred as he ate. He looked back to Virgil. “What happened? I thought you stood me up.”

“I got into a scrap. Didn’t mean for it to happen but it happened. Why don’t you come to my place in the morning and I’ll fill you in.”