Angelo, Sharon, and Jean-Phillipe: Cat toys

[xp_catseye]

Angelo encounters the mansion's resident pest. Jean-Phillipe is somewhat less charmed.




Angelo hummed to himself cheerfully as he stepped through the front door and headed for the stairs with the day's groceries, carrying more bags than by rights he should be able to.

"How do those work, please?"

The question had issued from a particularly sunny patch of carpet in the foyer. Specifically, from the large purple feline who had been reclining in it. Her yellow eyes were fixed on the tendrils of skin strutting the grocery bags like portable scaffolding.

He stopped, blinking at her for a second, then smiled. "Hi there. I stretch, and then I control where it goes with my brain. Kind of a two-stage mutation."

"Stretch." The feline rolled got to her feet and took a moment to kick out with her back legs and draw her body out to its full length. Now appropriately warmed up, Sharon padded closer.

"I thought first they were muscular hydrostats, like April's tendrils," she said as she inspected the grey skin holding the nearest bag. "Incorrect. No muscle tone to them. Like ribbon, almost. They are distinct appendages?"

"Kind of. I can have as many of them as I want, and then I can pull them back in." He demonstrated by pulling one of the grocery bags closer to his body. "They're part of my skin."

"Epidermis? No, cutis. Dermis must be involved, too." The cat's nose quivered near one of the bags, her outstretched whiskers seeming to reach for the tendril. "Reticular region must be uniquely adapted to withstand so much flexibility. Without underlying muscle structure to move it . . . you said you control with your brain?"

"Yup!" He wiggled the tendril at her nose, almost but not quite touching. "I never had brain scans or anything to pin down what's going on, but we've got it down to either molecular control or a kind of TK."

The cat cocked her head. "TK?"

“Telekinesis. When people can move things with their minds. I can’t do that, unless the things are part of me.”

"I have heard of this power. Distrust it. It is cheating to move without touch. Let others know it was you, and face the consequences," said Sharon, who considered everything a victimless crime if no one was around to see her commit it. "But Sooraya can dissolve her body and manipulate disparate elements. Personal mastery. This is acceptable. I think you are similar." She reared up on her hind legs, finally seeming to realize it might be a good idea to see who she was talking to and not simply inspecting the bits of him that were wrapped around his grocery bags. "How many parts can you manipulate?" she asked. "Only skin? Or also other keratin constructs, like hair? Nails?"

"Ah, you met Sooraya." He smiled. "She's a good friend, like a sister to me. Just skin... although now I think of it, I could probably use that to make my hair and nails at least seem like they grew faster."

The cat took an unsteady step backwards before lowering herself back to all fours. "Was found by Sooraya and Alani," Sharon replied, shamelessly stretching the definition of 'was found' to include the unspoken clause 'because I stalked them for days before appearing before them in the most pathetic way possible'. It was an irrelevant detail. She gave her tail a reflective flick. "Curious. Can you use skin appendages as sensory organs, or is sensation diminished by wide surface area? How is blood flow? When cut, how severe is bleeding?"

"There's lots of nerve endings in here. Maybe more than other people have, even. As for bleeding, no better or worse than anybody else getting their skin cut, and I can be my own bandage if I need to."

The cat made a low hrrming sound. Slowly, Sharon extended a clawed hand and studied the tendrils for perhaps a few seconds longer than was strictly necessary. Then she dropped her hand and gave her head a little shake.

"I want to test," she said, generously, "but I will not."

Angelo considered this for a moment. "What did you have in mind, by testing?"

"See how much you bleed." Sharon clicked her not inconsiderably-sized teeth at him, but the gesture was playful. She turned her open mouth to one hand and gave it a few quick swipes. "Joking. But curious about elasticity, tensile strength. Compelling force behind it nothing to do with musculature. Very strange to me."

"If you give me five to get this food put away", he offered, "I can show you better how it works. I can lift an adult with it, if I need to."

Sharon mock-sniffed. "So can I. Is not special."

Angelo laughed. "Hey, you asked. Come on up, if you want, or else I'll be right back."

The cat nodded gravely. "I shall come. And then" she slit her yellow eyes, "we shall commence our experiments."


****


As Jean-Phillipe walked into the suite he and Angelo lived in, he found an extremely large purple cat pouncing and jumping here and there, chasing tendrils of Angelo's skin and batting at them when she caught them, or pivoting and twisting to leap again with the sort of speed that made you understand why quick reflexes were referred to as 'catlike'. He was briefly taken aback, but he had heard about the new feline resident. "It amuses me that this is not the strangest thing I have seen you use your power for, mon mari." He greeted the cat with a nod. "Bonjour."

Sharon leapt into the air to grab a tendril lashed out at nearly ceiling-height, her legs and tail twisting below her. She didn't even glance at the newcomer who had just walked into the room as if he owned the place, which he did.

"Bonjour, monsieur," she replied, her pronunciation cringingly American. She landed on all fours and started chasing another tendril across the carpet before adding considerably better but slightly lisped English, "This is allowed if I do not use claws."

Angelo offered him a shameless grin, dragging the latest tendril just out of Sharon's reach. "JP, this is Sharon. This was supposed to be a powers demo but yeah, she can play if she doesn't use claws. Sharon, meet my husband."

"It is still a demonstration. Speed, flexibility, accuracy. And Angelo's power also." Sharon lowered herself in a crouch, then sprang at a tendril that whipped itself away in a tightly controlled path that dragged it across the floor. She chased it under the couch, tried in vain to reach it for a few seconds, then turned to seek another.

"Pleasure to meet," she said, without looking up. "Your husband is entertaining me now. You may play with him later."

There was a moment where Jean-Phillipe almost bristled at the suggestion he needed permission, or to wait his turn, to 'play' with his husband. But he also knew that expecting a cat to change who they were was largely a fool's errand. And being kind enough to communicate, and know to keep claws in, meant Sharon certainly had a lead on the other feline inhabitants of the mansion. "A pleasure to meet you as well."

Angelo had been looking a little concerned after Sharon said that, his smile turning to an apologetic look from behind her back, but he relaxed when Jean-Phillipe didn't seem offended. "Oh, there will be playing later. Sharon, did you have plans for lunch?" He hadn't missed how skinny she still looked, despite various people's best efforts.

"To either beg, borrow, or steal," Sharon replied promptly, either oblivious to or unconcerned by the averted crisis. "Depends upon which opportunity presents itself first."

"I shouldn't think you need to steal much around here, knowing the place and some of the people in it", he said affectionately, trailing another tendril of skin for her. "Anything you can't eat or really like?"

Sharon contrived to look innocent, which was an impossibility with anyone who had known an actual cat for more than five minutes. "Alliums are bad. Lactose is bad. Peppers are bad. Meat is good. And stolen food is best food. Like hunting." She gave her tail a questioning flick towards Jean-Phillipe. "He joins us?"

Jean-Phillipe's raised eyebrow was expressive in only the way a Frenchman's could be. "I cannot decide if you are completely unaware of the potential for mistaking that question."

Sharon gazed at him with feline inscrutability. "And I will never tell."

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[xp_darcy]

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