For someone who was used to being annoyingly chatty, not being able to talk at all was sort of frustrating. Mao preferred a more private place to shift into his other form, he felt he couldn’t know if there weren’t other hospital workers lurking about. A normal cat was easier to explain or make excuses for than a big old monster cat. It was just safer to stay as he was and deal with the communication issues.
Vaughn, huh? In his head, Mao dubbed him ‘V’. He was prone to nicknames, though he didn’t really have any of his own. It would be polite to give his own name when he could, only, Mao didn’t think he would. He liked the way Vaughn was reacting to him, so unguarded, and doubted he’d behave the same if he were interacting with a human. He wouldn’t be so trusting or willing to help, Mao was sure. And with a name as unique as his, he figured he’d be found out pretty quick when posting on the forums. The cat would be out of the bag then, wouldn’t it?
The man asked questions he couldn’t answer at the moment aside from an enigmatic meow. An hour and a half didn’t sound very long, but unless Vaughn was going to do something cool like hack away at bodies, Mao worried he was going to get bored. His ears swiveled this way and that as he considered his options.
Weirdly, he didn’t want to disappoint Vaughn by leaving, but ultimately he decided it’d be less risky to wait for him outside. In a few agile jumps, he moved from table to counter to windowsill and meowed again. Lemme out! He didn’t know how to get across that he would go find the man’s car, but he hoped by purring he’d imply this wasn’t goodbye, just a ‘See you in an hour, I like you. Okie dokie?’