xp_logs | Doug and Catseye

Doug is at odds and ends sitting outside the Medlab after Marie-Ange goes a little insane when he tries to visit. Catseye decides that Something Must Be Done. Short and pretty cute.

Sitting down heavily in a chair outside the Medlab, Doug slumped down, resting his head against the wall and staring blankly at the ceiling. The moment he had entered the room where Marie-Ange was resting, she had looked at him with wide eyes and told him to go to the doctor. When he had asked why, she informed him that he was bleeding all over his shirt. She had gotten so agitated because of what she was seeing that Doug had finally had to leave, and so he sat in the hallway, unsure as to what to do with himself.

Wrinkling her nose at the smells of the level, all cold metal and antiseptics, Catseye slunk low, sticking to the walls. At least the smell of blood from that room with the closed door seemed to be fading slowly now, replaced by something chemical and ferociously strong about killing scents. There was a somewhat familiar scent in the hallway though and peeking around the corner, Catseye could easily make out Doug, sitting in a chair and clearly in a funk. Someone needs to pet a cat. Now. With a rather imperious meep, she started to pad towards him purposefully.

The meep got Doug looking in a direction other than the ceiling, and he managed to quirk a small half-smile at the smallish purple cat that moved slowly towards him. He hadn't exactly gotten to meet Catseye yet, but he'd heard stories, especially from Jamie. "Hello, Catseye," he said softly as she came closer.

Good manners and using the right name. That meant no claws to keep his attention. Maybe. Catseye didn't like the cold floor, for all her talk about being used t the cold. "Meow." The sound was pleasant, the cat still keeping an intent focus on Doug. Warm lap. Pick up the cat... Coaxing and wheedling without the humans ever realizing they were being actually ordered about was fun.

Doug, however, could realize when he was being ordered about. But then again, he could cheat a bit. He didn't have a whole lot of experience with various types of animal body language, but some concepts came through just fine. "Yes, ma'am," he said jokingly, reaching down to pick Catseye up and place her in his lap.

Tail curling up in a perfect interrogation point, Catseye sat down solemnly, staring him in the eyes. One would almost think the human had understood her. As cats did. And my, wasn't that oh so very interesting! Curious, Catseye reached up a touch to press a paw to his cheek, patting it softly.

Curiosity killed the cat, as the saying went, but Doug decided not to play dumb and run the risk of something drastic happening to Catseye. "Mutant power," he said. "I can understand languages. Including body language." He smiled a bit more at Catseye patting his cheek and reached down to skritch the back of her head and neck.

Now this had potential! Curving her neck into the skritching, Catseye purred in approval. Petting the cat is good. It makes people feel better. You know it does. And this was also much better than having to stand on the cold floor, at that.

Shrugging slightly, Doug continued the petting and skritching. "It's worth a shot, I suppose." He frowned a bit, thinking about Marie-Ange, and how it didn't seem like he could help whatever it was that was going on with her at all.

Worth a shot? Now that was insulting. With a low meep of admonishment, Catseye managed to somehow fit herself into his lap as she flopped down, corkscrewing into a pretzel-like shape while keeping up the purr. Petting the cat helps everyone. It's a Law. Which was telling a human about cat laws at that, but hey, if word got out maybe humans would stop being so weird.

Doug was putty in Catseye's paws. He shook his head bemusedly and petted her stomach, letting her purr rumble through him. "It's just this...thing," he explained helplessly. "Something's wrong with Angie, and nobody seems to know what to do. And I'm so worried about her, but I can't seem to help."

Mmm. He was already talking. Smart human. One who could talk to cats, at that. He was special, no doubt about it. The purr muted slowly, shifting as Catseye calculated its effect on him, along with her lazy contentment.

"I just...I want to help her, but I can't seem to do anything," he repeated. "I'm worried about her. She's hallucinating or something. She told me that I was bleeding all over my shirt," he continued softly.

Wriggling a bit, Catseye peered at his shirt. And sniffed the air carefully. No bleeding. ScreamingGirl needs sleep. And purring! The rumbling intensified, sinking through to Doug as Catseye set out to prove her point. Purring makes everyone feel better. And if Doug asked, Catseye would go purr at the ScreamingGirl. She'd been very nice about the clothing thing - Catseye felt that deserved a lot of purring, really.

"You're welcome to try if you think it would help, Catseye," Doug replied with a slightly sad smile. "But if she's hallucinating and stuff, I don't know if _anyone_ is going to be much help." But for the time being, he was content to just sit there and soak up Catseye's purring. For now, at least, he didn't feel quite so much pressure to figure out what to do for Angie.