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Log: Sharon and Maya - Axes and Cats, oh my!
Sharon meets another mansion dweller, and learns an interesting new skill.
Thunk. Thunk.
Sharon watched from her spot in the tree, fascinated. The woman hadn't noticed her come upon her at a place Sharon had surmised to be a firing range, and Sharon had crept up for a better vantage point rather than attract her attention. She spent a few minutes watching from the safety of the tree as the dark-haired woman threw axe after axe at the paper targets. The fluidity of her movements and the hypnotic thunk of the weapon into the target was almost hypnotic.
Sharon decided this one might be interesting enough to talk to.
"What are you doing?"
“Being watched apparently,” Maya replied as she launched another hand axe to a perfect bullseye. “What are you doing?”
She’d known someone was nearby, her power always reacted to the proximity of people, even if it didn’t give her a direction or anything else useful like numbers or height, weight and eye color.
"Being the watcher." With a last twitch of her tail, Sharon climbed halfway down the trunk before leaping the rest of the way. The landing wasn't as soundless as she would have liked it to be. She needed to get accustomed to navigating a non-urban environment.
"What are you doing?" Sharon repeated, loping towards the young woman. She hadn't even turned at Sharon's voice. The cat stretched forward cautiously for a quick sniff of the back of Maya's braced knee.
“Practicing,” Maya eventually noted as she looked down curiously at the strange cat creature, launching an axe without looking. It hit the target again, slightly off centre this time due to her change of stance. “Not all of us have claws to hunt with.”
"You hunt with those?" Sharon inquired, interest piqued. The other girl hadn't demonstrated any discomfort yet, either, which was also interesting. Most people were initially startled by her appearance. She leaned in for another sniff, tail twitching.
“Not yet, Maya admitted, watching the strange creature curiously. She seemed to be catlike, but the human arms and hands nudged more toward an atavistic mutation. Was she a mutant shaped like a cat or a cat who happened to be a mutant? “I’m hoping Kyle will take me soon though. Are you meant to be here?”
Far be it from Maya to play mansion police but strange creatures wandering the ground was probably something to be mentioned or at least commented on.
"I am permitted," Sharon said with an utter lack of concern for whether this was actually true. She circled Maya lazily, craning her neck to examine her. "Presented my case to Alani and Sooraya. I am a guest." Sharon reared up on her hind legs to get a better look. She tucked her forelegs close to her body for balance, like a housecat. At her full height the two mutants stood eye-to-eye.
“Strange guest” Maya noted, looking the large cat shaped mutant in the eye. As far as she knew about animals she’d either take it as a threat or possibly a challenge? Maya was always interested in seeing just what people would do when faced with her less then diplomatic side. “You normally sniff people you just met?”
"How I get to know people. Sight is not the only sense. Scent is equally important. Moreso for me, maybe." Sharon dropped back to all fours, seemingly unperturbed by the eye contact. Her attention was on something else.
"Something behind your ears," she said, curious. "Hearing aid?"
“Cochlear Implants,” Maya replied, unfazed by the direct questions. One might say it was even refreshing. “You’re a giant talking cat. I’m assuming mutant?”
"Allegedly." She raised her back leg to give her ear a good scratch. "I am Sharon."
“Maya,” came the reply, she lifted her hand in a wait gesture and went to collect her axes. “You want to have a try?”
There was a rumble that sounded very much like "hmm". "Might be interesting," Sharon allowed. "Balance on two legs may be difficult, but have never thrown an axe. Unique opportunity."
“Never know till you try,” Maya noted calmly, although if asked later she might say that the entire situation felt so surreal that adding axe throwing training in was just par for the course. “I can’t line you up if you like, make sure your grip is right.”
Sharon padded over to Maya and obligingly rose to her hind legs. "Range of motion should be sufficient," she remarked, raising an arm to demonstrate. The largely human hand was clawed.
Maya held out one of her hand axes and gestured to Sharon’s form. “If you’re okay, I’m gonna need to touch you in order to move you into the right position.”
The cat accepted the axe. "I am comfortable with touch. But refrain from pulling or stepping on tail."
Maya had had to break down each movement in order to teach herself properly a few years ago when she’d first decided axe throwing was a good anger management tool.
It was something she’d begun when she realised that while her power always gave her the exact method to copy what she’d seen, it didn’t mean that what she was seeing was an expert.
If she knew the correct way, her power would more easily follow her guide. That didn’t mean she didn’t cheat when she was bored.
“I’m going to adjust your hands and shoulders, we should probably try to work with however you need to stand since you’re unsteady there.”
