xp_logs | LOG: [Catseye, Haller] Oops

One of the people in Haller's brain decides to go exploring. Fortunately, as far as acting like a ten-year-old goes, there are worse people to be caught by than Catseye.

Davey cautiously poked his head into the Rec Room and grinned when he saw it was unoccupied. It was nice to get to explore again. It'd been a long time since he'd been able to. Not like he used to when he'd lived here before, or back on the island. Jim was too scared something might happen. Now it was okay, though, because Charles and Moira were here. It was safe to come out again.

He wandered into the room and paused by the pool table, wondering. He'd never played it, but no one was watching, so maybe he could try. Gingerly removing a cue from the stand by the wall, Davey tried to think of what the rules were. All he really knew was that you were supposed to sink every ball except the white one, and he was pretty sure that was the only ball you were supposed to actually hit. That was how it always looked in movies, anyway. Everything was already set up (though he almost forgot to remove the triangle-thing holding the balls in place). He positioned himself behind the white ball and balanced the cue on his other hand as best he was able, taking a few practice stabs to make sure he wasn't going to wreck any of Charles' stuff. It seemed okay, so he tried it for real.

The white ball made a satisfying clack against the triangle, scattering the colored balls across the table. Davey thought he'd hit them too hard, probably, but he was just messing around. Grinning, Davey circled around the table to get around the white ball again. This put him across from the large bay window just in time to see something he thought was a purple cushion uncurl itself and stretch.

The sunlight had been warm and inviting and naps were ever to be enjoyed and while the new arrival had been inspected from afar a few times, since he'd so obligingly walked in... With a lazy yawn, Catseye stretched out slowly and luxuriantly, tail flicking out slightly as she paused to stare over her shoulder at the man near the pool table. And blink, head twisting a bit further as she took a second, more attentive look and -

THUNK!

From beyond Davey's sight, a faintly irritated meep sounded from the floor, where Catseye was now located.

Davey (who'd almost gone back inside when he'd seen the movement) burst into disbelieving giggles. His desperate attempt to stifle the laughter only meant they emerged as a snort.

"Sorry," he choked around one hand. The cat did not look amused. "Sorry." It was a pretty cat, though. The color was strange, but he didn't think it was dangerous. If it was he would've been able to tell, like he was always able to (which was funny, because Charles said he was more sensitive than Jim that way) -- but he still couldn't think of a reason why it'd be purple. Maybe cats could be mutants, too. He'd have to ask Charles about that later.

Whiskers twitching slightly, Catseye eyed the man from her now carefully dignified shift into a seating position on the floor. For some reason, and she continued to observe as she set into motion, padding towards him with a low interrogative sound of curiosity, he didn't match. Motions to body to expression to reactions...

"Mrrrr?" She stopped close by but not within touching distance, cocking her head at him while wrapped her tail around her paws.

And now it was sitting right in front of him. A friendly cat? Well, Davey guessed they must exist somewhere. "Um, hi," he said, squatting down to get a better look at her. After a moment of fumbling he realized there was no way to hold onto a pool cue that wouldn't somehow end up hitting himself or the cat, so he set it down on the carpet. Cautiously, he extended a hand for her to sniff.

Well, he had good manners. And did not move as he'd had the previous times she'd seen him - he looked like a boy in a too big body, with the way he'd folded himself down to her level, the sticking out of limbs telling the tale plain as day. "Mroew," she replied, politely butting her head against his hand in greeting.

Davey grinned, taking this to mean she wasn't going to bite him for touching. He gave her a tentative scratch. "You're pretty," he said, rubbing the cat's temple with his thumb. Her whiskers tickled the inside of her arm. "You live here, too?"

The words earned him a loud purr, Catseye pushing up on her hind legs slightly, laying a claim on the boy in the man by rubbing her cheek against the palm of his hand. Without any further ceremony, she then sidled forward, front paws soon resting on his chest, nose tip carefully brushing against his in a catlike hello.

Davey giggled helplessly. "Your nose is cold," he complained, even as he lifted his hand to pet her again. She was tall, for a cat -- and she had a collar, he noticed as he stroked her back. "Did the professor find you? He never had a cat before. Especially a purple one. He'd have told me," he concluded with certainty.

"Mrr!" Catseye blinked at that, because everyone here knew she owned the place, after all. And because she was a tad bit more civilized now than she used to be, though she'd deny it if anyone ever asked, Catseye obligingly shifted to human shape to inform the boy in the man of that fact.

Davey felt the psychic texture of the air change a split-second before it happened, and instinct overrode conscious thought. The boy automatically pulled back, his face blanking of expression. Then he blinked, and his left eye was dark again -- which Catseye was in a perfect position to observe, as her face was only scant inches away.

There were no words sufficient to convey what Jim felt at that moment, but it sounded something like "DAAAH!"

Eyes going wide, Catseye managed to refrain from jumping six feet in the air, making a good try for the ceiling as a safe place to cling to. Instead, though, she froze in place momentarily - and then her tail lashed from side to side once, as she minutely inched forward, waving one hand towards him in a paw-like way, entirely forgetting for a instant that she was in human shape.

