Catseye, Amanda - late Wednesday night
Nov. 18th, 2004 12:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThere's only so much a girl can take... After getting a phone call she really didn't want from Bethany, and Manuel out getting it on with Jubilee for her birthday, Amanda slides back into old habits. Catseye doesn't approve, one bit. It's hard to be self-pitying when you have a cat on the case.
Purple ears peeked over the edge of the floor trap leading to the hayloft, the rest of Catseye's body still on the latter. Soon, lavender eyes were peeking over the edge as well, looking a mite peeved. Something was scaring the mousies. And it reeked in the hayloft. Catseye was not pleased in the least about the last in particular. That also meant no hunting there for the night and she'd been craving a barn mousie so badly.
Aamnda wrinkled her nose as she took another swig from the bottle. Obviously she wasn't drunk enough, since she could still taste it. Cheap bourbon, gah. Still, it'd been handy, and following the truly steller evening she'd been having so far, handy was good. Now to work her way deep enough into the bottle to ignore the happy-fun feelings she was getting from the link. The news she'd gotten tonight only made the fact Manuel was with Jubilee that much harder to swallow. Looking down between her feet at the hay-strewn floor of the stables below, she reminded herself that smoking would be a really bad idea in here. So bourbon it was. Raising the bottle for another swig, she didn't even notice the peeved purple cat regarding her.
Ew. If there was on thing which smelled uniquely vicious to a feline, alcohol was pretty high on the list. And Catseye knew that smell – the cheap stuff swilled by the winos and homeless in the alleys where she'd lived. The stuff that turned even the kindest of them into humans who would kick her without a second thought if she'd ventured too close. It had killed more than one of them, too. Catseye hated alcohol with a passion. Body hugging the floorboards, she slunk towards the girl, eyes narrowed.
The worst of it was the timing. She couldn't ask Manuel to just not sleep with Jubilee, since he'd bring up Bethany again, and now there was no Bethany, too late to actually do her the least bit of good, and since when was trying to be fair so bloody unfair? Amanda grimaced at both the thought and the taste. Ugh, she should've grabbed the vodka, this stuff was truly terrible. She'd been pushed into a corner, completely and utterly, and now there was nothing for it but to sit and wait for the booze to cut in. Nice numb brain, wouldn't that be a relief? She scrubbed her sleeve across the sudden prickling of her eyes, and tried another larger swallow.
All right, that was enough. Catseye had quite enough of all of this, and clearly the drinking wasn't helping whoever this human was. The sniffling was a dead giveaway - some humans just got mellow and slept when they drank. This one was looking ready to throw herself down anyway and Catseye wasn't having blood stinking up the barn and scaring off anything edible for weeks to come. Blood scent lingered. She'd try to sort out whose scent she had once the damn bottle was gone. Which would be easily achieved with a bounce on her lap to tip her back to a safer spot, and a neat bat at the bottle to tip it over the side.
Amanda yelped at the sudden appearance of a large purple cat. 'Catseye,' her fuzzy mind supplied, even as she instinctively reared back to avoid the both of them falling over the edge and onto the hard stable floor. The bottle fell with a clink on its side, and she cursed as one of Catseye's apparently flailing paws caught it and sent it rolling over the edge of the hayloft platform. From the lack of a smash, it had hit a pile of hay, but odds on it was merrily gurgling out its contents below...
Struggling to sit up under the not-inconsiderable weight of the cat, Amanda managed a bemused. "What?"
Crouched on Amanda's chest and regarding her with a definitely displeased expression, the purple cat wrinkles its nosed and hissed lowly. Ew. Baaad breath. SmellyPotionsGirl STINKS.She could hear the bottle emptying itself out on the floor down below easily, the smell slowly rising to completely ruin her sense of smell. Eyes narrowing, Catseye batted at Amanda's shoulder firmly. Stupid kitten!
Amanda winced at the hiss. "Look, sorry t' take yer huntin' spot, but I just needed..." What? Space? Time? To kill off a good portion of her consciousness? "You owe me another bottle, you know," she told the purple cat, not sure if she'd understand English in that form. She tried without much success to shift Catseye off her chest - the cat was heavy.
