"Oh." James blinked at that and nodded slightly. "I d-didn't know th-that." But he was perfectly willing to agree. Why would anyone bother to lie about that? And he was fairly sure it sounded true. It sounded like something he might have heard in class.
The sound of the cat instantly frozen the little teen Therian. A whimper rose in his throat that that he tried to swallow. "A-alone." The attempted nod was awkward, stiff and jerky. "Th-that's good," he managed to mumble as he forced himself to keep walking. The sound of the cat had thrown him off. It wasn't a sound he liked, although it wasn't as threatening as the sound of the big cats he'd heard back at Kae's home.
"G-gatto?" He glanced down and froze again. "Is h-he a c-cat?" He did whimper at that. "I'm s-scared of c-cats." And that was why his hand had started to shake again, shaking his head side to side rapidly and cringing. He seemed to shrink at the very idea, shoulders rounding forward, entire stance defensive.