"I will permit this." Sharon flicked her tail thoughtfully. "Will be more steady if I can wrap my tail around something. Prehensile." She lifted it briefly to demonstrate, allowing the tip to curl in a manner more monkey-like than feline.
“Just use my waist, I’ll be right here anyway.” Maya noted as she carefully rearranged Sharon’s finger grip and made sure her shoulders and torso were positioned correctly with impersonal touches. Her mind was sorted through a dozen calculations, feeding her information for weight, height and body composition. It also fed her several ways to neutralize all of Sharon’s advantages but she brushed those aside “There. Now, how much strength do you have?”
Sharon's tail curled around the other girl's waist like a snake. "Suspect not much in this capacity. Strong grip, good climber, but never practiced throwing. Expect aim to be erratic."
“We’ll see how you go,” Maya noted with confidence as she placed her hands against Sharon’s and slowly led her through what she’d need to do to throw the axe. “Try it out a couple of times before you release to get a feel of the motion.”
Sharon followed Maya's instruction, tolerating the occasional adjustment to the motion or foot nudge to push her into a better stance as the older girl got a better sense of her center of gravity. Plenty of people had put hands on her since she'd come to the mansion, much to her enjoyment, but it felt strange to have someone approach touch from the angle of human-to-human rather than human-to-cat. The last person who had done that was her mother.
"Believe I am ready to try," Sharon announced after a few repetitions. "Stand clear before I try, maybe? Cannot guarantee your safety."
“Try not to miss,” Maya noted helpfully as she moved out of the way and to a spot that shouldn’t be in the line of fire. “Just remember to breathe.”
"Good advice." Sighting the target, Sharon swung the axe once, twice, and released.
The axe impacted two thirds of the way down the target, but failed to lodge. It bounced off and into the dirt.
The cat wrinkled her nose. "Weak throw," she grumbled, offended by her lack of immediate perfection.
“No,” Maya noted immediately as she walked back over and picked the axe up from where it had landed. She brushed off the dirt on her leg, before turning around and giving Sharon a serious look. “We don’t do that bullshit here. You’re a beginner, you’ll get better. Now, you want to try again?”
Sharon twitched her tail thoughtfully. "You are indigenous, maybe?" she asked, abruptly.
“I am,” Maya replied, not elaborating.
She flipped the axe and held the handle out to Sharon.
"Then I shall try again. Because together, you indigenous and myself an expression of untamed wilderness . . ." Sharon hefted the axe in one clawed hand, "we can become a colonizer's worst nightmare."
Thunk. Thunk.
Sharon watched from her spot in the tree, fascinated. The woman hadn't noticed her come upon her at a place Sharon had surmised to be a firing range, and Sharon had crept up for a better vantage point rather than attract her attention. She spent a few minutes watching from the safety of the tree as the dark-haired woman threw axe after axe at the paper targets. The fluidity of her movements and the hypnotic thunk of the weapon into the target was almost hypnotic.
Sharon decided this one might be interesting enough to talk to.
"What are you doing?"
“Being watched apparently,” Maya replied as she launched another hand axe to a perfect bullseye. “What are you doing?”
She’d known someone was nearby, her power always reacted to the proximity of people, even if it didn’t give her a direction or anything else useful like numbers or height, weight and eye color.
"Being the watcher." With a last twitch of her tail, Sharon climbed halfway down the trunk before leaping the rest of the way. The landing wasn't as soundless as she would have liked it to be. She needed to get accustomed to navigating a non-urban environment.
"What are you doing?" Sharon repeated, loping towards the young woman. She hadn't even turned at Sharon's voice. The cat stretched forward cautiously for a quick sniff of the back of Maya's braced knee.
“Practicing,” Maya eventually noted as she looked down curiously at the strange cat creature, launching an axe without looking. It hit the target again, slightly off centre this time due to her change of stance. “Not all of us have claws to hunt with.”
"You hunt with those?" Sharon inquired, interest piqued. The other girl hadn't demonstrated any discomfort yet, either, which was also interesting. Most people were initially startled by her appearance. She leaned in for another sniff, tail twitching.
“Not yet, Maya admitted, watching the strange creature curiously. She seemed to be catlike, but the human arms and hands nudged more toward an atavistic mutation. Was she a mutant shaped like a cat or a cat who happened to be a mutant? “I’m hoping Kyle will take me soon though. Are you meant to be here?”
Far be it from Maya to play mansion police but strange creatures wandering the ground was probably something to be mentioned or at least commented on.
"I am permitted," Sharon said with an utter lack of concern for whether this was actually true. She circled Maya lazily, craning her neck to examine her. "Presented my case to Alani and Sooraya. I am a guest." Sharon reared up on her hind legs to get a better look. She tucked her forelegs close to her body for balance, like a housecat. At her full height the two mutants stood eye-to-eye.
