Sam and Catseye - Sunday Afternoon

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

Sam runs into Catseye outside and the two discuss linguistics.
Backdated to Sunday

Sam had set aside some time that Sunday to sit out on a bench overlooking some of the mansion's finer scenery. He was dressed for the cold, mittens and all, and he enjoyed the changing seasons. The cold weather and view reminded the eldest Guthrie of home and he needed that sometimes, seasons were intricately linked with farming in his mind. He didn't want to let himself forget where he came from and how important that would always be to him.

Catseye dropped in feline form from a tree branch above Sam's head with a yowl that roughly translated into "FlyingCatDeathFromAbove!" and landed on his shoulder triumphantly.

Sam's arms shot up reflexively as he was startled, shaking as he fought back the natural reactions of surprise. Once his mind caught up to the situation he pulled Catseye down into his coat and began to playfully and roughly scratch her head with his mitten covered hands. "That was a heart attack and a half Catseye!" He laughed sincerely. He thought about his students often and the country boy had always told himself that it was important to remember Catseye is both a girl and a cat. He saw a lot of people trying to help her be a girl and he was always afraid her inner cat would be neglected.

Catseye butted her head against Sam's chest affectionately and purred happily at the attention. And in true cat fashion, after only a few minutes something distracted her so she wriggled out of Sam's arms to the ground, where she shifted into girlform. "Hi Sam! What is Sam doing outside today?" she inquired casually.

"Just watching the seasons change. It reminds me of the farm." Sam didn't attempt to keep hold of her when she wriggled out of his arms and off. He had owned enough cats to know they did what they wanted. "What are you doing? Other than pouncing the unsuspecting folks."

"That was all I was doing," she giggled. "All my homework is done and no one was around to take me driving, so I thought I would come out to play. Can Cat... I see your farm sometime? Are there cows there?"

Sam nodded, "There are. I can fly you out there when you have the time some day." An expression crossed his face that showed he noticed the unusual presence of pronouns. "And I'm guessing someone's working with you on how you speak again...?" He was wary to approach the topic because he didn't want to complicate things too much for the woman.

"Yes it is better to use pronouns instead of names all the time because that is how people who are learning new languages learn to understand them and I do not want to confuse people at Elpis by using names all the time," she explained.

Sam nodded as she explained. "I had to make the decision when I was becoming a teacher about how country I wanted to talk. Most folks figure a person that talks with my accent don't sound very smart." He shrugged at the idea. "I make sure when it's important to sound like the educated man I am but I also remember where I come from." The country boy wasn't going to instruct her on what to do but just give her more information to consider for herself about the topic. He had personally found how she spoke endearing, even if he did think he always had the worst nickname.

"So you mean you talk differently when you are at work and when you are not?" she asked, not entirely sure what he meant.

"Sometimes I clean up my vocabulary at academic events so more folks understand me. What I really mean to say is that I found a balance. I figure that the people who are going to judge me because of where I come from and not what I have to say ain't the kind of people I'm going to have much to say to." Sam watched the purple haired girl as he spoke.

With a smile, Sam tried to complete his thought. "I just wanted you to know I see that same kinda problem in you sometimes and I wanted to be an example of someone who decided to go a different way. People being different from another is a good thing and we don't all have to try to be one way; you can be any way you are and the people that love you will love that about you too."
Catseye smiled happily at his statements. "That is a verygoodthing," she nodded. "I am happy people will still love me. But I think I need to practice speaking right all the time until I don't have to think hard about it anymore," she pointed out. "It is something I need to learn because it is the right way for a human to speak and I do want to speak right so everyone will love me not just the people who already love me," she grinned.

Sam nodded as Catseye made her decision. "As long as you're making the choice and know what it is. There are still places for nicknames even for normal human speak." He smiled back to Catseye.

"Like in the X-Men?" she asked with a smile. "They all have sillynames when new people join."

Sam nodded. "People use nicknames other times too but the X-Men is a good example."

"Or like when Catseye calls Nick wolfboy?"

"Couples usually have nicknames for each other." Sam replied in agreement.

"They do?!" That idea excited her.

Sam confirmed with a nod. "Long time friends that consider themselves equals reflect it with nicknames. Long time friends who aren't social equals sometimes have nicknames for each other too. Lots of people call Logan 'Old Man,' for example."

"But isn't that how come people don't like nicknames? Because they can be mean?"

"Sometimes people are mean no matter what they do. I never figured you were being ill when you called me 'splodeybutt though and it was probably the worst of them. It always struck me as unique and endearing. Always knew what Catseye was talking to someone." Sam laughed a bit at the memory.

Catseye laughed as well. "So you are saying that I can call you SplodeyButt when we are here at the mansion by ourselves?"

Sam nodded, "Once people know you've developed the skills to talk the way you need to for any given situation, I'm sure more people than just me wouldn't mind if you used nicknames again."

Greatly pleased by this, Catseye gave Sam a big smile and took a few steps back from him. "Does SplodeyButt want to play Chase?" she asked happily, and shifted into catform.

"It won't exactly be fair... we all know I'm the fastest." Sam grinned back playfully and gave her just a few seconds head start.