Jean-Paul and Catseye- Wednesday

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

Catseye visits Jean-Paul to thank him for the Christmas gift and the two try to start over.


Slightly nervous, Catseye shifted the book she was carrying from one hand to another as she knocked on Jean-Paul's door. She knew he was inside- she could smell his scent. "MisterPointyEars?" she called out. "Can Catseye come in? Catseye would like to say thankyou for the book! And also hello to the NotVermin!"

The door opened a few seconds later; Jean-Paul stood there with several other books already tucked under his arm. "'Allo." He looked her over for a moment, but then nodded, stepping away from the door. "Yes, please do. I hoped you liked it."

Catseye's tail twitched as she stepped into the room, eyes darting immediately to the rat. "Catseye has only read the first chapter, but Catseye likes it so far. Catseye is not a very fast reader but Catseye would like to know the story faster so Catseye was wondering if maybe MisterPointyEars could read some to Catseye?"

Somehow, the idea that Catseye wouldn't have finished the book hadn't occurred to him, and he certainly hadn't expected this request. "I..." ...have absolutely no reason in the world why not, and why did the girl have to look so hopeful? "I suppose I could make some time for that." He followed her gaze to the double-tier ferret cage currently holding many rat toys and one rat sleeping contentedly in a fleece hammock. "His name is Jenner now, by the way. Not NotVermin."

She gave a small jump of excitement, a happy noise escaping her lips. "Thankyouthankyou, MisterPointyEars! Having someone read to Catseye makes Catseye a much better reader and Catseye wants to be a better reader to be in MisterPointyEars' class next year!" Heading over to the cage, she ran one clawed finger against the bars, studying the creature inside. "Jenner is a nice name for NotVermin, MisterPointyEars. Catseye likes it veryverymuch."

Jenner opened one eye, yawned at the purple-haired girl, and curled up again, tail held loosely in his paws.

"The name comes from another book you might like...though I suppose you'd want to read the other books about Ratha first." Jean-Paul cleared his throat slightly. "Miss Smith, I...still owe you an apology for earlier."

Wrenching herself away from the cage, Catseye turned back to face JP. "Catseye does not know if she will like books about NotVermin but if MisterPointyEars reads it to Catseye then Catseye will try to like it." When he mentioned the apology, Catseye cocked her head. "Catseye wants to say sorry too. Catseye did not understand about privacy but SitsOnFloor helped Catseye understand so Catseye will not come in MisterPointyEars's room without asking or disrespect MisterPointyEars and Catseye is supposed to ask MisterPointyEars to explain why Catseye upset him and Catseye is supposed to explain that..." she frowned as she strained to remember what Haller had told her to say, "Catseye is asking because Catseye doesn't understand and Catseye wants to understand."

"Ah...well, apology accepted. And thank you." Jean-Paul set his books down on the arm of the couch and leaned there a moment, still considering. It seemed a very real possibility that Catseye would leave his room thinking that 'MisterPointyEars' was slow on the uptake, but trying to follow the thread of her throughts was a bit like trying to untangle the Gordian Knot one-handed. "Part of it -- most of it -- was a matter of privacy, yes. And the rest of it, you could not really help if I was not talking to you. I was embarrassed, mostly. I thought you were playing a trick."


Catseye nodded in understanding. "Catseye would not play a badgirl trick on MisterPointyEars. Catseye does not play badgirl tricks. Only cat tricks like hiding shinys."

"I was a bit disappointed as well. Before I woke up, I thought you were a cat I used to know." He half-smiled. "But, as I said, that is not your fault. I hope we can get off to a better start this time."

She was finally beginning to understand. "Catseye thinks MisterPointyEars lost a pet cat and Catseye is sorry," she replied sympathetically. "MisterPointyEars can pet Catseye and play just like with a petcat. Catseye likes that. When Catseye is a cat Catseye thinks like a petcat not a girl," she added, hoping that explaining to him the differences in the way she was told her brain worked would help him understand her better. It was a slight lie- she had human intelligence as a cat, but she knew that JP was concerned about having a student, a girl, sleep in his bed and because she didn't want to be kicked out again, she felt it was easier if he was led to believe that the cat was just a cat.

"Hm. In that case, you should probably keep to human form when you visit, if only for Jenner's sake. The bars are not big enough for him to get out, but I think a cat paw could get in." The idea of a human voluntarily reducing herself to an animal still made Jean-Paul uneasy on a very primal level, but thinking of it in the same light as Morgan occasionally becoming Daniel made it a little more palatable; even if it was not really the same, at least it was a pleasant association. "But that is fine. When you are here, we may talk and read; when we are elsewhere, we can try playing sometime. Does this sound acceptable?"


Catseye nodded vigourously. She felt slightly silly for lying now that JP had voiced his distrust over her treatment of Jenner, but she felt that if she recanted now she would lose the progress they'd made today. And maybe if she earned his trust over not hunting Jenner, she would be allowed to nap with him. Until then, there was the new woman to nap with- she was just as warm as he was. "Acceptable! Catseye will not hunt NotVermin as a cat, though- Catseye promises. Catseye only hunts outside vermin; even the cat knows this is The Way Things Are." She knew cats could be diciplined and taught not to do certain instinctual things, after all, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to promise that a cat with no human intelligence would know that the caged animals were off limits.
"A good start, then." Jean-Paul looked down at his books, then back to Catseye. "I was taking a break from work when you arrived and considering a snack. I see little reason that it could not be a snack and reading break." There was no force on the planet that was going to help him feel less than ridiculous reading to someone of her age, but if this was what it took to understand a student, then so be it. There wouldn't be a better time to see how she processed information, certainly; he had the feeling she would not be shy about asking questions.

"Pastrami?" Catseye suggested hopefully. "Venison? Catseye can make MisterPointyEars a sandwich while MisterPointyEars reads and Catseye will put green things in it and even cheese too if MisterPointyEars wants!"
"There's smoked salmon in the fridge. You can have all of it if you call me 'Jean-Paul' or 'Mister Beaubier'." His words were definitely more amused than irritated. This would be an interesting afternoon.



"Catseye doesn't want all of it, then," she said with an almost wicked grin before turning more serious. "Catseye likes 'MisterPointyEars' better, because it says who MisterPointyEars is. Human man with pointy ears. Catseye doesn't know if she can call MisterPointyEars 'Mister Beaubier' because Catseye does not understand what a 'Beaubier' is." Human names were confusing- she liked coming up with names that described what people were in the most elementary sense because they carried more meaning for her than odd words like 'Jean-Paul.'

He supposed he couldn't argue that point too strongly; 'Beaubier' had simply been one more way to put distance between himself and some distasteful memories, and that was not the sort of thing he wanted to try and explain.
"So who is Kyle, then?"


"WarmSnugglyFriend!" she answered with a grin, fairly sure her naming system was being mocked but not caring. "Can we get snacks and talk at the same time?"


"Help yourself."