Log: Catseye and Sarah

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Catseye - and passenger - mistakes Sarah's window for her own.


The hunting had been good tonight. Catseye ambled along the path from the woods to the mansion with a full stomach from her midnight snack of barnmice. She was moving a little more slowly than usual since she was carrying in her mouth a squirming baby mouse whose mother she'd accidentally eaten. It had been a split-second decision to take the baby mouse back with her to see if Jean-Paul would raise it with his rats, since she felt humanesque guilt gnawing at her over orphaning it. Guilt was probably the worst thing about being human, or more importantly learning how to really be human. Because she'd always had her human intelligence, even as an alley cat, but she hadn't really begun to feel guilt until a short time ago. Since she decided baby mice were definitely NotVermin, at least until they grew up, she thought Jean-Paul might look after it.

Pondering her situation, she leapt up onto one of the mansion's open windowsills with the squirming mouse dangling by the tail in her mouth.

Inside the room, Sarah was in the process of changing into her pajamas; drawstring pants being tugged into place in the privacy - or so she thought - of her room with nothing else on but her bra. The sight of the cat perched on her sill via the mirror startled her, though nearly not as much as Kurt or Nathan had, but the feline's presence after several days missing was a comfort. "Welcome back, kitty," the technopath said as she started toward the visitor with a bright smile on her lips. "Haven't seen you in - ahh!"

Guests dropping by was one thing. But when they came bearing gifts of the live and rodent type, it was quite another.

"Ew ew ew! Why did you have to bring a mouse into my room!"

Catseye’s tail lashed in confusion. It seemed in her distraction, she’d leapt in through the wrong window- Sarah was next door; she shared the suite with Meggan and Catseye but was in the second bedroom. Whoops. The cat leapt down from the windowsill and padded across the floor, the look on her face clearly stating that the mouse was none of Sarah’s concern. Nothing to see here. I’ll just be moving along now.

"Ew! No, you can't take that into the other room!" Sarah told the cat, already scooping up one of her empty shoe boxes. A few steps reached for the purple feline with one hand while plopping the box in front of it's mouth. "Drop it, kitty. Come on. Put the mousey in the box, okay?" Her roommates would probably freak out if they found the rodent running around the place. At least this way she could return it to the wild in the morning.

The catgirl cocked her head to one side and wondered if she should shift to explain things to this new girl. Um, how about if Catseye does not put the mousey in the box? she thought, bemused. She bypassed Sarah and made for the door out of Sarah’s room, turning the knob with her tail. The effort of opening the door had her losing her concentration on holding onto the mouse, however, and it wriggled free and shot across Sarah’s floor, back in the direction they’d just come. “Mrrt!” Stupid Mousey. The cat shot off under Sarah’s bed in pursuit.

The brunette gave another startled shriek as the mouse - and cat - began to dart around her room. One quick lunge had the door slamming shut once more in an attempt to keep the chase confined before Sarah climbed up on her desk chair. Bare feet. Rodent. Cat with claws and teeth. Not a good combination. She still had the box though. "Chase it over here, kitty," the technopath coaxed, lowering the box toward the floor so she could trap the mouse when it came in armslength. "Come on, over here Mickey."

Realizing that she could take the mouse to Jean-Paul in a box just as easily as she could in her teeth, Catseye caught the baby thing once again between her paws and grabbed the tail with her teeth once again, bringing it triumphantly over to the box and plopping it in. She hoped Sarah had a lid for the box. “Mrrt?” She would continue to glower menacingly at it until Sarah secured it.

Grimacing, Sarah dismounted and hurried over to the pile of trash from unpacking and plucked out the lid, in which she poked several holes in with a pair of scissors before putting it in place and securing it with tape. "There. That ought to hold the little guy," she said and puffed a huff of air to blow the hair from her eyes. The makeshift cage was placed on her desk and she gave the purple cat a scratch behind the ears before walking over to where she'd dropped her pajama shirt - at least the mouse hadn't climbed in that.

Slipping off her bra then tugging the top in place, Sarah plopped down on her bed and patted the comforter while making a soft, whispery sound, signaling for the feline to join her. "Here, kittykitty."

Catseye took a step towards the girl, but something about the mouse nagged at her. It could easily wait until tomorrow to go to Jean-Paul, after all... but what about food? If she didn’t feed it, wouldn’t it eat the box? There were usually nuts and apples and things like that in the kitchen, but that would take away from being petted on the new girl’s bed just as much as taking the mouse to Jean-Paul would. Catseye knew that mice would eat leaves, however, and leaves were much closer than the kitchen so she hopped back up onto the windowsill and disappeared out the window.

"Oh great," the technopath lamented, getting up off her bed to stroll over to the window and look out. What a night. Crazy animals and their crazy food chain. "What are you doing now?" Sarah asked the darkness, knowing the cat was still around somewhere which meant it was better not to shut her window and trap it outside. "You better not be hunting Minnie, too."

The purple tail twitched in disdain as Catseye hunted up some leaves, gathering them up in her tail by the stems. She returned to the window and climbed back in, then started trying to poke the leaves through the holes in the box Sarah had made since it seemed easier than setting the leaves down to open the lid with her tail.

What an oddly trained and intelligent cat, Sarah thought as she followed the feline over to the box. Perhaps it had something to do with its mutation? "Wait a minute. Yeesh. I'll open it; just make sure the little guy doesn't get out, okay?" Taking the sticks in one hand, Sarah carefully peeled away the tape in one spot enough to lift the lid slightly and cram the gathered tree bits inside without touching the mouse before closing it up tightly again. "There. Better?" she asked, giving the cat another scratch behind her ears.

Catseye nodded emphatically and jumped up onto Sarah's bed, then began kneading her claws into the bedspread before lying down in the middle of it.

"Nuh uh. You have to share," the brunette said as she climbed onto the mattress. She didn't take up much room herself but it was her bed.

Willing to accept this proviso, Catseye crawled into Sarah's lap and began to purr.

Sarah smiled at the cat and careful not to disturb it too much, stretched out. Figuring she risked only a burnt out light bulb and not a mansion-wide blackout, the technopath reached over and pressed her fingers to the bedside lamp. "Please, turn off," she commanded and to her surprise, the room was cloaked in darkness after only the tiniest flicker. Quite pleased, Sarah dropped her hand onto the feline's back and began to pet. "Not bad practice. Goodnight, kitty. Don't let the mouse out while I'm sleeping, okay?"

Catseye's eyes widened in appreciation for the girl's powers. She wondered how they worked with cars, and reminded herself to ask the girl after naptime. For now, she was too comfortable curled up on Sarah's stomach. Her purrs increased in volume at the skritching and in response to Sarah's comment about letting the mouse out, she crawled up Sarah's torso to lick her nose.

She laughed in return, her nose wrinkling at the sandpaper like feeling of the cat's tongue but she continued to stroke the animal's soft coat over and over. Through the long silent minutes, her hand became heavier, her motions slower as Sarah drifted and then finally succumbed to sleep.