Log // Catseye, Evan, Forge // Afternoons at the Mall...

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

Monday, mid afternoon. In which Evan, Forge and Catseye do their usual "go hang out at the mall" thing and while Catseye is off to entertain the kids in the ball pit, Evan and Forge had a Little Talk. Yes, all caps no less.

Forge leaned back, munching on a handful of fries as he watched Catseye try and master the art of applying ketchup to a hamburger before giving up and gnawing on it vigorously. With a snicker and a wipe of his face, he turned to Evan and shrugged. "She does that," he offered by explanation.

It always felt a little odd, having to explain Catseye's quirks to her older brother. Then again, sixteen years of separation could do that.

"I'm starting to figure that out," Evan answered, and if there was any resentment with the situation, at the very least he was showing no outward sign of it. He did, though, give Forge an rather long, unblinking stare for a moment, broken only by a playful snort from Catseye. Without further ceremony, the cat girl rose to her feet, still gnawing firmly on her hamburger, of which there was considerably less left than a few seconds before, and waved her tail at both boys in lieu of a hand before trotting off towards the ball pit, observing the younger children at play with a great deal of interest. "She does that a lot too," Evan remarked after a moment of non-plussed staring, smiling a bit ruefully at Forge.

Forge gazed after the tall purple-haired girl with a small smile on his face. "Yeah," he echoed, "short on attention span, but the most loyal friend I've ever had." Finishing off the last of his fries, he noticed the look on Evan's face. "What? I spill some ketchup or something?"

Evan's eyebrow stayed exactly where it was, any of the previous ruefulness having entirely disappeared in the face of Forge's comment, replaced by that intent staring once more. "Well, considering how draped in your lap she was at one point earlier," Evan said evenly, "I was kinda wondering exactly what was going on there, yeah." His expression remained even as he went on. "I may just have found her again, and she's still my kid sister."

"Yeah," Forge said with a laugh and a satisfied grin. "She does that." He paused, swallowed, then noticed Evan's expression and realized that was quite possibly not the best answer. "I mean, um... whoa. Okay, SO not like that. I mean... the draping and stuff, it's just her. It's totally just physical, nothing..." He slapped his palm against his head, moaning. "Do I have a sign on my head that says 'out to mack on your sister'? Because I seem to get this talk a lot."

Evan's expression did not smooth other - in fact, a faint scowl was starting to appear. "You mean you get a lot of girls draping themselves in your lap?" It was, quite possibly, merely his way of ensuring he understood matters truly and clearly. "You make a lot of big brothers think they should be talkin' to you about stuff like this?" The second question was asked with measured slowness, at that.

"Not lots, no..." Forge stammered, suddenly realizing he was sitting with his back to the wall and Evan between him and the door. "I mean, just the one, and he was okay with it - not that there was any 'it' to be okay with. And there's not any 'it' here. No it. None."

"He was okay with you having his sister draped in your lap?" Both of Evan's eyebrows went up at that, an expression of deep scepticism spreading over his features. "Or are you sayin' my little sister's not good enough for you?" The sound of distant thunder one might have imagined as appropriate at that time was somewhat spoiled by a faint tremor in Evan's shoulders, who was now holding his breath after the last sentence.

Oh god there is no possible right answer to this question I am going to die... Forge thought, visibly cringing. "I think..." he began slowly, "that while your sister, who is probably one of the hottest girls I know to be completely honest, is very affectionate and I enjoy that a lot... that's all there is to it. I'm... sorry if that upsets you, but it's not an insult. She's... pretty unique, you know. I just... I like her the way she is. I like us the way we are."

Evan looked down at the table sharply, shoulders shaking more obviously now, letting out a strangled sound as he finally lost his composure. The laughter rang out, cheerful and easy, and he looked up once more, tilting slightly in his chair while giving Forge a wide smile. "Ha! You should've seen," a fit of guffaws interrupted him, "the look on your face!" Still laughing, he shook his head, reaching out to punch Forge - lightly - on the shoulder. "But still, good answer, man!"

"You're not mad?" Forge asked, dumbfounded. Slowly, his look of fear became one of annoyance. "You're not mad. Man, you are an ass!" he barked, unable to keep the smile off his face before throwing a napkin at Evan. "God, I swear, I am going to have an aneurism one of these days with everyone doing the 'are you hooking up with her?' routine. And good lord, not just with Cats, with every girl I talk to." He threw up his hands in frustration, leaning against the side of the booth.

"You're a normal guy," Forge pleaded, "tell me people grow out of being stupid hormonal jackasses and realize a guy can be friends with a girl without wanting to jump her bones or be gay?"

This only served to send Evan into a renewed fit of laughter, however, and he shook his head in the negative. "You're asking me that? I'm on the football team, Forge! About 90% of the team are dead stupid in the head that way, even if they manage to be decent guys the rest of the time. And then there's Mike who's planning to ask his girlfriend to marry him when they graduate, but right now, he's the exception to the rule in my age group too." His laughter stopped, abruptly, and the scowl returned, dead serious this time. "And if any of 'em go anywhere near my sister I'm gonna kill 'em."

