Catseye and Mr. Smith (NPC) ; Kurt and Catseye

[x-catseye.livejournal.com]

Catseye interacts with her father for the first time.

((ooc: Thanks to Tap for socking the Smiths!))

Opening the car door, Catseye shifted into catform, taking a moment to admire the sleek black fur of her paws before she slipped out of the car and padded slowly down the street, toward the man untangling a massive ball of Christmas lights, several times larger than the cat, in the front yard. A ladder and several extension cords littered the yard, which was landscaped to include three flower beds, two birch trees and a pine about twenty feet tall, and several lilac bushes that topped five feet.

The sidewalk was separated from the road by scraps of grass and another tree in front of each lot. Catseye crossed the street after checking both ways for cars and raced up the tree by the sidewalk, its vantage point offering her a great view of the house, yard, and man.



He seemed relaxed, which was something of a feat considering the amount of lights he had yet to untangle. He'd taken a seat on the porch and spread the mess across his knees to pluck at it with bare hands, and had been doing so long enough for his fingers to turn red in the cold. His movements were slow, patient. A thermos and a radio set to a classic rock station were within arm's reach. Catseye was just close enough to hear him quietly humming to The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love."


The black cat watched for the duration of the song before she realized that the man would be there for a while untangling the lights, and she decided to make her presence known to see what he thought of cats in general. She crawled along the branch she was perched on and ran down the trunk of the tree, across the sidewalk and sat at the end of her family's driveway, licking a paw lazily.



At the movement, the man glanced up. "The birds already emptied the feeder, Louie," he remarked, then noticed her coloration and lack of tags. "--or not."



He paused to give her a cursory inspection, taking in her size and the quality of her coat. After a moment he seemed to conclude that she was, if not a neighborhood cat, then at least not the sort of stray that was carrying diseases. With a final glance, he turned his attention back to the Christmas lights.


Catseye felt her spirits falling when he spoke. Maybe he didn't like the Louie cat hanging around his bird feeder- she couldn't tell- but even if he didn't, his response meant he tolerated it. He tolerated cats. So the fact that she was sometimes a cat wasn't the sole reason he'd left her to die so many years ago.


Knowing that her friends were close enough to help if things went bad, she padded cautiously up the driveway, this time stopping at the bottom of the porch and sitting again, letting out a "mrrrrrt!" to see what his response would be.



With Catseye now unavoidably in his field of vision, the man paused again. There was no hostility there, but nor did he seem the type inclined to offer a pet or scratch even to a friendly animal. He simply looked down at her from the porch as the cold reddened his nose and cheeks.


Then, unexpectedly, he seemed to give in. Flicking his gaze from the lights on his lap to the cat and back again, the man prized free one end and experimentally dangled the length of cord within her reach.


Catseye stared at the cord for a moment, emotions warring inside her small form. Her father wanted to play with her. She reached up with her right front paw to bat at the string of lights, appreciating the pretty colours dangling in front of her. Within seconds she was out of her sitting position, moving around a small area in front of her father as she attacked the cord with her paws.



The man shifted position so he could jerk the cord with more energy, twitching the end high enough to bring her to her hind legs. He wasn't laughing, wasn't making any sound at all, not even to tease her, but her antics had evoked a faint smile. The expression couldn't have been called sad, precisely, but there was reserve. Whatever emotion he might once have associated with a cat's interaction, whether it had been positive or negative, had been put away long ago.


Curious as to what his response would be, Catseye caught the cord between her teeth.



The man gave the cord a gentle tug. When she failed to release it he let the line go slack rather than engage in tug-o-war with something that was destined for an electrical outlet. "All right, you win," he said. Reaching back, he retrieved his thermos; to Catseye's sensitive nose it smelled of warm coffee.


Catseye kept the cord between her teeth, hunkering her front end down and putting her front paws on the cord, then bit down again as if she was going to try and eat it.



"Hey, stop that," he said sternly, and tried to gently nudge her away from the cord with his foot. Under his breath he added, "Or chew hard enough that I have an excuse to buy new lights."


