Year of the Cat

> "Nyan... Nyan... Nyan... Nyan..." - *Year of the Cat*
>
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* 0 Balls
* 13
* 12
* 11
* 10
* 9
* 8
* 7
* 6
* 5
* 4
* 3
* 2
* 1

## Appearance

Year of the Cat resembles a black lucky cat with it's left paw raised. It has 4 light blue ovals for eyes, that slightly glow when it makes a sound. It's head is hollow and slightly transparent, holding yellow balls with the numbers 1-13 inside. It wears a red collar with a gumball-machine like flap for balls to come out from.

It holds a large coin with the Japanese and Chinese character for "Year" on it.

## Personality

Year of the Cat has been shown to purposely show people things it deems they need to see, indicating it has some kind of consciousness or directive beyond what anyone can comprehend. Once all the balls have been ejected it also picks a location based on who it knows will pull its leaver.

## Background

According to Al Stewart, Year of the Cat has been around for centuries. He is the current oldest cat inside of it, has been part of it since the 1700s. He says when he first became a part of it there was a cat from the 900s, and says that one claimed to have met one from the BC era, though he's not sure how accurate that is.

## Abilities

Year of the Cat's ability is linked to thirteen cats. These cats each have one of the numbered balls associated with them. When that cat dies, Year of the Cat appears somewhere and ejects that ball, before disappearing again.

After every cat has died, Year of the Cat will choose a location to appear. If someone who does not know its ability pulls the hand like a leaver, their soul is taken into the past. They will be taken to one of the cats at the moment they die, at which point their body will disappear and turn into a bright blue ball. By uniting the two balls, the person taken back can will themselves onto the next ball. Ball 13 is always last.

Anyone sent back through Year of the Cat exists on a similar plane of existence as ghosts and spirits. The world moves as if they don't exist. Even the smallest thing like a bug flying through the air cannot be moved. Things however will not phase through those sent back, meaning it would tear through them as if they were there in the real world. This makes even the smallest of impacts infinitely more dangerous.

Being on the same plane of existence as ghosts and spirits means that anyone brought back can see the souls of anyone who dies as they float up into the sky to disappear. These take the form of similar light blue balls. By taking a new blue ball of someone who has died recently, they can replace the associated cat in year of the cat, becoming reborn as a cat. Similarly, if someone takes a soul and joins it to another blue soul, those souls will become linked.

Once all the cats balls have been reunited, all thirteen souls are reincarnated as cats in the present day around Year of the Cat. Anyone who's gone through the process can hear the cats meowing as actual human speech. Year of the Cat is considered the stand of each of these cats, allowing them to see stands even if they do not have one of their own.

## Trivia

* The sky when seen through the lense of year of the cat is red. This is a form of refraction of light due to the souls floating in the sky.
* The world of Year of the Cat is black and white, aside from peoples eyes, the sky, souls, the cats linked to it, and Year of the Cat itself.
	+ Seeing in black and white is a joke off of cats being color blind.
* When touched by 'Vard, year of the Cat's string is red. This is a play on "the red string of fate."
* The "year" character on the coin that Cat Stand holds is pronounced "Nián" in Chinese, otherwise known as the Japanese version of the word "meow."
* The cat's in Year of the Cat can see souls sent back in time. This is a joke on the concept of cats seeing demons and ghosts when they look off at nothing.
* Westley did research on lucky cats and their meanings in preparation for drawing Year of the Cat.
* In the series, each ball of Year of the Cat is linked to one of the Chinese zodiac, 1-12, and 13 for the cat.
	+ During episode 12 of Severed Strings, each scene has a vague reference to whichever zodiac the ball in it is associated with. For example, the scene centered around Bernard was ball number eleven, the year of the dog, or the scene where Tobi met 'Vard was ball four, the year of the rabbit.