"Mrrr?"

Jim sat back heavily, eyes flickering across his surroundings. Rec Room. I'm in the Rec Room. What on earth had been going on? He'd known Davey was coming out again, and he didn't particularly mind if he did, but Jim usually had more . . . warning when someone walked in on him. His gaze settled back on the girl in front of him, and he felt a very unprofessional blush starting.

"Sorry," he managed, trying to get his heartrate back down to something manageable. "You scared me." What was I doing on the floor? "I -- space out sometimes. I don't notice when people walk in." Which he assumed to have happened, anyway -- a quick scan told him the girl wasn't particularly well-shielded. There was no reason not to have sensed her. Teleporter? he wondered desperately. He knew there were at least two . . .

Catseye eyed the man, who was now indeed the one she'd first seen, from what she could, and sat back on her haunches, tail wrapping around her legs neatly. "Meh," she declared, having picked up the sound of dissatisfaction from Rachel a while ago. "Not boy anymore," she muttered, pouting and looking to the side, deliberately giving the blushing man a little space to regain his composure.

Jim made a small choking sound. Oh my god. Please kill me. So much for the 'interrupted by a teleporter' theory -- regardless of how she'd gotten here, not only had Davey not registered her presence, she knew what she'd been seeing. A student. It took every ounce of Jim's self-control not to find the nearest wall and start banging his head against it.

Just explain, his common sense instructed, somehow still wretchedly functional. Get it over with before the rumors start. It wasn't as if he hadn't already told some students, but to actually have one catch him at it . . .

"A minute ago," Jim said, determined to make absolutely sure there was no mistake before going through with this, "was I acting -- different?"

A sudden, brilliant smile answered that and Catseye scooted sooner, one claw tipped finger tapping Jim's nose ever so lightly. "Boy in man! Catseye saw boy in man," she declared, obviously delighted with that fact. She half-purred, hugging herself briefly before leaning forward, almost nose to nose again with the man still sprawled on the floor, tail tip shifting from around her knees to wrap around Jim's wrist lightly, in a belated handshake. "Oh. Catseye should say hello properly. And... will Catseye see BoyInMan again?" she asked curiously, feeling a touch mournful at the thought that she might not.

Jim blinked, staring at the tail wrapped around his wrist. This was not a normal reaction for most people when they discovered he was prone to the occasional spell of believing himself to be a ten-year-old. But then, he was beginning to gather that Catseye wasn't exactly normal herself.

"I don't know," he said honestly, returning his gaze to the slitted lavender eyes. "I can't control when he comes out. Or who he does it around," he added, just a touch wryly. He caught himself and cleared his throat. "Um. If you could not tell the other kids, I'd appreciate it. It's -- not really a secret, but if people don't need to know . . ."

"...if people can't see for themselves, Catseye doesn't see why Catseye should tell!" was the sing song reply, Catseye giggling softly to herself. Clearly this was a secret she didn't mind keeping to herself at all. "Is like when SoftHands had people in his head?" she asked frankly, curiosity shining brightly in her eyes.

Jim quirked an eyebrow, momentarily confused. "SoftHands?"

"SoftHands," Catseye confirmed serenely. "Head goes boom a lot." She nodded brightly, before cocking her head to the side slowly. "Catseye supposes that also means Catseye will have to find another name than ManyPeople... hrm. SitsOnFloorALot?" she suggested impishly.

"Head goes--" Jim tried to work out her explanation, and almost swallowed his tongue as the descriptors suddenly aligned. "Wait, do you mean Nathan?" I will not laugh. I have no right to laugh. No, no, no. Jim somehow managed to keep a straight face and said, "Um, not exactly like that. The people in my head were all me. Now it's just me and Davey, though." There was no need to get technical with her. It was confusing enough as it was.

"Okay." The response was simple and utterly serene, just as Jim's name was now locked in stone. "SitsOnFloor move now," she then added, after a moment's consideration, eyeing the patch of sunlight stretching out on the floor and over his legs possessively. "Though Catseye could..."

With a sound of satisfaction, she shifted back to cat, flowing over to the sunspot (and part of Jim's legs in the process), plopping herself down once she was certain she was occupying as much of the light as possible. "Mrrr..." She looked up at Jim and winked slowly, whiskers arching forward, before closing both eyes to enjoy a nice nap in the warm light.

Jim stared down at the cat curled against his leg, wondering if . . . he ran a quick psi-probe, and almost laughed aloud at what he found. No wonder Davey hadn't "seen" her. As far as his telepathy was concerned, there was nothing to see. Or at least, no one.

Chuckling, Jim carefully folded his legs around the now-occupied patch of sunlight and started to rise, then paused. The tip of the lavender tail was still twitching lazily. He risked incurring her wrath and lay a hand lightly on her side. The purring increased briefly under his touch, and Jim, in spite of his earlier anxiety, felt himself smile.

"Nice kitty," he murmured, and rose.