[April, Sharon] Exploration
Aug. 9th, 2023 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsSharon begins her new career as personal space invader, starting with with April.
April was sprawled on the couch, hair and tendrils flipped over the arm as she intently watched a replay of the Moto X events from the most recent X-Games. It was still fascinating to her, the differences and similarities in things as small as athlete ages and successes.
Her tendrils waved excitedly as someone executed a particularly tricky combo, and she leaned forward just a bit, eyes following the trajectory of a particularly tight corner. As she settled back, a curious sensation of something batting at her tendrils caught her attention. Boris was with Illyana, so she stretched a tendril out from her hand, curling it around the side of the couch before wiggling it forward like a ribbon.
Something intersected the tendril with a gentle pressure, almost like the stroke of fingertips. "Muscular hydrostat?" came a voice from behind the couch. "Not hair. Longitudinal bundles more peripheral, maybe, like elephant's trunk or arms of octopus."
"I just call them my tendrils," April said, still moving the tendril in a slow undulation on the floor. "Kinda shadowy, no idea what they're actually made of, and I can pull them back in if necessary. Sometimes have a bit of their own mind, but I can direct them consciously for small things as well. Loose holding, waving, that sort of thing."
A purple hand -- not paw -- shot out around the side of the couch for two or three playful swats before disappearing again. "How is your proprioception? Do you lose track if you cannot see them, like an octopus, or is awareness persistent?" continued the voice, as if the speaker had not just tried to bat around one of April's body parts like a cat toy.
"I generally don't lose awareness, no. Sometimes they act without my thought, but I'm as aware of them as I am my hair or my arms and legs. Fingers and toes?" April raised her eyebrow at the hand, finally shifting from her spot to peer over the couch at the person talking to her. "Hi, I'm April. Who're you?"
"Sharon." The creature gazing back at April was a large purple feline, easily over a hundred pounds, and currently in the classic sphinx position. The cat's forelegs resembled human arms, complete with an almost-normal set of hands that terminated in claws. It watched April with slitted yellow eyes.
"I am new," Sharon continued as she looked April up and down without any indication of self-consciousness. "Alani and Sooraya are letting me stay here. Very kind. I like them. They gave me food."
"They're nice people," April agreed. "You look really cool. I've never met someone with so many feline traits before. And purple! Can I ask questions, or would you find that rude?"
Sharon gave her tail a satisfied flick. "You may ask. I will answer as I please."
"As one does. Did you manifest, or were you born purple and cat-like? Can you go full cat? Do you maintain mass if you can switch? Everyone's mutations work so differently, it's very fascinating." The questions almost bubbled out of April, TV forgotten in the background in the face of someone more interesting.
"Have always been this way. Very upsetting for the maternity ward, apparently. This is my form." Sharon paused for an instant to snap twice at a fly buzzing around her face before returning her attention to April. "You smell different from a human. Scent is stronger from tendrils. Cannot find equivalent, but not chemical or mechanical. Different even than mutants I saw in District X."
"I'm part science experiment, that's probably what you're smelling." Sharon was refreshingly honest. April liked it. "Non-human smell being stronger from the tendrils makes sense, because that's the experiment part." Swirls moved up her arm, the tendrils elongating even more as she held it out. "Whole arm smell less human now?"
"Yes." Sharon's whiskers stretched as she leaned in to take in April's scent. She lifted a hand, but did not yet extend it. "I will touch," she said, but there was a question in the statement.
"Sure, people like learning what it feels like. Do you like having people pet your ears like real cats? Dogs too, I suppose. Boris likes it. He's... well. He's mostly my dog. Now. One of the other girls is taking him for a walk and some playtime. We kinda share him." April slid to the floor, making it easier for Sharon to touch either of her arms.
"I like touch. Petting is pleasant. Thank you for asking." Sharon touched April's arm gently. Her palms and fingertips were furless, although the skin was calloused in a way that almost resembled paw pads. "Slick but not wet. No mucus membrane. Very interesting. What kind of science experiment?"
