xp_logs | Backdated - Angel and Catseye

On Sunday afternoon, Angel rescues Catseye from a bag and the two experiment with chocolate-covered insect as Angel explains to the catgirl about the significance of nicknames.

A very elusive Bug was in Catseye's sights, and she was giving little heed to objects in her path as she pursued it. She'd been hunting it in the woods and now it was making its way towards the mansion. It was a bright red ladybug, the first Catseye had seen of the season, and she wanted it. Barely registering that she was now on the porch by the barbecues, Catseye sighted the Bug resting on a blue and white bag. She crouched down and let it get a false sense of security, wiggling her hindquarters in anticipation. When she sensed the moment was right, the purple cat pounced.

And ended up flying face-first into the bag, which was filled with black stones Catseye knew were used for cooking. She paused there, back end sticking up out of the bag and tried to decide how to get herself out. The stones smelled interesting, and they felt even more interesting, so she wasn't in any hurry.

"No, mom, I'm totally eating my vegetables. And my meats. Starches. Cakes. Mom, I eat everything! I..." Angel paused and backed up, staring at the odd sight in the other room. "Hey mom? I gotta go, okay? Love you."

Hanging up, she slipped the phone into her pocket and edged over to the bag of charcoal. The one that had the purple cat butt sticking straight out of it. Angel sighed as she peered down, grabbing Catseye firmly by the hips. "The things I do for my classmates."

Catseye wriggled against Angel's hold on her but let her classmate pull her out of the bag. She had the bug cupped in her front paws when Angel pulled her up, then shifted into girlform when she was right-side-up again. "BurningGirl does not eat everything," she corrected with a grin, and held the bug, still cupped in her hands, out to Angel. "BurningGirl would not eat this bug." She smiled in a challenging way, tail swishing behind her.

Angel peered at it and made a face. "I would if you either cooked it or covered it in chocolate," she hedged, wiping off charcoal bits off of her hands. "But, well, not wriggling. I did that once, with octopus and I really don't want to repeat that with that little guy." She paused. "Is that guy why you're butt was waving like a flag out of that bag?"

Frowning, Catseye looked back over her shoulder. “Catseye’s butt was not waving! Catseye thinks BurningGirl is a SillyKitten.” She frowned at the bug. “If Catseye covered the bug in chocolate BurningGirl would eat it? Does chocolate make bugs taste better? And octopuses?” She paused for contemplation, staring into space, wondering if there was any chocolate in the kitchen.

"Oh sweetie, chocolate makes everything better. One day you too will come to this realization." Angel paused. "Unless chocolate makes you sick like it does Kyle. Does it? Because of your weird kitty human like biology?" That was something she never thought she'd say.

"Catseye does not think chocolate makes Catseye sick. Is there any chocolate in the kitchen? Catseye wants to try chocolate-covered bug."

Now she'd done it - Catseye would probably not let her go if they didn't cover that bug with chocolate. "Er, I think it might need to be dead first," Angel said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Why don't you bring your little ... friend to the kitchen and we'll cover something in chocolate and eat it?"

"And BurningGirl will try the bug too?" she asked excitedly, nearly bouncing with anticipation. She loved Angel's willingness to try anything. "Does BurningGirl want Catseye to call BurningGirl by her real name?" she asked suddenly, cocking her head to the side as she led the way towards the kitchen.

At that Angel paused and blinked up at her friend. "You've never asked me that before," she said slowly, as if trying to work out some odd puzzle. Shaking her head, she started heading for the kitchen again. "If you want, yeah, I'd like it. But why do you call people by 'BurningGirl' and stuff anyway?"

Frowning, Catseye transferred the bug from hand to hand as she pondered the question. "Calling humans by what they look like or what they do with their powers is easier than remembering human names because human names don't make sense to cats at least not to Catseye when Catseye was a cat when she first came to the BigHouse. But MisterPointy... Mister Beaubier," she corrected, "told Catseye that human names are special and that calling someone a name because of what they look like or do can hurt them. Catseye does not want to hurt humans especially not her friends and BurningGirl is Catseye's friend." She might not have cared enough about humans in general to care that she hurt their feelings when she'd first come to the mansion, but things had changed in the years since she'd been brought to the school. She had changed, and now she cared very much about hurting her friends' feelings. "But," she added, frowning again, "Catseye does not understand 'Angel.' Catseye thinks this name sounds like the name of a thing, because Catseye knows that an angel is a thing, so Catseye thinks BurningGirl and Angel are both the names of things and that Catseye should not call BurningGirl Angel because Angel is not as special when there are lots of things called angel and Catseye thinks BurningGirl should have a very special name because BurningGirl is very special."

After that incredibly long winded thing from Catseye - which was another shock since the other girl talked, yeah, but that was the most Angel had ever heard her say in one go - Angel's head hurt. She pushed open the door to the kitchen almost distractedly as she tried to figure out exactly how to address what her friend was bringing up.

"Let's kind of start at the beginning," she said slowly, letting her thoughts catch up with her mouth. "Mister Beaubier's got a point about names, okay? Names are special but I think he's wrong about something. My full name? Eh, I can certainly leave it - it's really long and everyone in my family has long names that we all shorten, right? Angelica's too formal but ..." She had it and she grinned as she went in search of chocolate to melt. "To them, calling me Angel is kind of like when you call me BurningGirl, okay? There are names that we're given when we're born and names that we grow into. Or ones that we're given because of friendships."

A bowl was found and soon a large thing of chocolate. "So I think what you gotta figure out, Cats, is this. The names you use for us - do we think it's a nickname or is it, you know, a label you slapped on? Mister Beaubier didn't like the one you gave him. I like mine."

Catseye cocked her head. "BurningGirl's real name is not Angel? It is Angelica?" This name thing was confusing. Now she wasn't sure if she was supposed to be calling the red-haired girl by her real name, or this other made-up name, or the name she made up herself. She put the stunned and no-longer-moving bug into Angel's bowl, not sure how Angel intended to get the chocolate onto it, and tried to work out what Angel was telling her. "So if someone says a name Catseye gave them is okay that means it is okay for Catseye to use it? But only if they say?"

Angel eyed the bowl with resgination - there really was no way around that. And she'd better not tell some of the kitchen folks there was a bug in their bowl. To make up for it, she pulled out some more normal things to dip into chocolate, like strawberries and marshmallows. And another bowl to put the chocolate in.

"Pretty much, yeah," Angel said, nodding. "Just ask, right? When you ask or they like it, then it becomes a special nickname between the two of you and not just a label. And then it's cool."

"Catseye can ask," the purple-haired girl nodded in agreement. "Catseye likes special nicknames. Is BurningGirl going to use her powers to melt the chocolate and then Catseye will put the bug in it?"

"....yeeeaaah, BurningGirl is so going to do that." She eyed the now not moving bug with unease. "Man, you know, I should think about watching what I say. Right, melting chocolate first and then we'll dip El Buggo into it - I'll use one of the knives to cut him in half to share or something."

The catgirl clapped her hands together excitedly. "Catseye thinks this will be yummy! Can we put the otherthings in it too?" She gestured to the fruit and marshmallows. "And make bug chocolate marshmallow strawberry soup?"

'Dear God in heaven, lend me strength and forget not your ever loving worshiper in her time of need.

"Sure, why not?"