xp_logs | LOG: Before the dance: Forge, Kyle, and Catseye

Before the big party, Forge discovers he enjoys dressing up, Kyle reasserts that he doesn't, and Catseye gets convinced to give it a shot.

"Damn, but I look badass, right?" Forge turned sideways, checking out
the fit of his suit in the mirror. "Warlock," he addressed his
computer, "display process for Windsor knot."

In the air before him, a network of nearly-invisible lasers formed a
holographic image of a necktie, identical to the bright blue one Forge
held in his hand. Mimicking the motions of the hologram, Forge began
to fasten the tie around his collar.

"Hey, Kyle? We look awesome, right?"

"Uh?" Kyle scratched his head. This was one of those ugly situations
he hated being in. Tell Forge yes, and he ran the risk of being
mocked. Tell him no, and he ran wrath of roommate. Or worse, depressed
no-showering roommate. "I guess..."

Besides, the holograms were messing with him. Anything that looked
like clothes should smell like them, and these didn't. They smelled
like thunderstorms, and it was just Wrong. "Wrong, wrong, wrong..."
Kyle blinked. "Uh. Ignore that. Forgot about brain first, mouth
second."

"Worry not, man. Got it all under control." He pressed a button on his
PDA. "Warlock, scan Kyle. Blue jacket or tan jacket?" The quick flash
of lasers again, and the computer displayed the hologram of Kyle's
dark blue suit, sans shoes.

"There you go," Forge chirped, "anyone gives you crap about not
wearing shoes, you can just backflip on them or something." He
playfully punched Kyle in the arm. "Come on, we're going to be late,
and I have women lined up and waiting. Because when you look this
good, you know, you don't want to keep them waiting long. Isn't that
right, Catseye?" Forge directed the last at the purple cat who was
watching intently from the bed.

Stretched out on the bed, Casteye looked at both boys (the one
primping, the other very much inclined to hop out the window from what
she could tell) and meowed assent with Kyle's verdict of how wrong the
projector was. Even if the way some of the non-existent but there
clothes were oh so temptingly pouncable. Tail twitching, she slinked
off the bed, heading towards the mirror in a not quite straight line,
glancing at the desk instead as though contemplating jumping on that,
as opposed to her actual potential prey. Or sort of prey. Perhaps
prey? Not lingering on the issue, she concentrated on getting there
without being too obvious about it.

"Wait," Forge thought out loud. "Hey, how come you're not coming
along?" He reached over to scratch the cat between her ears. "I mean,
I'm going, Kyle's going, Jay's going, who's going to hang out with you
here?" He smiled and continued cajoling the cat, "I mean, there's
going to be salmon there..."

The sound that replied to that said it all, though there was a brief
glint of interest in Catseye's expression at the mention of salmon.
Catseye was no invited. Which meant of course nothing more than
she was sulking over that fact, since being invited was hardly a
requisite as far as any cat was concerned, if they wanted to go
somewhere. She moved closer, leaning on Forge's leg while observing
the holographic tie with casual disinterest.

"Seriously, Kyle, help me out here," Forge pleaded with his roommate,
who was eyeing his sport coat with a mixture of fear and distrust. "I
mean, you're dressing up for it. Don't you think Catseye would have
fun?" He shot Kyle the universal "Help me OUT, man!" look, trying to
get some backup for the nigh-impossible task of convincing a cat to do
something.

"Well, there's food..." Kyle added, knowing how lame it sounded.
"And... I mean, everyone else is going, so ... " Oh, good -job-,
Gibney, he noted to himself. Bribery and peer-pressure. That worked
-every- time.. "And it'd be cool if you went. I mean...." He
shrugged, giving Forge a "Help? I suck at this!" look.. "Maybe Forge
would dance with you!"

"I what with the who now?" Forge spluttered. He glared right back at
Kyle with the "I am icing your sheets when you least expect it" look.
"Um, yeah. Of course. But you know, can't dance right with a cat and
all. Unless," he teased, "you don't know how, because you know, cat's
can't dance."

Silence reigned for a moment, as Catseye gave Forge a look that said
'are you on catnip or what?'. Eyes narrowing just a bit, she decided
to see how they'd work out complete agreement on that statement.
Shifting to human, she rose from her knees to full height, the shirt
and shorts clothing she now wore when changed neatly in place - and
stared down at Forge idly. "No. Catseye cannot dance." Well, she did
sometimes. But as a cat - and it looked somewhat silly when it was
trying to mimic humans dancing, which was why she didn't do it often.
Even if it was fun.

"Well, then you should come and watch us funny two-legged and
one-legged folks try," Forge responded, trying to mask a smirk. He
always felt a slight bit of satisfaction when he could get Catseye to
shift into human form and respond. "I'm sure someone's got a dress
that can fit."

Kyle covered his nose with his hands and whimpered. Somehow, Forge
making comments like that always seemed to end up with -him- getting
in trouble. Or pounced on, or swatted at or something. It never went
well.

