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xp_logsCatseye and Jean-Paul read through the lunch hour and explore Catseye's taste in literature.
"'The two stood apart, stiff-legged and bristling, Thakur still blocking Meoran's way. The wild thing beating inside Ratha's chest was as angry at Thakur as Meoran. What right had he to interfere? Had he not betrayed her the night the Red Tongue died? Meoran's power would have fallen then.'"
Though Jean-Paul was not quite up to admitting it yet, he did find reading to Catseye much less onerous than he'd been expecting, even pleasant. They'd almost finished the book he'd given her at Christmas and Jean-Paul was finding her to be bright and curious about the whole of the story, though not at the expense of understanding the text; the increasingly dog-eared paperback dictionary on the arm of the sofa was testament to her growing vocabulary. At the moment, the young woman was perched beside him, staring at the words on the page intently. He hid a smile and continued.
"'And what did he think he was doing now? Did he think that seeing him bleed would calm her? No! Blood would bring blood.'"
"What is 'bris-ling', Mister PointyEarsBeaubier?" Catseye asked, juggling the notebook and pen where she'd been writing the strange words down along with the dictionary meaning and a meaning that made sense to her as she reached for the dictionary. She had a pretty good image of the way the cats in the book were standing, but she wanted to make sure that the word matched the picture in her head. "She leaned in closer to JP and the book so she could match the right letters in the book with the letters in the dictionary, having learned very quickly that there were many different variations of words that looked similar. "Bristle...short, stiff, coarse hairs of certain animals..." that wasn't it. "To stand or rise stiffly, like bristles. To erect the bristles, as an irritated animal." She didn't think those were it either. "To become rigid with anger or irritation: The man bristled when I asked him to move. Bristled! Catseye found it! 'To become rigid with anger or irritation'. Catseye knows what rigid means. It is like a tree trunk. Straight up tall and hard. And Catseye knows what anger is. So Ratha and Meoran are standing like this, Mister PointyEarsBeaubier?" She shifted into catform and displayed what she thought the word meant- puffing herself up so her fur stood on end, arching her back. Then she shifted back and grinned at him. "Like that?"
"You have the idea." Jean-Paul nodded. "They are each standing their ground against the other, both ready to fight. Do you think you'll be using this word much?"
"Maybe not," Catseye giggled. "The cat can do bristling but not talk about it, and it does not seem like a word humans use very much or else Catseye would have heard it already. But Catseye wants to know all the words, Mister PointyEarsBeaubier! What's next, what's next?" she asked, scribbling something down in her notebook about 'bristling.'
"Next," Jean-Paul said, all innocence as he bookmarked the climactic fight scene and rose to his feet to stretch, "is lunch. I'm going to start losing my good spirits if I don't get something to eat. Any preferences as to the menu -- keeping in mind that I do not have pastrami in the fridge?"
Catseye grabbed her head in her hands and buried her face in the couch, grinning in jest. "Noooo! Catseye wants to hear about the fight, MisterPointyEarsBeaubier! Catseye cannot wait to hear!" She straightened up after a fake sob or two and jumped to her feet, bounding into the kitchen. "Catseye will make something!" She liked to help Jean-Paul out in return for his reading to her. "Venison sandwiches?"
"How about chicken?" Jean-Paul suggested. "I've had my fill of venison. I'm considering transplanting the rest of the deer herd to Alberta just so Morgan can't hunt them." He left Catseye in charge of sandwich prep and began peeling oranges. "We're almost through this book. Do you think you will want to read the others next, or move on to something else?"
"Chicken!" she agreed emphatically. She kept her distance from the oranges, nose wrinkling. The catgirl wasn't a huge fan of citrus. "There are others, MisterPointyEarsBeaubier?" she asked curiously. "Catseye thinks she would like to read hem, yes yes yes! But what is the 'something else'? The book about NotVermin that WrongNamesWoman and MisterPointyEars talked about?"
"That is one option. There is also Kipling or London, Yolen or Dahl..." Jean-Paul paused a moment. "I suppose it would be quicker to ask which sorts of books you enjoy. I got lucky with this one, I think."
Cocking her head animalistically, Catseye pondered the names. "Catseye knows Kipling wrote the book about the human who lived with the wolves and bear and panther in the jungle but the tiger didn't like him because he could make fire, just like Ratha!" She'd only seen the Disney version, but she'd enjoyed The Jungle Book nonetheless. "Catseye doesn't know the other names. But Catseye likes books about cats! And about other animals too. And about pastrami."
Jean-Paul nodded. Of the titles that sprang to mind, 'Watership Down' and the other Adams works seemed a bit ambitious, as did the Tailchaser novel. Kipling did seem like a strong contender after they got through the current series, though he wondered how she'd take to non-fiction. "Do you prefer stories where the animals are more like animals, or where they seem to think more like humans?"