That last comment earned Amanda another firm whap of a paw, claws sheathed. It made for a dull but very clear sort of impact, as Catseye revised her estimate of Amanda's intelligence. VERY stupid kitten! And clearly she'd been drinking a fair bit already, judging from the slight slurring of words and the lack of coordination. Catseye flattened herself further on Amanda, bringing more weight to bear.
The air whuffed out of Amanda slightly as Catseye leaned more heavily on
her. Not to mention her shoulder stung slightly from the whap. Still, Catseye was keeping her claws sheathed, she noticed muzzily. Which had to be a good sign. "So now what? You sit on me 'til I pass out from lack of air? That's gunna not be much fun for both of us. How about I just go an' leave you t' yer huntin' an' find meself somewhere else to hole up?"
A faint growl answered that question, and in the blink of an eye Amanda found herself facing something else entirely. Narrow cat's eyes glared down at her, bright and fierce as they'd been the moment before, the now human catgirl straddling Amanda's body. "Stupid kitten! BadSmellySstuff won't solve anything!" Catseye knew that Amanda had very much planned to go find more alcohol before doing said holing up. It was always like that. Self-pity was also something else that wasn't high on Casteye's list of things to be tolerated.
Okay, now there was a large naked girl sitting on top of her... Amanda blinked at Catseye's vehemence. "I know it won't solve anythin'," she admitted. "'S just I didn't want t' think any more, feel like I do... A night off, yeah?" Somehow she didn't think that was going to get her off, but she'd really had more to drink than she'd realised and her mouth was stuck somewhere between Smart Arse and Pathetic Lump.
Well. Maybe being dunked in the lake wasn't going to be necessary. Although the reasoning displayed alone could possibly earn it if Amanda continued that way. "Catseye see. SmellyPotionsGirl go get drunk. It make SmellyPotionsGirl all happy and cheerful again! Yes!" It was hard for a moment to realize that Catseye was being awfully sarcastic, considering she was practically purring out the words in a velvety voice. "Catseye think not! Very stupid kitten!" That, however, was very much lacking softness.
"An' why does Catseye give a rat's anyway?" Amanda retorted, making another pathetic attempt to squirm free. A telekinetic spell would shift the cat-girl, but Amanda wasn't far-gone enough to risk a spell on someone else when she'd been drinking. That'd be stupidity of Jubilee proportions. "I'm not hurtin' anyone."
"Catseye does not care for rats." The kitten was being abysmally stupid. With a smooth motion Catseye shifted lower, a sharp grin on her face - and then hauled Amanda up and over her shoulder. Someone definitely needed a dunking. And then some. Without ceremony Catseye hopped down the ladder lightly, reaching the ground level in two light hops, landing fairly hard, knees bending to absorb the shock until Amanda's nose was a few inches away from the ground. The nice cold lake wasn't that far away, and not even the cold outside was going to deter her.
Amanda yelped again, cursing in a mixture of Latin and Romany, before the business of not throwing up became all important. Because throwing up on the strange cat-girl who seemed determined to take a personal view of things was really not a good idea. Twisting slightly, Amanda managed to peer around Catseye's (naked! her mind supplied helpfully) back to see the lake approaching, albeit upside down. "Oh no you don't, let me down you interferin' bloody moggie..." she demanded, rethinking that whole spell idea.
With a far too cheerful grin, Catseye closed the remaining distance with a few energetic strides and then walked right into the unfrozen part of the lake until she was knee deep before firmly hauling Amanda off her shoulder. And into the lake. The resounding splash got Catseye as well, but she didn't mind - being cold now (very cold) only meant that the warming up later would be fun. Arms akimbo, she waited for the sot to either resurface or show the need to be hauled out by the scruff of her neck.
