Rahne and Scott, Tuesday afternoon

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

During the afternoon outing arranged the day before, Scott and Rahne wind up spending some time together at the animal shelter. They talk a little about Rahne's 'adventure' in Afghanistan. Then Scott is ambushed by something small and fluffy.


He wasn't quite as twitchy as when they'd first left the mansion this afternoon. The twitchiness hadn't precisely gone away, but he'd take what he could get. The animal shelter was quiet, well air-conditioned, and he could see all the exits. No one was going to sneak up on him.

Scott made a face as he wandered up and down the rows of cages. When had that started to be his yardstick for how comfortable he felt in any given situation? Oh, right... Still, it was a depressing realization. He glanced down at his watch, not quite impatiently, just wondering when Rahne would be done with her schedule-wrangling. In the cage beside him, a German shepherd let out an inquisitive woof and Scott gave the dog a brief, awkward smile. Feeling rather sorry for it, locked up in a cage, however spacious and immaculately maintained.

Apparently encouraged by this level of attention, the dog lowered its eyes and then the entire front half of its body in a deep, bowing stretch, followed by flopping hopefully onto its back right up next to the door.

The office door clicked open about that time, and Rahne laughed. "You're the boss if ye pet her, she says."

Scott tilted his head slightly, the smile flickering back over his features, and then bent down, reached a hand through the bars and scratching behind the dog's ears. "Did you get your schedule sorted out?" he asked, looking up at Rahne as she came over to join him.

"Aye. I'll not be able to be here as often as I have sometimes, but Tony and Karen know when to expect me and that I might have to cancel for work sometimes." She half-knelt, on the side with his real eye, and scritched the large dog's belly. "I think Tony was a wee bit nervous about having ye come back. I told him ye were not likely to hold a grudge about them trying to keep Catseye from running off to get picked up by somebody... ah... less sympathetic again."

Scott blinked, then shook his head a little. "I hope you reassured him," he murmured. The dog licked his hand, and he jumped a little. "So," he said, trying to cover the reaction, "we've got a while yet before we go pick up Lorna from her manicure. Want to show me around the place? I didn't see much of it the last time I was there."

"Sure." Rahne slipped her hand back out (the German shepherd appeared to heave a resigned sigh as she rolled back onto her stomach, but she thumped her tail at them by way of goodbye) and straightened up. "Ye've had time enough to visit with the dogs here, I suppose?" She began walking along the rows, pausing to pet one or two of them. "That way's quarantine," she said, waving in the opposite direction, "since some come in with problems we'd not want among the rest until they get well. Karen tells me they got funds to build that wing not long before I tried coming here, and were glad of it, as they couldna keep those animals at all else.... Over this way's some of the exotics, that's equipment...." She stopped and smiled. "Here's where they put most of the cats...."

Scott smiled a bit crookedly. "This room I recognize," he said, going in to take a closer look. "I doubt we have any shapeshifters in here today, though..." A Siamese in a cage nearly at his eye level yawned at him, then regarded him dubiously.

"None that we know about!" Rahne looked around at the cat-cages. "I get on more reliably with the dogs, honestly. But not all of the cats mind...."

Scott made a noise that might have been agreement or understanding as he walked down the row of cages, gazing at the occupants. The place was quite full, it seemed. "How are you doing?" he asked Rahne almost abruptly. "I mean, I know things got a little exciting in Afghanistan..."

Rahne paused, fingers against one cat's cage; it mewed and tried to pull her hand in with a paw. "Just a bit, aye. I'm--" I wasn't gone even a full day. "All right. We'd only just been awake long enough to start worrying."

Scott nodded, his expression a bit distant. "That's good. I'm glad you're all right. And Sooraya, too, of course." He hadn't even introduced himself to the new girl yet. Not appropriate. He'd have to rectify the lack soon.

"Sooraya's very nice." Rahne's eyes darkened. "They were some of the same people Nathan freed her from in the first place."

