Pine Visit

“Woah…!”

Pine’s eyes widened as xe stepped onto the planet. Xe didn’t tend to space travel - just traveling around the spacecat home planet was a journey enough as-is for xer! Xe was a bit of a homebody. But… that didn’t mean that xe couldn’t be convinced to try exploring a little.

This was especially true now that this new planet was discovered. New planets were discovered all the time, from habitable ones that spacecats would flock to for vacations, to ones that weren’t suited for life at all, which scientists loved to study from afar. But this one was special. This one… had other forms of life on it!

Because of this, xe promised xerself that xe would do xer best to try and go visit. Even if it was really hard, there were probably new friends waiting there for xer! Xe couldn’t let xer homebody-ness stop xer from making new connections that xe wouldn’t have been able to otherwise…

It took xer a while to get the confidence to do so, but when xe saw the planet for the first time, xe knew it was worth it. It felt similar to xer home planet, but different in a few different ways… the trees felt more flowy than their own. The grass was brighter. Xe wondered - did it all evolve differently? Were the trees here made out of something totally different from the bark and wood that xe was familiar with? Was the grass here sentient, somehow? None of it would be a shock to xer - it felt like an entirely different world.

Which… now that xe thought of it, it was quite literally another world. An entire different planet that had evolved similarly, but different in ways that mattered. Perhaps, xe thought, these differences could help everyone involved learn more about the universe and the world around them. Provide different perspectives on things.

“Oh, are you new? Hello!”

Xe blinked. Oh— xe was thinking so hard that xe hadn’t even noticed a sodacat approaching! Xe nodded, laughing off the awkwardness as xe did. “Ah, yeah— I just landed right now! I’m Pine— sorry if I was staring off into the distance!”

“I’m Fizz!” Fizz beamed at xer. “Don’t worry - I’m pretty used to it at this point! It’s sort of what the first spacecat who landed here did… I usually stay by this area since it’s where most of you land! I like helping show newcomers around as they figure out our planet.”

“Oh… that’s really nice of you,” Pine said, nodding along. “I’d love to see some of the sights, if you’d be alright with that!”

“Well, that’s pretty vague,” Fizz laughed, “There’s a lot to see! Would you like to start with art museums, or nature walks, or maybe some nice candy shops? There’s a lot here!”

“Oh, gosh, I wouldn’t even know…” Pine almost forgot that this planet was just as big as xer own! “Could you maybe just show me your favorite spots first?”

“Gladly!” Fizz jumped over a little, motioning for Pine to follow them. “Come on!”

The two cats ran off, ready to explore the familiar to one, unfamiliar to the other, world.