Slapping chicken on slices of bread, Catseye swished her tail, using it to pick up a mayonnaise jar from the fridge. "Catseye likes animals who think like humans, just like Catseye. Except Catseye knows now that she was a girl first. Catseye is sort of like the boy from the jungle movie with the panther and the mean tiger. The boy Mowgli thought he was a wolf but he wasn't, he was a human. Is the book like the movie?"
"Well, some of the names are the same, but that is about it. Mowgli doesn't return to the company of humans for good until he's a grown man, but he struggles with his identity for most of the stories. Baloo is a wise teacher and Bagheera is proud, but also not very...civilized." Jean-Paul moved to the fridge to handle the drinks. "Also, Kaa is a friend of Mowgli's at times. Really, the films have been loose adaptations for the most part. The central theme remains the same, but most of the pathos is stripped out. Milk for you again?"
Spreading mayonnaise on JP's sandwich, Catseye thought about what he was saying about the book. "Catseye likes the movie where the panther is smart better than the book, Catseye thinks. Bears are not wise. Yes, milk please." She put the mayo back and took out cheese and lettuce, using her hands instead of her tail. Both went onto JP's sandwich, though she left hers with just chicken and bread. "Can Catseye give some lettuce to NotVermin and OtherNotVermin?"
"He's quite smart in the book, not to mention proud. Just not quite so stuffy as the movie. But we do not have to go to Kipling." Amazingly enough, Jean-Paul managed to complete that sentence without biting his tongue. He poured milk for Catseye and cold water for himself. "Yes, it's fine if you want to give them treats. Just watch out for Nicodemus if you feed them by hand. He nips when he gets excited."
Catseye placed some pieces of lettuce on top of her sandwich, returned everything to the fridge, closed the door with her tail, took two plates out of the cupboard and placed a sandwich on each, then carried a plate in each hand back into the main room. She set them on the coffee table and brought the lettuce from her sandwich over to the pair of rats, breaking off pieces and feeding them carefully, watching their beady little eyes and twitchy noses with narrowed eyes. "NotVermin are not food," she muttered to herself quietly. The catgirl wasn't sure she would ever fully understand, but she was trying. When the lettuce was gone she flopped onto the couch and picked up the book. "Hurry up, MisterPointyEarsBeaubier!" she sang eagerly, "Catseye wants to know what happens in the fight!"
"'The two stood apart, stiff-legged and bristling, Thakur still blocking Meoran's way. The wild thing beating inside Ratha's chest was as angry at Thakur as Meoran. What right had he to interfere? Had he not betrayed her the night the Red Tongue died? Meoran's power would have fallen then.'"
Though Jean-Paul was not quite up to admitting it yet, he did find reading to Catseye much less onerous than he'd been expecting, even pleasant. They'd almost finished the book he'd given her at Christmas and Jean-Paul was finding her to be bright and curious about the whole of the story, though not at the expense of understanding the text; the increasingly dog-eared paperback dictionary on the arm of the sofa was testament to her growing vocabulary. At the moment, the young woman was perched beside him, staring at the words on the page intently. He hid a smile and continued.
"'And what did he think he was doing now? Did he think that seeing him bleed would calm her? No! Blood would bring blood.'"
"What is 'bris-ling', Mister PointyEarsBeaubier?" Catseye asked, juggling the notebook and pen where she'd been writing the strange words down along with the dictionary meaning and a meaning that made sense to her as she reached for the dictionary. She had a pretty good image of the way the cats in the book were standing, but she wanted to make sure that the word matched the picture in her head. "She leaned in closer to JP and the book so she could match the right letters in the book with the letters in the dictionary, having learned very quickly that there were many different variations of words that looked similar. "Bristle...short, stiff, coarse hairs of certain animals..." that wasn't it. "To stand or rise stiffly, like bristles. To erect the bristles, as an irritated animal." She didn't think those were it either. "To become rigid with anger or irritation: The man bristled when I asked him to move. Bristled! Catseye found it! 'To become rigid with anger or irritation'. Catseye knows what rigid means. It is like a tree trunk. Straight up tall and hard. And Catseye knows what anger is. So Ratha and Meoran are standing like this, Mister PointyEarsBeaubier?" She shifted into catform and displayed what she thought the word meant- puffing herself up so her fur stood on end, arching her back. Then she shifted back and grinned at him. "Like that?"
"You have the idea." Jean-Paul nodded. "They are each standing their ground against the other, both ready to fight. Do you think you'll be using this word much?"
"Maybe not," Catseye giggled. "The cat can do bristling but not talk about it, and it does not seem like a word humans use very much or else Catseye would have heard it already. But Catseye wants to know all the words, Mister PointyEarsBeaubier! What's next, what's next?" she asked, scribbling something down in her notebook about 'bristling.'