Scott managed another, fainter smile at the look in Rahne's eyes. "Well, she's here with us, now," he reminded Rahne, "and hopefully some of the information you all came back with can be used to help other kids in the same position." The reassuring words came out almost automatically. There was something very... calming about Rahne's company. She hadn't asked any awkward questions, hadn't given him any worrying sideways looks. She was acting as she always did, and that was comforting, in a strange way.

"Aye, we're hoping so!" Rahne smiled a bit wryly herself. "'Twas a good part of the original idea, after all. ...And I'm certainly not complaining about there being no need to bite any of them, but I canna say I would have minded doing it much."

"They probably would have tasted just awful." Scott paused in the direct sunlight flooding in through one of the windows, just for a moment, and moved on almost reluctantly. "You know, I've never told you how good it is to see you involved in something so worthwhile that you seem to be enjoying so much."

"Elpis feels like I settled somewhere," Rahne said slowly. A kitten mewed and batted out, soft-pawed, toward either Scott's ankles or a passing sunbeam. "The cooking and medlab work have been good, and I enjoy those, and I enjoy volunteering here for that matter, but they all felt a bit more... supplemental, in a way? Things I'd do until something called me away from Xavier's?" She shrugged. "I could work with Elpis for a long time, and the rest of the things I like to do can help there as well." She paused and looked over at him. "I'm verra glad of the X-Men and what ye do, but somehow I think I'm more suited for this."

"All that counts is making the contribution. Whatever form it takes. Or so I keep telling myself..." Scott paused as a tiny paw snagged his shoelace gleefully. "Hello, there," he said, crouching down to the cage and spotting the little black and white kitten pressing up against the bars. "Were you trying to get my attention?"

"Mroooow?" A second paw emerged to try to coax his shoe closer.

Scott realized the cage was empty and looked up at Rahne with a little frown. "Awfully tiny kitten to be alone..." He reached out and stroked the waving paw.

Rahne crouched down to look at the little one sympathetically. "Aye. I suppose there was no mother anymore."

The kitten had large, soulful gray-blue eyes. "She--is it a she?" Scott glanced at the card on the front of the cage and found that 'it' was indeed a 'she'. "She looks so sad..."

"We could take her out for a bit if ye like..." Rahne glanced up at him, then flipped the latch. The kitten scrambled out and promptly sat on Scott's shoe.

Scott had opened his mouth to respond and instead wound up staring open-mouthed for a moment down at the kitten on his shoe. Who no longer looked quite so sad. "Was that what you wanted?" he ventured, reaching down to stroke the little head. The kitten immediately rubbed her head against his hand and broke into a truly impressive purr for something so tiny.

"She does seem to like you."

"She's awfully cute." It came out almost grudgingly. He was not generally a man who was into small fluffy animals. He had a turtle. Nice symbolic pet... With an oddly sinuous move, the kitten wrapped herself around his wrist, and Scott yelped softly. "Hey, let go."

The kitten purred louder, which was an impressive feat considering her previous volume.

"Oh, for the love of..." Scott reached out with the other hand and scooped her up. She wriggled around, hooking her claws into his shirt and gazing up at him appealingly, still purring. Scott opened his mouth and then closed it again. "Stop doing that," he said a bit feebly.

"I think holding her is not likely to stop her purring," Rahne murmured.

Nor was stroking her, but Scott found himself doing that almost automatically. She gave him a sleepy-eyed look, kneading her little paws, and Scott, absurdly, felt his eyes stinging. I am not crying because a damned kitten seems to have taken a liking to me. Especially not in front of a student.

"As long as ye've got her, I might as well spruce up the cage a bit, if you'll excuse me...." Rahne knelt in front of the cage again to get at the litter pan and dishes, and incidentally so that Scott's easiest route out of her way was back in front of the window.

Scott rose and went over to the window, leaning back against the edge of the windowsill. The kitten yawned, showing tiny sharp teeth, and settled in more comfortably in the crook of his arm.

"Oh, crap..." Scott murmured.