xp_logs | Kevin & Catseye | Monday afternoon

Catseye comes by to pick up Nick's Christmas present Kevin made for her and she has something shiny for Kevin. Oh and there's even a present inside it!

Bounding down the hallway, Catseye tried not to strike the present in its shiny crinkly paper against the wall and pulled her tail in close to her body as she rounded the corner, arriving breathlessly at the door to Kevin's workshop and knocking on it enthusiastically with both hands. "Kevvvvvvvvin!" she sang out, "Kevvvvvvin? Are you in there? It is Catseye Merry Christmas Kevin can I come in please?" The present was heavy in her tail but she was afraid that if she moved it to her hands she would rip it open. Shiny crinkly paper was hard to resist, even for a young woman who knew she wasn't really a cat, so she held it behind her where she couldn't see it and tried to keep it still so she wouldn't hear it either. "Kevvvvvvvvvin! I have a special present for youuuuuuuu yesyesyessssss!"

The knocking had been loud enough to startle Kevin into turning down the music that was more or less blaring inside the room. The catgirl's energetic plea for entrance had him smiling by the time he pulled the door open. "Ah get a present? Ah thought the point was for you to get the present for your...is he actually your boyfriend?" An eyebrow quirked and then his eyes narrowed. "Do Ah gotta give him that 'you make her cry and Ah'll do really bad things to you' speel or somethin'? 'Cause Ah can. Ah might even be capable of bein' intimidating. Kinda like Nick, though, so," he shrugged, then stepped back and gestured Catseye into the metal shop.

Catseye giggled and gave Kevin a careful but enthusiastic hug. "Nick and I are a couple yes and if you want to make him afraid I think that is funny to see." She giggled some more. "Manypeople have been making him afraid. But he is veryverynice I do not think he could ever make anyone cry." As the present she was carrying made her tail droop further, Catseye's eyes lit up and she offered the wrapped present to Kevin. "Kevin you are one of my veryfavourite people and Christmas is about giving people things to show you love them so this is for you Merry Christmas!"

"You need lots of brotherly-type backup on the boyfriend front," Kevin told her sagely. "That way if he is ever stupid and cheats on you or hurts you or something he knows to run very far away before people come after him with torches and pitchforks." This, Kevin felt, was a solid plan. It was a good, solid plan and why was there shiny paper being put in his hands? He tuned into what she was saying, but it was a little hard with how very enthusiastic she was being, which meant she was talking quickly enough that he was pretty sure some of her words were eating some of her other words. Why'd northerners always talk so quickly? "Y'know you're supposed to wait 'til Christmas to give the presents, right?"

The catgirl shrugged her shoulders defiantly. "I want to give it to you now so that you did not have to carry it home from Puerto Rico! Openitopenitopenit!" She had to back against the door frame so she wouldn't be tempted to rip it open herself.

"Alright, alright." He waved a hand in her direction to indicate she should calm down. It was sort of a big box. And it shook. There were definitely pieces inside when he jiggled it. Kevin, obviously, was about four years old because he had to shake it before he'd slide a gloved finger under a flap of shining, red wrapping paper. The book slid out first and further ripping revealed a box of legos Kevin grinned at the gift.

"Thanks. Ah mean, really. Ooooh, something to play with!" That probably should have sounded dirtier in his head but Kevin was a little too excited about having legos. He hadn't had legos since he was a kid. The box and book were set down on a table long enough for Kevin to pull Catseye into a hug and give her a careful kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. It's kinda awesome."

Knowing Kevin was very protective of his words and used them sparingly instead of throwing as many around as possible all the time like she did, Catseye knew she was being shown the utmost of excitement that Kevin had to offer and her grin grew. "I thought since you like building things and making things you can make lots of things with these but the best part is that when you are finished if you want to make something new you can without having to buy more pieces like when you make things with wood or metal!" She had never had Legos before and the concept was clearly enthralling her.

"Smart thinkin'." He tapped her temple with a gloved finger before he pulled away from her. Kevin had become a lot more at ease with casual contact thanks to his time in California and therapy but he still didn't initiate it as much as most normal people did. "Normal" as far as Kevin was concerned constituted anyone who could touch another person freely. "Ah might hafta build a whole kingdom. Of fire trucks. Everyone loves fire trucks, right? Or's that just firemen?"

