LOG: [Catseye, Marius] Training

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In a remarkable act of civility, Catseye agrees to help out with a little training that does not involve random attacks (though claws continue to feature).




The two individuals in the room had been staring intently at each other for easily ten minutes, one blinking less than the other, to the more frequent blinker's fairly well concealed, if great dismay. Finally, with a slight upward curve of the lips which had everything to do with smirking which was both smug and ruthless, one of them broke the silence.

"Is MouthyBiteyBoy ready?"

"Yeah."

"MouthyBiteyBoy is suuure?" Catseye's smile grew at that, lazy and knowing, even as she lifted one claw tipped finger and waggled it in the air slightly above shoulder height. "Really sure?"

"Bloody bring it on, dammit!"

Marius thumped his elbow against the narrow coffee table that separated them, hand raised and fingers spread, like an invitation to arm-wrestle. In truth, the challenge was far more daunting.

"Let's see how it is when you're not ambushin' me at five in the morning," he said, flexing his fingers at her.

The smile wider at this, though all Catseye did was nod primly at him, the smugness then vanishing from her expression as she grew intent. Slowly and attentively she shifted the hand which had been waggling at him tauntingly but moments before and pointed her index finger towards the palm of Marius' hand, gradually closing the distance between the two in slow motion.

Marius narrowed his eyes, all his concentration on clamping down on the first twitch of muscle in his palm. The mouth that inhabited it was not happy. It was harder than it had been with Rahne -- at least then his weight on his palm had helped him focus on stilling the muscle contractions. The single finger hovering just beyond the reach of the teeth was nowhere near as helpful . . . especially when, after five seconds of non-reaction, its owner began waving the digit in circles. Unhurried, but just fast enough to create the slightest of air currents. The motion proved too much -- at the feel of the current against his skin, the mouth twitched.

The response was instant and lightning quick, a firm whap with claws carefully kept away from skin in punishment for the twitch. "Bad BiteyMouth!" Catseye glared at Marius' hand then slid him a patient, calm look, waiting for him to let her know when he was ready to try again.

"Very bad BiteyMouth," Marius grumbled, shaking his hand in an effort to reset the tensed muscles. He flexed his fingers, resettled his arm, and nodded. "Right. Again."

He was ready for the slight breeze this time. Marius smiled grimly. He was going to get a handle on this if it killed him.

Of course, this had been anticipated - it was without a second thought that Catseye pushed the stakes higher, having utter faith in her reflexes to keep the both of them well out of trouble. And so, waiting until he blinked no less, she nudged a clawed fingertip forward until a light ticking sound could be heard.

Marius jerked, half surprised by the contact and half because the teeth jumped. He snapped his hand away with a hiss, more for his sake than Catseye's.

"You did that on purpose," Marius scowled, rubbing the flesh around the mouth with his free hand. It irritated him that he was more annoyed with himself than her.

"Of course Catseye did," was the practical response, the girl shrugging slightly as though it were the most natural thing in the world. She gave him a stern look, utterly different from her usual playful attitude. And waited patiently for him to decide if they were doing this again, though her hand was once more upraised and ready, in an unspoken dare.

Marius eyed her, still cradling his hand, then slowly extended his arm again. "No way I lose to your Cat-Fu," Marius said, his lips curving in a fierce smile. Maybe it was the stupidest form of training he'd ever done, but he was going to get this down. Sure, he probably could have asked Forge or Rahne or someone to practice with, but somehow he hadn't been comfortable with that idea. He enjoyed it when the others helped him figure out his powers, but that was as much an intellectual exercise as practical application. Something about getting the physical aspect of his mutation under control felt . . . private.

And go figure why I went to Cats, he thought with a mental role of the eyes. In reality, he only locked eyes with her, and nodded.

The gesture this time wasn't designed to make things any easier on Marius, not by any stretch of the imagination. Deliberately, Catseye carefully reproduced the same skittering pattern prey might make while suspecting a predator might be nearby, at turns unconcerned and others frightened.

To say that she was ready to bat at Marius' hand should it make any untoward gestures was an understatement, to say the least.

Marius' smile flattened to a thin, determined line as he concentrated on his hand, acutely aware of every subdermal twitch of muscle. This was the longest he'd ever maintained close proximity to a mutant, and it was giving him ample opportunity to observe just what the instinctive contractions involved. The erratically swirling finger was oddly hypnotic; intent on its irregular dance in front of his palm, Marius caught himself nearly losing sight of the point of the exercise. Gritting his teeth, he pushed away his vague awareness of the biochemical analgesic building around the lip of the mouth and redoubled his concentration.

This was, Catseye thought, much better, though she knew the mouth was reacting. Still - there was no use at all in not acknowledging progress. To do so would only ensure he'd lose heart or interest - not to say that they weren't going to continue until he did have control for longer periods of time, however. With that she pulled back, sitting in her chair while holding up the same index finger she'd been using to taunt the mouth solemnly. "One!" She grinned then, impishly so. "Catseye thinks break now. And then, MouthyBiteyBoy gets to practice more. Until is perfect."

Her change in mood was unexpected, but not unwelcome. "Wearin' you out, am I?" Marius grinned, lowering his hand to the table and trying to ignore the fact that it was shaking ever so slightly. He wiped a thin sheen of sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. "I'm in a generous mood, so we'll take a breather. But no way we leave off until I've got a handle on this."



* * * Three hours later * * *



Me and my big mouth.

With truly implacable patience (and taking into account that Catseye, at least, could claim some sort of fun in all of this), the purple haired girl raised one finger again, giving Marius an inscrutable look. "Again!"

Marius, long past banter, looked at her wearily. He could walk away from this. There was nothing stopping him.

Except for the look he knew Catseye would give him if he did. There may not have been anything for her to win, he could definitely lose. And that was unacceptable.

One last time, Marius extended his hand. The muscles in his arm were quivering now, but he didn't care. Only the one set mattered.

Wordlessly, Marius watched Catseye begin to raise her hand, then shut his eyes. He'd discovered he didn't need to see the finger to know where it was -- he actually found watching it distracting. Instead, he focused all his attention on the mouth in his palm. He could sense the movement in front of him, but only devoted enough attention to the awareness to acknowledge its presence. The proximity was a little like reacting to a loud noise -- you'd jump if caught off guard, but knowing it was coming negated the instinct to flinch. While knowing Catseye was there didn't obviate the mouth's desire to bite, it did mean Marius could anticipate it.

So he focused on the feel of Catseye's dancing finger, following its movements, accepting its existence in front of him, and keeping his muscles still. He didn't react when three seconds of stillness was followed by a split-second dart that almost scraped her claw against the inside of the palate, nor when the probing finger suddenly became five encircling ones. Nor, finally, when a single clawtip was dragged all the way around the rim of the mouth, microscopically close to the lip, to skitter over every single tooth. And his hand gave not a single twitch.

Catseye paused then, before withdrawing her hand slowly, a small grin soon blossoming into one of pure satisfaction and happiness. "Yes! MouthyBiteyBoy did it!" She grinned merrily and clapped her hands, not at all pouncing on Marius while she cheered at him.

"Didn't I say I would?" Marius grinned, gratefully letting the arm drop. His hand felt like a sack of oatmeal, but it was worth it -- if only to see Catseye smiling about something other than impending bodily harm. Definitely much prettier when she's not attacking me.

"Catseye thinks that is very good. Catseye is very pleased." Nodding wisely, she sat down once more and tapped the table firmly. "Good. Very good. Now, we do other hand."

. . . and now I'm going to sob like a tiny little girl.</I