fifty-five ➢ spam & voice

[patheticvillain]

private } mickey

Hey. You busy?

private } beyond

Got something for you.

spam

[Recovering from being disemboweled physically took about forty-five seconds. Recovering psychologically is taking a little bit longer. Cassel takes comfort in simple tasks and routines in the meantime, trying not to think about what happened with Creed or what happened in the Enclosure or what's going to happen next. There's this feeling like the other shoe is going to drop - not uncommon on the Barge, but not something he wants to deal with, either.]

[During the day, when he's not in the gym, he spends time in his room or in the common rooms with yarn in his lap, curled up in an armchair, knitting and purling on autopilot. He has no idea what he's making, which is usually how he goes about things. Eventually he casts off and picks it up, examining it in the light. It appears to be a tiny sweater with at least three arms.]

[He never said he was good at this.]

[At night, a lithe black cat roams the halls. To Cassel's credit, this time he's wearing a little blue collar with a name tag. On the other hand, it took him this long to come up with that, so maybe he's not so smart after all. He curls up on the backs of couches, winds between people's legs, and wanders into cabins behind their occupants, purring loudly and very insistently.]

Comments

voice; private.

[recinerate]

Yes, Cassel?

voice; private.

[patheticvillain]

You been to the Enclosure yet?

voice; private.

[recinerate]

Iris showed me where it is.

voice; private.

[patheticvillain]

Oh, good. You met Iris.

[He is like 110% cheerful about this.]

Do you want to go? Or I could meet you somewhere else.

voice; private.

[recinerate]

I can meet you at the Enclosure. [a pause.] What's this about?

[americasdirtiest]

Yeah. I'm curing cancer right now.

[So in other words, he's sitting around in his cabin, chain smoking and getting vaguely buzzed.]

[patheticvillain]

[He snorts.]

I figured you might be. Can you, like, pause your world-changing experiments for a minute if I come over?

[americasdirtiest]

Yeah, I think I can manage.

[And then, vaguely apprehensive:]

What's up?

[Because there's a lot of bad news going around these days.]

[patheticvillain]

I have a present for you.

[Calm your tits, Mickey. It's a good present. But it has to be a surprise, due to Cassel's intense need to see Mickey's face when he gets it.]

Spam

[cantcatchme]

[Pietro still hasn't exactly figured out how to go check in on Cassel without acting like he... cares. He doesn't, of course. This is just strategic. Keep Cassel happy, maybe learn a bit about how Creed caught him out. Or something. He needs a plan.

But he finds himself heading down to level seven, anyway. But Cassel's not in his room, so he should just leave, right? Maybe one quick look around the common room.

But the only thing in the common room right now is somebody's cat. Pietro huffs a little. So many damn animals on board, it's ridiculous.]

Spam

[patheticvillain]

[He perks up when Pietro sticks his head into the common room. He hasn't talked to him in a few days - even though he's seen him all over the network - and really should have checked in about the whole Enclosure thing before now.]

[Feeling vaguely guilty but mostly excited, he hops down off the back of the couch and trots over to Pietro, purring loudly.]

Spam

[cantcatchme]

[Oh, worse. A friendly cat. Pietro rolls his eyes and takes a step back, waving his hands at the thing.]

Shoo, shoo. Get out of here, will ya?

Spam

[patheticvillain]

[Nope, sorry. Cassel is twining around Pietro's legs, staring up at him adoringly and still purring.]

[Hope you're not wearing light-colored pants, buddy.]

[thelastbullet]

[Jimmy's sitting in one of the common rooms, actually only wearing a henley and his trousers for once. It's late, and he's tired, but he's still awake and trying to read a book.

He knows there's a couple cats around the Barge, but he doesn't think he's ever seen this one. It rubs its head against his shin, and he idly reaches down to scratch it behind the ears as he reads.]

[patheticvillain]

[It's Jimmy!! Cassel is so excited. He's even more excited when Jimmy scratches him behind the ears, which is almost as good as a hug. Purring loudly, he hops up onto the couch next to him and puts both front paws on his book. Pay attention to me.]

[thelastbullet]

[He slowly lowers the book and looks that cat in the eye. What the hell, cat? He was reading.

He notices the tag around the cat's neck and he frowns even as he rubs him between the ears.]

You don't look like Cassel's cat.

[patheticvillain]

[No, Jimmy. You were petting the cat. At least that's what you should have been doing. Get with the program.]

[Purr, purr, purr. He crawls onto Jimmy's leg and balances there very carefully, looking him intently in the eye. Come on buddy you can get it!]

spam.

[recinerate]

[some time after he returns from the enclosure trip with cassel, beyond can be found exiting his cabin on the fourth floor, en route to the deck, cigarettes in pocket.]

spam.

[patheticvillain]

[One of the things Cassel still isn't used to about the cat body is the enhanced senses. He knows how to use them by now, more or less, but they are still startling and exciting, like a present he gets to reopen over and over again. Sleeping in the fourth floor common room, he suddenly smells nicotine and ash and an indefinable something that he recognizes, somehow, as Beyond.]

[Perking up, he twitches his tail back, forth, and leaps off the couch, padding down the hall after him.]

spam.

[recinerate]

[it takes beyond until about halfway down the corridor to recognize he's being followed; cats are much smaller and stealthier than people, after all. he stops, twists his head back over his shoulder; it's a cat, the first beyond has seen aboard the barge.

he turns all the way around to face the cat in a peculiar sort of hallway standoff, watching to see what the cat will do next.]

spam.

[patheticvillain]

[For a moment Cassel just stands in place, his tail upright and twitching. Then he walks in a leisurely way towards Beyond, coming to a stop about a foot away.]

[He sits down, wraps his tail around his front paws, and peers up at him, purring.]

spam

[absentconstellation]

[ Pounce is not fooled by the boy's appearance, of course. He knows an ordinary mortal cat when he sees one, and this is not that. Still, he is a patron of cats. He appreciates all who take his shape. ]

Hello youngling.

spam

[patheticvillain]

[His tail twitches curiously. Obviously he's not fooling anybody at this moment, but he's still interested in where this is going to go. He hasn't had much to do with Pounce, has just seen him around, but any kind of weird-cat-god-thing has his interest.]

[He makes a questioning noise, mrr?, and takes a step closer.]

spam

[absentconstellation]

[ Pounce's tail waves idly through the air in a signal of amiable interest. When he speaks again it isn't an audible thing, but a thought spoken into his mind. ]

Are you able to speak, in that form?

spam

[patheticvillain]

[He shakes his head, a weird gesture on a cat, and then, very tentatively, sends out a thought in return.]

Can you hear me?