“Strange guest” Maya noted, looking the large cat shaped mutant in the eye. As far as she knew about animals she’d either take it as a threat or possibly a challenge? Maya was always interested in seeing just what people would do when faced with her less then diplomatic side. “You normally sniff people you just met?”
"How I get to know people. Sight is not the only sense. Scent is equally important. Moreso for me, maybe." Sharon dropped back to all fours, seemingly unperturbed by the eye contact. Her attention was on something else.
"Something behind your ears," she said, curious. "Hearing aid?"
“Cochlear Implants,” Maya replied, unfazed by the direct questions. One might say it was even refreshing. “You’re a giant talking cat. I’m assuming mutant?”
"Allegedly." She raised her back leg to give her ear a good scratch. "I am Sharon."
“Maya,” came the reply, she lifted her hand in a wait gesture and went to collect her axes. “You want to have a try?”
There was a rumble that sounded very much like "hmm". "Might be interesting," Sharon allowed. "Balance on two legs may be difficult, but have never thrown an axe. Unique opportunity."
“Never know till you try,” Maya noted calmly, although if asked later she might say that the entire situation felt so surreal that adding axe throwing training in was just par for the course. “I can’t line you up if you like, make sure your grip is right.”
Sharon padded over to Maya and obligingly rose to her hind legs. "Range of motion should be sufficient," she remarked, raising an arm to demonstrate. The largely human hand was clawed.
Maya held out one of her hand axes and gestured to Sharon’s form. “If you’re okay, I’m gonna need to touch you in order to move you into the right position.”
The cat accepted the axe. "I am comfortable with touch. But refrain from pulling or stepping on tail."
Maya had had to break down each movement in order to teach herself properly a few years ago when she’d first decided axe throwing was a good anger management tool.
It was something she’d begun when she realised that while her power always gave her the exact method to copy what she’d seen, it didn’t mean that what she was seeing was an expert.
If she knew the correct way, her power would more easily follow her guide. That didn’t mean she didn’t cheat when she was bored.
“I’m going to adjust your hands and shoulders, we should probably try to work with however you need to stand since you’re unsteady there.”
"I will permit this." Sharon flicked her tail thoughtfully. "Will be more steady if I can wrap my tail around something. Prehensile." She lifted it briefly to demonstrate, allowing the tip to curl in a manner more monkey-like than feline.
“Just use my waist, I’ll be right here anyway.” Maya noted as she carefully rearranged Sharon’s finger grip and made sure her shoulders and torso were positioned correctly with impersonal touches. Her mind was sorted through a dozen calculations, feeding her information for weight, height and body composition. It also fed her several ways to neutralize all of Sharon’s advantages but she brushed those aside “There. Now, how much strength do you have?”
Sharon's tail curled around the other girl's waist like a snake. "Suspect not much in this capacity. Strong grip, good climber, but never practiced throwing. Expect aim to be erratic."
“We’ll see how you go,” Maya noted with confidence as she placed her hands against Sharon’s and slowly led her through what she’d need to do to throw the axe. “Try it out a couple of times before you release to get a feel of the motion.”
Sharon followed Maya's instruction, tolerating the occasional adjustment to the motion or foot nudge to push her into a better stance as the older girl got a better sense of her center of gravity. Plenty of people had put hands on her since she'd come to the mansion, much to her enjoyment, but it felt strange to have someone approach touch from the angle of human-to-human rather than human-to-cat. The last person who had done that was her mother.
"Believe I am ready to try," Sharon announced after a few repetitions. "Stand clear before I try, maybe? Cannot guarantee your safety."
“Try not to miss,” Maya noted helpfully as she moved out of the way and to a spot that shouldn’t be in the line of fire. “Just remember to breathe.”
"Good advice." Sighting the target, Sharon swung the axe once, twice, and released.
The axe impacted two thirds of the way down the target, but failed to lodge. It bounced off and into the dirt.
The cat wrinkled her nose. "Weak throw," she grumbled, offended by her lack of immediate perfection.
“No,” Maya noted immediately as she walked back over and picked the axe up from where it had landed. She brushed off the dirt on her leg, before turning around and giving Sharon a serious look. “We don’t do that bullshit here. You’re a beginner, you’ll get better. Now, you want to try again?”
Sharon twitched her tail thoughtfully. "You are indigenous, maybe?" she asked, abruptly.
“I am,” Maya replied, not elaborating.
She flipped the axe and held the handle out to Sharon.
"Then I shall try again. Because together, you indigenous and myself an expression of untamed wilderness . . ." Sharon hefted the axe in one clawed hand, "we can become a colonizer's worst nightmare."