Emma and Catseye

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

Catseye has a rather confusing conversation with the Queen of Diamonds (being distracted by shinies doesn't improve her concentration), during which they discuss Yvette and the price of being extraordinary.




In between classes, Catseye was indulging in a game of Chase the Sunbeam in the front hallway of the mansion in her catform, bursting with affection for whomever had placed the crystalline sun catcher outside one of the front windows where it could catch a breeze that sent rays of light skirting across the hardwood floors. She attacked one sunbeam enthusiastically with both front paws, leaping across the floor and finding the wind knocked out of her when she collided with a pair of feet.


Emma looked down at the purple cat that sprawled breathlessly across her feet, her mind instinctively reaching out and testing shields and psyches, as it always did when her personal space was breached. "You," she said, "are not what you seem to be." Her mind probed harder, tracing the edges of the mind in front of her in a way that she couldn't do with animals. "So you must be Catseye," she said, remembering that Yvette had mentioned the metamorph during some of their sessions.


The purple cat shifted into a purplish-blackish-haired girl in a sundress, laughing richly. "That is right, I am not really a cat!" she answered, pleased. "I am a mutant and yes I am Catseye. How did you know that?" She couldn't remember telling anyone who looked or smelled like this woman about herself, but thought maybe the woman had read it on the journals. "And who are you?"


Emma smiled at the girl unselfconsciously sitting nearly on her feet. "My name is Emma," she replied. "I used to be a teacher here, a long time ago. And I like to keep an eye on Charles' latest recruits, in case I can provide - specialised assistance." She held out her hand to Catseye, a silent offer of assistance to help the younger mutant regain her feet.


"Hi Emma!" She knew the name as that of one of Yvette's special teachers, but she'd never met the woman before. Taking the offered hand, Catseye jumped to her feet, catching a whiff of Emma's scent as she did so. "You smell..." she nearly said 'funny', but that didn't seem quite polite. "Different," she amended. "Not like normal." Of course, a lot of people at the mansion didn't smell normal, so it didn't mean a whole lot, but there was something about the woman's skin that wasn't like anyone else's. "It is very interesting!" she commented with a smile, hoping she hadn't offended the woman. "Did you come to keep an eye on me?"


Emma smiled again; Catseye's psyche was as open as her countenance and the quicksilver flickerings of her thoughts were like watching tiny fish dart through a coral reef, this way and that. "No, Catseye, I didn't come to keep an eye on you. Not yet, anyway. And I presume that different doesn't mean the perfume I spend far too much money having made for me," she replied. "I presume by different you mean this," and she let her body ripple into diamond form, even more amused as the sunlight that had flickered through the suncatcher shone through the uncovered areas of her body in a blazing coruscation of colour.


Eyes widening, Catseye's jaw fell open at the sight of Emma turning shiny and reflecting the sunlight into a riot of colours and patterns on the floor. She leapt at one before she remembered she was in human form, sheepishly picking herself up and shaking her head as if to clear it. "Wow," she murmured, awed. "You're a jewel! A shiny jewel!" She knew about different rocks and geological things from science class but wasn't sure about the names of specific ones. "Can I touch?" she asked, as her clawed fingers stopped midway between herself and Emma's hand.


"A shiny jewel, indeed," replied Emma, gently. "And sometimes the Queen of Diamonds," she added, amusing herself, amused at herself. She extended her hand towards Catseye, palm upwards. "You do not really have to be gentle," she said.


"Diamonds," Catseye repeated, nodding at the name of the jewel she hadn't been able to think of. She reached a claw out to Emma's hand and gave it a tentative poke. "It is not cold like I thought," she mused, head tilting in thought. "How come you said before 'not yet anyway' about keeping an eye on me?" she inquired curiously, poking at Emma's elbow so she could try to figure out how the diamond skin could bend when it was supposed to be hard like a rock.


"The world is full of possibilities," replied Emma. "I do not like to limit my options. Perhaps one day there may be a reason for me to pay you a great deal of attention." For just a moment, Emma leaned forward and touched her strangely warm diamond hand to Catseye's cheek. "Or perhaps you may live out your life in safety and joy. I have been told that I should always leave room for hope."


Confused, the catgirl's tail lashed behind her as she tried to sort out the meaning of Emma's words. "You only pay attention to people who are not safe and happy? I do not understand." Yvette was safe and happy, wasn't she? "You mean you try to help people if they are sad and in danger?"


Emma shrugged. “Sometimes. If they deserve my help. Or my protection.” Her expression flickered, becoming briefly as hard as the diamond of which she was made. “Or my mistrust.” Her attention came back to Catseye and she took pity on the confusion she was obviously causing the girl. “I do not trust the world we live in, Catseye, and it does not trust me. I pay attention to people who I think may be in danger. Or who may be a danger.”


"Does that mean Yvette is in danger or is dangerous?" Catseye inquired, still poking at Emma's elbow. "Yvette is my friend, if she is in danger I want to help her, and if she is dangerous I want to help her too but if you mean that her skin is dangerous I think that is a mean thing to think because she is veryveryvery careful about not hurting anyone! Do you think she is in danger because of her fatherperson?"