Cold water up the nose hurt. Actually, cold everywhere hurt - the nice warm alcohol induced fuzzies departed abruptly, and Amanda shot to her feet, soaking wet and shivering. Standing in the thigh-deep (on her) icy water, she glared at Catseye. "You... you..." There wasn't a word bad enough in any of the languages she knew. Water dripped off her nose, and she wiped it away crossly. "You enjoyed that," she said at last. A thought struck her. "You ain't been talkin' t' Nate, have you? He's got a thing for throwin' people in lakes."
A faint tremor ran through Catseye's body, though the satisfied and smug little smirk never faded. Amanda sounded much better now. Tilting her head to the side, she considered, associating name to scent. "TiredSoftTouch? Not about this. Catseye have own opinions about the SmellyBadStuff." That it smelled was evident by the wrinkling of her nose - her sense of smell would be off for hours. Another tremor and she looked down, then back at Amanda, eyeing her consideringly - carrying her back to the mansion might be required if the girl wasn't going to move. "Out of water! Now!"
"You don't have t' tell me twice," Amanda muttered, wading forward, her own shivers turning into shudders. "You might have a point 'bout the SmellyBadStuff, 'least as far as makin' me feel better goes," she said through chattering teeth. "Beth's still gone, Manny's still fuckin' Lee, an' I'm soakin' wet an' freezin' t' death into the bargain."
There was hope yet! "We go back to barn now." It was much closer and there were horse blankets there. And it would be nice and warm inside. "Catseye cannot fix anything about the humans you mention, but Catseye can at least keep warm." As soon as they were out of the water she shook herself and then shifted again, her hind legs ending up merely damp as a result, then batted lightly at Amanda's leg to keep her moving. "Mrreow!" She could always shift to human form and carry the girl back to the barn if need be.
Okay, this was weird, even by Xavier's standards, but she wasn't about to stand out here and argue the point, not dripping wet and freezing her butt off. Racking her head for suitable warm spells and coming up with nothing (the fire spell was out of the question), Amanda meekly let Catseye herd her back to the barn. Warm sounded good. Besides, it was the least Catseye could do after getting her cold and wet in the first place.
Keeping people too busy listening to her instead of thinking up protests was something Catseye, like any other cat, was very good at. She soon had Amanda herded right back to the barn, the case in the saddle room containing the warmer winter blankets unlatched and the heating unit pawed at until it was warm enough to help dry Amanda off nicely.
Warm was good. Much better. Amanda looked at her faithful Docs, sitting in a small puddle as the water drained out through the disintegrating seams, and then at Catseye, who was regarding her with that particularly smug expression only a cat could have. "So, I s'pose you think I'm a total moron," she said, pulling the blanket wrapped around her closer. Most of her clothes were hanging from various strategic spots, dripping - she'd kept the long-sleeved flannel shirt on if only because the blanket was scratchy against her skin otherwise. Catseye blinked at her, and she sighed. "All right, I am a total moron. 'S just hard, sometimes. Facin' up t' everythin' all at once. Never had to before, so sometimes it's easy t' fall back on old habits. I keep tellin' meself that it's better 'n goin' back on the magicks, but 'm just foolin' meself, really."
Catseye listened politely, even going so far as to ignore the mousie creeping along the edge of the wall further away - besides, that one was scrawny. There wasn't so much stupid kitten stuff going on now, enough so that eventually, the cat eyed Amanda's lap consideringly and then decided that it belonged to her. With an unceremonious plop she tumbled into the blanket and stretched out before curling up, nose in the horse blanket while keeping an attentive ear towards Amanda, an intermittent purr starting up.
"Oh, that's the way it goes, is it?" Amanda smiled at the general deviousness of cats, unearthing a hand and cautiously stroking Catseye's back. It was comforting, she had to admit, having someone warm and furry and purring in your lap. "See, if you wanted a nice, non-stinky lap t' curl up in, you could've just asked, rather than goin' the whole lake deal."
SillyKitten would not have listened. Was too busy moping. The stroking earned Amanda a steadier purr, Catseye squirming a bit to settle in more comfortably in the boneless way only cats could ever achieve. Curled up like a pretzel on her back, the lavender cat stretched up a front leg slowly, paw waving at Amanda gently. Keep petting now.
