Log: [Sharon/Kevin] Intro to the Cantos
Jan. 3rd, 2024 01:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_changeling posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsAfter her meltdown with Hope, Sharon finds her way into Kevin's room.
Some people sulked when agitated. Sharon was doing it now, but in the form of a 120lbs cat. Passing Sharon in a snit in the hall was very much like running headlong into a tiger stalking from one side of its enclosure to the other.
The treatment of the newcomer grated on her. Even people who had denied Sharon a simple chicken coldcut only a day before were bending over backwards to make an undeniable vandal feel welcome and at home, and Sharon was holding a grudge. One increasing with every soothing and/or borderline cautioning notifications she received. She felt like doing something drastic. If only witnesses weren't such a concern.
A certain door was to her left. Sharon hesitated in front of it, tail lashing.
This was a bad idea. She knew better than to gamble with an irreplaceable resource. Games with Sam on his kitchen counter were one thing, but this particular invasion would truly would be pushing her luck.
She tried the knob. It turned.
Sharon looked one way, then the other. Then, pushing the door open just a crack, she flowed into the form of a purple housecat and shouldered herself the rest of the way in.
Kevin looked up from his seat as the cat made her way in. He was seated in the only piece of furniture older than him, repaired multiple times that he's paid to have delivered. Normally he'd have made a comment, but he saw the hair up bristling her tail and the fact that she'd never ventured into his space told him the broad strokes of what he needed. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and pulled a book from his pile next to the chair.
Spotted instantly, of course. Sharon froze and crouched against the carpet, tail low and swishing in short, sharp jerks. Her yellow eyes fixed on Kevin's face defiantly, daring a reaction.
It normally would have provoked a reaction but... well, she was a cat. Instead, he poured himself another bourbon and lit a cigarette before running his hand over the leather cover before opening the book.
"Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost."
Kevin read in a sonorous deep voice.
The cat's steady gaze never wavered, but the twitching tail slowed.
Flick flick . . flick. Flick.
He glanced over once or twice but mostly ignored her. Kevin had not been well educated as a child. He'd left school for the Army at 16 and the next decade was based on his operative work with the CIA. It wasn't until then that he had more access to a proper education, and he'd dived in. 'The Inferno' had long been a favourite, and the leatherbound edition was one he'd put aside for himself.
"Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.
So bitter is it, death is little more;
But of the good to treat, which there I found,
Speak will I of the other things I saw there."
Flick. . . . Flick.
Slowly, Sharon stood. Then, with careful steps, she crept forward.
A light leap took her onto the armrest of the couch across from him. She settled there, paws tucked beneath her, eyes still trained on his face.
No cat was going to outstare him, so he ignored the cat as she settled in. He took a long sip from his glass before fiving back in.
"I cannot well repeat how there I entered,
So full was I of slumber at the moment
In which I had abandoned the true way.
But after I had reached a mountain’s foot,
At that point where the valley terminated,
Which had with consternation pierced my heart,"
The cat watched. The cat listened. And then, gradually, the cat let her eyes fall closed, and began to purr.
"Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,
Vested already with that planet’s rays
Which leadeth others right by every road."
Kevin paused for a moment and took a sip from his glass. "Every road." He said and then went back to the text, ignoring her further.
Some people sulked when agitated. Sharon was doing it now, but in the form of a 120lbs cat. Passing Sharon in a snit in the hall was very much like running headlong into a tiger stalking from one side of its enclosure to the other.
The treatment of the newcomer grated on her. Even people who had denied Sharon a simple chicken coldcut only a day before were bending over backwards to make an undeniable vandal feel welcome and at home, and Sharon was holding a grudge. One increasing with every soothing and/or borderline cautioning notifications she received. She felt like doing something drastic. If only witnesses weren't such a concern.
A certain door was to her left. Sharon hesitated in front of it, tail lashing.
This was a bad idea. She knew better than to gamble with an irreplaceable resource. Games with Sam on his kitchen counter were one thing, but this particular invasion would truly would be pushing her luck.
She tried the knob. It turned.
Sharon looked one way, then the other. Then, pushing the door open just a crack, she flowed into the form of a purple housecat and shouldered herself the rest of the way in.
Kevin looked up from his seat as the cat made her way in. He was seated in the only piece of furniture older than him, repaired multiple times that he's paid to have delivered. Normally he'd have made a comment, but he saw the hair up bristling her tail and the fact that she'd never ventured into his space told him the broad strokes of what he needed. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and pulled a book from his pile next to the chair.
Spotted instantly, of course. Sharon froze and crouched against the carpet, tail low and swishing in short, sharp jerks. Her yellow eyes fixed on Kevin's face defiantly, daring a reaction.
It normally would have provoked a reaction but... well, she was a cat. Instead, he poured himself another bourbon and lit a cigarette before running his hand over the leather cover before opening the book.
"Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost."
Kevin read in a sonorous deep voice.
The cat's steady gaze never wavered, but the twitching tail slowed.
Flick flick . . flick. Flick.
He glanced over once or twice but mostly ignored her. Kevin had not been well educated as a child. He'd left school for the Army at 16 and the next decade was based on his operative work with the CIA. It wasn't until then that he had more access to a proper education, and he'd dived in. 'The Inferno' had long been a favourite, and the leatherbound edition was one he'd put aside for himself.
"Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.
So bitter is it, death is little more;
But of the good to treat, which there I found,
Speak will I of the other things I saw there."
Flick. . . . Flick.
Slowly, Sharon stood. Then, with careful steps, she crept forward.
A light leap took her onto the armrest of the couch across from him. She settled there, paws tucked beneath her, eyes still trained on his face.
No cat was going to outstare him, so he ignored the cat as she settled in. He took a long sip from his glass before fiving back in.
"I cannot well repeat how there I entered,
So full was I of slumber at the moment
In which I had abandoned the true way.
But after I had reached a mountain’s foot,
At that point where the valley terminated,
Which had with consternation pierced my heart,"
The cat watched. The cat listened. And then, gradually, the cat let her eyes fall closed, and began to purr.
"Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,
Vested already with that planet’s rays
Which leadeth others right by every road."
Kevin paused for a moment and took a sip from his glass. "Every road." He said and then went back to the text, ignoring her further.