"Fire trucks," Catseye answered with an emphatic nod, not understanding his innuendo. "I love fire trucks. And fire men. Except fire men look scary in their hats and masks and heavy clothes especially to a kitten. One time when I was stuck in a tree it was snowing and I could not get down and I was very small and I was crying and crying and a fire truck with fire men came to save me and first I was afraid because the men looked scary but then they helped me get down because they are veryverygood and helpful just like X-Men!" She furrowed her brow in thought as the story triggered a memory of her first winter in the snow, but after a few moments of pondering it out Catseye still couldn't say definitely how she had come to be in the snow that winter.

"You got stuck in a tree? As a kitten? And got rescued? By firemen?" Kevin's lips rolled inward and he clamped his mouth shut so he didn't laugh at the image of Catseye stuck in a tree mewing and being peeled off the branch by a fireman. It wasn't a funny situation from the sound of it, but in theory it was sorta funny. That might have been because in his head it was grown up Catseye stuck in the tree. "Good thing the firemen were there to help you or you might've gotten adopted by squirrels and had an identity crisis." Not funny, Kevin. Stop being not funny. Only it was actually really funny to him and Kevin was back to stifling the laughter.

Understanding that Kevin was laughing at her, Catseye gave him a playful shove. "I was a kitten Kevin! Kittens are SillyStupid!" she exclaimed, but something he'd said sank in finally and had her collapsing onto the floor in giggles. "Kevin! What if Dori was really a cat and she got stuck in a tree as a kitten and squirrels adopted her?!"

Kevin finally gave in and started to snicker. "Yeah, Ah bet that little squirrel friend of hers, Bob or Joe or whatever, is probably just her adopted brother. He's part of the conspiracy! Shhh, don't tell her. She might have an identity crisis. She might start chasing dogs but she's not prepared for life as a cat yet. Aren't you lucky no squirrels got to you?"

"So lucky! Kevin? What if Dori was too afraid of the fire trucks to come down and that is why the squirrels got her? Could you make a fire truck and we could show it to her and see if she is afraid?" Catseye erupted in giggles again.

Kevin half choked on a laugh and then tried for a more sober expression. He largely failed. "Yeah, Ah can do that. If she runs away screamin' we'll know what happen. Then we might hafta get that Turtle Bob and give him a talkin' to 'bout confusin' her."

Knowing he meant Monkey Joe, Catseye shook her head to try to dislodge the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes. "You will have to get him I am not allowed because I might eat him!"

"Ah dunno..." Kevin shook his head slowly. "Malicious intent to brainwash a poor, defenseless kitten? That might deserve bein' eaten."

The catgirl had to nod thoughtfully at that one. "Well he does look delicious. If you are my lawyer when Dori yells at me and tell her about brainwashing I will eat him."

"Deal! The squirrel has to go. What he's done is just unforgivable. And he's already confused, thinkin' he's a turtle and all. It's really for the best. We're lookin' out for her welfare and his. He'd be happier in your stomach. For one, it's warmer in there!"

Catseye couldn't respond, she was giggling so much.

Kevin grinned widely and watched the catgirl lose herself to the laughter. Yeah, he was pretty sure his work here was done. His shoulders shook a little with silent laughter. Then Kevin remembered why Catseye was supposed to come by today and he turned around to find the present she'd asked him to make for Nick for her.

When Kevin turned, Catseye began to sober up and sat up on the floor wiping at her eyes with her fingers. "I should get Dori some catnip for Christmas and see if she likes it," she added with another giggle before following Kevin. She spotted the skull over Kevin's shoulder and let out a gasp. "Kevin! KevinKevinKevin! Is that Nick's present?!"

"Yeah." He nodded when he turned back toward her, the wooden skull cradled in his hands. A lot of it had been done with his mutation but some of it he'd needed to use traditional tools for, particularly the teeth. A lot of the joint work and the bits on the base of the skull he'd managed with his mutation after a lot of breathing and stopping to be patient. A a few chunks of wood he used as guinea pigs first. The whole thing was gone over with a lacquer that would protect it from things like rain and weather. It also made it damned shiny. "You said you wanted a skull like in Hamlet, right?"

Catseye's jaw dropped and she could only stare at the skull Kevin was holding in his hands for several moments. "Kevin..." she said in an awed tone. "Kevin that is... beautiful. It is so so so beautiful Kevin. It is the most shiny beautiful thing I think I have ever seen! It is the most shiny beautiful thing Nick will ever see too I bet! Kevin you are the most supersmarttalented person ever to make that!" She reached a clawed finger out as if to touch the wood, but she hesitated, feeling like even a single finger smudge would cause the entire thing to be destroyed.

