Kurt and Catseye

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

Catseye visits Kurt for help with schoolwork but gets distracted by his image inducer and talk about her father.

Book in hand, Catseye knocked on Kurt's door and called out a greeting. "Mister Kurt? It is Catseye I have some questions about the book Tom Sawyer and also about the play can I come in and talk to you?"




He opened the door with a smile, already starting, "Of course... Catseye. You have dyed your hair?"


Catseye made a face and pawed at the muddy blackish-purplish locks. "Yes but it did not work very well Mister Kurt. Megan and I thought that dyeing my hair would mean my fur would change colour in catform too but it does not! My fur is still purple even though my hair is black!"


"Hm." He considered this. "You do have rather more fur than hair, and perhaps since it is not natural... it looks as though the only way may be to dye yourself in cat form, and not change back."


"Yes we are going to try to dye my catform next," she nodded, pleased that he'd had the same idea Megan had. "Megan thinks animal fur dye will work maybe. I should ask Mister Hank if he has ever tried to dye his lovely blue fur another colour," she smiled. "Do you ever want to change your blue skin Mister Kurt?"


"I have wanted to in the past", he said frankly. "It was not easy being the only child so different. But without an image inducer, it is not exactly possible."


"What is an image inducer?" She tried to puzzle out what it could be by the words that described it. "Something that changes how you look? Like hair dye?"


"Something like that, yes... and I do not know why I did not think of it for you." He glanced at a shelf inside the room. "I still have one, though I rarely use it now. It is a piece of electronics."


Intrigued, Catseye followed his gaze to the shelf but couldn't pick out what it was he was looking at. "Electronics that change how you look? Like my collars?"

"I believe so", he agreed. "Dr. McCoy invented them many years ago, for those who cannot otherwise hide their mutation." He walked over and picked up a small object. "This is mine, for emergencies."


Her questions about the play and the book completely forgotten, Catseye followed Kurt into the room and dropped her book on the shelf so she could look at the image inducer. "How does it work? Does it make anyone who uses it look like you but with normal coloured skin? Or can it make anyone look like themselves but normal?"

"If you were to turn it on now, it would make you or I look the way I would have, born human", he told her. "But it can be programmed to make anyone look however they wish."


Pondering this, Catseye pulled her hands behind her back so that she wouldn't be tempted to snatch the inducer from him and try it out for herself. "So I could be a black cat? And my fatherperson would not know me?"

"He would probably not even look at your twice", Kurt said quietly. "You could be a black cat, or you could look like a person completely other than yourself... but no one would question a cat lingering around the house."


"But I would have to find a way to wear the image inducer in my catform and he might wonder what it is?" she pointed out. "Fur dye will be easier I think and I do not think he will know that it is me if I am black even if I am still the same size and shape as Catseye because he has not seen me since I was a kitten."


"That is true", he allowed. "The dye will be easier, in the long run, and you are right - he will have no reason to suspect it might be you, if the dye works."


"And then if I see that he is nice to me in catform I can talk to him!" she reasoned, pleased with her logic.

"Catseye..." Kurt started cautiously, choosing his words, "that may be something of a leap. A man who would be nice to a perfectly normal cat might not be so nice to one that talks."


Her smile disappeared and her tail twitched. "You think he will not like me?"

"I think you should be careful", he emphasised. "I hope that he will like you as much as your brother does, but if he really did what it seems he did when you were only a baby, if he is in the Friends of Humanity... there is a risk."


"That he will hurt me in my heart and make me sad? Or hurt me by trying to kill me?"

"Either. Both. I do not know, but I do not want to see you hurt in either way." He held out his hands helplessly. "I do not mean you should not do this, but someone should be nearby - an adult, if possible - in case it is the second."


"But if you are nearby and my fatherperson is in the Friends of Humanity and does not like mutants then you might get hurt too."

"But I", he pointed out, "can come in, rescue you, and get out again before he knows what is happening. If it was necessary."


"But what if he sees you watching?"

"I think", he held up the little device in his hand, "this situation would qualify as emergency use. He will never notice me."


Eyes lighting up, Catseye clapped her hands together. "Maybe we could go when I get the dye and the play is over and Yvette can come too?"


"That sounds like a very good plan." He smiled at her obvious pleasure in the idea. "Just let me know when you want to go."