"We're not entirely sure. I was cloned, and the notes for what was done were destroyed. The guy that did it really liked to experiment, so it could be anything. He's dead though, so we couldn't ask him either." April eyed the other woman for a second, and grinned. "Buuuuut I can do some cool stuff with them." Her hand and forearm slowly reshaped into something resembling a mallet, then back into a hand before she tilted her wrist just so, white webbing flying past Sharon and landing with a splat on the floor. "Spiderwebs. No actual spiders for you to chase though, sorry. Can I pet you? Er. Your ears?"
"You may," Sharon said generously. "My ears are very soft." The whole issue of cloning passed without comment, although whether it was out of misguided tact or because Sharon honestly saw nothing odd about it was difficult to say. Curiously, the cat prodded at the webbing. "Impressed. Seems to be non-specific shapeshifting, but you can produce complex organs like spinnerets to further produce protein fibres. Instinctual, or did you make a study of it?"
"In theory, I can shift my entire body. In practice... it's only happened once, and it was terrifying. The webbing is instinct. I think it's part genetic and part what was done to me. My dad and sister hav-had spider powers, too. Except where they created webs with science, my body makes their own. But only when my hands and wrists are transformed." April shifted her hand back, reaching forward to gently rub behind Sharon's ears. "Your ears are even softer than Boris'." And petting her was soothing. Maybe weird, because she was a person too, but still soothing.
Sharon rumbled low in her throat. "I am the softest," she agreed. "So baseline anatomy is human. Interesting. Are many people here like you? Genetically augmented?"
"I... don't think so? Maybe some, but not to the same extent. There are other clones too, but I don't know them beyond some old mission briefs and seeing them in passing. They are..." April paused for a minute, trying to describe Fourteen. "Striking is probably the best word. But I came from a different place, and genetic augmentation was still not the norm, although it had happened before. Usually on accident."
"You are a clone? Lots to unpack there." Sharon nudged her head against April's hand, trying to reinitiate the petting. "Interesting place. I see why it was not advertised in the community center literature."
April let out a light laugh, fingers scritching lightly over Sharon's head at the unspoken demand. "Word of mouth, although I've seen old brochures from when the place was also a boarding school. I ended up here by accident. Or luck. Unluck? There's a portal, it did weird things, I'm here. How much of the place have you seen outside the house and front drive?"
"My explorations continue," the cat replied gravely. She rolled over to lean against April's knee, thrumming again. "I feel very lucky to have ended up here on purpose."
"There are definitely worse places to have ended up," April agreed, fingers still carefully scritching along Sharon's head. "I miss my family, but I've been able to learn more about who I am without being a reflection of my twin."
The cat allowed the scritching in a silence that stretched just slightly too long to be mere contentment. "I also have never had a life away from my family," Sharon remarked. "My mother. The world is difficult, but exciting also. Only now realizing how many opportunities I did not have. But I miss her even so."
"It will probably be like that for a while. Exciting, so much new stuff to learn... and you'll probably miss her deeply at the most random times." April wasn't sure how to ask if one's parent was still alive. "Is she available, but not nearby, or not available at all?"
"She died," Sharon replied, displaying no such misgivings about tact. "Such things happen. And your family? Alive?"
"When I arrived here, yes, but they probably think I'm dead. There was a bomb. The portal and my other form saved me, but it was a one-way trip. I'm sorry to hear about your mom, even though death is part of life. It's hard to lose people you care about." April's fingers had drifted down towards Sharon's chin and cheeks, a spot she remembered some of the friendlier bodega cats near school allowing people to pet, however briefly.
"It is." Sharon closed her eyes, enjoying the attention for a few moments more, then got to her feet. Shepadded a circle around April, leaning in to rub her great head against the girl's shoulder.
"I hope your family is only unavailable," she said. "It was good to talk to you. We shall meet again."