Settling herself in her nest of hay and blankets, Amanda grinned a little and complied. She understood horses better than cats, but cats far more than dogs. Besides, the petting was as soothing for her as it was for Catseye. "I s'pose I was bein' a bit over-dramatic," she mused. "'S just... you ever find yerself in a situation you can't handle, but you can't do anythin' about since it was you that put yerself there? That's what it's like with Manny an' Lee. I had t' get greedy an' want Beth as well as Manny, an' that meant havin' t' be fair an' give him the same leeway. Only I didn't know he was gunna pick her." She was too tired and sleepy to let any real venom enter her tone - besides, it was her fault. She should be able to just suck it up. "Beth was me sanity, y'know? No complications, no links, just her an' me." Biting her lip in case she was earning herself another ducking, Amanda concentrated on finding Catseye's spots, rubbing her gently under the chin. "I know, Silly Kitten. You don't have t' tell me."
There really wasn't a single thing Catseye could do about any of that, and she figured that the usual solution she'd apply to that kind of situation if others were going against her will (trounce the uppity thing six ways from Sunday and let the male hang high and dry - or ignore them all) wouldn't be really to the girl's taste. Pity. She could do with trouncing someone obviously. Cat fights were always fun that way. Reaching up further Catseye flexed her paw, pressing her toes carefully on Amanda's cheek. The petting was nice but it was the scritching that earned the witch a half-lidded look of pure, feline adoration.
Every cat had a spot, and Amanda didn't mind being the giver of scritchings. Quite the opposite, in fact - it was easier to turn her brain off this way, and resulted in less hangovers. Although possibly a cold from the ducking, but she could deal with that. "I'll make up the huntin' to you later," she told the blissful cat, smiling a little at the expression. "Nice bit of fish or somethin'." She yawned, blinking sleepily. "'S nice out here," she said. "I usually come out an' chat t' the horses when I'm feelin' down. Somethin' 'bout horses makes me feel better, usually..." Continuing rubbing under the cat's chin, she added. "An' cats. But I think yer've already worked out I'm a pushover when it comes t' cats."
Drifting in a very pleasant haze, Catseye could only intensify her purring at the offer of food (fish was always good). And horses were big and awkward really but Amanda could be taught better on that score, she had no doubt. The cat flexed her paws slowly, kneading carefully so that the girl knew how well she was doing and that the scritching was appreciated. The look of adulation didn't change in the least, only interrupted now and then by a slow, lazy blink.
"One of us is puttin' the other t' sleep, an' I ain't sure which it is..." Turning off the heater with a gesture (since even she knew heaters left on and hay was a bad combination), she gave Catseye a look. "I can keep up the scritchin' for a bit yet, but yer gunna have t' let me move a bit an' get comfortable. Otherwise you'll have a grouchy uncomfortable pillow. So, if you please...?" She shifted her legs a bit underneath the cat's solid weight. Of course, she could have lifted her with a spell, but that wouldn't be polite. At all.
After considering that just long enough to make it clear it had been her idea all along, Catseye stretched out one last time before padding off a few feet away, sitting down with her tail curling up around her feet daintily. She waited while Amanda settled down comfortably, the rather intent look in her eyes making it clear she was returning right where she'd been and expecting many more scritches once all was said and done.
Curling up in the blankets, scrunching some more hay under her head as a pillow, Amanda gave Catseye a sleepy smile. "Human pillow at yer service," she said, careful not to pat the space beside her. No offending the nice purple kitty with a propensity for throwing people in the lake.
"Mrrr." Purring in approval, Catseye fitted herself alongside Amanda's body, not at all hesitating about taking up a bit more space on her when needed, to make sure the girl stayed nice and warm throughout the night. Being furless was such a sad thing, Catseye thought, closing her eyes while still keeping up a low, pleasant rumbling.
Amanda kept her word, scritching Catseye under the chin some more, listening to the rumbling purr. But not for too long - the sound and the warmth and the residual alcohol in her system all worked to put her to sleep. Her last thought before she dropped off completely was all this - the warmth of hay and horse blankets, the reassuring sound of horses moving nearby, the rumbling purr of a cat - all of it was very vaguely familiar. A slight smile on her face, she cuddled closer to the furry warmth of the large cat, and drifted off.
