Fred and Catseye, Nick and Catseye - Saturday Afternoon

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

Catseye finds Fred using his powers to win all the stuffed animals in the land at the amusement park.



Catseye was barely able to keep herself from running as she made her way down the busy lanes of the amusement park games stalls, searching out her friends. Only little children were running, and she didn't want anyone to think she was a child, so she held herself to a walk, though at times she couldn't help but break into an excited, skipping step. A squeal escaped her as she spotted Fred at one of the stalls. "Fred! Fred! Catseye got to drive cars that are allowed to bump each other! Everyone was crashing! And it's allowed!"


Fred looked up from the 'Test You Grip' game, and the large pile of stuffed animals he'd been gathering since he began playing the game, and smiled as Catseye approached him, "You found the Bumper Cars, huh? Heh. Figured you'd get a kick out of those. Did you see the little pond they had set up with the Bumper Boats? Those are pretty fun too..."



"Boats?! No! Catseye did not see boats!" She looked around with wide eyes, clearly overstimulated. "Catseye wants to try the boats!" The pile of brightly coloured animals caught her attention as she whipped her head around to search for the boats and caused her to give a start. "Where did Fred get all the toys?"
Fred smiled and pointed down the row of games, to some of the ruined 'Strength Test' games that seemed not only uninhabited, but devoid of most of the larger prizes, "Just enjoying one of the benefits to mutation."


Catseye giggled when she followed Fred's gesture and noticed the abandoned games. She didn't think it counted as cheating, because being strong was part of who Fred was, so she wasn't going to berate him over it. "What is Fred going to do with all his toys?"



Fred held up a giant stuffed striped purple cat, grinning a little, "Well, I was figuring on giving a bunch away. You want one? I got a feeling you might want this one in particular..."



With a squeal, Catseye clapped her hands excitedly. "Yesyesyes! Thank you Fred! Catseye likes it very much! Catseye likes the lovely purple stripes! Catseye wishes she had lovely purple stripes," she grinned. "Can Fred show Catseye how he wins the toys?"



Fred grinned and shrugged, "It ain't exactly rocket science. Take this one..." He walked over to one of the games he hadn't tried yet, which was a punching bag attached to a counterweight to measure how much force you exert on it. Fred paid the dollar to the attendant at the game, who eyed Fred wearily but took the dollar anyway. Fred turned back to Cats, "Here. You go first. Hit the bag as hard as you can."


"Catseye should hit it with her hand?"
Fred snorted, "Yea. Just, you know, punch it as hard as you can."



Giving the bag a frown of concentration, Catseye got into a fighting stance and pulled a fist back the way she'd learned in training, then punched the bag. "Did Catseye win?"


Fred watched a small red light and a a sad little buzzer hum, and smiled, "Nah. Here. Let me take a whack at it." Fred squeezed his right hand till the his knuckles cracked, reared back, and slammed his fist into the bag. One of the seams on the bag tore slightly as it flew back, and the wall it was attached to lit up with a bright green light and gave a satisfying little 'DING'!

Fred turned to Catseye, "See? Like that."



"No fair!" Catseye giggled, shoving Fred playfully. She lowered her voice so the attendant wouldn't hear her. "Fred's powers make him a winner but not Catseye's! No fair!"


Fred held his finger up to his mouth, "Ixnay on the power thing, Cats," Fred said quietly, "Don't think the carnie's take kindly to me, uh, working the system..."


Catseye shoved him again. "Catseye knows, silly, that is why Catseye was quiet!" She lowered her voice again. "Catseye knows that sometimes people don't understand about powers and Catseye does not want people to be angry at Fred." She stepped back and looked at the toys in the stall. "Can Fred pick any toy he wants?"
Fred smiled as Catseye told him her reasoning, and finally spoke up as she finished, "Yea, but you can pick if you'd like. See any prizes you want?" and waved his hand at the slew of baubles lying on the shelf.


The catgirl pointed at a gigantic beige-coloured teddy bear with a wide smile. "Catseye thinks this one is a good one for Fred, because Fred is like a big bear!"

Fred cocked an eyebrow at Catseye, and after a moment barked out another laugh as he grabbed the bear, "Thanks. Callie'll like this one I bet."
Catseye grinned widely and gave Fred a smirk. "Yes, Catseye thinks she will, yesyesyes!"

***


Nick finds the catgirl after she has an unpleasant experience on a roller coaster and the topic of his deceased mother is brought up.