Kevin beamed at the awe-struck girl. "So up to expectation, then? Not too hideous to be caught givin' it? Ah could put it in a bag or somethin'. Ah dunno if Ah've got one 'round here but Ah could look if you want?" He'd noticed her hesitation about touching it so Kevin figured maybe he should wrap it or something for her.

"It is beautiful! It is better than expectation! And it is not hideous at all, not one tiny bit! It is scary but it is supposed to be scary it is beautiful because it is scary! I will make sure Nick knows you made it Kevin!" She tilted her head as she thought about the bag. "Can I touch it without a bag? What if I break it?"

"It's wood, Cats, it won't break 'less you throw it against something real hard. So just don't throw it against nothin' and you'll be fine. Promise." He raised it up a bit in offering. "You can touch it. Really. Take it. Pat it on the head. Ah don't think it'd mind. Y'know, Ah think it'd like the company."

Catseye bit her bottom lip in concentration as she took the skull, as carefully as possible, from Kevin. "It is not heavy like I thought!" She touched it as he'd suggested, and patted it on the head. The last statement had her frowning at him though. "Kevin... you said it is wood. That means it does not like things or know when it has company... right?" Or had he done something to it to bring it to life?

"Well, no." He frowned at her a little. She didn't really get personification, did she? Why did he even remember the word personification anyway? "It's wood so it's not really aware. It doesn't like or dislike and it doesn't know you're patting it on the head. Well, on it's top Ah guess. It's just, um. People sometimes refer to stuff like it's alive even though it's not. Ah'm...not really sure why we do that."

"Because people are crazy?" she supplied. "I think if humans talk to pets even knowing they cannot answer it is not so different to think that pieces of wood can think and feel things." She held the skull up to her face and smiled at it. "Hello Yorrick. I think Nick will like you veryverymuch," she said, and began to giggle once again. "Kevin did a veryveryvery good job making you!"

"And now she's named him," Kevin said in an amused mutter. "Maybe people just like talkin' and with pets and wooden skulls we don't gotta worry about whether or not they're listenin'." It was hard to sound thoughtful when Catseye was standing there talking to her new best friend.

"I should have given you some Shakespeare plays for Christmas," Catseye said to Kevin with a grin. "The skull was a person named Yorrick before he was dead and turned into a skull. I think it is better to talk to people because they can talk back and then you know they are listening," she said sagely. "Why talk at all if you do not want anyone to listen?" Wasn't Kevin, one of the quietest people she knew, the spokesperson for not speaking unless you had something to say that you wanted heard?

He shrugged a little bit. “Sometime’s it’s more about saying somethin’ than bein’ heard. It’s different, thinkin’ a thing or sayin’ it. Kinda weird but Ah dunno how to explain it any better than that. People got language for a reason, Ah think, so maybe just thinkin’ a thing isn’t always satisfying?” Kevin did not talk to inanimate objects. He talked to Eddie, his fiddler crab who was getting on in years now. But that was more of a ‘hey, how ya doin’?’ sort of thing than a confessing his emotions kind of thing.

"Maybe," Catseye agreed, nodding. "I think I understand that. That is why sometimes when a person says something to me in catform I just think of an answer and do not say it but sometimes I shift into girlform so I can say the answer, yes?" She pondered this as she brushed the shiny, slippery surface of the skull. "It is not satisfying just to think how pretty you made Yorrick Kevin," she praised once again, still awed by Kevin's craftsmanship. "I have to say it lots and lots."

He nodded along when she understood, though the contemplative expression morphed into a smile with her reiterated compliment. “Well then you say it lots and lots, but Ah’m good with you just sayin’ it once. Ah hope he likes it. Which means you’re gonna have to give up petting Yorrick eventually.” Kevin waved the shiny wrapping paper in front of her. “Maybe you could re-use this to make Yorrick super shiny.”

"Can you help me Kevin?" she asked, "I know how to wrap squares like Lego boxes and books but I do not know how to wrap circles like skulls!"

"Yeah, no problem. C'mon, Ah think Ah've got some tape and scissors 'round here somewhere." Kevin went off to look for said tape and scissors and maybe a box to put the skull in. He was sure they could manage to wrap it without it looking like a mess by some miracle.

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Oh god, can we PLEASE start a campaign to mess with Monkey Joe by calling him Turtle Bob? Or other two-syllable-animal one-syllable-name? Giraffe Mike? Peacock Jim? Aardvark Zed?