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Taylor Swift says "You belong with me". A cat says "You belong to me". Jason Mraz says "I'm yours". A cat says "You're mine".

I adopted Jareth and Missy (collectively known as "J&M") on September 10, 2011. At the time, they were 12-14 weeks old.

As the story goes, I've always wanted a cat. But my first apartment was way too small at 536 sq ft. By the time I bought my first condo in May 2011, I had forgotten about the cats. But over Labor Day weekend that year, the neighbor's cat started visiting my backyard. And I soon remembered how much I wanted a cat.

So my friend Cat (who is a human named Cat). Took me to see some cats. It was a Caturday. It seemed thematically appropriate.

Jareth

Jareth Jareth

People say cats don't know loyalty. But Jareth is fiercely loyal to me. He follows me everywhere I go, if for no other reason than to stay close to me. Whenever he wants attention, he'll drop sideways onto the carpet, maybe roll over a few times, inviting me to pet him.

He's also obedient. He eats what I feed him. He knows to stay out of my bedroom and bathroom. When I tell him "come here", he comes. When it's time to groom him, he readily accepts the comb.

He's good at hiding, like a Milford man, good at being neither seen nor heard. I have plenty of friends who have seen and interacted with Missy, but have literally never seen Jareth. (Apparently, my human friend Cat is one of the few people Jareth will open up to.)

Alas, Jareth doesn't like being picked up and held.

Missy ("Miss Fortune")

Missy Missy

Also known as "Missiah", "Misgaea", "Misaki", or "Melissa". As the story goes, two of my friends coincidentally both have dogs named Lucky. I always joked that I'd counteract them by getting a black cat named "Misfortune" (later retconned to "Miss Fortune"). But on day 1, I ended up shortening it to "Missy" before even leaving the pet shelter, and that just became her name by default.

Jareth might need me more, but Missy is more physically affectionate. When I come home from work, Missy greets me by hopping on my lap and rubbing her head against me. She's soft and adorable and cuddly.

Missy is by far the more graceful of the two. Jareth is a fighter, but Missy is a hunter. The phrase "cat-like reflexes" probably comes from Missy. Whenever we play mouse on a string on a stick, she can get her claws on that mouse before I can even see what's going on.

She's finicky and picky, and sometimes I have to sit with her while she eats to make sure she's not starving herself. But she's not afraid of anything (slight exaggeration), and she loves the camera, even if it's notoriously difficult to get a good photo of her.