Purple ears peeked over the edge of the floor trap leading to the hayloft, the rest of Catseye's body still on the latter. Soon, lavender eyes were peeking over the edge as well, looking a mite peeved. Something was scaring the mousies. And it reeked in the hayloft. Catseye was not pleased in the least about the last in particular. That also meant no hunting there for the night and she'd been craving a barn mousie so badly.
Aamnda wrinkled her nose as she took another swig from the bottle. Obviously she wasn't drunk enough, since she could still taste it. Cheap bourbon, gah. Still, it'd been handy, and following the truly steller evening she'd been having so far, handy was good. Now to work her way deep enough into the bottle to ignore the happy-fun feelings she was getting from the link. The news she'd gotten tonight only made the fact Manuel was with Jubilee that much harder to swallow. Looking down between her feet at the hay-strewn floor of the stables below, she reminded herself that smoking would be a really bad idea in here. So bourbon it was. Raising the bottle for another swig, she didn't even notice the peeved purple cat regarding her.
Ew. If there was on thing which smelled uniquely vicious to a feline, alcohol was pretty high on the list. And Catseye knew that smell – the cheap stuff swilled by the winos and homeless in the alleys where she'd lived. The stuff that turned even the kindest of them into humans who would kick her without a second thought if she'd ventured too close. It had killed more than one of them, too. Catseye hated alcohol with a passion. Body hugging the floorboards, she slunk towards the girl, eyes narrowed.
The worst of it was the timing. She couldn't ask Manuel to just not sleep with Jubilee, since he'd bring up Bethany again, and now there was no Bethany, too late to actually do her the least bit of good, and since when was trying to be fair so bloody unfair? Amanda grimaced at both the thought and the taste. Ugh, she should've grabbed the vodka, this stuff was truly terrible. She'd been pushed into a corner, completely and utterly, and now there was nothing for it but to sit and wait for the booze to cut in. Nice numb brain, wouldn't that be a relief? She scrubbed her sleeve across the sudden prickling of her eyes, and tried another larger swallow.
All right, that was enough. Catseye had quite enough of all of this, and clearly the drinking wasn't helping whoever this human was. The sniffling was a dead giveaway - some humans just got mellow and slept when they drank. This one was looking ready to throw herself down anyway and Catseye wasn't having blood stinking up the barn and scaring off anything edible for weeks to come. Blood scent lingered. She'd try to sort out whose scent she had once the damn bottle was gone. Which would be easily achieved with a bounce on her lap to tip her back to a safer spot, and a neat bat at the bottle to tip it over the side.
Amanda yelped at the sudden appearance of a large purple cat. 'Catseye,' her fuzzy mind supplied, even as she instinctively reared back to avoid the both of them falling over the edge and onto the hard stable floor. The bottle fell with a clink on its side, and she cursed as one of Catseye's apparently flailing paws caught it and sent it rolling over the edge of the hayloft platform. From the lack of a smash, it had hit a pile of hay, but odds on it was merrily gurgling out its contents below...
Struggling to sit up under the not-inconsiderable weight of the cat, Amanda managed a bemused. "What?"
Crouched on Amanda's chest and regarding her with a definitely displeased expression, the purple cat wrinkles its nosed and hissed lowly. Ew. Baaad breath. SmellyPotionsGirl STINKS.She could hear the bottle emptying itself out on the floor down below easily, the smell slowly rising to completely ruin her sense of smell. Eyes narrowing, Catseye batted at Amanda's shoulder firmly. Stupid kitten!
Amanda winced at the hiss. "Look, sorry t' take yer huntin' spot, but I just needed..." What? Space? Time? To kill off a good portion of her consciousness? "You owe me another bottle, you know," she told the purple cat, not sure if she'd understand English in that form. She tried without much success to shift Catseye off her chest - the cat was heavy.