The nudge sent her running into the middle of the lawn, cord still in her teeth, where she climbed up a branch of the birch tree about five feet off the ground and deposited the cord on the branch as if intending to help him string them up around the yard. "Mrrt!"



Puzzled, the man moved the rest of the lights aside so he could stand. Keep-away behavior was something he'd associated with dogs, not cats, but never having owned either he had only the stories of coworkers to go by. For all he knew this was normal. Or the cat was insane, which was apparently also normal. He walked to the branch and retrieved the end of the cord.

"Maybe after I get the rest of it undone," he said, looking at the cat where it perched.
Catseye mewed at him and settled into a crouch to keep an eye on the man, waiting. She wasn't sure what he'd meant- if he was going to play with her after he got the rest of it undone or if she could help with the lights after he got the rest of it undone, but she thought she might wait to find out. She was determined to keep up the appearance of being a regular cat, so she wouldn't really help him if that was what he was saying, but she was still curious as to what he was going to do.



The man returned to the porch, but had no opportunity to finish disentangling the lights. Just as he was sitting down a car pulled into the driveway. A moment later a woman and teenaged boy emerged, arms rustling with plastic department-store bags.



"Oh, honey," the woman said, spotting him as she auto-locked the car doors. "I didn't know you were doing that today."



Their son cringed. "Man, please tell me you did not get one of those weird inflatable lawn-things. Those are so creepy. I hate the big snowmen that come with prepackaged lighting. It's like you've got a lawn ornament lit by its own inner evil."

"No, just lights," his father replied in the resigned tones of a parent addressing a chronically displeased adolescent. He rose to hold open the front door. "Find a coat?"



"Nothing on sale met his standards," said his wife. "Did you have lunch?"



"Not yet."



"Okay. Harrison, pizza?"



"Frozen or delivery?"



"Frozen."



"Pass."



The woman filed through the door, then the son. Lights, coffee and cat forgotten, Harold Smith followed his family inside.

Catseye sat for a while in the tree in case they came back, in case her mother or Harrison noticed her, forgetting for the moment that she was black instead of purple and that they wouldn't know her. Her father had left the radio on, so she thought he would come back to finish, or at least to turn it off.

She started to get cold and finally realized that no one was coming back. Carefully, she ran down the tree trunk, sparing a last glance at the windows and the door before she turned up the street and went back to the car.


***


After the trip upstate, Kurt comforts the saddened Catseye.

The ride back to the mansion had been a silent one for Catseye, during which she stayed in catform so that she wouldn't have to speak to anyone. She slunk out of the car with her tail and ears down and plodded through the garage and into the mansion, where she ascended the stairs on her way to her suite.


Kurt hadn't pushed the issue while Yvette was there, but he'd very definitely noticed the catgirl's dejection. He followed her up the stairs, near-silently until he spoke. "Catseye? Could I speak with you?"



Hoping Kurt didn't mean that she had to speak, Catseye turned around and let out an answering "mrrt." She circled behind him so that he was leading the way, not knowing where they were going so he could speak with her.


He led them to his suite and opened the door for her to enter, still in cat shape. "Come in. I happen to have some pastrami, if you like."



Catseye gave him a "mrrt" of thanks and stayed close on his heels, following him into the kitchenette and jumping up on the counter, where she crouched down with her paws and tail tucked up underneath herself in an attempt to make herself smaller.


He fixed her a plate, putting it down in front of her before he stooped to meet her eyes. "I could not tell what happened from the car, but something clearly has. Eat, then could we talk about it?"



The cat nearly hissed at his suggestion, but she knew she would feel better when she spoke to Kurt so she gave him a nod. She ate as slowly as possible to delay the talk, but eventually the last piece of pastrami disappeared and she put the plate in the sink using her tail before leaping onto Kurt's shoulder and draping herself around his neck like a sleek black scarf.


"Oh, Catseye." He reached up to pet her fur, hand stroking comfortingly along her spine. "Something has really upset you, yes? But your father did nothing violent..."