"You too. Maybe next time you can meet Boris as well."
April was sprawled on the couch, hair and tendrils flipped over the arm as she intently watched a replay of the Moto X events from the most recent X-Games. It was still fascinating to her, the differences and similarities in things as small as athlete ages and successes.
Her tendrils waved excitedly as someone executed a particularly tricky combo, and she leaned forward just a bit, eyes following the trajectory of a particularly tight corner. As she settled back, a curious sensation of something batting at her tendrils caught her attention. Boris was with Illyana, so she stretched a tendril out from her hand, curling it around the side of the couch before wiggling it forward like a ribbon.
Something intersected the tendril with a gentle pressure, almost like the stroke of fingertips. "Muscular hydrostat?" came a voice from behind the couch. "Not hair. Longitudinal bundles more peripheral, maybe, like elephant's trunk or arms of octopus."
"I just call them my tendrils," April said, still moving the tendril in a slow undulation on the floor. "Kinda shadowy, no idea what they're actually made of, and I can pull them back in if necessary. Sometimes have a bit of their own mind, but I can direct them consciously for small things as well. Loose holding, waving, that sort of thing."
A purple hand -- not paw -- shot out around the side of the couch for two or three playful swats before disappearing again. "How is your proprioception? Do you lose track if you cannot see them, like an octopus, or is awareness persistent?" continued the voice, as if the speaker had not just tried to bat around one of April's body parts like a cat toy.
"I generally don't lose awareness, no. Sometimes they act without my thought, but I'm as aware of them as I am my hair or my arms and legs. Fingers and toes?" April raised her eyebrow at the hand, finally shifting from her spot to peer over the couch at the person talking to her. "Hi, I'm April. Who're you?"
"Sharon." The creature gazing back at April was a large purple feline, easily over a hundred pounds, and currently in the classic sphinx position. The cat's forelegs resembled human arms, complete with an almost-normal set of hands that terminated in claws. It watched April with slitted yellow eyes.
"I am new," Sharon continued as she looked April up and down without any indication of self-consciousness. "Alani and Sooraya are letting me stay here. Very kind. I like them. They gave me food."
"They're nice people," April agreed. "You look really cool. I've never met someone with so many feline traits before. And purple! Can I ask questions, or would you find that rude?"
Sharon gave her tail a satisfied flick. "You may ask. I will answer as I please."
"As one does. Did you manifest, or were you born purple and cat-like? Can you go full cat? Do you maintain mass if you can switch? Everyone's mutations work so differently, it's very fascinating." The questions almost bubbled out of April, TV forgotten in the background in the face of someone more interesting.
"Have always been this way. Very upsetting for the maternity ward, apparently. This is my form." Sharon paused for an instant to snap twice at a fly buzzing around her face before returning her attention to April. "You smell different from a human. Scent is stronger from tendrils. Cannot find equivalent, but not chemical or mechanical. Different even than mutants I saw in District X."
"I'm part science experiment, that's probably what you're smelling." Sharon was refreshingly honest. April liked it. "Non-human smell being stronger from the tendrils makes sense, because that's the experiment part." Swirls moved up her arm, the tendrils elongating even more as she held it out. "Whole arm smell less human now?"
"Yes." Sharon's whiskers stretched as she leaned in to take in April's scent. She lifted a hand, but did not yet extend it. "I will touch," she said, but there was a question in the statement.
"Sure, people like learning what it feels like. Do you like having people pet your ears like real cats? Dogs too, I suppose. Boris likes it. He's... well. He's mostly my dog. Now. One of the other girls is taking him for a walk and some playtime. We kinda share him." April slid to the floor, making it easier for Sharon to touch either of her arms.
"I like touch. Petting is pleasant. Thank you for asking." Sharon touched April's arm gently. Her palms and fingertips were furless, although the skin was calloused in a way that almost resembled paw pads. "Slick but not wet. No mucus membrane. Very interesting. What kind of science experiment?"