Catseye, still standing between Forge and the floating tie she
intended to take a swipe at, narrowed her eyes dangerously. Those
horrible shoes went with dresses. "Catseye is not
wearing a dress." A pause, and she smirked. "If Catseye has to wear a
dress, then WarmSnugglyFriend and ShinyBitsBoy have to wear one too."
The best defense was always a good offense.

"Hey now," Forge said, backing off slightly, "you've got the figure
for it, I don't. Although..." he stroked his chin thoughtfully, "you
and Kyle are about the same height... Warlock," he announced, "scan
Catseye. Cross-reference Kyle Gibney's wardrobe file."

The lasers flashed again over Catseye's startled face, and the
hologram formed before her, a suit nearly identical to the one Kyle
was wrestling himself into. "Hey..." Forge drawled, "maybe you don't
have to wear a dress..."

"HEY! My suit!" Kyle protested. "She can't wear my suit! I'm wearing
my suit...' Then he paused. "I mean, um, yeah, sure, she can wear my
suit because then it means I don't have to!" Though, if he did that,
Dr. Hank would probably have words with him. Probably words Kyle
didn't actually understand, either. "Or... well, I have the other
one, but it was supposed to be for summer or something."

"Same color? Hey, that might actually work. You know," Forge propped
his chin on his hand briefly, looking at Catseye, who still seemed
stunned. "if she goes barefoot, you won't look so out-of-place
either."

"Lighter color but mostly the same. Not as heavy. I dunno, I was
trying to stay good so Dr. Hank would buy me lunch so I was counting
ceiling tiles." Kyle waved a hand towards his closet. "Its in the
back. There's a silk shirt in there too, and a couple of ties... "

Outflanked and outmaneuvered. Catseye was entirely peeved about this,
the frown on her face showing this clearly. "Catseye is not
wearing shoes!" She batted one hand through the projection, peeved
about missing the tie batting opportunity. Which brought another
realization to mind. "No ties." And then the dim thought that she was,
in effect, agreeing to all this. Misery peeked through, for a moment.
"How long would Catseye have to be human?"

Forge looked at his watch. "Wouldn't ask you to stay more than an hour
or so. Shorter than Dr. McCoy's science class. Come on," he wheedled,
"you'll have fun. Here," he reached into Kyle's closet and found the
suit. "Put this on. You've seen me do it enough times, you can
probably figure it out." He draped trousers, shirt, and jacket over
her arms. Then he paused briefly, looked at Kyle, then reached in and
dropped a pair of boxer shorts on top. "We'll be right outside."

Outside, Kyle was pounding his head against the wall. "Dude, those
were my underwear! And I mean -were-. I can't wear them ever again!"
He puncutated each sentence with a -thud-thud-thud and the last with a
fourth thud, just for good measure.

Staring at the clothes, and the incongruous boxer shorts on top of it
all, Catseye pondered this as the boys waited outside. Wrinkling her
nose shifted to cat form and then wriggled out of the collar she was
wearing, then shifted back to human again, entirely naked this time.
It was a point of pride, oddly enough, not to have to ask for help
with the suit, Catseye taking her time before putting on each item,
the top buttons of the shirt left undone, the girl refusing to admit
that the silk felt nice. "Mrr." It was harder to meow as a
human, and Catseye sighed. "Catseye is done!"

"Oh, relax," Forge scolded Kyle. "It's not like she sheds as a human and-"
he opened the door to see Catseye turning back and forth in front of
the mirror. "-you have to admit the look suits her..." He grinned and
spoke quietly out of the side of his mouth at Kyle, "Besides, this is
a girl that wants to get into your pants. Literally."

"Catseye heard that," was the absent remark, the girl peering at
herself with a frown. "And Catseye is already in
WarmSnuggleFriend's pants. And boxer thingies too." She tugged at the
shirt, pondering undoing another button. The collar was one thing, as
was the present collar that Clarice had made for her, but anything
tight around the neck was otherwise hated on sight. Or wear.

"Well, everything seems to fit," Forge announced, grabbing Catseye by
one arm and Kyle by the other. "Let's get moving. I have women
demanding my presence, which defies some law of the space-time
continuum, I know, so I'm going to take full advantage of it before
the universe snaps back into place."

"And on that day, they say, Forge's ego grew three sizes" Kyle
muttered. "Or something like that." He sighed loudly, but didn't
struggle. Much. "I'm just saying, I'm not dancing. No dancing for me.
Unless its with Clarice. She's cute. Or Illyana. Or ... okay, maybe
dancing. Maybe."

Catseye snorted at that, repressing the urge to change back to cat
shape by pure reflex as they crossed the doorway, somehow hanging on
to Forge in return just in case she did that stupid human body thing
and tripped. Again. "Catseye thinks WarmSnugglyFriend will dance with
whoever asks him to." Maybe she should tell Jay to ask him. There was
a thought.