Roller coasters are evil! Catseye thought to herself, mewling plaintively in her most pathetic of mews as she sensed a shadow falling across her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was lying in a tight little ball in catform on a bench at the park, trying to wait out the queasy feeling in her stomach.


"I've never heard that sound from you." Nicholas Gleason said as he leaned over the park bench. It was hard to miss a purple cat, even in the middle of a crowded amusement park, or if he hadn't been walking around looking for one the past few minutes. He took a seat next to the cat and raised his hand gesturing for her to come onto his lap. "Need to lie down for a bit?"


Opening her eyes at the sound of Nick's voice, Catseye shifted into girlform and then crawled into his lap. "It is Catseye's 'Catseye is sick' sound," she answered, burying her face in his shoulder, "and Catseye does not know what she needs except to not be feeling so ickysicky. Roller coasters are evil."


"Now you know why I wouldn't go with you guys." The boy awkwardly began stroking the top of the girls head. "Where is it you feel sick? Did you hit your head, or is it your stomach?"

"Stomach," she whimpered. "Catseye has never felt like this before, ever. Catseye does not like it one bit!"


"I'm sorry Cats." He began rocking her back and forth slightly as his mind began to think through things that used to help him when his stomach was upset. "Well when I was little I would always drink something cold when my stomach was upset. Well that or my mom would sing with me." He added with a laugh, but quickly cut himself off, fearing he knew what might be coming next.

"Singing makes a stomach better? Really? Does Nick know how to sing? Can Nick sing to Catseye? Or is Nick's singing private?" she added, not wanting to embarrass him.

The boy rocked back and looked at the public walking around the bench, but his eyes caught the corner of Catseye's face, his own personal Kryptonyte, and he knew that he had no shame. "I can try." He racked his brain for the perfect nursery rhyme, one quickly coming to place. A smile spread across his face as he knew he found the perfect song in his memory banks. His voice came out in a soft whisper of a song. "Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? I've been to London to visit the Queen. Pussycat, Pussycat, what did you there? I frightened a little mouse under her chair."


Catseye found herself giggling, stomach pains forgotten momentarily. "That is a silly song! Where did Nick learn that song? Did Nick's MotherPerson sing it to Nick? Did Nick like hearing songs about cats or did Nick always like dogs best?"

A smile quickly spread across Nick's face. "I did prefer dogs until recently." His eyes faded away into a distant place as they often did when he thought about his past. "My mom used to sing a whole bunch of songs to me, that's just one that I remembered." He felt the sting that was always there when he thought about his parents, but it was somehow less when he was with Cats. "Does your stomach feel a little better now?"


"Yes, a little," Catseye smiled. "Mostly just because Catseye has something else to think about. Nick's mom doesn't sing songs to him anymore?"

"No, I wish she could." The boy bit his bottom lip for a second, but decided that he felt comfortable at this point. "Well I can still hear her sometimes in my head, but she can't sing to me anymore. She... passed away... about six months ago now."


Nuzzling his cheek with hers, Catseye hugged Nick tightly. "Catseye is veryvery sorry to know that. It is veryverysad." She didn't really understand the grief of a lost parent at all, but had learned a little about the things to say and how to act when someone she cared about was sad, and she wanted to make Nick feel better and to know that she was there for him. "Nick does not have to talk about his MotherPerson if he doesn't want to but if he does want to Catseye is a good listener especially about MotherPeople because Catseye really does not know her own MotherPerson. Or if Nick wants to talk about something else or go somewhere else that is okay too."

"No, I'm really doing much better with it." He flashed another half grin at Cats. "But someday soon, I promise I'll tell you all about her and my dad. But first..." He reached down for her hand, but waited the last few inches for her to takes his if she wanted. "Let's go see about getting you a Snow Cone. I don't want that stomachache coming back."


"What is a snow cone?" Catseye asked, head tilted in curiosity as she eagerly took Nick's hand.

He titled his head to the side allowing the words to be formed in his head as he said them. "It's kind of like eating snow, but with a flavor and all sorts of sugar packed into it."


"Eating snow?!" she asked incredulously, getting shakily to her feet. "Catseye definitely wants to try eating snow as long is the flavour is not yellow."


Nick kicked his way up to his feet, clasping Catseye's hand and beginning to pull her up. "I think that's one of the lessons we both learned a while ago."