"I can build you something for that, you know," Forge said with a mock-serious nod. "Just be glad she's grown out of the phase where she was showing up naked in people's beds."

"Oh good." He leaned over the table with an intent look. "What kind of something are we talkin' about here an- ...SHE WHAT?!" Evan gaped, still leaning forward while staring at Forge with an entirely stunned expression. "I didn't hear that right. Right? Did not hear that right." His eyes narrowed. "Whose bed did my little sister show up naked in?" The words 'and that I have to go kill now?' were left unspoken. Sort of.

Forge resisted the urge to direct Evan's brotherly rage at some convenient, if falsely accused targets. "Before you go all Grr Argh Must Smash, might I remind you that I made her that outfit just so stuff like that wouldn't happen? Besides, she's thinking more like a girl now, as much as she'll claw the crap out of you if you suggest that to her. But in a lot of ways... not so much, you know?"

Those words were a clear reminder to Evan and in the next moment his anger vanished. He leaned back in his chair and nodded, sighing once before sneaking a look towards the sudden shrieks of glee from the children nearby. He watched for a moment, smiling a bit at the sight of the overly tall girl having no worries at all about playing with a pack of five to ten year olds. "I'm still getting used to that. Just... god, just finding out that..." Evan took a deep breath, letting out slowly, and shook his head. "Only thing I wanna do is bring her back home and I can't even do that. I have to steal moments and sneak off so I can see her without bringing trouble to her..."

Looking at the table, Forge pondered. "It's been sixteen years. You ever think your parents might want to know how she's doing? That she's alive, even?"

"My dad?" Evan snorted and shook his head. "He'd turf her out, refuse to have anything to do with her. Hell, he'd insist it was all a big lie and no child of his could possibly be a mutant." Staring glumly at the remainders of his fries, Evan was silent for a moment. Finally, he shook his head, looking up at Forge again. "It'd... either kill mom, or bring her back to life, I think. God, sometimes I just go right up to her, wanting to ask if she knew the baby could turn into a kitten, to ask if she's been blaming herself all this time for not kitten proofing the house well enough, for... I don't know. I don't know how she'd take it. And I have no idea about my little brother. He'd probably just say whatever he could to get Dad to be proud of him."

Forge shrugged, feeling a small twinge in his artificial shoulder. Still needed a bit of tuning, it pulled a bit when he forgot it didn't move exactly like a real arm. "Their loss, then. She's a phenomenal girl. I'm lucky to know her. And I may not know a lot, being an only child and all, but she's lucky to have at least someone in her family who cares about her. Take it from me, every bridge gets built one bit at a time."

"Either way," he continued as he watched Catseye's tail twitch as a group of toddlers giggled at her, "ask her about it if you think it's the right time. She may not seem like she knows a lot, but this last year... she's grown up a lot. She knows a lot more than she says."

With a small smile, Evan laughed lowly. "Yeah. She's pretty good about reminding me that cats know it all anyway," he admitted, wryly. "She's just been taking everything as it comes, not asking me any questions except for stuff I've already started to talk to her about, too. S'like she knows there's this great big castle of cards that could come tumbling down or something." With a small shrug, Evan picked up a fry and observed it for a while. "That's what it feels like sometimes.

A great big castle of cards. And if we take a wrong turn, it could all come tumbling down... aw man, I'm sorry. I'm being a moron." Laughing, he rose to his feet and started dumping the remains of their meal on the tray. "How about we clear this out then fish her out of there before the rugrats decide to take her home with 'em?"

"I'm not sticking my hand in there," Forge quipped, lifting the tray. "Every time I do something like that, I get reminded that five of her six ends are pointy and dangerous." He looked at Evan as he walked over to the trash bin. "You're being a good brother to her, Evan. I know she's worried about the family stuff, but you're all she's got. And right now for her, that's enough."

"What else can I do?" Evan shrugged slightly, one hand briefly turned upwards to emphasise the gesture. "She's my kid sister. Though I think you're wrong, on the being all she's got." He picked up the empty wrapper Catseye had left behind, dumping it on his tray as well, then grinned at Forge. "Whatever happens, I know she'll be okay. She's got you too, and the others at the mansion. It's a good thing to know."

"Couldn't say it better myself," Forge agreed, looking over at Catseye laughing with the smaller children. "We'd better hurry up before she decides they're her kittens and wants to take them home. Have a hard time explaining that one to the Professor."

"Betcha she'd think it'd be perfectly sensible and not get why everyone was making a fuss about it," Evan snorted back, though he didn't waste any time in waving the girl over to them, bracing himself as Catseye let out a cheerful whoop and took off at a run in their direction.