Catseye and Yvette - Fathers and Daughters

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

A chance meeting results in a rather serious talk.



In cat form, Catseye raced through the mansion with a book she was reading for literature class in her tail, searching for Kurt to ask a question about a phrase she didn't quite understand. The sight of Yvette coming up from the direction of the medlab had her skidding to a stop, however, and shifting, though the fact that she hadn't quite stopped moving before she started shifting sent her sprawling on the floor in girlform, landing nose-first at Yvette's feet. "Hi Yvette!" she called out happily, trying to sort out her arms and legs and keep all of her limbs out of the red-skinned girl's path.

Yvette giggled at the sight of the tall girl sprawled at her feet - it was obvious she hadn't hurt herself in the tumble, so laughing was all right. "Hello, Catseye!" she replied. "You looked like you were in the hurry to get some place?"

The Albanian girl's powers were unnaturally relaxed - her hair hung loosely and dimples appeared in her cheeks as she smiled. A bandaid showed starkly white in the crook of her elbow.


"I was going to ask Professor Kurt a question about this book," Catseye replied, getting to her feet and sniffing noticeably as she showed her friend the book. "You have a patch on your arm," she commented, "and you smell like Laurie and like the lab where the sick people go. And you look different. Are you okay?"

"Oh, I am fine. I have been for the blood test, that is all. Laurie must help me with her powers, so they can get the needle in." She wrinkled her nose a little - no-one liked blood tests. "It is the regular thing, to be making sure the new kidney is working all right, yes?"

"That is a very good thing then," the catgirl replied with a vigourous nod. "How long is something new for before it is not new anymore, Yvette?" she inquired curiously, her question about her book forgotten in light of the intriguing questions Yvette's kidney brought to her mind.

"Well, when it is the body organs, I think the transplanted one will always be new. It was not there from the start, so it is the stranger, yes?" Yvette giggled again - she had an image of a kidney showing up in a classroom like a new student. "But Dr. McCoy says it is settling in very well, because it was from someone in the family. So perhaps it is not so strange after all."

Catseye thought about this seriously. "But maybe the other body organs think it is their friend not a stranger?" she mused, then shook her head. "No I think you are right I think until you get a newer body organ the kidney will always be the newest so it is named 'new' until something else can be named 'new', like how Julian was New Boy until Nick was New Boy and now we have Megan being New Girl so Nick is not new anymore." Satisfied with her explanation, she shifted her book from hand to hand and pondered Yvette's other statement. "If it is from someone in the family then yes it should not be strange it should be a relative!" That term was still new to her. "Someone in Yvette's family gave you a kidney? But where did they get it from?"

"It was my... father's." Yvette hesitated over the word, having never expected to put those two words together before. "He was not needing it any more, so he gave it to me, because I would have died without it." Although, now she thought about it, he hadn't been agreeable at the start. She wondered what had made him change his mind.


"Your fatherperson did not need it? But you need kidneys to be alive," Catseye pointed out, confused. "If he did not need it does that mean he is dead?"

Yvette nodded, her skin and hair beginning to go back to normal as her own emotions countered the relaxation Laurie had generated. "He was the bad man," she explained softly. "The war criminal. He was to be executed, so before he was, he gave the permission for me to be having his kidney to replace my broken ones."

Eyes widening, Catseye clapped her hands together. "Oh! Okay, I understand. War criminals are bad men but it was a little bit nice for the bad fatherperson to give you his kidney, yes? Because it would be even more bad if you died."

"Yes, I suppose it was nice of him to do so..." Yvette's voice trailled off and her brow furrowed. "At the time, I was too busy getting well, but now I am wondering about him. Who he was, what sort of person. As you say, he was not all bad, if he was saving my life?"

Catseye nodded in understanding. "I wonder about my fatherperson too," she admitted. "Because it was bad what he did throwing me outside in the snow because he thought I would die but he did not throw Evan or LittleBrother in the snow so is he not all bad like your fatherperson? But you should not be wondering about your fatherperson now though if he is dead because wondering does not fix anything," she pointed out gently. "Making yourself sad wondering is not a good thing."

"I am not sad," Yvette replied. "More... curious, I am supposing? I wonder what kind of the person he was, that is all. Part of me is him, after all, yes?" She considered the catgirl in front of her. "Perhaps... we can help each other with the wondering? To learn a little about our fathers? It would not be so scary, if we are together, yes?"

"I am not scared!" Catseye replied adamantly and a little too quickly. "Why should I be scared just because my fatherperson tried to make sure I died? I am not scared! But I will help you if you are scared and we can help each other because we are curious but I am not scared, no no no!"

Yvette considered telling Catseye it was okay to be scared, but she decided against it. They all needed their small moments of pride. "Because we are curious, yes," she agreed. "Not scared at all."

"You have to promise that if we meet my fatherperson and he tries to kill me again you will try to stop him, okay?" the catgirl demanded, eyebrow raised.

"Okay," Yvette promised solemnly. "Cross my heart."