That last comment earned Amanda another firm whap of a paw, claws sheathed. It made for a dull but very clear sort of impact, as Catseye revised her estimate of Amanda's intelligence. VERY stupid kitten! And clearly she'd been drinking a fair bit already, judging from the slight slurring of words and the lack of coordination. Catseye flattened herself further on Amanda, bringing more weight to bear.
The air whuffed out of Amanda slightly as Catseye leaned more heavily on
her. Not to mention her shoulder stung slightly from the whap. Still, Catseye was keeping her claws sheathed, she noticed muzzily. Which had to be a good sign. "So now what? You sit on me 'til I pass out from lack of air? That's gunna not be much fun for both of us. How about I just go an' leave you t' yer huntin' an' find meself somewhere else to hole up?"
A faint growl answered that question, and in the blink of an eye Amanda found herself facing something else entirely. Narrow cat's eyes glared down at her, bright and fierce as they'd been the moment before, the now human catgirl straddling Amanda's body. "Stupid kitten! BadSmellySstuff won't solve anything!" Catseye knew that Amanda had very much planned to go find more alcohol before doing said holing up. It was always like that. Self-pity was also something else that wasn't high on Casteye's list of things to be tolerated.
Okay, now there was a large naked girl sitting on top of her... Amanda blinked at Catseye's vehemence. "I know it won't solve anythin'," she admitted. "'S just I didn't want t' think any more, feel like I do... A night off, yeah?" Somehow she didn't think that was going to get her off, but she'd really had more to drink than she'd realised and her mouth was stuck somewhere between Smart Arse and Pathetic Lump.
Well. Maybe being dunked in the lake wasn't going to be necessary. Although the reasoning displayed alone could possibly earn it if Amanda continued that way. "Catseye see. SmellyPotionsGirl go get drunk. It make SmellyPotionsGirl all happy and cheerful again! Yes!" It was hard for a moment to realize that Catseye was being awfully sarcastic, considering she was practically purring out the words in a velvety voice. "Catseye think not! Very stupid kitten!" That, however, was very much lacking softness.
"An' why does Catseye give a rat's anyway?" Amanda retorted, making another pathetic attempt to squirm free. A telekinetic spell would shift the cat-girl, but Amanda wasn't far-gone enough to risk a spell on someone else when she'd been drinking. That'd be stupidity of Jubilee proportions. "I'm not hurtin' anyone."
"Catseye does not care for rats." The kitten was being abysmally stupid. With a smooth motion Catseye shifted lower, a sharp grin on her face - and then hauled Amanda up and over her shoulder. Someone definitely needed a dunking. And then some. Without ceremony Catseye hopped down the ladder lightly, reaching the ground level in two light hops, landing fairly hard, knees bending to absorb the shock until Amanda's nose was a few inches away from the ground. The nice cold lake wasn't that far away, and not even the cold outside was going to deter her.
Amanda yelped again, cursing in a mixture of Latin and Romany, before the business of not throwing up became all important. Because throwing up on the strange cat-girl who seemed determined to take a personal view of things was really not a good idea. Twisting slightly, Amanda managed to peer around Catseye's (naked! her mind supplied helpfully) back to see the lake approaching, albeit upside down. "Oh no you don't, let me down you interferin' bloody moggie..." she demanded, rethinking that whole spell idea.
With a far too cheerful grin, Catseye closed the remaining distance with a few energetic strides and then walked right into the unfrozen part of the lake until she was knee deep before firmly hauling Amanda off her shoulder. And into the lake. The resounding splash got Catseye as well, but she didn't mind - being cold now (very cold) only meant that the warming up later would be fun. Arms akimbo, she waited for the sot to either resurface or show the need to be hauled out by the scruff of her neck.
Cold water up the nose hurt. Actually, cold everywhere hurt - the nice warm alcohol induced fuzzies departed abruptly, and Amanda shot to her feet, soaking wet and shivering. Standing in the thigh-deep (on her) icy water, she glared at Catseye. "You... you..." There wasn't a word bad enough in any of the languages she knew. Water dripped off her nose, and she wiped it away crossly. "You enjoyed that," she said at last. A thought struck her. "You ain't been talkin' t' Nate, have you? He's got a thing for throwin' people in lakes."