"Next," Jean-Paul said, all innocence as he bookmarked the climactic fight scene and rose to his feet to stretch, "is lunch. I'm going to start losing my good spirits if I don't get something to eat. Any preferences as to the menu -- keeping in mind that I do not have pastrami in the fridge?"
Catseye grabbed her head in her hands and buried her face in the couch, grinning in jest. "Noooo! Catseye wants to hear about the fight, MisterPointyEarsBeaubier! Catseye cannot wait to hear!" She straightened up after a fake sob or two and jumped to her feet, bounding into the kitchen. "Catseye will make something!" She liked to help Jean-Paul out in return for his reading to her. "Venison sandwiches?"
"How about chicken?" Jean-Paul suggested. "I've had my fill of venison. I'm considering transplanting the rest of the deer herd to Alberta just so Morgan can't hunt them." He left Catseye in charge of sandwich prep and began peeling oranges. "We're almost through this book. Do you think you will want to read the others next, or move on to something else?"
"Chicken!" she agreed emphatically. She kept her distance from the oranges, nose wrinkling. The catgirl wasn't a huge fan of citrus. "There are others, MisterPointyEarsBeaubier?" she asked curiously. "Catseye thinks she would like to read hem, yes yes yes! But what is the 'something else'? The book about NotVermin that WrongNamesWoman and MisterPointyEars talked about?"
"That is one option. There is also Kipling or London, Yolen or Dahl..." Jean-Paul paused a moment. "I suppose it would be quicker to ask which sorts of books you enjoy. I got lucky with this one, I think."
Cocking her head animalistically, Catseye pondered the names. "Catseye knows Kipling wrote the book about the human who lived with the wolves and bear and panther in the jungle but the tiger didn't like him because he could make fire, just like Ratha!" She'd only seen the Disney version, but she'd enjoyed The Jungle Book nonetheless. "Catseye doesn't know the other names. But Catseye likes books about cats! And about other animals too. And about pastrami."
Jean-Paul nodded. Of the titles that sprang to mind, 'Watership Down' and the other Adams works seemed a bit ambitious, as did the Tailchaser novel. Kipling did seem like a strong contender after they got through the current series, though he wondered how she'd take to non-fiction. "Do you prefer stories where the animals are more like animals, or where they seem to think more like humans?"
Slapping chicken on slices of bread, Catseye swished her tail, using it to pick up a mayonnaise jar from the fridge. "Catseye likes animals who think like humans, just like Catseye. Except Catseye knows now that she was a girl first. Catseye is sort of like the boy from the jungle movie with the panther and the mean tiger. The boy Mowgli thought he was a wolf but he wasn't, he was a human. Is the book like the movie?"
"Well, some of the names are the same, but that is about it. Mowgli doesn't return to the company of humans for good until he's a grown man, but he struggles with his identity for most of the stories. Baloo is a wise teacher and Bagheera is proud, but also not very...civilized." Jean-Paul moved to the fridge to handle the drinks. "Also, Kaa is a friend of Mowgli's at times. Really, the films have been loose adaptations for the most part. The central theme remains the same, but most of the pathos is stripped out. Milk for you again?"
Spreading mayonnaise on JP's sandwich, Catseye thought about what he was saying about the book. "Catseye likes the movie where the panther is smart better than the book, Catseye thinks. Bears are not wise. Yes, milk please." She put the mayo back and took out cheese and lettuce, using her hands instead of her tail. Both went onto JP's sandwich, though she left hers with just chicken and bread. "Can Catseye give some lettuce to NotVermin and OtherNotVermin?"
"He's quite smart in the book, not to mention proud. Just not quite so stuffy as the movie. But we do not have to go to Kipling." Amazingly enough, Jean-Paul managed to complete that sentence without biting his tongue. He poured milk for Catseye and cold water for himself. "Yes, it's fine if you want to give them treats. Just watch out for Nicodemus if you feed them by hand. He nips when he gets excited."
Catseye placed some pieces of lettuce on top of her sandwich, returned everything to the fridge, closed the door with her tail, took two plates out of the cupboard and placed a sandwich on each, then carried a plate in each hand back into the main room. She set them on the coffee table and brought the lettuce from her sandwich over to the pair of rats, breaking off pieces and feeding them carefully, watching their beady little eyes and twitchy noses with narrowed eyes. "NotVermin are not food," she muttered to herself quietly. The catgirl wasn't sure she would ever fully understand, but she was trying. When the lettuce was gone she flopped onto the couch and picked up the book. "Hurry up, MisterPointyEarsBeaubier!" she sang eagerly, "Catseye wants to know what happens in the fight!"
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