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The yellow one really liked nature documentaries.
Viola had figured out her...guests...were people and not animals around the third time the red one tried to stab her with one of her kitchen knives, but she really should have guessed earlier. There were only so many times 'playing' with her remote could manage to open Netflix before it being an accident became statistically unlikely. The yellow one had watched so many documentaries that Viola's recommended was now filled with things like the chronicles of one singular snow leopard's life, or the social dynamics of meerkats, and even the shyer white one was starting to explore the wonders of Viola's TV and streaming services.
(The red one had not. The red one had holed up in one of the unfinished bedrooms upstairs and hissed at Viola whenever she came near them. They seemed relatively unbothered by their friends(?), but Viola was tolerated only when she offered up the food she could spare for her guests, which was slowly taking up more and more of her spare cash.)
The yellow one was entranced by everything they saw on screen, even the commercials, but they always got the most excited about animals. Viola had now seen the entire My Cat From Hell series against her will, because the yellow one spent most of their time glued to the TV unless the white one occupied it with something. More than once, after redirecting the yellow one's energy to chasing around a beach ball or seeing how many objects in the house they could climb, the white one locked eyes with Viola, and a sensation of pure exhaustion passed between the two of them that needed no language to be conveyed. It was the best mutual expression of older sibling energy Viola had ever experienced.
Viola inched her way towards the remote. "Okay, bud, it's time to turn it off now," she said. "Your eyes need a break."
The yellow one turned only to look at Viola with the saddest eyes known to both humanity and whatever the hell these things were. Her resolve trembled like a house over a mild earthquake, but she tried to stand tall. Electronic screens were bad for humans; she had no idea if it would make her guests have migraines or something. With her luck, it would end up giving them some kind of turbo cancer.
"Come on. I think your friend went off to explore-why don't you go hang out with them?"
If there had been even a hint of manipulation, Viola could have handled it. But the disappointment on the little thing's face was too honest, too genuine. There were no hint of crocodile tears, just quiet resignation as the yellow one turned off the TV(how had they learned to do that???) and pushed the remote towards Viola. Ah, there was that familiar feeling of being an absolute bastard. Viola winced, and her willpower instantly crumbled to pieces. She mumbled, "Okay, okay, never mind," and grabbed her phone to call her cable company. The yellow one lit up.
When the white one entered the room hours later, dusty and wearing a few paint chips on their head, they saw the yellow one curled up once more, wide eyed as they studied some show about ancient Egyptian architecture, and Viola coerced onto the couch beside it. She was pinned in place by two feet of thick tail, and against her will was starting to nod off. Her guests seemed to have powers of inducing sleep much like a cat, and despite their size, were just as happy to abuse it. There was no way the yellow one didn't know what they were doing-Viola swore there had been smugness on their normally blank face.
The white one very obviously glanced between Viola and the yellow one, then shot her a Look. Rolling her eyes, Viola patted the couch beside her, and the white one climbed up and into the empty spot, dropping their head down on her lap. Viola froze stock still, but they insistently bumped their forehead against her hand, so she(very, very slowly) placed her hand on the white one's head and began to scratch behind their ears just like she would a cat. Their eyes closed, and one of their hind legs kicked before they snuggled up closer. Viola bit her lip to keep from squealing, instead focusing the squeal into a smile.
"Okay, point taken," she told them, and in response, the white one started to purr.