A faint tremor ran through Catseye's body, though the satisfied and smug little smirk never faded. Amanda sounded much better now. Tilting her head to the side, she considered, associating name to scent. "TiredSoftTouch? Not about this. Catseye have own opinions about the SmellyBadStuff." That it smelled was evident by the wrinkling of her nose - her sense of smell would be off for hours. Another tremor and she looked down, then back at Amanda, eyeing her consideringly - carrying her back to the mansion might be required if the girl wasn't going to move. "Out of water! Now!"
"You don't have t' tell me twice," Amanda muttered, wading forward, her own shivers turning into shudders. "You might have a point 'bout the SmellyBadStuff, 'least as far as makin' me feel better goes," she said through chattering teeth. "Beth's still gone, Manny's still fuckin' Lee, an' I'm soakin' wet an' freezin' t' death into the bargain."
There was hope yet! "We go back to barn now." It was much closer and there were horse blankets there. And it would be nice and warm inside. "Catseye cannot fix anything about the humans you mention, but Catseye can at least keep warm." As soon as they were out of the water she shook herself and then shifted again, her hind legs ending up merely damp as a result, then batted lightly at Amanda's leg to keep her moving. "Mrreow!" She could always shift to human form and carry the girl back to the barn if need be.
Okay, this was weird, even by Xavier's standards, but she wasn't about to stand out here and argue the point, not dripping wet and freezing her butt off. Racking her head for suitable warm spells and coming up with nothing (the fire spell was out of the question), Amanda meekly let Catseye herd her back to the barn. Warm sounded good. Besides, it was the least Catseye could do after getting her cold and wet in the first place.
Keeping people too busy listening to her instead of thinking up protests was something Catseye, like any other cat, was very good at. She soon had Amanda herded right back to the barn, the case in the saddle room containing the warmer winter blankets unlatched and the heating unit pawed at until it was warm enough to help dry Amanda off nicely.
Warm was good. Much better. Amanda looked at her faithful Docs, sitting in a small puddle as the water drained out through the disintegrating seams, and then at Catseye, who was regarding her with that particularly smug expression only a cat could have. "So, I s'pose you think I'm a total moron," she said, pulling the blanket wrapped around her closer. Most of her clothes were hanging from various strategic spots, dripping - she'd kept the long-sleeved flannel shirt on if only because the blanket was scratchy against her skin otherwise. Catseye blinked at her, and she sighed. "All right, I am a total moron. 'S just hard, sometimes. Facin' up t' everythin' all at once. Never had to before, so sometimes it's easy t' fall back on old habits. I keep tellin' meself that it's better 'n goin' back on the magicks, but 'm just foolin' meself, really."
Catseye listened politely, even going so far as to ignore the mousie creeping along the edge of the wall further away - besides, that one was scrawny. There wasn't so much stupid kitten stuff going on now, enough so that eventually, the cat eyed Amanda's lap consideringly and then decided that it belonged to her. With an unceremonious plop she tumbled into the blanket and stretched out before curling up, nose in the horse blanket while keeping an attentive ear towards Amanda, an intermittent purr starting up.
"Oh, that's the way it goes, is it?" Amanda smiled at the general deviousness of cats, unearthing a hand and cautiously stroking Catseye's back. It was comforting, she had to admit, having someone warm and furry and purring in your lap. "See, if you wanted a nice, non-stinky lap t' curl up in, you could've just asked, rather than goin' the whole lake deal."
SillyKitten would not have listened. Was too busy moping. The stroking earned Amanda a steadier purr, Catseye squirming a bit to settle in more comfortably in the boneless way only cats could ever achieve. Curled up like a pretzel on her back, the lavender cat stretched up a front leg slowly, paw waving at Amanda gently. Keep petting now.