A faint crease appeared between Emma's brows. "You are quite - linear," she said softly. "No, Yvette is in no more danger than is usual for young mutants and her fatherperson shall trouble the world no more." Emma ignored the question about whether Yvette was dangerous; she flexed her elbow hard beneath Catseye's exploring fingers, causing a burst of colours to dance around her. "Do you not think there might be some other reason why I might be interested in Yvette?" she asked, carefully keeping the irony out of her voice.


"You said you pay attention to people who you think may be in danger or may be a danger," Catseye pointed out, eyes drawn to the colours Emma had produced. "I thought those were your reasons. If you have other ones you did not tell me what they are so how could I think you had more? It is a badthing to think things about people that they do not talk about because if you are wrong people get angry or upset so you should always ask things out loud instead of... assuming that you know what they think," she said sagely. "Do you have another reason for being interested in Yvette?"


Emma smiled again, an almost conspirational grin. “I’m sorry, Catseye,” she said, almost contritely. “Sometimes I forget that thoughts are a secret.” She moved her hand suddenly, creating a whirl and flash of colour, savouring Catseye’s innocent delight. “Yvette’s skin is a little like mine. But I can do this,” she let her skin ripple back into flesh, the back again into diamond. “Yvette cannot. Yet. I am hoping to change that. Sometimes I pay attention to young mutants because they only need a little help to be extraordinary.”


"You can make Yvette be a shiny jewel?!" the catgirl asked with a hint of awe in her voice. "Wow!" She smiled widely at Emma. "Yvette is one of my very favourite friends and I think she is already extraordinary but I think if you can help her be a shiny jewel that would be verygood and veryspecial because I think she would like that! Could you make me extraordinary too? You said before that you did not come here to keep an eye on me not yet anyway, so does that mean someday?" Except she'd also said that she paid attention to people who were not safe and happy, and people who were dangerous or in danger. It was all very confusing.


Emma blinked in surprise for a moment. She had a feeling this conversation would probably be easier to follow if she could read Catseye’s thoughts, but it was (she admitted very privately to herself) far too much fun watching the girl’s reaction to the kaleidoscope of colours that radiated from Emma’s diamond form. “I don’t know if Yvette can be a shiny jewel, but she could be a girl with normal skin and not always have to be afraid of hurting other people. I think Yvette would like that very much. More than being a shiny jewel, I think.” Emma smiled at Catseye. “I am very good at teaching people to control what they can do with their mutation. And when people aren’t afraid they’re going to lose control of their mutation, they can do anything I can imagine. And I have an excellent imagination.” Her gaze turned suddenly searching as she looked at Catseye. “But there are a lot of people in this world who are afraid of people who are different, Catseye. That’s the price we pay for being extraordinary. A world that hates and fears us, because we are shiny jewels or big cats or can hear what they whisper in their own minds in the dark. Would you choose to be extraordinary if it means that people try and hurt you, simply because of what you are?”


"Yes I would," Catseye answered without a moment of hesitation, "because I never want to be just a regular girl I always want to be a girl and a cat. But it does not matter because I cannot choose so I do not think about choosing. Some people try to hurt me because of what I am but many people do not and some people like me because of what I am and I want to be friends with them not be friends with the people who want to hurt me so I would not want to change even if I could."


She drew her attention away from the beams of colour around Emma and looked her in the eyes. "But if Yvette can have normal skin and does not have to worry about hurting people and does not have to be afraid anymore then I think she should have it. Because everyone thinks different things and wants different things so even if I do not want to be normal it is okay that Yvette does. Yvette is extraordinary because of her brain and her heart so even with normal skin she will be extraordinary."


"But you do choose," replied Emma. "You can choose whether you want to be a girl right now or a cat right now. I think Yvette would like to choose whether she has hard skin or soft skin. That's the choice I am trying to give her. I cannot choose whether to make her extraordinary, because you are right. She already is." Emma switched back to flesh, closing down the light show abruptly. "As are you, Catseye. I think. I have another appointment I need to go to right now. But if you should ever need help or want to find out exactly what you can be as a girl or a cat, ask Ms Frost to talk to me. She generally knows how to get in contact with me." Emma held out her hand for a handshake, a formal and very human gesture.


Catseye took the hand and shook it firmly and quickly as she'd been taught when she'd gone to work for Elpis. "I think I would like to find out exactly what I can be as a girl or a cat Emma thank you," she said with a nod and a twitch of her tail. "And I understand now about being able to choose and yes I think Yvette would like to have that choice veryverymuch so I am happy you are going to help her."


Emma smiled at Catseye’s handshake and was not surprised when the girl’s thoughts revealed she had been taught the skill by Nathan. “It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Catseye,” she said. Emma didn’t add what she was thinking, knowing it would confuse the girl. ~Always a pleasure to meet a fellow predator.~