xp_logs | Nathan and Catseye, Wednesday morning

Catseye stops in to visit Nathan. She meets Bella and... admires her feathers. This is probably not the end of that part of the story. Afterwards, Nathan feeds her tuna and Catseye lets an admission or two slip.

He had offered to start packing. Moira had turned him down, pointing
out that he was liable to make a terrible mess trying to find things
and figure out what was what by touch, and that neither of them
traveled with much in the way of luggage anyway. Theo had growled at
him to get his ass back on the couch and have a nap, and Dom and GW
were off arranging the plane.

It wasn't that he minded the couch, or lying down - as much better as
he was feeling, he still got worn out at the drop of a hat - but he
was beginning to get really, really bored.

"Sleeeeeeeep," insisted a familiar avian voice from somewhere off to
his left. Not in the vicinity of her cage. Theo had let her out
again before going off to find Miles and Artie.

"Stop bossing me around, feathers."

"Sleeeeeep!"

There was a short scrabbling sound from the door, which then opened and was
soon followed by an interrogative sound. "Mrr?" Peeking inside, still
holding the handle firmly with both front paws, Catseye focused on Nathan.
Catseye wants to visit now. You want to see the cat. Satisfied that
he was there, she dropped down to all fours, padding inside while shutting
the door with a flick of her tail. "Mreow!"

"Gatto!" Bella trilled suddenly. "Gatto!"

"Hi, Catseye." Nathan waved from the couch, wondering if someone had
explained to her that he couldn't see. "I'd offer you something from
the kitchen but I fall over things if I try to walk around too much."
That telekinetic 'ping', whatever it was - his sonar trick, he
suspected, but almost on an unconscious level - was still very much
intermittent.

There was a pensive sounding meep in response to that, Catseye pausing in
her progress to look at him thoughtfully. After a moment, she resumed the
lazy walk towards him - yet with each step, there was now a faint tick tick
tick of barely unsheated claws hitting the floor lightly. Bella was given a
considering look but otherwise ignored as the purple cat made her way
towards Nathan, until she could arch her back and wind around his legs
carefully, purring loudly in greeting.

Nathan listened very carefully to the sound of her claws on the floor,
and so wasn't surprised when something warm and furry was suddenly
leaning against him, purring. He reached out tentatively, letting her
put her head beneath his hand. Poking her in the eye would definitely
not be a good idea. "I'm glad to see you," he said with a smile, glad
that his voice was beginning to sound a little better. "You been
keeping busy while I've been in the medlab?"

WarmSnugglyFriend has nightmares. Catseye makes them go away.
There had been a host of Things that only a proper cat could do as
well, including finding a few special shinies for Forge (that quest
was progressing nicely) but she figured the one about Kyle would be of
the most interest to him. She butted her head against his hand once
more, somewhat imperiously at that. Pet the cat now!

He was hearing her. If he focused. Although it did kind of hurt his
head to concentrate. "Thank you for looking after Kyle," he murmured,
petting her head. "He's lucky to have you." He really needed to get
Ani back here at some point, not just for Kyle but for Catseye as
well. He suspected they'd get along beautifully.

Catseye takes care of her humans. She twisted her head just so,
leaning her cheek against his fingertips, still purring. This also allowed
her a good view of the bird, all bright colors and long,
enticing feathers. Bird. There was a distinctively contemplative
overtone to the thought.

"Gatto!" Bella trilled.

Nathan made a worried face. "She's a nice bird," he said, peering down
in Catseye's general direction. "Please don't chase her?" Especially
as there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it if she did.

Birds are birds. Nathan's voice made it clear he cared for the thing,
so Catseye didn't go for the far more traditional 'Birds are food' line she
would have normally used. Catseye will go say hello. The things she
did for her humans, sometimes. Going to say hello to a bird of all
things.

Bella, perched on the top of Nathan's desk chair, peered down at the
purple cat as she approached. An odd color for a gatto, the bird
reflected. "Pretty?" Bella cooed down at her. "Pretty gatto?"

Of course Catseye is pretty. The thought was edge with tolerant
disdain and a touch of amusement. The undertones of the bird's voice were
similar to those of the Italian restaurant owners each time she called out
the word for cat, which brought fond memories of overly large meatballs and
spaguetti sauce. With a light hop Catseye was on the chair, eyeing Bella
with studied nonchalance.

Bella trilled happily. "Pretty gatto! Clever! Good!" She ruffled her
wings, peering down at Catseye.

Well, Nathan reflected a little uneasily, they sounded as if they were
getting along...