Settling herself in her nest of hay and blankets, Amanda grinned a little and complied. She understood horses better than cats, but cats far more than dogs. Besides, the petting was as soothing for her as it was for Catseye. "I s'pose I was bein' a bit over-dramatic," she mused. "'S just... you ever find yerself in a situation you can't handle, but you can't do anythin' about since it was you that put yerself there? That's what it's like with Manny an' Lee. I had t' get greedy an' want Beth as well as Manny, an' that meant havin' t' be fair an' give him the same leeway. Only I didn't know he was gunna pick her." She was too tired and sleepy to let any real venom enter her tone - besides, it was her fault. She should be able to just suck it up. "Beth was me sanity, y'know? No complications, no links, just her an' me." Biting her lip in case she was earning herself another ducking, Amanda concentrated on finding Catseye's spots, rubbing her gently under the chin. "I know, Silly Kitten. You don't have t' tell me."
There really wasn't a single thing Catseye could do about any of that, and she figured that the usual solution she'd apply to that kind of situation if others were going against her will (trounce the uppity thing six ways from Sunday and let the male hang high and dry - or ignore them all) wouldn't be really to the girl's taste. Pity. She could do with trouncing someone obviously. Cat fights were always fun that way. Reaching up further Catseye flexed her paw, pressing her toes carefully on Amanda's cheek. The petting was nice but it was the scritching that earned the witch a half-lidded look of pure, feline adoration.
Every cat had a spot, and Amanda didn't mind being the giver of scritchings. Quite the opposite, in fact - it was easier to turn her brain off this way, and resulted in less hangovers. Although possibly a cold from the ducking, but she could deal with that. "I'll make up the huntin' to you later," she told the blissful cat, smiling a little at the expression. "Nice bit of fish or somethin'." She yawned, blinking sleepily. "'S nice out here," she said. "I usually come out an' chat t' the horses when I'm feelin' down. Somethin' 'bout horses makes me feel better, usually..." Continuing rubbing under the cat's chin, she added. "An' cats. But I think yer've already worked out I'm a pushover when it comes t' cats."
Drifting in a very pleasant haze, Catseye could only intensify her purring at the offer of food (fish was always good). And horses were big and awkward really but Amanda could be taught better on that score, she had no doubt. The cat flexed her paws slowly, kneading carefully so that the girl knew how well she was doing and that the scritching was appreciated. The look of adulation didn't change in the least, only interrupted now and then by a slow, lazy blink.
"One of us is puttin' the other t' sleep, an' I ain't sure which it is..." Turning off the heater with a gesture (since even she knew heaters left on and hay was a bad combination), she gave Catseye a look. "I can keep up the scritchin' for a bit yet, but yer gunna have t' let me move a bit an' get comfortable. Otherwise you'll have a grouchy uncomfortable pillow. So, if you please...?" She shifted her legs a bit underneath the cat's solid weight. Of course, she could have lifted her with a spell, but that wouldn't be polite. At all.
After considering that just long enough to make it clear it had been her idea all along, Catseye stretched out one last time before padding off a few feet away, sitting down with her tail curling up around her feet daintily. She waited while Amanda settled down comfortably, the rather intent look in her eyes making it clear she was returning right where she'd been and expecting many more scritches once all was said and done.
Curling up in the blankets, scrunching some more hay under her head as a pillow, Amanda gave Catseye a sleepy smile. "Human pillow at yer service," she said, careful not to pat the space beside her. No offending the nice purple kitty with a propensity for throwing people in the lake.
"Mrrr." Purring in approval, Catseye fitted herself alongside Amanda's body, not at all hesitating about taking up a bit more space on her when needed, to make sure the girl stayed nice and warm throughout the night. Being furless was such a sad thing, Catseye thought, closing her eyes while still keeping up a low, pleasant rumbling.
Amanda kept her word, scritching Catseye under the chin some more, listening to the rumbling purr. But not for too long - the sound and the warmth and the residual alcohol in her system all worked to put her to sleep. Her last thought before she dropped off completely was all this - the warmth of hay and horse blankets, the reassuring sound of horses moving nearby, the rumbling purr of a cat - all of it was very vaguely familiar. A slight smile on her face, she cuddled closer to the furry warmth of the large cat, and drifted off.