Catseye comforted herself with Kurt's skritching, letting out a rumbling purr and nuzzling his cheek with her head. After a few moments however she jumped down off his shoulders and onto the floor so she could shift. "No he did nothing violent," she assured Kurt, sighing discontentedly.


"Then what is it?" he asked gently. "Just seeing them?"



"He is kind to them," she explained, face contorting as she fought her emotions. "He is kind to Mother and Harrison and he played with me when I was a cat! And it makes me sad because knowing that he is a kind person means that when he threw me in the snow it is because he did not like me because of what I am."

"Are you sure he threw you in the snow?" was the next, careful, question. "It was a very long time ago - is this something you remember, or were told?"


"I remember the snow," she responded miserably. "And Evan told me Father said I died when I was a baby in my crib during the blizzard and that Father took care of me after I died. But he knew I was a mutant when I was a baby and there is a sticker of the Friends of Humanity on the door so Evan knows and I know he hates me because of what I am! Evan thinks and I think that he put me outside hoping I would die because I am a mutant!"

"Perhaps", he said quietly. "But having someone close can change things, and now you are grown up... perhaps he regrets it."



"Having someone close? I do not understand?"


"In this case, someone close who is a mutant. I do not know why he did what he did, but if you would like... I will go with you, or alone, to speak to him. To find out more."

Catseye shook her head emphatically. "Nonono I do not want you to speak to him. I do not want to speak to him either! If he liked mutants Mother or Evan or Harrison would tell him about me but they do not and if I go and speak to him and tell him that Mother and Evan and Harrison know about me but they were keeping secrets from him he will be veryveryangry!"


"That would certainly be a risk", Kurt agreed. "And I will not go without your permission. Does this mean there will be no further visits?"



She sat on the counter, still looking dejected. "I do not know. I want to know why he did the thing he did and if having someone close would change his mind about mutants like you say. But talking to him maybe would hurt Mother or Evan or Harrison and I cannot talk to him until I know for sure that he will not hurt them."


"Perhaps they can help set your mind at ease on that", he suggested. "I am not sure watching from a distance will teach you anything of use."


Catseye's face contorted again as she stubbornly held back tears. She hugged her arms around herself, wishing she could have a proper hug from someone. "I do not think so either I think watching just makes me sad. I do not know what to do," she murmured quietly.

Professional boundaries be damned. Kurt reached out to offer her just that proper hug. "There is plenty of time to think about it. Talk to your brothers and your mother, if you can."



Burrowing her face into Kurt's shoulder, Catseye hugged him tightly. "Okay I will. Thank you Mister Kurt for the hug and for talking to me. Mister Kurt?" she mumbled, swallowing a lump in her throat.



"Yes, Catseye?" he prompted when she didn't continue.

"Mister Kurt can we read a book together?" Reading meant she didn't have to think about her father or the Friends of Humanity or the impossible conversation she would have to have one day with Evan, Harrison, and Rebecca. She could just sit with Kurt, someone who understood and someone who she knew liked her as she was.


"Of course we can. Any book you like." He released her and stepped back, looking at her. "And Catseye... I do not know for sure what this man did or why, but I want you to know you do not deserve it. I would have been honoured to be your father."


Finally overwhelmed, Catseye squeezed her eyes shut and fought the tears that were dampening her eyes. She jumped down shakily off the counter, unable to speak through the lump constricting her throat, and sat on his couch with her legs tucked up against her chest and her arms around them. "Thank you Mister Kurt," she managed to say after several minutes. "Thinking things that are past should be different is sillystupid because they can never be different but I think I would like it veryverymuch if you were my father."

He had moved to stand behind the couch, not sitting on it, but making himself available. "I would like it as well, and I will always be here if you need me. Please remember that."


The catgirl nodded emphatically, words lost again, and shifted into her black cat form. She jumped from the back of the couch up onto Kurt's shoulder again and draped herself around his neck, purring loudly to vocalize her thanks, appreciation, and affection the best way she thought possible.


He didn't hesitate for a moment before reaching up again to rub her between the ears.