Callie and Catseye

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

While making ravioli, Callie questions Catseye's dislike of pronouns.

Having completed all her homework, Catseye was indulging in a much-needed game of Chase The Mini-Squid. The large purple housecat barreled into the kitchen and went careening into Callie's legs as Mini-Squid did a last-minute direction-switch that the flesh-and-blood creature could not keep up with.


Even catching sight of the purple cat flying toward her legs at the last minute and trying to maneuver out of her way, Callie could not prevent Catseye's collision. Being momentarily distracted from her task of rolling out pasta dough, Callie swooped down and untangled Catseye's limbs, picking up the cat, saying, "Hey, watch where you're going!" The tone was more amused than angry as Callie carried her friend over away from all the sharp knives, hot surfaces, and heavy utensils before setting her back on the floor.


The purple cat gave Callie's nose a lick with her rough tongue before being put back on the floor, where she shifted into girlform and snatched at MiniSquid, securing it firmly in her tail. "Hi Callie! What is Callie making? Can Catseye watch?"


Callie wrinkled her nose at the sensation of wetness on her nose, and raised her arm to wipe it away. "I'm making ravioli," she Callie as she marched to the sink to scour her hands with soap and hot water. "And sure you can watch. I mean there's not much to it, but yeah."


Catseye washed her hands too, since everywhere she turned it seemed like she was being reminded to so that no one got sick from the flu. "How come Callie is making ravioli? Catseye thinks sandwiches are much faster to make!"


"Hmmmm?" Callie was busy spooning filling into the squares of dough. It took her a minute to process what Catseye was saying; somehow making pasta flipped her language to brain to Italian. Possibly this was due to the fact that her pasta making lessons had been conducted in that language. "Oh. I got a little homesick for my family. And I feel like pasta?"


"Where does Callie's family live?"

"Italy." The squares of pasta were folded over and pressure was applied to close the seams. "Milan." Callie paused to finish the micro batch she was working on.

"You know, you don't have to say my name every time you want to refer to me, or ask me a question."


Catseye's head tipped to one side. "Catseye knows she doesn't have to."

"Okay. Cool." Callie's hands busied rolling out more dough to work with, forgetting for a second that Catseye was standing there watching her. She figured she should say something, have a conversation, instead of retreating into her mind as she usually did. "How do you find French," she asked finally.


"Catseye likes it very much," she murmured, tail twitching. "It is very hard but Catseye likes to learn all the different rules. Does Callie think Catseye is stupid like a two year-old because she does not say 'I' or 'you?'" she asked quietly, not her usual exuberant self. "Cammie told Catseye she thought using names instead of 'I' or 'you' was stupid."

Had this been asked of her a year ago, Callie would have said that it was strange, confusing, and a tad bit annoying. But she knew Catseye better now, and forgot about the quirk most of the time. It was like an accent, or broken English, one learned to see past all that. So Callie concentrated intently on making more pasta as she thought about the question. "It is not incorrect to use names," she said finally. "But I think it is unnecessary. There are many things that can be understood by context, so using "I" and "you" is easier. A good example is French. When you are speaking in it, what do you use?"


"When Catseye is speaking about Catseye, she uses je and that means 'I'," she answered, tail still twitching in thought. "When Catseye is speaking about Callie, she says 'tu' for 'you.' Context, Callie? Catseye does not understand what that means."


"Well you can think of it as the same in English." More squash filling was spooned onto the squares. "Instead of using someone's name whenever you want to refer to them, you use pronouns. It comes in handy with people with long names. It's quicker and easier."


"And using names makes Catseye sound stupid," she added.

Callie's eyes narrowed. "Did someone call you stupid?"


"No." Cammie had been clear that she didn't think Catseye was stupid, just the way she was speaking. "But using names instead of pronouns is stupid, yes?"

"It is not a commonly practiced way to speak. Grammatically, it's not incorrect. But... in terms of societal norms it's not something that is done. You don't need to do it."


Catseye poked at a ravioli absently. "Callie is saying that humans don't do it, yes?" She had noticed it, of course, but had never really thought about it before. She was trying to become more human but she didn't speak like a normal human.

Callie stopped and turned around to face Catseye, abandoning her work for a minute. "In general, no. I mean if there was a language that lacked pronouns, then it would be different. But in English we have them so we use those in place of a name every time we need to refer to someone or something. Does that make sense?"


"Yes," Catseye admitted reluctantly. "Ca... I never thought it bothered people, but now that Ca... you said it is not normal, maybe it does bother people? It bothered Cammie... but she was grumpy anyway," she smirked.

"Look at it this way," Callie smiled. "All of us here at the mansion know you, and we've accepted it. But outside of here people may not understand, or be confused. Like people you come in contact with through Elpis. They may not speak English as their first or even second languages, and just like you when they learned it they were taught to speak using pronouns. That's what they're used to. So they might have a hard time following, or they might become confused, if you do something they're not used to. And it sounds more professional."

"...did any of that make sense?"


"Yes, it makes sense," the catgirl told Callie with a nod. "It is like people told Cat... me, when I was using names I made up for people. Friends are okay with it but other humans might not be. Ca... I understand. I... am going to try, because I do want to be more professional at Elpis. Ca... Callie, you are supersmart to make me understand!"

"I'm glad I could help." Looking back at her work, she realized that the amount of the dough and filling left was much more than she originally planned for. Turning back to Catseye, she asked, "Do you want to help me make some more ravioli?"


"Yesyesyes! Cat... I want to learn how to make it! And can I taste it too?"

"Of course! The best part about cooking is eating what you make!"