Well, the bird had some taste. Maybe Catseye would only eat it when Nathan
was gone, to spare him the anguish. If she was really hungry and there was
no pastrami to be had in the kitchen. Or salmon to be stolen from the loud
sparkly girl. Bird brain. It was a casual enough greeting, though
Catseye's whiskers did twitch forward a bit in the barest of politeness. She
edged a bit closer, eyeing the pretty feathers.

Bella became suspicious. "Sneaky gatto," she chided. She had seen the
hunting crouch often enough. "No pounce! No! Bite you!"

Oh, that didn't sound good... "Catseye?" Nathan called appealingly.
"Please don't pick a fight with my bird..."

Catseye was only looking! There was a great deal of indignation to
that, along with a faintly narrow eyed look for the bird. With a twitch of
one ear, Catseye licked her shoulder, pretending there was no bird there at
all.

"This is very nerve-wracking," Nathan muttered fitfully. "Catseye? I
could try and find you some salmon, or tuna..." There had to be a can
in the cupboards somewhere. He got up slowly, counting off the paces
to the end of the coffee table, and then from there to the door of the
kitchenette. "To my eleven'o'clock," he muttered, and managed to hit
the doorway only a few inches off, which just meant that he bumped his
shoulder against the wall. Not too hard, at least; the key, he'd
discovered, was to go very slow.

Bribing the cat is always smart. Catseye thinks walking in walls is bad
though. Humans don't walk through walls. And while bribery didn't always
stick, but it was still very smart. Hopping down from the chair, Catseye
clicked her way to him, letting out an irritated sounding meep when he tried
to move again. Once she reached him she rose to her hind legs and placed
both front paws on the side of his leg firmly. Pick up the cat.

Nathan leaned down carefully and picked her up. "All right," he said,
settling her in his arms. "What's the plan?"

There was a bit of re-adujusting, Catseye moving carefully and always
placing a paw lightly as warning before adjusting her weight. Finally she
settled down, draped around his shoulders with a somewhat smug air
about her - the look she spared for Bella was near a smirk, really. Her tail then flicked on his chest idly before simply starting to swivel around slowly, giving him a direction to go, always steadying dead center when he was in the right direction.

"Genius," Nathan said admiringly. "Pure genius." There was a hoot from
Bella's direction, and he grimaced. "Sorry, feathers. I call it the
way I see it." Catseye managed to guide him into the kitchen with no
further incidents, and Nathan paused, trying to remember where the
canned tuna might be.

Catseye is the smartest. A final look of glee was directed at
Bella, and then after a meep of warning Catseye hopped onto the
counter lightly. Claws still out just enough to click on the counter,
she padded her way to the small cupboard, prying one door open and
peeking inside. Tuna, tuna, tuna! After a bit of rooting about,
a can was found and wrapping her tail around it, Catseye brought it
back to Nate before questing in search of the can opener, purring
loudly the entire time. Fun!

Nathan shook his head. "I know cats are intelligent," he said,
reaching out carefully to identify first the can opener, then the can.
"But you're still brilliant, even by those very high standards." He
got the can open, without too much difficulty, and then took a step
back. "There you go," he said, leaning back against the other counter.
"A very well-deserved feast."

Ignoring the food, Catseye perched herself at the end of the counter,
reaching out while being careful to keep her claws sheated entire this
time until she could snag a fold in his shirt to draw him closer. Once
he obliged her, she simple place both paws on either shoulder and
rubbed her cheek against his, purring fiercely. Catseye will miss
her people.

"We'll miss you too," Nathan said, very quietly, but warmly, as he
scratched behind her ears. "But we'll all be back soon. They say
absence makes the heart grow fonder." He grinned suddenly. "And even
if that's nonsense, I could bring you back some smoked salmon from
Scotland? It's very good."

Well. Catseye was no fool to refuse that offer, though the point still
needed to be made. Food is nice. People are better. There was a
hint of wistfulness to the thought, a sense of having been caught up
in something that wouldn't let go of her easily anymore - something
she wasn't used to, though it didn't seem to scare her either. Food
now. Pushing off lightly Catseye settled down on the counter to
delicately pick the tuna out of the can.

Nathan tilted his head, trying to analyze the complex impression he'd
gotten from her just then. "The people here," he finally said,
quietly, "get to be family very quickly."

A piece of tuna was retrieved from her paw, Catseye meticulously
cleaning away any of the remaining flecks before emitting a pensive
sound. "Mrrr." She was staying here for the holidays and she'd be fine
on her own. She was a cat after all, and cats managed fine all the
time. But that didn't mean she'd not worry as to what trouble her
people got up to when out of her sight.