"We're not entirely sure. I was cloned, and the notes for what was done were destroyed. The guy that did it really liked to experiment, so it could be anything. He's dead though, so we couldn't ask him either." April eyed the other woman for a second, and grinned. "Buuuuut I can do some cool stuff with them." Her hand and forearm slowly reshaped into something resembling a mallet, then back into a hand before she tilted her wrist just so, white webbing flying past Sharon and landing with a splat on the floor. "Spiderwebs. No actual spiders for you to chase though, sorry. Can I pet you? Er. Your ears?"
"You may," Sharon said generously. "My ears are very soft." The whole issue of cloning passed without comment, although whether it was out of misguided tact or because Sharon honestly saw nothing odd about it was difficult to say. Curiously, the cat prodded at the webbing. "Impressed. Seems to be non-specific shapeshifting, but you can produce complex organs like spinnerets to further produce protein fibres. Instinctual, or did you make a study of it?"
"In theory, I can shift my entire body. In practice... it's only happened once, and it was terrifying. The webbing is instinct. I think it's part genetic and part what was done to me. My dad and sister hav-had spider powers, too. Except where they created webs with science, my body makes their own. But only when my hands and wrists are transformed." April shifted her hand back, reaching forward to gently rub behind Sharon's ears. "Your ears are even softer than Boris'." And petting her was soothing. Maybe weird, because she was a person too, but still soothing.
Sharon rumbled low in her throat. "I am the softest," she agreed. "So baseline anatomy is human. Interesting. Are many people here like you? Genetically augmented?"
"I... don't think so? Maybe some, but not to the same extent. There are other clones too, but I don't know them beyond some old mission briefs and seeing them in passing. They are..." April paused for a minute, trying to describe Fourteen. "Striking is probably the best word. But I came from a different place, and genetic augmentation was still not the norm, although it had happened before. Usually on accident."
"You are a clone? Lots to unpack there." Sharon nudged her head against April's hand, trying to reinitiate the petting. "Interesting place. I see why it was not advertised in the community center literature."
April let out a light laugh, fingers scritching lightly over Sharon's head at the unspoken demand. "Word of mouth, although I've seen old brochures from when the place was also a boarding school. I ended up here by accident. Or luck. Unluck? There's a portal, it did weird things, I'm here. How much of the place have you seen outside the house and front drive?"
"My explorations continue," the cat replied gravely. She rolled over to lean against April's knee, thrumming again. "I feel very lucky to have ended up here on purpose."
"There are definitely worse places to have ended up," April agreed, fingers still carefully scritching along Sharon's head. "I miss my family, but I've been able to learn more about who I am without being a reflection of my twin."
The cat allowed the scritching in a silence that stretched just slightly too long to be mere contentment. "I also have never had a life away from my family," Sharon remarked. "My mother. The world is difficult, but exciting also. Only now realizing how many opportunities I did not have. But I miss her even so."
"It will probably be like that for a while. Exciting, so much new stuff to learn... and you'll probably miss her deeply at the most random times." April wasn't sure how to ask if one's parent was still alive. "Is she available, but not nearby, or not available at all?"
"She died," Sharon replied, displaying no such misgivings about tact. "Such things happen. And your family? Alive?"
"When I arrived here, yes, but they probably think I'm dead. There was a bomb. The portal and my other form saved me, but it was a one-way trip. I'm sorry to hear about your mom, even though death is part of life. It's hard to lose people you care about." April's fingers had drifted down towards Sharon's chin and cheeks, a spot she remembered some of the friendlier bodega cats near school allowing people to pet, however briefly.
"It is." Sharon closed her eyes, enjoying the attention for a few moments more, then got to her feet. Shepadded a circle around April, leaning in to rub her great head against the girl's shoulder.
"I hope your family is only unavailable," she said. "It was good to talk to you. We shall meet again."
"You too. Maybe next time you can meet Boris as well."
